Class R newsletter Spring 2 Class News no. 4
Hello and welcome back to the new half term. We hope you all enjoyed the half term break and are suitably refreshed. This is the newsletter which is currently shown on the school website, on Class R's page ~ please remember to use the website; it is very easy to navigate and does hold a lot of information; you can find it at www.heathwoodlower.com/.
We also hope you enjoyed the Chinese Dragon parade and New Year song, thank you for coming in, it was great to see so many of you and we do feel it is important to share the children's learning with you. I hope they have been talking to you about their learning and it would be very much appreciated if you could jot down their comments in their learning journey books as it would add to their profiles. On that note, there are some photographs on the website; here is a taster ~
Routines of school
Routines of Class R will remain as they were, with PE on a Thursday. In order to give the children an opportunity to use skills of travelling around, under, over, through etc and develop skills within gymnastics we will be using the Wednesday session on the big equipment in the hall when the weather prevents us from going outside. Just as a reminder; when it is not raining (or snowing!) we will try to use the field and the children should have their outdoor clothes (jogging bottoms, tops and trainers) in school for the half term.
Show and tell opportunities will continue on a Tuesday and the children's names will be posted on the door towards the end of the week prior to their turn. We would like to thank you for your sterling efforts in helping your child/children to bring in suitable items for this as we do know that they would just love to bring in toys. It is an enjoyable opportunity for all of them and they are not as daunted as you think; even those children who might appear to be concerned really do enjoy their turn and are always encouraged and supported. Sometimes it is yourselves who worry more than them; they can be different children in class! Please continue to encourage them to select something suitable that they can talk about and share with others.
Please continue to spend time with your child/children encouraging them to read/share their books and help them to learn their letters. Most of the children have now begun to learn digraphs (two letters making only one sound). These are just as important to learn as they will need to know them in order to read unfamiliar words and they need to know that some letters combine and do not make separate sounds. They have done very well to learn all their letters but the momentum needs to continue in order that they progress. Your time spent with the children learning letters and digraphs is invaluable and much appreciated.
Your child/children are all now beginning to learn some of the high frequency words they are expected to know before the end of the Reception year. As soon as they become confident with the ones that are linked to the reading scheme (word balloons) they will commence with graded reading books. Most of the children now are beginning to understand the concept of a word and are having books with some simple repeated phrases in. Once again your support in encouraging them to play and learn their words does make a tremendous difference, so please keep up the good work. Your children will continue to need their book bags in class each day as we take the opportunity to read with them as it arises and this is not always predictable.
This Half Term
This half term our focus will be on traditional tales and colour. We will be setting up a cottage as part of our role play so that the children will be able to re-enact some of the traditional stories they will be sharing. Please feel free to talk to them about the stories you enjoyed as children and of course, read your favourite ones to them. Please don't forget if they come home and are repeating some of the stories or phrases or even talking about what they have done, we really do need to know and it would be great if you could add comments in their little red learning journey books. In our knowledge and understanding sessions they will be developing skills of Design Technology (through construction opportunities, making puppets and masks) and Science (through practical experiments and cooking opportunities). They will be encouraged to understand more about ‘place' through mapping opportunities from the stories as well as developing ‘time' knowledge through sequencing. In Maths we have had a focus on learning the days of the week; we have a learning wall display in class and are hoping that the children will be able to say the days of the week and know which day was yesterday or will be tomorrow so that they can climb the ladder. Let us know how they are doing. We will continue to practise this as well as having a focus on using the language of addition and subtraction. They are also beginning to learn about 3D (solid) shapes so do please encourage them to look at containers at home and talk about their shapes and properties. In PE we will be exploring some of the small equipment and developing balance and control with bean bags. Creative activities will cover some observational drawing, exploring colour, drama and story writing as well as exploring textiles and changing them.
They will continue to enjoy a wide range of activities both indoors and outdoors and I will attempt to add pictures so please keep checking the gallery to see up to date photographs.
Have a good half term.
Mrs Dicocco
Reception Class Teacher
Spring overview of learning
