St Patrick’s Early Years News. March 2020. Issue 5.

School Trips

Welcome to the fifth edition of the EYFS newsletter. So much has happened since we came back from the February half term. On Thursday 5th March, we went on our first school trip to Woolston Library. The day started off with torrential rain - but this didn't stop us! Wearing wellies and waterproofs, and brandishing umbrellas, the Year R team marched through Woolston. After dodging endless puddles, we arrived at the library and were greeted by a Pirate! We sat down and enjoyed listening to the story of 'Pirates Love Underpants.' As the morning progressed, we went on a hunt to find the missing pieces of the treasure map. We then enjoyed exploring the library and picking a book to borrow and take home. Please remember to return the library book within the next couple of weeks.

A massive thank you to Mrs Conway for organising this wonderful trip. A special thanks to all of the parents who volunteered their time and were able to help us on the day.

We have our trip to Longdown Farm on Tuesday 24th March. We have also arranged an additional trip to Sholing Valleys on Wednesday 13thMay. There will be no charge for this trip. However, please let us know if you are available to volunteer for the trip. We will leave at 9:30am and aim to return for 1pm. We are also hoping to return to Woolston Library before the summer holidays. There is certainly lots for the children to look forward to!

Parent Consultations

We look forward to discussing your child’s progress when we meet on Wednesday 25th March. We will be able to share your child’s learning folder and show you their wonderful work.

Parent Workshops

Thank you to the parents who were able to attend our writing workshop this week. We hope that this was a useful opportunity to think about how you can support your child’s writing at home, as well as having a sneak peek at some of the ways that we teach writing in school. Our aim at this point of the year is to support the children to learn the 45 key words that they are expected to be able to read and write accurately by the end of their year in Reception. We will hand out copies of the keyword mats during the parent consultations, although many of you may still have your original copy from the beginning of the year. Some parents have requested a workshop on how to support children at home with their phonic knowledge. We will seek to arrange this for after the Easter holidays.

Cress Heads!

Next week, we are planning to create ‘Cress Heads’ as part of our Growing topic.

Please can your child bring to school an empty hard-boiled egg shell, like the picture below, with their name clearly visible on it, in order to grow the cress, on Monday 16th March.

Reading

Most of the children have now started bringing home a Read Write Inc reading book to support their phonics. We will be able to change your child’s reading book once you have indicated to us in their reading record that they have read the book. Please can we politely remind you to make sure that your child has their book bag, reading books and water bottle with them in school every day. Children in the following groups change their phonics books on a Monday and Thursday: Soldiers, Robots and Aliens. Your children will be able to let you know which group they are in.

Prayer

Continuing with our guidance on supporting with children’s prayer lives, we have been working on teaching the children the Our Father. They are really enjoying the sung version of the prayer and have created their own actions. Here is the link so that you can sing the prayer with them:

Our Father Song

The Early Years Team