As we are nearing the end of our first full term in Reception it has been a lovely opportunity to reflect on just how far the children have come and how much they have achieved. They have settled into school life wonderfully and have already proven themselves to be brilliant role models during their enrichment activity with Mrs Harrison (our Year 6 teacher). They enjoyed an afternoon of dancing and Mrs Harrison was certainly impressed with their focused and determined attitudes and how they were respectful to her and each other.

In class we have been stretching those phonics skills with lots of reading and writing challenges and when we took a look at how many sounds we have learnt so far, the children had a huge sense of pride and accomplishment - and rightly so!

As we move into our final week we will continue to strengthen these skills ready to share some reading activities that you can do together over the holidays. The children really are looking forward to showing you just how much they have grown their brains this term!

What have we been learning this week…

Phonics: This week we have learnt the sounds ‘x’, ‘ng’ and ‘nk’. We talked about ‘ng’ and ‘nk’ being special friends because they are two letters together that make 1 sound. We have focused on forming these sounds correctly and using them in words. We are building out confidence with using ‘Special friends, Fred talk, read the word’ to help us decode and read words and using ‘Fred fingers’ to think about the sounds we hear when spelling words. Next week we will be sending home some Fred games so you can keep practising at home.

RE: This week we have been reflecting on the journey that Mary and Joseph made from Nazareth to Bethlehem. We thought about why they made this journey, why God might have chosen Mary and what it has meant for us. Reception have done a wonderful job of retelling the story of Jesus’s birth and it’s lovely to hear them quoting the nativity - even lines that they didn’t say themselves! We thought about who was in the stable on that calm and peaceful night, and drew our own picture to represent this scene.

Let’s Celebrate…

Each week children across the school are celebrated for demonstrating our learning characters and our school virtues. They are celebrated in class and in our Friday assemblies.

Kiki Creative Chameleon: Kyler!
Kyler, this week you have really enjoyed building and creating intricate designs with different resources in our classroom. You build with care and precision, noticing lots of details within your creations and your play. It’s lovely to see what a Kiki creative chameleon you are and what you create is so inspiring!
Well done Kyler!

Brave Tommy Turtle: Elijah!
Elijah, we can see just how much you are enjoying learning new sounds each day and using this knowledge to read different words that you find around our room. You are becoming a Tommy Turtle when practising your letter formation by trying to be brave and ‘have a go’ – this is how we grow our brains!
Keep up this brave ‘have a go’ attitude.
Well done Elijah!

Whole School Virtue - Faithfilled & Hopeful: April!
April, you did such a wonderful job as an angel in our nativity and it was lovely to see how excited you were to help share the special news. This week you have retold the special story of baby Jesus with such passion and enthusiasm whilst remembering some key details from our nativity.
Well done April!

Important reminders:

Polite reminder that our PE days are Monday’s and Wednesday’s. Children need to come to school dressed in their PE kits and wearing suitable running trainers.
On Monday 18th December we will be walking to church for the KS2 Christmas service. Please ensure your child is wearing a warm and waterproof coat.
Our class Christmas party day will be on Wednesday 20th December. Children can come to school dressed in Christmas party clothes and suitable flat shoes. They can also bring in 1 treat snack (either 1 small packet of crisps or 1 small chocolate bar).
Polite reminder that Thursday 21st December is our last day of the school term. School finishes at 2pm on this day.
Yellow Bamber received the most house points this half term and as a special reward they can wear their own clothes on Thursday (yellow for their house team and flat suitable shoes. )

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs Hartley
s.hartley@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Have a wonderful weekend
God Bless,
The Reception team