This week in phonics, we learnt the new tricky word are and the new sound er. Excitingly, we have now finished learning all of our Level 3 sounds and tricky words! We are now recapping and consolidating our learning by revisiting all previously taught sounds, helping to build confidence in reading and writing.

In maths, we have been working on using our fingers to show different ways of making 5, identifying missing parts, and recognising whether a set of objects is 5 or not. We explored how 6 can be composed of 5 and 1, and 7 as 5 and 2. The children have also been revisiting the numbers 6 to 9 using this “5 and a bit” structure and have worked on recognising, copying, and continuing more complex repeating patterns.

In Drawing Club, we enjoyed reading Errol’s Garden. We discussed the meanings of our key vocabulary words: garden, neighbour, dream, and teamwork. The children drew Errol’s dream garden, illustrated the neighbours helping with the gardening, and imagined what might happen if the garden came alive at night! They then had a go at writing words and sentences to go with their imaginative pictures.

In PE, the children continued practising moving safely, playing tagging games, and following instructions. We’ve also started our Sports Day training, and the children are really enjoying learning new races and practising their skills.

As part of our Understanding the World topic on Growing and Changing, we have revisited the parts of a plant and labelled these for our class display. The children have been brilliant plant carers, remembering to water their sunflowers regularly and keeping a close eye on their growth!

Star of the week: Congratulations to Oscar O, who is our star of the week, for demonstrating a huge improvement in concentration levels during phonics.  Oscar O will be taking home his certificate and Wilfred the Elephant to write in the book all about his time spent with Wilfred over the next week and will bring him back next Thursday.

Please remember to read with your child, even for just 5 minutes! Please also remember to record it in the reading record. We will only change your child's book if you have read with them 2 or more times in that week! Reading books are changed on Tuesday's and Thursday's. Please remember to have the library book in your children's book bag on Thursday to be changed. 

Any issues or concerns we need to know about, please speak to the Acorn team before and after school or email at: acorn@st-barnabas.kent.sch.uk

We’ve had a wonderful Term 5, and it’s been fantastic to see how much progress the children have made. We wish everyone a restful half-term break and are so excited to welcome the children back for their final term in Reception!