Tuesday 25 February 2020

weekly news 26th February

We have had a very busy first week back after half term. We have started our daily challenges which the children have completed really well so far.
In Letters and Sounds this week we have been learning all about how to write a super sentence. We have learnt that we need to start each sentence using a capital letter. We need to remember to leave a 'finger space' in between each word we write so that it can be read by ourselves and other people. We need to read it and check that it makes sense. We need to remember to put a full stop at the end of the sentence as well. The children are doing really well at using the sounds they have learnt to read words by blending all the sounds together. They are also learning to look at the sounds in the words to see if they can spot a 'digraph' which has 2 letters but only makes 1 sound. Have a look at your child's latest writing on their display board. This week we are learning 2 new digraphs: ooOO and ow/ou. We are learning how to hear, read and write these digraphs in words and sentences. We have been practising our tricky words by playing a tricky word bingo game too !
In Maths we started the week by getting ready for Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. We made the pancake batter together by using our measuring skills. We used scales to weigh the flour and we used our capacity skills to measure how much milk we would need. We had to do some problem-solving too because the pancake recipe we used was not going to make enough batter for us all so we had to 'double' the quantities. Our recipe stated we needed 1 egg but we had to double it to use 2 eggs ! Our recipe stated we needed 100 grammes of flour, can you ask your child if they can remember how much we needed ? Our recipe stated we needed 300 mililitres of  milk, can you ask your child how much milk we needed to measure ?
We were very excited about cooking the pancakes and choosing a topping for our pancake too. Ask your child which topping they chose.






We have been thinking about our school's Golden Anniversary by learning all about the number 50. We have been counting to 50 in 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s. We have been looking for number 50 on number lines and 100 squares. We have been using Numicon and cubes and counters to show the value of 50.

We are looking forward to dressing up in clothes similar to the fashions of 50 years ago in 1970.

We have also started our new topic all about African animals called 'Why do zebras have stripes ?'
If you have anything at home about Africa we would love to hear from you !

We are looking forward to  ''Show and tell' in which each of the children will be talking about an animal they have found out about !

Wednesday 12 February 2020

weekly news 12th February

We have learnt the sounds ee, or, ie/igh and ar this week in Phonics and the tricky words are and all. the children have been reading with us and we have been carrying out a full reading and sounds assessment. We are very impressed with their blending and segmenting skills which are really starting to click.

In maths we have been learning how to work out number problems with a Chinese new year theme. We have been asking questions to help us find missing numbers and learning to share and divide with practical items t help us work out the number problems. The children have also worked with an adult to show what they know about numbers and how far they can count.

We have taught the children about internet safety this week and how to stay safe online. We spoke to the children about all the devices that use the internet and they shared what games they play on devices at home. They learnt they should never talk to strangers online or click on anything if they don't know what it is, they agreed they should only go on the internet if they are with their parents.

We have been learning about basic personal hygiene and how to wash our hands. The children were fascinated to find out about invisible germs. We discussed when we need to wash our hands and after what activities  and then practiced washing hands thoroughly to stop germs spreading. In the second session, we learnt about keeping our teeth clean and read the story 'Topsy and Tim Go to the Dentist'.

Your child should have brought home their next 'Show and Tell' homework sheet which we will start on the first week back after half term. Also we would like to remind you that as mentioned in the school news letter last week,  we will be celebrating the school's 50th birthday after half term. The children and staff have been asked to come dressed in 70's clothes on Friday 28th February.

We hope they children have a lovely half term.

Wednesday 5 February 2020

weekly news 5th February

What an exciting week we have been having in Reception ! We all really enjoyed our Chinese New Year Music and Movement workshop in which we learnt all about how new Year is celebrated. We passed a Chinese singing bowl around and said our name. We found out that Chinese children get a special red money purse if they go to sleep on time.
We moved around the hall in different ways pretending to clean and get rid of all the dirt and unhappy things that had happened in the old year. We pretended to eat a Chinese feast to celebrate New Year, apparently this can include 10 different courses !
 We danced with big pom poms pretending they were fireworks going off in the sky. We passed around a Chinese dragon puppet and then had turns parading around waving our Chinese fans to help the dragon to fly. We used wooden claves to create the beat of the dragon dance. We learnt how to perform a special Chinese dance and remembered all the different moves really well.
This week we have been completing 10 different challenges and collecting stickers in our special challenge passport when we have finished each one.
It has been brilliant to see how motivated the children have been when making sure they find the challenge that they need to do. When doing these challenges the children have been developing lots of new skills and using techniques to make and assemble a variety of Chinese themed crafts and activities. We have been tasting Chinese food, making a rat finger puppet, painting a New Year card, making a Lucky fish, a Chinese drum, a dragon puppet, a lantern, a money purse, a Chinese fan, and working as a group to make a model of the Great wall of China. Our Chinese New Year role play area is fantastic fun too as we can get dressed up in traditional Chinese clothes !
It has been wonderful to have such a lot of very willing parents who have come along to help us carry out our challenges. Thank you very much.


Ask your child what they have enjoyed most about our Chinese New Year week.