World book day
I’m sure many children were disappointed today when they couldn’t come to school in their book day costumes! Therefore, we have decided to re-schedule World Book Day to Monday 05 March. Your child can come to school as their favourite book character – just as was planned for today. We’d also like to invite parents to stay and read with their child at school drop off from 8.50-9.20am.
If your child is swimming on Monday, please bring some clothes that will be easier for them to change into after swimming.
Snow!
We hope your child is enjoying the snow outside. Extreme weather changes like this can initiate interesting conversations about the world around us. It would be great to hear what your child has been talking about whilst playing in the snow. This would be a fantastic opportunity for us to gain a holistic view of your child’s understanding of the world around them. Photos and your child’s direct quotes can be emailed to: scholesf2@spherefederation.org. Please don’t worry if they’re not grammatically correct – we want to hear what your child has said.
We’re looking forward to hearing what your child has been up to in all of the snow! Have fun!
Littering
A child in Foundation class found a piece of rubbish on the floor whilst in the playground. We were very impressed when he chose to pick it up and put it in the bin. This started a class conversation about littering and how to look after our environment. We talked about why we need to put rubbish in the bin.
- “Someone could slip on it and break their bones.”
- “The animals might eat it and be sick. The animals might give it to babies and then they could eat it and die.”
We talked about what to do with our own rubbish and what we could do if we saw rubbish on the floor.
- “Put it in the bin!”
- “Pick it up!”
We also talked about keeping ourselves safe if we did see rubbish on the floor. The children decided they could ask an adult if it was safe to pick up litter and put it in the bin.
After talking about littering, we decided to write posters to remind people to put rubbish in the bin.
We then went to speak to other classes in the school to share what we had discussed and give each class a poster to remind people to put rubbish in the bin.
We were very impressed with Foundation’s mature understanding of how to look after our environment!
World Book Day
This afternoon, the Y6 children visited F2 to share stories. The children were put into pairs and then chose a story to read together. First the F2 children listened to a story read by the Year 6 children and then the F2 children read one of our Biff, Chip and Kipper stories to them. The F2 children enjoyed reading to the older children.
We are looking forward to welcoming parents/carers to our third stay and play session (stay and read) on Thursday 01 March 8.50am – 9.20am or 2.45pm – 3.15pm.
The children are very excited about coming to school dressed as their favourite story book character. We (the Foundation 2 staff) will also be dressing up as characters from a storybook.
Learning to count…
This week, we’ve been looking at the number 11. We have introduced the children to the vocabulary ‘tens’ and ‘ones’. The children have learnt that to make the number 11 we need one big ten and one one.
The children have enjoyed making a big number-line by ordering the numerals 1-20.
They have also enjoyed answering questions such as:
- which number is two more than eleven?
- which number is two fewer than eight?
- which number has one big ten and 6 ones?
Ask your child to tell you how to make the number 11. Please send us an email to share how your child has made the number 11. Your child will receive two challenge bricks for practising at home!
KEIOTSUKE (attention) – we’re doing judo!
All classes in school enjoyed some judo this week. Reception and Key Stage 1 were introduced to judo by Glynn from Sportif Judo and were thoroughly active for the full session – foot grabbing, pushing, pinning and bulldozing each other!
The Key Stage 2 classes also experienced a second session, building on skills from last month. They improved and developed their pinning, rolling and throwing techniques. If you’d like to continue judo, fliers were sent in book bags.
What is my child learning?
Phonics
You’ve probably heard your child talking about digraphs, trigraphs and tricky words. A few parents have been asking what their child is talking about so we’ll be sending an information flyer home to help.
Your child has been learning all the letter sounds for the alphabet – please see the YouTube video for help pronouncing the ‘pure’ sounds.
Since January, your child has started to learn the letter names for these ‘pure’ sounds. We have enjoyed singing a song that sings the letter sounds AND names. Your child has also been learning to read digraphs and trigraphs.
Digraphs consist of two letters (graphemes) but they only make one sound (phoneme). The digraphs are shown below:
|
qu |
ch | sh | th | ng |
|
ee |
oo | ar | or |
oi |
|
ai |
oa | ur | er |
ow |
|
|
Trigraphs consist of three letters (graphemes) but they only make one sound (phoneme). The trigraphs are shown below:
| ear | air |
ure |
igh |
Using their digraph and trigraph knowledge your child will be able to read words such as…
The sound buttons/lines shown underneath the letters help your child sound out words. A line is shown when the letters make a digraph or trigraph- that way your child will only make one sound when reading a digraph/trigraph.
Sound buttons and lines are not everywhere so we need to teach your child to independently spot the digraphs and trigraphs so that they only make one sound when reading a digraph/trigraph!
Can your child spot any digraphs or trigraphs in their reading book?
Tricky words are words your child cannot sound out using their phonic knowledge – they just have to know them by sight… that’s what makes them tricky!
|
the |
to |
I |
|
no |
go |
into |
|
he |
she |
we |
|
me |
be |
was |
|
you |
they |
all |
|
are |
my |
her |
Scholes swimming lessons
Most of the Year 1 and 2 children are working on or towards their ASA Learn to Swim Stage 2 Awards in school swimming lessons this half term. Nicole (our swimming instructor) is pleased with their progress and will assess the children at the end of term. If your child achieves the award, a slip will be sent home. There has been a focus on breaststroke, water confidence (including swimming 5m under water), swimming through a hoop and picking up sinker rings. The next award will be 10m badge which requires breaststroke, backstroke and front crawl. The strokes will be a big focus next half term.
Children in Reception class (F2) are working on their Duckling 1 badge and will also be assessed soon. Their water confidence and ability to get changed independently has also improved since they started swimming lessons in school.
Here are some comments from children about their swimming lessons…
- ‘I can now do backstroke.’
- ‘I have enjoyed doing different strokes.’
- ‘We do frog legs. Bend, out, together!’
- ‘When I first went under the water, it was a bit scary. I enjoy going under the water now!’
- ‘I like going under the water to fetch the mermaid toy.’
Super Skippers
The whole school enjoyed sessions delivered by Jodi Corcoran from Skipping School this week. The primary aim is fitness through fun and she includes every child in the sessions, regardless of their skills. There is a clear pathway through the skills to ensure all children make progress. After all the sessions, there was a celebration assembly for the whole school. Lots of children demonstrated their achievements.
Please bring skipping ropes into school after half term so the children can continue to improve their skills.
See children demonstrating the skills below for more skipping ideas. Which ones can you do?
Pupil voice
Your child will be coming home with a pupil feedback form. Please talk to your child about the questions and record their answers. Your child’s voice matters and we would like to know their feelings and opinions about their learning at school.