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Can cakes be part of a healthy school?

In the last newsletter, there was an updated list of key dates for the year ahead.  The new dates included two PTA cake sales.

Following this, someone questioned whether we, as a healthy school, should hold such cake sales.  This is a good question – the more prompts we have to reflect on our practice, the better.  And the more prompts for parents, carers, pupils and staff to reflect on our diets and lifestyles, the better, too.

I like to think that it’s better to think about healthy and unhealthy diets rather than healthy and unhealthy foods.  Broccoli is a healthy food, but if we were to eat it all the time at the expense of other vegetables, our diets would be missing out.  The same goes for all food – a broad and balanced diet is what’s needed.  You can learn more with your child about the food pyramid, the eat well plate and look at our own guidance for healthy packed lunches for more advice.

So… My thoughts are that yes, cakes aren’t particularly healthy, but as an occasional treat, for most people, they’re fine.  After all, food containing fats and sugars do feature in the food pyramid and the eat well plate – just in a small amount.

That’s why the PTA’s two cake stalls are held with my full approval.  (At the same time, don’t forget, you’ll also have the opportunity to view some of the children’s work.)

How to read ‘tricky words’.

The children are learning their letters and sounds quickly. They are beginning to blend them together to read and segment  to spell.

This week we will be introducing ‘tricky words’.

These are everyday words that have tricky spellings and can’t be read by blending. Imagine trying to read the word said or does by blending each letter! These words just have to be learned by sight and flashcard-type games are a good way to practise these. We will be sending these tricky words home to learn.

Remember to say the sounds correctly

This is really important when you are helping your child to learn their letter sounds. Just remember not to add an uh to the end of the consonant sounds – so say mmm not muh, lll not luh, etc.

Go to www.oxfordowl.co.uk to see videos of all the sounds being pronounced. This website also contains games and ideas to help your child with their reading and free eBooks to download.

Reception won the Cool Class Cup!

We are very proud to have won the cup this week.

All the staff in school give Cool Class Tokens to children for such things as manners, behaviour and effort. These tokens are collected and counted at the end of  each week. The class with the most tokens wins the cup which is awarded in our Good Work Assembly on Friday.

Great effort!

I was so impressed when marking the children’s homework last week. There were many different creative ways in which they were presented. I loved hearing about how you celebrated Diwali or Eid. It was also lovely to see which books the children are reading at home.

16 November 2012

This week’s spellings are words with ‘igh’. Your child will be tested on Friday 23 November 2012.

• high
• night
• height
• fright
• right
• fight
• tight
• light
• might
• sight

16 November 2012

This week’s homework is Practice makes Perfect. It is due in on Wednesday 21 November. Your child has to colour the squares in a variety of different ways to show one half or one quarter (depending on the sheet they have).

16 November 2012

This week’s spellings are words containing ‘ar’. Your child will be tested on Friday 23 November.

16 November 2012

The homework this week is Talk Time and is due in Wednesday 21 November.

I can talk about different ways to get on with my friends.

Our current SEAL theme is getting on. We’ve been learning about how to manage our feelings as well as learning to understand the feelings of others. Have a discussion with your family about all the ways you can get on with friends in and out of school.

Get your child justify their thoughts by using conjunctions like because or as.

16 November 2012

This week we are spelling words with plurals. The children have to find twelve different spellings to fit the following rules.

Most nouns just add an s:

• envelope   envelopes

Many nouns ending with a consonant and a y: drop the y for an i, then add es:

• family   families

Nouns ending in a ‘s’ or other soft sound (ss, ch, x): add an es:

• dress   dresses
• relax   relaxes
• crutch   crutches

Children will be tested on their twelve individual spelling and other words that have the same rule on Friday 23 November.

16 November 2012

This week the spelling chant to practise with your child is ‘drop the y for an i’. The adverb of these words is modified by adding either an er added or est at the end which changes the meaning. Children should learn all these words and see if they can come with some of their own.

There’s another spelling rule used in the spellings this week. Can you spot which one it is?