Dear Parents                                                                                                  08.11.18

What a busy week we had last week! The children were very busy with their learning and are really showing us their progress with writing small words and hearing initial and other sounds in words. Use the letter cards to make small words for the children to further develop these skills. We have been talking about Remembrance and on Friday we will sing a song and show the rest of the school some art work we have done in relation to the animals who helped us during World War 1. We hope you will spend some time on Sunday thinking about the 100 years since the end of the war.

Next week we will be learning…

Maths: In maths next week we will be looking at measuring things. We will be ordering different items by length and using the mathematical language of long, short, tall etc. Have a go at measuring things at home. How many pencils long is the table? Can they estimate before they find out? Which item is longest, and which shortest?

Literacy: In literacy this week we will learn how to write sentences. We will be looking at some dragon words and how these can be used in our writing. Some children will be sent home with Dragon words this week, please talk to them about how they can’t use their sounds to read the words but need to learn them by sight.

Phonics: Next week we will be learning the letters ck, e, u, and r  and learning to read the high frequency words to, get, got , the, put and and. Perhaps you could write the words on the fridge or around the house and see if they can read the words as they pass during the day?

Other events….

• Miss Ingleby has now left Starfish class after finishing her placement. The children have really enjoyed having her with us and we wish her well in whatever lies ahead!

Some useful information and reminders!

• Phonics meeting: 3.30 on Tuesday 20^th November.
• If your child is now 5 and they still would like milk at school, please logon to coolmilk and register. You will now need to pay a small subscription for them to have it.
• Some parents of older children have been asking us about bugclub. This year the school will not be subscribing to bug club. If you wish to access other books for your child please use books from the library or others you may have at home where you can practise segmenting for reading and identifying the high frequency words and letters learnt in the text.
• With the Nativity and Christmas fast approaching we will be sending home a letter about costumes to all children. Please keep an eye out for this! Some children will also have some words to learn. Please help them at home. Thank you.

The Early Years team

Dear Parents

And so a new half term begins!! We hope you all had a restful and enjoyable holiday and a not too scary Halloween!

Next week we will be learning…

Maths: In maths next week we will be thinking about what is one more or one less than a number. We will be using our fingers and other objects to help us and using bigger numbers for the children who are confident to tell us without any support.

Literacy: In literacy this week we will be writing messages in a bottle to a pirate! We will be building on our work last week, thinking about the initial and other sounds in words and recording them. The children have been working really hard to blend sounds to read small words and segmenting them to help them write. If you could support them at home in this by making small words with the letters we are sending home and encouraging them to write any sounds they can hear that would be great. Don’t worry if your child is not yet ready for this! Play eye spy, practise the letter sound cards and enjoy reading together. Thank you.

Phonics: Next week we will be recapping the letters we have learnt so far and teaching the children the tricky words ‘the, no, go ‘ and ‘I’. Please could you practise these with the children at home.

Other events….

On Friday we will be having a History day as a school, looking at Remembrance in the context of World War 1. We will be doing some art work, thinking about the differences in how people lived  then in comparison to us  and learning a song as well as visiting the chapel at Oakland’s school where we will be having some quiet time following our whole school assembly in the morning.

Some useful information and reminders!

• A parents meeting about phonics will take place at30 on Tuesday 20^th November. Please come along so that you can hear how we will be teaching phonics in the coming weeks.
• We will be going to the library on 21^st November. A reminder to return any late paperwork.
• Please return any washed PE kits that are not back at school.

Thank you

The Early Years team

This week we have been very busy guessing / estimating in maths. We have been drawing round our feet and hands, guessing how many multi link cubes will fit in our hand print and then finding our by counting. We had great fun learning! We have also been doing lots of writing, exploring the sounds we could hear and writing them. We have learnt so much in such a short time!

Dear Parents                                                                                                                           29.10.18

The children and staff of St Peters are very sad to see Mrs Light go this week. It will be very strange not to have her in Early Years after such a long time being at the centre of it. She has been a much loved teacher to all those that have been through seahorse class and her vibrancy and enthusiasm will be missed by us all. We wish her well in her next adventure.

