Term 3 Weeks 1 & 2
We have had a very busy first 2 weeks back. We've really enjoyed hearing the children and read - thank you so much for all the reading you have done with them over the holidays and after school ... it really does make such a big difference. If you have any concerns or questions about your child's reading progress or the phonics scheme please do just email me - NAdamson@checkendon.oxon.sch.uk
In phonics this term we have been revising all the phase 2 sounds in preparation for an assessment next week - we are really focussing on blending as we need that to be really secure before we continue with phase 3 sounds. It is crucial that the children blend the words after they have sounded them out - the blending IS the reading. Here is a video showing how we teach blending https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL5YUCPyC5I
In Maths we have been looking at the composition of 4 and 5 and I have been very impressed by the number sense the Acorns have - it is a class of budding mathematicians for sure. We have also been practising finding 1 more and 1 less of a given number which is the foundations of addition and subtraction, Counting songs like 'five currant buns' can support this at home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SvlmUfkmJg
We've been doing a lot of work on friendship and emotions this week - we have made a class 'self registration station' to show how we are feeling and we have been talking about strategies we can use when we are not feeling in the 'green zone' - we have been reading "On Sudden Hill" which is a lovely book about friendships and how tricky they can be!
Next week we will be doing a phonics assessment, practising our blending and subitising numbers to five and finding one more and one less within 5 - including the tricky concept of zero.
Have a good weekend everyone (pics to follow here)
Term 2 Week 7
Acorns have had a very festive end of term, doing lots of Christmas crafts and joining in with the older children at the church service. We had a very special day when Silver Birch class visited us and the children all found their buddies - these are the older children who are their to support them in the playground, around school, on school trips and visits etc. It was really lovely to see how well they interacted, how kind and caring the older children were and how good the little ones were at making friends and showing all their learning. I need to confirm a few permissions and then I will share photos here.
I've uploaded the Spring Curriculum Plan on the class info pages - I plan to hold a parent's session in the New Year to do a Q&A on the reading books that have started coming home. We'll aim to change the books on the first Monday back.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. With very many thanks for all your support this term and for your very kind and generous gifts - you have been so kind.
Monday - Reading Books!
Very exciting to have sent reading books home this week. Each of you should have, in your child's book bag, a reading folder containing a Reading Journal and 1 or 2 decodable reading books. We plan to change books on Mondays. For now, please just enjoy sharing this book with your child and letting them show you what they can do. In the New Year I will put in a date for a parent's Q&A session to go over any queries you have about teaching your Acorn to read ... what we do in school, what you at home, how it all works. We will also be reading the same book with them in school to achieve fluency and a depth of understanding - so it's important that the reading folder 'lives' in the book bag and comes into school every day from next term onwards. Thank you so much - any queries catch me on Friday afternoon pick-up or email nadamson@checkendon.oxon.sch.uk
Good Luck Acorns on your reading journey!
Term 2 Week 6
It's been quite a week in Acorn! Very many apologies that I missed a blog post. This week's main focus has been the nativity and we were all so proud of the children: the effort they put in to rehearsals and their final performance, thank you for coming - we hope you enjoyed it. I could see on your faces that you were proud of them!
In phonics we have been learning some digraphs - two letters making one sound - and this week we have learnt 'qu' and 'ch'. The children are reading and writing independently using the sounds they have learnt. On Monday reading books are coming home and in the New Year I will invite you to a Q&A session in Acorn about the reading scheme and reading with your child at home.
In Maths we have continued our work on pattern and shape and also begun focussing on the numbers 4 and 5 - learning to spot them without counting (called subitising in maths) A good way of supporting subitising at home is by playing dice games (can the children recognise the number on the die without counting?) and also by using your fingers to represent number ... so, for example, singing 'five little ducks' and showing the 5,4,3,2,1 with your fingers so that the children are learning to visualise the number as well as say it.
Acorns have been very interested in contruction this week - creating both small worlds indoors and larger ones outdoors - see the pictures for the amazing castle they built in the garden. It was fascinating to observe them planning and discussing the build and then assigning roles to each other, problem solving, co-operating ... so much learning and skills development, and they had great fun!
Next week we will be enjoying Christmas lunch on Wednesday, and the gem treat on Thursday. Reading books will be coming home as well as the the Word Bears and we look forward to seeing you at the open Celebration Worship on Friday.
NB - Word Bears and Reading folders will need to stay in children's book bags and come into school with them every day so that we can read with them in school. Thank you.
Edit to Friday Update - Just found this BBC Bitesize guide to subitising for parents - really useful. Any questions about it just let me know - this is something worth spending a bit of time on at home, it really supports the process of becoming a strong mathematician.
Term 2 Week 3 Friday Update
Acorns have had another great week at school, learning inside and out despite the chilly weather! We have have had an exciting week in phonics as we've begunt to be able to read short captions using all the sounds we know. You will have noticed that the Reading Bears have started coming home in book bags. It seems a long time ago we talked about these at the phonics evening - please do let me know if you'd like to go over them again or have any queries at all and I'll arrange another info. session in Acorn Class.
