Dear Parents,

The children have really enjoyed learning all about Diwali this week, creating beautiful Rangoli patterns with chalk outside and using different colours of playdough, beans, lentils and pasta to make them inside. They have also designed their own mehndi patterns and then an adult has helped to draw the mehndi pattern they designed onto their hands. We have explored India on Google Earth, we discussed how we would travel there as it is very far away, we spoke about the differences and similarities we could see when exploring on Google Earth between India and England. The children really enjoyed having a look round Sonning Common and villages in India, you might want to have an explore over the weekend! From this, we had a look at different customs across the world and how Diwali is celebrated across the world. We read the story Lighting a Lamp and the children then made some amazing Diva Lamps out of clay, painted them and added sequins.

On Friday, we learnt about Remembrance day and explained the importance of it. We created some lovely poppy art and poppy split pins.

In Phonics, we have been looking at ‘special friends’, this is where ‘two letters make one sound’ the sounds we have been learning are sh, th and ch.

Here are some links for you to practise at home:

‘sh’ sound

‘sh’ Fred Talk 

‘th’ sound

‘th’ Fred Talk

In Maths, we have been looking at number recognition and subitisng. We have been starting off our lessons by practicing our subitising skills and then playing different games to practise our number recognition, a favourite, was throwing the beanbag onto a giant number line, identifying the number, writing the number and some of us looked at 1 more and one less than that number.

Our focus next week is Light and Dark, we will be reading different books to introduce us to the topic of light and dark, such as, Night Monkey/Day Monkey. We will be creating dark dens and writing messages with torches, sorting objects into two groups, are they a source of light, yes or no, matching the shadow to the scene, creating day time night time images using shading, exploring nocturnal animals and drawing around shadows we create.

Challenge:  Can you find a torch and shine it against a wall, what shadow shapes can you make using your fingers? You could ask a grown up to take a photo and upload it to Learning Book. Can you find different sources of light in and outside of your home?

On the 17th November, the children are welcome to wear an item of spotty clothing to raise money for Children in Need. Donations will be being collected at the gate in the morning.

Reminders: 

You should all have access to Learning Book now, to see observations of your child and what they have bene getting up to at school. If you do not please let us know.

Please name your child’s shoes if they do not have a name in, as we are changing into wellies a lot more with the wet weather, we are finding lots of shoes don’t have names in and it is difficult to find out who the shoes belong to.

As you’ve have noticed it is getting wetter and colder. Please could you ensure your child has the following:  Hat, coat, gloves, waterproof  kit (as well as leggings/ trousers & long sleeve to put underneath) for forest camp and NAMED wellies.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Kites Team