This week we have learned all about the Hindu celebration Diwali.  The children have loved listening to the story of Rama and Sita and learning about the way Diwali is celebrated.  We made beautiful diva lamps from salt dough and painted them in bright colours after they were cooked.  The children also made colourful Rangoli patterns using paint, pencils, pens and coloured rice.  We also looked at the beautiful Mehndi patterns that Hindu women and girls paint on their hands at Diwali time and some children chose to make their own on paper hands. 

We also learned about what animals do when winter comes.  We talked about which animals hibernate, what hibernation means and why they do it.  We read stories about hibernating animals as well as reading information books.  We also sorted animals that hibernate from animals that do not.

In English this week the children wrote cvc words or short sentences to match pictures.  They segmented the words into the 3 sounds and wrote them down to spell the words in their writing books.  They used a sound mat or letter frieze on the wall to help them.  (The sound mats can be found on the Monster Phonics section of our class page, should you wish to use at home.  We are using phase 2 at the moment).

In maths we learned about repeating patterns.  We all made a 1-2-1 repeating pattern using natural materials, such as conkers and sticks.  We then tried to spot our teacher’s mistake with her pattern and put it right.  We also tried to make 1-2-3-1-2-3 patterns too. The children did really well!

In Monster Phonics this week we learned the sounds b and h.  The children are practising recognising these sounds along with the others that we have learned so far. We also practise building simple cvc words and reading them by breaking them down into their single phonemes like robots.  We have sent home the third set of tricky words for the children to learn.  Please try and keep these in their reading diaries.  More will be sent home during the year.

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

May we take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to you all for your support this term. The children have all come such a long way in terms of both settling into school and progressing with their learning. Well done to you all and we wish you a lovely half term break.  

See you back on Tuesday 4th November!

The Robins Team