Noticeboard

• We have noticed a decline in parents writing in their child’s reading record over the past term. Please make sure you record in their reading record every time you read with your child. We look at your child’s reading record every time we read with them to see how many times they have read the book previously. This allows us to adapt our teaching focus depending on the amount of times they have read at home (e.g. if they have not read the book, we will focus on decoding the words, if they have read the book multiple times, we may focus on comprehension questions). If there is nothing recorded, we assume they have not read it yet. The children are telling us they have been reading, but nothing is recorded. This means that we are finding it difficult to pitch our focus with your child and their learning is not being moved on in the most effective way. We do not mind if it is as simple as the date, title and a tick or smiley face. 
• Wednesday 29th January – 7-8pm – Smart phone safety session – alongside the Juniors we are holding an online session, where the speaker will be talking about smart phone safety (more information was in the newsletter)  
• Please alert your child’s class teacher when your child has filled up one side of their bookmark. 
• In the final week before Christmas, we sent out Term 2 of your child’s learning diary on Tapestry. Please celebrate the learning your child has been doing in school with them by sharing the observations. 
• Please find the lunch menu by clicking here. 
• Please use the school calendar to find up-coming dates (including our Nativity performance and carol service).
• Please make sure your child has a coat in school every day. We will go outside even when it is cold and raining.
• Please do not allow your child to play with the resources that are on the Reception patio in the morning. These have been carefully positioned and are there to support your child’s learning during the school day.

Celebrations

It was great to welcome the children back to school on Tuesday. The children loved learning about Henry’s Map of a farm this week. They were inspired to create their own during choosing time! They also took part in their first music lesson, where they have been learning about rhythm.

Tapestry observation

The children have been learning all about maps in school. Can they draw their own map at home? This could be a map of their garden, a map of their bedroom or a make believe map; a treasure map, journey through outer space or anything else they choose! Please send in pictures of their map to Tapestry.

You can also send us any moments that you feel are significant in your child’s learning or want to share with your child’s class teachers.

Click the links below to find out how to add observations from different devices. 

Apple device Andriod device Desktop

This week’s learning

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

In PSED this week the children will engage in an activity which aims to develop their ability in understanding the importance of persistence in the face of challenges as well as developing confidence in their own ability. They will be building towers using different shaped blocks. If they keep falling down, what should they do? How could they solve this problem? Could they work as a team?

Communication and Language 

Quality text this week is Martha Maps it out by Leigh Hodgkinson 

We always encourage the children to engage in story times and non-fiction books in theses ways:

Listen to and talk about stories to build familiarity and understanding. 

Ask questions to find out more and to check they understand what is being said. 

Articulate their ideas and thoughts in well-formed sentences. 

Connect one idea or action to another using a range of connectives. 

Describe some events in detail. 

Word of the Week: capacity

Physical development

This week the children will be on safari in Africa! They will be playing a number of games which are designed to support them in knowing how to leave a space when following a partner, to play games honestly and to follow instructions.

Literacy

This week in Phonics, we will be learning the graphemes/ phonemes: ure (as in pure), er 

And the common exception word: her

We will practise blending phonemes to read, and segmenting words to spell them using the phonemes and graphemes we have learned so far.

Writing:  We will be using our phonics learning to write labels for a map of the classroom.

Maths

This week, we will be exploring and comparing capacity. Alongside this, we will be learning about numbers 6, 7 and 8. 

Understanding the World

This week we will be using our key text Martha Maps it out to develop our understanding of maps. We will walk around the Reception patio taking photos of the different areas and see if we can create our own individual map.

Expressive arts and Design

Inspired by the work of Vincent Van Gogh the children are going to create their own pictures of a landscape. 

Religion and Worldviews

We will continue exploring our big question for terms 3 and 4: “Why are some times special?” with a discussion of special objects people might use in celebrations.