Let’s Go!
We’ve sprung into Spring 2 with great excitement for the term ahead! Outside, the sun has been shining and we’ve been noticing the first signs of the new season.
Pancake Day
On Shrove Tuesday, the children made pancakes. They learnt how to follow the steps of a recipe and check a list of ingredients. They followed the kitchen hygiene and safety rules. They had lots of fun mixing the ingredients and of course, tasting their creation!
The Train Ride
This half term is called Let’s Go! We’re starting with a focus on transport. This week, we’ve been reading The Train Ride by June Crebbin.
This story is about things that are seen out of the window, on a train journey. We noticed that the rhythm of the book’s repeated/rhyming lines start fast and repetitive (much like the sound of a train chugging along a track) and then as the train approaches the station, the lines become longer and the pace slows down until the train reaches is destination. Destination is our ‘word of the week’.
We’ve been discussing journeys that we have been on, either on trains or other modes of transport and what destinations we were going to. We’ve been writing about what we might see out of the train window.
Historical links
We looked at pictures of the early steam locomotive- Robert Stephenson’s Rocket. We compared it to the trains we use today.
In the discovery area, we’ve been ordering images of trains from oldest to newest. We’ve also been looking at historical pictures of Scholes Train Station.
Maths: Comparison
We’ve been comparing groups of objects and toys, saying which has more and which has fewer. We’ve been using our mathematical reasoning to explain why size, colour and other factors do not matter when comparing ‘how many’. Here is an example of a conversation from a maths lesson this week:
The teacher had asked a child to share some toys with them, from a basket. In this instance, both the teacher and child had 4 toys each.
Child 1: Oh, you both have the same…it’s equal!
Teacher: Actually, this toy is my favourite. This toy means so much more to me than any of those others because I really like it, so I think I have more.
Child 2: No, it doesn’t matter about any of that! It doesn’t matter how much you love it or if it’s bigger, it just matters about how many.
Child 3: The quantity!
In the classroom, children have been making 6 using Numicon frames.
Phonics
Spring 2 week 1 has been a review of phase 3 sounds: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, oo, ow, oi, ear, in words and sentences. We review tricky words daily.
Tricky words can be just that-tricky! We’ve previously introduced a few fun games you can play at home to practice tricky words. Here’s another you could try.
Roll and Read
You will need a die for this game. You may wish to print the boards or display them on a screen.
- Roll the die
- Count the spots, match to the correct row
- Choose a word to read on the row
- Cover the word when read correctly
- Repeat
Who will be the first to complete a row?
PE
We are excited to continue having both swimming and Foot-Tech on Wednesdays this half term. If it is your child’s swimming week, they may have both swimming and a Foot-tech session that afternoon. Please ensure that they are wearing PE kit, rather than school uniform. This must include suitable PE footwear.
Here is another reminder of the swimming dates:
Rainbow Class- 22 Feb, 8 Mar, 22 Mar
Sunshine Class- 1 Mar, 15 Mar, 29 Mar
These dates are also stuck to your child’s classroom door or window to view whenever needed.
We will also continue to have PE on Fridays. This half term we are developing ball skills and counter-balancing in pairs.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is Pancakes by Christina Rossetti
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm. Can your child re-tell this week’s poem to you?
Reminders and Messages
Shoe Box: Please send a named, empty shoe box into school from Monday 27 February. This is for a special creative activity in the classroom.
World Book Day 2023: Relax and Read – Thursday 02 March Please join us in the classroom for an extended drop-off time (8.40-9.20) where you can relax and read books with your child. Throughout the day, we’ll have World Book Day themed activities. We’d also like your child to share their favourite book with their friends. Please send your child into school with their favourite book and please ensure the book is named. As stated on the school calendar, this is not a dressing-up year. Thank you.
Half-term sponsored maths challenge: Please remember to return your sponsored maths challenge forms by Friday 03 March 2023.
Great Fairies of the World
Great Fairies of the World
This week, we’ve been reading Great Fairies of the World by Stephanie Moss. This rhyming story features fairy characters that have jobs that help others; architect fairy, doctor fairy and engineer fairy, to name just a few! We’ve been discussing how the author uses the most interesting descriptions/words that they can think of. We’ve been describing images and making words more adventurous. This has helped develop our oracy skills and helped us in our writing too.
