Phonics -Pp
Over the last few weeks, we have introduced children to some letter sounds. So far, we have learnt Ss Aa Tt and we’ll learn Pp this week.
We talk to children about the letter names and the sounds that they make. We always use the pure sound, such as ‘sssssss’ rather than ‘suh’ and ‘mmmmmm’ not ‘muh’. If you’re unsure, watch this link of our F2 teachers producing the pure sounds.
We use the Jolly Phonics songs and actions to help us learn each sound. Here’s a video of the songs for the first set of sounds that we will learn. We continue to focus on the sound of the letters at the start of words and are playing lots of games including eye spy. We use objects that begin with the letters that we have learnt so far, like in this video game. You could play your own game using objects that you find at home.
Super Shadow Science!
Last week, we learned what objects makes the best shadow. This week, and building on our learning, we discovered how the size of shadows change when you move opaque objects closer or further away from the light source.
This is easy to do at home.
Why not try making shadow puppets?
Frost, ice and snow
The cold weather didn’t stop us from venturing outside to learn last week! With our hats and gloves on, and our coats zipped right to the top, we enjoyed exploring the garden and found lots of frost, ice and sparkling spider webs.
One of the Prime areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage is Physical Development and part of this relates to children’s independence skills and their ability to dress themselves. Please take advantage of wrapping up in the cold weather and encourage your child to put on their own shoes and coat. If they can do this already, can they fasten the zip on their coat or put on their own gloves? These are all great skills to learn – you might just need to get ready 5 minutes earlier to give children some extra time.
Technology home link
As part of our ongoing assessment against the 17 Early Learning Goals, we are focusing on the Technology strand. In particular, this goal can sometimes be difficult to assess purely on what we observe in school. We realise that children are often able to demonstrate their knowledge and skills more readily at home, using the technology that is a part of their everyday life.
Over the next few weeks we will be sending Home Link activities connected to Technology to help us make accurate judgements in this area. We would be very grateful if you could complete the activities with your child, making notes about anything they say, and send it back into school.
EasyPeasy – parent feedback
We hope you enjoyed playing the first game from the EasyPeasy app ‘stepping stones’. If you did not receive a text inviting you to the play the EasyPeasy games, please let a member of staff know.
We would love to hear about when your child plays the games. You can comment on the video on the EasyPeasy app or email us. We really enjoyed hearing about one child playing ‘stepping stones’ at the weekend!
Leeds Play House workshop
As part of our class novel topic, children in year 5/6 took part in a drama workshop. Children used freeze frames and acted out their own version of a scene from Kensuke’s Kingdom.
“It inspired me to be creative and brave. I was able to do actions that I didn’t really know I could do in front of loads of people.”
Marvellous Maths Stay and Play
Thank you to those of you who were able to attend the ‘marvellous maths’ stay and play last week. It was great to see so many of you there and the children enjoyed sharing their learning with you.
The teacher taught part of the session focused on the number 8. We focus on numbers to twenty throughout the year to get a depth of understanding of what the numbers represent. We talked about what number 8 looks like – not just the numeral but also what it looks like in our environment. For example, 7 flowers and 1 tree – that makes eight!
The activities part of the session allowed the children to apply the skills practically. There are 6 counting principles which children must know in order to be able to count well.
Thank you for all the fantastic feedback. In response, please find some links below available to download and print to support learning at home.
Number formation , first, then, now – ten frame
If you were unable to attend, your child will be bringing home an information sheet with ideas of how to support your child at home. The children also enjoy watching number blocks – a great conversation starter about numbers!
Living and Learning homework – I know how to make things better
All the year 1 and 2 classes has fantastic homework review sessions this week. There were lots of varied examples of how we can make things better at school, home and in the wider environment.
Knobbly knees, bird watching and ice
Continuing with the Gruffalo theme provided lots of opportunities to extend learning this week. There were some fantastic Gruffalo creations in the playdough area; children demonstrated great perseverance and used all the details from the story to make Gruffalo cakes with purple prickles, orange eyes and terrible teeth.
It was quite chilly outside and children spotted lots of signs of winter. We talked about the frost each morning and children were very excited to find ice in different places. After painting on the ice, children noticed that when they returned to the activity later, it had gone!
As part of the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch, children helped to make some birdfeeders to hang in the Nursery garden. We look forward to bird watching next week.
Gold Stars
Well done to our two Golden Stars!
