Dear Parents/Carers,

Today your child has come home with a reading diary and reading book. The book is linked to your child’s phonics group and is similar to the book they are reading in school. Please try to listen to your child read as much as possible, and record what they have read in their diary. Encourage them to sound out and blend unfamiliar words, and ask them questions about what is happening in the book.

The ‘Reading Gems’ that are stuck in the front of the diary are the same as the ones we use in school and link to the different skills that the children will be using.

The books will be changed every Tuesday and Friday, but children need to have their book and diary in school every day.

Children will have spellings stuck into their reading diary every Friday beginning next week. They need to practise these at home and will be tested on the spellings of these words the following Friday in school. Each week, the spellings will also be added to the school website on the year group page.

We are now using ‘Numbots’ as our maths homework in Year 1. We have sent a letter with information about this in your child’s reading diary. Login details are also stuck at the back of the diary. We would like your child to complete 3 minutes on ‘Story Mode’, 4 to 5 times a week. Story mode will then unlock a range of challenges for your child to complete, the emphasis of the challenges is on rapid responses to essential facts and simple calculations, against the clock. We will be able to track the children’s progress through the story mode, and see how they are getting on with their challenges.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Many thanks,

The Year 1 Team.