2014 DT Christmas competition has begun!

Design Technology Christmas Competition! This year the DT competition is based around making a tree decoration and all classes are welcome to take part! ·       Your decoration must be able to hang from a tree
·       It must be made from as many recycled materials as possible
·       You must have your name and class on a label clearly displayed.
·       What type of decoration can you create which make it unique from other decorations before?!

The closing date for this competition is Thursday 11^th December. Please take the decorations to the hall; we will be hanging them ready for judges and assembly!  Good luck!  Finally, we do accept parent help will be needed for this but it should be clear that the child has been involved too!

A big well done

A MASSIVE well done to all the children who took part in the class assembly today. There were some very confident children to stand up in front of all those people! 

Also, thank you for all coming to the Woodland Feast this afternoon and digging in to the lovely selection of food that reception had made. We have now finished our Gruffalo topic and will begin looking at Christmas from next week. 

Reception team

Thank you all for your generosity!

Thank you so much to everyone that came to the Bring and Buy Sale on Wednesday. We were very grateful that so many of you donated some fantastic items that were no longer wanted.

 

Due to everyone's generosity on Wednesday and on the non school uniform day on the 14th of November we have raised over £340 for Children in Need!

 

I would like to say a big thank you to all of the staff and children that helped on the day. Well done!

 

Mrs Thorpe

Assembly tomorrow!

Just a quick reminder that it is reception's first class assembly tomorrow. The children have been practising hard all week and are excited to show you what we have been up to. 

Also, later on tomorrow you are welcome to arrive from 3pm to come and join in our woodland feast! Please come to where you normally pick up. We look forward to seeing you.

Reception team

Sounds being covered this week

Hello everyone,

The sounds that we are introducing this week are:

'ow' - as in how - Pretend your finger is a needle and prick thumb saying ow, ow, ow.

'ur' - as in fur - Hold knee as if hurt and say ur,ur

'oi' - as in coin - Cup hands around mouth and shout to another boat saying oi! ship ahoy!

As well as these new sounds we will be revising some of the sounds already learnt and introducing the tricky word 'my'. 

Next week all children will bring home a group reading book that contains more of the newer phonemes. This is to try and get children reading more complex texts. Most children revel at the chance of a challenge! 

Reception team

Assembly lines

Hello all,

Just a quick note to say that children will have come home today with their assembly line in their bookbags. It would be fantastic if you could practise this with your child for Friday. Thank you

Also, thank you for the amazing amount of writing that we are getting into school from children, a real variety! These will be copied and added to learning journeys so thank you again!

Reception team

Woodland Feast!

Hello everyone,

This Friday is reception's class assembly in the morning at 9.20am. Please feel free to head straight through to the hall after drop-off. 

In the afternoon we are planning to have a 'Woodland Feast' in the classroom. If you want to come and see what we've been doing and cooking for our Gruffalo topic please come along. You will be able to arrive from 3.00pm onwards and then take children from 3.30pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

Reception team

Bring and Buy Sale- items needed please!

This Wednesday (26th) the Children's Voice have arranged a Bring and Buy Sale to help fundraise some more money for Children In Need.

 

We are hoping that you have been able to have a sort out of any unused, unwanted; toys, clothes, books etc ready for Wednesday.

 

Please bring any items for the Bring and Buy Sale to Mrs Thorpe in Year 1.

 

The hall will be open to parents from 3pm on Wednesday afternoon so that you can have a look around without your children! Then the sale will carry on until around 4.30pm (unless we have sold everything!)

 

Items will be reasonably priced from 20p- £2.

 

We hope to have lots to sell and raise as much as we possibly can for children who need our help.

 

Mrs Thorpe and The Children's Voice

Thorncombe woods...

Hello everyone,

Reception had a great trip to Thorncombe woods yesterday. We hopped onto a coach for the first time! The children were well behaved for this and throughout the trip. Once we got to the woods we split up into family groups to do two different jobs.

