We are continuing on with our topic of ‘Celebration’ this week by looking at ‘Advent’. The children will learn about advent and how it is celebrated and will be able to link this to the advent calendars that they may be opening at home. We will talk about the countdown to Christmas and will link the season of Advent to their Nativity play as we continue to rehearse ready for their production later this term. The children will learn about the significance of the candles in an advent wreath and we will be talking about advent calendars being more than just a chocolate treat. In class we will be making our own ‘Kindness’ Advent calendar that we will open each day throughout December with an act of kindness that the children will be encouraged to carry out. Use this topic as a time to talk to your child about Christmas and what they know and have learned.
The children are all progressing well in their phonic groups and those children practising their sounds and word blending at home are showing increasing confidence. We have started to write simple CVC words in our writing sessions so please continue to work with your child on blending sounds together as this will also help them to then segment words to be able to write them. Please continue to watch the videos below which show how to use the sounds to blend.
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/kmjuSM2j/jJzxCxlN
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/QiZfS3RY/NSMOFZWS
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/Pk2im77W/7cW4OaOQ
The comparison of quantities is something that children begin to do as babies. When comparing, children notice attributes and begin to understand similarities and differences. This week’s activities focus on further developing these innate skills. The children will be encouraged to compare the number of objects in 2 sets by matching them 1:1. Seeing that objects in some sets can be matched without any being left over will draw the children’s attention to instances when the quantities of objects are equal.
Language is a key focus and adults will need to reinforce the language of ‘more than’, ‘fewer than’ and ‘an equal number’ to describe how many objects there are in each set. As the focus this week is on countable things, ‘fewer than’ is used rather than ‘less than’ and ‘more than’ is used rather than ‘greater than’.
The children are very excited for their trip to Ash House Children’s Farm on Thursday. You should have received a letter by now outlining key information such as clothing and lunch. Please make sure you have read the letter and follow the actions suggested. Please do not send your child in with lots of food. They only need the same amount of lunch they would have on any normal day. The lunches will be kept on the coach until lunchtime and any remaining food will be disposed of after lunch so they will not be able to access it throughout the day. The children are set for a lovely day where they will get the opportunity to see and feed some different animals as well as get to hold a baby chick. They will also take part in a Nativity story as well as meet Father Christmas and receive a lovely gift. Please talk to your child about the trip before they come so they know what to expect. It would be really helpful if you also talked to your child about keeping their hands out or their mouths and noses as they will be feeding animals and we do not want children transferring anything into their own bodies. We will be washing hands regularly but we seem to have quite a few children that have their hands in their mouths or regularly up their noses, so we would be very grateful for help with this message
As we now move in winter and the colder weather can we ask that your child comes into school ready for the drop in temperature. Please send your child into school with a warm waterproof coat with a hood, a pair of gloves and a hat. All these items should be clearly named. We do not recommend scarfs as they are often left trailing on the floor and can become dangerous on the equipment. Encourage your child to put their coat on first, then their hat and finally their gloves. When taking their outdoor items off they should remove their gloves first and put them into their coat pockets. They should then remove their coat and put their hat into the sleeve of their coat so that it doesn’t get lost on the floor and is easy to access when then need to get ready to go outside. Please do not ask your child to put their things in their bags as they are difficult to access on the coat pegs when all of the children’s coats and bags are on there. This will help them with getting themselves ready and forging their own independence.
We hope you have a lovely week and will take lots of photos on our farm visit to share with you all.
The Reception Team