This week in Reception
I can’t believe we have reached the end of the first half term in Reception.
The children have settled well and made new friends. They are enjoying learning and particularly look forward to PE and phonics!
Phonics
This week we will be learning the next set of phonemes g,o,c,k and practising blending and reading words, including the high frequency word and.
Maths
In maths, we are continuing to investigate small numbers 1,2 and 3 and subitising (say the amount, don’t count).
The children will compare sets of objects and say which has more and which has fewer. They will be encouraged to answer in a full sentence.
____has more/fewer than______.
Remember to send any questions and ‘wow’ moments to [email protected]
Have a great half-term break!
Library
Due to a change in the timetable, we will now visit the library on Fridays instead of Mondays.
The children will choose a book to keep for a week (or longer if they wish). Children should take responsibility to return their library book to school after this time to be ready to choose a new book.
Have you visited local libraries nearby at Moor Allerton or Chapel Allerton?
Reading books will continue to be changed on Tuesdays and Fridays. Daily reading at home is very important to support your child’s reading fluency and understanding. Please comment in your child’s reading record book to show they have finished their book.
Living and Learning: mental health and wellbeing
In a recent Living and Learning session, we talked all about our emotions.
We talked about different emotions we sometimes feel and we also looked at some techniques to help deal with emotions.
We practised mindfulness listening and breathing as a technique to help us when we might get angry or want to calm down.
After that, we all played a game to consolidate this learning. Each player rolled a dice and whichever number they rolled landed them on a particular emotion. Depending on the colour of the emotion, each child would have to tell their partner about a time they felt that emotion, act the emotion out or draw an emoji to express the emotion.
Mars from the planets
Music forms part of the Wednesday afternoon timetable for Year 2 and this piece of music, Mars from The Planets by Gustav Holst, is a focus for this half term.
We’ve also been listening to it in class and trying to recognise some of the instruments from the orchestra.
Have a listen at home and ask your child what they think of this piece of music?
Adel Tennis Club coaching
This half term, Year 1, 2 and 6 are developing and improving their tennis skills in sessions led by John Moore from Adel Tennis Academy.
Adel Tennis Academy are running half term tennis camps. Click here for more information.
Ready to learn
The children have really impressed us with how quickly they have settled and their eagerness to learn. They are loving their phonics sessions!
Last week we went on a walk around school and drew maps. The children talked about their journey to school and where they lived. We looked at maps of Moortown and tried to spot school and Moortown Park.
Reading
All the children have been given a reading book. Please keep this book in their bookbag for reading at school. We will change their book once a week.
Mental Health
Today, Year 4 began their second week learning about the importance of mental health in Living and Learning. I’ve been so impressed with how mature and understanding the whole class have been when listening and sharing personal experiences with their friends!
Last week, the children learnt about sensible ways to express their feelings and emotions and why this is so important. They explored a range of different emotions such as feeling happy, sad, scared, angry, worried or pleased. Discussing how these might feel inside and what colour or shape these emotions would look like. This helped the children understand their own emotions and they then drew these themselves!
This week, we’re looking at how we can manage our feelings and emotions in different situations. We spent time talking about how emotions can influence our behaviours. For example, excitement can lead to jumping and smiling or sadness can lead to crying or hiding. To help the children work through the same emotions, they spent the afternoon being empathetic to others and considering how others can help themselves.
We are constantly referring back to the importance of talking to someone you trust and how this can really help children manage their emotions. Whether they talk to a grown up at school, at home or online – a problem shared is a problem halved!
The Childline website has lots of interactive games to help children explore their emotions even further – https://www.childline.org.uk/ – have a look at home!
Reading activity
Our reading record activity this week is step in their shoes.
Please ensure that your child has completed this activity by Friday the 15th of October. It must also be accompanied by an adults signature confirming that your child has been reading at home.
As always, please ask if you have any questions!
Performing poetry
“Will you walk into my parlour?” said the spider to the fly…
Year 5 have been reading The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt and we performed it today! The poem comes with a warning of being careful of what the motives of strangers are.
Can your child remember what our R2s are when performing this poem?
Learning in Latin
In Latin, Year 5 have been learning about how it is not word order but word endings that are important when constructing sentences.
To help explain this, we looked at how changing the word order of sentences in English can completely change the meaning of our sentences!
Take a look at some of our favourite examples of this…