In our writing, we’ve created our own fairy characters and written about the jobs that they do.
In provision, we’ve linked our fiction reading to non-fiction information about real-life heroes in the community.
We’ve also used the fairy theme in our classroom challenges.
Living and learning: Internet Safety
This week’s living and learning statement is: I know that people should treat others respectfully when online.
This has coincided with Safer Internet Day (Tuesday 7 February)
When asked what being ‘online’ means and what you can do online, the children said:
It’s something on your phone- Sonny…
Or your iPad- Harry…
Or your tablet- Orlah…
Or your computer- Daniel
You can buy things on the phone- Skyla
You can send money to people- Grace
On iPads you can call someone- Mollie
Alexa!-Bella
We spoke about some important uses for the internet, such as the way we use it for our learning- our eBooks. We discussed how we should limit our time online to keep our body and brain healthy and why we shouldn’t use electronic devices close to bed time.
In Reception, we’ve used the story The Adventures of Smartie the Penguin to talk about internet safety. Smartie receives a tablet for his birthday but encounters some problems such as adverts, websites that are too old for him and people saying unkind things online, during a game. He makes the right decisions and always asks Mummy and Daddy for help. There is a memorable song throughout the story:
before you tap and click… you need to stop and think… and TELL someone!
Ask your child what they can remember about keeping safe online.
Maths: Length and height
We’ve been developing our understanding of how to compare and measure length and height. We’ve been ordering by length and comparing the length of objects; saying which are shorter, longer, the shortest, the longest, the same (equal). We’ve been measuring objects using non-standard forms of measurement. We measured the length of our bodies using different objects.
We built towers to compare height; saying which are taller, shorter and equal. We’ve ordered ourselves by height and have estimated how many bricks tall we are.
Phonics
It’s assessment week in phonics. We’ve been reviewing and revisiting our Spring 1 learning. Your child will have come home with a grapheme mat and a tricky word mat. If any sounds are highlighted on the grapheme mat, these are those that your child is not yet secure on. Please keep practising these at home.
Tricky words can be just that-tricky! In Little Wandle phase 3, we learnt lots of new words. The children will continue to learn new tricky words fairly rapidly over the Spring 2 and Summer terms. We’ve previously introduced a few fun games you can play at home to practice tricky words. Here’s another you could try!
Musical tricky words
- Write the tricky words on individual pieces of paper, lay them out on the floor
- Play your child’s favourite song for them to dance around to
- When the music stops, your child should pick a word to quickly run to and stand on
- Your child reads the word they have landed on
- Remove that word and repeat until there are no words left!
Focus Artist: Yayoi Kusama
Over the last few weeks we’ve been exploring the art of Yayoi Kusama. We’ve been colour mixing and using the paint to make dot pictures, drawn spots onto pumpkin pictures and decorated a vegetable using playdough spots. We’ve also made our own artwork, inspired by the artist.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is Furry, furry squirrel
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm. Can your child re-tell this week’s poem to you?
Fiddly fingers stay and play
Wow! Another fantastically busy stay and play last Friday. Thank you to parents and carers who were able to attend. The focus was on the development of fine motor skills and we aimed to demonstrate a range of activities that can be easily replicated at home. We hope you all enjoyed our Fiddly Fingers session!
Half-term sponsored maths challenge
Your child has brought home a tens-frame sponsored challenge, for over half-term. All sponsorship money will go towards classroom resources and this year’s chosen charity- Cancer Research UK.
Reminders
SWIMMING DATES- Spring 2
Rainbow Class- 22 Feb, 8 Mar, 22 Mar
Sunshine Class- 1 Mar, 15 Mar, 29 Mar
These dates are also stuck to your child’s classroom door or window to view whenever needed.
When not swimming, this half term’s PE focus will be developing ball skills and counter balancing in pairs.
World Book Day 2023: Stay and Read – Thursday 02 March Time and further details to follow.
