This week in Dexter Class

Welcome back! I hope that you all had some time to spend with your family and friends before starting what is already looking like a very busy term.

We are looking at the single phonemes j, v, w and x in Phonics this week and practising reading the tricky words me, he, we and be. We are now entering Phase 3 of our phonics teaching sequence and will soon be progressing to digraphs such as ai, ee, oa etc. The children will be bringing home reading books closely matched to their learning but need to secure the sounds already taught and be blending fluently before moving on to the phase 3 books so please continue to read daily when possible.

This week, we start a new journey in our Literacy, Communication and Language. We will; be looking at the story of Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson, starting with discussion about the author and the illustrator, retelling and story mapping before boxing up into the beginning, middle and end. We will move on to reading and writing simple captions using our phonics knowledge. This book has been chosen as the children really enjoy joining in with the repeated rhyming phrases and it contains rich vocabulary that inspires their conversations, play and writing.

In Maths, we are starting the week by looking spatial awareness an in particular at positional and directional language. We are focusing on how to describe the position or movement of an object in comparison to others. We will then move onto the numbers four and five and look at their composition and how they relate to 1.2 and 3.

I am really looking forward to sharing your child's progress with you on Thursday evening. These 10 minute meetings will give us an opportunity to discuss learning so far and talk about the next steps. If you feel that you need more time to discuss anything of concern to you then we can make an appointment for another day before or after school as this is purely an opportunity to discuss progress.

We are supporting the Poppy Appeal and the Year 6 children will be selling merchandise in return for a suggested donation in the region of 50 pence to £2 for a symbol of Remembrance. We will also be walking to the War Memorial in Amberley on Friday to show our respects for those who gave their lives in service.

Finally, a very important date for your diaries-the Nativity performance will be held at 2pm and 6pm at the church on Wednesday 13th December 2023. The Dexter children will be starting to practise the songs very soon so be prepared!