Weekly Blog 15/12/23
Date: 6th Dec 2023 @ 8:42pm
Happy Friday! Wow, what a busy, busy week we have had in Reception where your children have certainly brought the festive cheer to school with them. We feel as though we haven't stopped. The children definitely deserve a big rest this weekend in preparation for the final week before the Christmas holidays. Thank you for coming to see our EYFS Nativity! Weren’t they amazing? Myself and Mrs Line are so proud of their efforts and the hard-work they have put into their ‘first’ Nativity in big school.
Little Wandle – Phonics
This week we have been revising all the Phase 2 sounds we have learnt using the Little Wandle grapheme cards and phrases. We have been particularly focusing on the digraphs SH, TH, CH, NG and NK. We have been supporting the children in their pronunciation particularly noticing the difference between 'th' in this and 'th' and think. We have also been looking at 'ng' and 'nk' and knowing the difference between how we decode words like 'wink' instead of 'wing' and vice versa. Please take some time to practise this at home to ensure your child is secure in these particular digraphs. After Christmas we start our Phase 3 journey where each new lesson is a new digraph. As this is a review week there is no downloadable home learning sheet. Please do use the grapheme information sheet provided in their book bags if you would like to practise at home.
Kinetic Letters
This week we introduced the children to the 'Window Cleaner' Family that consists of L, I, T, and U. In this family we use the 'down bump and flick' to wipe away the water action. We try to make all our letters start from the correct branch (Brave Monkey and Scared Monkey). Remember no letters start from the ground! We also attempted to form the letter 'e' from the 'Special Squirter' Family. 'E' is on it's own as it has its own rules. We start just underneath Scared Monkey branch which allows us to 'push across, up, pull around and push (along the ground). The children have found this the trickiest letter so far. Practice makes permanent!
In Maths, we have been learning about 2D shapes and their properties (how many corners, sides it has). The Numberblocks video 'Flatland' is a great visual for learning the names and the difference between a square and a rectangle which is very important. We have been linking the numbers to the shape. For example, number one can make a circle because it has one curved edge and number three can make a triangle because it has three straight sides and three corners. We have also been using lolly pop sticks to make different 2D shapes. Instead of asking 'what's this shape?' we have been asking the children to make a 'triangle' and for the children to recognise that we need three sides and three corners and so on for the other 2D shapes. We have also been drawing our common shapes. A fun game which you could easily play at home might be I Spy. You may come up with many household objects that are rectangles etc. See how many square objects you can find in your own home. We will be continuing learning about 2D shapes next week.
On Monday, we read a Christmassy story to get us in the festive mood to write our letters to Santa later in the week. We also decorated the classroom by putting up the trees, making paper chains and snowflakes and turning our role play into Santa’s Grotto.
On Tuesday, we had our final rehearsal of the Nativity before the big day! This was the first time the children wore their clothes and performed in the Church to our buddies and the Done Room nursery.
On Wednesday, the big day arrived as we performed our Nativity to our loved ones at Church. The children have been working so hard and it was amazing to see how confident they have grown over the last term. We hope you enjoyed it just as much as we loved putting it together. A big thank you to all the EYFS members of staff for their hard work too!
On Thursday, we wrote our letters to Santa! We have uploaded these onto Tapestry so Father Christmas has some ideas of what to bring!
On Friday, we finished off our Christmas cards which will be ready to take home next week.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE LAST WEEK OF TERM
Tuesday 19th December
Our EYFS Christmas party will take place on this day where you can dress up in your Christmas party clothes!
Wednesday 20th December
It’s Christmas Dinner Day. Your child has already pre-ordered their lunch choice and we will remind them of what they have ordered beforehand. Please remember to bring in a Christmas cracker to pull at lunch time. You may also wear a Christmas jumper. I know we will!
Thursday 21st December
Your child may bring in a toy from home but please refrain from sending anything in that is electrical or may get broken. Your child will have an opportunity to play with their toys and share them with their peers. Board games are always a winner and help develop our social skills. A final reminder that we will be finishing school at 1:30pm on this day. If you require Treehouse for the remainder of the day then please do let the office know. We will still have wrap around care from 1:30pm until 6pm.
Our Mystery Reader this week was Jude’s Mum, thank you for coming to share a story with us!
Congratulations to our Star of the Week, Arthur!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Selwyn