Happy half term! Enjoy the break and we’ll see you again on Monday 20 February.
Supertato!
It has been another fun week exploring ‘Supertato’ by Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet. We have been creating WANTED posters for Evil Pea. The children were able to write sentences using tricky words and known phonics.
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
Word of the week
Every week, we look at a new adventurous word. We call this our ‘word of the week’. This week our word of the week was ‘villain’ – linked to the story ‘Supertato’. We looked at the definition. ‘A villain is the bad guy.’, drew pictures to represent villain’s and used the word villain in our everyday speech.
Evil Pea is a villain because he is mean to others.
A villain is a baddy!
I don’t like villains!
Maths
This week, the children have been exploring weight. We have focused on using mathematical vocabulary to compare different items.
heavy heavier heaviest
light lighter lightest
Phonics
This week, the children have been reading longer words. We use the chunking method to read words with more that one syllable. We have also spotted words containing double letters (e.g. rabbit) – these are diagraphs too!
Ask your child to chunk and read these words.
sunset chicken carpet carrot
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is Mrs Bluebird
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm. Can your child re-tell this weeks poem to you?
Reminders
Early writing presentation – Don’t forget to watch the short presentation by Mrs Payne, one of our Sphere Federation Reception teachers. It has some ideas of things that you can try at home to support your child’s learning.
Supertato!
Supertato!
This week, in literacy we have been reading the book ‘Supertato’ by Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet. We have been retelling the story using actions and story maps.
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
Can your child retell the story Supertato to you at home? They could use the story maps below to help them – or even better, draw their own! Email us to let us how they did – your child will earn a challenge brick.
The children have also been busy doing lots of Supertato themed challenges. Here are some of the challenges they have been doing.
Challenge bricks – what is my child talking about?
Challenging activities are around the classroom for your child to complete to earn a brick. You might have seen them if you attended a stay and play recently – they are shown on blackboards in different areas of learning. The aim is to get a tower of bricks taller than SIX. Challenges include the learning we’re focusing on throughout the week.
Ask your child what challenges they’ve done this week.
At the end of the week, we talk about who has more and who has fewer bricks. If your child’s tower is more than SIX, your child will come home with a certificate.
Word of the week
Every week, we look at a new adventurous word. We call this our ‘word of the week’. This week our word of the week was ‘hero’ – linked to the story ‘Supertato’. We looked at the definition. ‘A person who is brave and good – often looked up to by others.’, drew pictures to represent hero’s and used the word hero in our everyday speech.
“I can see a hero – it’s Supertato” Georgie.
“My hero is Hulk” Jack.
“My hero is Rosie” Grace.
Maths
This week, the children have been developing their understanding of composition – the numbers within numbers.
We have been using the Hungarian number pattern (die pattern) as shown below.
These key representations help your child to underline the ‘5-ness’ of 5. The children now have a great understanding of pairs of numbers that make 5!
“3 and 2 more…5”
“3 and 3 equals 6”
Phonics
This week, the children have learnt the new digraph ‘er’ – a digraph is ‘two letters that make one sound’. They have also learnt the new trigraph ‘air’ – a trigraph is ‘three letters that make one sound’.
Before reading a word we always look for any digraphs (two letters that make one sound) or trigraphs (three letters that make one sound). Then, we say the sound it makes. Finally, we sound out the word and blend it together – using our phoneme fingers! This helps your child identify the digraphs before reading a word.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is ‘A little house’.
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm. Can your child re-tell this weeks poem to you?
Reminders
Reception Coffee Morning – Tuesday 31st January, 2023
After dropping your child off, stay at school for an informal chat with Mrs Beesley, the Reception staff and get to know the other parents, too. We will be in the new area of school called ” The Hub” from 9- 10am. Come and join us.
Stay and Play (fiddly fingers) – Friday 03 February at 2.pm– 3.20pm.
This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about the Early Years Curriculum and watch your child learn in school.
There will be a sign-up sheet in the classroom/after school club on Monday 30th January.
