Monkey is loving school at the moment. Loving it. Some days he is tired and doesn’t want to go and there have been comments along the lines of “do I go to school every day?” as realisation sets in that this is every day now. I can’t always get much out of him in terms of what he has done that day but what is apparent is how much he is enjoying learning to read and write. 
He adores singing all the letters and sounds songs and often pipes up if he hears a relevant word or sound, singing one of the songs and doing the actions he has learnt at school, “under the umbrella, u, u, u” or “munch on your meal, m, m, m” for example.
He constantly wants to write things, letters, lists, notes etc. He asks us how to spell the word and occasionally we have to draw a letter for him to copy but he knows almost all now I would say. Here’s a couple of his examples.
When spelling out words to him we do try and get him to sound it out and work out what the next letter will be and the school has said that him trying is more important than correct spelling at this stage. But it is hard to say “yes that’s right” when you know that’s not how it is spelt! It isn’t hard to be proud of him when he is trying so hard though and we are doing everything we can to help his learning even if it feels weird.
He is doing really well with his reading too. He desperately wants to be able to read any word he sees but obviously he has a way to go there. He was one of the first in his class (3rd or 4th I think though I could be wrong) to get a reading book which I was hugely hugely proud of. He tries really hard though does get muddled sometimes, partly down to a lack of concentration. It is hard to spend quiet time with him reading when LM is also desperate for attention or watching TV. When he can focus though and when he does really try he is doing so well.
Even though it can be tricky getting him to focus on his reading book, he is loving the new ability to read certain words. He is amazed when he can read a word on a leaflet or on a sign and it is wonderful to see this whole new world open up to him. In the car today he suddenly shouted “I can see ‘the'” which he saw on a pub. So sweet and lovely to see,
We had his first parents evening this week and I’m not sure you could get two prouder parents. He sailed through his phonics assessment and is meeting all of their behaviour code. They also commented on how he tries his best, even when doing something new or that he is unsure of.
We got to see his folder with some of his creations in and pictures of him busy at play. Some of the things they’ve noted he has come out with had us in stitches. For example when holding up a sort of number wheel and announced “it looks like I’m holding a steering wheel… Like I’m sailing a boat to South America!” love our boy!
We are massively proud of the way Monkey has taken to school and the way he is loving learning so far. I just hope it continues.
