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"Reading allows us to see and understand the world through the eyes of others."
– Chris Riddell
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Messages from the Deputy Principal, Miss Jarrett | |
This term's English Newsletter is very exciting! Read on to find out who our new School Librarians are and for some of their recommendations!
I have just enjoyed reading The Snowflake by Benji Davies - an unforgettable tale of one snowflake and one little girl – both longing for something and looking for their own special place in the world.
Year 1 went to Norden Farm earlier this term and it has inspired their writing! They particularly enjoyed the coach ride!
With the holidays fast approaching there are also lots of ideas for things to do to keep everyone entertained. We love seeing what you get up to on Dojo, so do post photos on your child's portfolio.
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Head to https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/ and take part in the Gadgeteers Winter Mini Challenge! All you have to do is:
1. Sign Up
2. Read Books (and add them to your profile on the Gadgeteers website)
3. Earn Digital rewards
You can earn a digital certificate if you meet the target you set for yourself! Share your certificates with us on Dojo!
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Slough Libraries provide great opportunities to borrow and read books for free. However this is not all they offer!
On 14th January The Curve is holding "A Musical Adventure" for children 0-4 and 5-8 followed by a free come and try session with stringed instruments! Tickets are available on a pay what you can basis through Eventbrite. Find out more here: https://www.homeslough.org.uk/event/a-musical-adventure/2023-01-14/
Over the next few months, ArtyTrails are running a series of four creative workshops at The Curve aimed at children and families. They're taking inspiration from four of the most famous artists of all. There are 3 workshops left:
10th December: WASSILY KANDINSKY WORKSHOP
28th January: HENRI MATTISE WORKSHOP
11th February: ANDY WARHOL WORKSHOP
Tickets again are available on a pay what you can basis through Eventbrite. Find out more information here: https://www.homeslough.org.uk/whats-on/
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We are thrilled to announce that the following children have been appointed as Pupil Librarians: Sehaj, Marwah, Nuzla, Sibella, Oscar, Tanvir, Safforah, Miracle, Rumaysah, Zohad and Hussain.
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23rd November:
Author Visit - Fiona Barker
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We had a fantastic visit from Fiona Barker on the 23rd November! She read one of her stories to Reception and then led a workshop with all children in KS1, reading them I don't like Winter and then leading a draw along session where we all learnt how to draw a squirrel, just like Hank and Hoog from her story! It's always brilliant to welcome authors into school and we look forward to welcoming another author to school soon!
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Book Week
27th February to 3rd March
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World Book Day 2023
Changing lives through a love of books and reading.
We love celebrating World Book Day and are already looking forward to 2nd March 2023! The books that will be on offer have already been announced (see some of the books below) and we think this could be the best year yet. More information will follow in the new year.
Click here to watch the World Book Day 2023 Launch video on Youtube!
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Author/Illustrator Spotlight
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Benji Davies
Benji Davies is an illustrator, author and animation director.
Benji studied animation at university where he learnt how to tell stories with pictures, from short films and music videos, to title sequences and picture books. In his work he aims to capture how it feels to be a child.
Y2 have loved reading and writing about his stories this term especially The Storm Whale series
You can listen to Benji reading 2 of his stories here: https://benjidavies.squarespace.com/reads
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Dapo Adeola
Year 2 have also been enjoying stories illustrated by Dapo Adeola.
Dapo Adeola is an illustrator, author and character designer who was awarded Illustrator of the Year at The British Book Awards in 2022.
We love his "Look Up" series and you can find lots of activity ideas related to this book here: http://www.lovemybooks.co.uk/look-up
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Looking for good books as Christmas or Birthday presents for children?
Books for Topics have put together a list of recommended books to give to primary school aged children this year. Take a look here:
BooksForTopics: Christmas Gift Guides
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Marwah recommends "We are Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury.
Everyone should read this book because it has a bear in it and it's scary!
This is a classic book we think everyone should read!
