Welcome back!

It sounds like everyone has had a relaxing and very exciting holiday. It was lovely to see everyone again yesterday and to hear all of the news.

Literacy

This week, Primary 1s are learning the <qu> phonic and Primary 2s are looking a bit more closely at <wh>, practising harder words than last year.

Please check your word jotters and do one or more activities from your activity list to practise your spelling words for our spell check next week. If you want, you can highlight your spelling sound in your word list to practise spotting the grapheme you are learning.

Maths

We are continuing to practise  subtraction. Fact fluency is very helpful in subtraction (and addition) so I have given you a Roll and Race game to play at home this week.

Instructions – Each player needs a different colour of counters to mark their equations. You also need a die. Players take turns to roll the die and solve the first equation that corresponds to the number they have rolled (starting from the bottom). If they give the correct answer, they can put a counter on the equation marking it as theirs. If the answer is incorrect, they miss the turn. The game continues until a player solves the last equation in a column, making them the winner of the game.

In the example below, yellow is the winner of the game:

Spelling

Please check your spelling jotters for your new word lists. Primary 1s are looking closely at <v> and <w>, while Primary 2s are exploring <er> at the end of a word.

Remember that we will be doing a spell check next Monday.

Sumdog are doing a competition this week. If your child wishes to take part, please log into the Sumdog website with the username and password that has been issued to your child. I have included another copy of the logins in your child’s homework pack this week.

 

Homework: Week Beginning 5th January 2026

Whilst Mrs Kane is absent there may be some changes to the usual homework tasks or routines but Miss Smith and I will plan collaboratively to ensure learning opportunities are shared at home.

Primary 1

Phonics: Our new sounds are ‘r’ and ‘h’.

Talk about these sounds with your child. Can they form the letters? Discuss different words with the sounds and look for objects around the home that begin with each sound.

Reading: New books have been assigned today. Word tubs have also been updated with ‘I can blend’ words. We have also included the ‘exception’ words for pink level. These are words that cannot be sounded out, otherwise known as ‘tricky’ words.

Numeracy: Here is a link to an online game which revises number bonds.

Number bonds to 4 | Reception maths | addition – BBC Bitesize

Primary 2

Phonics/Spelling: Our new sound is ‘ow’ (like cow). Please find the wordlist below. Pupils can practise their words however they wish- coloured pens, tracing in flour, typing out, saying aloud etc.

owl     cow    now    how    gown     down     brown    crown

Reading: Boost learning has been updated with two new books for practise. Children have also been given ‘exception’ words for red level. These are words that are not decodable and are therefore ‘tricky’

Numeracy: Here is a link to a game to reinforce numbers to 100.

Coconut Ordering – Comparing Numbers, Prices, Mass, Length and Capacity

Please contact the school if you have any further questions.

Thank you,

Mrs Meek

This week, we are focusing on some Common Exception Words, we usually call them tricky words.

Here are the words we are practising this week:

Choose one or more activities to practise your spelling words from the menu below:

I have also passed home some word cards to practise your spelling with. Please cut the cards along the lines, then choose from the game suggestions or play your own games with the cards:

Please continue to practise your “I can blend” cards which I will refresh on Wednesday. I will also add some sound cards and common exception words that go along with the book we are currently reading in class (also assigned in Rocket Phonics).

This week we are learning the phonemes <c> and <k>.

Here are some activities that you can do at home with your child to support your child’s learning at home:

1. Write the letters c or k really big on a white sheet of paper. Use coloured paper or scrap paper from magazines to tear up small pieces and stick it to the letter written on the paper. This will develop your fine motor skills and reinforces our sounds.
2. Search for the letters c and k in your favourite story book.
3. Draw a picture with something that begins with the letters c or k.
4. Practise writing the letters you already know on a family member’s back. Can they guess which letter you have written?

Click here to listen to the song that goes with our /k/ sound.

I have passed home an additional activity in a small folder this week. Please feel free to keep the alphabet cards at home and simply return the empty folder to school. The folder has a number of game suggestions but do feel free to play your own games or use the cards to reinforce the sounds we have learned so far.

 

Welcome back! It’s good to see everyone after our October break.

This week we are learning the sound /o/.

Here are some activities you can do at home to support what we are learning in class:

• Spot the letter O o on signs and posters when you are out and about.
• Play letter detective and circle or highlight as many <o> as you can find on a page in an old magazine, a newspaper or even an old letter.
• Write all of the letters we have learned so far (s a t p i n m g and o) on several small scraps of paper – one letter on each paper scrap. Make several scraps of paper for each letter but make lots with the letter <o>. Crumble the scraps of paper up and put them into a bowl. Take turns to take a piece of paper out of the bowl and read out the letter. If it’s an <o> you can keep it, if it’s any other letter, say the sound and put it to the side. The winner is the player who managed to collect the most o’s by the time the bowl is empty.

You can also practise <o> with our song.

Welcome back! I hope that everyone has had a great October break.

Primary 2s are looking at the phoneme /oa/ this week. Here are our spelling words: toad, goat, coat, boat, loaf, soap, oak, moat.

Please practise these words ready for our spell check next Monday. You can choose one or more activities from our spelling menu if you want:

 

This week we are looking at the phoneme /igh/ written <igh>.

Here are our spelling words for this week:

Please practise these words at home. You can choose one or more activities from your spelling menu below if you want:

I have also given your child new words for their word tubs. Please practise sounding out and blending at home. We will do our spell check and I will collect the word tubs after the October holidays.

Have fun!

 

This week we are learning the sound /g/. We have been exploring how to form the letter g and we have been sounding out CVC words with g.

Here are some extra activities you can do at home with your child if you wish:

• Put some shaving foam, dry rice, or similar and ask your child to write the letters G and g. Ensure that they use correct letter formation.

• Go on an autumn walk and collect some different materials to make the letters G and g with them. You could use conkers, acorns, small pebbles, twigs, leaves etc.
• Play “I spy” and find things beginning with g. This is a great game to play with all of our other sounds, too! You can even play it with sounds that we have not yet learned as it helps to develop your child’s phonemic awareness.

I have put new words in your child’s word tub. Please practise these words at home. Encourage your child to place a finger underneath each sound and sound it out. Then “drive through” the sounds and blend them together. Finally, ask your child to tell you the word. I will collect the word tubs when we return from the October holidays.

Have fun!