November 2022
November News
Wow! What a busy month November has been! I feel as though we have blinked and here we are heading into the 1st of December already...
We have all been working incredibly hard in Primary 2 Alpha this month and I can hardly express how proud I am of the effort and wonderful progress that the children have continued to make. It is clear that the boys and girls have a real love of learning and, as a teacher who feels the same way, it really does make my heart burst with pride!
In Literacy we have been particularly busy getting to grips with our new Daily Literacy Learning program (DLL). It has been truly wonderful to see the children's confidence grow and grow in just a few short weeks. Not only are we feeling much more confident in our reading, but are excited to write and give new words a go which is such a joy to see! Alongside our DLL activities, we have been continuing to develop our spelling strategies and working on sequencing activities and making connections. I have been so impressed by the children's presentations this week! Not only have the children presented confidently to their peers but the encouragement and kind feedback that the children have given to each another has been simply heartwarming to see. Well done Primary 2 Alpha!
In Maths we have been covering a variety of concepts from counting on in 2s, 5s and 10s (the eagle eyed children among us quickly letting me know that we were in fact learning the 2, 5 and 10x tables!), exploring and partitioning numbers into tens and units and investigating weight, measure and shape. The boys and girls have particularly enjoyed our class countdown challenges too, where we split into teams and answer a variety of mental maths questions together to the countdown clock (doo-doo- doo-doo- doo-doo-doo-doo- bing!). I have been blown away by how well the children work together to solve each problem, applying the variety of skills that we have been learning so quickly and effectively. A class full of little super stars!
We have continued to take PE outside in the MUGA, come rain or shine, working on our ball skills in particular. It can be chilly work but we soon warm up as we run around the pitch and have lots of fun keeping fit and playing together. A little reminder to parents that children are welcome to bring in cosy layers for PE in the MUGA, I know that Mr Milligan and I always have ours!
Finally, how could I write a November blog post without a mention of our wonderful trip to the Science Centre this month? The excitement of the children could be heard for miles and the joy on everybody's faces was plain for all to see. It was clear that we all 'knew our stuff' too, as the children had some fantastic answers (and questions) for our planetarium presenter! Lots of 'oohs', 'aaahs' and squeals of excitement could be heard as we travelled into space and explored the stars above. After a quick snack, we took to the science mall where the children had an absolute whale of a time! I cannot thank our parent helpers enough for their help, support and counting of heads throughout the day. We truly are so privileged at Maidenhill to have such a supportive and active community of parents who help to make trips like these the success that they are. The children had an absolutely wonderful time and we couldn't have done it without you. Thank you.
I hope you enjoy the pictures below, I had so many photographs on my camera roll that my whole computer crashed on me trying to upload them! I'll need to make a big photo montage at the end of the year...
What's Next?
As we head into December our P1-3 Navitity rehearsals are well underway! From the stage hands making incredible backdrops, props and costume accessories, to the choreographers strutting their stuff, to our beautiful choir of singers and our cast of wonderful actors, I think that it is safe to say that we are going to be in for such a treat this December! Pupil voice is really important to us at Maidenhill and so the children were asked to tell us their preferred groups to take part in. It is so lovely to see the joy on the children's faces as they work together in their nativity teams and how excited they are to share The Big Little Nativity with you all. Over the next week, the acting group will be provided with copies of their lines from the script to practise at home and we would be truly grateful for any help and support that you may be able to give. Mr Milligan and I will send out details very soon about the types of clothes the children may need for their Big Little performance too, although we will endeavour to provide as much of this as we can ourselves.
Mr. Crystal is working with our super stage hand team and would be very grateful for any large pieces of cardboard that you might be able to donate to the cause. With 5 doors and 3 camels to make, the bigger the boxes the better!
A little request...
While I absolutely do not want to discourage children from bringing in toys or items to share with/show to the class, if I could please kindly request that children keep precious items like Lego builds at home to help to avoid mix ups with our class materials I would truly appreciate it. I would be very grateful if Rainbow Friends toys could be kept for home too. Many thanks for your support!
Parent appointments
It has been such a pleasure to meet with parents this month to share your child's learning and progress with you. I know that one or two parents were perhaps not able to make an appointment. Please be assured that the office will be in touch to arrange a telephone appointment very soon!
Thank you to the parents who let me know that they have had difficulty accessing Google Classroom. This is top of my to-do list this week, once our final parent appointments are completed. Many, many thanks for your patience.