Week Ending 12/01/24
Date: 28th Dec 2023 @ 4:44pm
Happy New Year! Welcome back to the Spring term. We hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a very prosperous new year.
Dates for the diary (Spring Term)
- Thursday 18th January – Curriculum Hour 2pm.
- Friday 26th and Saturday 27th January – PTA Beer Festival! Come and join us from 6pm at the Community Centre.
- Tuesday 13th February – Chester Zoo trip (Whole School)
- Week beginning Monday 12th February – Parents Evening (face-to-face in school)
- Thursday 7th March – World Book Day
- Wednesday 27th March – Dormice class assembly (9am – school hall)
Homework Menu
Please see the attached Homework menu (which is also on the class page of the school website). We are trying to reduce our paper usage but if you would prefer a hard copy then please let me know. These are great ideas to continue learning at home and as prompts for Show and Tell. Have fun!
Curriculum Hour - Thursday 18th January 2pm.
Earlier this week you were sent an email regarding curriculum hour which is a chance for parents to experience a history or geography session alongside their child. Although the Early Years does not have a specific history/geography subject, we do have one of the 17 areas of learning dedicated to 'Understanding the World' which is closely linked to both. This week we will be exploring maps and using our skills to draw a familiar journey from school to St Helens Church. Each day we will be looking at a different aspect of map reading so that when you come in on Thursday you can help your child with completing their very own map.
We will supply the paper, pencils and clipboards for when you arrive! This does not need to be accurate, although you may like to encourage your child to think about what they see when we walk to church. E.g. traffic lights, shops, trees, pub, road, cars etc. Why not see if your child can label some of the features they have drawn? There will be an example on the whiteboard! Remember every child is unique and each map will look entirely different. This is what the Early Years is all about!
If you are unable to attend, we completely understand and staff will work with your child to complete their maps which we will upload to Tapestry.
In Kinetic Letters we have been revising the letter formation of the Jumper and Abracadabra family which we learnt last half term. The Fisher Family letters all start from Scared Monkey and go underneath the line to ‘catch’ the fish from the pit. Take care when going under the ‘ground’ as you don’t want to go too far into the pit as Skip’s tail will get stuck in the mud! We tell the children that they are to go to the next scared monkey branch underneath. Keep practising your three friends hold pencil grip at home as this makes all the difference to your child’s writing.
Phonics – Little Wandle
This week we learnt four new sound AI, EE, IGH and OA using the new Little Wandle grapheme cards and phrases. We practised reading these words by decoding and then saying the sounds in our head to read fluently. The children are having lots of opportunity to practise reading fluently in our Reading Practice Sessions. The more the children read, the more fluent they will be!
As always with learning new sounds, you will find a home learning sheet with some activities to consolidate the sounds we have learnt in school this week.
It is VITAL these are returned in good condition and on time to maintain learning for everyone. We have noticed recently that some books are being returned damaged due to water bottle leakage in your child’s book bag. PLEASE ensure that you are using the plastic wallet given out at the start of the year to prevent further damage. We will be issuing fines and sending an email home if we receive any books like these. Thank you for your understanding.
I will continue to use the Reading Records to note your child’s assigned books. However, may need to keep them overnight if I don’t manage to finish them during the school day. It is important that the record is easy for families to complete so please leave a short comment in the record to let us know your child has read the books. We are always interested to hear how they got on especially as they put so much effort into their reading practice sessions in school.
Please can you return these books back by a THURSDAY each week.
In Maths, we have been thinking about measure. We read the story of ‘Jim and the Beanstalk’ which is a twisted version of the original. In this story, Jim visits the aging giant and helps him by measuring for his new glasses, wig and teeth! The children measured each other and then measured around their own heads to make crowns. We also challenged the children to solve a problem “Are 5-year olds always taller than 4-year olds?” It turns out they are not! If your child talks about measurement at home, then please take a photo and upload to Tapestry!
On Monday, we held our Christmas Show and Tell which was super exciting! The children were very brave and told the class all about their toy and we had the opportunity to play and share our toys with each other! We were so impressed with how grown up they were. Well done Dazzling Dormice!
On Tuesday, we explored a range of vegetables by using our senses to describe each of them. We also learnt about which vegetables grow on top of the ground and those that grow underground. We had great fun using the vegetables for different pieces of artwork this week. You may want to try some printing at home!
On Wednesday, we had a great PE session where we got out the climbing equipment in the hall. The children traversed the different stations by climbing, jumping and balancing on the beams. We already can’t wait until next week to be a little braver!
On Thursday, we had an impromptu first Wake Up Shake Up of 2024 and what a blast we had dancing and moving to our favourite songs. We also used our detective skills to listen to the clues given to work out the different vegetable riddles in preparation for our own riddles.
On Friday, we had fun coming up with tricky riddles for our partners to solve. In the afternoon, we planted our own cress in egg shells and learnt about the conditions plants need in order to grow. Thank you to everyone who brought in some egg shells. You will be able to see our cress growing in the orangery window next week.
Congratulations to our Star of the Week, Honor-Grace!
Our mystery reader this week was Florentine’s Dad! Thank you for coming to share a story with us! We are fully booked for this half term, however we will be needing volunteers for after half term. If you have already been mystery reader and would like to come in and read to the children again then please speak to me.
Have a lovely weekend!
Miss Selwyn
