James First 100 High Frequency Words Challenge

James has just finished his Reception year at school, and one of the things he has struggled with has been his High Frequency Words.

The guidelines for Reception say that the children should know 100 words by the end of the school year, James however is only on the second set of the 100. 

He is such a stubborn boy and the words he has, he does know, its just he messes around when you are trying to go through them with him!

So mummy has found all the words he should know by now and I have printed them out and cut them out and James is going to learn these over the summer!

Check back in September to see how we did on our challenge!

We found the words on this website: http://www.highfrequencywords.org

End Of Reception - First Year at School!

So it's James last day of school today and I really can't believe my baby boy has finished his first year in school.

This time last year he was finishing nursery and I was all i cant believe he's finishing nursery for big boy school and now he's finished his first year in school. Year one in September sounds so grown up.

I know James is really going to miss the TA they have in the afternoon as she was his TA in nursery so he has had her for the last two years.

So it's not been an easy year for James. He has had his struggles, mostly with his stubbornness. You ask him to do his keywords or his reading and he just mucks about.

He has some lovely friends most are from his class at nursery, but he has made friends with some of the kids that were new in the school.

I have loved going up to pick him up and hearing all about his day. I have been going up that little bit earlier so I can see him play outside with his friends. Its so cute hearing his little friends shouting "James there's your mummy and baby!"

Since James started school, his relationship with Freddie has got so much better. He comes out of school telling him he's missed him.

We had the end of term project outcome last week and mummy, daddy, nana, gaga and Freddie went into have school dinner with James and to collect our cook books that the kids had made this term.

Although it's the end of school, James is still not yet five and wont be five till the second last weekend of the summer holidays.

I'm so proud of everything James has achieved in reception and I'm looking forward to him continuing to flourish in year one.

 

Improving Fine Motor Skills.

Fine motor skills is something we have found this year James has struggled with, This is why he seems to hate writing so much! 

Mummy is on a mission this summer holiday to improve James fine motor skills so when he goes back to school come September he will hopefully not struggle to hold his pencil!

Pintrest has a lot of posts on fine motor skills and how to improve them. I have started spending free time on an evening searching for little things that will help James and so far I have made him two little games.

The first game is threading straw beads onto pipe cleaners. The bits of straws have been cut into beads of different sizes to be threaded onto pipe cleaners. 

The second game is similar but instead of using pipe cleaners, its a piece of wool. I'm hoping that these games will help James.

I'm also looking into making him some threading games, where he has to thread a piece of wool through holes to make patterns on shapes.

I have also made him some writing practice sheets, I'm really hoping to get him wanting to write over the summer but I'm literally not holding my breath due to his stubbornness!

This is a link to my board on Pintrest https://www.pinterest.co.uk/victoriahockley/fine-motor-skills/ so if you have any more ideas of ways I can help James leave a comment below!

School Week Two

So week two at school is over! The first day of the half one pick up was so odd and I did find myself clock watching a little bit to see what time it was for pick up as I was so used to the 1200 pick up from nursery last year! I have had to remind myself after my groups to go home as I would normally have just waited around till pick up time. 

The full class of thirty have been in this week and James has made a lot of new friends! I was worried about how he would cope with the noise and his ears. He seems to be doing ok, but both his teacher and the TAs know the signs to look for if they causing him problems. He has started leaving me in either at classroom door or even one day left me in cloakroom! I'm hoping this will progress to him leaving me in the yard as the school are wanting reception to do independent entry from after October half term holiday. 

We are still struggling to get an interest in his reading book or his key words. I know he is the youngest, but it's such a struggle to even get him to look at his school stuff.

I think it's been a pretty successful week on a school meals point. He has not been coming home at half one wanting food. I think because Newcastle City Council have the rolling menu online I can tell him what there is so he knows what to expect. 

He has been absolutely exhausted with the half one finish so I am fully expecting lots of tears from tiredness on the full days pick ups. I will be attaching the buggy board back onto the pram to get him home quicker. Poor boy has been asleep by half seven at the latest and slept till at least half six every morning although Thursday it was after seven when he woke up! It was after half seven again on Friday morning, but I think that was more due to the disturbed night he had had with a massive thunderstorm waking us all up and keeping us up for a good couple of hours.

We have had a lot of tears after school due to pure exhaustion! Its been an extra two hours from the first week. Next week will be a full day with a three fifteen finish. So I am fully prepared for an exhausted little boy!

I am really stumped for ideas for an after school snack though for next week as we normally don't have our tea till about five o'clock and reception are taken to have their school lunch at twelve. James does like apples, but not the skin! So any ideas please let me know! 

The first week of school

So the first week of reception class is over, James has been in half days this week 9-1130 and he's really surprised me, we have had no tears on drop off, he's been going in happy and smiling! He was a little clingy on the first day but as soon as he got into his classroom and saw his friends he soon cheered up and went and sat down!

Day two he came home with his first reading book, his reading record and his first set of words to learn. I was pretty shocked at these coming home on day two! I thought they would maybe give them a couple of weeks to settle down, but I can see they want to get the kids started on their learning straight away.

Day three and we got our first accident form! Yep James and one of his little friends managed to run into each other outside and bang heads! They had also baked some biscuits which they then decorated and brought home on Friday! 

There has only been half a class in each morning, with the other half in on the afternoons. Week two however all the children will be in each morning till half past one, meaning James will get his first experience of school meals. Last year in nursery, they stayed and had a Christmas lunch at school, which James seemed to like, so I'm hoping seeing his friends having school meals might help his fussy eating.

James has been coming home shattered every afternoon and he's been in bed and asleep by half seven most nights. I know this week he will be exhausted due to the extra time hey are in.

He has not been very interested in his reading book or looking at his words, I'm putting this down to him being so young compared to rest of the class. Some of his friends were the age he is now when they started nursery last year. So if anyone has any tips on helping him learn to read please share them! I have already picked up some fab advice from fellow bloggers! 

The night before school

As I'm writing this, both my boys are tucked up in their beds, but it's a different feeling tonight, the clothes are all laid out for tomorrow and the alarm is set!

It's been six weeks since I needed to set an alarm, but tomorrow we will do the familiar walk to the local school and go through the same door but instead of entering nursery we will go next door to reception.

Four years ago you were a tiny baby sleeping in your carrycot, now you are four a bright and intelligent, friendly little boy. And you do know your own mind. If your not happy you let everyone know about it.

This is the start of your full time education James. We are so lucky you are in a school system where you will only change once. So two schools between now and you leaving at eighteen! 

Work hard my little dude, but remember mummy, daddy and Freddie are proud of you know matter what xxx

This mummy is feeling very emotional tonight. It's hard to believe my first born starts school tomorrow not even two weeks after he turned four! 

The school waiting game - we did it!

I'm so pleased to be writing this post to say James got his first choice for primary school!

It's an amazing little school where he is going to now be till he is eleven years old and Freddie will hopefully join him there in a few years time! 

I have been so nervous about finding out, I was convinced we were not going to get it, but looking at it we are one of the closest families to the school it's literally four minutes walk to our house from the nursery/reception gate! 

Ok mummy is rambling but I'm putting that down to emotions that and the fact it was my birthday yesterday!