This week in Reception
We will continue with our mini-topic, ‘Frozen Planet’.
Phonics
This week the new phonemes are sh, th, ng and nk.
Reading
There are a few changes to how we will practise reading and sending phonic reading books home.
To practise reading in Reception, the same practice book that’s been read in school will then be available to read at home as an e-book. Because we’ve read it at least three times in school, your child should be able to read the text independently. If they’re reading it with very little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading.
- Listen to them read the e-book.
- If they can’t read a word, read it to them.
- After they have finished, talk about the book together.
- Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success!
Your child should have received their e-book login details. You will be able to access the e-book this week. We will inform you which day by writing in your child’s reading record.
If you have trouble accessing e-books at home, please let us know.
To develop a love of reading, your child will continue to bring home a separate book. To encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it’s important that they learn to read for pleasure. This sharing book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together.
- Don’t expect your child to read this alone – read it to them or with them.
- In a fiction book, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters.
- In a non-fiction book, explore the facts.
- Discuss the book’s cover and the title, and discuss the pictures or diagrams.
- With this sharing book, the main thing is that you have fun!
Any questions, please ask!
Stay and Learn Sessions
Unfortunately, we have had to cancel the sessions on 20/01/22 and 07/02/22.
PE
This half-term, PE will be on Wednesday and Thursday. Please send your child in their PE kit on these days.
eBooks
This evening you will have received a letter in your child’s book bag explaining how to log on to Collins eBooks. Your child will has been assigned a book that they can read at home through this website (link here). These books match our phonics teaching in school and your child will have practised reading it three times this week. Therefore, they should be able to read it with fluency. After having heard them read, focus on reading with expression (prosody) and comprehension. At the back of each book there are some tips to help with this.
Your child will also have brought home a book to share from the library. This book is intended to inspire a love of reading and is for sharing with an adult at home. You can read this with them and talk to them about the story or non-fiction book.
Further information regarding this will be sent in an email from Mr Roundtree.
If you have any problems logging in please let me know as soon as possible.
Thank you for your support with this and have a restful weekend.
Mr McGriffiths
Rekenreks!
Today we got a delivery of Rekenreks today. These are to help us with our Maths fluency skills and we were excited to try them out! The idea is that you can represent the number using one push rather than counting. This practice then cements these number bonds and relationships. You can ask your child how it works and have a practice at an online version here.
First week back!
Hello!
Year 4 have just left school for the weekend after our first week of the Spring Term. I want to say a huge well done to all the children for settling straight back into school after a well deserved Christmas break. They’ve remembered their manners, speaking and listening skills and have been ready to learn. This tied in well with our Living and Learning statement – I don’t interrupt (with my voice or my hand) – in which they demonstrated perfectly!
We also began our new Topic, which is History – Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. The class were really engaged and were overflowing with facts and information that they already know about these time periods. Some of these had come from our Latin lessons too!
You can help at home by visiting BBC Bitesize and looking at the history surrounding the Romans.
I hope we have carry on to have a fantastic Spring Term!
Thanks,
Miss Birch
City of Leeds Basketball
Happy New Year!
Welcome back! We hope you had a great holiday.
This term in Reception, our themes will be ‘Fire and Ice’, ‘Superheroes’ and ‘Chinese New Year’.
Frozen planet
Our return to school often coincides with frosty weather. We use this as a stimulus for learning. As a scientist, your child will investigate ice: making it and melting it. They will use their senses to describe how the weather has changed and the effects on their environment. Linking to Geography, your child will find out which are the coldest regions on Earth, using globes or maps of the world. They’ll learn about animals which live in these places and what it’s like to live there.
Superheroes
This theme is all about different superheroes! At first, your child will use their imagination to create their own fictional superhero stories using small world resources to develop their ideas. Your child will then learn that superheroes are in their lives every day. Developing their drama skills, they’ll take on the role of doctors, paramedics and police during role-play times. Your child will also consider what makes them special, learning how important and individual we all are.
Chinese New Year
This theme takes place during the week that Chinese New Year occurs each year. As a geographer, your child will find China on a globe or world map. They will find out about the story relating to Chinese New Year, learning about customs and traditions. They will watch dragon dances and create their own versions of these with their friends.
Phonics
We will continue to learn digraphs(two letters that make one sound) in phonics. This week the new phonemes are sh and ch. The children will be learning how to blend plurals eg cats, naps, hits.
Literacy
The children will be encouraged to continue to use their phonic knowledge to write labels and captions for their drawings. They will begin to write sentences.
These are the main books we will be reading and retelling this half term.
Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
The Magic Paintbrush by Julia Donaldson
Supertato by Paul Linnet and Sue Hendra
Maths
The children will be encouraged to continue representing quantities in different ways, including by showing amounts on 1 hand ‘all at once’. There will also be a new focus on the symbolic representation of number and the children will work on their recognition of numerals to 5, matching numerals to correct quantities in various games.
They will play games which involve counting on and use number tracks (with numbers placed in equal spaces in ascending order) to play dice-based games. Playing games with dice will consolidate the children’s understanding of the stable order of numbers.
Why not play some board games at home?
Stay safe and well
All the Year 2 adults would like to wish all the children and their families a happy and healthy Christmas. We hope their glitter bottles come in useful if things get a bit exciting over the next few days!
Thank you for all your support this term. The children have been fantastic and they continue to make us proud. Here’s a few pictures from their Christmas party and lunch this week.
Stay safe and well and see you in the new year!
We are scientists
This half term, Year 2 have enjoyed lots of practical science in our working scientifically learning.
We’ve done lots of investigating, sorting, identifying, comparing and predicting and the children are becoming more familiar with all of this scientific vocabulary.
We’ve also been revising some of our previous learning.
Ask your child about these pictures.
Christmas
Yesterday was a busy day in Year 2 with our production filming in the morning and then enjoying a movie afternoon. Thank you to the PTA for our movie snacks.
The children have all done incredibly well learning their lines, songs and actions for this year’s Whoops a Daisy Angel production. They also coped with the last minute change of performing on their own without Year 1 and Reception. We are very proud of them all and we hope you enjoy watching the video with them at home.
Whoops a Daisy Angel cast
Merry Christmas!
Hello all!
I just wanted to say a massive thank you to all the Year 4 children and their families for an amazing autumn term. Myself, Mrs Maqbool, the children and now Mrs Stewart have become a great team and I can’t believe it’s already Christmas!
Here is just a few memories from this term that are worth celebrating:
- A big congratulations again to the children who participated in the cross country races. You did Moortown Primary School proud and you really tried your best!
- In science, we were learning about light and to finish off the unit, the class spent some time creating their own shadow puppets. They had the freedom to create whatever they liked and they all turned out fab! Have a look to see them in action…
- After learning about Kandinsky and Napaltjarri since the beginning of November, Year 4 became artists themselves! They got stuck in with experimenting with collage. The outcomes are great and the best thing about them is that they are all different.
- A big well done to all the Year 4s in swimming. They have all really improved since the start of the year and I can see their confidence growing with each lesson – keep it up!
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Miss Birch