Cygnus Newsletter

 

Welcome to Cygnus class and welcome to our weekly newsletter! As well as the whole school newsletter from Mrs Burson, we will share with you, every week, the learning we have been doing as well as a sneaky peek into next week. There will also be news and important messages. We hope you find it useful.

The Early Years team

Mrs Sally Claxton - Early Years lead (covers Cygnus class on alternate Friday mornings)

Mrs Papanikitas - Cygnus class teacher

Lucy Stockford - Cygnus class teaching assistant

Sharon Beadle - Cygnus class teaching assistant

Barbara Brett - Teaching assistant and Forest school lead (covers Cygnus class on alternate Friday afternoons)

Mrs Holloway - Cygnus class volunteer

 

We have had a really good first week. The new classroom and outdoor environment have been explored with enthusiasm and the children are settling in well. These first few days have been all about settling in and getting used to school. This is the most important part of starting school and as teachers, it gives us a chance to get to know the children and their particular interests. Thank you so much for helping your child to come to school in such a grown-up way these first few days. We are aware of how difficult and different this is for you, but rest assured, your children are having great fun!

Over the next few weeks we will be completing the statutory Reception Baseline Assessment and Mrs Papanikitas will also be completing an Early Excellence baseline assessment. Please do not worry about these assessments. A series of games and activities and observations in the classroom are reported in a yes/no format. For the statutory assessment the data is then stored by the government until year six. It will show how much progress your child has made in their seven years of primary school. 

Next week we will be introducing our first topic ‘Rhyme time’. We use topics in Reception to help us explore the key learning areas in a fun and engaging way. The first topic is all about using rhythm and rhyme to enable language development. We have already been reading some of Michael Rosen's funny rhyming poems from his book ‘A great big cuddle: poems for the very young’

See Michael recite some of the poems here: A Great Big Cuddle | POEM | | Compilation | Kids' Poems and Stories With Michael Rosen

We also use poetry at lunchtime by learning a poem from the Poetry Basket each week. 

This week our poem was Chop, chop. See if the children can teach you the rhyme!

Chop chop

Choppity chop

Cut off the bottom and cut off the top

What we have left we put in the pot

Chop chop

Choppity chop

 

We started getting ready to write this week with the ‘Squiggle while you wiggle’ programme. Music and dance moves translate into marks on the page and it's great fun.

 

Our phonics programme, which teaches the children to read, started this week. Next week we will start to learn the individual sounds. 

We will be sending a laminated card with all the pictures and sounds we use in the first set of sounds home in the children’s book bags. Please let us know if it didn’t make it home.

Each week, we will advise some simple exercises you can do at home with the children to help them with their sounds. 

Here is a link to a video showing how we say each sound to the children. The pronunciation is important because it helps them blend the sounds together easily when it comes to forming words.

Read Write Inc.: How to say the set one, set two and set three sounds

Thank you so much for supporting the children with their learning.

Next week at a glance

 

Monday	Library book day.
Tuesday	Individual photos and sibling photos
Wednesday	PE. Children should come to school dressed for PE.
Thursday
Friday	No forest school this week

 

Coming up: Thursday 18th September - Flu vaccines

Friday 19th September - Coffee Friday's (Coffee Van at school with an opportunity for parents to get to know each other)

 

Notices:

Library book day will be Monday. The children can choose a book each week to bring home. The book will be changed each week so please bring the old book back the following Monday. Reading books will start coming home later in the year as the children reach the reading stage of their phonic programme. 

Please make sure the children bring book bags in daily. No water bottles in the book bags please!

We noticed this week that some of the children have to go back with you to collect their bikes from the Reception bike rack after pick up. Therefore, we have decided it might be easier to drop off and pick up from the classroom door. You can then collect any older siblings from the playground afterwards. Home times will get smoother as we get used to which child belongs to which adult! It takes us a little time to match up the faces! If your child is being collected by someone else please notify the school office and they will let us know. Children going to after school club are collected from the classroom and we have a daily register. 

We will be closing the gate at 8.40am as the bell rings. This is to ensure the children are all safely supervised. If you are running a little late and the gate has closed please go to the school office and they will make sure the children are brought safely over to the Classroom.

Please make sure the children have a coat every day, a pair of indoor shoes/plimsoles to change into to come into the classroom and a spare set for clothes, including pants and socks, for any accidents.

Please make sure everything (including shoes, coats, water bottles and lunchboxes) they bring to school is clearly labelled with the children’s name. You can use a sticky label, black permanent marker or sewn in name tape, whichever you prefer. 

Forest school will be starting in week 3. We will be having a meeting to tell you all about the forest school and what your child will need on the forest school days. You will receive an email with the date.

When the children start forest school they will need to change and get ready independently.

Can you please help the children practise taking off and putting on their own shoes and socks and their own jumper or cardigan. This will help with much smoother transitions. Thank you.

Looking forward to seeing you next week and wishing you all a great weekend.

Best wishes

The Reception Team