This week in Dexter class

This week our class story in Literacy, Language and Communication will be A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler. We read the story today, discussing some of the vocabulary and talking about the sequence of the events. We also looked at making houses to put our farm animals in! On Tuesday we will produce a story map together and then we will 'box up' the pictures into the order of events focusing on the beginning, middle and end. We will also be looking at the rhyming words and repeated refrains in the story. Children are also getting to put their phonics knowledge into action by matching some simple initial sounds and names for the characters such as 'man' and 'pig' which use sounds that they have been learning to read and write.

Talking of phonics, please do remember to come along on Wednesday to our Phonics information evening where myself, Mrs Hamilton and, our font of all knowledge on Phonics matters, Mrs Stevens will discuss our Phonics teaching in more detail. Our sounds that we are learning in Phonics this week are e, u, r and ck.

In Maths we are continuing with comparing measurements and this week we are looking at length , mass and capacity. We will then be moving on to pattern and repeating patterns before diving into more maths mastery which focuses on Number. This week we will be using our magical pumpkin patch to help us compare mass so look out for some pics on Tapestry. We will also be making lotions and potions using pipettes and measuring vessels to enhance our understanding of capacity.

The pumpkins will also be used to help us learn about lifecycles and we will be talking about this to support our Understanding of the World.

Just a couple of gentle reminders, please do remember to clearly label all items of uniform and kit. Some items are difficult to reunite if not labelled correctly. Biro washes off eventually and so I would ask that you use a permanent marker or stick-on labels. Also, please check that your child brings home the correct items of clothing as even with labels we find that sometimes things still disappear or go home with the wrong child!