St Patrick’s Foundation News
November 2020. Issue 5
Welcome to the fifth edition of this newsletter. Can you believe that we are less than four weeks away from the start of the Christmas holiday and the end of your child’s first term at school? The time has flown by and the children are making wonderful progress in their learning. We have noticed that many of the children have been using the sound mats and handwriting formation sheets at home. Thank you for supporting your child with their learning – it makes a noticeable difference. There are a few notices to share with you in this edition of the newsletter.
Library Books
The children have got into the routine of bringing in their book bags and returning their library books. It is lovely to see them looking through the books and choosing a book to read over the weekend. There is a wide selection for them to choose from, with all books having words and phrases that the children can decode and read for themselves. This is having a noticeable impact on the children’s confidence with reading. Already, we have observed many children reading words in books with excitement! Some children are already starting to read whole sentences, which is phenomenal considering we have not even finished the first term!
If we can encourage you to support your child to use the sound mat that was sent home at half term, this will continue to help those who have not yet mastered the set 1 sounds. Even the children who know them confidently should regularly continue to use the sound mat to check that they can remember all sounds. Even if your child looks at one or two sounds a day, this will have a positive impact.
Just a reminder, library books are issued on a Friday and should be returned on the following Tuesday to be put in quarantine.
Christmas Performance
We are delighted to confirm that Foundation will be performing the story of the birth of Jesus this year. Many schools have decided not to offer a Nativity because of the complications with providing a performance. However, we have come up with a solution that ensures that the children can experience their first school performance but keeps everyone safe with the COVID restrictions in place.
We are unable to invite you in to school to watch the performance. However, the children will perform the Nativity on Wednesday 9th December and this will be recorded by our Music teacher, Mr Simpson. You will receive a link to the recorded performance before the start of the Christmas holiday.
Your child has already come home with a note that outlines their role in the performance, along with guidance on suitable clothing for them to wear. Particularly in this difficult time, there is no pressure to purchase a specific costume. Please use your child’s own clothes and make do with what you have.
What is my child learning?
In Phonics, the children have been learning the following sounds – v, y, w, th, z, ch, sh, qu, x, ng and nk. These are the final sounds within Set 1. You may have heard your child using the phrase ‘special friends’ to describe the sounds that have ‘two letters, one sound, makes special friends!’ These are: th, ch, sh, qu, ng and nk. There are several ways in which you can help your child as they continue learning to read and write:
· Revise all of the sounds
· Identify the Set 1 sounds in reading books
· Write the sounds, using the handwriting phrases provided in the home learning pack
Attached with this newsletter are a set of reading comprehension questions that you can use with your child to check their understanding of what they are reading, as well as any stories that you read with them.
In Maths, the children have focused on developing their knowledge of numbers. Some children are still working on numbers 0-5, some are focusing on 6-10. Some children have already demonstrated confidence with these numbers and have moved onto numbers 11-20. We have also started learning about ‘shorter’ and ‘longer’ and comparing the length of objects and each other! For example, Mrs Robbins is shorter than Mr Balaam! Miss Archer is taller than Mrs Robbins. We encourage you to ask your child to find examples of things that are shorter and longer. If your child is up for a challenge, they could come up with a comparison statement. For example, Mr Balaam is taller than Mrs Robbins but shorter than Miss Archer!
In RE we have been learning about what we can find inside a Catholic church. Although we are unable to visit our local church, St Patrick’s, Miss Monaghan recreated our very own Catholic church in Blue Base! There was a role-play Altar, Tabernacle, Candles, Statue of Our Lady, Pews and Baptismal Font. The children really enjoyed learning about churches and even got to say hello to Father Ross, our local Parish Priest.
We have continued teaching the children about Kindness and have been offering praise to them when they have demonstrated this attitude during the school day.
Workshops
Thank you to those of you who were able to attend the phonics workshop with our Phonics Leader, Mrs Whitten. You should have already been sent the link to a recording of one of the workshops. Your feedback on this session was much appreciated. We will be hosting another workshop before Christmas, on the topic of reading at home with your child. The dates and times for this will be confirmed by email later this week.
Prayers
We have introduced the children to the Our Father prayer. This is one of the most important prayers in the Christian faith, based directly on the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 6, Verses 9-13.
Here is a link to a sung version that we use in our collective worship sessions:
Your child may even share with you the actions that accompany this sung version of the prayer!
Best wishes,
The Foundation Team