We need you – parental partnership!
Thank you to those of you who have emailed to tell us what your child is doing at home. These are a fantastic snapshot of what your child can do and really do inform our assessments.
Here are some example emails that we have received (names have been changed) that have been really informative for our assessments.
The email above tells us:
- Craig can recognise the dice and match the correct amount of objects to the numeral
- Craig can make meaningful marks when representing numbers
- Craig can concentrate for a long period of time, take turns and enjoys praise
This information about Craig really informs our assessment.
The email above tells us:
- Sophie can recognise and write the sounds we have been learning
- Sophie can concentrate for a long period of time and can keep on trying
- Sophie is making links with her learning at school and home
- The language Sophie uses at home – speech directly from the child is very useful! Even if the pronunciation or tense is incorrect, it’s really helpful to know exactly what your child has said
This information about Sophie also really informs our assessment.
We’re really looking forward to getting emails over Christmas about your child’s holiday and we hope this information has been useful.
The email address is: scholesf2@spherefederation.org
Spring Term Learning
‘What’s the matter?’ is our first mini-topic in the new year and is science-based. Children will learn about materials and their properties. We will explore what objects are made from and why, using One Snowy Night as a stimulus. We’ll be designing and making a waterproof shelter for an animal. You can help your child learn more about this topic when choosing which clothes to wear and talking about which materials everyday objects are made from and why. Children will also ask ‘What’s the matter?’ from a social and emotional point of view, thinking about how they can solve problems.
Life forces is our big topic for the new year (lasting eight weeks).
Life is all around us, in plants and animals, and comes in all shapes and sizes – it’s amazing! In this biology-based topic, we find out how our body works, what all living things have in common and the differences we might notice. Amongst other things, we’ll think about why animals choose particular habitats, and why a healthy diet is important and how drugs can be dangerous. Help your child at home by naming body parts, including the parts inside that you can’t see, discussing why you breathe hard after exercise and what plants you can see when you’re out and about.
A special delivery…
When the children came back to class from Wake Up Shake Up, they discovered a special visitor had been to make a delivery. They noticed a trail of glittery footprints leading from the cloakroom to rainbow room.
“Who could it be?” we asked the children.
“Santa!” they all replied excitedly.
The footprints led to a letter on the chair.
The star of the day children carefully opened up the special letter.
We read the letter to the class.
The children were all very excited to receive such a special letter and are looking forward to the sing-a-long performances this week – especially as Santa and his elves will be listening all the way from the North Pole.
Herd Farm Residential February 2018
Following the meeting for parents this evening, here are photographs and the information we shared.
Home Link – Christmas celebrations and holiday activities
Home Link….for after the holidays!
We’d love to hear all about your Christmas celebrations or about any fun activities and visits that you do over the holidays.
We look forward to seeing and hearing all about your Christmas celebrations and other adventures. Remember you can e-mail us, too.
Thank you.
We wish you a Merry Christmas
Our Nursery Christmas celebrations are well under way! The children have loved using the large construction area in their play. They have taken on the roles of busy elves making and wrapping ‘presents’ before building Santa’s sleigh to deliver them. We were especially pleased to see so many children engaging in all manner of mark-making activities: writing lists to Santa, writing gift tags and cards and even invitations to their own pretend Christmas parties!
Thank you to all of you who came to the ‘Stay and Decorate’ sessions. We hope you enjoyed coming into Nursery with your child and having the opportunity to make some lovely decorations. For those of you who were unable to attend, rest assured that all children will have the opportunity to make the crafts over the next week, should they wish.
Our long awaited dress rehearsal on Thursday was a huge success. The children looked fantastic in their costumes and sang beautifully. You’re certainly in for a treat, so tissues at the ready for the performances this coming week. We were very lucky on Friday when Father Christmas himself came to school to read stories to the children in a beautifully decorated grotto. The children were very quiet and on their best behaviour as they told him what they had put on their Christmas lists!
What we’re learning this week
We’ll continue to play using the enhanced provision to enjoy all the ‘awe and wonder’ of this festive period. Our performances will, of course, be at the heart of this busy week. The children have done a wonderful job of learning the songs, actions and elements of the Christmas story.
We expect lots of excited children on Thursday when it’s not only Christmas dinner day but also our Nursery party in the afternoon. We’ll be playing lots of party games and of course having some festive party food which we expect will last until Friday!
Well done to our swimmers
Well done to our swimmers who represented the City of Leeds swim team at the Jingle Bells gala. They managed to get seven medals between them!
Rocks and Fossils
Year 3/4 children have enjoyed studying rocks and fossils this week – we even made our own fossil jelly!
Each day, we added a different colour of jelly to resemble the layers of rock in the earth. We added a variety of items to show how living things become cast and mould fossils.
Children also made some of their own fossils from clay.
Story with Santa and Golden Star
We enjoyed our second meeting with Santa this week. Year 1 and 2 experienced a story with Santa and each received a present. Thank you to FOSP for organising this. The grotto looked amazing!
Well done to our Golden Star this week.
Steam Train and Santa!
We had a fabulous time at Middleton Railway this week. All the children were a fantastic advert for our school. We learnt about fireboxes, pistons and crankshafts. Ask you child how a steam train works!
