The book we've been using this week is Mr Gumpy's Outing. This is a story with a lot of lovely language especially verbs or "doing words" which are so useful for children's language development. So we have words like "teasing", "chasing", "trampling" and "squabbling". This is also a great story for acting out so children can use a box to make a boat and add the characters or use plastic boats in water. Or they can pretend to be the characters - perhaps with masks - and role play the story themselves.
Why not talk about the story at home too and try out some of the ideas that are posted daily in the Learning at Home Blog? You don't have to be off school to do this. You could watch a story video together after school one day or try an activity out on Saturday morning. And of course keep talking and having fun together!

The children have enjoyed story sessions focused on this book which is all about Steven going shopping and then having lots of problems with various animals on the way. Luckily he thinks of a solution each time. This story has a repetitive structure which helps the children follow what is going on and it is about a familiar environment so children may recognise some things from their own local environment such as the shop, the railings and the people digging up the pavement. This book is also excellent for mathematics because there are 6 eggs, 5 bananas, 4 apples, 3 oranges, 2 doughnuts and 1 packet of crisps to start with and then 1 gets taken away each time. Using real objects helps children engage with the story and can also help extend their vocabulary and their knowledge as they help act out the story.

We had our first school Zoom meeting today which was an exciting experience! Barts Community Smiles ran a session for parents on caring for your teeth which was very well presented and was both interesting and enjoyable. We're delighted some of you made it and we hope to hold more sessions for parents on Zoom in the future so do look out for these and come along. Zoom is pretty easy to use and you can join on a phone as well as on a tablet or laptop. We might try and run a training session to help parents learn how to use Zoom if people would find that useful.
One issue that came up was that some children are not keen on brushing their teeth. Having a special toothbrush with a favourite character might help as might their favourite toothpaste. It can be helpful if a parent brushes their teeth at the same time and having a timer is a good way of making sure a child brushes for long enough. Some children might need a reward system of some kind. It's also good to get into the habit of teeth brushing at an early age. Children's teeth should start being brushed as soon as they come through the gum. The dental students suggested several fun videos that might help encourage children to brush their teeth and we have now added these to our website. Have a  look at the Safeguarding/Healthy Families page.

Did you manage to do the 2 minutes silence at 11am on Wednesday this week. In the past we've been to visit the memorial to Alfred George Drake in Shandy Park. We couldn't go this year but you will have learned a little about him in the video we made. 

Here's the video in case you missed it.

Well it's been a bit of a strange week at school and also in the wider world as you'll know.
You'll have received the message that our boiler stopped working so we had no heating and no hot water. Unfortunately that meant we had to close on Thursday and Friday and we will need to let you know whether we can reopen on Monday.
There were no big fireworks display this year for Bonfire Night, but a few people had displays in their gardens so you might have seen some out of your windows.
The clocks have also gone back which means it gets dark early. Don't forget to have a look out of your window though because this a good time of the year to look at the moon and maybe even see some of the stars. If you look at the moon each night you will see it changing shape. 
Have a look a this video to find out why this happens with Paxi, who comes from outer space! This video is interesting for both children and adults!
 dlmultimedia.esa.int/download/public/videos/2018/10/003/1810_003_AR_EN.mp4