Quick Quack Quentin

This week the children were lucky enough to hear the wonderful story of 'Quick Quack Quentin' when they visited Ms. Storms at the school library.

This story follows Quentin the duck who has lost the 'A' from his quack. He visits all of the animals to see who will help him to replace his 'A' but sadly nobody wants to help! That is, until he meets a friendly aardvark!

Why not visit the school library next Tuesday and look for this book to find out what happens to poor Quentin in the end!! Ms Storms will be in the library for you to borrow books every Tuesday after school.

“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.” ― Albert Einstein

Parents Evening FAQ's

It was lovely for the Early Years team to get to meet so many of you during Parents Evening this week. There were many positive conversations and from a staff perspective, it is always useful to learn as much as possible about the children in our care from the people who know them best.


A few questions seemed to come up throughout the Parents Evening meetings and hopefully this post will help to address some of them.


Phonics
The phonics scheme that we follow at the Grove Academy once children are in Reception is called Read Write Inc. This is a system of teaching children the sound recognition and early reading and writing skills that will support them as they learn to become independent readers and writers in all areas of the curriculum.
The link below will take you to the parent section of the Read Write Inc. website and will hopefully help to answer any questions you may have about phonics as well as providing some handy hints on how you can help your child at home.


Read Write Inc. Parents Section


Another question that was asked many times was 'how do you teach the letter sounds?' At this stage we are not focusing on the alphabetic letter names, but instead the children are learning all about the sounds that the letters in each word make to support them as they learn to read. A really useful link is to the Read Write Inc. sound pronunciation guide, which will show you and your children how to form each of the 'pure' sounds that the letters make.


Sound Pronunciation Guide


Again, this is related to the phonics scheme followed once children are in Reception.


Observation Abbreviations/How can I help my child?
Many of you were curious as to what the letters and numbers at the top of our observations mean. These abbreviations are simply linked to the Early Years development statements that all of our learning is based around.
You may have noticed a coloured piece of paper with, for example, L: W: 40-60M written on and highlighted in your child's Learning Journal. This means that the learning we observed during that particular adult directed session was based on Literacy (L), focusing on writing (W) and what an 'average' child aged between 40-60 months (40-60M) would be expected to do.
Please follow the link below to see the 'parents guide' that accompanies the Early Years curriculum to see what we will be working on with your children through Nursery and Reception. This document also contains some great tips on how you can help to support and enrich your child's learning at home.


Parents Guide - What to Expect


Once again, thank you so much for taking time out of your evening this week to share in your child's journey through Nursery and Reception. These opportunities to come together really do benefit the children and help us all to grow and learn together!


"TEAM - Together Everyone Achieves More".

A Gruffalo, what's a Gruffalo?

At the Grove Academy, children are encouraged to enjoy books and stories at every opportunity. Stories are shared in class each day and children also have the chance to access many different books and stories during their Child Initiated Learning time.

 

The Book Trust states that "children who enjoy reading do better at school in all subjects", so fostering this love of books and reading at an early age can have a huge impact on children throughout their school life and beyond.

Sharing familiar stories at home, even at this early stage before children have become independent readers, is one way to help your child develop a love of reading. The Book Trust has some fantastic tips on sharing books...  http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/children/how-to-share-books/

Don't forget to pop in to the school library on a Tuesday after school!

"I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted ... learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage." - Roald Dahl