Friday 17th October

Well, we've made it to the end of term, more or less in one piece! It's hard to believe that the children have only been in school for 7 weeks. They have settled in very well, taken many different experiences in their stride and are becoming increasingly independent. They are no doubt very tired so we hope you all have a very relaxing half term and some quality time together!

 

Phonics

As your child starts on their journey learning to read, it is important that they are able to quickly recall all the sounds we have covered so far in phonics. Over the holidays, please find a little bit of time to practise all the sounds we have taught so far so they don't forget them.  You could stick flashcards around the house and make it into a treasure hunt, use little cards to play snap or matching pairs. Little and often is a good way forward. A bit of blending practise is also a good idea, perhaps using the sounds they are most familiar with (satpin) and making 3 letter words. The blending video on the parents section of the Little Wandle website is helpful. We will put all the sounds we have covered on Tapestry. 

Maths

This week we have been working on more or less than in maths. Please find any opportunities to practise careful counting (of objects) and number recognition.  

 

Topic and Show and Tell

Next term, our topic is 'Once Upon A Time' and over the term we will aim to develop a love of stories and reading. The topic encourages children to learn, retell and act out familiar and traditional tales. For Show and Tell we would like the children to bring in a favourite book from home. This can be a fiction or non fiction book and doesn't need to be a traditional tale.  Each child will be allocated a set day so we can read the book in class. We welcome parents / carers in to read the book to the class and if this doesnt work for you on your child's day just let us know and we can be flexible. If you can't come we will of course still read your child's book in class on their day. 

 

Show and Tell with a favourite book - week beginning Monday 3rd November

Monday – Archie

Tuesday – Arthur

Wednesday -  Bailley

Thursday – Bea

Friday – Bella

 

     How We Teach Reading Meeting Thursday 6th November 3.00pm 

We would like to invite you in to find out more about how we teach phonics and early reading on the above date, before Forest School pick up. We will also touch on other areas of the curriculum. The meeting will be in our classroom. 

 

General

Please do empty school bags over the holidays.  Please return reading books, diaries and tricky word books on the first Monday back.

 

Have a wonderful half term. Please do use Tapestry to share any news from home over the holidays. It's lovely for the YR team to be able to chat with your child about things they have done and this can be a useful prompt. Finally, thank you very much for all your support over this term. We realise there is an awful lot to take on when your child first starts school and we hope it hasn't been too overwhelming. We would still love volunteers to help with our reading groups - please let us know if you would like to do this. 

 

Mrs Edwards and Mrs Whitewood

10^th October

We were very proud of the children at their first ever Harvest Service. They sang really beautifully and did the actions so well - quite a daunting experience! They all sat very well in church, listening to the other classes. The first of many chances to see them performing.

Maths Homework

 Something we continue to do in maths is practising careful and accurate counting. Over the weekend please find any opportunities you can with your child to count objects, whether it's the stairs as you walk up them, sweets from the shop or sticks in the garden. Number recognition is always good to practise too - as some children are struggling with this - numbers up to 5 to start with and 10 if your child is confident.  

Reading Books

Please read the Reading Scheme book with your child over the weekend. Use the yellow reading diary to let us know how they are getting on and please return on Monday as we need the books for the next group. 

Tricky Word Books 

Your child will have brought home a red book with tricky words we have been learning to read during phonics. These are words that cannot be sounded and just need to be recognised. Please do practise them with your child until they are confident at reading them. We learn quite a few tricky words over the year and so becoming confident with each set as we send them home is very helpful. You don't need to return these to school until after the half term holiday. There is additional information on tricky words on the parents section of the Little Wandle website. 

Respect - Whole School Act of Worship

In AoW today Mrs Glover talked about respect, in particular respect for our own belongings and things belonging to school. This is something we talk about a lot in YR - looking after our classroom resources, picking things up if we drop them, not throwing things or standing on things and tidying things away. We talk about being a class team and everyone helping everyone else to take care of our classroom and the resources we have. Some children are very good at tidy up time and some are still learning! Any support at home with this is much appreciated. 

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Edwards and Mrs Whitewood

Friday 3rd October

Phonemes (sounds) we have covered in phonics this week are ck, e, u and r. We have also learnt to read the tricky words "is" and "I". Any practise at home is very beneficial. In maths we have been working on composition and exploring how numbers can be composed of 1s and, from this, begin to investigate the composition of 3 and 4. Composing and de-composing numbers involves children investigating part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2. 

As part of our Me and My Community we have been discussing People Who Help Us and we were fortunate to have Darcy's mum coming in to talk to us about her job as a doctor. If any other parents/carers/grandparents would like to come in we'd love to see you. Over the weekend, please could you talk to your children about what jobs you as parents do as we will be talking about this in class next week.   

