Internet Safety Day
Today we’ve been talking about internet safety and how to make smart choices online. Our friend Smartie the Penguin helped us learn what to do if something unexpected pops up on a screen.
While using his tablet, Smartie saw something that didn’t look right. Instead of clicking it, he remembered TAG — Tell A Grown up. Smartie told a trusted adult straight away.
We learned that if we ever see something that’s not meant for us online, we should TAG (Tell A Grown up). Telling a grown-up helps keep us safe and makes sure we can enjoy using technology the smart way — just like Smartie the Penguin!
Here’s a video with advice on how to support children up to age 5 to stay safe online.
School dinner menu
After February half term, we start our new menu which runs to the end of the year. It can be viewed here. Please review this with your child to help with their selection at the start of the day. We continue to offer meat free Mondays.
The cost of a school meal is:
- children in Reception, Years 1 and 2: this is free because of universal infant free school meals
- children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6: £3.05 for children in Years 3 to 6
Payment should be paid in advance on the Arbor app. We’re happy to accept payment for the week, month, half term or term. We prefer two weeks’ notice to change lunch arrangements.
All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 receive free school meals. If your child is in Year 3 to Year 6, and you are on benefits or a low income, your child may be eligible for free school meals.
Some people like to choose a mix of school dinners and packed lunch for their child – that’s absolutely fine, as long as it’s a the same pattern of school dinners and packed lunches every week. Just let office staff know which days you’d like to opt in for a school meal in the week, and which days you’d prefer to provide your child with a packed lunch.
We continue to gather feedback from children on our school meals.
If you have any feedback, please do get in touch.
Poetry Basket: Mr Bluebird
This week’s poem is called Mr Bluebird. Hope you enjoy the performance!
This week, we’ve discussed the word hive.
Spring 1: Week 5
Phonics stay & Learn
Thank you to all the parents and carers who joined our phonics stay and learn on Wednesday. We hope you found it helpful! We’re sure you were impressed by the incredible progress the children have made—they really are phonics superstars! If you were unable to attend, we’ve put a copy of the presentation slides and any resources handed out during the stay & learn.
Please take a moment to complete the feedback form. If you have any questions, feel free to email me or raise them at your parent–teacher meeting next week.
Literacy
This week, we’ve been reading Great Fairies of the World by Stephanie Moss. This rhyming story introduces a range of fairy characters who have jobs that help others, such as an architect fairy, doctor fairy and engineer fairy, to name just a few!
We talked about what real-life heroes do and how they help people. Some of the children said they wanted to be real-life heroes when they’re older. They shared that they would like to be firefighters, doctors, police officers, vets, and lifeguards. The children thoroughly enjoyed learning about all the different jobs and the important roles these heroes play in helping others.
Ali – When I’m older, I would like to be a vet.
Oy – I would like to be a doctor to help people get better.
Fin – I would like to be a vet like my sister.
Imo – I would like to be a lifeguard.
Kai – I would like to be a police officer.
On Wednesday, we decided to create our own fairy wands to help us feel brave, strong, and magical in our classroom. The children enjoyed choosing their materials and decorating their wands.
In provision, we linked our fiction story to non-fiction learning by role-playing real-life heroes. The children took on different roles and explored how people in these jobs help others in the real world. We had lots of poorly patients in our role-play area!
Here’s a snapshot of fantastic learners busy tackling this week’s challenges!
Help at home:
Poetry Basket: A little house
This week’s poem is called A Little House. Hope you enjoy the performance!
We’ve been thinking about and using the words curling and drifting.
Spring 1: Week 4
This week, we’ve been super busy being superheroes.
On Tuesday, the children arrived in the classroom to discover that the Evil Pea had been up to his mischievous tricks. He had trapped the super veggies in a bowl! We used our fantastic detective skills to search the classroom and spot clues he had left behind. We made wanted posters and displayed them around the school to help find him.
On Wednesday, the Evil Pea was up to his mischievous tricks once again! He had taped the super veggies to the window and left us a message saying, “Mwah ha ha! You can’t catch me!”
On Thursday, we couldn’t believe our eyes… the Evil Pea had trapped the super veggies up high in a basket. We really had to use our detective skills to help capture the Evil Pea.
What a busy week we’ve had! They’ve wowed us with their amazing creativity and imaginative play. From finding and writing signs for clues to designing and building traps, we’ve seen some fantastic teamwork.
Maths
In Maths, we continued to develop our understanding of composition. We used the Hungarian number pattern (die pattern) to explore ways of making 5. We sang 5 Little Aliens in a Flying Saucer to help remember the pairs of numbers that make 5.
