….to our first celebration assembly. We really appreciate your support. Thank you, as well, for your imaginative contributions to our collaborative tale about Hector. The children will love referring back to it when they open our book. Hopefully, you caught the storytelling bug and you can enjoy creating your own at home.
Well done to our learners of the week – Adam and Jemimah – and to the children, who were awarded certificates for their learning on Reading Eggs and Mathseeds. Well done to our swimmers too.
….called Fred, whose head and leg appeared on our board one lunchtime. Eva instantly said, “We need to find all the things for him and then he’ll be happy.” What a brilliant observation and suggestion.
So, the children hunted around the classroom for bear body parts, some wondering who could have done this to Fred. Sam’s name came up a lot. His name does come up a lot when mischief occurs but we have explained that cheeky Christmas elves take a well-deserved sunshine break in January.
Anyway, after finding his body, other leg and two arms, we put Fred back together and he was very grateful.
The children wanted to make bears of their own and demonstrated improved fine motor skills to cut out the shapes and use split pins or treasury tags to assemble them. They decided how their bear might be feeling before drawing an expression on its face.
A grateful Fred told us that it wasn’t the first time he had faced challenges and the children had some creative ideas about what might have happened to him in the past. Maya wondered if he had “fallen in the bath”. Christina thought he may have “stepped on a pin”. Eliza wondered if he had been “taken away” and Rory interjected, “by a bad guy….like a robber” “with a Samurai sword”, added Eva. A Samurai sword?!! Ulyana thought someone may have “eaten all his sweets”. Poppy even feared that Fred had “stepped in some dog poo”. The children wrote to Fred to ask him…
Thank you to our wonderful lunchtime team, who cooked and served a delicious Christmas feast today. We wore our crowns with pride. Did you hear about the gingerbread men in our ice-creams?
Christingles have been prepared for the services tomorrow afternoon. I wonder if the children can tell you what each part of the Christingle represents when they bring them home.
Sam has been busy channelling his inner Paul Hollywood this week and impressed us with the professionalism of the shortbread he baked.
We will miss him in the classroom after Christmas and hope he will make a return at some point in 2024 after a well-deserved rest. The children are in need of a rest too after a long half term. They should be very proud of all they have achieved.
Wishing you and your families the most wonderful of times together over the next two weeks. Thank you, as always, for all of your support and for the kind wishes we have received. They have been much appreciated.
Our elf, Sam, has been up to all sorts since he arrived in Reception. Can the children recall what has been going on by looking at the pictures with you?
His antics have encouraged us: to investigate what happens which ice melts; build with DUPLO; draw pictures; write letters; sound out and blend green words; practise our number bonds using numicon pieces; consider how we should throw and catch balls effectively and think about how much paper we might need to wrap a gift.
Sam even had to visit the dentist after eating too many sweet treats. The dentist reminded Sam that other foods – such as cheese and yoghurt – are better for our teeth.
It’s been lovely to hear about what Sam’s friends have been up to at home with you. That said, I’m not sure we want Paige’s elf giving Sam any funny ideas….
Thank you if you were able to join us for the performance this morning. We were so proud of all of the children. As promised, here are the photos we took before today’s show.
How exciting it was to come back to school, wearing our PJs, and to spend the evening with our fabulous Year 6 buddies, who had wrapped carefully chosen books for us. We listened to the stories before enjoying some hot chocolate and a biscuit. Then Mr Clayton read ‘Kipper’s Snowy Day’ for us. What a special time!¬ Thank you, everyone.
During the day, we joined in enthusiastically with a reading of ‘The Gruffalo’. We listened out for owl in the woods, we collected food for mouse and we examined the minibeasts hiding under the logs – millipedes, centipedes, worms, slugs, woodlice.
We enjoyed a picnic lunch indoors before heading back out into the woods to explore the mud kitchen, challenge ourselves on the ropes, build cosy dens, cook up treats in the mud kitchen and swing bravely on the rope.
You were wonderful ambassadors for ACE, Reception – thank you to you and to the family members, who were able to enjoy the experiences with us.
On our Talk for Writing journey so far, we have shared the story, talked about the nouns and adjectives used to describe the Gruffalo, drawn crayon portraits of the Gruffalo, created mice with curly tails, developed our hole punching and pin splitting skills making snakes and retold the story using story maps.
We then considered how we might describe a different monster before creating and describing our own. The children are – quite rightly – feeling very proud that they can identify some of the sounds in the words that they want to use in their writing.
Our innovation of The Gruffalo story involved a monster called Yellowno.
What’s a Yellowno? A Yellowno? Why, didn’t you know? He has stripy horns and scratchy claws and sharp wet teeth in his smooth jaws. He has bendy knees and messy toes and poor Yellowno has no nose. His eyes shine blue, his tongue is red and he has purple spots all over his head. Oh help! Oh no! It’s a Yellowno!
Great ideas, RS – well done!
We are very excited about our trip next Tuesday to Skelton Grange, where we will consolidate our learning before turning our attention to Christmas.
Reading Eggs and Mathseeds
Well done to earners of certificates and stickers this week.
And, well done, Ariella, for being our home reading champion this week.
Thank you for sending the children in odd socks today.
It helped to start the conversation around celebrating our differences and reminded us about the importance of being kind. We appreciate that, sometimes, we may feel that someone has been unkind to us and we can respond by saying, “Please don’t say/do that; I don’t like it”. We also discussed who we can turn to for help. Here is a lovely story that celebrates difference if you want to share it at home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw73910uecU
Children in Need Disco
Thank you for supporting the Children in Need disco. We had so much fun and enjoyed raising money for such a worthy cause.
Reading Eggs and Mathseeds
Thank you for learning on Reading Eggs and Mathseeds this week. It’s really making a difference with progress.
Our focus, this week, has been learning about Diwali – the Hindu and Sikh festival of light – where goodness triumphs over evil. Mrs Ajith and Ruby very kindly talked to us about how their families celebrate at home. Thank you for sharing your Diwali treasures, Ruby.
The children listened to, watched and then acted out the story of Warrior Prince Rama and Princess Sita.
Princess Sita and Warrior Prince Rama loved each other very much.
However, Demon King Ravana wanted Princess Sita for himself and took her away. (Samson is trying very hard to look mean!)
Prince Rama asked his good friend, Hanuman – the Monkey King – for help. So Hanuman rounded up all of the monkeys to help find Princess Sita.
Prince Rama shot an arrow at Demon King Ravana….
…..and he died.
Princess Sita and Prince Rama were reunited. Diya lamps helped them to find their way home.
Super drama, RS! It was brilliant that you all wanted to join in with the performance.
I wonder if the children can use the pictures to retell the story at home?
The children rose to the challenge of manipulating clay and then creating patterns with tools to make beautiful diya lamps. We hope they burn brightly at home and bring you good fortune.
Happy Diwali if you are celebrating over the next few days.
Well done to the children, who have earned Reading Eggs/Mathseeds certificates and stickers over the last couple of weeks.
