Welcome back!
Welcome back everyone! It was so nice to see the children again and see so many smiling faces upon their return to school on Monday. A great start to the new term!
Phonics
This week in Phonics we have learnt some more digraphs. Digraphs are two letters that make one sound. They were:
We also learnt the phoneme and grapheme /j/ along with the new tricky word ‘as’.
Maths
This week, we’ve been engaging in activities that highlight the purpose of counting – finding out how many objects there are altogether. We’ve reinforced our understanding of cardinality, recognising that the last number we say when counting represents the total number of objects in the set.
A key focus has been deepening our understanding of the number 5 as a quantity. We’ve been linking the number to familiar representations, such as the five fingers on one hand. The children are also beginning to explore different ways to represent numbers up to 5, using both their fingers and the Hungarian number pattern (die frame).
Poem Of The week
This week’s poem is called Cup Of Tea.
Celebrations
Over the last couple of teaching weeks we have been learning about some of the different celebrations that people celebrate in our country. We have thought about and discussed Diwali and Bonfire night. We have also been paying close attention to the season of Autumn and thinking about some of the things that happen during this beautiful season.
My Money Week
Throughout school the children have been learning about money this week. We joined in with Key Stage One and created the school logo from the pennies that pupils had brought in to school. Thank you to everyone that donated money!
Next week:
- Anti-bullying Week and Odd Socks Day. Next week we will be partaking in Odd Socks Day on Monday the 10th November. All children are welcome to come to school in odd socks. This is to raise awareness for Anti-bullying week. The odd socks will help us to discuss all of our wonderful similarities and differences.
- Remembrance Day. In school we will observe a minute silence at 11am on the 11th November. This is to commemorate Armistice, to honour the service and sacrifice of the armed forces and to show respect for all the lives lost. This will be done and explained in a child friendly and age appropriate manor.
- Nursery Rhyme Week. This week in reception class we will also be celebrating Nursery Rhyme week. Look out for next week’s web post to see some of the wonderful learning that will have taken place.
Colours in the sky
The children were very excited when they returned to Nursery. They excitedly shared their stories about Halloween with their friends. There was a lot of talk about witches, bat costumes and skeletons.
Wednesday was Bonfire Night, the children played with the bonfire themed small world area adding the sounds of the fireworks to their play. “whoosh, bang, zoom, whizz”
Along with hearing lots of different sounds the children had seen lots of bright colours in the night sky. They used ” sparklers” to print firework pictures. Outside they painted the dark floor to create the Bonfire Night sky.
Some more fire work activities in the sensory and fine motor areas of nursery.
As part of our phonics learning, we’ve introduced the letter ‘s’ this week. We took turns to pull some objects out of a bag that all started with the letter ‘s’ We talked about the ‘s’ sound that we could hear at the start of each word. In Nursery, we focus on our listening skills. We’re not learning about letter formation just yet.
We show the children this picture card and use this pronunciation phrase.
Show your teeth and let the s hiss out ssssss
You could try this at home.
Help at home: What can you find at home that begins with the sound ‘s’? Go on a sound hunt together and look for some. Let us know what you find.
Next week’s Learning
It’s World Nursery Rhyme Week so instead of our usual Nursery Rhyme of the week, our provision will be Nursery Rhyme themed. We’ll be singing lots of our favourite rhymes. If you’d like to send us an email with your child’s favourite rhyme and we’ll try to sing it at Nursery next week. scholesnursery@spherefederation.org
Sound of the week – Aa for astronaut and apple
Open your mouth wide and make the a sound at the back of your mouth a a a
Story of the week – Peace at Last by Jill Murphy
In this story Mr Bear moves about the house to try to find somewhere that is quiet to sleep. We will find out how many different sounds he hears.
Reminders
It’s a very busy week next week
- It’s “Odd Socks Day” on Monday 10 November so wear odd socks to Nursery for the day
- Our Nursery Coffee morning is on Tuesday 11 November straight after drop off at 9am. This is your chance to enjoy a coffee and a catch up with other nursery parents. Mrs Beesley and one of our school leaders will be there to share what is happening this this term in nursery with you.
- It’s Children in Need on Friday and it’s a non-uniform day. Please remember it will be a usual Nursery day, so please dress your child in clothes that are appropriate for outdoor and messy play.
Have a happy and healthy weekend everyone.
Penny Trail
Thank you!
Today, KS1 enjoyed creating a penny trail using the money that was kindly donated to support the Willow Foundation.
Thank you to everyone who contributed.
We will announce next week how much money was raised.
Key Stage 2 – Penny Trail
UPDATE!
A total of £76.48 was raised. Thank you!
Today, KS2 enjoyed creating a penny trail using the money that was kindly donated to support the Willow Foundation.
Thank you to everyone who contributed.
We will announce next week how much money was raised.
PE – gymnastics
This half term, all classes in year 1 and 2 will be focusing on gymnastics in PE lessons. We will be doing some work on mats also the large apparatus. We will be thinking about low and high movements, balancing, flight and sequencing movements.
Living and Learning – Me and My Money Week
This week, we have enjoyed the ‘Me and My Money’ themed week.
We have completed activities and learned about:
- spending choices based on priorities, needs and wants
- why people use current accounts and savings accounts
- how people can pay for things using cash or electronically
- how sometimes people save money and the reasons why they may save
- how sometimes people borrow money
- the price of some everyday products
- different charities and that some people choose to donate to charities
- different countries using different currencies
The children were very surprised at how expensive everyday items can be!
Help at home by discussing the learning from this week. Why not add up the cost of items in a weekly shop or discuss the value of different coins?
Me and My Money week
Blasting Off Into Space Learning
This half term in science, we will be exploring ideas and theories about space, thinking about what we already know, what scientists have discovered over time and how our understanding of the universe has changed. Through discussion, research and questioning, we will start to build our own ideas about the cosmos and our place within it. It is an exciting science unit full of curiosity, imagination and big questions – we are over the moon to get started!
Help at home: ask your child about the new science vocabulary.
JLT
Say hello to our fantastic new Junior Leadership Team. We had our first meeting today where we discussed potential school charities for this academic year. We look forward to announcing our chosen charity this Friday during our Golden assemblies.
Key Stage 1
Lower Key Stage 2
Upper Key Stage 2
