Welcome to the Kestrels Class!
Staff
Teacher: Carol Whitehead, Sarah Woods
TAs: Nicola Hicklin and Cheryl Round
Mid Day Leader: Jordan Maguire
Newsletter
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
It’s been a busy half term during which we have had two big celebrations: firstly, for Eid, then for the Coronation of King Charles III.
For both events we have enjoyed making window and room decorations. Amongst other activities, we made lanterns and created Mehndi henna hand designs for Eid. For the Coronation we painted a large Union Jack flag with King Charles in the centre and this was hung in the atrium. Then we made Crowns and flags and had an ‘Afternoon Tea Party’ in celebration.
When learning about the Coronation, we linked our music session by listening to the Coronation Anthem “Zadok the Priest” written by George Frederick Handel for the coronation of King George II in 1727. We demonstrated our fantastic rhythmic skills by learning and playing the rhythms for the key phrases in the anthem ‘God save the King,’ ‘Long live the King’, ‘May the King live forever’, ‘Amen, Alleluia, Amen’. Our performance of these on drums and tambourines was quite simply ‘amazing’ and we had great fun doing it. Well done, Kestrels.
In English we have continued to work hard to develop our phonics knowledge and sentence writing and in Maths we have continued learning about number bonds within and to ten and twenty and place value within 100. We have been learning about measurement, using blocks, bricks and rulers to measure a variety of objects including our feet.
In Science we have been learning about the different parts of the body, naming and identifying them and about the importance of keeping ourselves healthy and in PSHE we have been learning about some of the medical people who help us do that.
In Design and Technology we have been looking at kaleidoscopes. We have explored the colours and different patterns that can be made by them and have made kaleidoscopes of our own too.
In History we have found out that Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. We have talked about how far away the moon is, how long it would take to get there, We have also looked at what was needed and used to get Neil and his team there and we have designed our own spaceships.
We have been working with Jordan, from the Manchester United Foundation on an Environmental Study, learning about keeping our environment clean and tidy. We have practiced developing our fine motor skills to use litter pickers which require the lever to be gripped and squeezed to pick things up and released to let them go. It was difficult at first but now we are all good at using them. We have also taken a visit to Foxdenton Park where we were very impressed to find that there wasn’t any litter left lying around, which we hope means people are looking after their environment. We have also enjoyed having a weekly session on the bikes with Jordan too.
We are looking forward to having a good half term break, so we are all refreshed and rea\
Have a good holiday.
Love from
The Kestrels Class
Signalong
At Kingfisher we use Signalong as a part of a Total Communication Approach, we are constantly using core vocabulary with the children to support their language development and then through each of our topics we introduce new signs and language, which extends their vocabulary further. We also have two “Signs of the Week” which helps maintain and extend key knowledge and skills of everyday vocabulary.
Each half term we will be creating a short video showcasing and demonstrating signs relavent for the current term so that you can learn the signs and further this learning at home.
Click play to watch this half terms Signalong video!
Lunchtime
If your child has a school dinner, the school menus can be accessed by clicking here. For children who bring a packed lunch, please remember to provide healthy and balanced options. We are a Healthy School and will be focusing on healthy eating and how children can make healthy lifestyle choices.
How You Can Help at Home
- Continue to share, read and talk about stories together with your child (read your child’s library book with them and remember to return it weekly so it can be changed on Thursday mornings).
- Continue to support your child to think about how big or small items are. Help them to put items in order of size from biggest to smallest/smallest to biggest and talk about the difference in sizes.
- Continue to support your child to think about how heavy or light items are. Help them to put items in order of size from heaviest to lightest/lightest to heaviest and talk about the difference in the weight.
- Go on walks outside and look for signs of new growth and springtime.
- When out and about look for different types of sculptures or ornate patterns on buildings, take photos and ask your child to draw them when they get home.
- Talk about changes in the weather and how long it stays light for as the days begin to get longer and the weather a little warmer.
- Talk about items using Digital Technology in your home and when and how this is used (e.g. Washing Machine, T.V., Computer, Mobile phone, iPad/tablet)
- Look at photos of your family and talk with your child about who the people are they can see in those photos (e.g. relationships)
