This week we have been learning about spring. We are learning about the signs of Spring and will be going on a spring walk looking for the signs of spring. We will be doing lots of Spring crafts and learning spring songs. Look for signs of spring on the way home and in you garden. What can you see?
Please practice your set 1 and set 2 sounds. We added a link to amazon for the sound cards for those that were asking at parents evening
In maths this week we have been consolidating our number bonds to 10. We have been recapping the number bonds and playing a range of games to identify how many are needed to make 10. Follow the number bond song below.
For an extra challenge can you say the corresponding subtraction fact e.g. 7+3=10 so 10-7=3
Here is a link Read Write Inc phonic cards for set 2 and 3 sounds that the majority of children are now moving on to. These cards will help your child to practise the sounds covered in school and will help them to become a fluent reader.
This week is Science week. We will be looking at the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and will be using it as a focus for plants and growing. The children will learn about the story and will have a range of activities linked to the text. They will also plant their own bean in their own individual greenhouse so that they can watch it grow. The children will take their plant home at Easter to replant at home. Take photos and send them in to us as your child’s plant progresses.
Most of the children are now working on set 2 sounds. Continue to read every night and go through the sound cards at home. When children come across words they do not know in their reading books, encourage them to ‘special friends, Fred talk, read the word’. This is the strategy their use in school to help them decode words. Below are some videos to watch with your child to practise some of the sounds.
This week in Maths we are consolidating our number bonds to 5 and learning the corresponding subtraction facts. Children need to be able to say the number bond to 5 and then the subtraction fact. Work with amounts to 5. Can your child tell you all the ways to make 5? If confident, use this knowledge to then say what the subtraction fact is e.g. 3+2= 5, 5-2 =3
The weather is ever changing at the moment. Please ensure your child is dressed correctly for the weather i.e. when raining heavily or snowing ensure your child wears a warm water proof coat and wellies if possible. Unfortunately we could not let some children out in the snow last week as they were not wearing appropriate footwear and would have been in wet shoes for the rest of the day. If you would like to leave a pair of wellington boots in Reception then please sent them in to school clearly named and they can access them in the poor weather.
As we continue on with our topic of ‘People who help us’, we are moving on to look at the important job of the dentist and oral hygiene. As part of the Early Years curriculum it is now a requirement to teach children about oral hygiene and how to keep their teeth healthy. This week the children will be learning about the role of the dentist and will be learning about the different ways to keep their teeth healthy. One of the easiest ways to keep your child’s teeth healthy is to limit sugary food and to limit drinks such as juice and squash to meal times. We will be talking about having only water in our water bottles and would appreciate your support with this. This would be a great time to make the change as the children should be able to tell you why they should have water in their bottle. The children will also be learning how to brush their teeth and will be given their own toothbrush and tooth paste. This would also be the ideal time to book a dentist appointment for your child especially if they have never been to the dentist before. We are sure you understand the importance of keeping teeth healthy and hope you support this work at home by encouraging good oral hygiene as well as encouraging healthy foods and snacks.
Most of the children are now working on set 2 sounds. They are being introduced to 3 new sounds a week and are practising reading the sounds within both real and nonsense words. Remember when reading a word your child should use the strategy ‘special friends, Fred talk, read the word’. We then want to get the children to read speedily, words with phonemes they know. The online book set for your child is a book that they will have read 3 times in school. The text should be familiar to them and they should be able to read the book without having to do much word blending. If your child is still Fred talking every word, make sure you spend time on the red and green words at the front and back of each book. We have added some videos with some of the set 2 sounds for your child to watch and join in with at home.
This week in maths we are focusing on 3D shapes. We are looking at 3D shapes that we use everyday and are learning about the different properties of the shapes. We will be sorting cubes, cuboids, spheres, cones, triangular prisms, cylinders and pyramids. Can your child identify any of these shapes at home? Can they tell you anything about the shapes? Look at the faces on the shapes and talk about the difference of 2D (flat) shapes and 3D (solid) shapes.
The weather is due to turn a little colder this week. Please ensure your child wears a warm waterproof coat with a hood and brings a hat and gloves on colder days. Check that all property is named. We encourage the children to keep their gloves in their pockets and to put their hat in the sleeve of their coat when they take it off so that they can grab their coat and go without fussing trying to find gloves and hats that could be put anywhere.
This week we have started a topic on people who help us. We have been thinking about all of the different people who help us and have been thinking about the different ways they help us. We have been dressing up as different people who help us such as police officer, fire fighters, doctors and nurses. We even have our own role-play fire station outside. Can your child tell you about the different people that help us and explain how they help?
This week we started in our new phonic groups. We have been reading our new text and have done a range of activities linked to the book. You child will come home with their new book on Friday and their new online book will be set. Please make sure your child reads every night so they can practise the skills they have been learning in school. Your child also has their Reading wise log in now, so please try to go online each day for 5 minutes to support your child’s phonic skills.
