Welcome to our Year R blog!

Each week, we hope to share with you some of the learning that has taken place in our busy Reception classrooms. Maybe you could talk about what the children have been doing at school when you are at home with them?

Monday 26th April 2024

In English this week we were talking about the different animals that came to visit us.

We talked about the animals name and what each one looked like and felt like!

We discussed which animal was our favourite and why. We then had lots of ideas to help us write about our favourite animal.  We made different animals out of card and paper.

This week in maths we have been learning all about odd and even numbers .

We used our own socks to help us! We also looked at repeating patterns. We used the outside area to create an odd and even game.

Out in Forest School we enjoyed using leaves and lolly sticks to make butterflies. We currently have some pet caterpillars in class and we are excited to see them transform into butterflies!

On Friday we held a special event called French Day. We came into school wearing the colours of the French flag which are red, white and blue. We enjoyed a French breakfast of croissants, learnt some French words and coloured in our very own French flag. We also used construction blocks to build famous French landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower. We had lots of fun singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in French!

Friday 19th April 2024

This week, to introduce or new topic about animals, we had some special visitors in school. The children really enjoyed meeting and learning about the different pets and how to care for them. We met Basil the cat, Blue the dog, Buzz and Jesse the tortoises, Bibbin and America the African land snails, Ace the snake and Storm the rabbit. The children were very brave and touched some of the animals so they could see how they felt.

This week we have been learning how to double numbers in maths. We have had lots of fun using different manipulatives to explore doubling. We found that to double a number we just needed to add the same numbers together.

In literacy we spoke about the different things we did over the Easter holiday. We then had a go at writing sentences about our 2 weeks off. It was lots of fun to hear what everyone did over the Easter holidays.

Thursday 28th March 2024

We have enjoyed getting stuck into Easter crafts this week during child initiated time. We made our Easter cards and also chose to complete some different crafts, including egg painting and making spring chickens! We also enjoyed playing Easter egg games on the interactive whiteboard in the classroom.

This week we had a visit from some Chartwell House residents who came to see our practise Easter Bonnet parade in the morning. They also listened to us sing some spring and Easter songs. We especially loved performing Spring Chicken!

In forest school this week we took part in an Easter egg hunt. We had to find the different numbered eggs and write down the letter on the bottom of each egg, then use these letters to crack the code! We worked out that the letters spelt out Spring Chicken! We had to look high and low as some of the eggs were very well hidden!

Friday 22nd March 2024

This week in maths we recapped our learning on number bonds to 5. We enjoyed using our new five frames and coloured counters and also practised writing number sentences to show the number bonds we had found. We also began to explore subtraction related facts by noticing that, for example, 5 – 1 = 4, which is the inverse of 4 + 1 = 5.

In Forest School we looked for signs of Spring and found some blossom. We talked about different habitats and looked at the bird and bug houses. We collected sticks and leaves and made habitats for different animals.

Friday 15th March 2024

This week in maths we have been talking about short and long. We have been ordering objects into length by shortest to longest. We had fun with cars sending them down a ramp to see which car would travel on the longest journey.  We made the longest traffic jam with cars and ordered different sizes of string. We even found straws that were longer, shorter and some were the same!

It was a very muddy forest school this week after all of the rain we have had! We spent time looking under logs to see what minibeasts we could find. We found some very long worms and a few small spiders. We also enjoyed finding different sticks and compared their lengths. We found some very short sticks and some that were so long!

In child initiated-time we kept checking on our seeds to see how much they had grown since we planted them. They were tall enough to take home this week. As we have been reading the story of Handa’s surprise this week, we made animal masks so that we could act out the story.

Friday 8th March 2024

This week in forest school we have been making bird feeders.  We used pine cones to fill with lard and then carefully  added bird seed. After the pine cones were filled we had to attach string so that we could hang the bird feeders in the trees. We will be looking to see what bird comes to feed from the new feeders.

In Maths we have been learning about weight. We have talked about the different kinds of scales we might find in our houses, found things that are heavier and lighter than us and used the balances to compare objects. We used the language heavier and lighter and know that if the pan goes down then the object is heavier.

We have had lots of fun celebrating World Book Day this week! We enjoyed sharing our special books from home with older children who read them to us. We also shared our books and reading buddies with other children in our class. In literacy and topic we enjoyed talking about different vegetables we eat at home and school, and wrote a sentence about a vegetable we like.

Friday 1st March 2024

This week in maths we have been looking at height. We have been looking at the words tall and short. The children had fun sorting different items from shortest to tallest and then tallest to shortest. We used all of our maths skills to count how many objects we could order in height. 

In Child Initiated time we have been planting our own cress seeds! Lots of us already knew that plants need sun and water to grow. We sprinkled our seeds on top of some cotton wool, watered them and put them in a sunny place near the window. We have also had a focus on sharing and playing with different children in class and had lots of fun making new friends.

We had a lovely time in forest school this week. We looked at pictures of different nests that birds may make for their eggs and spoke about why birds make nests. With our friends, we explored the forest school to search for different size twigs and leaves to make our own nests. We were able to find some real nests at the top of some trees too!

This week in our Literacy and Topic work we have been learning about plants. We talked about what we know about them already and what we would like to learn. We talked about how to grow plants and we planted our own cress seeds. We will be watching them excitedly for any signs that they are starting to grow.

Friday 23rd February 2024

Welcome to term 4!

In maths this week we have been learning about money. We explored the different coins we use here in England to pay for things. We also spoke about different ways of paying, such as paper notes, credit cards and even tapping using a mobile phone! We took part in coin sorting activities and also practised our counting and subitising skills. We also practised adding different coins together to find an amount. We had lots of fun selling fruit and vegetables to our friends in our class shop!

In Literacy this week, we have been learning all about the season Spring! We’ve enjoyed learning all about the season and what to look out for as the nicer weather begins to come our way. We’ve been writing sentences about what we have learnt about Spring. We have tried our hardest to use a capital letter at the start of the sentence, a full stop at the end of the sentence and finger spaces in-between the words. We have also learnt some topic words about Spring, and have had a go at writing them independently.

We had a workshop about road safety and how to cross the road and stay safe around traffic. We learnt about the 5 rules, to stop, look both ways, listen for any traffic or things that are dangerous, think about how safe the place is to cross, and then hold hands to walk across the road. We practised crossing the road safely with Kip the bear, making sure to look both ways!

We also learnt about pancake day and how people use up all of the ingredients from their fridge before lent starts. We tasted pancakes with lemon and sugar and we loved them! We talked about other things you could put on your pancakes.

Friday 2nd February 2024

This week in literacy and topic we have enjoyed learning about another planet, this time the biggest in our solar system, Jupiter! We found out that Jupiter’s big red spot is actually a huge swirling storm that has been going on for a few hundred years! We also looked at some recent news reports which showed that Jupiter also has Northern Lights and watched the images and videos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Our activities included choosing a fact we liked about Jupiter and we then practised our sentence writing skills.

During Child-initiated time we have been enjoying being astronauts in our space rocket with our friends. We have made some rockets out of different types of construction. Can you see the shapes we used? We have even drawn our own space rockets ready to blast off into space.

Friday 26th January 2024

This week in maths we have been using our knowledge and understanding of numbers. We have been grouping all sorts of objects to count and then writing that number on our whiteboards.  We played different games with rolling a dice and finding that numeral.

We had an exciting visit this week from The Planetarium! We jetted off into space and learnt lots about the moon, Earth and other planets. We also loved watching videos of the moon landing! The sky above our head was also transformed so that we could explore the night sky and spot different star constellations. We spotted a bear in the sky, a warrior and even a unicorn! Back in class during Child Initiated time we spoke about different textures and explored lots of different rocks and shells. We used words such as bumpy, heavy, shiny and smooth to describe them.

We have continued to learn about Space in our Topic/Literacy and this week we learned about Mars. Did you know that it is really cold on Mars even though it looks like it should be hot? We used marble printing and then cut out our own Mars planets. We also wrote facts about this amazing planet!

Friday 19th January 2024

During Child Initiated this week the children have been exploring our topic all about space.  The children have been scientists! They have been using torches to explore light and dark We talked about materials that let light through these are called translucent and materials that are solid and do not let light through are called opaque. We also talked about shadows; the children loved using the torches to make shadows.

This week in maths we have continued our learning on shape by looking at 3D shapes. We explored the names of the shapes, their features, and spoke about what they looked like. We thought a cuboid looked like a cereal box and a cone looked like an ice cream cone! During lessons we have been using building blocks to make models and spoke about the 3D shapes we were using. Finally, we went on another shape hunt to see if we could spot any 3D shapes around the classroom and school.

This week has been really cold but we have wrapped up well for our outdoor activities. Every day we go outside for a walk/run around the playground to do our Daily Mile. In Forest School we kept warm in our house. We found frost outside in different places but only where the sun hadn’t been shining.

This week in topic and Literacy we have been learning about the moon. We found out that the moon orbits the earth, and you can fit 4 moons inside our planet. We also found out that the holes on the moon’s surface are called craters. We had lots of fun making our own craters by dropping rocks in sand. We noticed that the bigger rocks made bigger craters.  

Friday 12th January 2024

Our topic/English this term is all about space, we started the week by discussing the solar system to find out what we already know about it.  We came up with some great facts about Earth. We talked about the deserts, the sea, forests and had lots of discussions about volcanoes!  The children loved exploring the role play area, this had been transformed into a spaceship! The children could complete the ‘Spaceship log book’ or study the rock samples. We read the book ‘Whatever Next’ by Jill Murphy. The children really enjoyed re-creating the story using our own cardboard box, wellies and picnic blanket.   

In Forest School this week we enjoyed being out in the sun, despite it being so cold! We spent time looking in the trees to see what we could find and we enjoyed using the 2D shape hunter mats to help us find lots of different shapes hidden around the forest.

In maths, we have been exploring shapes and finding how they can be made up of other shapes. For example a diamond can be made of 2 triangles, or a big square can be made up of 4 little squares. We also made repeating patterns using 2 or 3 different colours.

