Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas. The children have enjoyed telling us about their holidays.

This week we learnt about the Epiphany. On Monday, we wore crowns to assembly to celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. We listened to the story from the Bible and the children acted out the story. The children made kings and made presents for Jesus. They made labels for their presents and painted pictures of the story. Many children sequenced the story and wrote sentences.

The children thought of what they would like to do better in 2025 and wrote on stars and decorated them.

In Maths, we learnt about the number 0. The children sorted pictures that represent 0 and not 0. The children ordered numbers 0-5. We have also been learning to subitise. When we see objects, we can say the number without counting. We used dice and dominoes to say the number of dots without counting. Playing dominoes and games with dice is great for children’s Maths skills.

We have enjoyed looking at the snow and seeing the ice in the playground. On Friday, we made snow pictures.

On Friday, we went into the hall and explored moving in different ways on the apparatus.

Next week we will be starting the Phase 3 phonics. Please support your children learning these sounds each evening and completing the sheet in their phonics books. We will also be sending home writing books on their reading day. There is a meeting on Monday at 2.45pm to explain these. If you cannot come to the meeting, information will be in their writing book.

We are encouraging the children to practise zipping up their coats, please practise this at home.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Carey and The Early Years Team

This week, we have been learning about Advent. We learnt that purple is the colour of Advent, the priest wears purple at church, the first candle we light is purple and the cloth on our altar is purple. The first candle represents hope. We have been thinking of what we are hoping for. The children are hoping people have homes, food and clothes. Lots are hoping for snow at Christmas and many hoping for different presents. The children made stars to remember their hopes and wishes. Advent is a time for preparing; the children drew things we do to prepare for Christmas. The children made Advent promises to become closer to God during Advent and we added them to our class display. Each day, we will open a door and try to follow the Advent promise. The children painted Advent wreaths.

As we have finished all of the Phase 2 sounds, we have been revising them this week. Please keep practising them at home. We have also been practising reading and spelling the tricky words. Please practise I, a, go, no, to, into, the. The children have been on a hunt around the playground to find the tricky words on stars.

We have been busy practising for our Christmas Play. Thank you for your support with practising the children’s lines and thank you for sending the children’s costumes in.

In Religion, we listened to the story The Annunciation from the Bible. The children made angels and wrote what Mary and Angel Gabriel said to each other.

On Friday, we took our Advent promises to assembly and they were added to the hall display.

Reminder

Christmas Nativity – Thursday 5^th December at 9.30am.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Carey and The Early Years Team

This week was anti-bullying week. We spoke about what bullying is and what we should do if we think we are being bullied. The children wrote names in a hand print of the people they could tell if they were feeling sad. We read the story The Ugly Duckling and talked about the duck being bullied because he looked different. We all look different but we should treat everyone the same. Then we did some hot seating where the children pretended they were a character and the others asked them questions. The children made beautiful swans and nests for the ducklings. We had some amazing writing about the ducklings, the children are using their phonic knowledge to write words.

In Maths, we have been learning about capacity. We have been comparing containers, estimating which containers would hold more or less and measuring using cups.

In our Phonics lessons, we have learnt the tricky word to. We have also learnt the sounds r, h, b and f. Please continue to practise at home.

On Friday, we thought about what we are good at. We made mirrors, decorated them and added them to our display about what we are good at. We then thought about the things we would like to be able to do and how we should keep trying until we can do something.

Some of the children have been given lines to learn for the Christmas Play. Please practise with your child and we will continue to practise at school. The children are enjoying learning the songs and the dances.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Carey and The Early Years Team

On Monday, the police visited us to tell us what they do to help people. The children asked lots of questions, tried on their clothes and sat in the police car. The children have been role playing police in the playground.

This week, we have been learning about India. We learnt about the flag and where to find India on a map. The children made their own flags to be displayed around our world map. Our home corner has changed to a Indian restaurant where children have been wearing saris and serving food. The children made Rangoli patterns using chalk, felt tips and natural resources. We learnt about the National bird- the peacock and the children made peacocks. We also learnt about how people bath and wash clothes in the River Ganges -the children have been washing clothes in our water tray. Following our theme of the Year of the Disciples, we learnt about a charity called Caritas that supports people in India. Raylan, Aanay and Tiya from Year 6 showed us their traditional dress and some Indian dancing. Jonathan’s parents made us some traditional food from India. Freya’s parents made us some sweets and Ayden’s parents bought us some Indian snacks. Thank you for your support. We made Laddoo, the children enjoyed mixing and rolling. We also learnt some Indian dancing. Outside, we made the Taj Mahal.

On Friday, Jonathan, Freya and Raiya came to school in their traditional dress.

In Maths, we have been finding different ways to make 2 and 3 using a cherry model (part, part, whole), a tens frame and many other resources.

In Phonics, we have been revising the sounds and tricky words we have learnt this term. Please practise saying and writing all of the sounds in their phonics book. Practise reading tricky words I, no, go and the.

Thank you for all of the donations for the food bank.

On Friday, we read the story Pumpkin Soup and made some pumpkin soup in our mud kitchen.

Could you go for a walk and collect some signs of autumn? Bring in some different colour leaves, conkers and some twigs please. Please send in a plastic bottle with a lid for the Tuesday after half term.

Have a wonderful half term.

Mrs Carey and the Early Years Team