Week ending Friday 11th October 2024

Good afternoon,
We hope this weekly blog finds everyone well. Here is a round up of our week in Chestnut Class for Reception and Year 1, as usual it has been as busy as ever!

Phonics- In phonics this week Reception have continued learning their new set 1 sounds. This weeks sounds are j, v, y, x, w and z. They have been practising saying and writing them. With the other sounds they know, the children are using magnetic letters to create cvc words and are blending the sounds together to read the word. The children have brought their next sound blending book home to read. Please support them by sharing this every night. This makes such a difference.

For most of the children in Year 1, they have moved onto learning Set 3 sounds. This week our focus has been ea (tea), oi (spoil) and a-e (called a split digraph like in make and name). Next week all children will be assessed on their phonic knowledge which may result in a change in the groupings and teacher taking the group. 

For all new sounds, we will send home practice sheets and videos to watch. Please take the time to read them and have a go together! Small steps lead to big progress. Thank you. 

Literacy Tree/Drawing Club- In Literacy Tree this week, the Year 1 children have focused on inventing their own stories based on Stanley's Stick. Their new story is 'Cassidy's Cup' and they have spent the week, really working hard on their independent writing skills to create a story that makes sense. In Drawing Club the Reception Children have been reading and learning about the Little Red Hen. We have seen tractors, houses and all sorts of new characters. 

Maths Reception- Reception have been focusing on comparison this week. Comparing numbers using the language of more than and fewer than. We have been comparing sets of objects, comparing fingers on hands and worked together to explain what we can see. 
Maths Year 1- Year 1 have started a new unit this week called 'addition and subtraction'. This unit runs for the rest of half term and the following few weeks. We have started by looking at part whole models and basic addition sentences. This weeks homework will be based around this, so please support your child to have a go at home. 

Wider Curriculum

History - October is Black history month where we learn and celebrate about the achievements of people of colour throughout history.  This week we learnt about Mary Seacole, a nurse of mixed race, who funded her own travel to the Crimea during the Crimean war when the English government refused to send her.  She built a 'hotel' for injured soldiers and used the skills taught to her by her Jamaican mother to treat them.  The year one children wrote about the story of Mary Seacole while the reception children used role play to apply bandages and treat each other with our role play toys.

In computing, the year one children are learning to log in to a Chromebook using a username and password finding the letters on the keyboard and how to type a capital letter.  They then practised using the mousepad/trackpad by using an app called Paintz to try and draw on a computer.

DT- this week the children designed the head of their monster for their moving toy. They had to design two heads, label them, draw the moving parts of the mechanism and then they voted on their favourite design before choosing which one to make next week.

PSHE- this week we continued with our focus on emotions. We shared a story about a little boy who breaks something at his Grandparents house. We shared all the emotions we could find in the story, and then we freeze framed how these emotions might look on our faces and our bodies. 

Science- we continue our focus on reflection and wrote a conclusion to our experiment. Due to the time of year and the darker nights we extended this to talk about road safety during dark times, in particular, things we can wear to help us be seen!
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P.E- This week in our sessions with SAINTS we played lots of games to get our hearts pumping! These included different types of chasing games and balancing activities. 


Dates for your diaries:
16th October: Reception parents/carers information evening (RWI/Tapestry/School Readiness)
24th October: Harvest Festival followed by open afternoon to come and share children's work.
25th October: Rockstar day- dress up as a rock star for a day full of maths fun. Parents will be welcome for a fun activity! Time for parents to be confirmed. 
Week beginning Monday 11th November- parent/carer consultations. More information to follow.