Week Ending 22/11/24
Date: 15th Nov 2024 @ 5:28pm
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.
Next week's timetable and uniform requirements:
- Monday (Enrichment day - Glow in the Dark Dodgeball session) - comfortable atheletic clothing (any neon/glow in the dark clothing can be worn) with trainers
- Wednesday - normal PE kit with Mr Elton
- Tuesday/Thursday/Friday - School uniform
Dates for the diary:
- PTA Christmas Fair– Friday 6th 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 stalls, where you can purchase your child's Christmas craft and join the choir for some festive carol singing.
- 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 13th December at 2pm at St Helen’s Church. We will also need some parent walkers please!
- Christmas Dinner Day– Wednesday 19th 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, there 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 – Friday 20thChildren 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. We also finish at 1:30pm on this day.
Wow, that's a lot 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?).
In your child's book bag tonight, you will find a pack of the Phase 2 tricky words we are currently learning in school. Although, we have not learnt them all, please can you practise I, IS, THE, PULL, FULL, AS, PUT, NO, GO, TO, INTO, AND, HIS, HER, HAS to consolidate these are home. These are words that need to be learnt by sight rather than decoded. Please do not go further than these words as we will be learning the rest in the next two weeks.
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. We have added an observation to Tapestry of your child's starting point with this family. 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 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 learnt that the Three Little Pigs live in a brick house on Fairytale Lane. Lately, they have been thinking about moving somewhere new. We looked at different homes in the community and talked about what they look like, what they are made of and compared their similarities and differences. The children were great at articulating their reasons for why an igloo couldn't be built in the hot, sandy desert or why a hut with straw wouldn't be the best for the wet, rainy jungle.
The Book Fair is in Town!
Reminder - Book fair begins TONIGHT Friday 22nd November at 3.30pm. The fair will be held in the hall afterschool until Wednesday 27th 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 Thursday 12th December. Please send in a labelled bag with your child's base layers no later than Friday 6th December (two weeks today). If you are struggling, please speak to a member of staff and we will help in any way we can.
Our Mystery Reader this week was Kasper's Mum, thank you for coming to share a story with us!
Congratulations to our Star of the Week, Leo B!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Selwyn
