This week in Dexter Class
This week we are continuing with our Literacy, Communication and Language work around the classic story Owl Babies. The children are going to complete reading and writing activities to support their understanding of the story structure. They had a lovely time last week role playing the story and getting creative. We will also be looking at woodland habitats and recap our learning about nocturnal and diurnal animals.
In phonics, we will be focusing on the phonemes nk, ai and ee, learning how to read and spell words using these additional new sounds and letter combinations. The children are given lots of opportunities to use their phonics learning during independent play and learning time and many are choosing to write and mark make by writing cards, lists and even menus and shopping lists. We put mark making materials throughout our provision so whether they are writing messages to each other, using the interactive board, clipboards or dry wipe boards there is always something available for them to use. If your children are showing an interest at home too then consider leaving notebooks or paper and pencils around to encourage their exploration.
In maths we are consolidating our learning of the numbers 1-5 and also counting accurately beyond this. We will be working on composition-(building) of numbers, adding one more and taking away one. We will also be working on subitising-automatically recognising- the parts of a number e.g. 3 is a part and 2 is a part and the whole is 5. Children will also be practising rapid recall of number bonds to 5 including addition and subtraction facts.
Our singing practise for the Nativity-Hey Ewe! is gathering pace and the children are starting to really remember the actions and lyrics. I will send home a letter later this week about the performance times and also to let you know what costumes your children will be wearing. We will provide these but there may be the odd item such as leggings that may be needed.
In RE we will be looking at the Nativity story and the importance of the various people at Jesus’ birth. We will be learning that we all started life as babies, even Jesus, and that Christians believe that this human version of God is His incarnation. In class Worship with the Herefords (Year 1 and 2) we will be following a program called Follow The Star to further support our learning about the true meaning of Christmas.
The weather is certainly turning more wintery, brrrrrrrr! Please do remember to send children with warm coats, school jumpers etc. We are working on increasing independence this term as part of our work towards the Early Learning Goals. You can also help your children by encouraging them to put on their own coats and boots, fasten the zips or buttons. Also gloves and hats should be easy to manage independently as trying to wrestle children in to their outdoor things every time they want to play outside can be very frustrating for them and time consuming for the adults!
