PIXIE CLASS

Dates to remember

June

11^th– Phonics screening week 1.

18^th– Phonics screening week 2

19^th– Mobile library bus.

July

3^rd– Transition day 1

4^th– Transition day 2

9^th– Sports day

10^th-12^th– Travelling National History museum visit.

13^th– Summer Sizzler (5:30-8pm)

17^th– Final mobile library service.

18^th– End of year reports go out.

24^th– Last day of term

Welcome back!

Welcome back everybody! I can’t believe I am writing the final newsletter of the academic year. I am so proud of all of the pixies and how they have matured and progressed over the course of the year and you should be too! Each one has worked so hard in each subject and their curiosity and hunger to learn is inspiring for all the adults in Pixie class.

This half term our topic is going to be DINOSAURS!. It is a whole school topic and we have lots of exciting things planned! We’re going to be writing factfiles of dinosaurs, making documentaries and news reports on the iPads. We’re going to make volcanos and learn about eruptions. We also have a special visitor coming from the National History Museum, how exciting!

If you have any helpful books at home that we could look at, please bring them in. We promise to look after them!

Reading Challenge in May

Please bring in completed reading challenge sheets so certificates can be made for the assembly! Hopefully you and your child have enjoyed reading every day and understand the importance of this!

Phonics Screening Check

Phonics screening checks begin next week (WC Mon 11^th). If your child is absent for the week or misses their window due to absence they will sit the following week (WC Mon 18^th).

The children have been working really hard at school, but we have not been pressuring them about it and they know exactly what to expect during the check. Please don’t make a big deal about it at home for the Pixies, they’re only 5 and 6 and should not be worried about it at all.

You may have noticed that your child has been practicing sounds rather than the usual reading they do at school. This may not always be noted in the reading diaries, but we try our best to remember. This is to help them with the phonics check. Each child is still reading at least once a week with an adult at school. After the check, reading activities will resume as normal. Please continue to read with your child as it really does make a difference.

If you have any questions/concerns regarding the check please see me.

Results for the check will be given out with the end of year reports.

Preparation for Year 2

As we are entering the final half term of the year, in preparation for year 2, please encourage your child to come in independently and put their things away by themselves. This will help your child adjust to the year 2 morning routine.

If you have any queries about this, please come and see me after school.

Homework Challenge

Thank you to those who took part in the reading challenge! I’ve had Pixies telling me they are filling it in everyday and enjoying their reading. This term the homework challenge is returning! Any certificates and/or prizes from the past two will be given out this week.

The homework challenge is attached. A copy will also be uploaded to the class page.

General Reminders

• PEwill be every Tuesday morning (starting this week)Please send children with appropriate outdoor kit.
• Please keep labelling everythingyou send your child to school with! Please remember to label water bottles, white polo tops and PE kit, as these go missing too! We have a collection of nameless uniform pieces in Pixie class, please come and have a look through if you think you are missing anything.
• Please remember to send children in sunblock and sunhats to school. You can also send children with their own sunblock if you would like them to reapply it during the day (please labeland put in bookbag/schoolbag)

If you have any queries, concerns or questions, please come and see me after school.

Thank you,
 

Miss Sutton, Mrs. Sharpe & Mrs. Lester.

PIXIE CLASS

Dates to remember

April

16th – First day back

24^th – Library bus at school

May

3^rd – INSET day

7^th – May Day (bank holiday)

25^th – Last day of half-term

June

4^th – First day back

Welcome back!

Welcome back everybody! I can’t believe we’re now in the final term, it has flown so quickly! I hope that everybody has had a wonderful Easter break and that lots of yummy eggs were eaten.

This half term our topic is going to be ‘Muck, Mess and Mixtures’. We’re going to be investigating what soap product makes the best bubbles and how to make toothpaste for an elephant. We’re going to make potions, learn about harmful liquids and how to stay safe and carry out lots of other experiments! Please make sure if your child has a lab coat for science lessons, that it is in school for this term.

Reading Challenge in May

For the month of May there will be a reading challenge for Pixie class. If your pixie reads every day all month then mark it on the May calendar page (attached). Please ask the children to sign the paper and then write comments in their reading diary.

