Hello again everyone, I hope that you are all well and keeping safe. It has been so sunny hasn’t it and it has been fantastic to see all of the photos and videos that you have been sending from your gardens and, of course, all of the work that you have been doing inside and out. Thank you for sending them to me as I really do enjoy seeing them. We are all missing the children and seeing these photos has been amazing.
It looks as though you are all getting really involved in our new topic of Get set, grow. I have been saving different containers instead of putting them in the recycling bin so that I can grow some plants. This week, you will need lots of different containers for the maths too. In English, the children will be learning about Jack and the Beanstalk. Regarding phonics, the government have released online phonic sessions that begin at 10am. Please see the letter below for further information. We have included these as part of our phonic sessions. We will be seeing the content at the same time as you so we will let you know our thoughts.
Please see below for this week’s home learning activities. Just to summarise, the topic is about growing seeds, plant life cycles, observing changes in plant growth, fruits and vegetables and linking these to wildlife in the garden. Let’s hope you can continue to spend time outside and that the sun keeps on shining. The light from the sun and plenty of water will also help your seeds to grow. We have linked the learning as closely as possible to what we would have done at school, but adapted it to make it accessible for home learning. If you need to adapt it for yourselves, please do, depending on what resources you have at home.
In phonics, we will continue to work though the phase 3 sounds for Mrs Homer’s and Miss Haywood's group, and ask that you also keep revisiting phase 2. Miss Hutchinson's and Miss Keating's group, will need to consolidate all of the phase 3 sounds and keep revisiting both phase 2 and 3. We have uploaded lots of videos to support the children and yourselves with this and if there are any questions, please ask. I can be contacted on my school email address. If you feel you need your child to extend their skills using the phase 3 sounds, they could have a go at spelling them in context in their everyday writing. Alternatively, you could make up some silly sentences for them to write using the sounds!
Also, to continue supporting the children's reading, I encourage you to continue to visit the 'teach your little monster to read website'. If you haven’t had a chance to look at it yet, please do. I have had lots of wonderful positive emails from parents saying how much it is helping their children. The link for this and all of the other fantastic sites are in our 'reading section'. When you do read with the children, please can you ask the children questions about what is happening and about the characters to help deepen their understanding. Thank you.
This coming week, we are hoping to phone the children for a chat to see how they are getting on and for a general catch up. I will aim to make these calls between 10am and midday each day so that there is a greater chance of catching you all. The call will be seen as a 'No caller Id or unknown number'. I am aiming to call about 6 children each day and I will try to email you to let you know which day. Let me know if that day doesn't work for you.
Finally, I would like to say a great big thank you for everything that you are doing. We really do appreciate it and know that it isn’t always easy for you. Please email me if you need any advice or want to share any more amazing achievements with me at bkeating@dovedale.derbyshire.sch.uk Please all take good care of yourselves and stay safe.
Miss Keating