Week Ending 10/11/23
Date: 6th Nov 2023 @ 4:18pm
Happy Friday! This week we have been reading Tim Minchin’s book ‘When I Grow Up’ inspired by his musical Matilda. We have been thinking about what it would like to be a grown up and discussed the different things we want to do when we are older. The children came up with some great ideas such as eat look after animals, drive a racing car, go to the desert, live in an apartment, move to France and so much more! Over the week the children have met a range of adults from different professions to talk about their job, find out more about their career and ask them some questions. Thank you so much to those who have volunteered to talk to the children about their jobs. We can’t wait for the children to feel inspired to dream big.
My Family Coach
We wanted to draw your attention to a parenting website full of information that may be useful for you to use with your child. It includes information on topics such as mental health, screen time, how to calm down and friendships.
Here is the website: https://www.myfamilycoach.com/
Dates for the diary:
- Diwali Dance Workshop - the PTA have kindly funded a dance company to come in to teach the children all about Diwali. This will be our PE session on Wednesday 15th November.
- Nativity Dress rehearsal – Tuesday 12th December. This is our final practice before the children get to show you. We will be performing in front of our buddies and the Done Room pre-school at 2pm. If you are in the village and would like to volunteer to walk us down to the church (or back) we would greatly appreciate it.
- Nativity – Wednesday 13th December at 2pm at St Helen’s Church. We will also need some parent walkers please!
Little Wandle - Phonics
This week we have continued on our Phase 2 journey by learning the sounds SS, LL, FF and J using the new Little Wandle grapheme cards and phrases. Just like last half term the children will be learning four new sounds each week with a half termly assessment at the end. We have also learnt four new tricky words 'PUT', 'PULL', 'FULL' and 'AS'. ‘Tricky words’ are words that cannot easily be decoded (‘sounded out’ and read). These words need to be learnt by heart. As the children begin to read longer sentences these words crop up time and time again so please continue to practise these wherever possible. A good game to play could be 'Splat'. Write the tricky words down separately on four pieces of paper, ask your child to 'splat' the correct word that you say. The more the children can see these words and recall them quickly, the easier they will be to spot in their reading books. Please see the downloadable attachment below to practise the sounds/words we have been learning this week.
This half term we are introducing letter formation to support early writing. This session will start from 8:45am each morning from next week so please ensure your child is on time! We open the doors at 8:40am each morning. At Tarporley, we use Kinetic Letters as our handwriting scheme. Some of you will already be aware of this from older siblings but if you are unsure, then please have a look at the page on our school website for more information: http://www.tarporleyce.cheshire.sch.uk/page/handwriting-kinetic-letters/51112
In Maths we have learnt all about ‘part/whole’ models for the first time. Please see the video below for some more information about how to help your child with this at home. We have been learning how to split the numbers 1-5 into two parts. Numberblock four can split into two equal parts and make the Terrrible Twos! We used the part whole model to help us show our working and orally practised number sentences. This is really easy to continue at home. For example “I have two sweets and you have two sweets, how many is that altogether? What would the number sentence be? How about if I give you one of my sweets?” If you see your child adding accurately at home then upload your observation to Tapestry. We love showing you what your child can do at school but we also like to see your child using their learning at home. Think about moments that make you say ‘WOW!’
Here is the numberblocks episode we have been watching to consolidate this idea of 'parts' and 'whole': https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08dr1l3/numberblocks-series-1-the-whole-of-me
On Monday, we had a visit from the local PCSO, Jorge. He told us about working in the police service and then let us see (and sit) in his police car. The children asked lots of interesting questions. He gave us lots of advice about ringing 999, it is crucial you know your address! Some extra homework for this half term is to teach your child the first line of their address and postcode and your first names! In the afternoon, Gabriella's mum came to talk to us about working in tv as a producer. We got to watch a documentary that she produced about the now King Charles. We also got to see exclusive behind the scenes footage!
On Tuesday, Oscar's dad came in to talk to us about working on a dairy farm. We learnt about the milking process and the day to day runnings of life on the farm. I don't think many of us would like the early starts but would love to work with these beautiful animals.
On Wednesday, Faith's dad came to talk to us about his time in the army. We heard about how he helps people both at home and overseas. We also got up close to see his different equipment including how he eats, sleeps and keeps himself safe by wearing a helment and camoflage uniform. In the afternoon, we had our loved ones come into school for a special Stay and Play session. We hope you enjoyed your time with us.
On Thursday, we went on our first school trip of the year to Imagine That! We had the best day exploring the imagination village, participating in the science workshops and even made our own slime and snow to take home! Thank you to our parent volunteers for coming too. The magnets we painted are still wet so we hope to give them out on Monday.
On Friday, Aarya's dad came into school to talk about his career as a pilot. We learnt about how planes fly in the air, the places pilots get to visit and Captain Teddy was on board to help answer lots of questions we had. We also got dressed up to celebrate all careers. Thank you for all your support this week. We have thoroughly enjoyed every minute.
Congratulations to our Star of the Week, Caspar!
Our Mystery Reader was Tristan's Mum! Thank you for coming to share your story with us!
What a busy and fun-filled week. Who's ready for a sleep? I am!
Have a great weekend!
Miss Selwyn
