Phonics
In this first week back to school, we have been re-visiting some of the trickier digraphs (two letters which combine to make a single sound) and re-familiarising ourselves with the high frequency words we have covered so far. We have placed particular focus on the trickier high frequency words which involve our much-loved Monster Phonics characters:
- Tricky Witch – her, are, was, all, the, is, his, said, as, has, is, of (tricky letters)
- Cool Blue – to, into, too, you (long oo sound)
- Yellow Eye- I, my (long I sound)
- Angy Red A - they (long A sound)
- Green Froggy- me, we, be, he, she (long e sound)
Today we started an informal ‘check-point’ of the children’s phonics knowledge to date and will continue this at the start of next week also. As always, these mini-assessments are always completed one to one and in a relaxed environment. It is a great opportunity for the children to showcase their fabulous phonics knowledge as they have worked so hard!
Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)
In our PSED sessions this week we have looked at the ‘Zones of Regulation’. There are four different areas as follows:
Blue – tired, bored, sick, sad
Green – happy, ok, focussed, calm
Red – annoyed, cross, scared, angry
Yellow – surprised, confused, worried, silly
The children have found it very helpful to check in with their feelings at different points in the day to develop their confidence in being able to identify and label their emotions. We will also begin to look at a few strategies the children can use when experiencing particular emotions. We have continued our theme of ‘celebrating differences’ through the class shared reading of This is Me! by George Webster and we have discussed the importance of inclusion using the story The Smeds and the Smoos by Julia Donaldson to support this.
Handwriting
This week we have continued with Rupert the Sheep’s short and straight letter family with the cursive formation of ‘m’. We have also learnt the number formation for 9, using the following rhyme to help us:
“A circle and then a line, that’s the way to make a nine!”
When we do independent writing in class, the children are encouraged to write the cursive formation of all the letters we have covered so far which are: l, t, h, b, k, f, o, a, d, g, q, c, s, i, n and m. We will be looking at the letters ‘r’ and ‘u’ next week.
With the excitement of snow this week, the children enjoyed using their subitising skills to ‘roll a snowman’ in which they needed to role certain numbers on their dice to add detail to their snowman drawing such as a hat, scarf, nose and so on. Linked to this, the children really enjoyed the class story of The Snow Thief by Alice Hemming about a curious squirrel who has never seen snow before.
Expressive Arts
The class have been getting creative with making ‘cold’ art compositions and paper snowflakes for our class display. This fits in really well with our ‘Hot and Cold’ topic this half term in which the children will explore hot and cold climates, arctic animals, weather types and the seasons. The children are already having lots of fun enjoying our class ‘ice cottage’, the (fluffy!) snowballs, penguin hats and themed cuddly toys.
Reminder
Thank you to all those that have returned PE bags and Forest School clothing (puddle suits, waterproof gloves and wellington boots). Please can you ensure these are in school on Monday as the children have both Forest School and PE that day.
It has been wonderful to have the children back in school and to hear all their exciting news from over the Christmas holiday. Wishing you all a very happy new year.
Mrs Collie
Reception Class Teacher