This week I am going to be doing some phonics assessing to see what the children's next steps are and it won't be long now before reading books start coming home - they are doing brilliantly, all of them.
In Maths we have been looking at different ways numbers can be represented - we have been focussing on 1,2 & 3. We've been looking at the pictures here below and have been collecting our own items to represent number. It is a good game to practice at home - please feel free to send in any pictures of numbers that the children find at home, we'd love to see them!
The children have also been doing some leaf printing and making a lovely autumnal art work with Miss Gomm and had a fabulous time on Friday enjoying the production of the 'Selfish Giant'.
Next week rehearsals for the Nativity start in earnest and of course we will be continuing with our phase 2 sounds (beginning with 'v') and beginning to look at the composition of number in Maths.
18/11/24 -Group A Forest School
Hi Acorn families - just some info about wellies! ..... those children who went to the forest on Friday went home in their Forest School gear ... this will be the same next Friday too so as to maximise time in the forest. Please could you send their boots back in with them the following Monday? They need their boots in the week, not just on Fridays. This is because we encourage messy play in the mud kitchen, sand pit, splashing in puddles etc. We have a trolley outside in the garden and the children change into their boots if they are choosing muddy play - without them, their shoes (and everything else) get in a real mess. Any problems just let me know. Thank you.
Term 2 Week 2 - beg 11/11/24
Another fantastic week of learning in Acorn Class - we began by talking about remembrance and we watched the cbeebies film Poppies https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/poppies We had planned a 2 minute silence in Worship and I was a bit worried about how long that is for our little ones .. but every single one of them did it and they were very earnest and reflective - we were all proud of them.
In phonics this week we have reached the end of a 5 week unit and have been reviewing all the sounds we have learnt - next week we will be beginning our guided reading groups - how amazing that they are starting to read, exciting times!
Acorns have been learning about growth mindset this week and we have read the book "Beautiful Oops" which is all about how things that might seem like mistakes are actually creative opportunities. Miss Gomm got the paints out in the afternoons and the children made their 'spills and smudges' into lovely pictures. They have also done some leaf printing and are planning on creating an Autumn tree next week.
Term 2 Week 1 - beg. 4/11/24
Welcome back Acorns - it's been lovely to see you and hear all about your the fun you've had at half term. This week we have been learning all about repeating patterns in maths - this is a really useful thing to practice at home, it makes such a difference. Things you can do are: make fruit kebabs in a sequence (banana, strawberry, banana etc) , make a bead necklace with a repeating pattern, line up lego or blocks in a repeating pattern, make up a dance sequence with repeating moves! We will be continuing with this next week as it is more challenging than it might sound, do let me know if your child is struggling with this.
In phonics it's been a very exciting week as we have begun to use our phonics to sound out and write words. Ask your Acorn what they are learning to do in phonics ... I hope they will say they are learning to read and write! Next week I hope we will be sending Word Bears home. Don't forget the Little Wandle website has a good section for parents https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/ If there is anything about phonics, reading or writing you would like to ask please do just drop me a line of find me at the school gate on Friday.
Acorn Class Blog 2024/2025
Term 1 Week 8
PHOTOS - as promised, here are as many photos as I could include from the first 7 weeks of term. If your child is not in these photos it is because we don't have permission to include their picture (or children they were photographed with) on the website. Now I have the full list of permissions I will make sure I capture everyone with permission in the weeks to come.
Term 1 Week 7
Friday update - This week Acorns have made fantastic progress with our phonics - we have learnt a new sound every day and the children are beginning to read. The children have learnt how to sound out these letters and blend the sounds together to read words like 'man', 'sat', 'dog' ... if you want to support at home see how many de-codable words you can make from - s, a,t,pi, n, m, d, g, o, c, and k!
Next week we begin independent reading and the step after that will be de-codable books coming home to read.
In maths we have been comparing number and measure and using vocabulary like - more, less, fewer, bigger, smaller. Next week we will be looking at capacity which gives us lots of scope for fun in the water play area!
Thank you so much for coming to our Celebration worship - it was lovely to see them so proud of themselves, I know you will agree they did a marvellous job with their song ... I am still singing it (with actions!)
Don't forget if you'd like to discuss anything just contact me via the office on office.3801@checkendon.oxon.sch.uk or catch me at the school gate on Friday afternoons.
Term 1 Week 5
This week we have learnt 4 new sounds in phonics - s, a, t, and p - the pronunciation guide to the sounds is here below and you can also find some videos here: https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
We have been reading How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers and spotting all the words beginning with the sounds 's' 'a' 't' and 'p' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnRBlI_fybs
Next week we will be learning 'i' 'n' 'm' and 'd'.
In Maths we have been playing matching games using classroom objects, and next week we will be moving on to matching images to their real objects - this is a precursor to understanding the more abstract representation of number. If you want to support this at home you can play 'treasure hunt' where you photograph household objects and your child has to hunt for the actual object. They are embedding understanding of the relationship between concrete and pictoral representations of the same thing which is crucial to early understanding of number. For some free, more abstract, household object cards to play with go to https://www.twinkl.co.uk/go and enter the code NS0327.
