Reception have done brilliantly this week and have enjoyed their final few practises on the stage, ready to share the good news as we perform for our school community and grown ups next week.
We are looking forward to welcoming you into school for our Nursery and Reception Nativity on Wednesday 6th December and Thursday 7th December. If you have not purchased tickets yet, please contact the school office.
We hope to see you next week!
What have we been learning this week…
RE: This week we discussed advent and it’s meaning ‘arrival’. We talked about advent being the countdown to a special arrival, the arrival of baby Jesus. We also thought about advent wreaths and how we light candles each advent Sunday as a countdown to His arrival.
Phonics: This week we have learnt to read and write the sounds z, ch, and qu and thought of words for Fred’s book that begin with these sounds. Alongside focusing on the correct letter formation and hearing these sounds in words (oral blending), we have been using the technique ‘Fred Talk read the word’ e.g. ‘z-i-p zip’ to help us decode and read words with these sounds. When we introduce diagraph sounds such as ‘ch’ and ‘qu’, we describe these as being ‘special friends’, when these two letters are sat together in a word they make 1 sound.
Fine motor: This week we have continued to spend lots of time building the muscles in our fingers and hands. This is really important for developing a strong grip and control of tools such as pencils, especially now that we are learning how to write! We have enjoyed fine motor activities such as: playdough, using tweezers to feed pom poms to aliens, popping bubble wrap and untangling animals that have been trapped in elastic bands!
It would be great if you could try some fine motor games at home to keep building those muscles and hands. Maybe you could have your own dough disco like we did on our Curriculum Evening!
Water Bottles
Polite reminder that all children across school should bring water in their bottles and not juice. This is something that we discuss regularly in school as part of our discussions about healthy snacks and healthy lunches.
Mrs Gregan has also shared this information on her weekly newsletter.
Thank you for your support.
Let’s Celebrate…
Each week children across the school are celebrated for demonstrating our learning characters and our school virtues. They are celebrated in class and in our Friday assemblies.
Determined Sadie Spider: Kira!
Kira, you have demonstrated your determination in many ways this week. You have been a determined Sadie spider in phonics and during our nativity practises. We can see how much you are enjoying learning and sharing this special story on the stage. It’s been lovely seeing your confidence shine through. Keep being a determined Sadie Spider.
Well done Kira!
Brave Tommy Turtle: Rebecca!
Rebecca, we can see that you are becoming a brave learner just like Tommy Turtle. It’s lovely to see you growing with confidence and enjoying our learning challenges in class. Keep being brave and don’t be afraid to ‘have a go’ just like Tommy Turtle. You have an exciting learning journey ahead.
Well done Rebecca!
Whole School Virtue - Faithfilled & Hopeful: Amara-Louise!
Amara, you joined in with our whole class reflection in RE this week and spoke beautifully about why you thought Mary said yes to God’s request and to Angel Gabriel’s special message:
“Mary said yes because she knew that everyone in the world would need Jesus.”
Well done Amara-Louise!
Vision Screening Survey
A message from Lancashire County Council following the Reception Vision Screening:
‘Lancashire County Council is actively looking to collect both positive and negative feedback from users of the Lancashire Vision Screening Service. We have developed a survey that will take approximately 2 minutes to complete and will provide us with valuable feedback’.
Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey.
Important reminders:
Sadly we are receiving lots of messages about items going missing; especially as the cold weather arrives and children are bringing hats, gloves and extra layers into school. The children don’t have drawers in Reception, all of their items are kept on their pegs. In order to try and avoid items going missing, we encourage the children to put these items straight into their bag when they take them off - hopefully this will avoid them being dropped on the floor and mixed up. It would be really useful if you could remind your child of this at home and have a practise putting cardigans, jumpers, hats and gloves into bags.
Thank you for your support.On Friday 8th December, we will be hosting a school Christmas Bakeoff and Christmas clothes / Christmas jumpers can be worn for a £1 donation. Should they wish to, children are also invited to bake some festive treats at home, which they can bring into school to be entered into a class bakeoff competition (£3 entry donation). Families are invited into school at 2pm to enjoy a festive afternoon in the hall where those delicious bakes will be available to purchase alongside festive drinks. Our school choir will also be singing Christmas carols; as we all know, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!
Christmas cards - as we are a sustainable school, we kindly ask that Christmas cards are not sent into school. We do not want families to feel under pressure and we are also trying to do our bit for the environment. Thank you for your understanding.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs Hartley
s.hartley@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk
Have a wonderful weekend
God Bless,
The Reception team