1. Using natural materials to make a Gruffalo collage.

2. Searching the woods for the Gruffalo characters that were hidden around.

We then had to follow some clues to find the Gruffalo herself hiding in a log pile house! To finish, we had an extra snack and headed back to the coach.

There are some fantastic pictures from the trip and these will be on the whiteboard for the next few mornings if you want to look at them. Finally, thank you for the parents that helped on the trip - I hope you weren't as tired as the children were!

Reception team

 

Letter formation focus

Hello everyone,

As you may be aware, the whole school is having an increased focus on handwriting. In order to aid this in reception I have already placed a letter formation power point on the school info section of the school website. If you can't find it please come and speak to us. 

There is also a Wow! Writing display board up in the main hall. Every week a new piece of work will be chosen to go up onto the board from the work we are doing in school. Obviously we would love to see children practising their handwriting at home too. So as a class we shall be giving out further certificates every week for a piece of writing that has come in from home. Every few weeks there will also be prizes given out for development and neatness of handwriting. I will be posting a weekly blog about possible things you could base writing around but please feel free to write anything you would like to! Even if children just want to practice individual letters to begin with that's fantastic. Hopefully children should be able to show you the most effective way to hold a pencil. Lastly, please don't feel as though you must bring something in everyday! Or even every week. We want to foster children's enjoyment of writing and not make it a chore - thank you. 

Some ideas for this week:

• Write your whole name.
• Write a character list for the Gruffalo.
• Write this sentence from the Gruffalo and fill in the words: 

But now my ........... is beginning to ......... and my favourite food is Gruffalo ..........

• Write labels for a picture of the Gruffalo i.e. poisonous warts, knobbly knees

Please remember that as a school we operate a cursive writing policy in school. If you have any questions please come and speak to us.

Reception team

Sound being covered this week

Hello everyone,

This week we are really getting into the gritty sounds. By this I mean they all begin to look fairly similar but make different sounds! There will be lots of repetition happening to give children the best chance to practice. Any help from home is greatly appreciated in this respect. Doing the actions and asking children to say the sounds, pointing out the sounds within different words, writing the sounds with fridge magnets and using sound pots are some ways that will give children more experience with the sounds. 

This weeks sounds are:

long 'oo' - as in boot - Move head back and forth as if it is the cuckoo in a cuckoo clock - this action serves as the action for the short 'oo' sound as well. 

'ar' - as in park - Open mouth wide as if at the dentist and say ah.

'or' - as in fork - Put hands on head as if ears on a donkey and say eeyore, eeyore - this is the same action as 'ee'

Short 'oo' sound  - as in good - same action as above. 

Just a quick reminder that it is reception's trip to Thorncombe Woods on Thursday. Currently the weather doesn't look too bad but we will endeavour to keep you updated. 

Reception team

 

 

Letter formation

Hello everyone,

As we begin to cover more and more sounds we will be broadening our focus to include writing. As a school we adopt a cursive handwriting policy and it is crucial that we teach children the correct letter formation at the beginning. In reception this takes the pre-cursive form which can then be built upon. To help children with this in class we use an interactive power point to show how the letters are formed. We have placed this Power point in the Class timetables and Parent Docs section on the main school website - down the left hand side - to help you with any writing you do at home.

A great website for pre-cursive practice is http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/english/contents_handwriting.htm - there are plenty of sheets down the bottom for every letter except 'z'.

Reception team

Sound pots

Hello everyone,

Just a quick note to say that we have added new sounds to some sound pots today. If you're child does not have their new sounds yet, they will have them added in the next day or two. Thank you for using these at home with your children. 

Reception team

Sounds...

Hi all,

The sounds we are covering this week are listed below.

'ng' - as in hang - Imagine you are a weightlifter, and pretend to lift a heavy weight

 above your head, saying ng...

'ai' - as in rain - Cup hand over ear and say ai, ai, ai.