Our reading groups are well under way. We would be very grateful for any parents/carers/grandparents who would be happy to help with this on a regular basis. If you would like more information, please do ask. 

We look forward to seeing those that can make it at the Harvest Festival Service on Wednesday morning. Please could your child decorate an envelope and then you can send it back into school on Mon, Tues or Wednesday with a small donation which will go to Bondi School, our partner School in Tanzania. Please add your child's name to the envelope. Any dry food contributions (well in date) for the Edenbridge foodbank should be brought in on Wednesday. Thank you.

Hope you have a lovely weekend and enjoy some autumn sunshine.  

Mrs Edwards and Mrs Whitewood

Friday 26th September

We have had a lovely week with plenty of sunshine. School lunches are going well and hopefully your child is enjoying them. Milk - we have quite a few children on the list who don't want the milk and some not on the list who do want milk. We will try and catch up with you to discuss.

 

Reading Scheme Books

A reading scheme book should have been brought home today for you and your child to read together. There are tips on how to do this in the back of the book (they are wordless books). We have looked at this book together in school in our reading groups. Please look after this book. We have a set number in school and if any go missing we then don't have a full set to use in reading groups. Please return on Monday so a different group can start to use them the following week. Please use the reading diary to let us know how you got on. 

Harvest Festival

We look forward to seeing those that can make it at the Harvest Festival Service on Wednesday 8th October in church. Our class will be a singing a song as part of the service. More information to follow. 

 

Forest School

Please could you make sure the FS clothes and wellies are in a separate named bag and not put in school bags and please could shoes/trainers be worn to school on FS days and not wellies. Please name EVERYTHING.

 

Me and My Community - People Who Help Us

Next week as part of our topic we will be thinking about people in our community who help us - including police, firefighters, nurses, doctors, etc. If there is anyone who works in our community in any capacity, or for the emergency services, we would love you to come in and talk about your job. Please email the office if you can help or speak to us at drop off / pick up.  

Nursery Reports

There are a handful of nursery reports still outstanding. Please could you email your child's to the office if you haven't already done so.

 

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Edwards and Mrs Whitewood

Friday 20th September

The children have coped very well with full days but some are definitely tired today! At the end of today we talked about all the new things we have done this week - PE, Forest School, French, full days - quite a lot to take on board. 

Phonics

Phonics learning is progressing swiftly and the children are beginning to blend letters to make words orally and some using flashcards which is very exciting! Please use the Little Wandle website site to check your child is pronouncing the sounds correctly. On Fridays we always recap the week's learning so no new sound today.

Phonics game to practice sounds:

Write sounds in chalk on a paving slab or a fence panel. Then give your child a spray bottle with water in it. Say a sound and they have to spray the correct sound. This is great for practising sounds as well as developing hand strength and coordination. Play matching pairs or snap with flashcards. 

Maths

In maths we have been learning on how to subitise. If you ask your child they may be able to tell you what this means. Subitising is the ability to instantly recognise the quantity of a small group of objects without counting them. We also say we are using our "fast eyes".

French

They loved their first French lesson with Mrs Glover and learnt how to say hello and goodbye and thank you!

Forest School

The children enjoyed their first Forest School session and photos are usually shared on the school website. Please could you make sure everything is labelled including the shoes they come to school in before changing for FS and the bag they bring their kit in. Please always send your child in on Forest School day wearing a pair of shoes rather than wellies. Please always put their Forest School kit in a separate bag and not just in their school rucksack. 

Milk

Some children on the milk register are refusing their milk. We will monitor this over the term but may ask you to take your child off the register. We end up with an awful lot of waste if children don't want their milk. Please talk to your child about this to check if they still want milk in school. 

Please do use Tapestry to share things from home - it can be a really helpful conversation starter with your children if they have done something at home they are proud of, or been somewhere interesting at the weekend, or have family news they'd like to share with us. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Edwards and Mrs Whitewood

Friday 12th September

We've had another lovely week in YR and continue to be impressed at how settled and confident the children are coming into school. Everyone has done really well with starting on their reading journey, taking part in phonics lessons and we have also enjoyed some topic activities. Our topic this term is "Me and My Community" and we have been thinking about our school community, friends and families. The children are getting to know each other and starting to forge friendships. Everyone has been enjoying playing inside and out (despite the rain) and exploring all of our resources. If any of our classroom resources end up at home please could you send them back in!

 

Lunch

The children have done very well in the lunch hall.  We will keep an eye on those who are less keen on lunch but we usually find that in time they manage well; if you have any concerns do let us know. 

