Count backwards like a rocket
Sit close. Today we start at 20 and climb down. Counting backwards is the sneaky way to learn what number comes before — and you will need it in the ten-frame game in a minute.
- Two things that grow — name them fast: a lamb, a weed, your toenails, a sunflower…
- Show me 10 fingers. Now hide 3 behind your back. How many are peeking?
If 20→0 is tricky, do it together and clap on 10, 5 and 1. No hurry.
Two letters, one sound: sh
Put your finger on the sh. Listen ▸ It is not s and not h. It is a hiss. shhh — the baby is asleep.
Build the word 🧱
Look at the picture. Tap the letters in the right order to spell it. 0 of 4 built
Watch for: writing s when they hear sh. Give a mirror — round the lips for /sh/, flat for /s/.
My book: The Seed
page 1 of 6
How to read it: finger under each word, go left to right. If a word is stuck, sound it out — then have another look at the picture. Read it once to the grown-up, once to a teddy.
Ten beans and a ten-frame
Tap the boxes to drop beans in. Watch the number sentence change underneath — it always makes 10.
Talk about it: “I can see four without counting them!” Five on the top row, five on the bottom row — that is ten, the whole box.
What goes with 7 to make 10?
If 10 is easy, play “what goes with 6 to make 10?” with hands — hide 4 fingers behind your back.
What does a seed need?
A seed is a tiny sleeping plant with its own packed lunch inside. It wakes up only when things are right. Put each card in the correct box.
🌱 A seed NEEDS this
🙅 A seed can do WITHOUT this
Sow two beans: one in a dark cupboard, one on the window sill. Which one gets tall and green? Check on Friday.
Plant the bean, draw the garden
Poke four holes in the cup
Water must be able to escape, or the seed drowns.Push soil in with your fingers
Press it down gently — firm, not brick-hard.Make a hole the depth of your knuckle
Drop the bean in and tuck the soil over it like a blanket.Water until it drips out underneath
Then write your name on the pot with a crayon.Draw it today. Draw it again in a week.
Same pot, same pencil, date on the page.
Super Grower
This certifies that
can say the sh sound, read The Seed alone, make 10 in five different ways, and knows exactly what a seed needs. Well done!
🔒 all six stickers to unlock — 0/6 so far
Notes, tweaks & next lesson
Aim of the lesson
- Hear and read the digraph sh in one-syllable words.
- See 10 as 5+5 and know all pairs that make ten.
- Read a fully decodable 6-page book with confidence.
- Name 3 of the 4 things a seed needs to grow.
If it goes badly
- Stop at page 3 of the book — a half-finished win beats a finished tear.
- Swap beans for raisins. Same maths, tastier.
- Do the ten-frame standing up, jumping onto numbers on the floor.
If it's too easy
- Try ch and th and sort the words into three jars.
- Ask “what goes with 8 to make 20?” using two frames.
- Write two pages of their own book: The Seed 2.
Before Lesson 10
- Water the pot. A splash of water, a splash of sun.
- Practice the 20→0 countdown in the car.
- Bring the drawing — the grown one and the old one, side by side.