Saturday, December 13, 2008

Merry Christmas Everyone!!


Well…I’m still here! No news as yet. Can you believe that your child has completed their first term in school? They have done really well and I received a text of Mrs Higgins saying how sensible the children were on their trip to the cathedral last week, and how proud of them I would be.



This week at school is my favourite one as the festive spirit really moves up a notch. Having a 5 year old at home who is counting down every day (and trying to convince me that if she eats two chocolates each day Christmas will come sooner) can be some what of a headache so here are some great websites to let them have a go at while you put the finishing touches to your Christmas preparations, or even just sit down and have a rest.


Nativity stories
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/re/b-dag/ngfl-container/re-unit1-en.html http://www.topmarks.co.uk/christianity/nativity/index.htm http://www.refuel.org.uk/curric/infant_topics/christmas/christmas.html http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/christmas/nativity/nativity.html http://www.snaithprimary.eril.net/nativity.htm http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/word/cross2.gif
Just for fun!
http://www.emailsanta.com/ write a letter to Santa and see the reply appear before your very eyes!

http://www.northpole.com/ a real favourite of mine! The disco dancing Santa is fabulous!http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/ a very interesting site, explaining all about the customs and traditions of Christmas.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/meaning.htm I loved this story! Maybe one for Christmas Eve?

http://www.star28.net/snow.html?msg=they this made me giggle! Get the penguin to write your name in the snow. What about trying this to help with the spelling of those tricky words?http://www.learn-ict.org.uk/resources/rudolph/rudolph.htm Rudolf is missing! Read this lovely interactive story with your child. A great way of developing those comprehension skills.

http://www.funranch.com/games/tree/index.htm decorate the online Christmas tree

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/snowman_v4.html build your very own snowman...without getting your hands cold!

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/winter/ some great ideas for Christmas crafts to doat home, using all those empty boxes.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/christmas/ Christmas crafts

http://www.nevada.edu/~blake/Christmas.carols.html why not sing through some of these traditional Christmas Carols in preparation for Friday’s service?http://www.ylw.mmtr.or.jp/~johnkoji/hymn/xmas/index.html christmas carols to sing along to.
http://www.btinternet.com/~edward.caution/ oh this is just fabulous! Karaoke anyone?? Just scroll down for the Christmas songs. Go on – I’ll bet you can’t resist just singing along!
http://woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/teacher/christmas.html lots of different activities for you to try at home

http://christmas.iboard.co.uk/ lots of Christmas online activities to try. I really like the writing ideas, which use a framework and a wordbank to help. Why not print some off to bring in to show?



There is rather a lot of things going on this week so here goes with the details.



Monday

Dust off those party frocks and best clothes, as Monday sees our fantastic Christmas party! The children have worked really hard all term, so now is the chance for them to let their hair down and boogie the afternoon away. The children will be allowed to come to school ALL DAY in their own clothes, complete with hair gel, glitter and perfume!



Santa’s elves have been very busy wrapping all the gifts for the children AND organising all the party food. A huge thank you to all the elves behind the scenes who have been bagging and wrapping for the last few weeks – you can put your feet up now!!


Christingle Service
This year’s Christingle service takes place up at St. Joseph’s Church on Tuesday 16th December at 7.00pm. Although it is quite late, it would be lovely if there could be some Angels, Kings and Shepherds there, complete with their Christingle kits. We have these on sale in school for 50p.



On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we shall be putting the finishing touches to the lovely Christmas decorations that the children are making as well as completing assessments in preparation for the New Year.



Friday

The last day of term, sees a real treat. Our Christmas Carol Service, led by Years 5/6 will be held up at St. Joseph’s Church at 10am. We ask that the children arrive in school as normal, for registration. We shall then be walking all the children up to Church for the service, which should last around an hour. Please ensure that the children are wearing a very warm coat, gloves, hat and scarf for that day, as the weather is extremely cold. The children will obviously not be able to buy toast on that day, so it would be helpful if they could bring a small snack for after the service, which they will be able to eat in the Loretto Centre at Church before their return. We really do need lots of parental support to accompany the children up to St. Joseph’s, so please let any member of the team know by Tuesday if you are able to help out.



The afternoon sees the Parent’s Panto. It is always a really fantastic production and a fitting end to the year. All the children, (and staff) leave the hall in festive mood, ready to start our preparations at home.


Photographs
The children’s photographs were distributed last week and how gorgeous are they? Please do let us know if you haven’t received them and we will do our best to sort them out for you.



And finally…On behalf of all the team, I’d like to wish you a very happy, peaceful and holy Christmas. We hope that Santa brings you everything you ask for and that we all return safe and happy in the New Year.



Merry Christmas!



Warm wishes

Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxx

Sunday, December 07, 2008

It's Christmas!!!

Hi there!
Firstly, can I take the opportunity to thank all the children and parents for their kind gifts and wishes. I will miss you all very much but I’m sure life will be changing very soon in the Narraway household!


Here are a few domestics to begin with…

Christmas lunch
On Monday, we don our party hats and best singing voices (if we have any left!) and have our Christmas lunch. If you have asked that your child has lunch on Monday, they won’t need a packed lunch. Please also remember that there will be no toast served on Monday, so the children will need to bring their own snack.


