Welcome to Autumn 2

Welcome back to the second half of the autumn term. Hopefully your child has settled into class well and is keen to come back and continue their learning journey.

Topic

We started this term with a mini-topic based around the beautiful Oliver Jeffers book – Here We Are.  Our big question was - How do we learn about the world around us? This led us nicely into thinking about the body and our senses. It also provided an excellent opportunity to explore our senses outdoors. Over the fortnight we: played sensory games like chinese whispers and kims game; went on scavenger hunts to find natural materials with different textures; made large cut-outs of the body and labelled them; used art straws to make skeletons; we finally put all this learning together and made information booklets about 'Our Senses'

After this mini-topic, we are straight into our Christmas topic – The Frozen Planet.  Throughout this topic we will learn all about the Arctic Circle – where it is, what it’s like there, who lives there, what lives there and what it would be like to live in a frozen world. There are lots of opportunities for science, art, geography, DT and lots of other areas of the curriculum that we can cover creatively, having lots of fun.

Homework

Please remember, that we expect children to be reading at home on a daily basis. Please record this in your child’s record (whether it be Bug Club, school book, or home book) so your child’s efforts can be recognised and rewarded.

Home reading books will now be changed on a Monday and Thursday. On these days children will recieve a raffle ticket for each time they have read at home and be entered into a prize draw to celebrate their reading efforts.

No other homework will be sent as we feel that reading should take priority and given the time that’s needed.  However, high frequency (or red words) and ideas for enhlish and maths games were given out at parents evening so please feel free to continue to work on these at home too.

PE

PE is now taught on Friday’s by Miss Davies and throughout the week as short brain breaks in class.

Forest school sessions will continue to be on Wednesday afternoons and we recommend ensuring your child has warm clothing (including gloves & hats), possibly waterproofs, as it is getting colder and wetter out there 

School Day

Please remember, the school day for infants begins at 8.55am. This means the children need to be lining up, ready to come into class at 8.55am. The first half an hour of the day is when the adults listen to the children read, so being late into class does have a negative effect on the children’s routine and their learning.

As always, if you have any questions or worries please come and speak to us so we can work together to ensure your child is happy and learning. I am available at the end of the day or you can ring the office to arrange a longer meeting.  Thank you for your ongoing support.

Mrs Callender