In Maths this week we are focusing on more and fewer. We are identifying numbers that are more than a given number and fewer than a given number. We have also been practising our number bonds to 10. Please continue to practise the number bonds to 10. If they are confident with these then can they tell you the corresponding subtraction fact?
Thursday is World Book Day. Remember the children can come in wearing their pyjamas and bring in a soft toy for a story time session. If your child wants to wear a book character costume that is fine but please don’t go to a lot of trouble or expense. We will also be having our brunch time session so your child bring a healthy snack and drink to enjoy if they wish. Fruit and milk will be available as normal.
This week we have been focusing on the Fiction text ‘Alien’s Love Underpants’. The children have listened to the story, sequenced the story, sang alien songs, moved like aliens and done a wide variety of alien and space related crafts. The children also designed some underpants that the aliens came and stole! We wrote a letter back to the aliens and they came and hid our pants around the classroom for us to find! The children also had a pants session on staying safe and understanding that our pants cover our private areas and we talked about who we could trust to speak to if anyone was asking to see our pants.
This week the children were assessed on the story level they are currently on. The children will move into their new groups after the half term break. The children will not have a book bag book this week but will have work set on line, so please complete these activities. We have also sent out your child’s log in details for ‘Readingwise’ a phonics programme that will help the children improve on their phonics and reading skills. This login will remain with them as they go through school so please store it somewhere safe.
In Maths this week we have continued learning about numbers to 10. We have been focusing on the order of the numbers and the numbers that make up 10. The children have been learning their number bonds to 10 and have been set the challenge of learning them over the half term break. You can find the song here
It is world book day on the 2nd March. Please do not feel you have to go out and buy an outfit. The children are welcome to come into school in their pyjamas and bring in a soft toy and their favourite bedtime story for a story session we will have at the end of the day. We will be snuggling down with stories and hot chocolate.
During this week, your child has participated in maths activities related to Coventry, including its history.
As part of this, we are running a maths photo competition ‘Looking at Coventry Through Maths Eyes’. The aim of this is to help everyone realise that maths is all around us and our local environment is mathematically rich. Using the things around us is a superb way to engage your child in talking about maths.
Over half term, we would like you and your child to take a photo/snapshot of familiar things that capture some aspect of real-life mathematics in and around Coventry. We would like you to send your photo into us with a mathematical question (see examples below). There are prizes up for grabs!
Please send your ‘Looking at Coventry Through Maths Eyes’ photos/questions to Mrs Walton by Wednesday 1st March to [email protected] Please state clearly your child’s name and class.
This week is Mental health week. There will be a variety of activities happening across the school to touch on this important topic. We will be listening to some mindfulness music in Reception and will be talking about our emotions. We will also be thinking about the things that make us happy and will be designing a link to go on a whole school paperchain to raise awareness of mental health across the school.
This week we are having a focus on Fiction and Non-fiction texts. We will be learning the difference between the two types of texts and reading both a non-fiction fact based text as well as the fiction story ‘A Tiger Who Came to Tea’. We are focusing on ‘Tigers’ throughout the week, learning facts, moving like tigers, and discussing if a tiger really would come to tea. Please read this story to your child at home so they can talk to you about it and the activities they have been doing. If you do not have the story then please follow the link below for an online version.
The children are coming towards the end of their 6 week block of Read Write inc and will be assessed again next week to see if they have progressed on to the next colour group. Those children who are practising their reading every night by reading their book bag book as well as their online book ( both do not have to be done each night, this could be alternated) and are going through their letter sounds regularly will be most likely to make the most progress and should be ready for the next colour group. To give your child the best chance of becoming a fluent confident reader, please complete the activities set by your child’s phonics teacher. Once children feel confident with reading, their love of reading also improves as so much of the world becomes more accessible to them. Please spend some time watching the videos below with your child for some extra practise.
This week in Maths we are focusing on measure. We are using the language taller, shorter and longer and making play dough snakes that are longer or shorter than each other. We are also using non-standard units to measure how long the snakes are. You could do this at home with pieces of string and measure using pieces of pasta. See which one is longer/ shorter? How many pieces of pasta shorter or longer is it? We are also learning the days of the week and beginning to talk about time learning the o’clock time. This is something your child could do at home. See if they can find the o’clock time on a clock. Do they know the days of the week? What day comes after . . . . . . . . . . ? What day comes before . . . . . . . . . . . . .? What day will it be in 2 days time?
We hope you all have a lovely week. Remember to log on to Oxford owl to do the set reading activities as well as your home reading book.
The children had a great time last week learning all about Chinese New Year. They learned all about the celebration and even tasted some Chinese food. We finished the week with our own dragon dance parade using the dragon head we had made in the week and playing a range of instruments. It was great fun!
