Sounds, spellings and sandwiches in Reception

Reception pupils at Truro School Pre-Prep brought their early reading and writing skills to life through an engaging lesson inspired by The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch. The much-loved story, which follows a lighthouse keeper whose carefully prepared lunches are repeatedly stolen by mischievous seagulls, provided the perfect starting place for early language development and hands-on learning.

The lesson began with a lively recap of the story. Guided by Head of Early Years, Ms Williams, the children confidently re-told key events, demonstrating excellent comprehension and recall. They delighted in discussing the solution in the story of feeding mustard sandwiches to stop the greedy gulls. They shared their own ideas around this, “Because it is not nice, it is too spicy,” one pupil explained, while another predicted, “We might see them munching on them!”

Building on this enthusiasm, Ms Williams carefully modelled how to make the sandwiches, with the pupils volunteering important vocabulary such as “slices of bread”, “spread” and “half”. Alongside this, pupils considered key elements of safety and hygiene, and looked at the colour and smell of the mustard, adding a sensory dimension to their learning.

The session then transitioned into writing. “It’s an instruction board!” one child observed, as the class worked together to compose their instruction text. Drawing on their phonics knowledge, pupils identified special friends such as ‘ar’ and practised using red words like ‘the’. They also developed their editing skills, revisiting their work to check for finger spaces, capital letters and full stops. Ms Williams further challenged the class by encouraging them to independently identify the number of sounds in each word, reinforcing their growing confidence and accuracy.

With their shared instructions complete, the children used their fine motor skills to cut, spread and assemble their own mustard sandwiches. They then worked in small groups and one-to-ones with adults to write their own sets of instructions, showcasing impressive independence and phonics knowledge.

This lesson beautifully exemplifies the Pre-Prep’s commitment to quality first teaching in early reading and writing, combined with a creative curriculum and small-group teaching that inspires curiosity, builds confidence and brings learning to life.