Dear Parents and Carers,

It was wonderful to share your child’s learning with you this week at Parent’s Evening. Responsibility for a child’s learning is a triangle of dialogue with parents, school and the child. We would like to say how incredibly proud we are of all the children. They have been in school for less than 6 weeks and they have already achieved so much.

This week we continued our learning on The Little Red Hen. The children have been writing about the story and talking about the characters. The children have been really engaged and keen to share their ideas. We even made our own bread just like The Little Red Hen. However, unlike the lazy dog, sleepy cat and noisy duck we helped each other make the bread. We used the language dough, knead, stretch, yeast, rise, roll and mix. The children enjoyed using the timers to measure how long we had to wait for the dough to rise. There are so many learning opportunities when baking. You can write a shopping list, go to the shops to purchase the ingredients, look at the prices and talk about money. When you measure the ingredients use the language of more and less. Help your child to measure the baking time. We hope you enjoy lots of baking over half term.

In Read Write Inc, the children have almost completed set one sounds. This week we learnt the sounds j, v, y, w and th. We used the word ‘diagonal’ to help describe how to write v and w. Please encourage your child to complete the handwriting pages in the booklet focusing on the correct formation. Over the next two weeks, you could create your own flashcards with the sounds and use them to recap and embed the knowledge. After half term, the children will have their first RWI assessment. This will evaluate how many of the sounds they are able to recall so any extra support over the half term will be beneficial. Please also continue to help your child orally blend sounds, for example b-o-x.

In Maths, we have been using a ten frame to explore the number 6. The children have been putting the counters in different positions to notice patterns and make links.

The children noticed that they all had six counters that were in different positions but the whole was still six. They told us that there were four empty squares on the ten frame. They used the language of partitioning to tell us that 3+3 =6 and 4+2=6. Help your child to notice patterns in the environment, for example ‘I can see 6 cars, 3 black ones and 3 reds ones’ or ‘I can see four glasses on the table, 2 tall ones and two short ones’. Encouraging children to notice patterns will help them to solve Maths problems and learn number facts.

In the woods, we collected leaves and brought them back to the classroom to do leaf rubbings. The children were fascinated by the patterns and shapes.    

We hope you have a wonderful half term.

Foundation Team

Share a Story Session

We would like to invite you into the classroom on Thursday 31^st October at 2.45pm to share a story with your child. Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their vocabulary and understanding of the world. We will have a selection of books for you to share and enjoy. Please enter the classroom through the playground. Please let us know if you are unable to attend. We look forward to seeing you.

Cool Milk

If your child is aged four they are entitled to free milk but you need to apply for it via Cool Milk website www.coolmilk.com Click on ‘Register your child for school milk’. If you do not register, your child will not receive milk at snack time. If your child is aged five and you would like them to have milk you will need to pay for it via the Cool Milk website. Once your child is registered, the milk is delivered directly to school. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to ask.

Home Learning Options:

• Keep a diary in your red book of the exciting things you have done over the half term. Draw a picture and write your name.
• Enjoy baking together
• Visit and join the local library
• Practise saying and writing your RWI sounds.
• Copy your name and some simple words (mat, log, top, sad) using the correct letter formation.
• Explore rhyming and understand what rhyming means (cat, sat, hat, hat) there are many wonderful rhyming books you can borrow from the local library.
• Notice number patterns in the environment and stick a picture in your red book.
• Have fun with your family.

Dates to remember – more information will be given nearer the time

Half Term 14^th – 25^th October

Return to school 28^th October

Thursday 31^st October 2.45pm – Share a Story Session