7 Jan 2008 - Pine Class - Spring Term update
Dear Parents
Happy New Year, and thank you so much for all of your kind gifts. I hope you all had a happy festive season and return rested and ready to start the new term. We welcome the younger children to full-time school, and feel sure that they will settle quickly and easily into their new routine. Here are a few notes and reminders.
Initially children can be a little unsure about whether they are having packed lunch or school dinners. It would be helpful if you could discuss this, ensure they know whether you pay at the office or they have a purse, and help them to make their meal choice before coming to school.
The children are welcome to bring a drink of water into school for sipping throughout the day. Lunchtime drinks can be squashes or juice, but not fizzy drinks though please.
Our P.E. days are Wednesday and Friday. It is unlikely that we will be doing P.E. outside until the weather is much warmer, so kits should consist of white T-shirt and black shorts; footwear is not necessary, although can be useful if shoes become very wet or dirty.
On Tuesdays the children will have an opportunity to choose a book from our library. Unless the book is very heavy, it is a good idea to keep it in your child’s book bag so that it doesn’t get lost or forgotten.
Please ensure that book bags come into school every day. We don’t change reading books every day, but we may want to read with your child, and the bags are useful for letters etc. that go home at the end of the day.
It is crucial that all your children’s belongings are clearly and permanently named – don’t forget P.E. bags, vests, drinks bottles and purses as well as uniform.
Our topic this half term is ‘Keeping Safe’ and the people who help us to do so. If you know someone who does a job that would fall into that category e.g. lifeguard, fire safety officer, crossing patrol officer etc., and they would be willing to chat to the children about what they do, please let me know. Please discuss rules with your children, and how they keep them safe. Consider news items which discuss government rules to keep us safe e.g. those concerning smoking, or food advertising on television.
The Parents Board details the vocabulary we are using in Maths each week. We will be learning about numbers to 15, 3D shapes, weighing, direction and position. You can help your child by:
· Counting objects and pictures, recognising numerals and finding them in the environment e.g. door numbers.
· Describing shapes – how many corners, faces, edges? Are the faces and edges flat/straight/curved? Will they roll?
· Measure ingredients and their toys and themselves.
· Using directional and positional vocabulary e.g. up, down, forwards, backwards, sideways, left, right, to the side of, below, above, behind, in front, diagonal. Programmable and remote control toys or playing ‘hunt the thimble’ are great for reinforcing these concepts.
Please continue to help your child to recognise letters and say their sounds with the Jolly Phonic actions, and to recognise the High Frequency words they have so far. As always, 5-10 minute sessions on a daily basis are preferable to a weekly hour-long session.
We are always grateful for your time and effort in supporting your child’s learning. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need any help or advice.
Yours sincerely
Faith Gordon
Andrea Harding