Our Learning > Our Classes

Hello and Happy New Year from Lilac and Willow, we hope you had a good rest over the festive period. The children have been very busy and hit the ground running with their learning.

This week:

After the festive break, we were very keen to hear all about what the children got up to and encouraged them to share all of their news with us and their friends. Thank you to everyone that sent in an observation about your Christmas festivities. If you haven’t had chance to yet, it’s not too late and we would still love to receive them.

This week, we started a new way of recording any news that we want to share. In the Autumn Term the children worked so hard on their letters and sounds and were beginning to use their knowledge to write words and simple sentences. This week the children started writing their weekend news in their own special weekend news book. We encourage the children to think about what they want to share, say it out loud and then write the sounds they can hear. Why not ask your child to get thinking about any news they’d like to share in their weekend news book?

We have been thinking about what the children were up to over the festive break. We talked about how people celebrate New Year’s Eve around the world and that people often make New Year’s Resolutions. One resolution people often make is about trying hard to be more fit and healthy. We thought about different foods to eat and exercises to do, and the children shared some fantastic suggestions for both. Ask your child to think of 3 or 4 exercises they could do and get them to do 30 seconds for each one with a 30 second rest between each one.

In phonics, the children are now moving onto their next phase of learning and were introduced to the following digraphs: th, ng, ai and ee. A digraph is two letters that make one sound. It can be made up of vowels and consonants. We’ve been working hard to consolidate our learning from Autumn Term as well as using our new sounds in our reading and writing. Challenge your child to see if they can spot objects that contain any of this week’s digraphs e.g. ring, cheese, train.

At the end of the Autumn Term, we asked the children what they’d like to learn about. One of the reoccurring themes was that children wanted to learn about different animals. With that in mind, we read the story Dear Zoo with the children. In the story, someone wants a pet but each time the zoo sends an animal isn’t quite right. Our class teddies decided having heard the story, they would like their own pet but they need to children to help them decide which one will suit them the best. Each week throughout this half term we will look at a series of animals finding out lots of information about them, to help the children choose the perfect pet for the teddies. Can your child remember any of the animals from Dear Zoo and what words they used to describe each animal?

As well as wanting to find out about lots of animals, the children were so curious about why and how things work and what certain people do in their jobs. To help the children answer their questions, we started a new series called ‘Why day Friday’. This week, the children found out how snowflakes are made and we tried to see if we could stop ice from melting. Each Friday, we take a different question and with the children’s help, we will answer them. See if your child can remember how snowflakes are made?

In PE, Mr Smith introduced our new topic about Dance. He has asked the children to perform a dance routine mimicking different animal movements. He asked the children to move like lions, snakes, parrots and monkeys. The children were dancing fantastically to ‘In the jungle the mighty jungle’ by The Tokens. If you’re able to, why not play the song and ask your child to demonstrate the moves they learnt with Mr. Smith?

In maths, we were revisiting the number 5 and looking at different ways to make 5. We then used what we knew about 5 and applied it to numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. We were using the part whole model to help demonstrate this. See if your children to show you how you can make 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10.

Next week:

• · Using Dear Zoo, we will be learning all about pets. We will be learning lots of information about common household pets and finding out how to care for them.
• · In phonics, we will be consolidating the letters and sounds learnt so far as well as learning the following new sounds: long “oo”, short “oo” “oa” and “ar”.
• · In maths, we will be comparing, ordering and measure different objects
• · In PE, the children will continue practising their animal dance routine whilst learning new animal movements.

Any other information:

• TAPESTRY – Thank you to those who were able to share with us what you and your children got up to during the festive break. Please continue sharing any observations/events through tapestry to help contribute to your child’s learning journal.
• COLD WEATHER – Please can you ensure that your children have appropriate clothing every day so that they can access our outdoor learning.
• JUNK MODELLING – Please continue to collect as much junk modelling materials as possible and send them into your child’s class.

Have a good weekend,

Mrs Fisher and Mr French