 

Spare Clothes

Thank you to people who have sent in spare clothes for their children. Please keep these in their school bags and replace when necessary. Please return any of our spares that might have come home as we will run out of emergency items. Please could shoes be named as they can get mixed up when wellies have been worn.

 

Sharing Books

The children have all brought home 'sharing' books this week. Throughout the year the children will be able to choose a book from our class selection to take home and enjoy with a parent/carer. This book is not for them to read to you but to be enjoyed together. We will change books twice a week on a Monday and Friday so please have them in school on those days with the reading diary. The reading diary can be kept at home until you return the sharing book. 

 

PE/Forest School

On Monday we start PE lessons so the children come to school in their PE kits (school uniform will not be needed). Forest School starts on Thursday with Mrs McCoy and Mrs Woodhouse. French starts on Friday afternoon with Mrs Glover. 

 

 Drop and Go

In the mornings, the school offers a drop and go system. If you feel your child is ready for this, you can use it (quite a few have already done so). There are staff on duty who open the car door and will help your child with getting out of the car and making sure they go through the gate. There is no expectation that you will use the drop and go system, so if you prefer to park and walk your child into school please continue to do so.

 

When collecting at 3:30pm, please wait on the school drive with all the other parents and then come round to the Reception gates from the main playground.

 

Snacks

The children will be given fruit in school in the afternoon so you do not need to send in an extra snack, just one for the morning. Please make sure all snacks are healthy (no biscuits, sweets, chocolate, crisps) and make sure items that are a potential choking hazard are chopped up. 

 

Parent Helpers

We would be very grateful to any parents/ carers / grandparents who would be interested in supporting our reading groups. We will be listening to the children read in a group two to three times a week and, to do this, regular parental support is invaluable. If you think you could provide regular help doing this (ideally once a week for 30-45 minutes) we would ask you to undertake the Little Wandle phonics training which takes a few hours to complete. Please let us know and more information can be provided. 

 

Have a great weekend,

Mrs Edwards and Mrs Whitewood

Friday 5th September 

We've had a lovely week getting to know your children. They have been amazing, settling quickly, making new friends and trying new things. Today we did a short tour of the school so they could familiarise themselves with the lunch hall ready for next week. We also popped into other classrooms, the office and played on the Astro / Adventure playground.

Please support your child to be as independent as possible - eg putting a coat on, putting their snacks on the trolley, taking care of their own hygiene, using tissues to wipe noses, etc. We will of course continue to help them, but being more independent will increase their confidence. 

Tapestry 

Hopefully you have all been able to activate your Tapestry account. Please email the office if you require an additional email address to be added. We have tried it out with photos from your child's first week at school which we hope you have been able to access. Please let us know if you have had any problems. Tapestry is where you will find out what your child has been up to in school, so please do check it regularly. Feel free to comment on posts. It is an important part of our communication with parents and is a two way forum so if there are things you would like to share with us from home you can add posts which only we will see. These allow us to talk with your child about something they are proud of or places they have been etc 

Please note this does not replace the school email system for contacting school about absences, collection details, medication etc. 

Labelling items 

Please make sure all clothing is clearly labelled along with snacks and water bottles. Please relabel any items handed down from siblings or friends or from the secondhand shop with your child's name (always include their first name) so they can recognise their own items.  

Rucksacks

Please could you regularly clear out your child's bag of unnecessary items. They don't need to bring in pencil cases, purses or any toys from home.

Snacks

Please make sure items such as grapes and cherry tomatoes are cut in half. 

Spare Clothes

Please could you make sure spare pants and socks are in your child's school bag. 

Drop off and Pick up next week

In the mornings please drop off between 8.30 and 8.45 (the front gate is locked at 8.45). Pick up for next week only will be via the green metal gate on the school drive and then you walk round to our outdoor area. Children should be picked up at 1.15 pm. 

Phonics 

Next week we will start teaching phonics. From Monday we will let you know, on Tapestry, what we have covered in class so you can support your child at home.  A meeting will be arranged shortly to explain how we teach phonics and early reading. 

PE and Forest School

On Monday 15th September we will start PE lessons in the afternoon. Please could the children come to school in their PE kits every Monday from this date (school uniform will not be needed). 

Forest School will start on Thursday 18th  September. 

Sharing Books

Your child should have brought home a reading diary and book they chose from our class library. These are for you to share together at home. You can use the yellow diary to let us know if they enjoyed the book. Please return on Monday (apologies but a couple were left behind in school today so will be brought home on Monday). 

Thanks again for your support this week and we look forward to speaking to you at our consultation meetings next week. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Edwards and Mrs Whitewood