Christmas Production 2021

Our Christmas Production 2021

Hump the camel

We are so proud of all the children for their FANTASTIC singing, acting and dancing. We hope you enjoy the Christmas production as much as we do!

This week’s bible story

The persistent widow: Luke 18:1-8

Have you ever used pester power to get what you want? When you keep on asking and asking and asking until the person relents and gives in? Jesus once told a story about pester power, but it didn’t feature a parent and a child. The two people in Jesus’ story were a judge and a widow. Read the story to find out what happened.

Reflection:
Have you ever pestered God? reflect on your own experiences of prayer. Were their prayers denied because of any of the reasons like in the story?

Even though some prayers appear not to work, Christians believe that God is always at work in their lives, although this may be hard to see.

Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you for being a God who listens to our prayers.
Help us to keep praying to you even when it seems that our prayers are not being answered.
May we never forget that, like a loving parent, you only want what is best for us.
Amen

Ice, maths and chilli challenges

It was a chilly one Monday morning!
The children were amazed at how thick the ice was on our tuff trays. After lunch, we brought the ice inside and decided to do some ice painting.

Chilli challenge number 3 
The Christmas cards are ready!
These will be coming home with the calendars.

Chilli challenge number 4
The children explored navigating Bee-Bots around the mat to get to one of the Christmas pictures. They had lots of fun watching the Bee-Bots move in different directions.

The Naughty Elf has been very cheeky!
On Wednesday, we found him doing snow angels in the flour.
On Thursday, he was swinging off the Christmas covered in toilet paper!
I  wonder what he’ll be doing tomorrow…
Fantastic maths!
Number 6 is our new focus number. We watched the Numberblock 6 video and talked about what 6 makes us think of.
“6 spots on a dice.”
“6 is the biggest number on the dice”
“6 spots on the wooden ladybird”
“2 and 2 and 2”
“5 and 1”

After the maths input, the children explored making an insect with 6 legs and 6 eyes.

“2 legs on this side and 4 legs on this side.”

“3 legs here and 3 legs here”

“My insect has got 6 eyes. 2 and 2 and 2.”

“My insect has got 6 eyes and 6 legs.”

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5… I need one more leg.”

Some of the children played a track game using 10 hoops and a die. Before starting the game, they were asked to work together to make a track of 10 hoops. We observed some amazing counting and teamwork! The children took turns to roll the dice, subitise and move along their tracks.
“I need 2 more.”
“I need 3 more.”
“I need 3…I can still move because I got 2… Now I only need one to win.”
“I’m one more than you.”
“I think … could win because he only needs one more.”

Library Books
Your child will have a library book in their book bag. Please look after this book at return it next Thursday so your child can choose a new library book.

Finally, this week we’ve been reading The Christmas Story. To help us remember the story, we used some actions. Click here to watch us retell the story.

Home-Link Challenge

This week’s bible story

Hanukah  

Today, we are thinking about Hanukah which is a Jewish festival. Have you ever been made to do something you didn’t want to do? In fact, you hated doing it?

How do you think David Beckham would feel if he had to do ballet? Or your headteacher if he or she had to dress up as a banana?

How do you think a Christian would feel if someone said to them at a Christmas nativity service, ‘You can’t worship Jesus, you’ve got to pray to the donkey?’
This is a story about when a whole country had to do things they didn’t want to, and how they reacted to it.

Reflection:
Quiet thought: How can you bring light to people today?

Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you that your light burns even longer than we hope for.
Help us to be light to others.
Amen.

Rainbow science, Matisse and Christmas

This week, we’ve had lots of fun being scientists. In Literacy, we read Potion Commotion by Peter Bently. After reading the story, we had a go at making a rainbow with Skittles. First, the children helped by placing the Skittles in a circle on the white plate. Before pouring the warm water onto the plate, we talked about making predictions and what that word means.
“I think it will make a rainbow.”
“I think the Skittles will turn white.”
“I think the water will turn purple.”

When the water was poured, the children observed carefully what was happening.
“Wow! It’s a rainbow.”
“The Skittles are turning white.”
“They are disappearing.”

After the experiment, the children wrote a sentence about what they saw.

On Tuesday, we had a go at another rainbow experiment. This time, we used felt tips, a piece of kitchen roll, and some water. We made predictions and then observed to see if we were right.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Who says it’s too early to put up the Christmas tree?

Writing Christmas wish lists.

