Are you a primary school teacher who uses sparklebox? Help pls?

[Deleted User]

My son has come home from school today with an A4 sheet of paper made by sparklebox.com, which has 200 high frequency words on it. He has already had the 100 word one and can nearly read them all. Hence the next sheet.

I feel a lot of these words are beyond him so probably Year 1 or 2 work. Can anyone guide me pls.

From a parents perspective (and from helping in the reception classroom), I have gauged my son's reading to be in the middle of the class (which I am absolutely fine with), so I wondered if this list of 200 words are just to keep his interest and for him to dip in and out of. We have laminated them and leave them on the table, so if one child finishes before the other we look at words, rather than one gets bored and plays up.

Of course I can ask the teachers on Monday, but I don't want to appear to be a pushy parent or a showy off one either, as I don't think many of the other kids have this sheet.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks

Bay

Sambucus_Nigra

What are you asking the teachers exactly? What is your question?

kingfisherblue

Your son will not be expected to be able to read all of the words yet, so don't worry. You could play with the words - making short (often silly!) sentences, finding rhyming words, etc to make learning more fun.

Also, I'm a bit surprised that the words are from Sparklebox as a lot of schools and LEAs no longer use this website. The owner of the site was prosecuted for child abuse a few years ago, and although the resources are beautifully produced, many schools and LEAs decided not to use them.

ETA: links:
http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6033403

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8462650.stm

http://newsblog.learningsupport.co.uk/2010/01/sparklebox-website-blocked-for.html

Four_leaf_clover_2

Kids start off learning the first 45 high frequency words, then the first 100. Once these are mastered, ideally with the child visually recognising them, being able to say them clearly and knowing how to spell them, they can move on as your son is.

See it as a word bank. If your son is keen to learn then just do a few words with him at a time. Is it laid out in alphabtical order? He could use it like a dictionary. You could make it into a game and ask him to find a word. See if he knows the first letter and where to look for it.

If he wants to write stories at home or a note to nanny etc then get him to look up the words himself. Kids love showing a bit of independance and ability. He can test himself and try it.

annie_d

My husband is a primary school teacher who refuses to use sparklebox due to its creator being a peodophile.

kingfisherblue

annie_d wrote: »

My husband is a primary school teacher who refuses to use sparklebox due to its creator being a peodophile.

The Sparklebox creator was jailed after his second offence, as reported in the links in my post above. I used to use some of the resources at brownies, but not since I heard about his activites. Sparklebox gets revenue from advertising, so even when he was in jail, Kinge was earning money from his website.

annie_d

Far more literate than I am kingfisher blue. Thankyou.

kingfisherblue

annie_d wrote: »

Far more literate than I am kingfisher blue. Thankyou.

Literate, me? I've just noticed that I spelled 'activities' wrong :rotfl:

snozberry

annie_d wrote: »

My husband is a primary school teacher who refuses to use sparklebox due to its creator being a peodophile.

Snap. I wouldn't touch the site with a bargepole.

thegirlintheattic

Be more worried your DS's teacher was using Sparklebox, don't know a teacher who'd touch it due to it's creator's history.

As for the words, he's meant to learn them - therefore they will be hard at first.

annie_d

Haha you did indeed kfb. What I meant was....you make effort to type more words than I do.