This week we have continued the theme of people who help us and asked the question – ‘Who helps to keep us safe?’  We talked about firefighters and police officers and learned all about their jobs, what they wear and the vehicles they drive and equipment they use.  The children talked about the knowledge they already have and they learned a lot more too.  They have loved role playing in the police station and making sure everyone is following the law – especially the teachers!

We had a visit from PCSO Bob and Officer James on Thursday, which the children loved.  They talked to us all about their jobs, showed us their equipment, such as hand cuffs, walkie talkie radio, body camera and talked about their uniforms.  We were even lucky enough to see the patrol car and sit inside!  Officer Bob also turned on the emergency lights and siren for us.  It was very exciting!  Mrs Riley was put in handcuffs and can confirm that they definitely cannot be escaped from!  Thankfully Office James had remembered his keys.

We painted pictures of emergency vehicles this week and were careful to make sure we used the right colours to match the vehicles.  Red, yellow and black for fire engines and blue, yellow and white for police cars. 

We checked upon the results of our tooth experiment this week.  We found that the egg shells in the orange juice and coke had gone rotten, weak and brown.  The one in the milk was just the same, although a little bit soft and the one in water had not changed at all.  We decided that water was the best drink for our teeth.  We learned that we must make sure to brush our teeth after drinking sugary drinks!

In maths we explored the composition of 4 and 5.  We looked for numbers within 5 by throwing down 5 counters on a whiteboard and circled the amounts we could see.  Within 5 we noticed a 2 and a 2 and a 1.  We also noticed a 2 and a 3 or a 4 and a 1.  We could also see a 1 and 1 and 1 and 1 and 1.  The children then placed the counters onto a 5 frame and looked for the same amounts.  They are beginning to develop their understanding of number bonds to 5 in this way.

Friday was Children in Need day and the children looked fabulous in their spotty, stripy and colourful clothes.  We made Pudsey Bear masks, coloured in spotty pictures and created a giant Pudsey in the IT suite with the rest of the school, by placing our bottle tops inside a big Pudsey outline.

We have started learning the songs for our Nativity ‘A Miracle in Town’ which we will perform on 13^th December in the afternoon.   Your child will bring home a slip of paper to tell you what role they are playing and the costume they will need.  No shoes required, please.  They may also have some simple lines to learn.  So please look out for that in book bags.

In Monster Phonics this week we learned the sounds y, z, zz, qu. 

Please see the video in the Monster Phonics section of our web page to see the actions for these sounds and practise those from the start to qu. 

We have sent home set 4 of the High Frequency Words to learn this week.  Thank you for sharing the children’s reading books with them at home.  Please read as much as possible (daily would be ideal) even though it is repetition, it is so good for their memory of words, blending sounds and building up their confidence to read fluently.

Have a lovely weekend!