During Child Initiated lessons this week we have had lots of fun playing in our new roleplay area. The children have been using the area to aid their imaginary play and travel to different planets in our solar system. The children have also enjoyed building rockets out of Lego this week.

Friday 5th January 2024

This week in literacy and topic we began by sharing our holiday news with everyone. We then began looking at our topic for this term, which is space! We really enjoyed sharing what we already know about space and worked together in groups to make mind maps, where we drew pictures and wrote words or sentences to show what we know.

In Forest School we had fun developing our motor skills. We hid behind the log pile and swung on the swing. We collected wood in our wheelbarrow and found some pine cones. When they are wet they are small and closed like this and when they dry they open out.  

Friday 15th December

We have had lots of fun across all of the Reception classes this week, celebrating all things festive! We have got stuck into lots of different craft making, including making Christmas trees, Christmas cards, reindeers, paper chains, decorations and more! We have been continuing to practise our sounds in phonics and are all making so much progress. We have also enjoyed listening to Christmas and winter stories, along with singing holiday counting songs! Merry Christmas to all and we look forward to sharing more of our learning in 2024.

Friday 8th December 2023

As well as nativity performances this week we managed to squeeze in some Christmas themed maths activities! We decorated a tree with pompoms and sequins then counted how many of each colour. We worked out which colour there was most of. We ordered numbered stockings from 1 to 10 and from 10 to 1. And we drew decorations onto trees, finding one more and one less than the amount already there We also made Christmas pictures with 2D shapes and were able to name all of the shapes we used.

We had so much fun taking part in The Nativity this past week and wanted to show off our costumes! In Child Initiated time we enjoyed reading books and we spent time making our Christmas cards. We chose to have either our hand or our foot painted to make a snowman or a reindeer!

We wrote letters to Santa in our Literacy this week, can you see what we asked for? We practised spelling some words on these phonics frames and if we weren’t sure how to write the letters we used our soundmats. We have also been doing our own writing and drawing in our new Doodlebooks during child-initiated time.

We enjoyed creating stories in the forest school this week. There were pieces of wood with a variety of characters on, and we were able to collect them with our friends. Once we’d found some, we would use our imagination to create a story. We also had lots of fun pretending to make Santa and reindeer treats in the mud kitchen. We’re sure they’ll love them!

Friday 1st December

We have been exploring all the areas of our school in Child Initiated learning this week. We have been using all of our muscles to make patterns in the sand tray . We used the water wall to explore how the water moves around the wheel and down the plastic tubes.  We worked with friends to make a long track for the train to move along. Some children really liked using the pencils to create beautiful patterns. It has been a busy week for us in Reception.

We have been practising recognising our numbers to 10. We independently ordered our numbers and then used our subitising and counting skills to match amounts to the correct numeral. We also wanted to share our amazing houses we made for our Three Little Pigs homework! Our houses were so strong that they didn’t blow down, even when we used hairdryers! Finally we wanted to share some posters we made for our Road Safety homework. We are so creative!

In Forest School this week we looked at all the different leaves that have fallen off the trees and chose some to use for our Christmas tree pictures. We stuck the leaves on paper and then decorated them with shiny sequins.

Friday 24th November 2023

For Forest School every week, we need to put on our puddle suits, coats and wellies and are making so much progress doing this independently! We had lots of fun this week in the mud kitchen cooking up meals and also practised our balancing skills on the logs and beams. We found leaves and sticks around the forest school and took it in turns to use the wheelbarrow to transport the items around. We also had a great time on the swing as you can see in the photos!

In Literacy this week we have been learning about the Nativity story as we will be performing this in our Christmas show in just a few weeks! We thought about our character in the story and wrote a sentence about it. We have also been thinking about what presents you would give or receive according to your age, sorting toys and gifts according to who they might be for and thinking about how we change as we grow older. We made a stocking for either a baby, a 4 or 5 year old or an adult putting the correct gifts inside.

In maths we have been finding one less this week. If we find one more than a number then it gets bigger, whereas one less makes the number get smaller. We have used numicon, numberlines and lots of different objects to find one less, and played games to help us remember.

During child initiated this week, we have been exploring our new ‘Christmas post office’. We enjoy mark making and writing familiar sounds on letters or postcards, and posting them into our Christmas post box, while also role playing as a customer or a post office worker. One of our favourite activities in yellow class is construction. Many of us have created models and have had lots of fun using them during our play with peers.

Friday 17th November 2023

This week in literacy we enjoyed listening to the story The Three Little Pigs. Lots of us already knew the story well and we had lots of fun joining in with the repetitive phrases! We used pig and wolf masks to act out and retell the story and also took it in turns to be the different characters and then ask questions! In our learning journals we drew pictures of a pig and used our sounds to spell out words. We also took part in a pig and wolf craft activity.

In our child-initiated time this week, we had fun painting and then cutting out some masks for the 3 Little Pigs. We also did some drawing and made burgers in our home corner. Outside we practised our numbers in the tuff spot.

In maths this week we have been finding one more. We have used our subitising to identify a number and then added one more. We talked about how when we add more, the number gets bigger. We played lots of games and used manipulatives to explore one more.

We were lucky this week that the weather was bright and sunny on Wednesday so we made the most of the forest school! We found lots of small sticks and made some houses for the second little pig, adding leaves onto the roof too. We also used larger sticks to make a bigger house, big enough for a child to fit in! As it had been very wet and soggy at the beginning of the week we also found many creepy crawlies under the logs, we always make sure we put them back where we found them.

Friday 10th November

We had lots of fun in Child Initiated this week retelling different stories we learnt about. This week we found out about The Gunpowder Plot and then chose to build a jail in class for our prisoners! We also used building bricks to build the Houses of Parliament and learnt that it is a big building in London where lots of important decisions are made, and we had fun making firework pictures by dropping bags of cornflour! We found out about Diwali and enjoyed colouring in pictures of Rama and Sita. Finally we also enjoyed making poppies after learning about Remembrance Day.

In Literacy/Topic we have been looking at different events. We talked about Bonfire night and fireworks and made a whole class firework picture using printing and paint splatting. We saw how Diwali is celebrated and compared this to a Christmas celebration. We also talked about how poppies are the symbol of Remembrance Day and made some pictures.

In maths this week we have been exploring five and ten frames. We have been using different objects to show amounts in a ten frame, including a poppy theme for Remembrance day.

We are starting to use addition and equals signs to write number sentences, we can also use ten frames to show 2 groups of objects that go together to make 10.

Friday 3rd November 2023

This week it was too windy and rainy to go to Forest School so we did some spooky activities for Halloween instead. We used apples to print pumpkins and then drew faces on and cut them out by ourselves. We made a potion in our big cauldron and practised our problem-solving skills to find the right shapes to fill in the picture.

This week in maths we have continued our work on subitising by finding number bonds to 5. We found different ways of making 5 and enjoyed practising writing number sentences to show our recording. We have also been matching an amount of objects to the correct number and have been continuing to practise number formation.

We had great fun in child initiated this week. As it was Halloween we made and painted pumpkins. Some children used finger painting to create cats and hats .We had lots of matching sound games with a Halloween theme . Some children used the wooden blocks and Lego to build towers and rockets.

Friday 20th October 2023

Green class had lots of fun this week during child-initiated time. We enjoyed pretending to be doctors in our doctor’s surgery and cared for our toy babies. We built some high towers and chose to play some phonics games on our large screen! We also used Mobilo to build transformer cars.

In our Literacy/Topic lessons we have been learning about people who help us. We talked about when the firefighters and the police officers came into school a few weeks ago. We dressed up in our costumes and did different activities including sentence ordering and making cut and stick police scenes.

In Forest School this week we searched for things to make a good home for a hibernating hedgehog, we found crunchy leaves, long and short branches and twigs and then we made some food for the hedgehogs in the mud kitchen. We also used brown leaves to make a spikey hedgehog by gluing them on to paper. We are getting very confident at climbing trees and balancing along logs too.

In maths this week, we have been practising writing numbers. We have accessed a variety of activities including whiteboards, chalk, crayons and pens to enhance both our fine-motor skills and our accuracy when writing digits. We have also been continuing to look at the Ten Town characters. The characters help us to identify, write and understand the quantity of each numeral from 0-10.

Friday 13th October 2023

During child-initiated time, we choose our own activities. Indoors, we like to dress up and play in the home corner or with different toys. Outdoors, we have been making Autumn soup in our sandpit and playing with our water wall. Sometimes we do craft activities and this week we made hedgehogs with leaves we collected in Forest School.

This week in topic we have been talking about where we live, including what time of home we have and the things we have in our bedrooms. We also looked at a map of Thanet and found out where Cliftonville and Margate are. Inside the classroom we enjoyed drawing our house or cutting out a house and labelling it using sounds we have been learning. We also had lots of fun building different houses using construction toys! Outside we have had fun building homes large enough for us to fit inside.

This week in maths we have been having fun making numbers from zero up to ten. We then used different resources to make each number and practiced writing each number. We have been combining the skills we have been learning about subitising along with writing our numbers.

Yellow class had lots of fun on their weekly visit to the forest school on Wednesday. As Halloween is slowly approaching, the children had a wonderful challenge of creating some witches broomsticks using leaves and sticks! They used their fine-motor skills to carefully use the scissors and the sellotape to create their broomsticks. The children were also able to enjoy the usual gross-motor enhancing activities in the forest school such as the balance beam, the swing, the swing rope, climbing the trees and using the hammocks. Lastly, the children thoroughly enjoyed using the mud kitchen to make messy meals! 

Friday 6th October 2023

This week in our topic and Literacy lessons, we have been looking for signs of Autumn and using our senses to say what we see and hear. In Forest School we found lots of evidence that Autumn has started. The leaves are starting to turn brown and we found some that had fallen off the trees already. We collected some other natural objects and used them to cook some dinner in our outdoor kitchen. We also practised our balancing by crossing over our log bridge.

In maths we continued our work on subitising by working with amounts to 8 and 9. We enjoyed taking part in activities using our large screen in class and activities set out to show our subitising skills. We also enjoyed other activities such as working with and recognising numbers, and counting out and colouring amounts.

