quick update!

Sorry for lack of blogging recently.... but just thought I would give you a quick update as to where we are with phonics. We have just completed all of the phase 2 phonemes and your child should by now have their 'sound book' so you can practice them at home. We will continue revising the sounds and practicing blending and segementing up until christmas - so that we are ready to start phase 3 in the new year!!!! As soon as we are back after christmas we will arrange another phonics meeting to keep you all up to speed.

A few dates for your dairy:-

27th Noevember (this Friday!!) is a training day - so you children will not be in school.
Tuesday 15th December at 2:30pm will be our Christmas Concert - you will be receiveing a letter this week about costumes etc!
Wednesday 16th December pm will be our christmas party.
Friday 18th December - we break up for Christmas!!

Thanks for takng time to check the blog your comments are always welcome!

Thank you

Mrs Foster and Mrs Ashby

Brain and Phonics!!

Thanks to everybody who came this afternoon for our brain activities - we know that the children love it when you come in - so thank you for giving up your time!!

In phonics this week we have done the letters i-n-m-d and recapped the tricky word 'the'. We have also been practising blending and segmenting the High Frequency Words (HFW) in-is-it-at. The children are really good at saying the sounds and names of letters - we now need to do lots of practice at writing them!!

Thanks

Mrs Foster and Mrs Ashby

Brain Week!!

Just in case you missed your invite - the children would like to invite you into school on Thursday 15th Oct at 1pm to come and join us for some brain activites. You are welcome to stay until hometime - but if you just want to pop in for an hour or so that is fine too.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Phonics!!!!

Just a quick update......

We have started phonics this week as we said at the meeting - by the end of the week we will have learnt s-a-t-p and the tricky word 'the'. We have also mentioned the names of these letters so you can use those at home to.

We still have technical probs with the colour printer - but I haven't forgotten about the Jolly Phonics handout!

Thanks
Mrs Foster and Mrs Ashby

Curriculum Evening

Just wanted to say a big thank you to all that attended the curriculum evening tonight - it was great to see so many of you there!! I know there was a lot to take in, but I do hope you found the evening useful? Please post your comments and let us know!!

Our next curriculum evening will be Wednesday 2nd December - 5:30pm - 7pm we really hope that you will be able to come!

Don't forget the Brain Awareness meeting next week (8th October) - that will be a really good night and very informative - not to be missed!

If you were not at the meeting tonight - please see either me or Mrs Ashby and we would happy to give you the reading handout!!

We will let you all have the jolly phonics pictures as soon as we can print them out!!

Thanks again for coming tonight - it really makes it worth while for us when so many of you come! :)

Mrs Foster and Mrs Ashby

Brain Awareness Week at Methley Primary! wb 12th October 2009.
This is a week dedicated to increasing our understanding of the human brain - how it thinks, learns and remembers. The pupils at Methley Primary are the first generation of children who will get to write a manual for their brain! They will discover how to use their brains to learn and achieve in the classroom and in their lives. Staff and pupils will participate in a range of exciting activities to learn about the amazing human brain!!
Before the week itself there is an evening brain training session for parents called "Your Child's Amazing Brain!" this will be held at school on Thursday 8th October from 5:30pm to 7:00pm. Its aim is to enable you to become better partners in your child's learning by examining the key role you have to play in nurturing the young brain. We promise it will be informative and fun!!
We are very excited to be running this amazing brain week in school and seeing the positive affects it will have on each child's learning journey.

Curriculum/Phonics Evening

Reception will be holding the first of 2 curriculum evenings on the 1st October at 6pm. This evening will mainly focus on Phonics and Reading. The parents who attended the phonics meetings last year were very positive and they found them very useful when helping their children at home with their reading and writing. We really hope you will be able to attend and will be sending home letters shortly with more infomation.

Thank you

Mrs Foster and Mrs Ashby

Snacks

Methley Primary School has gained 'Advanced Healthy School status and a big part of that award is our 'Food Policy'.

There seems to be a little confusion about the kind of snacks that the children are allowed to bring to school.....

The children are allowed to bring the following:

-A piece of fruit.
-Vegetable sticks (Carrot/cucumber etc)
-Dried fruit (raisins/apricots etc)
-Plain biscuits (digestive/rich tea...) The plain biscuit option is only there for children who REALLY don't like fruit/veg.

The children are not allowed to bring:

-cereal/muesli bars
-chocolate biscuits, party rings etc
-Fruit bars (school bars etc.)
-Yogurts
-Smoothie pouches/drinks
-Crisps (inc Mini Cheddars)
-Cheese sticks
-Anything really that isn't fruit, veg or a plain biscuit.

We don't enjoy being 'Snack Police' but we have to adhere to school policy and if we say yes to one thing then it opens up the flood gates to all sorts. We hope that you will continue to support us in our Healthy School status and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask any of the Reception/Year 1 Team.