On Wednesday, we noticed there wasn’t enough space on the die frame for 6 aliens. To extend our learning, we used a double dice frame to explore numbers 6 and 7, understanding them as 5 and a bit.
Help at home: Number bonds to 5 game
- Put 5 small things into a bag.
- Ask your adult to take some things out of the bag.
- Then, you take the rest of the things out of the bag.
- How many things does your adult have? How many do you have?
- How many altogether?
Phonics
This week, we learnt our final phase 3 graphemes (air, er) and tricky words (are, pure, sure)
Next half-term, we’ll revisit all of the phase 3 digraphs and trigraphs. We’ll also be reading words with:
- double letters (h-a-mm-er)
- two or more digraphs (ch-a-tt–er)
- ending in –ing (l-oo-k/i-ng)
- s /z/ in the middle (visit sounds like v-i-z-i-t)
- s /s/ /z/ at the end (c-oo-k-s)
- es at the end (t-or-ch-es)
Reminders
- Phonics Phase 3 Stay & Learn – Wednesday 4th February
9:00–9:20am – Phase 3 phonics presentation
9:25–10:00am – Watch a Phase 3 phonics lesson
Due to limited space, one adult per child may attend. - Parent-teacher meetings – Tuesday 10th & Thursday 12th February
I look forward to chatting to you all about your child’s learning. - School trip – Wednesday 25th February
Packed lunches
Does your child have a packed lunch at school? If so, please download our Guide to Healthy Packed Lunches.
Did you know that popcorn and whole grapes are a choking hazard for children under 5? Lot’s of people don’t! The Food Standards Agency. has published the following advice on how to prepare food safely for your young child.
Poetry Basket: Jack and Jill
This week’s poem is a well-known nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill.
Who knew that paper and vinegar was a remedy for a banged head?!
Spring 1: Week 3
This week in our literacy lessons, we enjoyed reading Penguin Huddle by Ross Montgomery. In the story, the penguins huddled together during an icy storm, but it was so cold that they got stuck together and couldn’t break free!
Our word of the week was huddle. To help us understand the word, we made our own huddle in class. Ask your child if they can explain what huddle means and use it in a sentence.
We also talked about how Antarctica is different from the United Kingdom. We looked at photographs of Antarctica and compared them with images of the UK, identifying similarities and differences.
Maths – Composition
This week, the children consolidated their understanding of the composition of 5 using the familiar rhyme 5 Little Speckled Frogs. By singing the rhyme and moving the frogs during each verse, the children explored part–part–whole relationships. For example, they discovered that 5 can be made up of 3 and 2.
We talked through examples together:
There are 5 frogs on the log and 1 frog in the pool. 5 is made up of 4 and 1.
There are 3 frogs on the log and 2 frogs in the pool. 5 is made up of 3 and 2.
We also used our fingers to represent this, holding up 5 fingers and then putting one down each time. Fingers pointing up represented the frogs on the log, and fingers pointing down represented the frogs in the pool.
Phonics
In Spring 1, Week 3, we focused on the digraphs ur, ow, oi and the trigraph ear. We also learned the tricky words my, by, all. Tricky words are words that should be read by sight.
Help at home: Play Tricky Word Splat
- Write a selection of tricky words on paper or sticky notes
- Place them on the floor or table
- Say a tricky word for your child to splat
- You could jump on the words, splat them with a masher, or create your own fun ideas!
Here’s a snapshot of some of the learning that’s taken place across the areas this week.
Spring 1: Week 2
Maths
This week, we continued to develop our counting skills. Our main focus was the stable order principle—understanding that numbers always stay in the same order. To explore this, we used cubes, marbles, bottle tops and counters to build staircase patterns. We also had to use our super fine motor skills, especially when working with the marbles!
When creating our staircase patterns, we discovered that each number has a value that is one more than the previous number.
Help at home: Try making a staircase pattern at home. What could you use?
Literacy
This week, we continued reading Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. For our writing activities, we created missing posters and drew pictures of items we would pack if we went on a journey to the South Pole. We also enjoyed watching the live penguin cam at Edinburgh Zoo.
On Wednesday, some of the children went on a walk around the school to take photos of signs of winter. We shared the photos with the class and discussed how we know it is winter.
Encouraging love of reading at home
Thank you for your continued support with reading at home. Sharing books regularly helps to build your child’s language, imagination and confidence, and most importantly, helps them develop a love of reading.
Even a few minutes each day makes a big difference. Letting children choose books they enjoy and talking about stories together helps reading feel fun and meaningful.
We would love it if you could share a photo of you and your child enjoying a story together so we can display it in our reading corner. Please send your photos to moortowneyfs@spherefederation.org.
Have a happy and healthy weekend.