If your child reads for every day of May they will get a certificate in the special mention assembly in front of the school!

Phonics Screening Check

With the phonics screening check approaching, please make sure you read with your child as much as possible. Encourage reading whether it’s books or on the iPad, TV, car number plates, shopping lists and everything else that can be read!

The PPT slides from the phonics screening session are uploaded to the Pixie class page if you would like to go through them again.

If you have any questions or worries about the check please come and see me any day after-school.

Homework Challenge

Thank you for all that has taken part in the homework challenges! Sadly, this half term there isn’t a homework challenge. Please feel free to send in photos or writing about anything you do outside of school and they can be displayed in the classroom.
Some ideas:

• Make mud pies outside.
• Make cakes or treats and write how you did it.
• Make bubble mixture and try to blow the biggest bubble you can.
• Become a scientist and do experiments at home and tell the Pixies about your findings.

Milk at School

Please ask your child if they would like milk at school. They change their mind quite regularly and some of them are saying they no longer want their milk. If they still want their milk, you can arrange for them to have it by following the steps below.

If your child is over five:
1. Go to www.coolmilk.com/register.
2. Register your child.
2. Pay Cool Milk online.
3. Just pay before 5pm on Tuesday for your child’s milk to start the following week.

The cost is roughly £15 per term, or you can pay per half term or the whole school year too. If you are entitled to free school meals you qualify for free milk.

General Reminders

• PE will be every Tuesday morning (starting this week) and Thursday mornings (weather permitting). Please send your child with an outdoor PE kit too (tracksuit bottoms, plimsolls/trainers).
• Please keep labelling everything you send your child to school with! Please remember to label water bottles, white polo tops and PE kit, as these go missing too! We have a collection of nameless uniform pieces in Pixie class, please come and have a look through if you think you are missing anything.
• Please remember to send children in sunblock and sunhats to school. You can also send children with their own sunblock if you would like them to reapply it during the day (please label and put in bookbag/schoolbag. This week in particular is apparently going to be very hot, especially Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

If you have any queries, concerns or questions, please come and see me after school.

Thank you,
 

Miss Sutton, Mrs. Sharpe & Mrs. Lester.

PIXIE CLASS

Dates to remember

FEBRUARY

27^th – Parents evening night 1

28^th – Parents evening night 2

MARCH

1^st – World Book Day

28^th – Phonics Screening Check session 3:30pm

29^th – Last day of term

30^th – Good Friday

APRIL

16^th – First day back

Reading at home

Thank you to all of the parents that read with their children regularly! You are superheroes! We understand it’s sometimes a stretch - especially when both you and your little pixie have had a long day working! But thank you for fitting it in - it does make such a difference to their learning and has had huge impacts on their progress.

Please carry on reading as much as possible with your child this term. It makes such a difference to their learning and their attitude to reading when they see the people they love the most enjoy reading with them.

As usual the reading diaries will be checked each Friday for comments and to update the reading chart. If your child has read 4 or more times in one week they will get a star on the chart. Any child with 5 or more stars when the half term has ended will win a special prize!

Teach your Monster to Read’ FREE app!

From the 26^th of February to the 4^th of March, the ‘Teach your Monster to Read’ app will be free to download on the AppStore and the Google Play Store. It was created by the Usborne Foundation.

If you’re struggling to get your child to read books at home why not give this app a try? It may make reading seem more fun! Please record in your child’s reading diary like usual if you use it - so it can count towards their stars.

Phonics Screening Check

As you may be aware, during year 1 all children across the country are expected to do a phonics screening check. This is an individual check that usually takes around 5-10 and happens in June (usually the first fortnight).

The check assesses children’s knowledge of the phonics they have learned during reception and year 1. It is designed to give teachers and parents information on how your child is progressing in phonics. It will help to identify whether your child needs additional support at this stage so that they do not fall behind in this vital early reading skill.

There will be an after-school session on the 28^th March with information about the check and to give you an idea of what the children will be going through.

Homework Challenge

Thank you to all that has or have taken part in the homework challenge, the responses from all challenges has been amazing. Other teachers have commented on this too! Thank you for sharing an interest at home in your Pixie’s topic and inspiring them to learn more which also increases their curiosity of learning.