Getting the home corner ready for Christmas.

Making cvc words using phoneme baubles.

Wrapping presents in Santa’s workshop.

The children have made their calendars. We used Matisse’s cut-outs as inspirations for our calendars. They will be bringing them home at the end of this half-term. Click here to see a sneak peek.

In maths, we finished learning all about the number 5. The children are fantastic at recalling number bonds to 5.

Making 5 using the balance scales.
The children put the Numicon pieces 5 in one side and had to work out which pieces could go in the other side to make it balance.

Using Christmas hats to help us with part-whole models.
How many children are wearing a hat?
How many children are not wearing a hat? 

Drawing pictures that represent 5 inside a handprint.

Subitising arrangments of dots up to 5 and matching them with the correct numeral.

Using beanbags to help us with part-whole models.

Important!

• Next week, your child will start bringing home a library book. The children will choose a new book every week during library time. Please make sure this book is returned every Thursday.
• Due to us starting to use our new phonics scheme, we will be collecting all reading books on 13 December. The children will take home a library book to enjoy over the Christmas holidays.

Home-Link Challenge

Finally, thanks to all the parents that have brought in a star costume for the Christmas production. We look forward to posting the performance for you to enjoy watching at home with your child.

 Have a lovely weekend!

This week’s bible story

Keep Going! Nehemiah 1: 1-7

Perseverance means keeping on trying and not giving up even when it is difficult.

If you’ve got some blocks, have a go at building a tower of twelve blocks. Was it easy? Now blindfold yourself and try again. Was it easier to do it when you were blindfolded or did it take more perseverance? Although the game was only a bit of fun, in life, it can sometimes be hard to keep going when things seem difficult or we feel discouraged. Our story today comes from the Old Testament part of the Bible. The Jewish people had not been listening to God, and they had been living in exile, away from their own homes. As the story starts, this situation is about to change. Read it carefully and see if you can work out why the people needed to have lots of perseverance and what helped them to keep going.

Reflection:
– In the story, what three things needed rebuilding?
– What kind of things discouraged the people from getting the building work done?
– What helped them to keep going?
None of us have to rebuild the walls around our towns and cities this week, but there might be some things that we are finding difficult or occasions when we feel like we want to give up.
Have a moment of silence as we think about the things that we are finding difficult or that we are worried about.

Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you that you always listen when we pray to you.
Thank you that you are always there.
Please help us to keep going when we find things hard.
Please help us to encourage others.
Amen.

Nursery rhyme week

This week, we celebrated Nursery Rhyme Week. In Literacy, we read Each Peach, Pear Plum by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg. When reading the story, we played ‘I Spy’. The children were encouraged to describe where the characters are using prepositional language, for example, Cinderella is hiding behind the cupboard.
After reading the book, they had to find a nursery rhyme character hiding in the classroom. The children had a go at writing the character’s name or a sentence describing where the character is hiding.
Of course, the chilli challenges were all linked to nursery rhymes…

Building a wall for Humpty Dumpty.

Playing ‘Busy Bus’ with our friends in the maths area.

Baking a cake as fast as we can in the playdough area.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 once we caught a fish alive!

Helping Old Mcdonald on his farm.

 The children noticed the dolls were sick, sick, sick. So, they phoned for the doctor to come quick, quick, quick!
Drawing part-whole models using 5 Little Speckled Frogs.
How many frogs are sat on the logs?
How many are swimming in the pond?

Reminders!
– Please return your child’s sound book on Monday 22 November.
– Christmas production clothing needs to be in school by Friday 26 November. Please make sure it’s in a labelled carrier bag.

Home-Link Challenge

Fun, fun, fun!

The Reception and Nursery children have had a fantastic day celebrating Nursery Rhyme Week and Children in Need.

PE

This week, I got the pleasure of teaching PE, and what a fabulous lesson we had. The children were so excited when they saw the big apparatus!
Before the lesson started, we had a discussion about keeping safe when on the apparatus. The children had to remember 3 key safety tips:

1. When landing, always bend your knees.
2. Do not climb past the blue bibs.
3. Only jump-off where there’s a mat.

To finish the lesson and to help us with our upper body strength, we had some fun swinging on the ropes.

We like to move and groove!

Reception love to dance! They always ask, “Can we do the Superheroes and Monster Moves videos?” 

Check out our amazing dance moves!
Monster Moves
Superheroes Unite

You could click on the links and join in the fun at home.