Finger gym Friday!
Finger gym activities are designed to work out the smaller muscles and fine motor skills in children’s hands and fingers. Every Friday the children will explore a range of fun activities to help get their fingers ready for writing.
This week’s bible story
The Good Samaritan: Luke 10: 25-37
Today, we’re thinking about how we treat people and reminding ourselves that we should never bully or intentionally hurt other people. First, think of some kind things that you could do today. Second, think of some things that you should not do today because they would upset other people.
Hopefully, many more of the kind things than the unkind things will happen today. Next, read the Bible story about someone who got hurt and think carefully to see who did and who did not help him.
Reflection:
In the story, someone had been badly hurt, or bullied, but only one of the three people who came by helped him. I wonder what we could learn from that story about how we treat other people, especially those who are feeling hurt or upset.
Think about these two suggestions for how you could help.
The first is that, if you see someone who is hurt or upset, don’t just ignore them – either go and help them yourself or fetch an adult who can help.
The second is to be prepared to help anyone, not just someone you like.
Prayer
Dear God,
There are times when we need help from others and times when others need help from us.
Help us always to be ready to help each other, even people we don’t like, just as Jesus taught us.
Amen
Parent-partnership Zoom session – maths
The session will start at 6 pm and last around 20-25 minutes, plus there will be a question and answer session at the end of around 5-10 minutes.
The link to this zoom session will be emailed to all parents and carers. If you do not receive a link, please contact the school office.
To get us in the mood for autumn, we’ve been reading Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. We looked closely at the illustrations, drew a picture of our favourite part and created a word tree full of adjectives to describe what autumn leaves look and feel like.
Next week, we will use our word tree to help us make missing posters for Leaf Man.
We also went on a leaf hunt to see if we could find Leaf Man on our field.
The creative chilli challenge was to turn a bare tree into an autumn tree.
Next week, we will continue learning about the autumn changes.
Number 3!
In early years, we like to be really practical to help us with our learning. This week, we’ve played lots of fun and active games to help us learn all about the number 3.
We did some racing games and handed out medals to our friends to help us learn about ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd & 3rd)
We played the Three Billy Goats game.
The children used the cubes to build 3 towers to represent the 3 goats.
1 cube – littlest Billy goat
2 cubes – middle-sized Billy goat
3 cubes – biggest Billy goat
They then rolled a 1-3 die and moved the corresponding tower over the bridge.
Played a track game.
We used hoops and beanbags to help us understand the parts that make 3. We threw 3 beanbags into a hoop and talked about how many landed inside and how many landed outside. The children were encouraged to record their learning in anyway they liked. Many of them chose to draw a picture of their hoop and where their beanbags landed.
Next week, we will recap numbers 1, 2 and 3 to finalise our learning.
Writing process
In phonics, we’ve started to write captions, e.g. a pin on a map or pat a pig.
To help us with the process, we follow six simple steps.
1. Think about what we want to write.
2. Say the caption aloud.
3. Count the words.
4. Segment each word on our phoneme fingers.
5. Write the words.
6. Check our writing makes sense.
When the children are confident at writing caption, they will begin to write sentences using capital letters and full stops.
Here are some more highlights from this week…
Finally…
I look forward to chatting to you about how well your child has settled at school at the parent-teacher meetings on Tuesday and Thursday next week.
Home-Link Challenge
Their bag will be in their bookbag!
Thank you to all the parents who to do the home-link challenges. It is always lovely to receive emails of their amazing home learning moments!
Feelings
Last week, our living and learning statement was I can talk about my feelings. During circle time, we talked about a range of feelings and when they might change. We also had fun making lots of faces!
Can you guess how we are feeling?
Last Friday
Last Friday, a lot of children went home very muddy and this is why!
It was lovely to see the children sharing ideas, thinking critically, and most importantly having fun! One child set a trend by making bear prints. More children joined in and together they created their own bear hunt.
This week’s bible story
Our friendship with Jesus: John 15:12-15
Jesus calls us his friend and He wants to be in a relationship with us. In the Bible, we see the friendship of Jesus and his disciples develop. Although their intent was to serve and follow Jesus as Master, He calls them friends. Jesus’ love and sacrifice for those He walked with is the ultimate example of a relationship. Though we may show it differently, we show our friends how much we love them by the actions that we take.
Jesus calls us friend and He wants to live in a relationship with us. This means that He wants us to get to know Him and He wants us to share our lives with Him – every joy, every care, every hurt, every triumph.