Next week we will be learning…

Maths: In maths this week we will be thinking about estimating or ‘guessing’! We will be asking the children to estimate how many of something there is and then counting to find out. Can they find the numeral to match?

Literacy: In literacy this week we will be introducing the children to our new pirate theme by reading stories about pirates and writing labels to go in our role play areas. We will also be focusing on children writing their names. If you could practise this with your child at home that would be great. Remember to encourage using our non-cursive lowercase script.

Phonics: Next week we will be looking at the sounds ‘g,o,c and k’, learning the synthetic sound and the matching grapheme (written letter).

Some useful information!

• A parents meeting about phonics will take place at30 on Tuesday 20^th November. Please come along so that you can hear how we will be teaching phonics in the coming weeks.
• We will be going to the library on 21^st November. We would be really grateful for some parent helpers. There is lots of time to get your DBS check if you would like to support us. Please go and see the office to discuss it with them. Thank you to all those of you who have already returned this paperwork.
• Please remember to return any news orders for photos and Christmas card pictures and orders as soon as possible.
• Please let us know as soon as possible if you have still not received the Tapestry notification. We would really like to move over to this form of communication after half term. Thank you for you cooperation. This will be our last letter in the book bags/via parent mail before they are sent out every week only on the blog or Tapestry.
• The PE kits have been sent home to you. Please return washed PE kits on the first day of the new half term.
• We welcome Miss Deacon to Seahorses after half term. Please help us in making her feel welcome!

Happy half term to you all and we look forward to seeing you all on the 29^th October.

Thank you

The Early Years team

Dear Parents                                                                                                                12.10.18

Next week we will be learning…

Maths: we are using cooking as a hook for maths, looking at capacity and the language which goes with it such as ‘full’, ‘empty’ and ‘half-full’. We will be making (and eating) porridge with the children!

Literacy: In literacy we will be developing our ideas of the structure of story and sequencing from last week. We will be getting the children to develop their own stories, thinking of beginning, middle and end of the story as well as character and setting. See if your child can make up their own stories at home. We will be scribing the story for them and then acting some of them out!

Phonics: Next week we will be looking at the sounds ‘i,n,m and d’, learning the synthetic sound and actions to go with them. We hope that you have found the action sheet and sound cards useful in supporting your child at home. We are also sending home handwriting sheets. Don’t worry if your child is not yet ready for these. They act as a guide for you as to how we will be teaching the children to write the letters and for those who are ready/want to have a go!

Some useful information!!

• A parents meeting about phonics will take place at30 on Tuesday 20^th November. Please come along so that you can hear how we will be teaching phonics in the coming weeks.
• We will be going to the library on 21^st November. Please see the letter enclosed. We would be really grateful for some parent helpers. There is lots of time to get your DBS check if you would like to support us. Please go and see the office to discuss it with them.
• Please remember to return any news orders for photos and Christmas card pictures and orders as soon as possible.
• Please let us know as soon as possible if you have still not received the Tapestry notification. We would really like to move over to this form of communication after half term. Thank you for you cooperation.

Thank you

The Early Years team

Dear Parents                                                                                                                05.10.18

Next week we will be learning….

Maths: In maths next week we will be focusing on 2D shape. We will be talking about the different properties of the shapes e.g how many straight or curved sides or points each shape has and their names. We will be making pictures from shapes etc. To support this learning we will be making sandwiches and cutting them into rectangles, squares, circles and triangles. If there is anything we need to know re allergies that you have not already told us please let us know. We will be using dairy free spread, jam or marmite with a  choice of white or brown bread.

Literacy: In literacy we will be looking at sequencing, linking to this weeks ‘Going on a bear hunt’ story and to this weeks maths theme of making a sandwich. What did we do first, next and last? How about making some sandwiches at home and talking to the children about the shapes and sequence of actions?

