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Spellings and handwriting in Year 1

Spelling
Our spelling quiz's on a Friday involve your child writing out their spellings.

There are lots of fun ways for you to help your child practise their spellings! I have attached a mat of ideas which you can use to help learning fun and interactive! 

In school, we use 'Fred fingers' to help children spell words. The routine goes like this:

1) Say the word to your child and ask them to repeat it. 
2) Ask your child to count how many sounds are in that word and show this number on their fingers (for example the word sniff has 4 sounds s-n-i-ff so they will show you four fingers). 
3) Ask your child to say each sound and pinch their fingers as they go. 
4) They should now write this down. 

Handwriting
Don't worry if at this stage your child's letters are a little wobbly, we are working hard as a whole class to improve our handwriting! 
We will have handwriting sessions every Friday before spellings where we will focus on two letters a week. 
This half-term we will be mastering the letters: m, a, s, d, t, i, n, p, g, o. 

I have attached a sheet which details how these letters are formed (including the rhymes they learn in school!). Please take some time to practise these with your child at home.

I hope this clarifies the process, but please do give me a shout if you would like further information!