First of all, we want to say how proud we are of all the children for their wonderful performances in our KS1 Christmas show. It was a delight for all the Class R adults to see them shining on stage, having fun, and bringing so much joy. Thank you for all of your support with this.

**Class R have filled their star jar!**
As a treat they can wear their own clothes on Wednesday 17^th Dec. Clothes and footwear must be sensible and practical for the weather and our usual activities. No laces!

The children can also bring a special afternoon treat snack. This doesn’t need to be very much. It could be their normal snack and 1 small sweet treat, such as: 1 small cake, or 1 biscuit or fruit. Please send in a small clearly labelled box or bag.

We will have our Christmas Craft session to finish this fun day.
Please send your reply slip if you haven't yet.
Please do let us know if you cannot attend so we can buddy your child up with a friend in the class.
Come ready to help your child, cut, stick, colour and have festive fun!! 

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Mon 15th Dec - Mrs Lindley & Mrs Farnell
Tue 16th - Mrs Lindley & Mrs Heaslewood 
Wed 17th - Mrs Linley & Mrs Farnell - Treat Day! 
Thurs 18th - Mrs Dance & Mrs Farnell
Fri 19th - Mrs Dance & Mrs Heaslewood - Christmas Lunch 

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English - this week English has involved lots of practise for our show, singing and performing. We have enjoyed fine motor pattern drawing, sentence writing, word reading and sound spotting. We then finished  up with more Christmas stories! 

Maths: We have looked at some shapes this week - Circles and Triangles. The children were good at identifying the different shapes, sorting them and using them to create pictures. The children spotted these 2 shapes during their child initiated.  

PSHE: We have talked about lots of things this week: kind hands, kind words, sharing even when it's not easy to. Keeping safe and staying with our adults when out and about. What we can do when we feel "grrrrrr" inside - the children listed lots of safe things that they can do to help get the grrrrr out! 

RE: We concluded our learning around our Big Question Why do Christians perform Nativity Plays at Christmas? Following our Thursday worship with Melissa, we thought about the meaning of Christmas for Christians. We learned that it is about celebrating Jesus and having God in their lives! In our assembly Melissa showed us that when we put our hands together to pray our fingers point up, this is where a lot of people say God is. We point to God at Christmas to remember that He sent Jesus to be with us.  To finish our learning we thought about all of the special things Christmas means to us - seeing family, giving gifts, remembering Jesus' birth, showing love, being kind, sharing happiness and love. 

Well done to our certificate winners.
Enjoy the PTA Christmas party if you are attending! (I wonder if you will use any of those dance moves we do in our movement times!)

Here's hoping everyone has a restful weekend to recharge ready for our last week!  

 See below for more information about Phonics and reading, special dates and general reminders.

Phonics 

We follow the Phonic scheme Sounds Write. 

Current sounds taught: a, m, i, t, s, n, o, p, b, c, h, g, d, e, v, f, k, l 
Words: I, the, on

Sound spotting - with the sounds displayed the children are asked to spot the sound. They either have to point it out, highlight it, trace over the letter, or write it on their whiteboards. 

Word building – using sound cards children help identify the sounds needed to build a given word, working out one sound at a time, s-a-t ‘sat.'

Dictation - adults tell the children a simple sentence, containing 'tricky words' - words that do not follow phonetically decodable patterns, and decodable words (words they can sound out). The children are encouraged to use their Phonic knowledge to write the sentence. We also practise using finger spaces, capital letters and full stops.

Sound Swap - starting with a given word, change one sound to make a new word - cat, pat, pan, tan, tin, pin etc. 

The following link has some information for parents if you would like to have a look. 

 https://sounds-write.co.uk/support-for-parents-and-carers/ 
The correct pronunciation: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8ZMfYjdN-s 
It is important not to add sounds such as m=muh s= suh t=tuh 
Take the word: ‘mat’. If you sound it out as ’muh’ + aa +tuh’ and then blend them together you get ‘muhaaatuh’ a long way off from ‘mmmaat’ and then ‘mat’.
We do not use actions or Jolly Phonics songs. 

Reading books

If you wish to keep the book longer just let us know, you do not have to change them on Monday and Thursday!  Go at your child's pace, find a time of day that suits them, if a page is enough for one session that’s fine.
*Talk about the stories or books shared, can they spot any of the sounds they know, can they tell you about what has been read, have you met any new or interesting words, talk about word meanings, ask what might happen next, ask your child to think about a different ending. 
We have a limited amount of books within our reading scheme, so your child might get given the same book more than once. This is a great opportunity to boost word recognition and fluency when reading. It will also increase confidence as it is a 'known' book and your child might remember it. 

Dates of interest 

Fri 12th Dec: Assessment data home
Tue 16th: KS2 Christmas Celebration 
Fri 19th Dec: Christmas Lunch for Children 

Reminders