Friday 28 May 2021

Happy Half Term

WOW! What a fabulous half term we have had in Pearl Class. We have celebrated both the 100th school day since the children started in September and the 100th day that the children have physically been in school. So much learning has taken place and I am SO proud of the Pearlies.

When we come back, the children will start their new project "Superheroes". I have updated this section of the Early Years site with some information for you about the project and a sheet for the children to complete too. These can be found here.

I look forward to hearing about the children's ideas for our project. Please email them to me using earlyyears@downhallprimary.com.

During the half term holiday there will be an art installation in Rayleigh in conjunction with the Head to Toe Clubfoot Charity.
 Children from several schools in Rayleigh, including Down Hall, have created colourful feathers and these will form part of the decorations in the High Street. All of the children in Pearl Class have made their own feather so you may like to go and take a look. 

It would be really great if, over the half term, you could just have a quick check of your child's uniform and whether their name is still visible. As the weather starts to get warmer, jumpers and cardigans get taken off more and more and it is much easier for us to sort them if the children's names are clear. 

Have a lovely half term, I will see you all again when term starts on Monday 7th June.

Thank you for your continued support
Miss Wakefield

Friday 21 May 2021

24.05.21 - This coming week in Early Years

Hello everyone!

Just one week left of this term and I am so very proud of the Pearlies. They have all been working hard again this week and I was thrilled with their writing as so many of them used their sounds to help them spell the words they needed. We have also been enjoying the film "A Bug's Life" and this will again be our focus for next week.

So on to our learning for the coming week, we will be:

  • Continuing to use the film "A Bug's Life" in our story time, collecting words to describe the characters Flik and Hopper.
  • Using the words we collect to help us write about either Flik or Hopper, making sure we add those describing words to help the reader.
  • Using our Bug's Life Cine Sacks to help us retell the story of the film.
  • Finishing our First Then Now phase in Mathematics. We will be using shapes to make new shapes.
  • Checking that we have answered all the questions posed by the children at the start of our Minibeast project.
  • Finishing Phase 3 in Phonics and getting ready to start Phase 4 after half term. We have already been adding some of the Phase 4 elements but we will start this properly after the holiday.
  • Talking about ways to keep ourselves healthy during Circle Time and sharing a very silly story all about the importance of eating vegetables!
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Wakefield

Friday 14 May 2021

17.05.21 - This coming week in Early Years

Hello everyone!

WOW! Another week has gone past and we now only have 2 weeks until half term!! The children have done some brilliant writing this week and Mrs Fincham and I were very proud of their great efforts. As we always say to the children great effort does lead to great progress.

As a Gold Level Rights Respecting School, we believe that children's voices should be heard. Over the next fortnight the children in school will be taking part in The Big Ask. However as the children in Pearl Class are 4-5 years old, I will be sending you an email with a link to take part in the survey as there is a parent section for children of this age. You can find out more about our RRS Gold Level award by clicking here.

On to our learning for the coming week, we will be:

  • Using the film "A Bug's Life" in our story time and thinking about how this film is similar to the story we shared last week.
  • Starting to think about the characters in the film and how they behave. We will then be linking this to our Circle Time session and talking about whether we would want someone to behave like Hopper did.
  • Labelling the different parts of either Flik or Hopper, using a ruler to carefully draw the lines. 
  • Sharing some non-fiction books to find out about some of the minibeasts in the film.
  • Continuing to use First Then and Now stories but this time when taking away numbers in our Mathematics sessions.
  • Recapping the last of our Phase 3 vowel digraphs in our Phonics sessions. We will be moving on to Phase 4 after half term!

IMPORTANT NOTICES:

On Thursday and Friday there is a change to the dinner menu.  
On Friday we are having a "Denim for Dementia" day where the children can wear some denim along with their uniform to raise money. 
If you wish to purchase your child's school photograph, this needs to be returned by Monday 24th May.

Further information regarding these important notices can be found in this week's newsletter - which can be found by clicking here. If you have any queries please remember you can always contact me using earlyyears@downhallprimary.com.

Have a lovely weekend
Miss Wakefield


Friday 7 May 2021

10.05.21 - This coming week in Early Years

Another week has flown past and we have, as always, been very busy! We have enjoyed exploring the Ladybird Garden whilst on our minibeast hunts. We were able to find lots of different minibeasts, including ladybirds, ants, spiders, worms, slugs and woodlice. We collected some twigs and leaves for our minibeast display too. 

On to our learning for the coming week, we will be:

  • Watching and talking about the Aesop Fable "The Grasshopper and the Ants".
  • Writing about either the Grasshopper or the Ants, using our sounds to help us spell the words.
  • Learning about addition in our Mathematics sessions as we move onto the next Phase "First Then Now"
  • Discussing the characters from this week's story in our Circle Time session and thinking about how kind the ants were to the grasshopper.
  • Continuing our minibeast hunts, this time seeing what we can find on the field.
  • Learning how to use some new equipment in our learning garden, remembering what we have been doing in PE with our partners.
We have almost reached the end of Phase 3 for Phonics now and the children continue to grow in confidence with their blending and segmenting. It would be really helpful if you could spend a little time each and every day supporting the children with their sounds - perhaps by playing with their sound cards, or by visiting the Phonics Play website. The children enjoy the games on this site and any reinforcement of their sounds also really supports their Reading and Writing skills. The Phonics Play website can be found here.
Reading on a daily basis is also extremely important, if you have misplaced your child's Big Cat login or have any questions or concerns regarding your child's reading or phonics then please do email me using earlyyears@downhallprimary.com.

Have a lovely weekend
Miss Wakefield