Handwriting

It is important that children form letters correctly from an early age. The more the children form letters incorrectly the more the brain gets programmed to always form the letter shapes this way.

Here is a list of the letter sounds and the rhymes we use at school to help the children when writing letters.

a Round the apple down the leaf (apple)
b Down the laces to the heel, round the toe (Boot)
c Curl around the caterpillar (caterpillar)
d Round his bottom up his tall neck and down to his feet (dinosaur)
e Lift off the top and scoop out the egg (egg)
f Down the stem, and draw the leaves (flower)
g Round her face down her hair and give her a curl (girl)
h Down the head to the hooves and over his back (horse)
i Down his body, and dot for his head (insect)
j Down his body curl and dot (jack-in-the box)
k Down the kangaroo’s body, tail and leg (kangaroo)
l Down the long leg (leg)
m Down Maisie, over the mountain over the mountain (Maisie and
mountains)
n Down Nobby, over his net (football net)
o All around the orange (orange)
p Down his plait and around his head (pirate)
q Round her head, up past her earrings and down her hair (queen)
r Down his back, then curl over his arm (robot)
s Slither down the snake (snake)
t Down the tower across the tower (castle tower)
u Down and under, up to the top and draw the puddle (umbrella)
v Down a wing, up a wing (vulture)
w Down up down up (worm)
x Down the arm and leg and repeat the other side (Exercise)
y Down a horn up a horn and under his head (yak)
z Zig-zag-zig (zip)

Fun in the Snow!

The snow is finally here, so today we put on our wellies, wrapped up warm and went out to explore!
Here are some photos of us in action!

Miniature snowman

Giant snowball

Snowball fight

It's our job to look after the guinea pigs this week. We talked about what it would be like to live outside like them. We thought it would be freezing and that would make us miserable. To cheer up the guinea pigs we decided to fill up their "bedroom" in their hutch with lots of hay and give them lots of food to eat.

Thank you fish for being thoughtful and looking after our pets.

Fingers crossed the snow lasts a bit longer! If it does please make sure the fish have suitable clothing and footwear to go outside.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas spirit is high in the clown fish class at the moment! We have been making Christmas cards, writing letters to Santa, learning the Christmas story and singing and dancing to Christmas songs!

Here are some pictures of our Christmas activities

 Writing to Father Christmas

 Mark making in the snow

Being pulled around on our Christmas sleigh!

Helping Santa to find his missing reindeer, Dasher.
 

Tucking into a delicious Christmas dinner!

On our way to the pantomime!

Waiting for Cinderella! 

Unfortunately, due to weather conditions we could not sing carols at John Trickett house, so we had a mini concert for the staff at school in the hall. The children's singing was fantastic!

As you can see we have had a very busy couple of weeks, no wonder we are all so tired!
Father Christmas, if you are reading this, all of the clown fish have definitely been on their best behaviour so definitely deserve some treats this Christmas!

Fun Phonics Game

Got a spare five minutes? Have a go at playing this interactive phonics game with you child!

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/BuriedTreasure2.html

It's one of our favourite games and it helps us to sound and blend in a fun way!

Days to Remember

Monday

• Please remember PE kits. All long hair should be tied up and earrings should be removed. 
• Bring back Question of the Week-put in tray

Friday

• Question of the Week given out
• Maths games changed- please leave in drawers to be swapped
• Library books changed

When you feel your child is ready for a new book and/or new sounds/words in their tin, please put them in the red basket to be changed.

A day in the life of the Clownfish

Every morning, we come into the classroom, put our things away and sit on the carpet with a story.

At 9 o’clock, the bell rings and we sit down for register.

After that it is "Move it, Move it time." We put on some lively music and do different dances and exercises to improve our co-ordination and balance.

At 9.15 it is Phonics time. We go into our groups where we look at new sounds and practise reading and writing them in words and sentences.

After that, it is milk and fruit time. We sit on the carpet and have a speaking focus, we always have lots to talk about!

Our next job is "choosing to learn." We can choose an activity inside or outside. Here are some of the activities we take part in.

After that it’s tidy up time. The music comes on and we all know it’s time to work as a team to make our classroom tidy.

At 11.30 it is writing time. We go into groups and practise our handwriting and sounding out of words.

Next, it is dinnertime. We go into the hall to eat our scrumptious school dinners and packed lunches then it’s outside to play.

At 1 we come back inside and we have Gym time! This is where we develop our fine motor skills. We are grouped by ability and set activities eg. Dough gym, threading beads on bracelets, filling the pot with water using pipettes, all to our favourite music.

We then have a maths job which is always a practical job to keep our brains and bodies busy.

Then its more choosing to learn time. During choosing to learn time, the adults in our class will be doing exciting jobs that we would like to join in. These are planned to ensure each child is working on activities at the right level for them.

As you can see we are such busy bees! So by 2.30, we are ready for story time and then home time!

If you would like to know any more about our school day please comment below or feel free to see Miss Spacey or any of our reception staff.

Hello! This is the clownfish blog. We are a reception class in Sheffield. We have been doing lots of exciting things and we would like to tell you about them.