Mr Thorne does Phonics and KS1

The children in Years 1 and 2 are quite familiar with phonics and these lessons encompass a variety of teaching methods and resources.

 

One of the favourite characters, for many of the children, is Geraldine the giraffe. They enjoy joining in with the phonics she learns with Mr Thorne.

 

Some even ask to watch the videos as a reward for good work or behaviour.

 

Recently Mr Thorne sent Mrs Matthews the codes for a couple of his ipad apps and Hargreaves class have tried them out. The two they have used are out Spell Book and Matching pairs and the comments were....Fun, fantastic, incredible, awesome, cool, superb, exciting, super duppery duper, stupendous, amazing. They said they enjoyed playing them because they helped with their spelling and they liked to win items for the museum. The apps have proved very popular and they children keep asking to play them....it is a great way to get the classroom tidy, they have never cleared up so fast in their haste to use the apps.

 

A screen shot form the pairs game

As a thank you to Mr Thorne for this gift the children wanted to write a blog post and to interview Mr Thorne; he kindly agreed and so here is their interview...

 

1. How do you think of the ideas for your games?

I think of what games I think I would like to play and design them for children. I also think of what I would find useful as a teacher to help me help the children.

 

2. Which one do you like best?

My favourite app is Spellbook 2.

 

3. Does Geraldine still live in London with you?

She is sleeping on top of the TV in my living room!

 

4. What does she like to eat?

She eats leaves allllll the time!

 

5. Is she real?

Of course. She is ever so naughty.

 

6. How long have you been a teacher?

I have been a teacher for 7 years.

 

7. Which year do you teach?

I currently teach Year 2.

 

8. Why do you like phonics so much?

I like phonics because it is the first important step in learning to read. Reading helps you to learn.

 

9. Is Geraldine really naughty or is she just acting?

She is always always naughty.

 

10. How old is Geraldine?

She is 4 years old.

 

11. What is your favourite colour?

My favourite colour is purple (and blue).

 

12. Why do you like hats?

There are so many different kinds of hat and sometimes I'm a bit lazy and do not want to brush my hair - a hat can hide all that 😊

 

 

A screen shot from Spell book

 

13. How many times do you do phonics each week?

I teach phonics once a week now!

 

14. How many games have you made up and are you going to make up more?

I've made 3 phonics games and I hope to make a times tables app soon.

 

15. What is your favourite phoneme?

I like zh - in words like usual, garage, television.

 

16. Did you learn phonics when you were little?

I did not learn phonics. I had a tin of words to practise called Sight Words. All the tricky words were in it too!

 

17. Do you have lots of fun in your classroom?

I hope my classroom is fun. I certainly like to have a fun atmosphere in class.

 

18. Why did you make up spell book?

I wanted to make spelling fun for children.

 

19. Who films Geraldine, is it you?

I am the cameraman yes!

 

20. Why did you choose a giraffe?

My best friend was getting married and for her hen night (when all her friends have a party) she was given a present of a giraffe puppet and then she came to life! So she is now my pet.

 

 

Thank you Mr Thorne, for your gift, from Hargreaves class and even though he gifted us the apps he did not ask us to write this post and the class do genuinely enjoy the games.