Bonne Année

Our theme for this half-term is ‘Happy New Year!’

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

In RE, we will explore Branch 3 of our RE Programme ‘Galilee to Jerusalem’. We will listen to the Bible story of Jesus Welcoming the Little Children (Mk 10:v16) and know that Jesus came to show God’s love and welcomes everyone.

Children’s Mental Health Week begins on 5 February.  The theme is ‘My Voice Matters’ and the children will be empowered to express themselves effectively to support their mental health and wellbeing.

The children will develop respect for other cultures when we celebrate Lunar New Year.  In order to prepare for the Year of the Dragon, which begins on 10 February, we will set up a Chinese restaurant in our role play area. We hope to be able to come to school wearing the traditional colours of red & yellow to celebrate this exciting festival on Friday 9 February (date to be confirmed).  We will learn about the traditions and customs of this lunar festival through music, dance, stories and sharing real Asian artefacts.  More details of arrangements for this special celebration will follow in a separate letter.

Understanding the World

We will extend our understanding of our own culture and traditions by reflecting on our Christmas and New Year celebrations.  Please use your child’s ‘special book’ or send us an email with any photos or mementos of your family’s festive celebrations for us to share and talk about in school.

We will further explore our home city as we discover the location of Chinatown on maps, photos, online and in real life.  We plan to set a family challenge to visit Liverpool city centre to celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Dragon and experience the annual New Year festival celebrations during the weekend of 10 February 2024.  Please email or send in any photos/videos/souvenirs if you take up this cultural challenge!

Developing scientific concepts and skills, we will investigate seasonal change as winter takes hold and will spend time outside using our senses to experience ‘hot and cold’; making predictions and observing the changes we see when freezing, melting, heating, cooling and boiling different materials.  We will look at different habitats and how animals and plant adapt to living in cold environments.

Expressive Arts and Design

Our creative work will focus on our New Year celebrations. We will welcome 2024 with our New Year wishes, making wish stars to place outside on our ‘wishing tree’ in Forest School and manifesting good intentions for the year ahead as we make affirmations in our wishing pond.  As our Lunar New Year preparations get underway, we will practise folding, assembling, cutting and decorating to create a giant Chinese dragon, as well as making cards, fans and lanterns to decorate our Chinese restaurant imaginary play area. In dance, Mrs Neil will lead a spectacular Chinese ribbon and dragon dance.  We will parade around the school to bring good fortune to each class. We will listen to traditional Chinese music and move in time to the rhythms we can hear.  

Communication and Language

Through ‘circle time’ and ‘time to talk’ sessions, the children will be encouraged to express their ideas and opinions using appropriate vocabulary and clear, audible speech. We will reflect on 2023 by looking at photographs and talking about what we remember. We will look ahead and make predictions about what 2024 may bring.  The children will be encouraged to recount their experiences in increasing detail, answering questions such as what? where? who? how? and why? in order to structure their ideas clearly.

Literacy

We have begun a new rotation of Read Write Inc. phonics teaching.  Your child will work with one of the Reception team every day, developing their reading and spelling through Speed Sounds, Fred Talk and Speed Writing activities.  The children will bring home their ditty sheets/reading books in a transparent wallet, labelled with their name.  Please support your child to read their ditty/book every day then return to school in their wallet on Wednesdays.

Mathematics

We have begun the topic Alive in 5! We will consolidate our understanding that all numbers are made up of smaller numbers, exploring the different compositions of numbers 4 and 5, noticing how they are made of two parts or more than two parts.  The children will practise comparing numbers, saying which is more or less or equal and then move onto comparing measures, experiencing direct comparison of objects, saying which is heavy/ier/iest and light/er/est.

Physical Development

To develop our fine motor skills, we will embark on a ‘chopstick challenge’ to practise picking up and transporting small objects with tweezers and chopsticks.  In PE, we will work on fundamental movement skills: travelling, copying & performing actions, practising galloping, skipping, sliding, jumping, changing direction, balancing, running.  To start each week, every Monday we will get ready for learning and develop strength, balance and concentration with Cosmic Kids yoga sessions.

We are delighted to begin 2024 with you and your families and look forward to another busy, enjoyable half-term together.  Please let us know if further advice or support is needed.