w/c 21.11.22
Following our recent phonic assessments - to check which sounds your child has remembered and has rapid recall of, whether your child can orally blend or can blend to read words - the children will be working in groups for targeted phonics each day. The children move groups on a regular basis to match their phonic ability. Most of the children will not have any new sounds for a while as they will be learning the sound for any gaps they have and working on oral blending and then blending to read words. Please keep practising the sounds that we have already covered at home and re-watch any of the links that we have sent home. At home you can help by practising using the flashcards, as well as saying the sound for your child to write down.
This week we are having some extra whole class sessions to introduce "special friends" as we call 'digraphs' ( i.e. when 2 letters make 1 new sound together, rather than their individual sounds). We will be re-capping previous work on these sounds:
sh, th, ch and qu and introducing ng and nk. The office will send home links for these that will be valid until 16/1/23. This will complete all the set 1 sounds in our phonic programme.
In Maths we will be continuing work based on week 7 of the NCETM's Mastering Number programme. The focus will be on comparison.
The comparison of quantities is something that children begin to do as babies. When comparing, children notice attributes and begin to understand similarities and differences. This week’s activities focus on further developing these innate skills. The children will be encouraged to compare the number of objects in 2 sets by matching them 1:1. Seeing that objects in some sets can be matched without any being left over will draw the children’s attention to instances when the quantities of objects are equal.
Language is a key focus and adults will need to reinforce the language of ‘more than’, ‘fewer than’ and ‘an equal number’ to describe how many objects there are in each set. As the focus this week is on countable things, ‘fewer than’ is used rather than ‘less than’ and ‘more than’ is used rather than ‘greater than’.
Previously, the children will have had practical experience of comparing by looking. In their work on subitising and composition, they will have begun to develop an understanding of increasing quantity.
Through further practical activities, the children will go on to develop their own ‘mental number line’ with which to order numbers. When the children have a secure understanding of how to compare quantities, they will be able to order amounts more easily in KS1. In KS2, they will go on to compare multiple quantities and to sequence them from the fewest to the most. An understanding of comparison will also help the children to develop estimating skills by allowing them to compare what they already know about quantity to an unknown amount.
We will also be completing several activities on numbers 4 and 5. We will be learning about different ways we represent those numbers e.g. how we write the numerals, how they look on a dice, on the number line, which numicon piece and which number block etc. We will also be learning about 3-D shapes and trying to remember their names and properties.
In PSHE the focus will be on anti-bullying and what to do if this happens to you. We will be discussing how to be a good friend to others. In P.E. we will continue work on improving our core strength in our 'Big Moves' sessions and doing some yoga in the classroom, as our hall time is needed for the Year 2 children to practise for the Nativity. The children had great fun exploring our new role play areas, which include a GP surgery and a builders headquarters. The children will continue work in Mandarin on numbers:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=2eLP3FuuEVs
Last week they even choose to have a go at writing numbers in Mandarin!
Please do let us know if any more parents or grandparents would like to come into the classroom to talk to the children about their jobs/ volunteer work etc linked to our People Who Help Us topic.
The EYFS Team