Welcome back to the second half of the Autumn Term!  We hope everyone had an enjoyable and restful half term break.  The children have jumped straight back into lots of very busy playing, exploring and learning.

This week we have been talking about Bonfire Night and how to keep ourselves safe around bonfires and fireworks.  Here are some of the important safety rules we talked about:

We also used our ‘listening ears’ and our ‘looking eyes’ to think about the sounds and sights created by fireworks in the night sky.  We made some fantastic firework pictures using shiny paint and interesting tools (i.e. the tips of cotton buds and the ends of toilet rolls).

Afterwards, we created silhouettes to add to our firework pictures.  This was a great opportunity to practise using prepositions and the names of 2D shapes correctly as we selected and placed the shapes along a piece of black card.  We then drew a line along the top of the shapes and carefully cut along the line to create the effect of a silhouette of buildings.

And here are our completed pictures!  Well done Reception, you can almost hear the fireworks “popping” and “booming” into the night sky!

Weekend challenge: Have a go at practising using prepositions correctly.   Use a favourite teddy or toy and take it on an adventure around your home or bedroom.  Try putting it under, above, next to, in, on, behind, in front of and in between something.  Perhaps you could even take some photos of your teddy’s travels and write some labels or captions to go with the photos showing each time exactly where your teddy is in relation to the objects around it.  Bon voyage!

In our phonics lessons this week, we learnt three new sounds: ‘g’, ‘o’ and ‘c’.  Here are the actions and mouth shapes for each of these sounds.

We also started some very special music lessons this week!  One of our St. Matthew’s mums, who many of you will already know, came to work with the children to develop their understanding and sense of musicality.  The children loved their first session and we are so delighted that Leilani will be coming back every week to work with the class.

Finally, we welcomed a new classmate in Reception this week.  As we do not post children’s names on our blog, please do take a moment to ask your child the name of the new boy.  I am sure you will all join me in wishing him and his family a very warm welcome to Oak Class and St. Matthew’s.