Reception Coffee Morning – 31.01.23
Reception Coffee Morning – Tuesday 31st January, 2023
After dropping your child off, stay at school for an informal chat with Mrs Beesley, the Reception staff and get to know the other parents, too. We will be in the new area of school called ” The Hub” from 9- 10am. Come and join us.
The Magic Paintbrush
The Magic Paintbrush
This week, we have focused on the story The Magic Paintbrush. We began by listening to the story for enjoyment. After becoming familiar with the story, we were then able to discuss the main events and characters.
The children then explored what they would do if they had a magic paintbrush.
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
Maths
This week, we have consolidated our understanding of the composition of 5. We used the nursery rhyme 5 little speckled frogs to investigate different ways of making 5. By using part whole models and 10 frames, the children were able to represent their understanding in a range of ways.
Use the sentence 5 is made of __ and ___ to describe these images.
Phonics
This week, the children have learnt some new digraphs and trigraphs – a digraph/trigraph consists of ‘two/three letters that make one sound’. Ask your child to tell you the sounds the digraphs/trigraphs below make.
ur ow oi ear
Before reading a word we always look for any digraphs/trigraphs (two/three letters that make one sound). Then, we say the sound the digraph makes. Finally, we sound out the word and blend it together – using our phoneme (the sound a letter makes) fingers! This helps your child identify the digraphs/trigraphs (two/three letters that make one sound) before reading a word.
Find the diagraphs/trigraphs before reading these words.
hurt how coin fear
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. This week’s poem is ‘Jack and Jill’.
PE
This week, reception has continued to develop their balancing skills in a Foot Tech session and on the equipment.
Stay and Play – Funky Phonics
Thank you to all the adults that were able to join our stay and play sessions this week.
Learning in our areas
This week, we have explored Lunar New year. The children were able to compare the celebration to their own experiences.
I’ve seen fireworks before. We had them on New Years Eve.
I saw them (fireworks) on bonfire night.
I had new clothes on Christmas day.
Reminders
Swimming/Football
Spring 1 – swimming
Rainbow Class- 4 Jan, 18 Jan, 1 Feb
Sunshine Class- 11 Jan, 25 Jan, 8 Feb
When your child is not swimming, they will be taking part in Foot Tech Football sessions. Please ensure your child comes in PE kit every Wednesday, including suitable trainers.
Reading
Reading Records – return to school each Friday
Library books – return on Thursdays
Winter
Winter
This week, we’ve been talking about typical signs of winter. We’ve been reading a range of winter themed fiction and non-fiction books. We have also been discussing animals that live in a cold climate. Climate is our word of the week!
Rainbow class have been writing about typical signs of winter.
Sunshine class have been writing about Arctic animals.
In Literacy, we’ve also been discussing the features of fiction and non-fiction books, sorting them into groups. Here are some thoughts that children shared during the activity.
Fiction books
“They’re fun to read and they can make you laugh”- Sonny
“Some books can be scary”- Mollie G
“They’re good for your brain because they make you feel good”- Maddison
Non-fiction books
“If you don’t know about something, you can read about it and find out”- Georgie
“I got a non-fiction book from the library because I wanted to find out about pyramids”- Keira
Maths: The staircase pattern
We’ve been counting to find ‘how many’.
With the help of our Numberblocks friends, we’ve revisited the ‘stable order’ principle of counting (Understanding that number names are said in order)
We’ve been learning about the ‘one more’ relationship between consecutive numbers. We discovered that when you represent numbers in order using cubes, it makes a ‘staircase’ pattern!
Phonics
This week, the children have learnt some new digraphs – a digraph consists of ‘two letters that make one sound’. Ask your child to tell you the sounds the digraphs below make.
oo oo ar or
You may have noticed that one of our digraphs is repeated. That’s because the ‘oo’ digraph makes two different sounds! It might take a bit of investigating in our reading to see which one fits the word. Please support your child with this when practising their ‘learn at home’ phonics sheet.
Before reading a word, we always look for any digraphs (two letters that make one sound). Then, we say the sound the digraph makes. Finally, we sound out the word and blend it together – using our phoneme (the sound a letter makes) fingers! This helps your child identify the digraphs (two letters that make one sound) before reading a word.
