From pirates in the small world area to fire officers putting out fires in our outdoor area, we’ve had another fantastic week. The children are really starting to show us their interests when exploring in the areas.
We also had a go at drawing our faces. We used mirrors to look closely at the details on our faces. When you come into the classroom, see if you can spot your child’s self-portrait.
Chilli challenges
This week, we’ve introduced the chilli challenges. Each week, there will be six green chilli challenges in different areas. The children will be encouraged to complete the challenges and tick them off on their chilli challenge card (see below). There will also be some red chilli challenges. These challenges are to extend their learning further. When your child completes a challenge, they will explain or show what they’ve done to an adult and the adult will tick the challenge off on their card.
Here’s some of the chilli challenges in action…
Literacy
This week, our focus story has been The Great Big Book of Families by Hoffman Mary. After reading the book, we talked about our families and why they are important. We even had a go at drawing our families!
Maths
This week, we’ve focussed on perceptual subitising (recognising the number of objects without counting) up to 3. We’ve been learning how to use our fast eyes when looking at small sets of objects.
Phonics
This week, we’ve learnt more phase 2 phonemes: i, n, m and d. We’ve been trying really hard to pronounce the phonemes correctly.
Has your child come home saying some ‘fancy’ phonics words?
If so, please don’t be alarmed! We use these words every day in phonics and we want the children to use them too.
Here are the words we’ve been using so far…
Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound you can hear in a word. For example, ‘sat’ has three phonemes: ‘s’, ‘a’ and ‘t’.
Grapheme: a ‘symbol’ of a phoneme –it’s a letter or group of letters representing a sound and we use the letter names for this.
Blending: merging the separate sounds (phonemes) in a word – this is a vital skill for reading. For example, the three phonemes m-a-t are blended to make mat.
Learn at home phonics sheet
Today, your child has come home with a ‘learn at home’ phonics sheets. The sheets link to our current phonics learning and will be sent home each Friday. 
Home-Link Challenge
Reminders
- The cold weather is creeping in! Please make sure your child comes to school wearing a suitable coat.
- Join us on Tuesday 27 September at 6 pm for our Early reading Zoom. This session will provide you with some information regarding the teaching of reading in Reception and how you can support their reading journey at home. You should have received the Zoom link in an email. If you’ve not received this, please contact the school office.
