Headteacher: Anna Moss

Hello Red Class,

Another busy week in Red Class filled with wonderful writing. Our class easel was covered with super sentences. The children tried hard to use their robot arms to sound out words and write them independently. To use robot arms at home, just say the word you want to write e.g. ‘cat’, then say each sound (c-a-t) and move one arm each time (Peter Crouch robot style). To write ‘rain’, you would segment the word to r-ai-n. I felt very proud to see the children using sound mats in the classroom to support their writing. I think we must be getting closer to Year 1.

In Phonics, we revisited ‘ure’ (sure), ‘ear’ (hear) and ‘air’ (fair) and played games to read ‘have’. We read our keywords every day at school. We need to read our keywords by sight to become fluent readers. When reading at home, look for keywords in the text and read them together. Here are the words we read every day at school:

Handwriting sessions focused on the curly caterpillar family: c, o, a, d, g and q. You will find 4 new letters in your handwriting book. Please leave handwriting books in your book bag. They will be collected every Thursday and new letters added. When writing, please check your child is using their tripod grip. Please also encourage your child to use cursive letters to write their name as I’ve noticed some children have reverted to print.

In Maths, we concentrated on doubles and halves. We looked at representations of doubles and halves in different ways (fingers, Numicon, dice, spots) and solved practical and word problems. We even started to find some tricky doubles beyond 5+5 using our class fabacus. We’re also working hard to count in 10s using the fabacus and hundred-square. We chant in 10s forward and back and solve problems using this knowledge. For example, we count in 10s to find our daily dinner number.

At Forest School, we listened to ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and planted some beans. Over the next few weeks, we will look after our little beanstalks. Hopefully, they’ll be ready to go home in time for the half term holiday.

A BIG thank you to our families who have contributed to our African Promise appeal. Donations will support rural primary schools in Kenya helping to provide meals and clean water for children, funding teacher’s salaries and rebuilding schools. Next week, we’re using our music skills to raise money for the charity by busking for other classes in the school.

Finally, we’ve noticed quite a few toys in book bags. Please keep toys and teddies safe at home. Some of the children are struggling to collect their book bags from the crates because their friends have quite bulky bags with teddies and toys. If you’re missing a school water bottle, we have one bottle in school without a name. Just email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you think it might belong to your child.

Hopefully, the sun will shine for us this weekend. I am always optimistic!

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class xxx