Sticky learning!
School dinners
Our school dinner menu was discussed by our School Council this week. They also talked about ways to encourage others to try some of the new meals that are on the Spring term menu.
Did you know the menu is available to view on our website and also displayed on our dining room window. This is a good way to make your child aware of what the daily meals are.
The menu follows a three week cycle and it changed on a termly basis.
Here are the options for today.
School Council elections 11 February
Our current school councillors held their final meeting today as we prepare to elect our new school council. This year’s election date is Thursday 11 February.
Children from every class, including Reception, are encouraged to prepare a speech to present to their class as part of the election process. Our whole school homework before the election date (05 February) will give children the chance to plan their speech.
Thank you to our existing school council who have been involved with many decisions and discussions throughout the year. On today’s agenda, there have been discussions around the new school dinner menu, classroom reading areas, e-safety and general suggestions put forward by children in each class. It appears they have enjoyed the role as they all intend to stand again at the elections.
Phonics mornings
This week, we’ll be holding our second of three phonics sessions.
The children are now beginning to learn long vowel phonemes and digraphs (two letters making one sound, like ‘sh’ and ‘th’) and to read and write sentences and longer words.
We expect all parents / carers to come along and see how much the children have learnt and find out ways you can support your child at home.
Maths learning in Reception
In our maths learning this week, we’ll learn about shape and pattern.
We’ll look at shape and pattern around us and in particular shape and pattern found in nature. We’ll look at snowflakes and ice and the patterns and shapes found in tree trunks, sticks and branches.
Number and calculating is built upon patterns; for example, recognising sequences of numbers or the shape of five on a dice with spots, without counting each dot.
As well as noticing shapes and patterns, children need to talk about them in order to develop the language needed to describe the shapes and patterns they see.
The following is a list of vocabulary the children will experience in Reception:
shape, flat, curved, straight, round, solid, corner, sort, cube, cuboid, cylinder, pyramid, sphere, cone, circle, triangle, square, rectangle, size, bigger, larger, smaller, pattern, repeating pattern, match.
Phonics
This term we will begin phase 3 of the ‘Letters and Sounds’ phonic programme.
The purpose of this phase is to:
- teach more graphemes, most of which are made of two letters, for example, ‘oa’ as in boat
- practise blending and segmenting a wider set of CVC (consonant – vowel – consonant) words, for example, fizz, chip, sheep, light (even though there are lots of letters, there are three phonemes – sounds – as in sh – eee – p)
- learn all letter names and begin to form them correctly
- read more tricky words and begin to spell some of them
- read and write words in phrases and sentences
Here are some examples of words your children will be reading: tail, week, right, soap, food, park, burn, cord, town, soil
Tricky words
During phase 3, the children will learn more ‘tricky words’. These are the words we will learn in phase 3: he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all, said
In addition, during this phase children will be expected to begin to write sentences independently.
There will be phonics open mornings on 20, 21, 22 January. Please make sure you attend one of these to see how your child has progressed and how you can support them further.
If you have any questions about the teaching of phonics, please ask.
What is a stick?
This week we have been enjoying the book ‘Stick Man’ by Julia Donaldson. (Watch and listen to Julia Donaldson reading the story.)
The children have been on a stick hunt around school and some have found sticks on their way to school.
We’ve been amazed by the wealth of opportunities for learning and the creativity that has been inspired by giving the children a few sticks.
Look out for further stick learning this term, and of course, our ‘Stick Man’ assembly on Thursday 28 January at 2.40pm.
Keep those sticks coming!
A big thank you!
Thank you to all the people who donated money at the end of the Whoops-a-Daisy Angel performances. Altogether, we raised a fantastic £287.78! This will be split between our two charities: St Gemma’s Hospice and Cancer Research.
Let’s get sugar smart
Today has seen a new campaign launch by Change 4 Life, the government’s public health initiative, aimed at reducing the amount of sugar that children consume.
The free Sugar Smart App can tell you the amount of sugar in items by scanning the barcode, and then displaying the result as a number of cubes or in grams. The app can be used as a way of revealing the hidden sugar content in foods and to make us more aware of what children are consuming.
Public Health England, which runs the Change 4 Life campaign, hopes the Sugar Smart app and campaign will help combat tooth decay, obesity and type two diabetes and encourage families to choose healthier alternatives.
New SEAL theme…Good to be me
Our new SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme for this half-term, Good to be me, focuses on three main areas of learning:
•Self-awareness – feeling good about yourself, taking risks.
•Managing Feelings – understanding feelings, and why and how they lead us to behave the way we do – particularly the feelings of being excited, proud, surprised, hopeful, disappointed, worried and anxious and standing up for yourself –assertiveness skills, standing up for your views.
•Empathy
This theme explores feelings in the context of the child as an individual, developing self-awareness and helping the child to realise that it really is ‘Good to be me’. The theme is about understanding our feelings as well as considering our strengths and weaknesses as learners.
As part of our current mini topic, What’s the matter?, children will also ask ‘What’s the matter?’ from a social and emotional point of view, understanding feelings and thinking about how they can solve problems.
The key ideas and concepts behind the theme of Good to be me are:
Building emotional resilience
Children need to become resilient if they are to be healthy and effective life-long learners.
Coping with anxiety and worrying
Worry and anxiety are major features in many children’s lives. Many children have good reasons to be anxious. Exploring worries is important.
Calming down
Although getting stressed, anxious or angry are important and useful emotions, sometimes these feelings can be overwhelming.
Assertiveness
The theme encourages children to become assertive – that is, able to recognise and stand up for their rights while recognising and respecting the rights of others.
Understanding feelings and how they influence behaviour
The theme explores the relationship between ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’ and the way each impacts on our behaviour. It looks at Flight or Fight rapid response to situations of threat and our responses to feeling threatened /under stress.
‘I respond to difficult situations in a positive way’ is the first SEAL statement for this theme.
