Weekly News 13.9.24!
WOW! Well done to the children for completing their very first week of school. We are ending the week a little tired, and we wanted to let you know why! With such a fun-packed week, it is no wonder that the children are all ready for bed.
Read Write Inc
This week we have been playing lots of fun games to develop children's speaking and listening skills and phonological awareness. This involved sound walks about the school where we listened to all the sounds we could hear and imitated them and guessed the animal noises we hear at the zoo.
Next week, we will begin our RWI sessions where we will learn our alphabet sounds. At the end of the week, we will be sending home pink sound books with the sounds we will have learnt for you to practise at home.
Maths
We learnt a new maths word this week- subitise. This is where we talk about what we notice when looking at a group of objects. We are able to say how many objects we can see without having to count them. It’s like magic! It is easier to subitise when we have a smaller number of objects (up to 3 or 5). We had lots of practice looking at pictures and describing what we noticed. For example in the picture below, I can notice one small jellyfish and two larger jellyfish. I also notice there are 3 windows on the submarine.
Thematic
We explored a range of feelings along with their signs and thought of different scenarios when we may feel this way. For example, we might feel excited at Christmas, and we might feel angry if someone snatches a toy we were playing with etc.
We listened to the story the Colour Monster and learnt that it is ok to feel a range of feelings, but we always want to get ourselves back to green which is happy and calm. The Zen Den in our classrooms was introduced and we each have a colour monster (with our faces on) to move around the monsters to show how we are feeling. We learnt strategies to help us get back to green if we are feeling big feelings such as angry, sad or excited. Some of these included some breathing exercises, spending time in the Zen Den with a trusted adult/ teddies and/ or calming toys such as sensory liquid timers.
Once we knew how the Zen Den is to be used, we thought of some rules for how to use it. We agreed to have one person at a time, respecting the Zen Den and what is inside and only moving your colour monster not anyone else’s.
Next week we will start our topic Marvellous Me!
Other News
On Friday 27th September, we invite children to come to school dressed to express. This can be anything your child wants to do. For example, if their favourite colour is red, they might come dressed all in red, if their favourite animal is a cat, they might come dressed like a cat, if they love nature, they might want to dress up like a flower with a superpower to water the garden! Miss Stagg is a keen baker, so she might come to school dressed as a baker. Please let your child’s imagination run wild and be as creative as possible. Please feel free to make a costume or use what you already have. We do not expect you to go out and buy a new costume. Thank you in advance, we look forward to seeing your marvellous creations.
Harvest information
Later this term, we will be celebrating Harvest. As part of this, we would like to invite families in to watch our Harvest Assembly. These will take place in the school hall on the following dates:
Tuesday 1st October: 9am Year R and 1 and 2.45pm Year 2 and 3
Wednesday 2nd October: 9am Year 4 and 5 and 2.45pm Year 6
Please enter the school via the main school office.
As part of the celebrations, we will also be collecting food that we will be donating to Thanet Food Bank. We will be making donations between Wednesday 25th September and Monday 30th September. If you are able to donate, the food bank accepts any tinned, jarred or packet foods that are in date. As a celebration of the donations, all children will be entered into a draw to win last years' celebration teddy bears, Kenneth and Susan.
Dates for your diary
Tuesday 17th September – Nature Talk in school for year 3
Wednesday 18th September – EHCP talk for parents at 9am in school hall
Friday 27th September – Reading and Writing in Reception parents meeting at 2.45pm in school hall
Friday 27th September- Reception dress to express day
Tuesday 1st October – 9am Year R and 1 Harvest assembly for parents
Tuesday 1st October – 2.45pm Year 2 and 3 Harvest assembly for parents
Wednesday 2nd October – 9am Year 4 and 5 Harvest assembly for parents
Wednesday 2nd October – 2.45pm Year 6 Harvest assembly for parents
Saturday 5th October – Cross Country
Tuesday 8th October – Flu vaccines
Friday 11th October – Fancy dress Disco Year 1, 2 and 3 from 3.15-4.15pm and Year 4, 5 and 6 4.30pm-5.30pm (Reception do not join us for this disco, as they can find it a little overwhelming)
Wednesday 16th October – No year 6 swimming this week; usual PE lessons to happen
Thursday 17th October – Kent test results to parents
Thursday 24th October – Parents invited into look at children’s books at 3.15pm
Friday 25th October – Inset day – School closed to children