Week beginning Monday 19th October

We have continued our autumn theme this week by looking at pumpkins. We enjoyed the story 'Pumpkin Soup' looking at how the characters behave towards each other and what mischief they get up to whilst creating their soup. We used our art skills to sketch pumpkins, drawn circles and decorated them to look like pumpkins using pastels and thought about where pumpkins grow. We also had great fun cutting into a pumpkin and finding the amazing seeds that are inside. 

In phonics, we have been busy assessing the children to see which sounds they are confident with and what sounds they still need to work on. If you would like to support your child further with their phonic sounds, there are videos for parents to watch on the little wandle website. Find the parents tab, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click on the video which says 'Phase 2 sounds taught in Autumn 1'. We have also been looking at the tricky words 'I, is and the'.

In Whizzy Maths, we have learnt all about the number 4. The children have enjoyed learning facts about this number, such as it is 1 more than 3, 4 is an even number and different ways of making 4. 

We look forwards to chatting to you all in the upcoming parents evening after the half term holidays. Please make sure you have booked a session as we would really like to talk to every parent at this important stage of your child's education. 

Next half term the children will be starting a gymnastics topic which will involve using some of our gymnastics equipment. They are required to wear shorts, not trousers, for these sessions, so we ask that all children wear a pair of shorts under their jogging bottoms. Also, it is a requirement that hair is tied up and any earrings are either removed on PE days or taped over for the whole day.  

Over half term, please can you help your child to feel confident doing up their zips on their coats and taking their jogging bottoms off in preparation for PE, if they can turn their joggers the right way out and fold them, that would be even better. 

Have a wonderful half term break!

How you can help 

Please continue to record comments about your child's reading in their diary and sign the reading worm at the back. There are just a few parents who haven't done this. We encourage you to contribute to our knowledge about your child's progress through your comments.

Thank you for your support.

Year R Phonics and Reading presentation

Thank you to the parents who took time out of their evening to attend the presentation.

Please find the presentation slides below. The videos shown during the evening can be found under the 'For Parents' tab on the Little Wandle website. Please remind yourself of the key points that Mrs Chapman shared a few weeks ago. These can also be found below in the Home Reading handout.

If you have any questions, please pop in and see the class teacher. 

Thank you for your support.

Year R Curriculum Presentation

Letter formation and handwriting

Please find images of how to support your child in achieving the correct letter formation.

• lower-case letters start at the top
• dots and horizontal cross lines are added after the main part of the letter has been formed
• capital letters start at the top and go down first, the pencil is then taken off the paper to add the horizontal lines

It is extremely important that your child uses a comfortable and efficient pencil grip, even though this may not be the same as your own. This should be the pincer grip.

Climbing the tree to a better me

Our special tree focuses on the Social, Moral, Spiritual and Social aspect of our learning. In Year R we are practising using our manners, being a good friend and being respectful and responsible.

We can earn three stars for each rung of the ladder and at the end of the year we can earn a special sticker at the top of the tree for our effort in trying to show these things.

When we have collected three stars of the same colour we can show our certificate in assembly and our name is moved up the ladder in class to show our progress.