Penguin observations
Over the past two weeks, the children have loved observing the ‘penguin cam’ at Edinburgh Zoo. They’ve been watching closely, making notes about what they look like, how they move and what they have in their enclosures to keep them happy. We discussed how this is not their natural habitat and what their environment would be like in the Antarctic.
Living and Learning
This week’s Living and Learning statement is: I know that some drugs are harmful.
In Reception, we’ve focused on our PSED (Personal, Social, Emotional Development) statement “I know that I must only take medicines when an adult is with me”
The children shared some fantastic knowledge of why they must be with a trusted adult when using medicines.
“To make sure it’s not out of date”- Jack
“To look at the label to see how much you need”- Olivia
“If you get the wrong one, it could make you more poorly”- Skyla
“You might take too much”- Alfie
PE
On Wednesday, Rainbow class enjoyed their first fun-filled PE session led by Foot-Tech Academy
This half term, our PE skill focus is dynamic (moving) balance and static balance.
In Friday sessions, we’ll be using a variety of apparatus in the hall to develop these skills.
Inspiration on a rainy day
It’s been a very dreary, soggy week outside but, as ever, the children’s curiosity led to some fantastic exploration. After a conversation about rain, flooding and potentially needing a boat to get around (ha!) the talk soon turned to types of boat and learning about canal boats. The children watched some short clips of ‘Rosie and Jim’ and a group were inspired to build their own canal boat in the outside area. They showed great team work and story-telling. This spontaneous, child-led interest and construction carried on throughout the week.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. This week’s poem is ‘I can build a snowman ’.
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm. Can your child tell you if this week’s poem is fast or slow? We know that learning to recite poems, helps our reading in lots of ways.
Click here to watch Reception recite this week’s poem!
Celebration assembly
Reception have started attending Friday celebration assemblies with KS1. Each week, we’ll be awarding sports, living and learning and great learning certificates. If your child receives a certificate or award outside of school, they can also bring this in to share with everyone in the assembly.
Reminders
- Reading- Please remember to bring in library books on Thursdays and reading records on Fridays.
- Funky phonics Phase 3 stay and play- Monday 16 January/ Wednesday 18 January 9.00-9.30am Please only attend the session you have signed up for and please remember that we have space for only one parent/carer at this session. We’ve taken on board your feedback from previous stay and play events and have split the session over 2 days, to lower numbers and ensure a calmer learning environment for all.
We are looking forward to welcoming you all back into the classroom and showing you how much our phonics has developed!
Welcome back!
Welcome back
The children have returned to school ready to spring into action this spring half term! It has been fantastic to hear about everybody’s Christmas holidays – the children have really enjoyed confidently and articulately sharing their news.
Lost and Found
This week, in literacy we have been reading the book ‘Lost and Found’ by Oliver Jeffers. We have been retelling the story using actions and story maps.
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
Maths – super subitising!
This week we have been practising our subitising skills. This means, we have been looking and saying how many objects we can see – without counting one by one! Ask your child how many spots they can see by subitising.
“…there’s 4 because there’s 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom – that makes 4!” Edie
“3 because there’s 2 there and 1 there – that makes 3!” Jack.
You can also practice subitising by playing board games with a dice at home with your child.
Phonics
This week, the children have learnt some new digraphs – a digraph consists of ‘two letters that make one sound’. Ask your child to tell you the sounds the digraphs below make.
ai ee igh oa
Before reading a word we always look for any digraphs (two letters that make one sound). Then, we say the sound the digraph makes. Finally, we sound out the word and blend it together – using our phoneme (the sound a letter makes) fingers! This helps your child identify the digraphs (two letters that make one sound) before reading a word.
Here is a video modelling how we do this in school. This is something you can do with your child when reading their book at home.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. This week’s poem is ‘Let’s put on our mittens’.
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm. Can your child tell you if this week’s poem is fast or slow?
PE
This week, Sunshine class had their first Foot-Tech session. They were excellent listeners and played lots of fun games to keep fit and healthy.
Library
This week, we have visited the school library. Your child will have bought a library book home. Please enjoy reading and sharing this at home.
