Welcome to the Wagtails Class!
Staff
Teacher: Rebecca Halliwell
TAs: Ellie Towers, Katie Stanfield, Anne Harrison and Mohima Miah
Mid Day Leader: Shapla Begum
Newsletter
Ticket to Ride
It’s been a busy half term for the Wagtails! We’ve had so much fun learning all about our topic ‘Ticket to Ride’.
In English we have been reading The Runaway Train. We have been working on our comprehension and sequencing skills.
We are continuing to work on our phase 3 phonics and tricky words. We learnt a new sound each week and practiced saying, reading and writing them. We have continued to enjoy Move and Mark developing our fine and gross motor skills to music and using different sensory materials to improve and develop our letter formation.
We have also been working towards our own targets in Maths. Completing different challenges and activities every day to help develop our skills in number, shape and application.
We had the exciting opportunity to attend a Manchester United Foundation sports event which was so much fun! We tried baseball, hockey, cricket and boxing. We also learnt some new football skills. We had such a brilliant time and managed to avoid the rain all day!
The Wagtails have enjoyed learning about every day materials in science. We did lots of exciting experiments to find the best material for ‘Billy the bug’s boat’ and for ‘Ted’s umbrella’. In art we have been looking at Yayoi Kusama, we have had fun making our own vehicles and decorated them in the style of Kusama. In Design and Technology we have designed, made and evaluated peg cars. In Geography we have learnt all about the seaside and had lots of fun in our seaside role play area. And in PSHE we have been talking lots about our move to the Sunbirds next year and other changes in our lives.
It’s been a great last half term in the Wagtails! We are very proud of all your amazing achievements this year, and can’t wait until we are back together again in September as the Sunbirds!
Signalong
At Halcyon Way we use Signalong as a part of a Total Communication Approach, we are constantly using core vocabulary with the children to support their language development and then through each of our topics we introduce new signs and language, which extends their vocabulary further. We also have two “Signs of the Week” which helps maintain and extend key knowledge and skills of everyday vocabulary.
Each half term we will be creating a short video showcasing and demonstrating signs relavent for the current term so that you can learn the signs and further this learning at home.
Click play to watch this half terms Signalong video!
Lunchtime
If your child has a school dinner, the school menus can be accessed by clicking here. For children who bring a packed lunch, please remember to provide healthy and balanced options. We are a Healthy School and will be focusing on healthy eating and how children can make healthy lifestyle choices.
How You Can Help at Home
The following activities are suggested as appropriate homework activities which you can enjoy with your child and reinforce the learning we are focussing on this half term –
- Encourage your child to develop their counting skills where possible e.g. as they are walking up the stairs count each step, how many cars can you see, how many wheels can you see on a car?
- Listen to and share stories with your child, ask your child questions (where relevant) and model language for them.
- Discuss the theme ‘Winter Wonderland’ with your child. Our class story this term will be ‘Elmer’s Christmas’. Read the story with your children or watch the video recording of this story on YouTube. Can your child join in with the story? Can they do the same actions? Can they anticipate what is coming next? Can they tell you what happens in the story? Can they remember key events and characters?
- Immerse your child in sensory materials you have around the house e.g. flour, shaving foam, custard powder etc. Encourage your child to make marks in these materials, this term we will be focusing on ‘up and down’ and ‘side to side’ in move and mark.
- Encouraging your child to dress up and encourage role play, ask them to make you a cup of tea and cake or a sandwich.
- Discuss emotions with your child, recognising happy and sad faces. Can your child tell you things that make them happy?
- Read the story ‘The Colour Monster’ with your children or watch the video recording on YouTube. Can your child recognise the different colour monsters and what they symbolise?
- Promoting independence as much as possible; can your child put on their own coat? Can they zip up their coat? Can they take off and put on their jumpers/cardigans? Can they put on their own shoes? Can they brush their teeth?
Thank you for your continued support!
