Our topic this half term is called Sparkle and Shine and we will be learning about many different festivals and celebrations including Bonfire Night, Diwali, Eid, Birthdays, Weddings and Christmas.

We will be exploring these celebrations through the following key texts: 

In Phonics the graphemes that we will be learning in this half term are:

e u r h b f ff l ll ss

Please help your child consolidate these at home by reading the words in your red phonics book.
Thank you :)

Halloween

We had a very spooky first week back at school as we became Witches and Wizards as part of our Literacy learning and had to create a spooky potion using initial sounds or CVC words learned in our phonics lessons. We continued to explore pumpkins, spiders and skeletons through provision in our indoor and outdoor classrooms.

Bonfire Night

We have also been learning about Bonfire Night and have talked about why and how we celebrate it, including setting off beautiful fireworks! We have discussed bonfire night and firework safety. We have watched some videos of firework displays and have recreated the movement of a firework through dance using scarves. The children have also used different art skills to create their own firework pictures.

Diwali

This week we have been learning about the celebration of Diwali. We have read a lovely book called The Best Diwali Ever by Sonali Shah and Chaaya Prabhat and talked about how the little girl in the story celebrates Diwali with her family and community. We have looked closely at rangoli patterns and divas lamps and created our own using different media and materials.

Remembrance Day

We had a lovely day talking about the importance of Remembrance Day and enjoyed coming together at 11 o'clock with the rest of the school to reflect and remember the soldiers in our two minutes silence. Back in the classroom we explored poppies through our art work; carrying out observational drawings and also printing them with some interesting objects!

Eid

This week as part of our topic learning we have been learning about and sharing our experiences of Eid. We have been busy exploring Eid in our environment by building mosques in our construction area, drawing and painting mosques and creating mehndi patterns. We have been talking about differences and similarities between Eid and Diwali celebrations.

Birthdays

This week as part of our topic learning we have been looking at photographs of our friends as babies, toddlers and of them as children now in the present day. We have sorted the pictures into chronological order and have talked about the past comparing it to the present and how we have changed. We have also had fun in our classroom as we have role-played a birthday party in the home corner… making cakes, wrapping presents, setting up a party and writing shopping lists.

  The children have also created party hats, drawn and painted presents and made party cakes using resources in our creative and malleable areas!