During child initiated, we enjoy going on the climbing frame! We have lots of fun balancing climbing, and zooming down the pole. We are able to use the climbing frame sensibly and take it in turns with each other nicely. We have all shown the grown ups that we’re super strong and able to negotiate space around our peers very well.

Friday 29th September

This week in Green class we had a great time out in forest school! We got dressed into our puddle suits and wellies and explored the swings, spider web rope, mud kitchen and hammocks! We also enjoyed climbing trees and playing alongside each other. We even found some small bugs and took lots of care of them.

In maths we have been continuing to practise our subitising (saying the amount we see without counting). We looked at different ways we can see the number 7 using teddies and learned how 7 can be made up of different groups. We also drew round Numicon to show and make different numbers.

This week in topic we have had visits from the police and firefighters. We learnt that the police are here to keep people safe. They use lots of different things to help keep us safe like helicopters, police dogs, handcuffs and police cars. We were allowed to sit in the police car and then even put the lights and sirens on.

When the firefighters came, they told us what they did to help people. They put out fires, help people in car crashes and save cats from trees. They had lots of different tools to help them do their job like the hose for shooting water and a special pair of scissors called the jaws of life, that can cut a car in half. They even let us sit in the fire engine.  

During the afternoon we have been using the Fireman Sam toys to explore fire fighters and fire stations, we can remember the number to call is 999 but only to use it in emergencies. We have been pretending the fire crews need to get to fires and other emergencies like cats being stuck on the roof!

Friday 22nd September

We have had lots of fun settling into school and trying lots of different activities!

In Green Class we have enjoyed reading books about fish and listening to nursery rhymes. We spent lots of time decorating our own fish! We have been learning the days of the week and the weather song in maths and have been practising our counting. We also loved singing along to ‘I Can Sing a Rainbow’ and made our own rainbows to hang in the classroom. We have been getting to know each other by playing games and working together to build some wonderful creations!

In Blue class we have enjoyed using ribbons to make large movements in our Write Dance lessons and then using these movements in paint and foamy soap.

We are learning to hear the first sound in a word and we know what some of these sounds look like. We have been practising writing our names and can also use the sounds we have learnt to build other words too!

We have been into the Forest School and enjoyed exploring everything out there, we even found some sticks that looked like different numerals!

In Red class we have been making the most of all the lovely new things in our outdoor area. We have been digging in our sandpit, doing lots of cooking in our outside kitchen and testing out our waterwall. We have spent lots of time outside and have had lots of fun.

This week, in Yellow class, we have been continuing to build relationships with peers and familiar adults and spend time in our new environment.
We've had lots of opportunity to learn through play! We've been subitising, identifying and writing numerals in maths.
We have been learning new sounds in phonics! So far, we have learnt s, a, t, p, i, n, m. Geraldine the giraffe helps us explore objects in our classroom that begin with these sounds.
We have also been developing both our fine and gross motor skills in write dance, where we have opportunities to use a variety of resources with our hands when listening to music. This week we have used ribbons, paintbrushes in shaving foam, pens, and much more!
We make use of our outdoor areas every day and enjoy exploring all the different activities and toys we can access!

We look forward to another fun week next week!

Friday 14th July

On Tuesday, some Year 12 students from Dane Court came in to complete some fun activities with us. We had a great time learning some line dancing moves and playing games out on the playground. One activity was making some bread, just like we saw at Tescos. We used flour, yeast, water, oil and salt  and managed to get it cooked just in time to take home whilst it was still warm. It smelt really good and hopefully it tasted yummy too! We made and decorated paper baskets to carry the bread home in.  

This week in maths we have been learning about repeating patterns. The children have really enjoyed making patterns with all different resources, challenging themselves to include three and even four colours! This linked to our topic on Lighthouses and the children recognised the common red and white pattern. Can you spot any patterns on your way home?

The children have made their own lighthouse models this week using Lego/Duplo etc. and then crafted one using cardboard rolls painted with white and red. We have learned about what lighthouses are for and how they work. We talked about how lighthouses have changed over time and enjoyed the story ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’.

We have been looking at the story, 'Commotion in the Ocean. We have looked at a different sea creature each day and written a sentence about the animal. To enhance our writing skills we have been working on our letter formation and word building using a variety of phonics activities. We’ve had a lot of opportunities to practice our independent writing, too.

Friday 7th July

In Literacy we have been thinking about what we have really enjoyed about our first year at school.  We are working really hard on our sentence writing and many of us are now independent writers.  We are getting much better at remembering to start a sentence with a capital letter, end it with a full stop and leave spaces between words.  We are also trying hard to make sure that we keep re-reading our sentences to make sure they make sense and we haven’t missed any words out.  When we do not know how to write a word, we have used our phonics knowledge to help us sound it out.  We really have made so much progress with our reading and writing this year and we are definitely ready for Year One!

This week in maths we have been practising subtraction. We began by using the practical resources and talking through what we were doing, for example ‘six take away two leaves four’. We then moved onto pictures, crossing out the amount and counting how many pictures were left. Some children began to write their own number sentences.

Thursday was Transition Day, and the children had a wonderful time meeting their new teachers and classmates. They made their very own locker labels with painted handprints, created self-portraits and enjoyed circle time, learning things about their new friends. The children had play time on the big playground too!

In topic lessons, we have been learning about plastic pollution in the oceans. We talked about the different types of plastic and how animals can eat it or get it stuck around their bodies. We thought of ways that we could help keep the ocean clean – the main one being putting our rubbish in the bin. We coloured in posters and collected all the plastic from our own tuff tray ocean so the sea creatures had a clean habitat to live in. We looked at book called ‘Where’s the Starfish?’ about a starfish who gets lost amongst the rubbish.

Friday 30th June

In topic this week, we have been making pirate treasure maps. We looked at some maps in our favourite books and have talked about important parts of map such as the ‘key’ and ‘compass’. Then we used our fantastic imaginations to create our own adventure maps, thinking of all kinds of wonderful, exciting (and sometimes terrifying!) obstacles that could be included. We also crinkled up the paper and tore the edges of our maps to make them look old and important!
Once our maps were complete, we set off on our adventures to the outside area. The children did some amazing acting out, using positional language too. ‘Follow the path across the rickety bridge, sneak past the sleeping Gruffalo, then bounce over the melted-ice-cream-lava’. What an adventure!

In Forest School this week we continued to have lots of fun exploring our environment.  We are very good at following the Forest School rules now, for example, we know that if a stick is longer than our arm, we must have two people carrying it.

In the mud kitchen we found a new use for the pots and pans!  We turned them upside down and used them to make a drum kit!  We made a lot of noise!

We also worked together to use the branches to make a den.  We worked out that the bottom of the branches needed to be wider apart for them to balance. We then used string to join them together at the top!

In Literacy, we have been reading 'The Singing Mermaid' which is about a singing mermaid who is persuaded to live in a circus and then wants to escape. We thought about the characters in the story and found describing words to match each character. We did some fantastic writing about the mermaid and how she escaped. Continuing on our underwater theme, we practised our reading skills so we knew which colour to do each creature and also matched captions to under the sea pictures.

In maths this week we have been enjoying lots of different activities which have helped us practise and improve our number formation. To do this, we have enjoyed various number activities that have also helped support our estimating skills, identifying odd and even numbers, and improved our confidence in writing number sentences. The children have all worked so well together and have been proud of their AMAZING work!

Friday 23rd June

In maths we have been learning about positional language, using words such as over, under, on, beside, across, around and in front of.  We listened to the story of Rosie’s walk then went outside to do our own positional language walk, with Rosie at the front!  We walked across the playground, between the chairs, beside the shed, over the stepping stones, around the climbing frame and under the barrier.

We also used the beebots this week.  We learnt how to programme the beebot so that it followed our instructions.  We programmed the beebot to move forwards and backwards on the number line, the number shown on our dice roll.  We all had a go at giving the beebot instructions to move forwards, backwards, turn left and turn right!  We had lots of fun!

In our topic lessons this week we have learnt more about pirates. We looked at pirate ships and all the different parts they have, some of them are: the crow’s nest, the Jolly Roger flag, the ship’s wheel, portholes and the plank. We used junk materials to make our own pirate ships with some of these features. What can you see in the pictures?

In the forest area we had lots of fun finding different animals. We found spiders, worms, centipedes and lots of snails. We had a great time creating habitats for the snails. We made sure they had plenty of food and shade. Once we had finished in the forest school we made sure we put the animals back.   

In Literacy we have been practising our sentence writing making sure that we use capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. We have been writing about what we enjoy doing at forest school and then we did some independent writing about pictures of the ocean - what it is like and what animals live there.

Friday 16th June

This week we have been learning about pirates!  We looked at pictures of fictional pirates and then learnt about real pirates, past and present, in particular, Captain Blackbeard!

We began to think about pirate ships and used various construction toys to make our own pirate ships during child initiated.  Next week, we are going to make pirate ships at school from junk modelling materials.  If you have any cardboard boxes, tubes, yoghurt pots and other recyclable materials, we would appreciate donations!  Some of us have already had a go at making a pirate ship at home!

This week we were lucky enough to have Master Wolfs Taekwondo Academies' visit us. We were taught by 2 black belts who have competed and coached all over the world in Taekwondo and kickboxing.  We learnt what Taekwondo was and where it comes from. We learnt that Taekwondo was a form of self-defence from Korea and should only be used when we are in danger. We took part in a Taekwondo warm up and learnt some different stretches to help us kick high, we also learnt how to punch and perform 2 kicks. It was lots of fun!  

RSC finally got to go on their trip to Tesco! We had a tour of the warehouses and went in the fridge and freezers which were really chilly! We saw lots of lovely ice creams, ice lollies and pizzas which made us really hungry! We went into the bakery and saw how bread is made, we put the ingredients into a very large mixer and watched it being made into dough, it felt very sticky! We saw the giant ovens where the bread is all cooked and found out that they bake over 1000 rolls every day! We looked at different fruits and vegetables and found one to match each colour of the rainbow- apart from blue, we did not find any blue vegetables. We really enjoyed our goody bags too.

