Acorn Class Blog 2024/2025

Term 1 Week 5

This week we have learnt 4 new sounds in phonics - s, a, t, and p - the pronunciation guide to the sounds is here below and you can also find some videos here: https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

We have been reading How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers and spotting all the words beginning with the sounds 's' 'a' 't' and 'p' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnRBlI_fybs

Next week we will be learning 'i' 'n' 'm' and 'd'.

In Maths we have been playing matching games using classroom objects, and next week we will be moving on to matching images to their real objects - this is a precursor to understanding the more abstract representation of number. If you want to support this at home you can play 'treasure hunt' where you photograph household objects and your child has to hunt for the actual object.  They are embedding understanding of the relationship between concrete and pictoral representations of the same thing which is crucial to early understanding of number. For some free, more abstract, household object cards to play with go to https://www.twinkl.co.uk/go and enter the code NS0327.

The Acorns have been doing brilliantly with their self-management skills too - for the first time this week everyone got changed back into their school uniforms from forest school by themselves and they were so proud they gave themselves a round of applause and a victory dance! 

Term 1 Week 4

Friday Update

The Acorns have had a lovely  (damp and muddy) week playing outside and in.  In English we have been looking at the book "Our Class is a Family" and talking about how we all work together as part of the Acorn, and Checkendon School, family as well as finding out about all the people who are important to us at home too.  If you'd like to share the book at home here is a 'read-aloud' link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJE2waGhRSI

In Maths we have been counting and pratising finding '3' things without counting. You can do this at home with household objects like pasta pieces, spoons, crayons - arrange the objects into different patterns and ask your child to tell you how many there are without counting; or you can arrange 3 groups of 1 object, 3 objects and 10 objects and ask your child "can you see 3?"

We have been practising the art of conversation at snack time and we have also begun composting our fruit and veg waste in the hope we'll have enough to do some planting in the Spring! 

We have been practising listening (which is the foundation for phonics as well as learning behaviour) using some fun games - they are here if you want to have a go at home:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/articles/zm72kmn

We are very excited about next week - because we are going to start our phonics programme.  Phonics will be daily, first thing after registration.  The pronunciation guide to the sounds we will be learning this term is at the bottom of this page. I will keep you updated as we progress!

Thank you so much for coming to parent's evening (afternoon!) - I know for some of you it was your first ever parents evening and others are old hands by now, but it was lovely to be able to tell you all how well the children are doing and to see the pride you have in them.  Parent's evening will be held each term - but please do remember that you can contact me anytime via the school office should you wish to discuss anything.

See you next week! 

Tuesday - just a quick note about water bottles .... when the children come in in the morning they put all their waterbottles in a tray in the classroom, they are freely available to them throughout the day whenever they need a drink, we have a sit-down 'snack-time' around 10.30 when they have a carton of milk and a drink of water if they want one. We carry the water bottles into the hall for lunch and each child has theirs on the table throughout lunch.  We do try and remind them to drink throughout the day - if you notice your child is coming home with a full water bottle please do let us know. This may be because we have re-filled it, but it may be that they need an extra prompt now and then. We'd be really grateful if you could clearly name the bottles - this saves us a lot of time at lunch. Thank you all. 

Monday - Well the Acorns have had an absolute whale of a time in the puddles and the rain today.  We encourage this kind of play not only because it is so much fun but because it is brilliant for their balance and motor skills, their emerging understanding of the world which will eventually become scientific understanding of cause and effect, their spatial awareness, and their vocabulary and affinity with the natural world around them.  They all had coats and boots on but some of our more enthusiastic explorers still got soaked!  Thank you so much to those of you who had spare clothes ready in their bags.  We've put all the damp clothes in orange nappy sacks inside their book bags so look out for those.  Some children who didn't have spares have come home wearing 'Acorn' pants, socks, and joggers.  I'd be really grateful if you could send these back in with them so they are ready for the next round of wet and messy play!  Some children were changed into PE kits so they need to come back into school too when you can - our next PE session will be Thursday.

Also - once everyone was warm and dry again we found we had one left over pair of shoes:  No-one recognised them; no name in them; and, most mysterious of all,  all the children were wearing shoes?!  If you are missing any shoes or can shed light on this mystery just let me know. I'll keep the shoes in our lost property box.

I'll post photos of all the fun as soon as I can get those permissions finalised - watch this space ....

Term 1 Week 3

Hello Acorn families  -   I am sorry that there are still no photos. I am waiting for final permissions to be agreed before I post, but I do have lots of lovely ones and I will do you a full slide-show of these first 3 weeks as soon as they are in place!

It was lovely to see so many of you at the parents information morning - thank you for coming. The parent's section of our phonics scheme website can be found here: https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/ including the videos that show the pure sounds we use.  We have not started the phase 2, more formal phonics yet. I'll update you here when we do and let you know which sound we are learning.  I have put the Early Leaning Goals on the Class information page https://www.checkendon.oxon.sch.uk/class-pages/acorn-class-information

The last 3 weeks have been spent settling in, learning new routines, how to use our envirnoment, getting to know one another and make friends.  The children have so impressed me with their enthusiasm, resiliance and eagerness to learn - as I said, I think if you could see how they are navigating their first year of school, you would be very, very proud of them. Each and every one has been amazing.

Whilst the children have been exploring their new environment, we have been doing lots of observation and assessment which will inform our planning for the year.

The children have been doing lots of gross and fine motor exercises to help build those muscles ready for writing. If you'd like to have a go at some of these at home here are a few ideas https://otperspective.com/household-fine-motor-activities/

We have been tuning into words and sounds by singing lots of songs and rhymes and reading lots of stories. We loved reading 'Some Dogs Do' this week and spotting all the words using the sound "s".  Here is the story read by the author himself ... how many words beginning with the "s" sound can you hear? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4onEvfgAs4

Next week we are looking forward to joining the rest of the school for Collective Worship, we will be reading The Greedy Python, comparing and matching numbers, and learning all about growth mindset!  I also look forward to seeing you again at parent's evening next week.