I was busy sorting laundry while Cian played independently. He ran in excitedly, calling, “Mummy, I’ve done a surprise! Come and see the sea!”
He’d fetched his sea animals from his bedroom and the letters from the shelf and was proudly busy writing the names of the sea creatures. He includes animals, and now letters, in most of his play at the moment. We can’t finish a sentence without him trying to sound out the words we’ve said.
When I came in he was on ‘manatee‘.
For ‘whale shark‘, Cici was unsure whether to use a ‘c‘ or ‘k‘ at the end of the word. He’s like his oldest brother, always liking to do their work ‘correctly’, even in their play, sometimes to the point where they struggle to get started. So we’re trying not to tell him any of the ‘answers’ as he goes along, encouraging him to just ‘have a go’. We can always check spellings later, but want them to be confident to just enjoy creating.
Showing me his finished words.
DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)
Communication and language
Literacy
ELG 10 – Writing:
Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.