Friday 9th June 2023

In Literacy we kicked off our new topic of Pirates, Mermaids and Under the Sea by focussing on the story, ‘The Night Pirates’.  We talked about what happened at the beginning, middle and end of the story and discussed the characters and the setting.  We then wrote sentences about the story.  We are trying really hard to write sentences independently, remembering finger spaces, capital letters and full stops.  We are also working on improving our handwriting, starting each letter with a lead-in.

This week we have been looking at the different seasons and discussing the differences between each season. We have spent time talking about the different things we can do and wear in each season. We have also looked at the artist Claude Monet. We learnt about where he was from and looked at his paintings. We then had a go at paining our own Monet pictures. We used short brush stokes just like Monet.

This week we looked for seasonal changes in forest school, we talked about the season changing from spring to summer and we noticed that the trees are now fully cloaked with leaves, the flowers are in bloom and we went on a colour hunt to find as many different colours as possible.

We also looked at leaves and had a go at cutting them in half as we have been learning about finding half in maths this week. We made sure that the two halves were the same size by laying one half on top of the other.

We made a ‘bonfire’ using large and small sticks, we remembered that if sticks are longer than your arm you must drag them or carry them between two people. We pretended to cook different dinners on our ‘bonfire’! 

Friday 12th May 2023

In Maths this week we have been learning about pairs of numbers which total 5 and 10.  We found which two pieces of numicon we could add together to make the shape of 5 and 10.  Some of us tried really hard to see if we could remember the pairs of numbers which add up to 5 without using counting or visual objects.  We did really well with this and then repeated the activity with pairs of numbers which add to 10.

In literacy we have been talking about the animals we saw at Quex Farm Park on our trip and which were our favourites. We learned lots of interesting facts about goats and made fact files about them.

This week our butterflies started to emerge from their chrysalises and we let them go in our forest area. We gave them some fruit first so they had some energy before they flew away. They had very pretty, symmetrical patterns on their wings. Although it looks like they are bleeding, the red fluid is just waste product from inside the chrysalis.

Friday 5th May 2023

It has been a very short week, but very exciting and action packed at the same time!  The main event this week was our visit to Quex Farm Park!  We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather- the sun shone on both days!

We learnt so much at the farm.  Vicki and Ian taught us how bread is made in our ‘grain to loaf’ activity.  We were able to look at the seeds and see how these grow into wheat.  We learnt that wheat is green when it is growing but turns golden when it is fully grown.  We then learnt how the combine harvester harvests the wheat to collect the grain.  The grain is then ground into flour at the mill and the flour is used to make lots of our favourite foods such as bread, cakes, pancakes and pizza!

Afterwards, we were all able to plant our own sunflower seed which we have brought home.  We remembered from our previous learning that plants need water and sunshine to grow.  Perhaps you can show us photos of your sunflower on Evidence Me to show us how well it is growing?

William took us on a tour of the farm to see the animals. We saw some baby goats which were two months old.  They were funny and loved coming to see us!  We were able to stroke them and some of us enjoyed giving them some hay to eat!  They tried to eat Mrs Hill’s name badge and Miss Taft’s zip!  Silly goats!

We then visited some pygmy goats which were only a few days old!  They were tiny and so cute!  We also saw some bigger goats which were two years old- they tried to stand on the fences to say hello to us!

We also met Matrix the Shetland pony, Madonna the chicken, Peppa and George the pigs and some sheep and their lambs!  RB and RSC were able to see a lamb which was only a few hours old!

Our third activity was the tractor ride with Jamie the tractor driver!  It was very bumpy, so we needed to hold on tight!  We had to spot ‘cheeky chickens’ hiding in the trees and shout when we saw them.  We then shouted to Jamie to go faster!  It was so funny, we couldn’t stop laughing.   After the ride, we were able to sit in the tractor.  We had to climb up some big steps as the big tractor wheels make the tractor so high!  A tractor needs its big wheels to be able to drive through all the muddy fields!

After lunch we all had a play in the park and on the bouncy pillow.  We had so much fun!

We were exhausted on the way home so it was time for a nap before getting back to school!

Friday 28th April 2023

In Literacy this week we have been writing sentences about the animals we met on animal day.  We are becoming more independent with our writing and are trying hard to remember our capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.  We have been improving our letter formation and are learning to write our letters in cursive, remembering to start each letter with a lead-in.  We practise our handwriting every morning when we come into school.

We have also been learning about the question words, who, what, why, when, where and how and thinking about how to use them correctly when asking a question.    Perhaps you can practise asking questions using these words at home?

In forest school this week, the children were very interested in looking for insects. They remembered that butterflies lay their eggs underneath the leaves. We had a look and found lots! The children were very careful not to disturb them. We collected items from around the forest and made a life cycle showing the egg, tiny caterpillar, large caterpillar, chrysalis then butterfly.

In maths we have been learning about sharing and odd and even numbers. We paired the socks and found if there is an odd one left then the number is odd. We also looked at sharing. Our toys had a picnic and shared the food. We had to make it fair by making sure each animal had the same amount on their plate. We sorted the numicon pieces into odd and even and noticed that if it had an odd piece at the top it was an odd amount, if it didn’t then it was an even amount. Perhaps you could do some sharing at home this week?

After our visit from the animals last week, we have been looking at the differences between pets and wild animals. We discussed what makes an animal a pet and what makes them a wild animal. We also looked at the different patterns on the animals and talked about why they have different patterns and colours. The children decided it was so the animals could camouflage. We then had a chance to inspect different pictures of animals using their camouflage in the wild and tried to spot the animal and identify it. The children then had a go at painting different animal prints.

Friday 21st April 2023

Forest School

We had a lovely time in Forest School this week.  We enjoyed hunting for minibeasts and found worms, snails, earwigs and a centipede.  Some of them were hiding under logs so we moved the logs to look underneath to see what we could find.

Our confidence is growing so much and we are now tackling the climbing apparatus with more independence.  We can climb and jump off trees, balance on the beam and use the swings safely and confidently. 

We love creating things in the mud kitchen and using our imaginations to make lots of interesting concoctions and relaxing in the hammocks!

Topic

This week we welcomed some tiny caterpillars that will be living in our classrooms for the term- how exciting! We have been learning about their lifecycle from an egg to caterpillar, then chrysalis and finally a beautiful butterfly. We are very excited to watch the process. The children have been exploring non-fiction books to learn more and have enjoyed crafts around the Very Hungry Caterpillar story.

We also had great fun on pet day. We met a dog called Blue, a cat called Basil, tortoises named Buzz and Jessie, Lexi the snake and a huge land snail! The children asked lots of questions about how to take care of the different types of pets.

Literacy

To help us learn about the lifecycle of a butterfly, we have been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We used our phonics to write sentences about the story. We practised our cutting skills and made stick puppets so we could re-enact the book. We pretended to be the caterpillar eating all the food so he could turn into a beautiful butterfly.

We watched our real-life caterpillars on the smartboard on our ‘Caterpillar cam’ and we are waiting for them to turn into big fat caterpillars like the one in the story.

We have been looking at doubling numbers in maths this week. We have been looking at the spots on a dalmatian and doubling them. We had fun looking around the playground to find different dalmatian dogs and doubled their spots. We also had fun using doubling tunnels to double the amount of counters, and we now know that when you double a number, you add the same amount again. We’ve also enjoyed taking part in creative activities on worksheets or with paints to extend our doubling knowledge.

Friday 24th March 2023

Topic

This week we have been looking at the Zones of Regulation and how we feel. We talked about the different emotions we can feel every day. Happy, sad, excited, worried and lots more. Together we realised that it was ok to feel these things and that it is important to believe in ourselves, use our words to talk about how we feel and understand that we all learn in our own way and time. We had fun drawing faces to match the descriptions, making masks to match how we were feeling and creating emotion puzzles using different faces. Maybe you can create your own Zones of Regulation space at home and add them to Evidence me. We would love to see what you have done!

Fun Run

We had a fantastic time on our Fun Run today! The children joined in with an energetic warm-up from Miss Bucceri and Miss Jewell, then ran lots of laps around the playground to lively music. We thought it was so funny to see Mr Knight and Mr James wearing tutus! Thank you for all sponsorship forms and money brought in so far, please return by 31^st March if you haven’t already. A huge well done to the children for taking part. You were amazing!

Maths

This week in Maths, we have been learning about weight/mass and how to measure it. There are different types of scales - perhaps you have some at home you could try and use together. We have scales in our fruit and veg shop, and the school nurse came and weighed us on her big scales. We enjoyed using the balances to compare two objects and find out which was the heavier or lighter. We described what we found using the correct vocabulary, “The pencil is lighter than the book and the book is heavier than the pencil.”

Literacy

This week we have been looking at instructions. We started off by watching a step by step instructional video on how to draw a frog, then we followed these instructions and were able to draw them! Throughout the rest of this week, we have enjoyed watching other instructional videos on how to draw other animals and characters. We have also taken it in turns to give instructions to the rest of the class and made sure we included words such as first, next, then, and finally. We also enjoyed writing our own instructions of how to make a fruit salad!

Friday 17th March

This week we have been looking at the story Handa’s surprise. The story is about Handa taking different fruits to her friend. We had a lot of fun acting the story out. The class where also given a chance to try the different fruits from the story. We tried Mango, orange, banana, passion fruit, avocado, pineapple and kiwi. We also engaged in group discussions about the various tastes and textures! The classes favourite fruit was the orange. Some children tried all of the fruit even if they didn’t like it.   

We had a lovely adventure this week. We were able to go and visit the big Tesco Extra at Westwood Cross and it was so much fun. The lovely ladies at Tesco taught us all about the different things that happen at the shop, which we never get to see. We were able to visit the bakery, saw how the bread was made in big mixing bowls and even got to taste some fresh bread baked that morning. It was delicious! We found out that they can make up to 2000 rolls a day and 250 loaves of bread, every single day! Sue took us to the back of the shop where all the food is stored ready to be put on the shelves. We were able to go into the giant fridge and freezer! It was SO cold! The freezer was -20 degrees inside, so we didn’t stay in those for very long. It was a great trip and very interesting to see all the important jobs that need to be done before we go and buy anything from the shops. Thank you, Tesco!