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Oscar recommends "Supertato" by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet
You should read this book because a lot of people like it in our school so I think everyone should read it. The best thing about this book is that it has a potato in it.
Meet Supertato! He's always there for you when the chips are down. He's the supermarket superhero with eyes everywhere - but now there's a pea on the loose. A very, very naughty pea. Has Supertato finally met his match?
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Safforah recommends "The Weather Girls" by Aki.
You should read this book because it tells you about all the weather.
Spring, summer, autumn or winter - the intrepid Weather Girls are ready for whatever the seasons might bring!
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Miracle recommends "Clang! Clang! Beep! Beep! Listen to the City" by Robert Burleigh and illustrated by Beppe Giacobbe.
Miracle thinks you should read this book because it tells you all about the sounds and people of the city.
Dawn until dusk, the city is alive with sounds, from the TING-ALING- A-LING of an alarm clock in the morning to the BEEEEEP! BEEEEP! of traffic in the afternoon to the quiet SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH of evening.
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Please ensure you are reading regularly with your child. This should include:
- Your child reading their home reading books to you. Children in Year 1 and 2 will bring home Read Write Inc decodable books each week and they should read these to you as often as possible. Children in Reception will bring home reading books once they have developed their phonic knowledge.
- You reading to your child - this could be their library book, a favourite story or making a story up! This should happen every day.
We love to see photos and videos of your child reading at home! Do add photos/videos to their portfolio on Dojo! Next Term we will be trialling using Learning with Parents as another way to record reading. Watch this space for more information!
If you would like support developing reading routines at home please do speak to your child's class teacher.
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The Reading Realm iPad app
The Reading realm app is free to download on iPads is designed to:
- Support and encourage wider reading
- Encourage authentic, purposeful book talk
Each passage comes with a set of open-ended questions and prompts, for children to discuss. These are not designed to be test questions – these are about encouraging children to evaluate, share their opinions, likes and dislikes.
There are a range of different activities to complete for each text - including spelling, sentence structure, punctuation and word structure.
It is unfortunately only available on iPads.
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Oxford Owl Free eBook Library
Oxford Owl have a free eBook library which has been created to help children aged 3–11 to develop their reading skills at home.
All the eBooks are free to use, but you will need to register or sign in at the link below to read your book.
Sign in and browse the e-Book library
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“You can make anything by writing.”
C.S. Lewis
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Children in Year 1 and 2 use Spelling Shed to practise their spellings more regularly which brings success for everyone to celebrate! We recommend children complete 10 minutes on Spelling Shed every day to have the most impact. Log in details are stuck into children's reading records - please speak to your child's class teacher if you can't find them.
Spelling Shed is not only a way to practise spellings, but is also a competition! Children score points every time they play - the more spellings they spell correctly, the more points they score individually and for their class!
Shed Score - How the score works
This is the main score used for leagues and is the total score from the past seven days. This may go down as well as up. It is rolling total which is calculated live and the score is cached after each game play. For example, if you earned 30 million points on Wednesday, the following Tuesday those points would be included in the shed score but on Wednesday, those points are now more than 7 days old so they stop being included in the score.
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Top Spelling Shed Groups
Congratulations to Swan Class who are this week's winners at Phoenix!
1. Swan: 26,459,792
2. Falcon: 19,417,004
3. Eagle: 13,701,373
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Top Spelling Shed Pupils
Congratulations to Taymur who is this week's top Speller!
1. Taymur in Swan class: 14,126,154
2. Oscar in Eagle class: 6,938,576
3. Reneen in Kingfisher class: 5,143,404
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Ways to Support Your Child's Handwriting
When using a sensory and play based approach to handwriting:
- Offer a variety of tools: wax crayons both fat and thin, chalks, chunky pencils, felt tips, paint brushes, sand and sticks.
- Work on a variety of surfaces: paper (white, black, coloured), blackboard, whiteboard, tracing paper, tin foil, sand paper, shiny card, etc.
- Adopt a variety of exploratory positions: lying on the tummy, standing, on all fours, kneeling, sitting and using a vertical surface, e.g. an easel or a wall.
