Oak Newsletter Term Term 2 – ‘Winter Celebrations’

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Dear Parents,

Our topic this term is ‘Winter Celebrations’. We will be spending time looking at how we celebrate different winter festivals such as birthdays, Diwali, November 5th (Bonfire Night) and Christmas. We will be remembering times when we have celebrated events and we will be talking about the past including remembrance.

The boxes below explain briefly the areas we will be looking at and some of the work we will be doing which, will be incorporated through play and teacher focused activities.

Some of the texts we will be looking at are:

Class Teddy

To encourage the children’s communication and language we will be introducing a class teddy that the children will be able to take home. Each child will have the chance to look after the teddy over the weekend and share experiences with. The teddy will then be brought back into school on Monday and your child can share what they have done. The teddy will have a special book to record his time with you, using photos, pictures or children’s writing.

Home Learning

We would like to thank you for the effort you made with last term’s home learning tasks, including reading with your children. The children have already made great progress with learning sounds and every time they read this will become more secure.

Reading

Please read with your child regularly, even if it is just for 5 minutes. We read with the children every day so it is really important that the children bring their book bags, yellow reading record and their reading book into school every day. When reading with your child please acknowledge the fact that the book has been read by signing and dating in the comments book, and you may like to add a positive or helpful comment in the reading diary.

Ask Me About

Over the term, the children will bring home an ‘Ask me About’ page. This will have bullet points with some of the key activities that we have done. Please take some time to talk to the children about these points and jot down their responses on the sheet. There will also be a space for you to comment on what you have done.

Useful Websites

• www.ictgames.co.uk and www.topmarks.co.uk for Literacy and Maths games.
• www.phonicsplay.co.uk Phase 2 and 3 games, blending sounds and words.
• If you wish to make learning games to have fun at home, you can print from www.twinkl.co.uk and browse the EYFS Reception section.

Quick Reminders

• Please can you make sure your child brings in a water bottle and their book bags each day.
• Can the children please always have a coat in school particularly as the British weather is unpredictable.
• Our PE days are Monday & Friday but PE kits should be in all week.
• Welly Boots – Please can all children have a set of wellies in school at all times. This is so we can use the field and outside areas when it is wet and muddy.

Learning Journeys

Thank you to all who came and celebrated the children’s learning at the end of Term 1. As part of the Foundation Stage, it is really important for parents to see and contribute to the children’s learning journeys.

To encourage this, the classroom will be open on Fridays from 3pm for you to come and share your child’s learning journey and add a ‘wow’ slip.

We hope you all have a lovely second term supporting the children in their learning and we are sure that you can see how much they have learnt already. Please do not hesitate to come and speak to us if you have any queries.

Thank you for your support,

Mrs Winchester and Ms Eldridge