This week in literacy we changed the main characters in the story of 101 Dalmatians to make a new story - it is called 101 Pigs! We used craft materials to make small model pigs, we looked at photos of real pigs so we knew what features to include.

We thought about words which would describe the pigs ( adjectives) and we sorted other describing words finding ones that were good to use for our pig’s description. We practised putting the adjectives into sentences to describe our new characters and we had a go at writing some of these too.

Friday 10th March 2023

Forest School

We had a lovely time in the Forest School this week. We were looking for signs of Spring and found lots of new shoots and flowers springing up all around. The blossom tree looks so beautiful! We are very excited to see all the new flowers that will grow as the weeks go on. We loved role playing with our friends too. We made dinner for the fairies in the mud kitchen and found sticks to build houses with.

Can you see any signs of Spring around you, in your garden or on your journey to school? Maybe you could take some pictures of what you find and put it on Evidence Me so that we can all have a look!

Literacy

This week we read the story of 101 Dalmatians and talked about the different characters. We thought Cruella was really evil because she wanted to make coats out of the puppies. Pongo and his wife Missis were really kind because they helped to rescue all of the other puppies. We re-told and acted out the story. We talked about the characters and also did some colouring. Next week we will be writing our own story.

Topic

What a fun time we had on French Day! We pretended to be in a French café as we ate our breakfast of croissants with jam, fruit and apple juice. Our visitor Mrs Holman taught us French greetings like ‘bonjour’, ‘salut!’ and ‘bonsoir’ and we sang ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ in French! We learned about famous landmarks and make fantastic constructions of French monuments. The children also enjoyed learning about artists and showed amazing creativity and expression in their own artworks during the afternoon.

In maths this week, we have been learning about height. We have been using resources from the classroom to measure the height of various objects. We had lots of fun putting ourselves into height order and comparing how tall or short we were. We measured the height of flowers, and built tall and short towers using Duplo and big blocks.  

Friday 3rd March 2023

Topic

This week was St David’s Day so we learnt about who Saint David was and looked at the national costume and flag of Wales. We talked about the parts of a plant and made some collage pictures to show the petals, stem and roots. Perhaps you could find these parts on some plants at home or outside! After we had discussed what seeds need to grow, we planted some cress seeds. We sprinkled them on some compost, gave them some water and put them in a light place. We will be looking at them closely to see when they start to grow. We also planted 3 more pots of seeds without water, without soil and without light to see what will happen.

Forest School

This week in Forest School we have been looking for different animals around the forest. We found that lots of animals like to live in cold, dark spaces, especially under logs. We found a lot of worms and spiders. When we carefully picked up what we found, making sure that we didn’t hurt them. We also ensured we put them back where we found them. We also enjoyed our time around the forest area playing in the hammocks and the rope swings.

Maths

This week we have been learning about and exploring money. We worked hard to identify different coins and their value. Together, we used our subitising skills to talk about how we see the amount and then had a think about what coins we could use to pay for things. It was so much fun to pretend to be in a fruit and vegetable shop and used coins to pay for our food. We had lots of coin challenges and did some fun coin rubbings as well. Can you tell your grown up about the different coins you looked at? Maybe next time you go to the shop, you can see what the amount is and tell your grown-up what coins you would need to pay for it.

Literacy

In literacy, we have created our own story based on the Enormous Turnip… The Colossal Carrot! We LOVED listening to the funny version of ‘The Big Carrot’ https://youtu.be/UsuOibyhgXM and we made up our own version using members of the class. We drew a story map together and made stick puppets of ourselves to act out the story. Many children were also able to independently write a sentence about the carrot in the story- super work!

Friday 24th February

Topic

This week we have been learning about Pancake Day and Spring. We did lots of learning about how Christians celebrate Shrove Tuesday and why we make pancakes on this day every year. We designed our own pancakes and even got to cook and eat them too. They were delicious! We learned that Spring is when things begin to grow again after Winter and new life starts. We found lots of new shoots growing in the forest school which was fun. Maybe you can go for a walk and see if you can find some new growth! You could take a picture and add it to Evidence Me. We would love to see what you find.

Forest School

In Forest School, RH and RSC read the book ‘Stanley’s Stick’ and were inspired to find and play with sticks of our own. The children were so imaginative! They pretended the sticks were pirate swords, metal detectors, walking sticks and crutches, magic wands, fishing rods, trumpets and drumsticks, the gearstick of a car, tools for building a house, and so much more! We also used sticks for mixing mud pies, digging holes, picking up worms (very gently), drawing letters and building campfires. What fun!

Maths

This week we have been practising our counting and recognising numbers. We played counting games on the interactive whiteboard and put different amounts of spots on the ladybirds. We matched the numerals to the numberblocks and counted out amounts of buttons. We know that we should count slowly and touch/move each object as we say the number and also only say one number for each object.

Literacy

This week we have been reading ‘The Enormous Turnip’. We looked at a turnip and used lots of adjectives to describe it. We also acted out the story using a story map! We learnt about vegetables that grow under the ground and created observational paintings and drawings of the vegetables. We also learnt synonyms for the word ‘enormous’ in our story, we now know that there are many ways to describe things. During our busy time we retold the story with finger puppets and discovered the stages of a Turnip’s growth.

Friday 10th February 2023

Topic

This week we looked at different planets in the solar system. We learned different facts about the planets and what was special about each one. We made a collage of our favourite, Mars! We decided this was our favourite because it was red, dusty and has a huge volcano on it.

We also explored magnets and found out what they stick to. We realised that sometimes magnets attract each other and sometimes they repel. We also noticed that they would stick to some metals but not all. Maybe you can investigate at home with your grown-ups? Can you find different things that are magnetic and things that are not?

Literacy

This week we have been learning about Mars and boxed up different facts to do with that planet. We had to work together to figure out which facts were real and which facts were made up. We had so much fun making funny aliens with the playdough, we had to think of a design and add silly pants. It was very funny. In the creative area, we worked hard to make our own Mars planets. We had to practise our cutting skills and then used different textures and medias to decorate it. We talked about the colours we were using and some of us thought that it was strange that Mars was red, but not a hot planet!

Forest School

This week in the forest we had a treasure hunt! We had to listen to the clues and then find the stone with a number on and bring it back. Some of the stones were tricky to find and we had to think carefully about where they could be! We also had fun doing a wordsearch, hunting for words with 3 sounds. We read books and acted out parts of the stories too.

We are gaining so much confidence in using the swings, balance beam, hammocks and the new spider’s web, we always have so much fun.

Maths

This week we have been working on ‘one less’, practising it in lots of different ways!
First, we counted out a given amount of moon rocks, then a sneaky alien took one away and we had to count or subitise to see how many were left. We then looked at a number line and learned to jump back one hop when taking one away. Once confident, some children started to show ‘one less’ by writing number sentences using the subtraction symbol. Super!

Friday 3rd February

This week we have been learning about the planets Mars and Venus. Did you know that Venus is the hottest planet? Mars has the tallest mountain in our solar system, and it has two moons! We have created paintings and collages to show the colours and surfaces of each different planet and today we also used marbling inks to create a different texture. It was fascinating! We loved experimenting with colours and movements. Next week we will use the inked paper to create a solar system picture.

In other news, we were visited by Ian and Kip who taught us all about how to cross the road safely with 5 simple rules: Stop! Look both ways. Listen. Think. Hold hands. Be safe!

In literacy this week we have been looking at an information text called ‘On the Moon.’ We made a text map to help us recall the facts in the book. We sorted information into what the moon looks like, where it is, and other interesting facts. We thought about how to use our facts in sentences and we had a go at writing facts ourselves.

We have also been practising new sounds we have learnt, how to read them in words and also how to write them.

We have had so much fun in Forest School this week. We were introduced to the new giant spider web that has appeared and the challenge was to get through without touching the blue rope. It was really tricky, but we had so much fun helping each other and working together! We also enjoyed weaving the different ribbons and ropes, but we had to keep trying when we found it hard. We showed resilience and learned a new skill. We played eye spy in the hammocks which was fun and we also found tiny spider eggs on a small piece of bark. They were all safe and sound in their little nest, but we made sure we put them back in the forest once we had finished investigating to make sure they stayed safe.

This week in maths we have been looking at one more. We have been looking a pictures and using our subitising to find numbers. Then we have been adding one more to the number. Some of us have had a go at writing this as a number sentence 4+1=5.

We have also been looking at 3D shapes and have been trying to build a rocket with them. We have discussed which shapes are best to stack and why. We all agreed the shapes with a flat face stack best but the rocket had to have a cone at the top to make it look like a rocket.

Friday 27th January

In Topic this week we have been learning about how Chinese New Year is celebrated. We made Chinese lanterns and dragon puppets. Did you know - in China, red is a lucky colour? We have been using the torches like scientists to find out about light. We shut all the blinds to make the classroom as dark as we could to help us investigate. We learned that shiny things do not shine in the dark.

This week we have learned about what fiction and non-fiction means. We have explored lots of books about space and discussed whether they tell a made-up story or real information.
We have also been learning about British astronaut Tim Peake. We watched video clips of him repairing the International Space Station and found out that he likes to play with Lego (definitely not in space though- we imagined that would be tricky without gravity!). Some children had a go at writing facts about Tim Peake independently.

This week in Forest School we had lots of different activities to enjoy. We had a go at making rockets out of sticks and cotton. We made bird feeders and hung them around the forest school so the birds have food this winter. Some children went on a hunt for numbers left around the forest by aliens. We also found an asteroid buried in the ground and tried to dig it up.

We have been learning about finding one more in maths this week. We have been writing number sentences and used moon rocks to help us find one more than an amount. We enjoyed setting each other challenges. We also looked at 3D shapes and Mr Wibbly Wobbly Wizard turned some of our 2D shapes into 3D shapes! It was magic! Can you find any 3D shapes at home? How do you know what shape it is?

Friday 20th January

Literacy

This week we have been innovating our story of ‘Whatever Next!’. We chose, as a class, to change the character of Baby Bear to a cat. We had a go at writing a sentence about the cat on a moon and wrote what Baby Cat took to the moon and what Baby Cat looks like. We have also been having a go at writing sentences in our doodle books independently.