- Write in a variety of sizes: big blackboards/whiteboards, old wallpaper, tiny bits of cards, old receipts and paper.
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Gross motor skills
In order for your child to be able to sit upright at a table for any length of time, they need to have developed strength and stability in their:
- Trunk
- Neck
- Shoulders
- Hips
Play Outside Every Day to develop your child's core strength and stability. Experts strongly recommended that the most important thing for children to develop fine motor skills was unstructured free play outdoors. Go to the park or play in your garden as much as possible!
Here are some ideas for activities you can do to help your child build gross motor strength:
Neck Stability:
- Balance a beanbag or beanie toy on head and walk around. You could create an obstacle course to increase difficulty
- Lying down on your back on the floor leaning back on elbows. Hold for as long as possible and keep extending the time
- 2 Handed Bat game – 2 children lay out flat on their tummy facing each other with their arms outstretched in front of them holding a bat in both hands – bat a ball to and from each other.
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Congratulations to Jathvika in Year 1 and Nuzla in Year 2 who took part in our first Handwriting competition and are the school winners!
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We know that children who enjoy writing and are motivated to write are eight times more likely to achieve well academically. It is important that children are given lots of opportunities to write.
Top Tips
The best things you can do when helping a child write:
- Devote time to it.
- Make it a quality experience. Show your own interest and pleasure in writing.
- Allow children to choose what they would like to write.
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See talking and drawing as planning and encourage taking things from the reading, video games, play, film, or the television programmes that they like.
What not to do when helping a child to write:
- Don’t look over your child’s shoulder all the time and criticise.
- Don’t control their writing.
- Don’t stop to correct errors immediately.
- Don’t ask a child to write without talking and writing together.
Here are just some of things you can write together:
- jokes
- labels
- lists
- recipes
- letters
- invented stories
- fairytales
Not only can writing improve your creativity and memory, but it’s also a great stress reliever. Writing down thoughts, feelings and emotions can boost mindfulness and increase calm. See below for lots of different writing ideas!
Please share any writing your child does at home on their Dojo portfolio!
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Reception Writing This Term
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Recently lots of children in Reception have been interested in and writing about Christmas! We think their writing is developing beautifully!
Magpie class - Alizah
Magpie class - Aayan
Robin class - Angelpreet
Robin class - Aila
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Year 1 went to Norden Farm to watch One Snowy Night. The following day they wrote a recount of their trip. We are loving how they have improved their handwriting and presentation skills from the start of the year - well done Year 1. Enjoy reading what they got up to (and we promise they did watch a show as well as going on the coach to Norden Farm and back!).
Kingfisher class - Saira
Kingfisher class - Zayn
Heron class - Amber
Heron class - Bisma
Swan class - Aira
Swan class - Suleman
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Year 2 have been learning about descriptive writing and using adjectives. They have been writing about the characters and settings of places in the Storm Whale and The Storm Whale in Winter by Benji Davies.
Falcon class - Faizan
Buzzard class - Emaan
Buzzard class - Harlynn
Eagle class - Gurjas
Eagle class - Abid
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Follow us on Twitter! @phoenixinfants |
A huge thank you to the Burnham Lane, Slough @Tesco for their donations to our school Christmas Fayre. We are over the moon! And an extra thank you to Gemma, one of our lovely parents and Tesco employee, for organising. #EveryLittleHelps #community #charity #giving #tesco https://t.co/iJaesggg9I
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Today, we visited @WindsorGtPark to buy 2 Christmas trees; 1 for our school, and 1 for @AnchorLaterLife's Northampton Place Care Home. Thank you to all staff & care home residents for the exceptionally friendly welcome. This was a truly magical experience. #Giving #community https://t.co/7SPx2arGuu
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When you start the day eating your pupils' freshly baked bread for breakfast. #EYFS #EYFSbaking #Headteacherwins #yummy #baking https://t.co/kIP2wq6p5p
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