Week Ending 24/05/24
Date: 14th Apr 2024 @ 12:02pm
Happy Half Term! Not quite the last day we were expecting but we've had a lovely arty day together whilst rain stopped play. We have enjoyed celebrating the start of summer together and our dinosaur topic reading the story ‘Gigantosaurus’. It is amazing to think that we only have one more half term in Reception, how this year has flown! The final summer half term is always very busy with lots of exciting things and the transition to Year 1. We will keep you informed of transition activities on the blog so do keep reading!
HELP NEEDED! PTA
Being part of the PTA means you can give something back to school. From a one-off cake bake, to volunteering your time at an event or to organise one, coming to meetings or even joining the committee. Your help is always welcome, no matter how much, or how little you can do.
The meetings are informal, taking place every month during term-time, with a few mums and dads, and staff representatives. We discuss what fundraising activities we can do and how to best allocate the money raised in the interests of the children, so it's a good opportunity to have your say! Please get in touch with the school office if you would like to join the PTA.
Change of details for next half term PLEASE READ!
Due to the ongoing Year 4 Brass project we are unable to use the hall on a Friday morning for our normal Wake Up Shake Up session. We will therefore be changing PE days. Next half term our PE days will be WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. Normal school uniform on a Friday. This also means that Reading Practice sessions will have to move and changing of books will now be on a FRIDAY. Thank you for your understanding and flexibility.
Dates for the diary next half term:
Wednesday 5th June- Trip to Park Hall Farm (Please bring a packed lunch if you are not having a school dinner. Sensible footwear for walking around the farm plus appropriate clothing for whatever the weather. Please do check the forecast!).
Wednesday 17th July - End of Year Show at the 9am Baptist Methodist Church, Tarporley
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.
This week we have had a revision and assessment week. Please check your child’s reading record for their results and chat to their class teacher if you have any questions. Phase 4 is a really important part of your child's phonics journey. It is at this time of year that we try to encourage the children to begin to read the words fluently rather than sounding out each one. The next set of Little Wandle books is a big jump up and it is essential that your child begins to read some words automatically to support their fluency. Therefore, you may find the next step in your child's reading record will be to blend in their head/begin to read words automatically.
In Maths, we have been focussing on recalling 2D shapes and identifying the names of 3D shapes which are fat versions of the shapes we already know. The common 3D shapes we have been looking at are sphere, cylinder, cone, pyramid, cube, cuboid and triangular prism. A great activity that reinforces shape names is a 3D shape hunt around the house or even on your daily walk to school. We have focused on using the term 'face' and just like us 3D shapes have faces with 2D shapes (the shapes that can be found in 'Flatland'. It has been tricky to distinguish between the 2D shapes we know and now the 3D shapes we have learnt so we will be incorporating this into daily activities to reinforce this concept.
On Monday, we enjoyed finishing our ‘Gigantasaurus’ story! We created a story map to help us retell the story in order. This is an important skill when the children have finished reading so we recommend practising after every read at home.
On Tuesday, we finished off our ‘Gigantasaurus’ topic by writing descriptions of the scary dinosaur! The children thought of lots of great adjectives and worked hard to put their ideas down on paper. You will find your child's target on Tapestry.
On Wednesday, we had some visitors come into school to set us a 20-minute sponsored fitness challenge on the field. Instinct Gym in Tarporley came in to help use raise money to improve The Daily Mile track.
On Thursday, we started rehearsals for our End of Year Show. This is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on your child's first year in primary school and is a celebration of their time in Reception. Please see above for details.
On Friday, unfortunately rain stopped play on our Sports Day plans so we spent the day creating some lovely artwork to get us in the mood for sunnier days ahead.
Congratulations to our Stars of the Half Term, Arthur and Elsie Ll!
Our mystery reader this week was Drew's Mum. Thank you for coming to share your story with us!
Have a lovely half term break!
Miss Selwyn and Miss Woodward
