Cheam Common Infants' Academy: Balmoral Road, Worcester Park KT4 8SS Tel: 020 8337 4152

email: ccioffice@leoacademytrust.co.uk www.cheamcommoninfants.co.uk

This week marks the last of the Year 2 class assemblies. All Year 2 classes have worked extremely hard and spoken confidently in front of their parents and peers. I am looking forward to seeing the Year 1 class assemblies in Spring 2. Dates to follow soon!

This week has been an exciting week as the Key Stage 1 children have been attending their new phonics groups and all of the children will be receiving our new reading books to read at home!

Christmas is just around the corner and the children have begun to learn Christmas songs. They are getting excited and they can't wait to perform them to you!

Last week 40 parents attended the 'Play workshop'. The workshop consisted of practical activities and getting involved. Teams of parents needed to make the tallest tower using marshmallows and spaghetti. This showed the importance of communication, team work and engineering! Parents also found out about the importance of play and what activities could be completed at home.

This week 47 parents attended the 'Key Stage 1 Read Write Inc workshop'. The workshop informed parents on how we teach phonics and how parents can support their child. There was also an opportunity to see a range of our new reading books. The presentations will be uploaded to the website shortly.

We are pleased to announce that LEO have purchased a new reading scheme for our school. We are going to send these new books home with your child this week having finished categorising them. Children will be sent home with two books that are at the correct reading level for them.

Research has shown the importance of children developing a ‘love of reading’ and this is a philosophy that we have adopted at CCI. In order for children to develop a love of reading and become lifelong learners it is important that they take home ‘appropriate books.’ Children should be reading books that they can read themselves – they should not be finding these books challenging. This ensures that the phonics they are being taught is becoming embedded and the focus can then be on comprehension and understanding.

So beginning from this week your child will take home:

Read Write Inc Book Bag books:

Children will take these books home to read on a Friday (Please return on a Monday).

These books are to extend your child's reading. They should only contain sounds that your child has learnt.

Your child should therefore be able to read most of this book. However they might need a little support, especially with the first read.

This will allow you to focus on discussing the story with your child.

Hopefully by Monday your child should be able to read this book with fluency and expression and have a good understanding of what the book is about.

If your child is working within Set 1 sounds or is in the ditty group, they will receive a book twice weekly.

When your child reaches the end of grey level, your child will then read free choice books.

Oxford Reading Tree Books:

Your child will receive an Oxford Reading Tree book once they reach the Read Write Inc red group

In addition to the Read Write Inc Book Bag Book, your child will take home an Oxford Reading Tree Book.

This book will be sent home and changed every Tuesday and should be read and re-read at home throughout the week to support fluency.

Again this book will be closely matched to the sounds your child has learnt and therefore will promote independence.

This is a further opportunity for children to focus on their understanding of books they read at home.

If your child is reading below the red level in Read Write Ink they will receive a book to share with you. The children are not expected to read this book alone.

Please be aware that the Oxford Reading Tree books colour band does not match the Read Write Inc colour band.

When you child reaches Level 12 your child will then read free choice books.

Library books:

Your children will continue to take home a new Library book each week.

This is a book to read to or share with your child to help promote a love for reading.

On 11th November we held a two minute silence and the children attended a special assembly to explain why we wear poppies. The week before Mr Chalke organised and sold poppy merchandise. We raised a grand total of £303.19. Thank you for your support.

On Friday 15th November the children enjoyed coming to school in their pyjamas or in their Children in Need clothes. We raised £407.90. Thank you for supporting this cause.

The Year Two choir have been invited to sing at our Christmas Fair on Saturday November 30^th at 12.15. Rehearsals have started with great enthusiasm so please keep the day free. More details to follow.

We have had such an amazing time recently,as we have been so lucky to have some very clever and brilliant Mums and Dads who have come into Nursery to share stories with us in their Home Language as part of our Learning Theme, The World of Stories. It has been a wonderful opportunity for the children to hear and learn about the different languages of the world and the children have been so good at listening and so keen to learn and say new words each time. We can now say Hello at register time in English,Swedish, Malayalam and Mandarin,we are all so proud of our language learning! We are all wondering about what language we may hear a story in next? Let us know if you can help us too,we’d love to welcome you in for a story-time.

In Reception our teachers read 'What the ladybird heard?' and we made our own ladybird biscuits. They were delicious!

The children really enjoyed using clay to make a hedgehog using natural materials. They used different skills including, rolling, pinching, moulding and shaping. They were all very proud of their finished product.

Year 2 have been doing cross-curricular work about the inventor Charles Macintosh. In Science the children tested materials to determine whether or not they were waterproof and in English they used their retrieval skills to discover key facts about Macintosh's life and then wrote them in their own words.

Year 1 Autumn trip

As part of their Science topic 'Seasonal Changes' Year One went on a walk to the local park. They were looking for signs of Autumn. On their walk they noticed that the leaves were changing colour and falling to the ground. They felt the wet grass and saw how muddy some of the paths were. They smelt the damp leaves and looked out for any hedgehogs that might be hiding amongst the leaves. Sadly they did not see any so we decided to make some hedgehogs out of clay instead.

Bikeability

So far Owls, Eagles, Kestrels, Finches and Robins have really enjoyed the Bikeability sessions.

Bikeability is a cycle training programme. It’s about gaining practical skills and understanding how to cycle on today’s roads. Bikeability gives everyone the skills and confidence for all kinds of cycling.

27th November- Sparrows

4th December- Wrens

29th November Mufti

30th November School Fair 11-2

2nd December Reception Christmas production (AM/PM)

3rd December Reception Christmas production (AM)

3rd December- Rock steady concert 1.45

11th December Nursery Christmas celebration

12th December- General Election- school closed

13th December- Making Day

13th December- Christmas lunch

17th December class parties

17th and 18th December KS1 Christmas production 9.30am- full details to follow

19th December Last day of term. Finish at 2pm- Change of time

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