We have had so much fun with our topic this week. We have continued to work on our skills as scientists and look at the way light travels through different objects. We had to find different objects that were opaque and transparent. We then developed our thinking further by looking at how shadows are made. RB made different shadow puppets from our story of ‘Whatever Next’ and worked together to explore how the light made the puppets bigger and smaller. We were also very lucky to have the Planetarium come to our school. We were able to travel to the stars and look at all our favourite planets. It’s been a great week of learning!

Forest School

I am so proud of how independent the children have become when going to the forest school! They get changed into puddle suits by themselves and help one another with swapping shoes and wellies. It is so lovely to see!
The children have really gained confidence on the climbing structures now (even in wellies!) and understand how to keep themselves and others safe. Many children also chose to make a wand by winding colourful wool around a stick they have found in the forest. They watched and listened carefully to instructions for how to tie a simple knot. Well done!

Maths

In maths this week we have been doing lots of work on 2D shapes. We have learned that they have different numbers of edges and corners and we went outside on a shape hunt. We saw that shapes are everywhere and found so many examples.

Friday 13th January 2023

We have been learning the story ‘Whatever Next!’ this week. We enjoyed using our story map to think of actions and role play baby bear going to the moon for a picnic. It was lots of fun playing with our friends and retelling the story together. We worked to build a rocket in our classroom as well, so that we could go to space, but we had to be careful of meteors. We had different challenges in literacy too. We had to write CVC words independently, use our fine motor skills to keep our colouring in the lines and we had to build our own rockets to take baby bear to the moon. We love space and have loved learning this week!

We have had lots of fun exploring 2D shape in maths this week. We have talked about the features of different shapes, counting the sides and corners carefully, and have enjoyed making arrangements with shapes using lots of different resources.

This week we had fun in Forest School. We explored the living things and found some fungus growing on a tree. We enjoyed using the rope swing and the balance beam with our friends. We used natural materials to measure.

Friday 16th December 2022

We have had a very eventful week!

On Monday we had a visit from a Rabbi’s wife called Helene.  She told us all about the Jewish festival of Hannukah.  She showed us the Menorah, which holds 9 candles, one for each night plus a candle used to light the other candles.  A candle is lit every day for 8 days and a present is given.  On the 8^th day they have a big family party.  Helene taught us some Jewish songs and showed us a game with a dreidel.

On Tuesday we had our Christmas dinner and it was delicious!  We loved seeing all the kitchen staff wearing their festive outfits!  We even had a visit from Father Christmas! 

Thursday was our Christmas party!  We played party games in the hall and then enjoyed eating lots of party food in the classroom!

We have also been doing lots of Christmas craft, making Christmas cards and decorations and writing letters to Santa!

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the new year!

Friday 9th December 2022

In maths we have been looking at different pictures from our story ‘The Jolly Christmas Postman’ this week. We were using our subitising skills to see different amounts and explaining our thinking to our friends. Some of us wrote number sentences to show what we were thinking too.

We realised that we could use our counting skills everywhere!! In the forest school, we were taking turns on the new swing. We had to all count to 10 and counted in ones together before the next person could go on the swing. It was so much fun!

In our topic work this week we finished making our castles. We learnt about a portcullis and added that feature on. We also started our Christmas crafts including Christmas cards and decorations which we followed instructions on how to make them. We also used things we could find in the forest area to make other cards.

In literacy this week we have been writing letters to Santa after reading ‘The Jolly Christmas Postman’. We talked about what we needed to include in the letter and what to put on the front of the envelope to make sure it gets sent to the right place!
The children looked through the toy catalogue and cut out pictures of three toys they would like to add to their list. We wrote tricky word ‘to’ and sounded out Santa. We listened carefully to the initial sounds of words and some children used robot arms to sound out the rest of the word. Great job! We are so impressed with how independent you have been in your writing.

Congratulations to Mr James who welcomed Phoebe Elizabeth on Saturday 3rd December, weighing 8lb 1 oz! She is absolutely gorgeous and we all send our love to the James family!

Friday 2nd December 2022

In Literacy we have been doing lots of reading and sharing of our favourite stories. We had so much fun thinking about what the story was about by using the pictures to help us. We also started writing our own letters to Santa in our Doodle books. We had to think about the sounds we could hear as we were writing. We were very excited about doing this and had lots of fun looking for pictures to cut out! We have been super busy this week. We even made our own Nativity puppets and worked together to retell the story.

In our topic lessons, we have been continuing to make our castles this week. We have been cutting out the battlements along the top of the walls and then making the doors very carefully. The next thing we did was to add the turrets to our castles by cutting slits and sliding them on. The last step will be adding the portcullis to keep the enemies out.

During our forest school time last Friday we played a fun game using blind folds! We worked in pairs and guided each other around the area, avoiding logs and stepping over tree stumps. We had to remember to use our words to tell our partner how and where to move. Some of us also continued to look for different kinds of mushrooms. We gave them funny names by describing what we could see but Mrs Latham was able to tell us the real names for many of them! We talked about how fungi breaks down dead leaves, wood and plants which puts nutrients back into the soil and helps trees to grow. The children also remembered our ‘no pick, no lick!’ rule, reminding one another to look and never touch mushrooms as they may be poisonous.

Friday 25th November

Topic

We have been enjoying learning more about castles this week. We had a closer look at the different features that we might find. Some castles have moats to protect them and towers where the soldiers can stand to keep watch with their bow and arrows. We found out that there is a special door at the front of the castle called a ‘Portcullis’ which some of us thought looked a bit like a cage door. We worked together to build our wooden castle and we thought about and designed our own. Some of us made some amazing castles as part of our homework challenge! We were very impressed!

It has also been Thanksgiving this week and we were very lucky to have Mrs Burlace tell us all about how her and her family celebrated Thanksgiving in America. We all had to think about something we were thankful for and made our own Thanksgiving Turkeys!

Literacy

This week in Literacy, we have been innovating our story. We have changed the story of the three little pigs to the three little unicorns. We also changed the big bad wolf to a big bad dinosaur. Then, we learnt the new story and acted it out with new actions. The children then had a go at innovating their own stories.

This week we have also had a Christmas post office in the class. We have been busy writing letters to our family and Santa ready for Christmas.

In Forest School this week, we used different materials to construct the three little pig’s houses; straw was tricky to use as it moved everywhere! The sticks made a good house which we could get inside!

We also used mud, twigs, leaves and water to make George’s marvellous medicine as that is the book we have been reading in class. We thought about what our medicine could make us do, like flying to the moon!

This week in Maths, we have been learning about the number 8. We looked at different arrangements of 8 counters and answered the question- ‘How do you see 8?’ Some children noticed 2+2+2+2, others saw 4+4 or 5+3, using amazing subitising skills! The class then used the i-pads to photograph arrangements of 8 they had made with all different objects.
We have also practised writing the numeral. Can you show your adults how to slither down the snake then loop the loop?

Friday 18th November 

Literacy

There has been a new fairy tale this week in year R. We have been listening to and learning the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and thinking about the good and the bad characters in the story. We worked together to make up some actions to our story map and enjoyed finding lots of different ways in our play to re tell the story. Some of us enjoyed using the small world figures and some of us enjoyed using masks to pretend to be the different characters. We even helped to make the 3 little pigs’ homes in the forest school using different materials. It was a bit tricky to use the straw, so we had to work together to think of a way to build it.

Maybe you could find your favourite fairy tale at home and think of some actions with your grown up to help re tell the story, then you can show us at school and we could all learn it?

Forest School:

This week in Forest School we have been building houses out of straw, sticks and bricks. Once we had built the houses we tried to blow them like the big bad wolf. The children found that the brick houses were the easiest to build and the strongest. We also had to match the numbers on the pigs to the amount of spots on the houses.

As always we had fun playing on the balance beam, swings and in the mud kitchen.   

Maths

In maths we have been learning about the number 7. We have been making the number using numicon and finding different ways to make the same number. We have also looked at how we write numeral 7 and have been practising on whiteboards. We can count out objects to match numerals. We are starting to find number bonds of other numbers up to 10 also.

In topic this week we have been learning about castles. We learned about the part of the castle called the ‘battlement’. The gaps between blocks at the top of a castle are to launch weapons from and for knights or soldiers to hide behind. We have started constructing our own castles using cereal boxes, and also worked together to create a ‘Once Upon a Time’ role play area in our classroom. The class have also been dressing up, pretending to be different characters and making up their own imaginative stories.

Friday 11th November 2022

Forest School

We have had so much fun this week in Forest School. We looked around the forest for sticks that we could use to make colourful fireworks! We had to really concentrate as we wrapped the different colours around the sticks. Mrs Latham then hung our fireworks from a tree in the forest school and it looked amazing. We found fairy houses with our friends, enjoyed trying to jump from log to log and loved going on the tyre and log swing. Sometimes we found things a bit tricky, but we worked together and helped each other to complete our tasks.  

Maths

This week in maths we have been looking at the number 6. We have looked at pictures and found different ways to make 6. We then used counters to show all the different ways to make 6. We found that you can make 6 with a 3 - 3, 5 – 1 and 4 – 2 make 6. We also engaged in ‘6 and not 6’ activities, where we would use our subitising skills to determine whether an object represented 6, or a different number.

Topic

At the weekend lots of us saw fireworks, so this week we learned about Guy Fawkes and why we remember the 5^th of November. We pretended to be fireworks in PE and made colourful firework pictures using chalks. We also learned why people buy poppies for Remembrance Day and fingerpainted our own poppies.

Literacy

This week we have continued our learning around the story of Snow White. We learnt what the word ‘villain’ means and thought about words to describe the good and bad characters in the story. We have been extending our vocabulary to use more interesting words for ‘bad’. For the Queen we thought of cruel, jealous, and nasty. Excellent ideas!
We also began to practise our cursive handwriting, starting with the curly caterpillars to form the letter c and a.
Of course we have been continuing to work on our blending skills too. Here are a few pictures of a task some children chose to complete this week during busy time in RH. They had to blend the word then cut and stick the matching picture.