Reflection:
We show our friends we care by the actions we do and how we behave towards our friends. Think about how you can show your friends you care this week and how you can share your week with them.
Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you that we will always have a friend in Jesus. Help us to be good friends to our friends and show them that we care about them.
Amen
Reception just love to learn!
This week, our classroom has been bursting with positivity! I’m super proud of all the children. At home time, the children are trying really hard to be independent and organise their own belongings. Independence is something we really encourage in Reception. When exploring the areas, new friendships are developing. Many children are wanting to challenge themselves and think of their own learning. Take a look at the learning that has been taking place in our classroom this week:
In literacy, the children changed the main character and some of the obstacles the family went through on their bear hunt. Before drawing our versions of the story, we worked together to come up with lots of different ideas. The children came up with some fabulous suggestions. Below are some examples:
We’re Going on a Spider Hunt by CW
We’re Going on a Unicorn Hunt by PB
We’re Going on a Butterfly Hunt by DA
In maths, we moved on to learning the number 2. The children have been great at pairing the socks on the washing line in the home corner. We’ve explored 2 in lots of different ways…
We drew around our friends to spot pairs of body parts.
Counting pairs of animals into the Ark.
Using the part-whole model to support addition. See if your child can remember the parts to make 2.
We played a game where we had to get into groups of 1 or 2. An adult called out 1 or 2 and the children had to either stand in a hoop alone or in a pair.
Number 2 number stories
“First there was one wet me. Then Mummy came along. Now there is me and Mummy.”
“First there was one bird. Then it had a baby. Now there are two birds.”
“First there was one tree. Then another tree started to grow. Now there are two trees.”
Phonics
We’ve finished learning the first set of phase 2 sounds: s,a,t,p,i,n.
The children are brilliant at saying the pure sounds. It’s great to see lots of children beginning to blend. This week, the children were really excited when they received their first reading book. Please make sure you read with your child as much as possible.
Word passports
Today, your child will have brought home their word passport. This book is to stay at home. Every two weeks, your child will bring home a new set of words to stick in their passport. The new set of words will be in their book bag.
Important dates
Home-Link Challenge
This week’s bible story
Four friends help a paralysed man: Luke 5: 17-25
If I asked you to tell you one of the things they liked doing best of all, I imagine it would be playing with their friends. Have a think about your friends and think about what you feel is special about them. In our story, we hear about how four friends help a paralysed man.
Reflection:
Think about the story.
Were there good friends in it?
Think about your friends.
What makes a good friend?
Think about yourself.
Are you a good friend?
Prayer:
Dear God
We thank you for our friends and for the happy times we share with them. Help us to be a good friend to them. Teach us how to play fairly and to share. Help us to recognize loneliness in others and show friendliness towards them. We know that you are our friend and will be with us always.
Amen.
Another busy week!
Reading Zoom meeting
Thank you to all the parents that attended the Zoom reading meeting. I hope you found it useful. For those parents that were unable to attend, click here to watch the recording.
Below are the links some of you requested during the meeting.
– Unfortunately, the pure sounds video created by two of our federation teachers is not working. However, click here to watch this video.
– Jolly Phonics rhymes
Literacy
Our focus story is We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen.
On Tuesday, we went on our very own bear hunt around school and found a bear hiding in the pond area!
They had fun doing actions, using instruments, and drawing their own story maps. They were fantastic at remembering the order of the obstacles!
Click here to watch us retell the story.
One of the chilli challenges this week was to retell the story using the stick puppets. We witnessed some amazing retelling!
Next week, the children will be making up their own versions of the story by changing the main character and some of the obstacles.
Maths
Every week, the children will be introduced to a new focus number. This week, it was number one. We’ve explored what one is, watched the Numberblock 1 video, drew pictures of our own One Wonderful Worlds, and introduced the part-whole model.
One is a part. Zero is a part. One is the whole
Zero is a part. One is a part. One is the whole.
Some examples of the children’s One Wonderful World pictures:
Library Time
Every Thursday, we visit our school library. The children really enjoy visiting the library, sharing books with their friends, and listening to a whole class story at the end.
Reminders!
– A sound book has been put in your child’s bookbag. Have fun practising the first three phonemes (s, a, t) at home.
– The cold weather is creeping in! Please make sure your child comes to school wearing a suitable coat.
– Next Wednesday, your child will need to come to school wearing their school uniform.
Home-Link Challenge
