This week, the children have absolutely loved making, baking and decorating their gingerbread people. Due to their excitement... We thought we would embrace the baking spirit and set a half-term challenge to bake something together. This could be a box mix, scones, cookies, cupcakes... It can be anything at all, just as long as it is delicious!

Please send a snap of your baked goodies on tapestry for us to share in our show and tell sessions when we are back.

Have a wonderful half-term and HAPPY BAKING!  🍰

What an exciting week we have ahead! We will be kicking off by celebrating Chinese New Year! We will be finding out how and why this tradition is celebrated and joining in with the celebrations ourselves. Kung Hei Fat Choy! (Happy New Year in Chinese).

After our wonderful celebrations we will be back in the swing of our 'Once upon a time' topic... And ending the week with one of our all-time favourite fairy tales, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We will be reading lots of different versions of the story, noticing how they are similar and different and explaining which one we like best. 

Can you join in with this simple version of the story? You could have a go at doing some of the makaton actions.

Our single letter sound of the week is surprise, surprise... 'g' for Goldilocks...  

Have a go at blending 'g' with the Alphablocks and Evie and Dodge…

Lots of you are applying your special friends... Two letters that make one sound. This week we will be focusing on ‘ch’ in ‘Chinese New Year’. Can you have a go at the ‘ch’ cut and stick activity at the bottom of this page?

We will also be exploring the special friends ‘ir’ just like in ‘girl’. There are lots of graphemes that can make up the same vowel sound – ‘ir’ as in ‘girl’, ‘ur’ as in ‘fur’ and ‘er’ as in sister.  

First, Have a go at some phonics with Abbi with this week’s digraph…

Check out this Alphablocks episode to help you get to grips with the ‘ir’ sound.

Our makaton signs of the week are different foods, including fruit.  We will be using these signs at snack time in school to request what fruit we would like. Have a practice at home with singing hands...

In maths, we are continuing our topic on growing 6,7, & 8.  To find out more information visit the White Rose website. Alongside your Doodlemaths challenges (well done to everyone in the green zone!), you could download the new White Rose '1 minute maths' app here.

We will also be exploring size and height which links nicely to our Goldilocks and the Three Bears story. We will be comparing the size of objects and using size language to describe them. Can you order some of your toys at home from shortest to tallest? Our song of the week has lots of size language in, have a listen...

  We have ABSOLUTELY LOVED seeing everything you have been getting up to at home linked to our 'Once upon a time' topic... Thank you for all that you are doing! Please keep your creations coming in and tapestries being sent. We have added some ideas at the bottom of the page for you to have a go at... Along with some ideas of 'bear' themed snacks you could make... Yummy! 🐻😋

Welcome to our 4^th week of our ‘Once upon a time’ topic… And how brilliantly your children are embracing this topic… They can confidentially re-call the stories we have covered, answer our ‘Big ideas’ questions, and are beginning to invent their own stories. Keep up the wonderful work explorers!

To kick off the week, we will be sharing the story of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’
A Traditional tale that features a classic ‘Fairy-tale’ character… The Big Bad Wolf- can you think of another story he appears in?

Can you have a go at any of the 'Little Red Riding Hood' home learning activities at the bottom of the page- we would love to see what you get up to on Tapestry!  

Like lots of Traditional tales, our second book of the week has a strong life lesson that is just as relevant today as when it was first published by Hans Christian Anderson in 1843! We will be talking lots about being kind, not leaving people out and how much words can hurt.

As always, our sounds of the week are linked to our stories.

‘r’ for red riding hood and ‘u’ for ‘ugly’ and in ‘duck’

Can you think of any words that start with this week's sounds? Have a go at practising this week’s sounds with Evie and Dodge!

For those using special friends in their reading and their writing, we will be focusing on ‘oo’ like in ‘hood’ and 'look at a book'

Here’s Abbi teaching you all about the ‘oo’ sound and although it looks the same as the digraph ‘oo’ we covered for ‘Puss in Boots’, it makes a totally different sound.

In maths, we are starting our new white rose focus on 'Growing 6, 7 and 8'.  We will be looking at ways to represent 6, 7 and 8 and how to count objects in larger groups. We will be arranging numbers of objects and seeing how they can be made up in different ways. To find out more information follow this link: White Rose- Growing 6,7 and 8. 

This links nicely to our Makaton signs of the week and Mr Tumble's 'I can sing a rainbow' which is made up of 7 colours! We will be drawing our own rainbows in school using 7 different coloured arches. 

We will be learning how to sign lots of colours using makaton like 'red' in Little red riding hood. Can you practice the signs at home?

Part of our topic this week is talking about how we change as we grow up… Remember to send in your baby snaps, so we can share them during our show and tell sessions and try to work out who is who! (See Tapestry for more information).

Another week, another traditional tale!

This week we will be sharing the story of Cinderella… Just like Puss in Boots and Dick Whittington... A tale that has been passed down through generations. We will be looking at several versions of the story and talking about how they are similar and different. 

In our phonics sessions we will be exploring the ‘s’ sound and how it doesn’t always appear as ‘s’ like in Cinderella.

Have a go at blending this week's sounds with the Alphablocks...

For those who are beginning to use their special friends (two letters that make one sound). We will be focusing on the 'er' digraph... 'er' as in Cinderella!

Here's Abbi telling you all about the 'er' digraph...

Can you think of any words with the 'er' digraph in?

Well where will Cinderella live now that she’s happily married to the Prince?
...In a castle of course! This is our Makaton sign for the week. Check out how to sign 'castle' with Lucinda and her Mum here.

We will be looking at castles from around the world and talking about their key features. We will then apply this knowledge to construct our very own castles. Watch this space for pictures of our creations!
Here is the key vocabulary we will be covering:

Can you have a go at creating your own shape castle at home? (Attached below)

In maths, we are coming to the end of our 'Alive in 5' topic... The children have been amazing at representing five in different ways and applying their number knowledge to solve problems. Check out some of the activities we have been doing in the PDF below or follow this link.
This week will be exploring capacity and trying to find out which magic potion bottles will hold the most liquid. We'll also be making cakes, carefully measuring out the ingredients. 

Our song of the week is ‘Sing a song of Sixpence’ – we will be using this as a hook to explore how things have changed since the olden days. 

Our weekly dance n beats will be ‘Knock, Knock' just like the Prince knocking on all the doors to find the owner of the glass slipper!