Friday 4th November 2022

This week we have been learning to subitise the amount of five. We have looked at how we write the numeral 5 but discussed how we see that amount. We were able to see five in lots of different ways. Not everyone saw the amount in the same way, which was interesting. We could see five as 2 and 3 and we could see five as 4 and 1. We even tried to write number sentences to show our thinking. We have worked very hard this week and have practised lots of our new vocabulary ‘amount' and 'numeral’. Maybe you could practise using these words at home and see how many ways you can see the amount of five?

This week in literacy we have been learning the story of Snow White and the seven Dwarfs as part of our fairy tales/ traditional tales theme. We have been looking at the beginning, middle and end and thinking about the characters in the story. We talked about the potion that the wicked Queen made to turn herself into a witch and to poison the apple. We thought of things to put in the potion and had a go at writing some things using our initial sounds. We have also been practising writing new words, sounding them out and writing the sounds we hear.

This week in Topic we have been learning about Diwali (The Hindu festival of lights), celebrating triumph of light over dark and good over evil. We learned that many Hindu families enjoy visiting family and friends, they eat feasts together, watch fireworks and light divas. Cleaning homes is another important part of Diwali, as Hindus believe this welcomes the Goddess Lakshmi. Families may also visit a temple to pray to her.
We listened to the story of Rama and Sita and learned about how diva lamps represent their long journey home. Can you remember the other characters in the story?
We then used clay to make our own diva lamps. The children looked at photographs of different designs and used a range of tools to create different patterns. We can’t wait to paint them!

Friday 21st October

Topic

This week we have been talking about how to cross the road safely. We were very lucky to be able to go for a short walk down the road outside our school with Mr Mason. We talked about all the different things we need to remember when we get to a road.

Maybe you can practice this with your brothers and sisters and grown-ups.

When we get to a road we MUST Stop! Look both ways and WAIT for Mr Mason or a grown up to say that it is ok to cross.

We also got to see the flashing lights that tell cars to slow down because there are children crossing.

Forest School

This week in Forest School we went on a treasure hunt to find different body parts. We had to make sure that each body had a right and left leg and arm and not two of the same side! We used leaves, acorns and sticks to make the face when we had completed the bodies.

We also discovered a new fairy house and some of us thought that it might belong to the tooth fairy. We found quite a few worms, probably because it had been raining and they like the soggy ground.

Maths

This week we have been recapping numbers 1-4 and practising our subitising skills (recognising amounts without counting). The children sorted a variety of objects and discussed whether they showed 1, 2, 3 or 4. Lots of interesting discussions took place to decide how to sort them. Does a single car belong in the 1 group or 4, as it has four wheels?
Some children completed a similar cutting and sticking task. Well done RH!

Literacy

This week, during literacy, we have been learning the sounds ‘ck’ and ‘e’. It has been interesting learning the ‘ck’ sound as it’s the first digraph we’ve learnt in class! A digraph is two letters that make one sound.

We have been using the magnetic letters to build words using ‘ck’ and ‘e’, as well as previously learnt sounds.

We have also been having fun with the ribbons in write dance and performing different actions to the frozen soundtrack. We do this to help strengthen and co-ordinate both our fine and gross motor skills.

Friday 14th October 2022

RB- Literacy

This week we have been learning lots of new phonemes. Geraldine has been so silly and not very good with her sounds, but we managed to show her what to do. We have learnt ‘c’ and ‘k’. They make the same sound, which is a bit confusing, but we worked hard to remember. We have also been practising our fine motor skills with ribbons. We have had so much fun learning this week and can now read lots of different words!

Maybe you can try reading some of them at home?

C-a-t, cat. K-i-t, kit. C-a-p, cap. K-i-p, kip.

RSC –  Maths

This week in maths we have been looking for groups and arrangements of 4. We have also been looking at numerals up to 10 and thinking about which order they go in.

We have been using the computer independently to take part in counting games and matching amounts to the correct numbers.

We have been thinking about different types of homes and what they look like. We used shapes to make pictures of houses and could say which shapes we had used. Can you find any shapes in your house?

RH – Forest School

Here are some photographs of Forest School fun from RH. We have loved exploring the woodland area and have been busy practicing many of our school values! We are working on becoming more independent by putting on our wellies and puddle suits ourselves. We have also been solving problems in forest school by working together- getting on the tyre swing and moving heavy branches is much easier when friends help out! We have also been talking lots about taking turns and waiting patiently when sharing. 

The children have demonstrated resilience and perseverance as they tackle new challenges such as climbing trees and balancing on logs. We have also continued our learning about Autumn as we observe seasonal changes in the forest area each week. I wonder if any children can spot signs of Autumn on their way home from school? Feel free to upload photographs and comments to Evidence Me and we can share next week! 

RJ - Topic

This week we have had a visit from a midwife. She told us how she helps mums and babies. She played us the sound of a baby's heartbeat when it is in the mummy’s tummy. It was really fast! She then showed us her baby and told us all about how babies grow.

We also found out that new-born babies only eat and poo! She showed us how the babies poo changes as it gets older. It starts black then turns yellow and finally brown. She told us she’d made the samples using various condiments. We then learnt that the baby learns to crawl then walk when they are about a year old.

Friday 7th October 2022

RB- Maths

This week we have been learning how to use our thinking skills to subitise by looking at the amount of 3. Our questions have been “What do you see?” and “How do you see it?”. We saw the amount of three in lots of different ways.

Some of us could see three as “a one and another one and another one!”. We could also see three as “two and another one!”. The children have been practising explaining their thinking and sharing their ideas with their talk partners and the class and showed Resilience with their Learning.

Maybe you could find an amount of 3 objects at home and ask, “What do you see?”

RSC – Topic

This week we had a visit from the firefighters. They brought their fire engine and turned on the flashing lights and the sirens. It was really exciting and noisy!

Firefighter Gabriella showed us the big scissors that they use for cutting through metal.

Firefighter Bob showed us how he put on his protective clothing and his breathing apparatus.

We learned lots of information and if you would like to find out more, Margate Fire Station is having an Autumn Open Day on Weds 26^th October which you can book tickets for.

RH - Literacy

In Literacy this week we have enjoyed some Write Dance activities, swishing ribbons to make shapes in the air and drawing large shapes on the floor with crayons as we move to the music. This will support our development of whole-body movement, balance, and coordination ready for handwriting.

In phonics we have learned the ‘o’ and ‘g’ sounds and have been working hard to blend words using sound buttons and our robot arms. The children have been so resilient, learning to read is tricky business but they are making fantastic progress. Thank you parents and carers for your support with reading at home.

RJ - Forest School

This week in the Forest School we have been using our senses to find signs of autumn. We could see that the leaves were brown, yellow and falling off the trees.  We could hear the leaves crunching under our feet and we could feel that it was windy and getting cooler.

We looked around the forest area to find leaves and sticks to create portraits of our friends and families. We used leaves for the eyes and hair and sticks for the mouths.

Friday 30th September 2022

RB- Forest School Blog

This week we had our first experience in the Forest School. We enjoyed exploring our new environment with our friends. There was so much to see and do!

We climbed trees and had to really practise balancing on the balancing beam. We found this tricky at first, but we kept going till we could do it by ourselves!

Lots of us loved going on the tyre swing and we had lots of fun making dinner in the mud kitchen and looking under logs to find different insects.

We practised so many of our school values in the Forest School- Independence, Resilience, Learning and Community Unity!

RSC - Literacy

In our literacy activities this week we have been learning the new sounds d and m with Geraldine. She helped us to find lots of objects that begin with those sounds.

We have been singing lots of nursery rhymes and making Incy Wincy spiders out of handprints to hang on our big spider web in the classroom. We got very black hands!

We are learning to hear and find our own rhyming words and have been listening to lots of stories and singing nursery rhymes using our Nursery Rhyme pick and mix board.

RH - Topic

We were very lucky to have a visit from police officers on Tuesday. They talked to us about all the special jobs the police do and the vehicles they use for different tasks. The children got to try on their uniform and even sat in the police car and turned on the lights and sirens- how exciting!

We demonstrated our school values by showing curiosity, asking questions to learn about how the police keep people safe in our community. Many of the children now aspire to become police officers when they grow up! We were very proud of the respect and resilience the pupils showed throughout the morning. Well done!

RJ- Maths

This week in maths we have been subitising using pictures. Subitising means to spot amounts without counting and explaining how we see the amount.

The children have been looking at the pictures and discussing what, and how many, they can see. We have looked at various ways to make different numbers, for example, 3 could be three 1’s, or a 2 and a 1. By doing this, the children have shown that they can think critically and are able to identify amounts without having to count!

Friday 15th July 2022

This week we have been doing lots of arts and craft related to our topic of ‘Pirates, Mermaids and Under the Sea’.

We have made parrots by painting our hands to create the effect of the colourful feathers!  It was fun getting a little messy!

We learnt about what a lighthouse is and why they are important.  We then made our own, carefully painting the red and white stripes traditionally found on lighthouses.

We also made some brightly coloured sea creatures including jellyfish and octopus.

In RH, we learnt how to draw pirates and mermaids by listening to, and carefully following Miss Hart’s instructions!  We are all amazing artists!

In RB, we all made a pirate hat! Arrr!

We have also been continuing with our maths and literacy activities as well as following our own interests and fascinations during child initiated, including bug hunting and building towers!

We enjoyed writing about our day at Manor House Forest School, continuing to gain confidence in independent writing.  In maths, we used play-doh to find doubles of different numbers of spots on a ladybird.

We have all had a fantastic year in Reception and are looking forward to many more new adventures in Year 1! 

Friday 8th July 2022

We have been taken much of our learning outside this week. 

On Wednesday we had great fun in the forest.  We had a map of the forest and we had to mark on the map where we found the treasure.   Some of the treasure was up high and we needed to develop our problem-solving skills by working out how we could reach it!

When we started in Reception, many of us were very worried about climbing trees, balancing along a beam and using the different swings all by ourselves.  Look at us now!  We are so independent, and we can do most things without an adult holding onto us!

The Pirates visited the Forest in the night and left some gold coins behind.  We found lots of the coins and read the words the pirates had written on the front of them!