This week we are completing a PSHE topic all about our ‘Goals and Dreams’. We will be learning about goals and what this means and about setting our own goals that we would like to achieve this year. This could be something in school or at home. We will talk about things that are difficult and how we can develop strategies to help us deal with things we think are too difficult. The children will set their own goals to work on throughout the rest of the year. We will also think about how we can support others to reach their goals.
The children are working well in their phonics groups, it is lovely to see the progress being made. We are noticing that not all children are going on-line to do their reading activities. Please log on and do these activities every night. Click on Fred frog to go to your child’s reading book library once they have read the book once. You will find their past books here also, if you wish to do some extra reading practise. All children should now be bringing a reading book or ditty sheets home each week. Please go through these every day and sign the diary. Please remember to go through the sounds every night so that your child is fluent with these. We sent the sound cards home previously so you should have these at home to go through regularly. You will also find the sounds at the front of the reading books. Go through these before each read. We have added some videos below for some extra practise.
This week in Maths we are continuing to work on 6, 7 and 8. We are looking at different representations of the numbers and being able to look at an amount and know what number it is by explaining what we can see e.g. I can see a 3 and a 3, I know that makes 6. I can see a 5 and a 2, I know that makes 7. We are looking for the children to be able to subitise ( know how many there are without having to count). Try this at home with different collections of objects. Ask your child what they can see without having to count. We are also learning about pairs of numbers and combining two amounts. Again our subitising will come in handy here as we wont have to rely on counting e.g. I know 3 and 2 make 5.
Please be reminded that the children take their shoes off each week for yoga. We have some children mixing up their shoes. Please try to mark on your child’s shoe somehow so they know which ones are theirs, a lot of the boys have the same shoes and just grab the first pair they see. We want all children to go home with the correct property so please check that all items are clearly named. We have also noticed a lot of children coming to school in trainers with laces. Children should be wearing black school shoes that they can put on and take off by themselves. If they have laces then they should be able to tie these themselves.
We would like to say a big thank you to those parents who are paying into our 50p fund to help us purchase consumable resources for the children. This money allows us to do lovely activities such as food tasting, cake making and a variety of sensory activities. It is very much appreciated and we hope to plan lots more nice activities for the children.
Kung Hei Fat Choi – Happy New Year. This week are celebrating the Lunar/Chinese New Year. The children are learning all about the festival and comparing it to the other festivals we have learned about so far this academic year. They are learning about, how people celebrate the festival and are partaking in a variety of activities. We will be tasting some Chinese food, listening to music, hearing stories and acting out the story of how the animals raced. The children will also make some decorations and try to use chopsticks. See if your child can tell you about Lunar/chinese new year.
The children are working hard with their phonics each day and are now trying to use their knowledge of the sounds to write simple sentences. Continue to work on the reading activities sent home and if your child has log in details then please log in each day and do the quiz and reading book set. Remember if you click on Fred the frog you can find all past books set and can read the book again. This is essential for reading fluency – those children reading every night make the most progress. Can we also remind you that reading books and diaries should be returned on a Wednesday so that next weeks book can be sorted. We have added some links below to some of the on line videos that provide extra practise for your child.
In Maths this week we are moving on to 6, 7, 8. We are looking at how these numbers are made up and the different ways each of these numbers can be made. We would like the children to have a deeper understanding of the make up of each number so they don’t have to rely on counting. The children are confidently working with numbers to 5 and can tell you the different ways to make the numbers to 5. Ask your child to show you 5 on their fingers, then ask them to show you another way. Repeat this for the other numbers to 5. We will be doing the same with 6, 7, and 8 so the children know what makes up each amount and the different ways these numbers can be made up. This could be 3 and 3 or 2, 2 and 2, or 5 and 1 etc. See if your child can tell you different ways to make each number. If they find this difficult, use practical aids such as cars, bricks or pieces of pasta and get them to do it physically.
The weather has been very cold so far this week. Please ensure your child brings a hat and gloves to school each day and a warm waterproof coat. Please NAME all items as they easily get lost. If you would like to provide a pair of wellington boots for your child for wet weather then please send these in with their names clearly visible.
Please can we remind you that children should not be bringing in toys from home. I’m sure you can imagine how distracting this can be and children can get very upset if another child takes it or it gets lost or broken. The children have plenty to play with in the setting so do not need their own distracting resources. Please also bare this in mind with things like hair accessories as children tend to mess with these when they should be focusing on learning. Try to make sure hair bands/ bows/ headbands are appropriate for school and offer as little distraction as possible. Keep the pretty decorative items for home where they can be kept safe. Can we also remind you that children should not be wearing jewellery to school. If wearing earrings these should be plain small studs.
We have had a number of parents come to us about missing items of uniform. Please check that all of your children’s uniform is clearly named. If written on in pen, this will most likely have washed off by now and it makes it very difficult to return items to the correct owner. If you find your child has accidently taken someone else’s item of uniform home then please return it to school.
