Time to talk
We love hearing about what your child has been up to at the weekend during our time to talk sessions. It’s a great chance for your child to build their self-confidence by speaking in front of their peers. It’s also a valuable time to develop their communication and language skills.
If your child brings a time to talk sheet (which you can get from the parent partnership board in the classroom) on a Monday, they’ll be able to share their Monday news with their key worker group. You can also email pictures to support your child to remember what they did at the weekend.
As well as sharing time to talk sheets from home, your child gets the chance to draw a picture, label it (initial sound/word) or write a caption/sentence about their weekend. This is an opportunity for your child to write about something that is meaningful to them.
In this example the child has labelled her picture with the word red.
When teaching the children to write a sentence we get them to think it, say it, count it, write it and check it.
In this example the child has attempted to write a sentence – I went to a party.
If your child makes you go Wow at home it would be fantastic if you could share these with us at school, too. (Wow sheets are also found on the parent partnership board.)
We will remember them – Remembrance Day 2018
The children listened to poems and stories, then talked about Remembrance Day this week at school. They made poppies and some wrote messages to the soldiers.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Laurence Binyon
Thank you to Mrs Thorne for her artistic input and Peter Smith, from Lyndhurst View, who made the central piece.
Celebrations
This week, we’ve had a busy week of celebrations. We talked about Halloween, Bonfire Night and we learnt about Diwali. We read the story of Rama and Sita and talked about Diwali and how it is celebrated. Some of the children’s comments are below:
- “…because we want to let the special lady (Lakshmi) into our home…they have lanterns to make her feel welcome.”
- “They lit lanterns to get home.”
- “The King won’t let them home.”
We looked at the similarities between Diwali and other celebrations such as Bonfire Night, Christmas and New Year.
- “They clean up and decorate the house.”
- “They give presents to each other.”
- “They put lights up.”
Two children enjoyed sharing their experiences of Diwali with the class.
- “We put decorations on the floor. It was a temple and a flower.”
- “We lit candles on the table so everyone can celebrate.”
PE kit
This half term the children will start to get changed for their PE lesson. Our PE day is Wednesday. Please ensure your child has a named PE kit (blue shorts and white t-shirt) and a named water bottle in school.
F2 and Y1 Maths Information Evening
Thank you to all the parents and carers who came to the maths information evening. We hope you found it useful and informative. The presentation and information leaflets can be found below.
Let’s talk numbers!
It’s been great to talk to some of you about your child’s progress during parents’ evening. A few parents have been asking about how to support their child at home with numbers.
In Foundation 2, we focus on numbers to twenty throughout the year to get a depth of understanding of what the numbers really mean. For example:
During the past couple of weeks we have been focusing on the number 3.
Finding 3
The children have been finding 3 by looking at their environment and at pictures. For example: 3 pigs, 3 houses, 3 noses, 3 hats…
Number stories
Once the children had looked for three around them, they have begun to tell number stories. We use the language first, then and now to tell the stories and have developed some actions to support us.
First there was one flower in the garden. Then two more flowers grew in the garden. Now there are three flowers altogether.
First there were three ice-creams. Then I ate one. Now there are two ice-creams left.
These number stories support your child’s understanding of number in real-life experiences. Looking at numbers in the environment and number stories support your child in developing a deep understanding of what ‘3’ really means.
Can your child tell you a number story that makes 3? Can your child find 3 in the environment? Please let us know what your child has done using a wow sheet – we can then celebrate their learning at school.
Swimming dates (November – December 2018)
Please see the table below for the dates your child will be swimming after half term.
|
Date |
Class |
| Wednesday 7th November | Rainbow class (Miss Eckersley) |
| Wednesday 14th November | Sunshine class (Mrs Flynn) |
| Wednesday 21st November | Rainbow class (Miss Eckersley) |
| Wednesday 28th November | Sunshine class (Mrs Flynn) |
| Wednesday 5th December | Rainbow class (Miss Eckersley) |
| Wednesday 12th December | Sunshine class (Mrs Flynn) |
| Wednesday 19th December | Rainbow class (Miss Eckersley) |
Parental partnership meeting
Thank you to those who came to the parental partnership evening. We hope you found the evening informative and have lots of ideas on how to be involved in your child’s learning journey at school.
We value the importance of working together with you to gain a holistic view of your child’s learning. You can share your child’s learning moments with us by email (scholesf2@spherefederation.org), wow documents and time to talk sheets. These sheets can also be found on the parental partnership board in your child’s classroom for you to take. In rainbow class, the parental partnership board is on the right as you enter the classroom. In sunshine class, the board is next to your child’s learning journey profiles as you enter the classroom. Please feel free to look at your child’s profiles – you will find observations and pictures of your child learning at school. This might prompt discussions about things your child is doing at home and allow us to gain a bigger picture of your child’s learning and development. We often find play is linked to things that have happened at home – it would be great to hear about these moments!
Harvest Festival – a big thank you!
Thank you for all the kind donations to our Harvest Festival today. Henry, from the Salvation Army, was overwhelmed by the generosity of the families at Scholes. Thank you for each and every donation.
Owlet visit
On Friday, two owlets visited the F2 children. Before the owlets arrived we read a non-fiction book about barn owls. The children learnt about their sight, hearing, food, owl pellets and owlets. We also spoke about the word nocturnal.
After the owlets had visited we asked the children what they had learnt:
- “They don’t hoot, they hiss.”
- “They eat mice and bats.”
- “Claws…picking up everything.”
- “Claws get bigger so they can hold on to things.”
- “Don’t come out in the light.”
- “They are nocturnal.”