Week Ending 15/11/24
Date: 10th Nov 2024 @ 2:24pm
Happy Friday! This week we have also been learning all about Diwali, which is the ‘Festival of Light’. Each of the children has made their own Diya lamp which they have brought home today. We even held our very own Diwali party to conclude our week of celebrations in school. The children were able to learn a traditional Diwali dance, design their own henna hands and learn about the story of Rama and Sita.
World Nursery Rhyme Week
This week we have participated in World Nursery Rhyme week that seeks to promote the importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood development and education. Each day we have spent every welcome time choosing and singing our favourite nursery rhymes. Singing nursery rhymes and songs to young children can help develop their language and communication skills from an early age. With nursery rhymes offering lots of repetition, alongside accompanying actions, it can help to widen children’s vocabulary, so that they are able to use these words in everyday interactions. This means they can also learn new words within different contexts. Believe it or not, nursery rhymes are incredibly powerful influencers in development. Phonemic skill development gained from nursery rhymes has even been scientifically shown to significantly improve reading, spelling and other literacy skills.
Dates for the diary:
- Christmas Fair– Friday 6thDecember 4-6pm.
- Nativity Dress rehearsal –Thursday 12th 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 –Friday 13thDecember at 2pm at St Helen’s Church. We will also need some parent walkers please!
- Trip to see Santa– Monday 16thDecember
- Christmas Dinner/Jumper Day– Wednesday 18thDecember
- School closes 1:30pm finish– Friday 20thDecember
Little Wandle – Phonics
This week we have continued on our Phase 2 journey by learning the sounds V, W, Y and X using the new Little Wandle grapheme cards and phrases. We have also learnt four new tricky words 'HAS', 'HIS', 'HER' and 'AND'. ‘Tricky words’ are words that cannot easily be decoded (‘sounded out’ and read). To support the learning of tricky words, we have put together a pack attached with a paper clip into your child's reading folder today. Although we have not learnt all of these yet, please do continue to practise the ones we have learnt which have been in recent blogs. It is SO important that the children can recognise these without needing to decode them (sound them out). These will also form a part of our assessment this half term. Our mission this half term is to ensure every child is blending by Christmas! We would really appreciate it if you could continue to practise oral blending wherever you can. This is something that every phonics lesson focuses on even if your child is super confident with their blending. It is a skill which only benefits your child's early reading.
Kinetic Letters.
We have continued to learn the ‘abracadabra family’. (c, a, o, d, q, g, s) which follow the ‘pull around and push along the ground’ action. We always start our letters from one of two places; brave monkey branch (top of the line) or the ‘scared monkey branch’ (middle of the lines). No letter starts from the ground. Please encourage your child to hold their pen/pencil using their ‘three friends hold’ when forming their letters. These are very tricky letters which can be made easier by simply remembering to start with the ‘c’ letter shape. The video below should give you some ideas for home and we have sent a ‘c’ sheet to practice at home. If you can confidently write ‘c’ then you will crack the abracadabra family! I have attached part 2 of the Abracadabra teaching. Please see the video below.
In Maths, we have been focussing on how the Numberblocks 1-5 can make different shapes but still show the same number. We discovered that Number 5 could make the most shapes because it had the most blocks! We also found that number 1 could make all the different blocks. For example, Number 4 is made up of four ones and number 3 is made of three ones. This can be applied to any number! We have been using our number bonds to 5 to work out some subitising problems (say an amount to 5 without counting it). For example, a two dots on one side and two dots on the other side of the page. We would instantly recognise this as 4 because we know that 2 + 2 = 4. We've really been impressed with the language and reasoning skills the children have been using to explain how they know it is that number. I have uploaded a few activities should you want to practise having a go at home! Subitising can come in all forms not just on a dice which is a really important skill.
Numberblocks episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08dnngm/numberblocks-series-1-stampolines
On Monday, we started to learn about Diwali. We learned about some traditions and tried to think of any other celebrations where we might have fireworks, sweet treats, special family meals, candles and decorations. We began to make our Diya lamps using clay and developed our fine motor skills as we manipulated it to form the base of our lamp.
On Tuesday, we began reading this week’s book, ‘Festivals’ and learnt about the important preparations for Diwali such as cleaning the home, decorating homes with flowers, lamps, lights and rangoli, sharing in traditional food, donating to charity, wearing new clothes and the giving and receiving of gifts.
On Wednesday, we listened to the Diwali story that tells of a Princess called Sita and a Prince called Rama. Try asking your child what they remember and retell the story in their own words.
On Thursday, we continued learning about Diwali through music. We listened to some tradiitonal Diwali music and learnt the 'Five Days of Diwali' dance. We practised the dance moves with each day representing each part of Diwali. The children had a fantastic time!
On Friday, we explored India and located it on a map and compared it to where we live. We also dressed up for Children in Need and discussed ways in which we could raise money for charity.
REMINDER
Today your child found out what they will be in their first Nativity. A tradition in the Early Years is to ask the children what they would like to be. Although we cannot always guarantee everyone can be Mary or one of the Three Kings we do try to ensure your child is closely matched to something of their choice. We asked all the children if they would like a speaking role to then assign them their roles. Nezt week I will be sending an email to you regarding specific roles that require some help with learning your child's lines. Not all parts are speaking roles. The EYFS Nativity will be on Friday 13th December at 2pm at St Helen’s church. School provide the costumes but a note will be sent home in the next couple of weeks asking for a base layer for underneath. The children walk down to church for a 2pm start (dressed in costumes) and then we will be dismissing from the church after the performance. If you are unable to attend the performance, we will be walking back to school and will dismiss your child as normal at 3:20pm. Please can you let us know if this affects you.
Our Mystery Reader this week was Benjamin’s Dad! Thank you for coming to share a story with us!
Congratulations to our Star of the Week, Jonel!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Selwyn
