Hello from Lilac and Willow, we hope you enjoyed your half term. Thank you to those parents who shared some of the half term experiences on Tapestry. We have enjoyed looking at these in class. It has been lovely having the children back in school, they have been busy with their learning.
Week 1 and 2
We have continued learning about Autumn Festivals. Last week we learnt all about Bonfire Night. The children heard about the origins of Bonfire Night and we talked about how it is celebrated with fireworks and other traditions. We encouraged the children to link it to their own experiences from home. We made lots of artwork and used our senses to describe how fireworks look, move and sound. We also learnt about how fireworks are made. We heard the story of Guy Fawkes and his Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. The children discovered that Guy Fawkes didn’t end up carrying out his plot however as King James I captured him and his accomplices. The King decided that on the 5th November every year from that day we would remember the Gunpowder Plot and how Guy Fawkes’ plan failed.
This week we learnt about Diwali. The children discovered that Diwali is a very important festival celebrated by many people all around the world. It is sometimes called the ‘Festival of Light’ and is celebrated in October and November each year. Diwali is a time for people to remember the story of Prince Rama and Princess Sita. In the story, Rama and Sita were banished from their kingdom and during that time, Princess Sita was kidnapped by an evil king Ravana. Thankfully, Prince Rama is able to defeat the evil king and rescue his Princess Sita. Everybody lit lamps to guide Rama and Sita home and to this day, people still light lamps as part of the Diwali celebrations. They also celebrate with making Rangoli patterns, visiting the temple, preparing and eating family feasts and putting on fireworks shows. The children really enjoyed taking part in lots of activities associated with Diwali.
Today we learnt about Remembrance Day and why we wear poppies. We explained to the children that we wear poppies to help us to remember the soldiers who have died and those that are still alive who keep our country safe. The children took part in a remembrance service outside with the whole school. The behaviour was exceptional and we were very proud of how reception were so respectful during our two-minute silence.
In Phonics, we have learnt new graphemes e, u, r, h and b as well as revisiting previously learned sounds. The children have also started to use their prior knowledge to help them segment (sound out) and then blend to read simple CVC words such as cat, pat, pin, dog. The children are working hard making attempts to apply their phonic knowledge in their writing. We are proud of their perseverance and determination to do their very best writing, well done Reception! Please continue to read their Monster Phonics books daily with them at home and keep them in their book bag so they come to school with them every day.
In Maths, we have been learning about 2D shapes and their properties as well as introducing the part, part, whole model. There is a nice Number Blocks episode that shows this really well, if you want to watch this with your child then please see the link below. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0blsv9r/numberblocks-series-3-fruit-salad
Next week
We are looking forward to celebrating Nursery Rhymes Day with the children on Monday 13th November. Please remember that your child needs to be dressed as a Nursery Rhyme character and they will be performing their nursery rhyme to the class, so please practise this with them over the weekend. We will continue to celebrate Nursery rhymes throughout the week, focusing on a different rhyme each day.
In Maths, we will continue to work on our understanding of the part, part, whole model and partition numbers to 5 into different parts.
In Phonics, we will learn the new graphemes; f, ff, l, ll and ss. We will also practise all previously learnt letters and sounds learn as well as practise the blending for reading and segmentation for spelling. We will practise previously learnt tricky words: no, go, I, to, and the. We will also learn the new tricky words: he, she, me, we, be, of.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Fisher and Mrs Murrell
