Welcome back to the second half of the Autumn term. We hope everyone had a lovely half term holiday and a huge thank you for coming along to support us at our Harvest Festival just before the break. We were so proud of the children for standing up and singing their song in front of the whole school and all the parents – weren’t they brave? Here is the song we sang, just in case you would like to a repeat performance at home!

Back in school, we have been busy learning about the festival Diwali which is celebrated by Hindus all around the world over five days. This year, the celebrations took place during the half term break.

Our Spotlight Story this week was the story of Rama and Sita which tells the tale of how goodness and truth triumphs over evil. In the story, Rama and Sita triumph over Ravana, the ten-headed demon. We took this opportunity to talk about whether demons and monsters are real or not and we all agreed that they are just something we find in stories or in movies and not something that we need to be scared of – please do reinforce this at home if you feel it necessary.

You can revisit the story of Rama and Sita on the CBeebies website. We also found out how this festival of light is celebrated; with diya lamps, special clothes, Mendhi patterns, Rangoli patterns, Diwali cards and lots of sweets!  And we met Jessica who explained how she celebrates Diwali with her family.

During Diwali, Rangoli patterns are placed on the ground outside homes to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi. She is the goddess of wealth and she is thought to bring good luck.

Lots of different 2D shapes are used in rangoli patterns and we learnt about the names and the properties (i.e. the number of sides) of the most common ones: circles, triangles, squares and rectangles. Can you spot any of these shapes in the rangoli patterns below?

We discovered that there are shapes all around us; in the classroom, in the playground and even walking down the street! Why not go on a shape hunt around your house or in the park? Can you find any of the shapes we have learnt? Here is a powerpoint to help you support your child with their learning of these shapes – please do go over this together if you feel they are unsure – thank you!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LBDskhOdU02LkpPEdMMbHQcHuABqSKjQIJFIecDVMls/edit?usp=sharing

This was also a very important and exciting week because we started our phonics lessons! We learnt the sounds that the letters m, a, s and d make. We will be learning new sounds every week, so please do make sure you practise these at home with your child. If you are unsure about how to say any of these sounds, please do check this video below. One of the main things to remember is not to drop your jaw when say a sound like m – say mmmmmm, instead of muh. I hope that makes sense!

Whenever we learn a new sound, we learn 3 things: the sound itself, a picture prompt which helps us to put the sound into context and a handwriting saying (linked to the picture prompt) which helps us to remember how to form the letter correctly when writing.

The Read Write Inc flashcards that we use have the letter on one side and the picture prompt on the other. When the children see the letter side, they say the sound. When they see the picture side, they say the picture prompt, e.g. Maisie, mountain, mountain.

This video explains this further and also shows how we use the picture prompt to form the letter correctly. Please note, the picture prompt and handwriting prompt for the letter m is the same.

For the sound a, the picture prompt is ‘a – a – apple’ and the handwriting prompt is ’round the apple, down the leaf’. The sound a is a bouncy sound, while m is a stretchy sound.

For the letter s, the picture prompt is ‘ssssss-snake’ and the handwriting prompt is ‘slither down the snake’. The sound s is a stretchy sound.

For the letter d, the picture prompt is ‘d-d-dinosaur’ and the handwriting prompt is ’round the dinosaur’s bottom, up and down its neck’. The d sound is bouncy.

To help your child practise the sounds, you could play a simple game of memory: use 16 pieces of paper and write the letters on each so you have 4 cards with m on them, 4 with a on them, 4 with s and 4 with d on them.  Place them face down on a table and muddle them up.  Take turns to turn over two cards at a time.  What are the sounds?  Are they the same? Keep them if they are the same, turn them back over if not.  Carry on until all the cards have been picked up.  The winner is the one with the most cards.

Or you could play a sound hunt game – how many things can you find in the house that start with m…or a…or s.  If you are in the car, remember ‘I spy’ is always a brilliant way to practice hearing and distinguishing initial sounds in words.

If you have bath crayons, try writing these on the tiles at bath-time and give your child a spray bottle to spray the sounds as they say them.  This is also fun in a driveway or on the pavement with chalks.

If your child is already recognising these sounds confidently, why not have a go at writing them correctly. 

We hope everyone is having a lovely weekend – if you are out and about enjoying Bonfire Night and firework displays, please stay safe – we had a good chat about how to do this yesterday (listen carefully to your grown-ups, stay well away from bonfires and fireworks, only grown-ups can light fireworks, keep pets indoors, wear gloves if you hold a sparkler and keep it away from your face). Have fun and see you on Monday!