Batley Parish J I N C of E School Reception Newsletter Friday 18th September
Dates for your diary!!PE Monday mornings and Friday mornings
Family Service- Every Tuesday for all families to join us
Celebration Assembly- Friday 3pm whole school /
Star of the week!
Well done to
for being this week’s Star of the week! This week our little stars have been chosen for their brilliant listening in group times and for always following our class rules!
Our Class Learning
This week we have been learning about our feelings and helping children to label their own feelings. We have also introduced two very simple behaviour systems in the classroom to help children understand and follow our class rules that we sent home last week.
Class- Reward Jar
We have introduced our reward jar. This is an empty plastic sweetie jar designed to help children understand that they can work together to achieve a class reward.
A cube is placed in the jar by a child when he / she does something that we want to reward them for. It does not have to be for academic achievement, but it can be used for other rewards such as sitting well during circle time, helping others, tidying up.
When the jar is full, the whole class gets a treat. This will be something that we agree as a class.
Sun and Cloud Behaviour system
It is also important that children become aware of their own actions and how they can affect others feelings. We have introduced a simple behavioural system to support children with this. There will be a cloud, a sun and a golden sun displayed in the classroom. At the start of each day every child begins on the sun. If a child is extremely good all day or shows outstanding behaviour e.g. trying hard, being kind, helping others etc. their individual name peg is placed on the golden sun and likewise if a child misbehaves, there name will be placed on the grey cloud. This system is effective as it encourages children to move back to the sun and work hard to move the golden sun. It also allows us to reward those children who remain on the sun and show good behaviour at all times. At the end of the day every child’s name peg is moved back to the sun. At the end of the day children who have moved to the golden sun will get a shiny sticker.
Home Learning
Each week we will share with you what your child has been learning at school and give you suggestions to how you can support your child’s learning and development at home.
Labelling Feelings
Managing Feelings and Behaviour is one of the prime areas of learning of your child’s education. We teach your child how to manage their own feelings and behaviours through simple reward systems and using lots of praise. Your child also received a weekly SEAL session where we teach children about feelings. This may be a circle time activity or a story where children can relate to and empathise with the characters. A great way to help young children understand how their actions can hurt or harm others is to draw a simple social story. The adult draws a simple picture of what happened and helps children understand and recognise what they may have done and how to do something different if the situation happened again.
Can you help children to learn about the importance of managing their feelings at behaviour by talking to them about the following scenarios?
- What to do when another child hurts them- tell a teacher straight away and don’t hit back.
- What to do when another child won’t let them join in- ask if they can play a second time and if they still don’t allow them to join in, tell the teacher straight away.
- What to do if they need the toilet at carpet time- put their hand up so they can go to the toilet.
- What to do when you another child isn’t sharing- Ask politely, ‘please can I have a go after you?’ Use the sand timer so that the children know how long they have to wait. If the other child still won’t share, tell the teacher. Don’t snatch or fight.
Family customs and traditions
Learning about different family customs, traditions and celebrations is part of your child’s curriculum. It is important that children learn about similarities and differences between events in their own lives and the lives of others. This week we have been learning about ‘Eid’ which is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. Celebrations vary by country but include gatherings to view the new moon, decorating homes inside and out, family visits, eating special sweet foods, neighbourhood fairs, visits to amusement parks, wearing new clothes and giving and receiving gifts.
On Wednesday we had an ‘Eid day’ where children made their own cards, biscuits and pretend gifts. They coloured in patterns, created mehndi patterns and made crescent and moon collages. Some of these are now on display in our classroom and you can look at photographs of our day on the school website. If you want to continue their learning at home, here are some ideas!
- Make some crescent and moon biscuits at home with your child. I have attached a simple recipe! Can you take photographs of these to share at school!
- Look at photographs of their own family celebrations e.g. parties, Christmas etc and talk about past events in their own lives. Can you share this with us at school?
- You can download some Eid colouring sheets from the internet. Try http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/eid
Donations
Thank you for your continued support with our class fund. This money really helps us to buy the extra things that we can use in the classroom. This week we have bought ingredients to make and decorate biscuits for Eid.
Lost Property
Please can I ask that you check at home that your child has brought home the correct coat and the correct school uniform? The following items have been misplaced and are labelled with the child’s name and are still missing.
Ella Barker- Blue coat, fur collar, age 5-6.
Oliver Kaye- Marks and Spencers trousers,
Parents comments/ suggestions
If you have any comments or suggestions that you would like to make/ ask about your child’s learning, please feel free to do so here….