Cathedral Visit
On Tuesday afternoon our Year 6 and our Foundation Stage children will be attending the annual Carol Service at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Liverpool. The children will leave school after lunch and will return at approximately 4pm. Please ensure that all outstanding permission slips are sent into school by Monday. Thank you.


Christmas Party
The children’s party takes place next week, but there are still a number of children who need to bring in their £2.50 contribution. If you haven’t already done so, we would be grateful if it could be sent into school by MONDAY, so that we are able to arrange the party bags. Santa’s elves are working really hard at the moment, so the more time they have the better!! Many thanks!


Carol Service
It is our annual Carol Service on Friday 19th December, led by Years 5/6. This year, it will take place up at St. Joseph’s Church at 10am. The children will arrive at school as usual at 8.45am and will walk up to church for the service with the escort of the community police for extra safety. Please ensure that any permission slips are returned as soon as possible, as we will be unable to take children out of school without them.As I am sure you will appreciate, we will need lots of volunteers to help walk our children up, so please do let any member of the team know if you will be able to help us with this. It is sure to be a lovely occasion, where we can all take time out from the hectic preparations and reflect on the real meaning of Christmas.


Now…

Just for FUN!!
Here are some lovely activities to keep your children busy whilst you get things organised.
http://www.emailsanta.com/ write a letter to Santa and see the reply appear before your very eyes!
http://www.northpole.com/ a real favourite of mine! The disco dancing Santa is fabulous!http://www.northpole.com/PersonalizedStories/ this is lovely and the children will love printing these off! Just enter a couple of pieces of information and your child will appear as a character in their very own story!
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/ a very interesting site, explaining all about the customs and traditions of Christmas.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/meaning.htm I loved this story! Maybe one for Christmas Eve?
http://www.star28.net/snow.html?msg=they this made me giggle! Get the penguin to write your name in the snow. What about trying this to help with the spelling of those tricky words?http://www.learn-ict.org.uk/resources/rudolph/rudolph.htm Rudolf is missing! Read this lovely interactive story with your child. A great way of developing those comprehension skills.
http://www.funranch.com/games/tree/index.htm decorate the online Christmas tree
http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/snowman_v4.html build your very own snowman...without getting your hands cold!http://www.nevada.edu/~blake/Christmas.carols.html why not sing through some of these traditional Christmas Carols in preparation for our carol service?http://www.kidzone.ws/math/christmas/index.htm although these are based on American ‘grades’, some of these Christmas themed Maths worksheets are still really useful.
http://christmas.iboard.co.uk/ lots of Christmas online activities to try. I really like the writing ideas, which use a framework and a wordbank to help. Why not print some off to bring in to show?

And now for what they will be learning this week.

Communication, Language and Literacy
By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to recognise and name the letters s, a, t, p, i, m, n and d
SHOULD be able to recognise and name the letters above including g, c, k and o, and begin to orally segment the words.
COULD be able to use the letters taught so far to segment and blend words;


You should have received an update regarding letter and sound recognition via your child’s diary on Friday.

I would continue to use the letter recognition websites below to support letter recognition with a focus mainly on the letters of the week or any that we have taught yet your child is unsure of.
www.starfall.com - this is a great all-rounder. Remember to encourage your child to use the letters they are unsure of. I will stick this information in your child’s diary this week.
http://www.ictgames.com/phonic_fighter4.html - I love this game!
http://www.channel4.com/learning/microsites/H/hoobs/activities/interactiveActivities.jsp?id=letters - activities 12 and 13 are good for helping with identifying the initial letters.
http://www.ictgames.com/phonemeFlop_v4.html - this is great and the sounds are said correctly too.
http://www.ictgames.com/soundBingo.html
http://www.ictgames.com/letterlifter.html

NEW!! http://www.ictgames.com/phonemePopLS_v2.html - you can use this website to focus on the letters of the week.

High Frequency Words
These are checked weekly and we do aim for the children to know all term one words by Christmas. You may have noticed that I have sent more high frequency words to work through in my absence. Here are some websites that may also be of use to you:

http://www.ictgames.com/plankgameR.html
http://www.ictgames.com/wordreader.html
http://www.ictgames.com/lcwc.html - click on the rectangular cells and type in the high frequency words to make your own grids.

Problem-solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
On Friday you will have received an update on your child’s number recognition via their diaries. Again the children have been making pleasing progress.


As I stated last week, for the next few weeks leading up to Christmas, the children will focus on number recognition, ordering numbers and number formation. Here are some great websites to support this area of learning.
http://www.ictgames.com/nileNumbers_v2.html
http://www.ictgames.com/saucerSorter.html
http://www.ictgames.com/caterpillar_slider.html - get the children to say the number sequence in order to be able to order the random numbers
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/ngfl-flash/numbers_eng/numbers_e.html - fantastic for supporting number formation
http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/default.htm - a range of websites to support mathematical skills and concepts.

Here I Am
The Christmas story will continue to be the main focus of this week, with the children re-enacting the nativity in the role-play area.


I think that’s all for this week.

Keep safe and I’ll let you know any news.
xxx