Once upon a time

Posted 2019-01-23 21:46:39

We jumped into the Spring term with a new theme based on stories old and new.  In our assembly this week the children have been performing the story of the ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’ by reciting lines and singing songs.  It is clear that they have caught the acting bug following on from the success of their nativity play last month and many have been desperate to play the different parts in the story, particularly the troll!  They also heard the story of ‘The Little Red Hen’ in which none of the animals wanted to help her make some bread.  Fortunately we had many keen volunteers during our cooking session on Wednesday and the children kneaded, squished, stretched and rolled the dough to make some delicious rolls.

Many of the children have been telling us all about their Christmas break and it is lovely to see them refreshed and ready for another busy term. This term our preschool children begin their introduction to phonics which is done during circle time and assembly. We follow the Jolly Phonics programme which is a fun and child centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. Parents can expect to hear about snakes in the grass or ants on their arm as the children begin to memorise different songs associated with each sound.  It is very encouraging to see that some children already have a good grasp of the different letter sounds and they have all enjoyed the various activities aimed at promoting their understanding of phonics.

Thank you to those of you who have brought in your old Christmas cards, some of which have already been put to good use by the children in the art room sessions.  The preschoolers punched holes into the cards and threaded string through them and the younger children practised their scissor skills by cutting them up into a variety of shapes.

In other news, this weekend Mr and Mrs Federici are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary! Together they have worked tirelessly to grow Mount Carmel into the amazing community it is today and have had an impact on the lives of many children, parents and families in St Albans. We all wish them a very happy anniversary.

The next sound of the week will be ’a’.