Weekly News 15th March

This week the children have been continuing to answer their questions about dinosaurs using non fiction books and the internet. The dinosaur topic has been very exciting so far and the children can’t wait to share the new facts they have learnt.

In phonics we have been learning the sounds ar, oo and oi. On the week commencing 25^th we will be doing a sounds assessment with the children and we plan to have a ‘sounds party’ on Friday 29^th in the afternoon after Maths with Mummy to celebrate how hard the children have all worked to learn all of their sounds. We will be awarding the children with certificates that they can take home that will show you how many sounds your child knows.

In maths we have been learning all about 3d shapes. The children will have been learning to recognise 3D shapes, talk about their properties and find them in the environment. Perhaps you could ask your child what 3d shapes they know and which ones they can find when they are at home or out and about. We would love to see anything like this on Tapestry.

Thank you very much to the parents that have replied saying they can come to our Maths with Mummy event. It would be really helpful if we could have the replies as soon as possible for catering purposes. If mum is unable to come, please feel free to send one other family member instead.

Hopefully you have all received an egg box with an accompanying letter. We are very excited about the ‘living eggs’ experience that will be starting on Monday 25^th. Please remember that if you would like to reserve a chick to let your child’s teacher know, this will be on a first come first served basis and the suggested donation is £10 each, which will help towards the cost of the experience.

Weekly News 6th March

We have been very busy story scribing with your children this week. You will soon see a new story up on your child’s board for you to take a look at, the children have been making amazing progress with their writing!

 On Monday we went to a workshop with King’s Camp, hopefully you have received the certificate from your child giving information about their summer camps in this area.

We had a great time on Tuesday making pancakes! All of the children had a turn at making and trying a pancake with their friends.

We have also been learning the sounds igh/ie and oa.

In maths, we have been learning about length. The children have been comparing the length of things, taking about why we measure length and measuring items using cubes. Our Tapestry observation suggestion for this week would be to do some measuring with your child. 

The children have also been working with an adult in the base to answer their question about dinosaurs. They have been learning how to use books and the internet to find out information.

Don’t forget that Thursday is World Book Day. The children may come to school dressed as their favourite book character!

Hopefully you have received the email that was giving information about the Gressenhall trip. It says that your child may come dressed as a fairytale character but this is optional, the children may come to school dressed in non school uniform if they wish.

If you have any spare junk modelling materials at home, please bring them to school as we are running low again!

Weeky News 27th February

We have had a lovely start to the first week back after half term! We all spoke about our new dinosaur topic and the children discussed as a class what they would like to learn about.

In maths we have been learning about weight. We have been ordering dinosaurs in weight and comparing the weight of dinosaurs using balance scales. On Friday, the children will be weighing dinosaurs using balance scales and cubes and predicting how many cubes each dinosaur will weigh.

In phonics we have been learning the digraphs ‘ee’ and ‘or’. Please help your child to blend words with these digraphs in.

We have also been reading with the children this week. Some parents have been asking about when the word bags get changed, these are for you to change as often as you like. As they progress through the word bags it will help them to read the digraphs as one sound, for example, r ai n.

Next Thursday is world book day, please could your child come to school dressed as their favourite book character.

We are in need of egg boxes for an upcoming easter activity. If you have any, please give to a member of staff, thank you.

Weekly News 13th February

This week we have been learning the sounds ng and ai. Your child has also been working with an adult to complete a sounds, tricky word and blending assessment. We have found that some of the children are struggling to retain some of the digraphs – these can be very tricky to learn! They are best learnt through repetition. Although your child may be able to recognise the sounds in the sound book it is a different skill to recognise the digraphs in words, this is something we practise with the children in phonics sessions.

In maths we have been problem solving and sharing coins between Chinese money purses and corn between pigs – as it is year of the pig! The children have been working out how to share numbers equally and fairly.

We have a tennis roadshow on Wednesday afternoon where the children will be learning what tennis is and practising some sports and co-ordination skills.

Thank you very much to the parents that returned the Tapestry questionnaire. We found that there were several parents who were unsure about the sorts of things that would be useful to upload to Tapestry. We have decided that from now on, each week, we will be adding a suggestion about an observation that you could upload to Tapestry that will help us to gather evidence about your child. For example, this week, can your child find things in their home, in the environment, draw things, or make a list of words with the ng or ai sound in. This will help us to identify if your child is at the emerging, expected or exceeding level of development.

Weekly News 6th February

We have had a fantastic week so far learning all about Chinese New Year! Each child has a challenge booklet in their trays and they collect stickers when they complete challenges. If all of the challenges are completed by the end of the week they will receive a special prize!

The challenges include chinese food tasting and building the great wall of China. But we have also been making a lot of different things too: a Chinese New Year card, a dragon puppet, a fan, a Chinese drum, a Chinese money purse, a lucky fish, a lantern and a pig puppet – as it is the year of the pig!

On Monday we had a Music and Movement workshop! The children learnt all about Chinese New Year and how it is prepared for and celebrated through dance and got to dance with a dragon head at the end!

We have had a fantastic time learning about another culture and the children have been very excited to complete all of the challenges. Thank you to all of the parents that have helped us so far, we couldn’t have prepared so many activities for your children without your help!

Next week we will be reading with your children and completing a reading assessment where we will see which sounds and tricky words your children know and then assess their ability to blend.

Weekly News 30th January

This week we have been learning the digraphs sh and th. We have found that the children can find it difficult to differentiate between ‘th’ and ‘f’ words. Perhaps you could help your children to practise thinking of ‘th’ words at home and hear the difference in the way the ‘th’ and ‘f’ sounds are spoken.

In maths we have been learning about subtracting. The children have been subtracting using concrete objects, their fingers and number lines and then learning how to write the number sentence.