'ee' - as in leek - Put hands on head as if ears on a donkey and say eeyore, eeyore.

'igh' - as in night - Stand to attention and salute, saying igh igh.

'oa' - as in goat - Bring hand over mouth as if you have done something wrong and say oh!

The children have begun this next sets of sounds very brightly and are quite determined to learn them all! 

Reception team

The Gruuuuuffffalo!

Hello everyone,

Today we started a brand new topic: The Gruffalo! As the book is so popular most of the children were able to join in the reading of the story. Hopefully by the end of the topic they should be able to tell the story completely! Over the next few weeks we will be doing various activities based around the story. All of these will lead up to a woodland feast that parents will be invited to (more details to follow). So as you may have guessed we will be doing lots of cooking! All children will be involved in making something for the feast. 

This week in literacy we have got lots of jobs! Some children will be helping to write some recipe cards based on the food we are cooking, others will be writing captions for a Gruffalo storyboard and some will be trying to fill in the missing words based on phrases from the story. 

In maths this week we are focusing on numerals (1-20). We will be trying to show children how widespread numerals are, so if you see any around, we'd be grateful if you could point them out i.e. house number, car registration plate, supermarket prices etc. Once children are comfortable with the numerals we will be getting them to find the correct number of objects to go with that numeral - sounds confusing but we will be practising it lots! 

Reception team

phonics workshop

Hello everyone,

As previously mentioned there will be a phonics workshop taking place in school this half-term. I have put up a sheet asking what time and day would be best for everyone. I will try to accommodate as many as I can but if  you are unable to make it I am more than happy to chat with you and pass on any relevant materials. 

Thank you

Sounds this week

Hi all,

This week we are beginning the next major phase in our quest on sounds! The sounds will now contain 2 or 3 letters but we will be stressing to the children how they only make 1 sound. 

The sound being covered this week are:

'qu' -  as in quack - Make a duck's beak with your hands and say qu, qu, qu

'sh' - as in shop - Place index finger over lips and say sh, sh, sh

'ch' - as in chip - Move arms at sides as if you are a train and say ch, ch, ch

'th' - as in thin - pretend  to be a naughty clown and stick out your tounge a little for the 'th'

These sounds are known as consonant digraphs and may take a little longer for children to pick up and notice in texts. 

Reception team

Bonfire night and remembrance

Hello everyone,

A big welcome back to the new half-term! I can already tell how ready all the children are to settle back into things! This half-term is a very long one and ends with the celebration of Christmas!!

This week we are going to be focusing on bonfire night and bonfire night and Remembrance Day. The children will be learning how things that happen in the past can have an effect today. 

After discussing fire safety with children yesterday it was clear they know how to keep safe around fires and what to do if there is a fire indoors: GET OUT AND STAY OUT! Some children have been making some fantastic fire safety posters explaining how to keep safe. 

We are also making some poppies that will be used in a display outside the classroom door - please feel free to look at this in the morning after drop-off. 

In literacy this week we are working on name writing and writing instructions. Some children have already written their instructions for how to make poppies and other groups will be doing so later this week. 

In maths we have been practising counting up to 20 and making sure that we say all the numbers in the correct order. This is a very complicated skill and requires lots of repetition. After the order of the numbers is secure we can then being to count objects up to 20!

Finally, if anyone has any questions about what was mentioned at parents evening please come and speak to us. 

Reception team

The Great PoW Poetry Competition

The Great PoW Poetry Competition.........

Roll up, Roll up, Roll up..................don't forget the Great PoW Poetry Competition is in town!!!!!!! A reminder that the closing date is this Friday, so you still have a week to get your creative master pieces in to your class teacher.

Check back on the last blog for details, remember the theme is Autumn/Winter, there are no limits, only to say - be as creative as I know you can be!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to read them all and choose a winner from each class!!!!

Good Luck!!!!!

Get writing if you haven't already!!!!!

A VERY excited Mrs. Johnson