Week 4 - Term 1
If I had to describe this week in one word I think I would choose the word ‘Musical’.
Yes, we seemed to enjoy a rather musical and fun filled week.
This week……
We added some songs into our morning routine. We learnt to sing the days of the week song (using the theme tune from the Adam’s family, which some children recognised) and the months of the year song. We also talked about the seasons using our 4 seasons tree as a prompt. You might want to ask your child to sing the days of the week song to you and follow it up with questions such as……if today is Friday what day is it tomorrow / what day was it yesterday?
In Phonics we continued with Phase 1, instrumental sounds and body percussion as well as the letter sound ‘t’ and played some phonics games, learning to take turns and play fairly.
Our seasons tree
On Tuesday, we finally got to meet Danielle from Berkshire Maestros in person. The last 2 weeks we have been watching her on the whiteboard and engaging in some pre learning, but this week, great excitement, she arrived in school with her guitar for a live lesson! Danielle will be in school every Tuesday morning to lead Pantomimus, a creative approach to music making, the emphasis is on enjoyment and playful learning while getting actively involved. On Wednesday, we were treated to another musical treat, Mark from Berkshire Maestros popped into our class. Mark teaches music to Owls and Red Kites on a Wednesday, however, as Red Kites were away on their residential trip and not ones to miss out on an opportunity, we jumped at the chance to ‘take their slot’. We clapped, stamped, jumped and wiggled around the classroom and even managed to teach Mark the words to “Twinkle Twinkle, little star, my dad drives a rusty car.”
As well as loving all things music in our classroom, I think our real passion lies in books. There is not a single day goes by that we do not pick up a book and share a story, we have books in all areas of the classroom, both indoor and outdoor, we discuss vocabulary such as title, author, illustrator, spine, blurb (again, please do ask your child about these words, the more they hear them the more they will use them). One of our most important times of the day is when we vote for which story is to be read at the end of the day. The helper goes into the school library and selects two books which are then displayed at the front of the class. During snack time, the helper chooses one person at a time to make their vote in private by selecting either a blue gem or a yellow gem. At the end of the day we count the votes and find out which book is the winner and which book gets read. So that we don’t miss out on any stories, the book that did not win is allowed to stay in place until it is finally the winner…..it usually takes a few days and there is huge joy when it finally wins!
Another great opportunity to introduce children to a wide range of vocabulary is during Show and Tell. We will start these sessions next Thursday afternoon. If your child has something they would like to bring in then please do bring it in. You will also have received information this week regarding how you can access Microsoft Teams, we use this platform to support Show and Tell, please upload videos or photos into the designated assignment section in Teams. The more items we have each week the better the discussions, we welcome something every week!
Did you know that each term we encourage the children to use a ‘Learning Power’. This term the power is ‘Don’t give up’ and Derek the Duck is the character that encourages us to do just that! On Friday, there were so many challenges and the Robins really had to dig deep and use their learning power. In the morning, they went into the hall for PE. The lesson involved throwing a bean bag at a target, it was not as easy as you may think and yet they kept trying and trying.
In the afternoon, they had cooking, remembering to wash their hands and put their aprons on. They made toast. The tricky part was learning to use the knife to spread the butter and the topping…..all the way to the corners! Again, they had to dig deep and use their resilience. The best part was eating the toast and finishing off with some milk…..and only one or two needed reminding that they had to clear the table and take their plate and knife to the sink to be washed up.
Next week…….
We will continue with Phase 1 Phonics – rhythm and rhyme and letter sound ‘i’ as in ink.
In readiness for reading books being sent home soon, we will offer a reading workshop where we will discuss our approaches to reading, how we teach phonics and how you can best support at home. More information will be sent out next week.
Have a lovely weekend and see you all on Monday