Reach for the STARS with Sarah

Reach for the STARS with Sarah Supporting primary-aged children to feel confident and progress through tailored 1:1 tuition. I am an experienced Primary School Teacher based in Huntly.

I have a Post Grad Diploma in Primary Education and a Post Grad Certificate in Autism and Learning. I also hold PVG membership. During my career, I have taught every age and stage within Primary Education and have detailed knowledge of the Scottish Primary Curriculum. This wealth of knowledge and experience ensures I have a deep understanding of the best ways to support children through their learning journey.

We have been busy learning all the parts that make a super sentence. This week we applied all our previous learning by a...
27/02/2026

We have been busy learning all the parts that make a super sentence. This week we applied all our previous learning by adding openers to start our sentences in a more exciting way.

Can you spot the adjectives, nouns, verbs, connectives and openers?

✏️ “Finally on Sunday morning, little Luna ran with the yellow ball to my school because Cookie ran to the cinema and Luna wanted to find her.”

Syllable Sorting: To develop awareness of the syllable structure of words. To increase engagement we loaded the car up w...
25/02/2026

Syllable Sorting: To develop awareness of the syllable structure of words.

To increase engagement we loaded the car up with the picture/word and parked it in the correct ‘space’ depending on the number of syllables.

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Listening to the learners 👂⭐ I had a request to learn spelling words using look-say-cover-write-check approach.I am real...
23/02/2026

Listening to the learners 👂⭐

I had a request to learn spelling words using look-say-cover-write-check approach.

I am really proud of the improvement in handwriting here too!

Reach for the STARS with Sarah

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20/02/2026

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✏✨ Why teach 26 separate letters when so many share the same formation patterns? By grouping letters into families, children quickly spot the similarities. This helps them develop muscle memory quickly and build writing confidence from the very beginning!

⬇️ Long Ladder Letters: l, i, t, j, y
Start at the top, pull straight down, then add dots or tails. Simple, strong strokes build great foundations.

🐛 Curly Caterpillar Letters: c, a, d, g, o, q, s, f
Begin with a “c” shape and curl around to form the letter. Smooth, round movements help develop control.

🤖 One-Armed Robot Letters: r, n, m, h, b, p
Start with a tall down stroke, lift your pencil, then add the arm or bump. These letters build rhythm and flow.

⚡ Zigzag Letters: v, w, x, z
Straight lines that meet in sharp points. Focus on neat angles and clean joins.

Learning through letter families makes handwriting more fun and engaging. Instead of memorising random shapes, children meet curly caterpillars, one-armed robots, and zigzag letters, giving each formation a personality and story.

👉 Head to www.lovewritingco.com to read the full blog and learn how to teach letter families step-by-step! ✍️

To find the area of a rectangle using the formula: Area=Length x Breadth. Step 1. Finding rectangles in the environment,...
25/01/2026

To find the area of a rectangle using the formula: Area=Length x Breadth.

Step 1. Finding rectangles in the environment, measuring the length and multiplying by the breadth.
Step 2. Correctly recording and presenting the answers and workings, in a squared jotter.

A big well done to this student! I’m sure you’ll agree, the presentation is superb!
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Onset and rime activity:“If you can spell, ‘at’, you can spell ‘s-at’, p-at.”Well done to this student who tried so hard...
22/01/2026

Onset and rime activity:
“If you can spell, ‘at’, you can spell ‘s-at’, p-at.”

Well done to this student who tried so hard with this activity. They have the word box at home to repeat all week. This will really help with reading, spelling and confidence.

Reach for the STARS with Sarah

Word Boundaries: Hearing where one word ends and where another word begins is so important for clarity and understanding...
21/01/2026

Word Boundaries:
Hearing where one word ends and where another word begins is so important for clarity and understanding when reading, writing and talking.

We built cube towers to reinforce our understanding of word boundaries.
🧱 1 cube = 1 word 🧱

We had fun creating sentences for each other!

It’s great to be back after an extra-long break due to snowy weather ❄️ This student did so well at identifying where a ...
20/01/2026

It’s great to be back after an extra-long break due to snowy weather ❄️

This student did so well at identifying where a hyphen is needed to prevent confusion:
•To connect two or more words that work together as a single adjective before a noun
•To use hyphens to join prefixes to root words; to avoid awkward letter combinations, or when the prefix could be confused with another word.

They enjoyed being a “hyphen detective” and correctly added hyphens to my sentences as well as completing the jotter job.

Great work! 🎉

15/12/2025

As the end of the year draws short,
I would like to take this opportunity to extend a heartfelt thank you for your support.
Thank you for choosing ‘Reach for the STARS’,
I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year wherever you are!

I will now be on holiday until January 2026.
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I was proud to present a 2 year certificate in November. The first student/family that signed up to my business, is stil...
05/12/2025

I was proud to present a 2 year certificate in November. The first student/family that signed up to my business, is still supporting me and they are making super progress!
Thank you very much. It means so much. 🤗 🌟

One of my favourite resources of the moment…Colourful Semantics!
03/12/2025

One of my favourite resources of the moment…
Colourful Semantics!

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