A special visitor
All the year 1 and 2 classes had a special visitor today. Santa visited each class; reading a story, talking to children and handing our early Christmas presents. We thought we couldn’t get any more excitable…but we did!
Christmas in F2
We have had a busy time in F2 so far…
Last week we introduced the children to ‘The Christmas Story’. Before reading the story we looked at the characters and the children were able to name most of them. The children then listened very carefully to the story about the very first Christmas.
- It’s Baby Jesus.
- Mary – Baby Jesus’ mummy.
- The 3 wise men, they gave presents to Jesus.
- Joseph and the shepherds.
- They are in a stable.
On Thursday, it was our Christmas dinner day. We all made a Christmas hat to wear into the hall.
So far this week, we have watched a Christmas pantomime. This was lots of fun but had an important message – how to keep safe on the road. Can your child tell you how to safely cross the road? (think, stop, look and listen).
We have also had a special visit from Father Christmas. He read us a special Christmas story and listened carefully when we told him what we would like for Christmas. We were all very lucky and received a present to put under our Christmas tree ready for Christmas morning.
Living and Learning-I respect my communities and other communities.
This Living and Learning statement helps to promote the British value of mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. In KS1 we daily encourage respect for everyone and everything. We know that we are all the same AND we are all different! How amazing is that?
One child shared their homework about the celebration of Christmas. He proudly showed his Christingle. We discussed similarities and differences between Christmas and Eid. Will you be celebrating anything special this coming holiday?
Primary school places – It’s time to apply!
If your child was born between 1st September 2014 and 31st August 2015, it’s time to apply for their Primary school place. The deadline for applying is 15th January 2019.
Even if your child is attending a school nursery or other early years provision or you have children at school already, you mist still apply for a place.
Please visit the website www.leeds.gov.uk to apply online. If you need any more information, you can contact the admissions team on 0113 222 4414.
Christmas celebrations
In between our concerts last week, we still had time to enjoy some Christmas themed learning. One of the most popular activities was helping Father Christmas in his Elves’ Workshop. After wrapping the presents, children built a sleigh and enjoyed delivering them to all of their friends. We’ve also been writing Christmas cards, counting baubles, sorting Christmas shapes and making reindeer in the playdough. We’ll continue with our Christmas activities for the final week.
Children will listen to the Nativity story and find out more about how some people celebrate Christmas. We’ll be watching some of these short clips from the ‘Let’s Celebrate‘ programme on CBeebies.
If you want to play some games on the computer at home, there are lots of links to Christmas games on the Topmarks website. Our favourite games last week, were playing tunes on the reindeer’s noses and putting the correct number of baubles onto the tree. This is a great game to practise counting out the right number of objects from a group and knowing that you need to stop when you’ve reached the required quantity. That’s quite a tricky early maths skill to master!
Golden Stars
Well done to today’s golden stars!
Living and Learning – I respect my communities and other communities
This week we’ve been finding out about winter festivals. We’ve used information texts, books and the Internet to research a range of celebrations.
We found out that different religions celebrate different festivals throughout the winter months.
Although we’re all different, we’re all the same too! We discovered that all of the festivals are celebrated by having special family time. Special food and meals are important and cards and gifts are often given. We liked the sound of all the winter festivals!
How will your family be celebrating over the upcoming holiday?
A Snowman at Sunset
Wow! We hope you enjoyed watching your super snowflakes performing on stage this afternoon. We were really proud of all of the children today. There were a few wobbles and nerves before our performance but we’re sure that you couldn’t tell; children confidently went on stage and sang along to our ‘Snowflakes’ song. It really is quite daunting to stand on a stage in front of eighty or more grown ups, especially when you’re only three or four. Well done, Nursery!
We hope you enjoyed watching the show as much as the children enjoyed peforming it. If you didn’t come today, you’re in for a treat on Wednesday morning.
Drama for writing
Today, we read a picture book, The Santa Trap, which inspired us to get into role.
It’s about a bad boy, Bradley. He has been behaving badly and should probably be on Santa’s naughty list.
First, we talked about Bradley’s character and made notes from the text.
We decided to act out a short sketch in pairs – Santa and Santa’s elf.
We though about what they would say to each other about the beastly brat, Bradley.
Then, we performed it to our peers.
We loved using drama techniques to bring the character’s to life.
Living and Learning – Identity
As part of our Living and Learning identity topic, the children have really gone to town with creating their own identity boxes.
We’ve loved looking through them and telling stories about what makes us who we are.
We have learned many things about ourselves and our peers that we wouldn’t have known before, such as, where we have travelled, our hobbies, quirks and traits.
