This week we finished our story maps for The Little Red Hen. Some of us even managed to work independently to add some more detail to them! Then we started thinking about our bodies. We used Noah as a model and we drew around him. We used our sounds to label parts of his body, thinking about whether they are bones, organs or features. Then we drew our own picture of a body and labelled those. We are getting really good at using our initial sounds and remembering to form our letters correctly (with a few little reminders!). Outside we had a body parts scavenger hunt, looking for pictures hidden around the outside area. We also used white straws to make 'x-ray' art and role played being doctors and nurses.

We looked at the sounds h, b, and f this week, looking at how to write them and words that begin with them. We have continued practising our blending skills with different games. And we looked at some 'tricky words' too. These are words that can't be sounded out so we just have to learn what they are by sight reading them. They are common words that we use and read all the time so it is important that we practise them a lot. We started with 'the' and 'I' and the children are great at recognising them. Maybe you could write them down at home and see if they recognise them for you. (Please keep an eye on how 'the' is being pronounced by your child. We often see children pronounce it as 'v' so we need them to break this habit sooner rather than later. We talk about needing to poke our tongues out a little as we say it.)

After half term we will be revising and recapping all the sounds that we have learnt so far. We will continue practising our letter formations and develop our skills of reading (and writing) CVC words. We will also be starting to send home reading books. More information about this will follow.

We continued learning about number 4 this week in our Maths focus time. We looked at squares and rectangles and how they are different to each other but can both go on the 4 poster. We made number 4 in different ways using numicon and thought about the matching number sentence (3 + 1, 2 + 2, 1 + 1 + 1 + 1). We made these on our fives frame too, using the different coloured counters so that they matched the number sentences as well. We spoke about 2 + 2 being a 'double'. Then we introduced the number 5 and thought about somethings that match this number. We watched the 'Five' episode of Numberblocks. 

After half term we will be revising and recapping numbers 1-5 to ensure consolidation and look at comparing these numbers too, before moving on to the next set.

We also watched our school Harvest assembly this week. We really enjoyed watching ourselves perform our song! We looked at our Harvest boxes and then added them to the huge collection that we have in school. You are all very generous and we know that the food bank and the people who use it will greatly appreciate your kind donations, so thank you!

So that's our first half term done as Green class! What a busy one it's been!

Have a wonderful half term. Make sure you all keep safe and make lots of lovely memories together. I look forward to seeing you all soon and hearing about your adventures!