The Acorns have been doing brilliantly with their self-management skills too - for the first time this week everyone got changed back into their school uniforms from forest school by themselves and they were so proud they gave themselves a round of applause and a victory dance!
Term 1 Week 4
Friday Update
The Acorns have had a lovely (damp and muddy) week playing outside and in. In English we have been looking at the book "Our Class is a Family" and talking about how we all work together as part of the Acorn, and Checkendon School, family as well as finding out about all the people who are important to us at home too. If you'd like to share the book at home here is a 'read-aloud' link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJE2waGhRSI
In Maths we have been counting and pratising finding '3' things without counting. You can do this at home with household objects like pasta pieces, spoons, crayons - arrange the objects into different patterns and ask your child to tell you how many there are without counting; or you can arrange 3 groups of 1 object, 3 objects and 10 objects and ask your child "can you see 3?"
We have been practising the art of conversation at snack time and we have also begun composting our fruit and veg waste in the hope we'll have enough to do some planting in the Spring!
We have been practising listening (which is the foundation for phonics as well as learning behaviour) using some fun games - they are here if you want to have a go at home: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/articles/zm72kmn
We are very excited about next week - because we are going to start our phonics programme. Phonics will be daily, first thing after registration. The pronunciation guide to the sounds we will be learning this term is at the bottom of this page. I will keep you updated as we progress!
Thank you so much for coming to parent's evening (afternoon!) - I know for some of you it was your first ever parents evening and others are old hands by now, but it was lovely to be able to tell you all how well the children are doing and to see the pride you have in them. Parent's evening will be held each term - but please do remember that you can contact me anytime via the school office should you wish to discuss anything.
See you next week!
Tuesday - just a quick note about water bottles .... when the children come in in the morning they put all their waterbottles in a tray in the classroom, they are freely available to them throughout the day whenever they need a drink, we have a sit-down 'snack-time' around 10.30 when they have a carton of milk and a drink of water if they want one. We carry the water bottles into the hall for lunch and each child has theirs on the table throughout lunch. We do try and remind them to drink throughout the day - if you notice your child is coming home with a full water bottle please do let us know. This may be because we have re-filled it, but it may be that they need an extra prompt now and then. We'd be really grateful if you could clearly name the bottles - this saves us a lot of time at lunch. Thank you all.
Monday - Well the Acorns have had an absolute whale of a time in the puddles and the rain today. We encourage this kind of play not only because it is so much fun but because it is brilliant for their balance and motor skills, their emerging understanding of the world which will eventually become scientific understanding of cause and effect, their spatial awareness, and their vocabulary and affinity with the natural world around them. They all had coats and boots on but some of our more enthusiastic explorers still got soaked! Thank you so much to those of you who had spare clothes ready in their bags. We've put all the damp clothes in orange nappy sacks inside their book bags so look out for those. Some children who didn't have spares have come home wearing 'Acorn' pants, socks, and joggers. I'd be really grateful if you could send these back in with them so they are ready for the next round of wet and messy play! Some children were changed into PE kits so they need to come back into school too when you can - our next PE session will be Thursday.
Also - once everyone was warm and dry again we found we had one left over pair of shoes: No-one recognised them; no name in them; and, most mysterious of all, all the children were wearing shoes?! If you are missing any shoes or can shed light on this mystery just let me know. I'll keep the shoes in our lost property box.
I'll post photos of all the fun as soon as I can get those permissions finalised - watch this space ....
Term 1 Week 3
Hello Acorn families - I am sorry that there are still no photos. I am waiting for final permissions to be agreed before I post, but I do have lots of lovely ones and I will do you a full slide-show of these first 3 weeks as soon as they are in place!
It was lovely to see so many of you at the parents information morning - thank you for coming. The parent's section of our phonics scheme website can be found here: https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/ including the videos that show the pure sounds we use. We have not started the phase 2, more formal phonics yet. I'll update you here when we do and let you know which sound we are learning. I have put the Early Leaning Goals on the Class information page https://www.checkendon.oxon.sch.uk/class-pages/acorn-class-information
The last 3 weeks have been spent settling in, learning new routines, how to use our envirnoment, getting to know one another and make friends. The children have so impressed me with their enthusiasm, resiliance and eagerness to learn - as I said, I think if you could see how they are navigating their first year of school, you would be very, very proud of them. Each and every one has been amazing.
Whilst the children have been exploring their new environment, we have been doing lots of observation and assessment which will inform our planning for the year.
The children have been doing lots of gross and fine motor exercises to help build those muscles ready for writing. If you'd like to have a go at some of these at home here are a few ideas https://otperspective.com/household-fine-motor-activities/
We have been tuning into words and sounds by singing lots of songs and rhymes and reading lots of stories. We loved reading 'Some Dogs Do' this week and spotting all the words using the sound "s". Here is the story read by the author himself ... how many words beginning with the "s" sound can you hear? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4onEvfgAs4
Next week we are looking forward to joining the rest of the school for Collective Worship, we will be reading The Greedy Python, comparing and matching numbers, and learning all about growth mindset! I also look forward to seeing you again at parent's evening next week.
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| Pronunciation_guide_Autumn-1_June-2023.pdf | Download |
