Dear Rainbow class and parents,
Welcome to Rainbow Class. We hope you have all had a great and restful break.
The fifth term will continue to be as busy as the others, with lots of learning opportunities inside and outside of the classroom. We will be basing our learning on the topic ‘Come Outside’. We will be learning all about the life cycle of a frog and a caterpillar. We will also be learning about how different flowers and vegetable grow by looking at a variety of fiction and non-fiction books, focusing on ‘who’ the book is about, ‘what’ the book is about and ‘where’ it is set. We will be role-playing floristry in our flower shop, writing captions about creatures, plants and vegetables and exploring them through continuous provision.
Please can your child have the following items in school every day:
Book bag with reading book and reading log. Please read with your child daily and encourage sounding out the word to blend together at the end of the word. If you want any help with supporting your child with reading please let me know via email or at the end of the day and I will find a suitable time to help.
Named water bottle filled with water. We will refill them during the day as needed.
A coat
A healthy snack if you decide to. (We have free fruit daily).
A healthy snack is fruit, vegetables, cereal bars- (not crisps, chocolate or anything containing nuts)
We use the outside area daily in all weathers, please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for this.
As the weather starts to warm up, a sun hat or cap
PE
In Term Two, our PE lesson will take place on a Tuesday mornings. Please ensure that the children have their PE kits in school on this day.
PE kit should include:
- Black shorts or jogging bottoms.
- Team colour T-shirt.
- Black trainers.
- School jumper (no hoodies or other jumpers)
Forest School
In Term five, our Forest School will take place on a Thursday mornings. Please ensure that the children come to school in their Forest School kit on this day.
Children are welcome to wear their Forest School kit on these days but should wear a school jumper over the top. Forest School kit should include:
- Wellington boots.
- Waterproof trousers and raincoat or full waterproof onesie.
- House colour PE t-shirt or white PE t-shirt.
- Black jogging bottoms.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to speak to me at the beginning or end of the day. If you are unable to do this then please either call the school office, or email using the address below:
rainbow@st-peters-canterbury.kent.sch.uk
Mrs Slattery and the Rainbow staff team
Here is our timetable for term 5
This term's overview of learning:
Tapestry
In Rainbow Class we use Tapestry which is an app that allows us to record learning that has taken place in the classroom. This can also be accessed at home so you can see what we have been up to!
It is also extremely useful to have some photographs and comments of activities, celebrations and learning done at home as it helps to build a whole picture of your child and will contribute towards meeting the Early Learning Goals. Every term there will be Love to Learn Challenges to complete at home and upload to Tapestry.
Below is a step-by-step guide for how to upload observations as well as some ideas and suggestions of what you could upload...
/docs/How_to_upload_observations_onto_Tapestry_guide_docx.pdf
/docs/What_shall_I_post_on_Tapestry.pdf
How we assess your child in Rainbows
We use Birth to 5 Matters to assess your child. We do this three times a year. We are aiming for your child to reach the statutory end oy year point. Please see on the link below:
https://birthto5matters.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Birthto5Matters-download.pdf
Reading
Here is a link to a video for how you can support your child with their reading at home...
//www.youtube.com/embed/_cUePeH_X1Q#t=0.5
At St Peter's we want all children to develop a love of books and reading. All children will have their own reading record log and will take home reading books every week. These will consist of both reading scheme books for them to work on their segmenting and blending skills as well as a 'free choice' picture book which the children can share, talk about and listen to being read.
Below are some recommended reads for EYFS from the author Pie Corbett:
/docs/pie-corbett-suggested_reading_list.pdf
As a school we also have access to the Oxford Owl website which can be used at home to support reading.
To access a range of e-books, here are the Rainbow Class log in details and a guide for parents:
/docs/Oxford_Owl_Guide_for_Parents.pdf
Under the Phonics tab you will also find some useful resources to help with learning sounds and supporting your child with blending for reading.
Phonics
At St Peter's we learn how to read using a Phonics programme called 'Little Wandle'. We begin by learning the sounds and then learning how to read words by saying the sounds (segmenting) and then pushing them together to hear the word (blending). Below is a link to the little wandle website which has lots of guidance to help you support your child at home with their phonic learning.
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
Here is a video guide for how to say the sounds we have been learning this term...
This term in phonics we are consolidating the digraphs and trigraphs we learnt last term by reading them in longer words and will be looking at adding s/es to the end of words to make them plural.
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reading powerpoint for rainbow parents.pdf
Maths
At St Peter's we teach Maths through the mastery approach, by encouraging children to explore number, shape, space and measures with real life examples, within stories and by using concrete materials in order to gain strong foundations in their understanding.