Supertato!
This week, in literacy we have been reading the book ‘Supertato’ by Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet. We have been retelling the story using actions and story maps.
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
Can your child retell the story Supertato to you at home? They could use the story maps below to help them – or even better, draw their own! Email us to let us how they did – your child will earn a challenge brick.
The children have also been busy doing lots of Supertato themed challenges. Here are some of the challenges they have been doing.
Challenge bricks – what is my child talking about?
Challenging activities are around the classroom for your child to complete to earn a brick. You might have seen them if you attended a stay and play recently – they are shown on blackboards in different areas of learning. The aim is to get a tower of bricks taller than SIX. Challenges include the learning we’re focusing on throughout the week.
Ask your child what challenges they’ve done this week.
At the end of the week, we talk about who has more and who has fewer bricks. If your child’s tower is more than SIX, your child will come home with a certificate.
Word of the week
Every week, we look at a new adventurous word. We call this our ‘word of the week’. This week our word of the week was ‘hero’ – linked to the story ‘Supertato’. We looked at the definition. ‘A person who is brave and good – often looked up to by others.’, drew pictures to represent hero’s and used the word hero in our everyday speech.
“I can see a hero – it’s Supertato” Georgie.
“My hero is Hulk” Jack.
“My hero is Rosie” Grace.
Maths
This week, the children have been developing their understanding of composition – the numbers within numbers.
We have been using the Hungarian number pattern (die pattern) as shown below.
These key representations help your child to underline the ‘5-ness’ of 5. The children now have a great understanding of pairs of numbers that make 5!
“3 and 2 more…5”
“3 and 3 equals 6”
Phonics
This week, the children have learnt the new digraph ‘er’ – a digraph is ‘two letters that make one sound’. They have also learnt the new trigraph ‘air’ – a trigraph is ‘three letters that make one sound’.
Before reading a word we always look for any digraphs (two letters that make one sound) or trigraphs (three letters that make one sound). Then, we say the sound it makes. Finally, we sound out the word and blend it together – using our phoneme fingers! This helps your child identify the digraphs before reading a word.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is ‘A little house’.
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm. Can your child re-tell this weeks poem to you?
Reminders
Reception Coffee Morning – Tuesday 31st January, 2023
After dropping your child off, stay at school for an informal chat with Mrs Beesley, the Reception staff and get to know the other parents, too. We will be in the new area of school called ” The Hub” from 9- 10am. Come and join us.
Stay and Play (fiddly fingers) – Friday 03 February at 2.pm– 3.20pm.
This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about the Early Years Curriculum and watch your child learn in school.
There will be a sign-up sheet in the classroom/after school club on Monday 30th January.