Thank You

Profile folders

Quick reminder!!
Could we please have your child's nursery profile in a lever arch file. We mentioned it way back in July at the new parents evening, but I know we have all slept since then!!

What a great first week we have had in Reception!!

Welcome back

Just checking that I can remember how to Blog - it's been a while!! Reception are having a great first week back - there is lots to take in all at once and they are doing great!

Just a few reminders:

Please remember to send your child with a snack each day (fresh fruit or veg or a plain biscuit).

We are collecting in 'empty' book bags - so if you still have yours at home please send it into school - we hope to be giving out books in the next couple of weeks!!

Next week the morning chidren will be staying for dinner on Monday and Tuesday - please collect them at 12:15pm. Afternoon children will be staying for dinner on Thursday and Friday so please drop them off at 11:45am.

I think thats it for now..... but watch this space!!

Thank you
Mrs Foster and Mrs Ashby

Bridlington

WOW!!! What an amazing couple of days Reception have had. Your children have really made us proud over the last couple of days with their behaviour and the fun that we have had. They genuinely loved every minute of the day out. Once again we received numerous complements for our manners and attitudes which is always lovely. I hope that the children have shared their views of the day with you and that their tiredness reflected their enjoyment. Thank you for supporting this trip as they are a vital part of both your children's education and their social development - as well as being a whole load of fun!

The sun has got his hat on!

Our topic for this half term has the rather hopeful title of "The Sun Has Got His Hat On!" and ties in with our trip to the seaside. We will be looking at why and when we take holidays and comparing them with seaside holidays from the past. We will be visiting the "Beside The Seaside" museum whilst we are at Bridlington which will reinforce the children's learning. We have created seaside role play areas but please feel free to send in any props that you feel would enhance these areas.

We are currently looking at the text The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch in literacy and in number work we are doubling numbers.

Trip Letters

You should all have received a letter about our class trip now. Please feel free to ask any questions so that all forms can be returned as soon as possible. Thank you.

Photos

Please make sure that you have returned your order forms for photos by Wednesday 17th June please. Thanks.

Open Afternoon

Just a quick reminder that our open afternoon is Tuesday 23rd June. Please feel free to come and join your children in their learning. Thanks.

Sports Day

Thank you to all of the parents, grandparents and siblings who came and supported us at Sports Day. Watergate won on the day but I think that the good time (the weather) and the behaviour of the children made us all feel like winners!

House team colours

Just to let you all know that we like your children to wear a t-shirt in their house colours for sports day. The house colours are their colour groups which they all know and which are:
Mexborough - red
Watergate - yellow
Oswald - Purple
Mulberry - Blue
Pinfold - Green

Our learning

In literacy we are currently reading the story of Jack and the Beanstalk which we will be using as a basis for our next Big Writing.

In Numeracy we have been loking at money - not spending it!- recognising the different coins and their values.

The weather is getting hot!

Please remember that as the weather gets hotter it is important for your children to have appropriate sun hats, water bottles and that a long lasting sun cream is applied before school.

Sports day

Please remember that our Sports morning is Tuesday 19th May.

Our school trip

Please keep your eyes open in your child's bags later this week for the letter about our school trip and it's meeting - thanks.

Down to Earth

Hi everyone, I hope that you are all feeling as refreshed as we do after the break. The weather has been amazing today so we are hoping that it's staying for the Summer Term!

We have started our new theme today which is called "Down to Earth" and will involve planting different seeds, finding out about the needs of plants and looking at insects and minibeasts - all very exciting stuff.

In numeracy this week we are looking at capacity and in literacy we will be looking at instructions with the book "How to plant a Sunflower". Our creativity will be expressed with observational drawing of flowers and plants.

As always please ask if you have any questions. Thanks.

Red Nose Day

Thanks to many of you that popped along to help out on Friday - it helps so much and obviously we wouldn't have been able to get wet in the stocks if you hadn't have been there so thank you (I think!)

Phonics

Just a quick reminder that the phonics workshops are this week on Monday afternoon and Wednesday evening.

Phonics for this week

You will be correct in thinking that we have already introduced these sounds but we feel that they are important enough for us to spend an extra week ensuring that the children can "use and apply" these sounds within their writing.

Phonics groups

As you may know we have separated the children into phonics groups to enable us to give each group a phonics session to meet their needs. These are the sounds we have been learning.

Happy new year!

I find it hard to believe that this is my first Blog of 2009 - what have I been doing???

Our theme for this term is called "In my dreams" and is a mixture of princess fairy tales and monsters - we will leave you to decide which your child will prefer.

We will be concentrating more on writing now and encouraging the children to write more often during busy times. In numeracy we have been looking at sorting objects using colours, sizes and shapes.

In our knowledge and understanding work we are looking at materials with particular attention to whether they float or sink and if they are waterproof.

For our creative work we will be making clay monsters so if you are at a loose end please feel free to pop in and offer a hand!

As always - if in doubt please ask!