Parent- Teacher Zoom Appointments
Nursery will hold our parent-teacher Zoom meetings after half term, in the week commencing 25 November.
Please look out for further information when we return to Nursery after the half term break.
Reading as historian
This week in reading we are linking our learning to our history topic – Ancient Egypt. The children studied labelled diagrams of the pyramids and how they are structured. The children had to research whether the sources of information were reliable – they used websites to validate the information and to also study the websites to see if they were trustworthy. The children were able to identify how one source of information was unreliable as it wasn’t a secure site. They were able to validate information by finding similar information elsewhere.
1A Parts and wholes
Today, we introduced the concept of parts and wholes into our Number learning. We looked at photographs of fruit and vegetables and decided if it was the whole fruit or a part of it. Looking at pictures of carrots, we discussed how the parts could be cut in different places to make all kinds of different parts.
After that, we were given a tower of blocks and we used our imagination to pretend they were carrots. To begin with, we ‘cut’ them into two different parts. We used the STEM sentence “these two parts combine to make a whole” to help us in our learning. After that, Mrs Brown challenged us to see if we could ‘cut’ our ‘carrots’ into three, four or five different parts.
Later this week, we will learn how numbers can be split into parts too. We will also look at a part-whole model and begin to use it in our table learning activities.
Help at home: You could talk to your child about parts and wholes as you prepare food for meals and snacks e.g. This is a whole potato, how many parts did I cut it into to make roast potatoes? Even though this is small, this is a whole grape. How many parts did I cut it into?
When you discuss parts, you could also discuss whether or not they are equal parts or whether they are different sizes.
Living and learning : respect
I am respectful is one of our school rules. We watched this video and talked about the ways we can show respect and be respectful of others.
I can show respect by listening to others.
I can show respect by sharing and taking turns.
I can show respect by looking after my things.
It’s always worth listening to Winnie the Pooh’s messages too!
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt!
Literacy
This week, our focus book was We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
The children were able to use their knowledge of the story to retell it using pictures and props.
Geography
On Thursday, we went for a sound walk around the school. This involved finding landmarks, such as the gazebo and writing graphemes
(letters) we found on a map.
Maths
This week, we have explored how numbers can be composed of 1s.
We have will learnt that a ‘whole’ is made up of smaller parts and is, therefore, bigger than its parts.
Phonics
This week, we have focused on the new phonemes: d,g,o,c.
We’ve also learnt a new tricky word; is.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Falling Apples.
Stay and Learn
Our first stay and learn session will be on Thursday 10 October.
This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about phonics and watch your child learning in school. There will also be a coffee morning after the session.
Please ensure you sign up at the door before Wednesday 9 October or email scholesreception@spherefederation.org.
2C update
Thhe We’ve had another great week in the 2C classroom. We started off with a very rainy week which included lots of indoor play times, so we are very happy to see the sun shining this Friday!
Reading and writing
We have been enjoying a new book this week called ‘Vlad and the Great Fire of London’. This book is about a flea and his rat friend Boxton. In the book the pair tell a story of their own experience of the Great Fire of London. We’ve been interpreting what parts of the book mean. We have also been analysing the illustrations and discussing some of the vocabulary in the book. We’ve also been writing our own sentences about the Fire.
Maths
In Maths this week we have continued to look at place value. At the start of the week we looked at related facts e.g. if 4 + 4 = 8, then 40 + 40 = 80.
We have also started partitioning two digit numbers flexibly. For example if we know that 81 = 80 + 1, we also know that 81 = 70 + 11 and 81 = 60 + 21.
Science
We learnt about reptiles and amphibians this week in Science. The children know that they have some similarities but also some big differences. We sorted the animals into categories and researched some facts using books from our fantastic reading corner.
History
Our current Topic in History is the Great Fire of London. We have been learning about what exactly caused the fire this week and why it spread so fast.
