Happy October Half Term!

 

We have reached the end of the children's first half term at Down Hall! We are SO proud of them all and all of their achievements and we hope you feel the same. This is just a quick blog to wish you all a lovely half term and to also explain the different things that have come home with the children today and their half term homework.

The important things for half term are:

1. Half Term homework - now that the weather is starting to turn a little colder it is taking us lots of time to get ready for our outside time. We would be very grateful if you could spend a little bit of the holiday encouraging your child to put on their coat and try to do it up by themselves. We would love to see any of the children giving it a go, so please feel free to send us any photos using ClassDojo.
2. In your child's bag is their Christmas card design and the letter explaining the process. The deadline for the children's art work to be returned is Tuesday 5th November.
3. In your child's bag is a project letter telling you about our next project "Once Upon a Time" which we start after half term. This letter is also on our website and can be found here.

There will be a blog on Sunday 3rd November to let you know about our first week back. Don't forget the children return to school on Tuesday 5th November due to our INSET day. 

Have a lovely break!

Miss Wakefield, Mrs O'Connor and Miss Langley

21.10.24 - This coming week in Early Years

Hello everyone!

We had a fabulous time on Wednesday, during World Food Day. The children iced biscuits, made pizzas, tried different foods and had lots of fun! We hope that many of you managed to come and taste some of the delicious food for yourselves after school that day. 
During the day, the children also learnt about Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals - Zero Hunger - and how the small actions we can all take at a local level can make a big difference! On this note, we are collecting food for Harvest, so if you feel able to contribute please do send in some food for our collection. 

We have continued our reading sessions this week and would like to remind everyone that it would be really helpful if the books could remain in the coloured wallets and be in the children's bags everyday, but particularly on a THURSDAY. (This is a change from what was written in last week's blog). Thank you so much for all of your support with the children's reading, it was lovely to read all the lovely comments in their diaries.

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

• Sharing the story "Pumpkin Soup" about the Cat, the Duck and the Squirrel and talking about how they behaved towards each other in the story.
• Talking about pumpkins, using our different senses.
• Seeing how many seeds there are inside a pumpkin and counting them carefully.
• Making pumpkin soup, just like the characters in the story.
• Going on an Autumn walk around the school grounds to collect as many different coloured leaves as possible. (We ran out of time for this, this week!)
• Bringing home our Christmas card designs on Friday.

Drop in this week will be on TUESDAY.

Have a lovely weekend!
Miss Wakefield, Mrs O'Connor and Miss Langley

14.10.24 - This coming week in Early Years

Hello everyone, 

We have had another busy week, with our Reading sessions starting this week. The children have brought home their reading book and diary today. The books are those which the children have read during the week in school. Please write in the diary to let us know how the reading is going at home. The books will be changed every Friday. It is VERY IMPORTANT that the children have their books in their bags every day and particularly on a Friday so they can get swapped. Please use the coloured wallet for these books to try and keep them safe from water bottle spillages!

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

• Continuing our daily Phonics sessions, learning the next 4 sounds and the next Rainbow word.
• Thinking about patterns in our Mathematics sessions.
• Carefully drawing around a template and then cutting out some Autumn leaves using different coloured paper.
• Going on an Autumn walk around our school grounds, seeing how many different coloured leaves we can find.
• Taking part in World Food Day on Wednesday.
• Talking about how we have changed since we were a baby. Many thanks to everyone who has sent in a baby photo so far. PLEASE send in a photo by Monday, this can be done via ClassDojo if that is easier. 

There is no drop in this week, instead all parents are invited to come into school on Wednesday to sample some of the food from World Food Day.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Wakefield, Mrs O'Connor and Miss Langley

 

07.10.24 - This week in Early Years

Hello everyone, 

This week has seen our second bundle of 10, meaning we have passed day 20! It is good to reflect on how much your children have already done in such a short time in school - we are very proud of how well they have adapted to our Phonics and name writing sessions and are excited for our Reading sessions that will start next week.

This week, there is a whole school message from Mrs Witherall:

Science Day! Thursday 10th October

On Thursday next week, we have invited Sublime Science to Down Hall to provide all the children with a day of scientific experiments. In light of this, could we please ask that your children come into school wearing clothes that you don't mind getting a little messy.

Should you wish to embrace your little scientist further at home, then click on the link below and this will take you to their website, where you can access 101 free experiment ideas.

Sublime Science

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

• Sharing the story "A Book of People Like Me" and thinking about things that we like and things that we don't like. 
• Continuing our daily Phonics sessions, learning the next 4 sounds and our first Rainbow word.
• Starting our Reading sessions this week, sharing books linked to our Anima Phonics sounds. (The children will bring these books home next Friday)
• Continuing our with Start-Bee sessions and trying to remember the words to the Pencil Grip song.
• Taking part in the Sublime Science day on Thursday and carrying out our own investigations. 

Thank you to everyone who has sent in a baby photo. We will need these by Monday 14th October. Please can the children either bring in a photo OR can 1 be sent in via ClassDojo for us to print out in school. 

Drop in this week will be on MONDAY.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Wakefield, Mrs O'Connor and Miss Langley