Our fourth homework challenge is attached and I look forward to the amazing pieces that I imagine will follow – whether they be 1 point or 5 points. Once again - thank you for inspiring your children by showing them that education is fun and something to be proud of!

General Reminders

• PE will be every Tuesday morning (starting this week) and some Wednesday afternoons (weather permitting). Please send your child with an outdoor PE kit too (tracksuit bottoms, plimsolls/trainers).
• Please keep labelling everything you send your child to school with! Please remember to label water bottles, white polo tops and PE kit, as these go missing too!

If you have any queries, concerns or questions, please come and see me after school.

Thank you,

Miss Sutton, Mrs. Sharpe & Mrs. Lester.

PIXIE CLASS

Welcome back!

Welcome back everybody! We hope you have had a wonderful Christmas, a Happy New Year and have made lots of lovely memories. Myself, Mrs. Sharpe and Mrs. Lester would like to share our warmest gratitude for such thoughtful cards and Christmas gifts, we appreciate them very much, thank you!

We’re all excited to start a fresh term with our new topic ‘Towers, Tunnels and Turrets’. This term we will be learning about castles, battles, knights, princesses, dragons and too many more to list! If you have any books or interesting items at home that relate to our topic we would love it if we could look at them and share them with the Pixies – we promise to take care of them!

Dates to remember

JANUARY

8^th – Leeds Royal Armouries trip

18^th – School Disco

FEBRUARY

16^th – Last day of term

26^th – First day back

27^th – Parents evening night 1

28^th – Parents evening night 2

Reading

I am so proud of all of the Pixies for their fantastic reading, both at home and at school. You should be very proud of them too!

Please carry on reading as much as possible with your child this term. It makes such a difference to their learning and their attitude to reading when they see the people they love the most enjoy reading with them.

As usual the reading diaries will be checked each Friday for comments and to update the reading chart. If your child has read 4 or more times in one week they will get a star on the chart. Any child with 6 stars when the half term has ended will win a special prize!

Prizes from the last two half terms will go out this Friday.

Homework Challenge

What another amazing response to the latest homework challenge. It really is wonderful to see all the lovely work that you do together at home and the Pixies are so proud of their work too, they can’t wait to talk to the class about their work and answer questions from the other children.

Milk at School

Please ask your child if they would like milk at school. They change their mind quite regularly. If they happen to want it, you can arrange for them to have milk following the steps below.

If your child is over five:
1. Go to www.coolmilk.com/register.
2. Register your child.
2. Pay Cool Milk online.
3. Just pay before 5pm on Tuesday for your child’s milk to start the following week.

The cost is roughly £15 per term, or you can pay per half term or the whole school year too. If you are entitled to free school meals you qualify for free milk.

General Reminders

• PE will be every Monday morning (starting next week) and some Wednesday afternoons (weather permitting). Please send your child with an outdoor PE kit too (tracksuit bottoms, plimsolls/trainers).
• Please keep labelling everything you send your child to school with! We have a collection of hats, scarves and gloves in the classroom, you are more than welcome to take a look if you think you are missing something at home.

If you have any queries, concerns or questions, please come and see me after school.

Thank you,

Miss Sutton, Mrs. Sharpe & Mrs. Lester.

PIXIE CLASS

Dates to remember

 NOVEMBER

1^st – Harvest Festival - 10:45am
7-8^th – Parent’s evening
14^th – Flu vaccinations
24^th – INSET day

DECEMBER

TBC – Nativity performance
7^th – PTFA Winter Warmer 3:20-5:00pm
19^th – Christmas Dinner/Christmas Jumper day
21^st – Pantomime at school and last day of term.
22^nd – INSET day

Reading

I would like to say a massive thank you to the parents that read with their children as much as possible, it makes such a difference to their learning and the progress they make at school. It also expands their vocabulary and deepens their imagination.

Please carry on reading as much as possible with your child this term! A reminder to please make comments about how your child has read in their reading diary and please keep asking questions about the story to improve their reading comprehension.

As usual the reading diaries will be checked each Friday for comments and to update the reading chart. If your child has read 4 or more times in one week they will get a star on the chart. Any child with 6 or more stars when the half term has ended will win a special prize!

