An outdoorsy sort of week.

 Happy Friday Hedgehog Parents,

We've had an absolutely lovely week. There has been some rain, but there has also been a lot of sun and a lot of time spent outdoors. 

The children have some new equipment in their outdoor area, including but pots, large identification posters, and tubes and funnels for water learning. They have found some fascinating creatures outdoors already. Forest School on Thursday involved a campfire and 'smores - we even cooked fried three of the chickens' eggs!

The Year 1 children continue to enjoy the Great Fire of London Mantle with Year 2. This week they have been working on firefighting in the 1600s, learning about the equipment and the methods used. This included taking part in a bucket chain to put a fire out. 

The Reception children have been having a wonderful time with our new water equipment. They've been experimenting with how to arrange funnels and tubes to help the water to flow.  

Phonics.

Year 1 children took part in the phonics screening check this week. I will let you know how your child got on, once the pass mark has been released. They have done a wonderful job of their phonics! There is no phonics homework this week, just enjoy reading together. 

Reception children have started to write memory sentences (this is something the Year 1 children do regularly). This is where we give them a sentence using the sounds and words they have been learning. We read it together, spotting sounds and spotting tricky words. The children then look at the sentence for a minute, before it is hidden. Finally, they have a go at writing the sentence from memory. 

Writing sentences in this way helps children with their spelling, their phonics and their sentence structure (such as putting spaces in).

If you would like to practice this at home, this week's sentences were:

My frog can float and swim. 
I was going to the zoo.

If your child is a confident writer, you could make the sentence longer. 

Maths.

Year 1 children have been learning to recognise coins and notes this week. They set up a shop with and for the Reception children and played some coin and note recognition games. 

The best way to practise this is to get your child using real money! I know we don't really use money much these days, but if you are able to give your child some coins to spend in a shop or at an ice cream van (for example) it will give them some real-life experience of what we have been learning. 

Reception children have been joining in with the Year 1 maths, and so could also do the same maths homework!

Have a lovely weekend, and I shall see you next week!

From Mrs Simpson