Teacher Contact Information
Your teachers are: Mrs Horton and Miss Parker
You can email them at:
Mrs Horton (Horse Chestnut)
sophiehorton@stratton.cornwall.sch.uk
Miss Parker (Sweet Chestnut)
cherylparker@stratton.cornwall.sch.uk
Weekly Update 21/11/2025
This week we have been learning about the police and the important job they do. The children have enjoyed talking about what they should do if they have to dial 999. This would be a good conversation to have with your children if you haven’t already done so.
We were lucky enough to be visited by a police officer on Thursday! The children practiced road safety at the zebra crossing in the car park. They got to ask questions and find out more about the role of a police officer. They also got to try on some uniform! Thank you so much to Dave, who gave their time to provide this fantastic learning opportunity for the children.
Church Trip:
Our trip to the Church for our Countdown to Christmas event is on Tuesday 9th December, during the morning. We now have enough volunteers. Thank you to those who have offered to help. We will send you a more detailed plan for the morning soon.
Phonics/Reading:
This week, the children have continued to work in their new phonics groups. We will re-assess them in approximately a week’s time to see if we can move the children up through the phonics groups more quickly. We really appreciate your support with practising phonics at home; it has a big impact on the children’s progress.
Please remember to keep your child’s reading record and books in their book bag every day. This helps us to change their books regularly and check that they are practising at home. Thank you for your continued support with this.
Maths:
This week in maths, we have been focusing on the concept of the ‘whole’ and ‘parts’. We have taken toys apart to find the ‘parts’ and put them back together to make the ‘whole’. We have also applied this concept to our bodies, with parts such as our arms and legs being part of the whole body. This will lead on to finding parts of numbers next week.
For your home learning task this week, play with toys that are combined to make a ‘whole’. This could be jigsaws or construction toys. See if your child can identify the parts and explain that when they are all put together, they make the whole.
Have a brilliant weekend!
Mrs Horton and Miss Parker
Dates for the Dairy
Tuesday 9th December – Trip to the Church (AM)
Friday 12th December – Bike Track
Wednesday 17th December - Christmas Lunch/Christmas Jumper Day
Friday 19th December – Last Day of Term/Christmas Party Day
Weekly Reading Homework
With your child, please carry out a variety of the following tasks at least 5 times a week, recording in their reading log each time.
Practise recognising letter sounds using flashcards daily – this is essential practise to get your child reading.
Engage in 'Fred Talk Games'. These are games that support your child to orally blend sounds into words. For example, "Fred says, tap your h-ea-d... your head!" Please see the PDF document in the 'Read Write Inc. Phonics' section below for further 'Fred Talk Games' that you can play at home.
If your child is consistently recognising most of the single letter sounds from their flashcards, make simple words out of the flashcards for them to practise reading. For example, sat, tap, dog, bed. Encourage your child to point to each letter as they say the sounds. Once they have said each sound, they need to blend them together to say the whole word. For example, s – a –t, sat. They may need you to demonstrate this initially before they have a try.
Share your child’s lilac book. This book has no words. Your child needs to look closely at the picture and talk about what they think is happening to tell a story. This develops their oracy comprehension and inference skills.
Based on your child’s most recent phonics assessment, the may also bring home a 'blending book' or a 'ditty sheet' to read at home.
Please keep all of the above in your child’s book bag. They need to bring their book bag to school every day.
Homework tasks need to be recorded in your child's reading log at least 5 times a week so that we know that your child is practising their reading at home. Reading logs are checked every Friday to see how your child is getting on at home. Please make sure that you date and initial each time you record in your child's reading log to show that your child has read their lilac book/blending book/flash cards.
Please speak to any member of the Reception team if you have any questions.
Thank you for your continued support in helping your child learn to read.
The YR Team