Week beginning Monday 21st September

We are now in the full swing of school life in Year R, with routines established and the children understanding the expectations of school life.

Our daily phonics lessons are proving great fun, with the children revisiting last week's sounds and learning the new sounds i, n, m and d. Do remember that we have our phonics and reading meeting coming up on Tuesday 29th September which will be valuable in explaining how we teach phonics and how you can support your child so they make the best possible progress in these crucial years. 

Our clue container gave us clues to suggest that this week would be all about the gingerbread man. We have looked at different versions of the story and enjoyed joining in with the repeated phrases. We built bridges over a pretend river - after all, if there had been a bridge in place then the gingerbread man would not have had to cross the river on the back of the fox, and he might not have been eaten. We counted buttons on the gingerbread man and used gingerbread man cutters in the play dough area. Our most exciting activity though, was a hunt to find the missing gingerbread man. We had to follow clues which took us all the way around the school until eventually we found the gingerbread man hiding in the school office. After all our hard work of following the clues we were rewarded with a tasty treat. Good work Year R!

We also enjoyed learning about the job of a baker. We learnt about the different tools a baker uses and then thought about what yummy treats bakers make. We linked this with our phonics learning and tried to identify the initial sounds of some of the yummy food e.g. sandwich begins with the 's' sound and doughnut begins with a 'd' sound. 

We have also been busy making our Christmas cards. Copies of these will be making their way to you soon so please keep a look out. 

How you can help 

Please remember to send your child in with a waterproof coat every day as we will go out regardless of the weather.

Please help your child with making their lunch choice by talking them through the menu each day. We know that it is quite overwhelming having a choice of five lunch options,  please support your child by talking these through and helping them decide.

Please check that you have named items of clothing, especially those that are removed. We have had many green cardigans, green sweatshirts and PE hoodies without names this week. If you use iron on labels/stickers please check these when clothing is washed as they do come loose then fall off.

Thank you for your support. If you have any questions, please speak to one of the Year R staff.

Number Formation Guide 

Practise numerals at home with this printable number formation guide.  All numbers are formed by starting at the top.

Curriculum Presentations

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.