Homework Challenge

I am still speechless with how overwhelming the response was from the first homework challenge! It is amazing to see all the work you do together at home! Our challenge wall was full up and I hope we can fill it again this term!

Instead of putting the homework into two different challenges I have put London and Christmas together. The first four weeks back we are covering London and the Great Fire and we will start our Christmas topic on the 27^th November. Any London themed homework is still welcome after this date! J

Milk at School

A few of the Pixies have been telling me they would like milk. I have reminded them to let parents know if they want milk but I am not sure if they have. If you are wanting your child to have milk here is how you can set it up:

If your child is over five:
1. Go to www.coolmilk.com/register.
2. Register your child.
2. Pay Cool Milk online.
3. Just pay before 5pm on Tuesday for your child’s milk to start the following week.

The cost is roughly £15 per term, or you can pay per half term or the whole school year too. If you are entitled to free school meals you qualify for free milk.

General Reminders

• Thank you for labelling your children’s uniform and PE kit! Unfortunately, we are still finding jumpers and cardigans without names on! Please label as much as you can, even the white polo tops!
• PE will be every Monday morning (starting next week) and some Wednesday afternoons (weather permitting).
• A polite reminder to stand at the fence (on the top playground) when collecting your child from school, this is for the safety of all children in Pixie and Gnome class. J

If you have any queries, concerns or questions, please come and see me, either briefly before school starts or come and see me after school, my door is always open.

Thank you.

Miss Sutton, Mrs. Sharpe & Mrs. Lester.

Pixie Class Newsletter

Reading:

Reading in year one is more important than ever. Children are encouraged to read daily to prepare for the phonics screening check in June (more information will be given out closer to the time).

Children will be given a book to read at home along with a reading diary for you to fill in and return to school. When children can read the book easily then it will be swapped for another. Each week one child who has done fantastic reading will be the book worm of the week and can choose a prize!

I will check the reading diaries each Friday and if your Pixie has read more than 3 times that week (incl weekend) they will get a star on the reading chart. Any child with 4 or more stars when the half term has ended will win a book!

Behaviour

Behaviour ladder:
Now that your children are Pixies they will be using the behaviour system that is used all the way up to year 6. Each day the children all start on “Ready to Learn” and can move up the ladder for good behaviour and good work. However, they can also move down the ladder and face consequences of any wrong choices they may make. Children can move up and down throughout the day. At the end of the day, children will either lose or gain Dojo points or choose a prize (depending on where they are on the ladder).

Star of the day chair:
Each day a child will be chosen to sit in the newly revamped star of the day chair! Children can earn this reward by behaving well, doing good work, being a good friend and/or following the school rules. They will assist in special jobs all day, such as taking the register to the office with a friend of their choice and standing at the front of the line.

Pixie stars:
When the whole class are behaving well and following the school rules they can earn a pixie star to go in the class jar. Once the pixies have earned 10 pixie dusts they can have a treat of their choice (film and popcorn, playing games, ice lollies etc).

General Reminders

• Please label everything! So many cardigans and jumpers end up in lost property each year because the children’s clothes are not labelled, it must cost a fortune to replace! If you do not have permanent markers, come and see me because I have plenty!
• PE is on Tuesday afternoons and every other Monday morning. Children will need their indoor and outdoor PE kit in school.
• Children can bring in their own water bottle from home (please label this clearly). If a child forgets their bottle or doesn’t have one, they will be given a plastic cup to keep in their tray to use.
• A polite reminder to stand at the fence (on the top playground) when collecting your child from school, this is for the safety of all children in Pixie and Gnome class. 

Dates to remember

OCTOBER

4^th – Families are invited to come to school in the afternoon for a whole school arts event in the hall.
5^th – Families of Pixie and Unicorn class are invited to school in the afternoon to make lighthouses.
6^th – Macmillan coffee afternoon, any donations of cakes would be greatly appreciated!
20^th – Families are invited to come to school for a fish and chips lunch, more information to follow. This is also the last day of the half term.

Finally, if you are interested in becoming a parent helper (listening to the children read or help with spellings) please let me know as soon as possible!

If you have any queries, concerns or questions, please come and see me, either briefly before school starts or come and see me after school, my door is always open.