Week Ending 03/05/24
Date: 14th Apr 2024 @ 11:44am
Happy Friday! And just like that we are already half way through Summer 1. Where did that go? It's been a great week of developing our understanding of plastic pollution and what we can do as courageous advocates to support those who don't have a voice. We have thought about where litter comes from, why it isn't good for the animals who live on the beach and in the sea and what we can do about it. Later in the week we received a letter from 'Edward Timpson', our local MP urging us to help him spread the message about plastic pollution in our oceans. I feel like the world could really use the voices of our 4 and 5 year olds who care so deeply for the environment and all the beautiful creatures that live in it. They've become so grown up overnight especially with how passionate they feel towards this cause. It makes us beam with pride.
Dates for the diary this half term:
Monday 6th May – School Closed (May Day)
Tuesday 23rd May - Class Photos - Children to come in their smartest uniform please including a jumper/cardigan.
Friday 24th May – EYFS Sports Day 9am – 10am (weather permitting). We ask that your child come to school in either a yellow, red, blue or green top, this is dependent on which coloured house your child is in.
Beeston – RED
Cholmondeley – BLUE
Peckforton – GREEN
Chester – YELLOW
Normal PE shorts/leggings/jogging bottoms and trainers to be worn with your coloured top.
Little Wandle (Phonics)
This term we move onto Phase 4 in our phonics journey! The children do not learn any new phonemes or graphemes. Instead, they are taught to further manipulate the phonemes and graphemes they have already learnt. They will begin to explore more polysyllabic words (words containing more than one syllable) and read and spell words containing adjacent consonants. E.g. string, milk, brush, scoop etc. Phase 4 requires the children to blend an increasing number of sounds together. These words are often referred to in relation to how many vowels and consonants they contain.
E.g. CVC words (consonant / vowel / consonant) such as sad, net, him.
This week we have been focusing on CCVCC/CCCVC/CCCVCC words such as crept, squelch, scrub, and sprint. We have also learnt the tricky words were, here, little and says.
As always, please see the downloadable attachment below to practise the phase 4 words and tricky words we have been learning this week.
In Maths, we learnt how to understand and make our own calculation stories. The children read lots of different examples with the adults helping them for example, “First Miss Selwyn has 8 chocolates, then she ate four, now she has 4 left” This can be tricky as they need to think of all the different words that mean ‘add’ or ‘subtract’ to find the correct operation. We then encouraged the children to make their own stories up with their own names. You can continue this learning at home by creating your own calculation stories through play,
On Monday, we looked at the dangers of plastic in our oceans. We showed the children a story called 'A Whale's Tale' which highlights the problem of plastic in our seas. Together, we came up with a new story with each child contributing a little more to the story. It was lovely for them to be the authors of their very own tale.
On Tuesday, we spoke about how the main character Clem was feeling after seeing all the litter left behind on the beach. We role played a conversation about what can be done to make her feel happier and put these into speech bubbles.
On Wednesday, Mr Elton focused on sprints. It was great to get outdoors and onto the school field in the sunshine. Fingers crossed it continues! In the afternoon, we became artists by reading the story 'The Dot' by Peter Reynolds. We then made our own dots which will contribute to a whole school display in the hall.
On Thursday, after receiving a letter from Edward Timpson the children thought it was time to take action in the form of writing a list of rules to help keep plastic out of the ocean. They were very persuasive!
On Friday, Mrs Line introduced the children to Eurovision and how it links to thinking about different music and cultures in the world. We also listened to a few songs as this year marks 40 years since ABBA won!
Congratulations to our Stars of the Week, Alaïs and Oscar!
Our mystery reader this week Elsie Ll's mum! Thank you for coming to share your story with us!
I have one Mystery Reader slot left for the rest of the year which is FRIDAY 12TH JULY 3PM. Please let me know if you have not already had a slot this year and would like this one. Thank you.
Have a lovely, long weekend! We look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday.
Miss Selwyn and Miss Woodward
