What a show !

Our Christmas concert this year was called `Sparkle.`  It was about the smallest star in the sky who had a very important job to do- she became the star of Bethlehem! All the children used their loud voices to tell the story and sang their hearts out! We were all very proud.We have been working so hard on our Christmas concert this year.   

Children in Need !!!!

We had such a fun day helping "Children in Need" We dressed in spotty clothes and made spotty biscuits! Delicious! We also put our loose change on a huge Pudsey Bear. Did you see our school name on Children in Need?

What a Diwali Party!

We had a very enjoyable day indeed! The children made Rama and Sita crowns and the girls dressed up in saris. The children made a rangoli pattern to go on our doorstep and their diya lamps were placed around the infants. Fairy lights decorated every room. The children ate nann bread, samosas and pakoras and crunched on pompadoms! We had a selection of fruit and traditional indian barfi sweets (which the children made). We ate to traditional Indian music and finished the day off by decorating our hands with mendi patterns. We will developing our number skills this week with a little help from 'Ravana', the ten headed demon!!
Many thanks to those parents who attended the reading presentation last Tuesday, I hope you found it useful and informative. The reading leaflet will follow shortly.

We had a lovely time at the New Theatre and all children were both a credit to their parents and the school!

Could I please ask for the children's soundbooks to be returned to school to be updated with the next six sounds. Thank you!

Diwali

We have been celebrating diwali . We made diya lamps to help Rama and Sita find their way back from the forest. We also looked at traditional Indian clothes. Don`t we look smart?

Another busy week!

We will be finishing our topic of diwali this week, which will end on Wednesday with a diwali party. We will be decorating our department with as many lights as possible and will be making a rangoli pattern on our doorstep for good luck. We will also make Rama and Sita crowns aswell as sharing delicious 'barfi sweets' (a traditional indian sweet that the children will make).

The children were very excited to receive a parcel from King Rama himself! He wanted to know all about Wales. The children made Welsh greeting cards, printed Welsh pictures using the internet and painted rainy day pictures! We now have a big Welsh parcel to send to India!

Some important dates for this week:

• 9.15am Tuesday 9th November-Reading Presentation (In Mrs Tucker's classroom)
• Thursday 11th November-Bigfoot theatre company are coming to school to work with children (I am on a teacher's training course)
• Friday 12th November- 'Room on a Broom' theatre trip.
  

It's Diwali

Welcome back to school after our half term break. We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us. During the coming week the children will be learning about the festival of Diwali. Diwali is the Hindu festival of light and is based on the story of Prince Rama and Princess Sita, who are banished to a forest where they defeat Ravana ( the ten headed demon!). As Rama and Sita made their way back to the city, people lined the roads with lights to help them find their way. Diwali means 'Line of Lights'.

We will also be looking at how Diwali is celebrated by Hindus today. The children will be making diwali lamps (also known as diya lamps), diwali cards, rang0li patterns and we end the topic with a Diwali party. We will also be looking at traditional Indian dress.

Some dates to be aware of:

• 11th November Bigfoot theatre group are coming in to class to do some activities based on 'Room on the Broom'.


• 12th November New Theatre trip to see 'Room On A Broom'.

Can I also remind parents that snack money is due for this half term (£2.50). Can PE kits be retuned to school asap.

Thank you

It's autumn time!

Just a quick post to let you know about our topic for this week. Today the children have been on an autumn walk looking for signs of autumn around our school grounds. The children made lovely collections of conkers, leaves and acorns! We are also going to make bread in preparation for our harvest festival. The children have been busy learning 'Squeak boogie woogie' to sing to the rest of the school on Friday. We will also be drawing autumn leaves and colour mixing shades of orange. Phew! What a busy week we are going to have!

Thank you to all who have paid their snack money for this half term!

Don't forget the school photographer is coming on Thursday morning!

Looking forward to seeing you all on Tuesday and Wednesday evening.

Here Comes The Tiger!!

We have written our own book called `Here comes the tiger!". Tiger is so hungry in the jungle that he goes looking for an animal to eat. All the animals manage to fool tiger into not eating them.

Come and read our story and see our wonderful tiger pictures that we drew on the computer.

Visit from a vet

We were very lucky to enjoy a visit from our vet's nurse. The children all sat and listened nicely as she told us all about her job, especially how she helps all the poorly animals. We also had some unexpected visitors when the nurse brought her pet hamsters in and Mrs Kinsey brought 'Tinsel' the rabbit in for an examination! We were also supplied with lots of equipment for our role play vet's surgery that has now been set up in our department. On behalf of all the children and staff we would like to say a big thank you to Mrs Wilkenson for teaching us all about her job. She has even promised to bring in a puppy when he is old enough for the children to see!

If you are interested in your child going to see 'Room On a Broom' then please send in the consent form as soon as possible.

Reception update

We have been busy planning our topic for this term 'Jaws, Paws and Claws'. We are keen to get as many visitors and real life experiences for the children as possible. If you have any interesting pets or have a specialised knowledge about a particular animal and would be willing to come and speak to some curious children, then please let me know.

We have invitied a veternary nurse to come and speak to the children and she has already donated some posters, bandages and x-rays which we will use in our role play vets surgery.

The children are very interested in jungle animals and want to know why crocodiles go under water. This is our challenge for this week's learning!

