Welcome back to Term 3 Elf Owls!

Tuesdays: Indoor PE 

Alternate Fridays: Family Celebration Assembly

Happy New Year Elf Owl Families!

We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas break! Thank you very much for the thoughtful cards, gifts and wishes we received before we broke up for the holidays. We really appreciate your kind gestures and we are looking forward to seeing our lovely class again this week!

We are really proud of how well the class has settled into the routines of school life and as such we will start attending whole school collective worship assemblies this term. On Mondays we will be attending singing worship and we will also begin joining the rest of the school for family celebration assemblies. These take place on alternate Fridays and you are very welcome to join us in the school hall for these lovely celebrations!

We are very excited for a busy term ahead! Our topic this term is Once upon a time and it focusses on exploring traditional tales from around the world. In R.E we will be asking the question are all families the same? and looking at our different experiences of celebrating new year and other occasions. We will also learn how Chinese New Year is celebrated in different families and retell the traditional Chinese tale of the Jade Emperor’s Great Race. In PSHE we will learn about keeping safe and we will be learning about freezing and melting in our ‘understanding of the world’ strand- this links nicely with the seasonal changes we always consider as part of the Early Years curriculum.

Monster Phonics

We are extremely proud of the children’s progress in phonics so far! This term we will introduce further digraphs (2 letter sounds), as listed below. As you already know, Monster Phonics is based around some fun characters and this term the characters feature prominently to support the children’s understanding.

W.B. 5^th January: Character & Grapheme: Tricky witch oo / High frequency words: look, now, down

W.B.12^th January: Character & Grapheme: Brown Owl ow/ High frequency words: look, now, down

W.B.19^th January: Character & Grapheme: Green Froggy ee/ High frequency words: see, going, just, have

W.B.26^th January: Character & Grapheme: Black cat ur/ High frequency words: see, going, just, have

W.B. 2nd February: Character & Grapheme: Angry Red A ai/ High frequency words: it's, do, so

W.B. 9th February: Character & Grapheme: Black cat or/ High frequency words: it's, do, so

Reading and Book Bags

Thank you for your support with reading at home. The children will continue to bring home a Monster Phonics book every Friday, along with other books to share and read at home throughout the week. Please support your child at home by reading the books with them for 10 minutes each day. You can vary which ones you choose to read, but the Monster Phonics book will be perfect for supporting your child to segment (s-a-t) and blend (=sat) as they will only include the sounds we have taught in class. The extra books given can be kept at home for the week and returned each Friday, but please send your child to school with their book bag, yellow reading record and Monster Phonics book daily.

Regular reading at home is important as it provides children with the opportunity to consolidate their learning at home on a 1: 1 basis. We will continue to read with the children individually and in groups as well as sharing lots of stories in school.

Maths

In Maths we will be finding and representing numbers, subitising, finding one more/one less, as well as introducing the skills of doubling and recognising odd and even numbers. We will also have a focus on mass and capacity.

P.E Day and kit

P.E this term will be gymnastics and will be taught by Mrs Ray on Tuesdays. The children should come to school wearing their P.E kit each Tuesday. This includes a white t-shirt, black joggers/ leggings, a dark sweater or hoodie and plimsolls or trainers.

Outdoor Learning

There will be no forest school this term, but as always, the children have daily access to outdoor learning and should continue to leave appropriate clothing on their peg in school. This should include:

• A waterproof suit/trousers and jacket
• A woolly hat/ gloves
• Wellies
• A change of uniform or old clothes in case they get very wet/ have an accident

Snack/ Milk

We provide a morning snack of fruit or vegetables daily and there is often enough left over for an afternoon snack too. If you wish to, you can send in a healthy afternoon snack from home. Please make you stick to fruit, vegetables, plain rice cakes or breadsticks. A drink of milk is offered to all children daily and the children should all bring a bottle of water to school. We have ‘Toast Cafe’ most Mondays with Mrs Stevens which the children are really enjoying!

We are looking forward to a fun and engaging start to 2026! As always, please do come and chat to us if you have any queries or concerns.

With our very best wishes for the new year,

The Elf Owl Team

Mrs Ray, Miss Taylor, Mrs Harris, Miss Sansom, Miss Putt, Mrs Fairfax and Mrs Stevens