Whitehouse Common Primary -

Newsletter 17th January 2020

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Please [click here] to read Parents Snap Chat Guide 

Reception Reading

All children are now bringing home 'Ditty' books or sheets as their home readers. Please try to read a few pages of these books with your child everyday. Whenever you read, practise the 'speed sounds' from the chart, at the front of the book. Touch each letter and quickly say the sounds. It’s important that we use 'pure talk' to say the sounds, adding 'uh' to the end confuses children.

Green Words These can be spoken in “pure talk” because they sound like they are spelt.

Red Words These are our 45 Reception keywords that cannot be sounded out. The children have to learn them by sight.

Encourage your child to read the text themselves. Children should touch the letters and say the sounds and then blend them together to read the words. Practise reading daily to give children more confidence. Ask your child questions about what they have read to ensure they understand the text.

Please [click here] to view the Parent Ditty Reading Booklet.

Let's go cultural - Finding out about Christmas in our partner countries.

In the pre-Christmas hullabaloo, 4MG wondered how Christmas was celebrated by their friends in our partner schools. So, armed with an iPad between two, they began a websearch.

Firstly they discovered that Christmas is not an official holiday in Turkey - we talked about why this was and decided that we would find out about a festival they do celebrate in Turkey later in the year. We found some photos of the Spring Festival and messages on trees that looked intriguing!

That left Austria, Greece and Spain. The children chose one of these and completed a fact file about celebrations in that country using https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/
We tweeted some of our work, and then made a video of it all that you can see below.
We wish you and all our friends in Spain, Turkey, Greece and Austria, a very Happy New Year!

4MG and Señora Stevens, WCPS, UK

Our travel guides!

In preparation for the meeting in Spain, children in Y5 and Y6 worked together to create some handwritten and illustrated travel guides to sites of interest in our town - Sutton Coldfield; our city - Birmingham; our capital city - London; and also in the rest of our country - England.

The actual guides will be added to our Erasmus+ display but we're taken photos of them all so that we can share them with you, and made them into two videos, one local and one national.

Enjoy!

Autumn Term Spanish exploits!

At the end of the Autumn Term it seems right to look back and share some of the highlights of our Spanish learning.

Year 3 have begun their formal learning of Spanish with great enthusiasm, demonstrating that they already know some Spanish and that they are ready to learn more. They're brilliant at answering questions about themselves,  love speaking games including Find your partner, and our catching skills are improving as the squishy ball comes out most lessons to help us take turns! Taking part in rhymes and stories has also been a hit, and in the lad up to Christmas they enjoyed acting out the story of El Pequeño Petirrojo as you can see below!

Year 4 began the year comparing the days of the week in other languages and using the story La Oruga Muy Hambrienta to learn the days of the week and revise opinions. They then changed the caterpillar to a monster and wrote the story of El Monstruo Hambriento using a bilingual dictionary to find out suitable vocabulary for a mosnter to eat - very imaginative ideas they had too! They are now confident to write the date in Spanish and Señora Stevens will be looking for this in their books from now onwards!

Year 5 have focussed on talking about families, imaginary and real, and wrote some wonderful descriptions of families using singular and plural verb forms. They also enjoyed the story of El Nabo Enorme, using Talk for Writing to memorise it and then rewriting it with their own vegetable and characters. They also enjoyed acting it out with props - some budding thespians were certainly discovered!

Year 6 have worked on talking about sports this term and they concluded the term by writing a letter about their sporting likes and dislikes as well as those of friends and family, presenting it on a Lego person. Photos of that to follow as they're not quite finished..

And we mustn't forget KS1 where the chidlren ahve also been learning some Spanish, and it's not just the children who have been learning as you can see below!

Looking forward the Spring Term, we're very excited that we will be having visitors from Spain in March and will have an opportunity to show off our Spanish skills!

Newsletter 17th December 2019

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Stamp Collection

Stamps

The Eco Team need your help! Their mission is to recycle as many used stamps as possible. These stamps are going to be used to help the RNIB. By collecting stamps, you’re helping to break down the barriers that stop people with sight loss living life to the full. Stamps are sold by weight and they raise £20 per kilogram so it is one of the easiest ways to raise money!

Please tear any used stamps off the envelope, leaving a 1cm border around the edge. There will be a stamp box outside the Oaks and Acorns office to post the used stamps in.

Please help us in this endeavour. Not only does recycling help to support a wonderful charity but Whitehouse Common will also be competing against Hollyfield again to see which school can collect the most. We want to claim back our crown!

An Christmas Message From The Eco-Team

Here are our top tips to be eco-friendly this Christmas!

• Wrapping - lots of wrapping paper contains non-recyclable elements like foil, glitter or plastic. An easy way to know if you’re wrapping paper can be recycled or not is to use the scrunch test. Scrunch up the paper in your hands and then let it go. If the paper stays scrunched up, then it can be recycled but if it unfolds by itself then it is likely to be non-recyclable.
• If you’re looking for an eco-friendly wrapping alternative, opt for the brown paper, recycled wrapping paper or tissue paper. You could even try knot wraps, colourful fabric squares that can be used again and again!
• Avoid ribbons, tinsel or sticky tape on presents as they’re not recyclable. Instead, try cord or twine or washi tape.

• Cards – look for cards with the FSC mark. This guarantees that the paper has been produced sustainably and ethically. Some Christmas cards can even be planted, for a super eco touch! Recycle or compost your cards in January or turn them into decorations for next year. Remember, glitter is a microplastic and can’t be recycled!
• Lights – switch to LED Christmas lights. LEDs are much more environmentally friendly than traditional twinkling incandescent lights, because they use up to 80% less energy. If everybody did this, we could save more than 29,000 tonnes of CO2 just over the 12 days of Christmas!
• Decorations – reuse Christmas decorations or go second hand for a sustainable Christmas. If adding to your decoration collection, think about using deigns made from metal, wool, glass or wood. Natural decorations such as berries, pinecones, holly, orange and cinnamon look great on the Christmas tree.
• Switch to eco-friendly Christmas crackers. Many stores are now supplying plastic-free crackers or even reusable ones!
• Resist the temptation to splash out on sequins, they’re made from PVC and there are no biodegradable substitutes.
• Gifting – give a handmade gift. Whether you love baking, sewing or painting, why not get creative this season?

Merry Christmas from the Eco-Team