This week we will begin introducing the children to the Nativity story in preparation for our visit to Ash End Children’s Farm and for their Nativity performance near the end of term. The children will be introduced to the story and will begin to learn some songs. During our trip to the farm the children will have the opportunity to act out the nativity story with a real life donkey so it is important that they have an understanding of the story. Over the next few weeks the children will be practising our nativity and will all have a part to play in the production. Please do not worry about costumes as we provide all of those. All we ask is that if your child brings home some lines to learn that you practise these with them. We will be performing our Nativity on the 12th December at 2.15 and the 13th of December at 9.15. Please keep an eye on the Friday focus for details about tickets.
Thank you to all those parents who did their child’s reading activities with them last week and signed the diary each night. Remember this just needs to be a little note to let us know that your child has done the activities set and how they got on. Your child’s phonics teacher will read these notes and can answer any questions you may have in this diary. We do not need to know about you reading the library book to your child, this is an extra activity for you to enjoy with your child in your own time. Below are some videos to continue learning to blend.
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/4cleUOGi/5tG9JYaP
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/A3e8n53O/Axx7AIWV
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/Kt5zfEJ6/2XLugvu8
The comparison of quantities is something that children begin to do as babies. The activities this week will focus on developing this innate skill as children are encouraged to look carefully and use the language of comparison to describe sets of objects that they can see. Language is a key focus and adults will model the language of ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’ to describe how many objects there are in each set. ‘Fewer than’ is used rather than ‘less than’ because the focus is on countable things. Another key focus this week is deepening their understanding of 5 as a quantity by linking the number itself to the 5 fingers on one hand. The children will also begin to explore ways to represent numbers to 5 using both their fingers and the Hungarian number pattern. These key representations will help to underline the ‘fiveness’ of 5 and provide structures that will support later exploration of its composition and its relationships with other numbers.
This Friday some of the children in Key Stage 2 will be setting up a book swap shop on the playground. This shop is open to everyone. No money is needed, just a story book that you have finished with and would like to swap for another one. This is separate to your child’s library book so please do not swap your child’s library book. The children will be opening the book swap shop every Friday after school and will be a lovely way for your child to experience different books without any additional costs to you as parents. If your child does not have a book at home that they can swap then please speak to a member of the team and we will see what we can do about getting your child their first book and then when they are finished with it they can swap it for another one.
We are really looking forward to our upcoming trip to Ash End Children’s farm. We ask that children come to school on the day dressed warmly as they will spend a significant amount of time outside. They do not need to wear their uniform. Please make sure they have a warm waterproof coat, a hat and a pair of gloves all clearly named. Your child should also wear suitable footwear for walking around a farm. They will mostly be on concreted areas so please remember wellington boots can be quite cold so ensure they have warm socks on with them. The children will be asked to bring a packed lunch in a named carrier bag. Please only supply the same amount of food as your child would eat on a normal lunch time as every year we end of having to throw away quite a lot of uneaten food. If you would like your child to have a school packed lunch then please let the office know and this will be provided for them on the day. We will send a letter out nearer the visit to confirm all of these details.
Have a lovely week
The Reception Team