The children have also been working 1:1 with an adult writing number lines to 20. We have been practising to write the numbers in the correct order and form them correctly.

The show and tell sessions have been fantastic so far! We have found that the children’s speaking and listening skills have really improved since the last show and tell and they have all done very well at remembering all of the facts! We can’t wait to hear the rest of them!

Please bring in any junk modelling materials that you have at home- we are always running short of things for the children to use! It is a very popular area of the base!

Don’t forget, Monday is the start of our Chinese New Year Week! Please could your child come to school wearing something red on this day as it is a very important colour in China. Thank you to all of the parents that said you can help during this week as we have lots of challenges for the children to complete!

Weekly News 23rd January

This week we have started learning digraphs (2 letters that make 1 sound). We have been learning qu and ch.

In maths we have been adding. The children have been learning to count on from the biggest number using their fingers.

Continuing from our ‘Animals Around the World’ topic, on Tuesday, we looked at the story ‘Handa’s Surprise’ which is set in Africa. In the story, Handa describes the fruit she is taking to her friend. We all learnt what an adjective was- or wow word- and looked for these in the story. For example, the ‘soft, yellow banana’. After we read the story, we all had a piece of tangerine and described it using our senses.

The children have also been busy carefully looking at and drawing pineapples. The children have been working with an adult to describe the pineapple and then describe what it tastes like at the end.

Every 2 weeks we have been introducing a new word to the children which reflects our school's '7 Wonders of Learning'. The children have previously learnt about the word 'collaborative' and what it means and this week we are looking at how to be a 'problem solver'. Maybe you could ask your child what they mean. 

Weeky News 16th January

This week we have been very busy story scribing with the children. Please take some time to have a look at your child’s progress on their display board!

We have been learning the sounds x, y and z. Next week we will be starting to learn digraphs (two letters that come together to make one sound). Digraphs can be a tricky for your children to learn and remember. Please keep continuing to help your child practice the sounds in their sound book so they do not fall behind. Some parents have asked us about ways to extend their child’s learning at home and we have suggested helping your child to practising writing and spelling their tricky words as this is an important skill that helps with both their reading and writing.

In maths, we have been starting to learn the number bonds to 10. Maybe you could ask your child what they know about number bonds?

If you have any junk at home suitable for junk modelling, please bring it in as it is a popular area of the base and we always run out!

Weekly News 9th January

We started the week by going to a drama session in the hall ran by Carl Bradley. We pretended to put spells on each other and turn into different animals and we pretended to act out different emotions – it was lots of fun. This session was to promote his after school drama club, hopefully you will have received a letter about it.

On Tuesday we went on our Winter Welly Walk, we looked for signs of winter and when we got back to school we had a delicious warm waffle. Thank you to all of the parents that helped and joined us for the walk we had a great time!

We have also been learning the sounds j, w and v this week. Maybe you could ask your child to tell you words with those sounds in?

We will also be learning about the numbers 18 and 19.

On Friday, we will be having a very exciting afternoon as we are going to watch Aladdin in the hall!

Please bring in items suitable for junk modelling. It is a very popular area of the base and we are running out of junk for the children to use!

We are looking forward to watching your child’s show and tell about animals. Friday 11^th will be Birch group, about animals that live in the polar regions. Friday 18^th will be Maple group about animals that live is the desert. Friday 25^th will be Oak group about animals that live in the savannah and sycamore group will be animals that live in the rainforest on the 1^st February.

Weekly News 12th December

We have been very busy this week carefully writing in our Christmas cards! Your child should be taking their card home soon. The children have spent a long time carefully making their Christmas cards and are very proud of them.

We have also been learning about St Lucia this week and how it is celebrated, we looked at how Christmas is celebrated around the world. The children tried Scandinavian biscuits and had the chance to make candle crowns. Maybe you could ask your child what St Lucia is?

We would love to see an observation on tapestry of how you celebrate the winter holidays at home. If you upload a photograph on to tapestry, your child will get a chance to talk through their photograph with the class. This will add to the evidence for your child’s understanding of people and communities.

We have also been busy learning Christmas songs for our craft morning on Friday.

Your child should have received their homework about animals around the world. Please let a member of staff know if you do not have this.

The children have all worked really hard and have had a great first term at school, we are amazed at their progress so far- especially with their writing.

As you know we have started next steps with the children. This is working very well but we are noticing that the children who are practising their next steps at home, are racing through their next steps and therefore making more progress. Please look at your child’s next step on their board and any practise you can do at home will hugely benefit your child.

Weekly News - visit from Father Christmas!

We have had a very exciting week as Father Christmas visited us at school! He left some footprints and a magical letter asking the children to reply and to write their Christmas lists. The children have been very busy using their phonic knowledge to write back to Father Christmas. He will be collecting the letters at the Christmas Fayre.

We also caught Father Christmas arriving at the yurt on CCTV – take a look!

The children have been very lucky as 2 of Father Christmas’ elves have visited us at school, try to spot where they are in the morning!

Every morning we have been counting down the sleeps until Christmas day and writing the number on a board- the children get very excited about this! Perhaps you could do this at home with your child to help with knowledge of numbers.

We have also been learning about why we celebrate Christmas and the nativity story and we have been learning some songs which the children will be singing to you at the end of the Christmas craft morning.

We have also been learning about Hanukah. Can your child tell you why Jewish people celebrate Hanukah?

The children have been busy decorating their Christmas cards ready to bring home to you at the end of term.

When you come to the Christmas fayre, don’t forget to take a look at our new display in the hall! The children used shapes to make pictures of themselves. From this, we found that some children are struggling with shape recognition. Perhaps you could look for shapes in the environment with your child at home.