Phonics: Next week we will be starting to learn the letter sounds. In the welcome meeting we will talk a little more about this. We will be looking at the sounds ‘s,a,t and p’, learning the synthetic sound and actions to go with them. The children will come home with the sounds we are learning in an A5 wallet so that you can support them in what they are learning in school, and this will be added to each week.

Some useful information!!

• As a reminder the welcome meeting for parents is on Monday 8^th Miss Deacon, the new teacher for Seahorses class is looking forward to meeting you all.
• A parents meeting about phonics will take place at30 on Monday 8^th October. Please come along so that you can hear how we will be teaching phonics in the coming weeks.
• Please can we remind you that the school has a no nuts policy as we have some severely allergic children and staff. Thank you for your cooperation.
• You may be interested to know that you can organise a birthday lunch for your child at school. The catering staff serve pizza and ice cream or similar and your child can invite 7 friends to share the lunch at a specially laid table. Please enquire at the office if you are interested.

Thank you

The Early Years team

Welcome to the new parents and children at St Peters. We do hope that you have had a fun first week and are looking forward to starting again on Monday!!

The children are settling in well. They have been taking time to get to know each other and new friendships are being forged and old ones revisited. We have been introducing the children to new routines; learning where and how to access different resources, lining up, getting ready for snack time and lunch and tidying away. We are getting to know the children and are looking forward to getting on with our learning.

Next week sees the children swap their afternoons and mornings, giving them  a different perspective on the school day.

A few reminders: Please remember to write in the home school book when you read with your child. We already have some children almost ready for their first certificate!! We still have  a few PE kits missing and a few jumpers unnamed. Please could this be rectified for next week.

We look forward to seeing you all again soon.

The early years team.

Dear Parents                                                                                                                                              09.07.18

Hello again!

• The end of term is fast approaching! This week sees us begin to get ready for year 1. The children will spend the afternoon on Monday in their new classes. We hope that they were excited to tell you all about their stay with their new teacher on Friday afternoon. On Tuesday we are involved in a dance workshop and Wednesday afternoon sees us all heading to Oaklands where we will watch the year 6 production of Annie with the whole school. Friday sees the children spend the whole day in their new classes.

Reminders and requests:

• As usual: named hats, water bottle and sun block applied before they come into school please!
• Thank you very much to all of you who have sent in your library books. Please could we have the last couple of stragglers so that Mrs D can finalise her stock take. Thank you. Your child will be allowed to borrow a book over the summer.
• Multicultural Party: This will take place on Wednesday afternoon (18th). We ask that you make something with your child to celebrate their culture e.g. Irish soda bread, Japanese seaweed. Please send your child’s contribution in a named Tupperware on the morning of the 18^th. No nuts or nut products please.

The Early Years Team

Dear Parents                                                                                                                                              02.07.18

Hello again!

• In literacy this week the Evil Pea (from Supertato) will be sending us a letter explaining that he has kidnapped all of the superheroes. Our task it to design and make a trap to capture Evil Pea. They will work together in teams to design, label and make a trap. It will be fun to see what the children think of!
• In maths we will be looking at money, matching pennies to coin denominations.
• In phonics: we will be continuing phase 4 and also focusing on learning to spell some of the tricky words that they need to know by the end of reception.
• This week the children will be spending some sessions in the year 1 classes and will soon be finding out who their teacher is for next year.

Reminders and requests:

• As usual: named hats, water bottle and sun block applied before they come into school please!
• Please could you send your child in with their library books ASAP as Mrs D will be dong a stock take in the next couple of weeks. Your child will be allowed to borrow a book over the summer.
• Multicultural Party: We would like to have an end of term celebration with the children, celebrating their year with us and the different family heritage of the children in our class. We will be asking you to please send in some food celebrating their culture as well as national flags and other objects that the children can be proud about to share with the children in early years. Previously we have all shared Sri Lankan rice, Irish bread and Hampshire strawberries.

The Early Years Team

Dear Parents                                                                                                                                             25.06.18

Hello again!

       https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

Reminders and requests:

The Early Years Team