Week Ending 24/11/23
Date: 22nd Nov 2023 @ 10:16am
Happy Friday! This week we have started a new story to share together, we are exploring ‘The Three Little Pigs’. The children were so excited to find a crime scene on Monday morning in our outdoor area, left by the wolf of course! We have started by learning lots of facts about pigs (did you know that pigs are smarter than dogs?) and writing a list of things the pigs might take when they leave home.
Dates for the diary:
- PTA Christmas Fair – Friday 1st December 4-6pm. Everyone is welcome to attend the PTA, Christmas Fair. Gates will open from 4pm. Join us for a fun filled christmas experience with stores, where you can purchase your child's Christmas craft and join the choir for some festive carol singing.
- Christmas Jumper Day – Thursday 7th We will be taking part in Christmas Jumper Day. Your child must still wear their school uniform on this day.
- Nativity Dress rehearsal –Tuesday 12thThis 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 13thDecember at 2pm at St Helen’s Church. We will also need some parent walkers please!
- Christmas Dinner Day – Wednesday 20th This week your child has pre-ordered their Christmas dinner in school. You will be informed what your child has ordered via email. If you would like to change your child’s order, please contact the school office by Monday 16th December. Unfortunately, their will only be a roast dinner or nut roast on offer for this day. If your child would prefer something else, please provide a packed lunch for this day. Christmas jumpers can be worn and please bring in a Christmas cracker for the children to pull at the table with their friends. Thank you.
- Last day – Thursday 21st Children can bring in toys to have fun with on the last day. PLEASE NO ELECTRICAL TOYS OR GADGETS. We often suggest bringing a toy which can be shared with others such as a jigsaw or board game to encourage playing together.
Wow, that's alot to remember! Please make a note of these dates or keep referring to the blogs or Primary News to ensure you are up to date with the latest goings on in school.
Christmas Craft - The Winter Festival
At Tarporley, every year we hold our Winter Festival held here in the school grounds between 4-6pm. The PTA help organise lots of stalls which are full of goodies, crafts, a chance to meet Santa himself in his Grotto and where you can purchase your child's Christmas craft which they have made in school. This year we have made an angel ornament for your child to take home. We will be posting a picture closer to the day for you to know what to look out for in the stalls.
Little Wandle – Phonics
This week we have continued on our Phase 2 journey by learning the sounds Z/ZZ, QU, CH and plurals -s using the new Little Wandle grapheme cards and phrases. We have also learnt four new tricky words 'GO', 'NO', 'TO' and 'INTO'. When we teach the children a new tricky word, we teach them which part of the word is tricky. For example, 'GO' and 'NO' have the 'O' sound as 'oa' but 'to' is pronounced with the O as a 'oo'. It's super important the children are able to recall these words confidently and rapidly to be able to read longer sentences with fluency. Aim to read the books each night (aim for four times before changing the book) to support the children’s fluency and comprehension (can they retell the story in their own words?).
Kinetic Letters.
This week we have introduced the children to our Kinetic Letters handwriting session. These will be daily handwriting sessions as soon as the children come in in the morning. Please ensure your child is here by 8:45 at the very latest to ensure the progress in their writing.
We completed the remaining letters of the ‘Jumper Family’ which contains the letters h, n, m, b, p and r. Kinetic Letters introduces writing on a line from the start and teaches them that all letters start from the ‘brave monkey’s branch’ (top of the line) or the ‘scared monkey’s branch’ (middle of the lines). No letters start from the ‘ground’ (bottom line)! To support your child at home, please encourage them to start their letters from the right place, hold their pencil correctly and provide lines for them to write on. I have attached a video where you will be able to see the correct formation as modelled by Miss Nicholas with the three letters we have learnt this week, M, B and P. These all follow the same starting action of 'down bump, back up, push over'. If your child is struggling to form these letters, try practising by tracing the letters in sand/glitter or even flour first using the 'down bump, back up, push over' mantra for the Jumper Family. Next week we move onto the Abracadabra Family!
Please ensure your child is holding their pen/pencil using their 'Three Friends Hold'. I have linked a video for you below which supports pencil grip.
We have taken a photo of your child's progress in Kinetic Letters so far now that they have learnt the first letter family which has been uploaded to Tapestry yesterday. Please do take a look and speak to myself or Mrs Line should you have any questions or need any help in supporting your child in this area.
In Maths, we have been exploring the language of ‘more/most’, ‘less/ least’, ‘equal’ and ‘fewer/fewest’ to compare numbers 1-5. At the beginning of the week the children could easily identify if a group had more so we really focussed on ‘less/fewer/equal’. We watched the numberblocks video ‘Blockzilla’ to help us which is linked below. Blockzilla loves the bigger things in life. He loves to choose the biggest. Each time he chooses between two things, he has to compare them to find out which is greater. Blockzilla’s mouth gives us a clue to some new symbols (< and >) that helps us to compare quantities. Although in Reception we do not need to learn about these symbols, it does help us by encouraging the children to use the language of ‘more/less’ and ‘greater than/less than’. We played lots of games where we had to use the language above including ‘Mucky Monsters’. The children loved this game and it could easily be used at home if you want to continue to practice.
https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/muckyMonsters/index.html
Numberblocks videos - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0blsqtz/numberblocks-series-3-blockzilla
On Monday, we came in to a crime scene! We found some bricks, sticks and straw in the outdoor area surrounded by police tape. We talked about our ideas and decided that it must have been the Big Bad Wolf!
On Tuesday, we started to think more about the Christmas story! We talked about advent being a period of waiting and how we recognise advent at home.
On Wednesday, we learnt lots of different facts about pigs. We introduced the children to lots of new language such as boar, sow, sty and snout. Can you child tell you what an omnivore is?
On Thursday, we had another Nativity practice in the school hall. The children sang beautifully and listened so carefully to the instructions. You should have found out what costume parts your child needs, please let us know if you are unsure. Thank you.
On Friday, we read the first few pages of our book and asked the children ‘if you were going away, what would you pack?’ We then used phoneme frames and magnetic letters to help segment and spell some of the objects the pigs might take with them.
The Book Fair is in Town!
Reminder - Book fair begins TONIGHT Friday 24th November at 3.30pm. The fair will be held in the hall afterschool until Wednesday 29th November. Please use the community entrance (the door from drop off) to access the book fair.
Nativity Information - PLEASE READ.
This week you have been sent an email regarding what your child is in our EYFS nativity. If you have not had this email, please speak to me on Monday. This email also details what you will need to bring in over the next two weeks for your child's baselayers. We have all the costumes in school, but we ask that you bring in baselayers to go underneath the costume before the dress rehearsal on Tuesday 12th December. Please send in a labelled bag with your child's base layers no later than Friday 8th December (two weeks today). If you are struggling, please speak to a member of staff and we will help in any way we can.
TICKETS! PLEASE READ.
Good news! We are extending the limit on tickets this year. Each family will get FOUR tickets each. Siblings at Tarporley unfortunately will not be able to attend our nativity as they will be in lessons. Young siblings/babies will not need tickets. These will be sent home in the next week or so in a labelled envelope. Please do adhere to this rule as we don't have an overly large amount of space in St Helen's for lots and lots of family members. Thank you.
Our Mystery Reader this week was Faith’s Mum, thank you for coming to share a story with us!
Congratulations to our Star of the Week, Atticus!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Selwyn
