Class novel
We have started reading a new class novel this week. It is The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.
We are really enjoying a longer story, with chapters, that we can immerse ourselves in. It has sparked many discussions already about the characters, who we like and dislike and what we would do in the same situations.
Help at home by reading along (if you have a copy) or talk about some of the new words we have come across, such as enchanted, peculiar, folk and tremendous.
We are geographers
Our topic this half term is Geography. We are being geographers. We have been using Google Earth, maps, atlases and globes to find the continents (this song helps). We have also been learning about the countries that make up the United Kingdom and their capital cities. We have a song that helps with that too.
We researched landmarks in each city – and found out each capital city has a zoo! They also have lots of important buildings like castles, museums and palaces.
Help at home by helping your child to learn their address and postcode.
Topic: we are geographers
We used Digimaps this week to observe how Leeds had changed over time. This online tool allows the children to look at historical and present day maps and measure the scale of the city. We looked at a map from 1890, 1950 and 2023. They used a free hand tool to draw around the city and then the measuring tool to record the scale. It was really clear to see how Leeds had expanded. This learning links to our topic vocabulary – city expansion.
Help at home: Ask your child why a city like Leeds has expanded over time.
Immunisations
Living and learning: 8 Rs for learning
Living and learning has allowed the children to reflect on the 8 Rs for learning in class and at home.
Here is a reminder of what they are:
- ready
- responsive
- risk taking
- responsible
- resourceful
- resilient
- remembering
- reflecting
The children reflected on the first few weeks of school and gave examples of when they had used an 8R.
” I used remembering when I remembered some vocabulary from last years topic learning.”
“I was resilient in maths when I was finding reading large numbers tricky – now I get it!”
Help at home: Can your child give an example of when they’ve used an 8R at home? Maybe at a sport club or with their homework.
Exploring Nursery
It was great to see our older children return to Nursery on Monday; they quickly settled back into routines and are already getting to know our new children.
On Monday, we enjoyed welcoming our new families for their ‘Stay and Play’ session. Children were really excited to visit and soon began exploring all of the different areas of provision in Nursery. They all had a great time, in fact, a few children didn’t want to leave!
Following a gradual transition, we’ve enjoyed welcoming new children into Nursery for their first sessions. We’re really pleased with with just how well everyone is settling in and we’re looking forward to getting to know everyone better over the next few weeks.
A few reminders:
- Please make sure your child has a pair of wellies and a spare set of clothes at Nursery (named and in a drawstring bag). These can stay at Nursery and don’t need to be taken home every day.
- Please check that your child’s school shoes are clearly NAMED – we have already spotted several pairs of the same design so it makes it much easier to make sure that children wear the right ones!
- Children also need a water bottle, filled with water. Please don’t send juice to Nursery. Thank you for your cooperation.
Lovely library lending
Friday is library day for 1A, 1,2B and 2C. Please return your library books on Fridays. Reading to your child helps them experience fluent reading and gives them an opportunity to listen to stories or information that they couldn’t read themselves.
Happy and healthy PE lessons
We have done some fabulous PE this week. All classes had their first swimming lessons this week and we have enjoyed getting back into PE.
Settling in
All of the children are now in full-time and are continuing to settle in, get to know each other and learn our daily routines. We’ve had lots of fun exploring our learning this week. Take a look at what we’ve been up to:
PE; Foot-Tech
The children really enjoyed their first Foot-Tech PE session.
Each Monday and Friday, Reception will take part in a range of fun activities and games. In Early Years, our PE lessons have a key focus on developing the fundamentals of movement and ensuring that children are continuously engaged and active throughout.
Phonics
We started our Little Wandle phonics lessons this week! The children were introduced to their first four sounds- s,a,t,p
They have learnt how to identify the sounds by their graphemes and how to form the graphemes in their writing. They have practised identifying initial sounds and blending sounds together to say the whole word.
We have introduced new vocabulary linked to our phonics learning:
Phoneme– The sound a letter (grapheme) makes
Grapheme– The letter that represents the sound
Segmenting- Breaking up a word into its phonemes and sounding aloud (ie. cat becomes c-a-t)
Blending- Blending the phonemes together to read the word. (ie. d-o-g becomes dog)
Each week we will be sending a ‘learn at home’ sheet, which recaps the phonics learning from the week. Please look at this with your child and complete the activities.
Help at home; Family photos
Next week, we will be thinking about our families. To help support our discussions, please send in one picture of your family together. We will keep the photograph on display, so please send photos you are happy for us to keep. You can also email photos to the email address below.
Reminders and diary dates
Welcome to Reception
21.09.23 – 6pm – 6.30pm An invitation to this event was emailed to you back in July but here is a reminder. Come into school to find out some basic “need to knows” about life in Reception.
Living and Learning – the 8 Rs
This week’s Living and Learning statement is ‘I use the 8 Rs to help me learn.’
In KS1 we have been discussing each of the 8 R’s and how they are important in supporting our learning. They are:
- being ready
- being responsive
- being reflective
- being resourceful
- remembering
- risk-taking
- being resilient
- being responsible
Being ready is one of our school rules. Some of the children gave some great examples during circle time.
‘Being ready means empty hands, silent voices and eyes on the speaker on 3-2-1 stop’.
‘Being ready means when the tambourine rings at play time, freezing and listening to instructions.’
‘At lunch time we can be ready by making sure we line up sensibly and walk through school with a silent voice.’