Happy New Year! Welcome to Term 3!

Once Upon a Time... Exploring traditional tales from around the world

Monday 6th January 2025

Dear Elf Owl Families,

We hope you all had a lovely Christmas break. We would like to wish everyone a peaceful, happy and healthy new year. Thank you very much for our very thoughtful and generous Christmas gifts. Our topic for the term ahead is 'Once upon a time' which is a lovely topic as it allows us to explore different traditional tales from around the world. This includes very familiar tales such as 'Little Red Riding Hood' and 'Jack and the Beanstalk', as well as The Chinese Zodiac story when we learn about The Chinese and Lunar New Year. Alongside traditional tales we will be looking at seasonal changes; snow and ice in particular and we will be exploring sculpture and 3D art in small groups. In PSHE (Personal Social and Health Education) we will be thinking about keeping ourselves safe. This relates to taking medicines, safety indoors and outdoors, being safe online and listening to our feelings. Our question in R.E is 'Are all families the same?' and we will be considering how different families celebrate occasions such as welcoming in the New Year, birthdays and Valentine's Day.

Monster Phonics

This term we will have a focus on learning digraphs (two letters which make one sound). To support the children's understanding and application when reading and writing, these are linked to the Monster Phonics book characters (as you can see below). We will also continue to introduce further high frequency words which appear often in texts. As well as teaching these new sounds, we will continue to revisit the sounds learnt last term and work with the children to apply their phonic knowledge in reading and writing.

W.b: 6th January: Digraph: Tricky Witch oo (as in book) /High frequency words: look, now, down

W.b: 13th January: Digraph: Brown Owl ow (as in owl) / High frequency words: look, now, down

W.b: 20th January: Digraph: Green Froggy ee (as in bee) / High frequency words: see, going, just, have

W.b: 27th January: Digraph: Black cat ur (as in fur) / High frequency words: see, going, just, have

W.b: 3rd February: Digraph: Angry Red A ai (as in wait) / High frequency words: it's, do, so

W.b: 10th February: Digraph: Black cat or (as in fork)/ High frequency words: it's, do, so

Reading

Please continue to read with your child for 10 minutes each day. Encourage them to use their phonics to decode words where possible and spend time talking about the story. Please sign your child's yellow reading records so we know you have read together.

Maths

In Maths this term we will start by reading and writing numbers, subitising and finding one more and one less than a given number. We will then look at mass and capacity before going back to a number focus to learn about odds, evens and doubles. Finally this term we will explore and compare lengths and heights and then order and sequence time.

P.E and Forest School

The children will have P.E on both Mondays and Thursdays this term. The Monday ‘Cooperate and Solve’ session will be teamwork-based and the Thursday session will be gymnastics. Both will be taught by Matt Pearce and the children should come to school wearing full kit and trainers/ plimsolls. We will continue with Forest School on Fridays. Please ensure your child has full waterproofs, wellies and a change of clothes left in school. These items are also used throughout the week when the children play outside. 

Many thanks for your continued support. As always, do come and see us if you have any questions or concerns.

With our warmest wishes for a great term ahead,

Mrs Ray, Miss Taylor and the Elf Owl Team