Ducklings Newsletter 11/1/16

Monday 11th January 2016 Our News!

Happy New Year and a big ‘Welcome Back’ to you all. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

The children certainly seem to have enjoyed themselves! All the staff would like to say a heartfelt ‘Thank You’ for all the lovely Christmas cards and gifts. They were very much appreciated. We are incredibly impressed with how the children have settled back into their routines. Well done everyone!

This week we have enjoyed continuing with our addition skills in Mathematics and have been writing our own sums using toy shop prices to add together. In our mental maths we have been trying to estimate (a sensible guess) how many toys are in a group and then to check our ideas by counting accurately. We are great at estimating now!

In Literacy we have been talking about the Christmas holidays and all the things we have done.

The children have used ‘Kung Fu’ punctuation (actions) to say and then write a sentence or two about their holidays. They did extremely well with remembering capital letters and full stops.

Ask them to show you the actions for a capital letter, full stop or exclamation mark!

We have been talking about the season of winter and have read a lovely story about Jack Frost.

The children have done a fantastic job of making bird feeders. They have followed instructions to mix the ingredients for the cake and have worked as a team to spoon the mixture into their feeders.

In our creative learning we have been exploring mixing paint to make different shades of cold colours and using our observation skills to sketch winter trees with charcoal.

With Mrs Moss, at the snack table, we have been exploring the changes that happen to bread when it is heated and have thought of some lovely describing words.

The children loved mixing with the older children and trying out new activities during their ‘Fun Friday’ activity of choice!

STAR Mathematicians Max Shaw and Oscar Croft-Waterhouse STAR Writers Erin Lowe and Amelie Greaves Our next newsletter will be on Friday 22nd January and will give details about all the fun activities we have planned for the next few weeks.

Any questions please don’t hesitate to ring, email or come and see us.

Staff email: Mrs Catterall m.catterall@carletongreen.lancs.sch.uk Mrs Lees s.lees@carletongreen.lancs.sch.uk

OUR LEARNING

Winter and Our Toys Next week in Literacy we will read a non-fiction book about the changing seasons, also reminding ourselves about the features of an information book. Then we will read a set of instructions for how to make a snowman. As a part of our writing for the week we will write our own step by step instructions or labels for making a snowman.

In Mathematics we will introduce the children to our new topic of ‘Money’. The children will look at recognising different coins and make different amounts. They can put this into practise in our toy shop role play area and to help pay for their snack in our snack shop!

We will continue to explore how materials change exploring melting ice in lots of different creative ways and finding out what happens to chocolate when it melts, using this to make a tasty treat for us to bring home to have after our tea! We will use our wellies and puddle suits to go on winter welly walks and explore and look for signs of winter.

In our creative learning we will be making snowflakes using our scissor skills and jaggedy Jack Frost pictures, along with winter coloured collages. We will also learn some more winter themed songs. Ask them to sing them for you at home!

Our Toys The following week we shall leave winter behind and start out topic about toys, reading ‘Kipper’s Toy Box’ by Mick Inkpen and other toy stories, talking about the toys we have in our own toy boxes. We will write lists of our own favourite toys and it would be lovely if you could send in a photograph of your child with their favourite toy.

In Creative development the children will learn some new songs and dances about different toys.

In PE we will be using the book “Kipper’s Toybox” for inspiration to move and dance like toys, to practise kicking and throwing with increased accuracy and skill. Vital skills to help with writing, believe it or not! On a Tuesday afternoon we will be continuing the physical development and starting a “Dough disco” along with other “Funky Fingers” activities to help develop our fine motor skills which include; pencil control, cutting skills, drawing and painting, cutlery use amongst others. We started this week singing the song “Tommy Thumb” some of us were great at controlling our fingers but some of us found it very hard. Have a go at home. It really does help.

REMINDERS Water Bottles Please can all children bring a bottle of water to drink during the day.

Spare Clothes Please can any spare clothes, in particular socks and underwear, be returned to school.

Toy Photographs and Toy Shop If possible, could children bring a photo of themselves playing with a favourite toy for our toy shop. Any donations of old toys for our toy shop would be much appreciated.

Collage Materials To make our winter collages we need any spare tin foil, polystyrene pieces, bubble wrap, white wool, cotton wool, pie trays and paper doilies .

Also any large cardboard boxes so the children can pretend to be a Jack-in–the–Box. Thank you!

Parent Helpers wanted!

We would love to have the help of parents or grandparents in the class. It doesn’t have to be every week and can just be for an hour or so. Please let Mrs Catterall or Mrs Lees know if this is something you would like to do.

Class Blog Don’t forget to go on the school website and have a look at the class blog and photo galleries which show examples of what we have been doing in school.

DATES All about me at home and out and about Please return the booklet about your child at home and out and about by Friday 29th January.

Thank you.

Parents Evenings rd Wednesday 3 February and Thursday 4th February Letter to follow shortly Open Afternoon Friday 12th January Come and learn and play with the Ducklings for the afternoon in their classroom Half term th Friday 12 February School Closes at 3.30pm Monday 22nd February School reopens at 8.50am

TALK HOMEWORK Talk for Numbers Look at different coins and ask your child to tell you how much each coin is worth.

Play a game with toys. Tell your child each toy costs a different amount and ask them to pay for it.

Sort the coins according to size, colour or shape.

Place coins in order of their value.

Count up the 1p coins in your money box.

Order the coins according to size or value.

Sort coins according to shape or colour.

Find as many different ways to make an amount using different coins. www.ictgames.com/numeracy www.adamup.co.uk www.nrich.maths.org apps – Nemo 123 Talk for Reading and Writing Practise the new sounds and tricky words sent home.

Look for and read stories about Toys.

Please try to read your reading book every night.

Practise writing each letter correctly with the joins/flicks out www.phonicsplay.co.uk www.ictgames.com/literacy apps – Twinkl Alphabet Cards and letter formation Apps in my pocket – Pocket Phonics apps – Writing Wizard Physical development Gross Motor Read “Kipper’s Toybox” by Mick Inkpen and practise moving about like all the toys he finds in there; a robot, spinning top etc. Move like toys of your own; Spiderman, tinkerbell, jack-in-a-box. Great for controlling movements and helping your child development spatial awareness and body control.

Fine Motor Practise singing the rhyme “Tommy Thumb” find each finger and make it move. A great work out for your FUNKY FINGERS and helps brilliantly when your child comes to write, cut, draw and paint!

TALK FOR TOPIC Talk about the different toys you have at home and talk about old toys and new toys. Ask the children if they can put their toys into these two groups. Think about why toys are made out of different materials and why. Speak to grandparents and older family members about toys they used to play with.

Make a bird feeder at home and watch the birds that come to feed from it.

Do some baking or cooking together and talk about the changes to the ingredients as they bake.

Talk about everything!

Have fun!