Please return your child’s library book to school on Thursday’s so that your child can choose a different book – if they are ready to change it.
Reminders
Swimming/Football
Spring 1 – swimming
Rainbow Class- 4 Jan, 18 Jan, 1 Feb
Sunshine Class- 11 Jan, 25 Jan, 8 Feb
When your child is not swimming, they will be taking part in Foot Tech Football sessions. Please ensure your child comes in PE kit every Wednesday, including suitable trainers.
The Christmas Countdown!
We’ve had a week full of festive fun!
The Christmas story
We’ve been learning the story of the first Christmas- The Nativity. We learnt that this is why Christians celebrate Christmas. The children independently wrote what they could see, in a scene from the story.
Christmas Dinner
Reception had a yummy Christmas dinner. They had fun exploring the Christmas inflatables, organised by Mrs Pennock.
Maths- Professor Myers and the candy cane experiment!
Professor Myers introduced our maths focus this week, with the candy cane experiment! We investigated the strength of a candy cane by hanging different objects from it.
We’ve also been exploring the language we use to describe weight; heavy, light, heavier, lighter, heaviest, lightest. We compared objects using balance scales.
Some children decided to compare their weight using the balance boards outside!
Christmas around the world
We’ve been exploring the different ways that people celebrate Christmas across the world. We looked at the difference between Santa in the UK and Santa in Australia.
We made Chinese paper lanterns for decorations.
We heard about the good witch, La Befana, who brings presents to children in Italy.
We made observational drawings of Poinsettia- a popular Christmas plant here, in Mexico and in India.
We went hunting for the lucky almond (in picture form). In Denmark, it’s a Christmas tradition to hide an almond in pudding. The finder has good luck for the year!
We added drawings of presents and sweets to a picture of shoes. In the Netherlands, Sinterklaas leaves gifts in children’s shoes. Our shoes were magic and turned into real treats at play time!
We discussed similarities and differences with our own Christmas traditions:
“I decorate with lights on my tree and tinsel in Mummy’s car”- Orlah (Christmas in China)
“We have a witch at Halloween but scary”- Daniel (Christmas in Italy)
“It is hot there. It’s cold and snowy here”- Mollie B (Christmas in Austrailia)
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. This week’s poem is Cup of tea.
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm. Can your child tell you if this week’s poem is fast or slow?
Here are some children from Sunshine and Rainbow classes, reciting this week’s poem:
Someone special visited our classrooms…
On Wednesday, the children received a special video. Santa had been to visit our classrooms and he’d left us all a present! He even took the time to read us a story on the video. We were so impressed that he came to see our school.
Christmas party day
We’ve had lots of fun today; dancing, playing games and being with our friends.
Thank you to FOSP (The Friends of Scholes (Elmet) Primary) who gifted us an online pantomime to enjoy- Cinderella!
Learning Journey drop-ins
Thank you to parents and carers who joined us for our Learning Journey drop-ins on Monday/Tuesday morning and Thursday after school.
If you were unable to join us this time, we’ll be offering more of these drop- in sessions later in the school year.
Phonics
It was another review week in phonics this week. We’ve been revisiting and consolidating all we have learnt across phase 2. The children have been brilliant in their reading groups and independent writing this week. It is fantastic to see them confidently using all of the skills they have developed this term.
This week we have sent home tricky words. Please practise these as your phonics challenge over the holidays.
A message from the Reception Team
The Reception team would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Enjoy spending time with family and friends this festive season. We look forward to welcoming you back on Tuesday 3 January 2023!
Reminders
Swimming/Football
Spring 1 – swimming
Rainbow Class- 4 Jan, 18 Jan, 1 Feb
Sunshine Class- 11 Jan, 25 Jan, 8 Feb
When your child is not swimming, they will be taking part in Foot Tech Football sessions. Please ensure your child comes in PE kit every Wednesday, including suitable trainers.
Thank you!
We have been absolutely overwhelmed by your generosity. At the recent Christmas productions, we collected for our school charity, Cancer Research UK. You didn’t let us down and you managed to raise an amazing £266.91.
Thank you so much.