Hello and welcome back, we hope you all had a lovely and relaxing half term!
This week
The children were very excited to see each other and we spent our first day back together talking about our half term holidays. It gave the children an opportunity to continue to develop and practise their back and forth conversations. We also spent time looking at choosing the correct words when talking about events from the past. The verb (or doing word) changes so for example instead of saying “Last week, I go to the park”, we would say “Last week, I went to the park.” This is called using the past tense. We also practised using conjunctions including ‘and’ and ‘because’ to help connect our ideas for example “Last week I went to the park. I saw my friend and we ate ice cream because it was so sunny.”
On Tuesday we had a very egg-citing delivery arrive in Lilac and Willow, two incubators with several eggs in each. The children came up with some fantastic suggestions as to what might be in the eggs; cleverly working out that there were chicks inside the eggs. The children were very pleased to hear that the chicks were going to hatch over the next few days, and our job was to look after the chicks until the farmer comes back to collect them next week. The farmer told the teachers that a lot could happen each day, so we talked with the children about keeping a diary to keep a daily record of the different events so that we could remember everything that happens. This was another opportunity for the children to practise using the past tense in their writing, as well as applying their phonic knowledge to tell us their observations of the eggs.
By Wednesday the children didn’t have to wait long to see some small fluffy chicks appear in their incubators, and by Friday, the chicks had safely moved from the incubators into their larger brooder boxes. During the rest of the week, we also read some simple instructions that we could follow to help us look after the chicks. We are very much looking forward to seeing them continue to grow and hope to give them a run around in our homemade chick enclosures.
In Phonics this week, we heard the Monster Phonics version of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. As we heard it, we practised applying our phonic knowledge to segment and blend key phrases in the story. The children also had a chance to practise their phonics by writing down sentences using words from the story, as well as some key tricky words.
In Maths this week, we consolidated our learning about number bonds to 10 for example 1 + 9 = 10, 2 + 8 = 10 etc. The children have been working very hard to attempt recalling these number facts without prompting and are doing such a great job – well done everyone! We also spent some time looking at the composition of numbers to 10 and again, consolidating our understanding of whole numbers being split into smaller parts for example 1 + 4 = 5, 2 + 3 = 5, 5 + 0 = 5.
Next week
- We will be reading the traditional tale Chicken Licken.
- In Phonics, we will continue to practise applying our phonic knowledge using the song Old McDonald.
- In Maths, we will continue to develop our understanding of number bonds to 10 and the composition of numbers to 10.
Supporting your child at home
- Narrate events and actions out loud for your child to hear, for example “I knew it must be hot outside because Mummy was putting on her sunglasses on.” This will help support your child to connect one idea or action to another using a range of conjunctions.
- Help your child to develop good personal hygiene by acknowledging and praise their efforts. Provide regular reminders about thorough handwashing and toileting. This will support your child to further develop skills they need to manage the school day successfully.
- Model how you read and re-read your own writing to check it makes sense. This will encourage your child to re-read what they have written to check that it makes sense.
Any other information
- WARM WEATHER – In warm weather children will need a named sun hat. Please apply long lasting sun cream before they arrive at school. Please can you make sure that a named water bottle is in school every day.
We hope you have an enjoyable weekend.
Mrs Fisher and Mr French
Willow and Lilac Class Teachers
