weekly news 22nd November

This week we have been learning to hear and read the sounds h  e  r  and  u. We have been learning the tricky words no go and I. We have continued to create our own stories and increasingly we are using the sounds and tricky words when we write. We have been thinking about which characters we need in our story and have drawn simple pictures of them to remind us how many of our classmates we will need to help us act out our story. Several children have amazed us by wanting to do the writing for themselves this time ! Don't forget to take a look at your child's story on their display space.
In Maths this week our focus has been on the numbers 16,17 and 18. The children have been learning to recognise them, count the corresponding number of objects, find the numbers on a number line and in the environment and to write the number. We have also been encouraging the children to talk about what they know about each number eg. is it an odd or even number ? is it bigger or smaller than a certain number ? has it got 1 digit or more ? what is 1 more, or 1 less than the number ? how many different ways can we show the number with our fingers, with numicon, with cubes ? etc These sort of questions develop the children's powers of reasoning and understanding about the value of each number.
We have been continuing our 'Power of Reading' book 'Owl Babies' and trying to imagine what it mus have felt like when the owl babies woke up to find that their mother had gone. We encouraged the children to think about and express, times when they have felt worried, sad or alone.

Each week the children enjoy our 'Write Dance' sessions in the hall with Mrs.Sutcliffe. These lessons encourage the children to move in different ways which helps to develop their gross motor skills and also within these sessions the children draw large shapes and lines and pictures with both their hands. This helps the children with their fine motor skills too.