Drop down morning
Today, we spent some of the morning recapping Topic learning from last year. This included discussing the oceans. continents and the countries that make up the UK. We also looked at shops from the past and compared them to shops in the present. Finally we each had a turn playing with the Beebots.
Quick message – Thank you to all of those that attended ‘Watch us while we work’ this week. It was great to see so many adults supporting their children and hopefully you’ve gone away with ideas on how you can help with learning at home.
Thanks, Miss Young 🙂
Amazing Autumn
Thank you for returning your autumn bags! This week, we began to look at their contents. Children enjoyed talking about what they had found and where they found their autumn treasure. Don’t worry if you haven’t had a chance to go for a walk yet, there’s still time. Please return your bag to Nursery over the next week.
We’ve been learning all about autumn this week; we talked about the changes that we could see around us in our Nursery garden. Children noticed that the leaves were changing colour and falling from the branches. We listened to a song about autumn leaves falling down and named lots of different coloured leaves that we could see outside.
In our story corner, children have enjoyed listening to the story of ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’. They’re getting really good at re-telling the story and joining in with the repeated refrains.
Next week, we’ll continue to learn about autumn and will look at some artwork by Andy Goldsworthy so don’t forget to bring your autumn treasure bag back to nursery.
Help at home
Next week’s nursery rhyme is Baa Baa Black Sheep Can you join in with this nursery rhyme?
We are continuing to explore “We’re going on a bear hunt” Here is the author telling the story. Have a listen at home and join in together with the sound effects!
Reminders
- Our individual photographs will take place on Tuesday 08 October. If your child does not attend nursery on a Tuesday but you would like them to have their photograph taken please contact school.
- Please ensure that your child has a waterproof coat at nursery every day. We go outside to learn, whatever the weather!
Living and learning : rights and responsibilities
Last week in our Living and Learning lessons, we were talking about what rights and responsibilities are.
We discussed how a right is an entitlement to have or do something and talked about the rights that we all have, such as the right to an education.
We also discussed that rights come with responsibilities too – and we matching some together.
We have the right to be listened to.
We have the responsibility to listen to others.
Help at home by asking your child if they can tell you some different rights and responsibilities.
Watch Us While We Work
Thank you to the parents who could attend our Watch Us While We work lesson earlier on in the week.
In 56C, we talked about some strategies to help with homework.
Spellings:
Have you tried playing hangman? This is a great game for spotting spelling patterns. It also means that children will get a chance to really study the 40 word list.
Using story dice as a stimulus for writing sentences, is a a great way to learn how to use the spellings in context.
Another way to avoid the repetition of writing out the words is to play Mind Meld. Partners work together to get the same spelling. The only rule is that you have to say yes to whatever your partner says.
E.g.
Partner one: Our word begins with the letter E.
Partner two: Yes and our word has a double SS.
Partner one: Yes and our word has an a followed by an R.
Together: Our word is embarrass.
Reading:
Reading aloud to and with a child is still a really important way of teaching reading skills. We looked at ways to narrate our thoughts as we read. We might read a few sentences and reflect on what we have read.
Another way to share the love of reading is to take turns when reading. Read a line, paragraph or page each.
Finally, if there is lots of speech, you could each take on a role to play. How can you change your voice/ pace to suit that character?
Reading: debate
This week, our topic learning linked with our reading lessons. We were developing our ability to explain a personal point of view, giving reasons for our views.
As part of our learning about Ancient Egypt, we had a debate about Howard Carter – the archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.
Our debate statement was:
Howard Carter is a positive figure in history.
The children used trusted websites to research the topic and develop debate points. Half of the children were in support of the statement and the other in opposition.
We discussed good techniques for a debate such as projecting our voices, giving evidence and listening respectfully to other people’s opinions. Our oracy skills were very useful here. The children all used some great debate style sentence stems to help put their opinions across to the opposing team.
The result was a very respectful and articulate debate.
Help at home: Ask your child about their opinion of Howard Carter.