All children have settled well and are on their best behaviour and thank you to all who have paid their snack money.

We have noticed an increase in juice or squash being put in the children's water bottles. We have been advised by health officials that water is best for the children especially if they are drinking it at regular intervals throughout the day (lowers the risk of tooth decay and obesity).

As always, any problems or queries please come and see me.

Welcome back to school

Dear Parents/Carers,
Just a quick note to welcome you all back to school after the summer holidays and to remind you of a few things that you will need to bring to school for your child.

I was really impressed by how well the children lined up at the beginning of the school day and how independent they were at coming into class. We had a lovely day on Friday, all children contributing about what they did during the holidays and enjoying seeing their friends again after the break and also loving the fact that they are now the ‘big’ children in the department! I am going to spend the coming week getting to know the children as well as assessing their needs for targets over the coming term. Our topic this term is ‘Paws, Claws and Jaws’, which is an animal based topic. We will be commencing this on the week beginning 13th September. I will also be planning with the children this week, to see which view they would like to take on this topic e.g. pets, jungle animals, endangered animals etc. I will keep you informed on this.

Mrs O’Connell and Mrs Nurton will be our main Additional Practitioners this term, although your child may be working with other adults within the school from time to time.

Could you please provide a PE kit for your child ( t-shirt and shorts), in a bag that can be hung on their coat peg. Please ensure that all items, bag, t-shirt and shorts are clearly labelled with your child’s name, the same goes for all items of uniform.

As you are already aware, we use all the environment for learning, so could you please provide your child with a pair of wellies and appropriate clothing depending on the weather i.e. warm coat and hat as the weather gets colder.

We will also be continuing with our healthy morning snack. This consists of fruit, toast, cheese and crackers, bread sticks and cereal. Could you please send in a £2.50 contribution at the start of every half term to help fund this, it works out at less than 10p a day. The children also get a drink of milk.

I am really looking forward to working with your children over the coming year, as well as getting to know their families. I run an open door policy, so if you have any queries or concerns, please come and see me, a convenient time will be arranged as soon as possible.

Thank you,





Susan Drysdale

It's hot, hot, hot!

I have been asked by several parents about applying suncream. We have been advised not to do this, so we suggest that you apply a long lasting protection cream to your child during the summer months. If your child has exceptional circumstances then please come and see me and we will come to some arrangement. As the hot weather continues, it is important to provide your child with a sun hat and water bottle to keep the children hydrated.

Thank you for providing the children with trainers for sports day practise. The sprint is going well and we will be working on our obstacle course later on in the week. I will let you know about your child's team colour soon as it is nice if the children could wear something of their house colour on the day.

The children are enjoying the start of our topic 'All about me'. They are developing an interest into the functioning of the human body and many can name the main internal organs! We made 'Mr Skellybones'last week who is on display, proudly showing his bones and organs for all to see! It would be wonderful if we could have a medic of some description to come and talk to the children about their job (e.g. a doctor, nurse, paramedic etc), if you know someone who will be willing to spend some time with some curious children then please let us know. The children also enjoyed a healthy cheese and lettuce sandwich at snack time, delicious lettuce from our school garden! Some were brave enough to taste radish!

We will be looking at ways of recording information about ourselves this week e.g. producing simple graphs to show eye and hair colour. We will be using a simple computer programme to do this. Could I also thank those parents who have brought in baby photos of their children for a class book, I have just dug mine out of the attic which will no doubt amuse the children!

Could I please ask for the children's sound books in for undating. I am also on the lookout for the board game 'Operation', if anyone has one that they want to get rid of or are willing for us to borrow, then please let me know.

All about me

This term our topic is 'all about me'. The pupils will be looking at how they have grown and changed since they were born. We would be grateful if you could send in a photograph of them as a baby and a toddler for us to use on an interactive class display (if you want the photos back please let us know and we can scan and print ourselves a copy to use).

I can remind you to send in pupils' PE kits and snack money.

Healthy Week at Ffynnon Taf!

This week is 'Healthy Week' at Ffynnon Taf Primary and our Early Years children will be taking part along with the rest of the school. We will be learning all about what makes a 'healthy lunchbox' and tasting a selection of healthy foods. The children will be making banana or strawberry milkshakes and of course taking part in our mini-marathon (don't forget to collect your sponsors!). On Friday the children are able to invite their favourite cuddly toy for our healthy eating teddy bear's picnic!

Change of Parents' Evening Date

I am not available to attend Parents'Evening on Tuesday 25th May as it clashes with an evening course that cannot be rearranged. I am therefore changing the date to Thursday 27th May. If you are unavailable to attend this date then please come and see me, I will try my very best to accommodate you. Sorry for any inconvienience caused.

Reception Update

Welcome to our first blog! I will now be posting all our news letters on this page (paper copies will be given to those who have requested them). I will also try my very best to update this page every Sunday evening to inform you of any events during the coming week.

Children have been busy planting and we have many young plants peeping through in our school garden. The children will be planting their own individual 'beanstalks' during the coming week. Once they are big enough they may be taken home to plant in their own garden. I would like to thank Mrs Lisa Nurton for all her guidance and hard work to get our garden growing!

WELCOME

Welcome to our new Class 2 Blog. We will be putting our class news here soon. Please check our pages to see what we the children are doing in class.