Mrs Latham found a bird’s nest in the forest with 2 eggs, laid by a collared dove.  We didn’t get too close as we didn’t want to disturb it, but we saw a photograph.  Some of us then chose to make our own birds’ nests!

A group of us also decided to make a bonfire with logs and branches.  We worked together as a team to move the logs and branches to make the bonfire!

We also like to have some calm time in the forest.  Many of us enjoy colouring and looking at books!

Although we have been very active, we have still been working hard in phonics.  We are getting better at sounding out words and forming letters correctly in a pre-cursive style.  Look at this beautiful handwriting!

Friday 1^st July 2022

In maths we have been learning to solve word problems.  We had to think about the important mathematical information we needed and write it as a calculation to solve the problem. 

We have also enjoyed creating our own mathematical challenges, such as ordering numbers!

In literacy we have been continuing to practise writing good sentences.  Rainbow group have been trying hard to remember the order of the words in a sentence to write independently.

We have also enjoyed making words using the phonics cubes and writing the words we have made.

We had great fun going on a treasure hunt!  We discovered a mysterious treasure map left behind by pirates.  We then used the map to find all the pieces of treasure.  We had to add colours to the map and write down the letters we found.

Then we made our own treasure maps for our friends to follow!  We used positional language to describe the route to our friends!  X marks the spot!

Our home learning this week was to create a pirate accessory!  Look at all the wonderful things we have made!  Thank you to all the parents and carers who helped with this!

Friday 24^th June 2022

We have had so much fun in the sunshine this week!

It was RSC and RH’s turn to visit to Manor House Forest School.  A wonderful day was had by all, and the children enjoyed all of the activities on offer!   Once again, the children behaved so well and were a credit to our school!  We are very proud of them!

In maths we have been learning about positional language.  The children had to complete an obstacle course going in, out, round, through, under and over different obstacles!

In Literacy we have been focussing on writing good sentences.  One of our activities was to order the words to make a sentence make sense, remembering that the capital letter goes at the beginning and the full stop at the end!

In our Understanding of the World, we have been exploring floating and sinking, thinking about the density of different objects.  

We also made pirate ships from old packaging!  We all had very different ideas about what we wanted our pirate ship to look like!

At the end of the week, we had our sports day!  Thank you to all the grown-ups who came along to support us and cheer us on!  We had a wonderful time and enjoyed taking part in the different races!

Friday 17th June 2022

We have had another very busy week in Year R and have had lots of fun as always! 

The highlight of this week was RJ and RB’s visit to Manor House Forest School.  They had a wonderful day and the weather was perfect!  The children enjoyed so many activities and the staff at Manor House Forest School said they were all extremely well behaved and listened to the instructions beautifully!  We are very proud of them!

We saw goats, pigs, ducks and chickens and were able to stroke most of them if we chose to.

We used a saw to make a wood cookie from the branch of a Sycamore, which we then decorated.

We learnt how to light a fire and toasted marshmallows.

We made animal homes and drew pictures of animals.

We went on the zip wire, climbed trees, played in the scramble nets and on the swings and climbing apparatus.

On Wednesday it was outdoor day at school.  We hunted for bugs, climbed trees and enjoyed lots of stories in the forest, amongst other things.

We also had great fun in maths learning our number bonds to 10!  We had to find 2 numbers that total 10 and write them down!

We are looking forward to the exciting adventures RSC and RH will have at Manor House Forest School on Tuesday!

Friday 10^th June 2022

This term our topic is ‘Pirates, Mermaids and Under the Sea’ and we have made a great start to our final term in Reception!

In Forest School this week we made magic wands using sticks, ribbon, glitter and other craft materials.  We have also been developing our throwing and catching skills.

In maths we have been using the part-whole method to work out number bonds to 5 and 10.  Some of us even chose to challenge ourselves to work on numbers up to 20 and use our knowledge of addition to solve multiplication and division calculations!

We enjoyed taking our maths learning outside, using a variety of objects to make a given total.

In Literacy we have been working hard to write sentences, remembering capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.

We have been learning about the seasons and signs of summer.  We collected some summer leaves and created some leaf prints.

We have been looking at the work of the famous artist Claude Monet and how he created the pattern of the waves in his beach painting.  We then had a go at creating our own beach scene based on Monet’s style of painting.

Friday 20^th May 2022

This week we have been learning about the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee!  We have been practising our Jubilee dance and song for the school Jubilee party.  Miss Jewell taught us a great routine which we have really enjoyed learning!   We were really pleased to be able to show this to our parents and carers at our ‘Come and See’ this week!

We made Union Jack flags and crowns for our Jubilee party.  We also painted portraits of Queen Elizabeth II. 

We have been working hard in Literacy to be independent writers. We wrote facts about Queen Elizabeth II by ourselves.

In Maths we have been practising counting accurately.  We’ve been counting lots of different objects.

In child initiated we had fun playing hide and seek and using the construction blocks to make a throne for the Queen.  We also used 3D shapes to make our own version of Buckingham Palace!

In the Forest School this week, we had lots of fun climbing, swinging and balancing.  We have enjoyed using our imagination to create our own games.  Some of us chose to make a path to the fairy door so that the fairies can find their way home!  We also decided to make our own fishing game, using sticks as the fishing rods and leaves as the fish!   It was RH and RSC’s turn to make bird feeders this week!

The den is finally finished so this week we got to play in it!  We had great fun!  Thank you to Mr James for building it with us!

We continued with our bug hunt and even found a millipede!

For our home learning we were set the challenge of making a habitat for a toy animal!  Look at these wonderful habitats we created!

We hope you have a wonderful two week break and we look forward to seeing all the children again on Monday 6^th June!

Friday 13^th May 2022

We’ve had a lovely week enjoying the sunshine in Reception!

The Powell-Cotton Museum loaned us their animals artefacts box.  We were very excited to see what was inside and enjoyed looking at the different artefacts.  We saw a replica human skull, animal skins, a sheep’s horn and butterflies.  We used our senses to explore them and used magnifying glasses to take a closer look at the detail.

In the Forest School we have been making fat balls to feed the birds.  We mixed the bird seed and the lard and enjoyed using our hands to squeeze and mould the materials together.

We also went on a minibeast hunt, using an identification sheet to help us name what we had found.

In maths we have been estimating how many objects there are in a set.  We loved completing our estimating challenges inside and outside!

In Literacy we have been writing animal fact files.  We are getting very good at writing sentences!

In child initiated we were set a challenge to make an animal habitat.  Look at RB’s foxes den!

We once again welcomed parents into school for our ‘Come and Read’ session.  The children have really enjoyed having their parents and carers in the classroom, sharing stories together.

Friday 6^th May 2022

We have continued our learning about animals this week and had a visit from Miss Jewell’s snake, Lexi!  Before the visit we thought of some questions we wanted to ask about snakes.  These are some of the questions we asked:

• Do they have teeth?
• How do they protect themselves?
• Does your snake eat flowers?
• Where do they live?
• Where are their hearts?
• How do they eat?

Most of us chose to touch the snake.  Some of the teachers held her!

This week in Forest School we went on a hunt for toy animals.  We sorted them into those that can be kept as pets and those that live in the wild.

We enjoyed climbing, swinging, and making music with sticks.  We enjoyed playing in the mud kitchen and some of us got a little bit muddy!

We continued to help Mr James to build the den.  It will soon be finished!

Some of us went into the Forest School on Thursday with Mrs Latham.  We went on a bug hunt.  We found some snails and enjoyed watching how they move.  We saw them go back in their shells when they got scared.

In Maths we have been learning about sharing equally.  We had to make sure the teddies had the same amount of food.

Some children even managed to share amounts up to 30 equally.

Friday 29^th April 2022

As part of our learning about animals, we have had some special visitors this week!  We met Blue, Rabbit, Oreo, Buzz, Jessie and Geoffrey.

In Literacy, we have been learning to ask and answer questions.  These are some of the great questions we thought of:

• What do they when they are scared?
• What do they like to eat most? Where do they sleep?
• How do they eat?
• Where do they sleep?
• How do they protect themselves?

We have enjoyed looking at non-fiction books about animals to find out information.

Another fun day was had in the forest.  Our challenge was to find natural materials to make a nest for an animal.

In Maths we have been learning about repeating patterns.  Look at these patterns we have made! 

In Child Initiated we have enjoyed exploring outside, using magnets to find things that are magnetic.  We have also been looking after our environment, keeping it clean and tidy!

Friday 22nd April 2022

Welcome back to Term 5!  We have got straight back into routine and have had lots of fun learning! This term our theme is ‘Mad about animals’. 

It was good to be back outside in the forest, using the outside environment to spark our creativity!  Some of us chose to create a restaurant in the forest and enjoyed making a healthy salad for the customers! 

Mr James started to build a den with our help.  He showed us how to use some tools safely. 

Miss Jewell led a game of musical statues, which was a lot of fun!

We also continued to improve our confidence with balancing, swinging and climbing.  Most of us can do this independently now!

We had lots of fun on the climbing frame and on the field.  We challenged ourselves to learn a new skill, hula hooping!  It is not as easy as it looks!  We did lots of sports including tennis, football and catching!

In maths we have been learning to double numbers to 10.   In class we doubled the number of spots on a ladybird.  We then took our learning outside to find pictures of dogs and double the number of spots on the dog!

We have also been learning about different animals and writing about our favourite animals!

Thank you to everyone who has shared photos of what your child has been doing at home using the ‘Evidence Me’ app.  We have really enjoyed looking at them and these will be added to your child’s Learning Journey.  Please see the school website for more information on how to do this.

Friday 1^st April 2022

Winter has returned but that hasn’t stopped us from having fun and doing some fantastic learning!  Despite the unseasonal weather, we have been celebrating Easter this week.

We had lots of fun in Forest School, climbing, swinging and balancing!   We also had an Easter egg challenge.  We had to find 5 words and write them down to win our egg!

We have enjoyed watching our caterpillars grow.  They have all hidden away inside their chrysalis and some of the butterflies have begun to emerge!  It is a little too cold to let them go outside at the moment so they will be kept in the warm a bit longer!

We have been doing lots of craft activities.  We made Easter baskets which we filled with a chocolatey treat and made some lovely Easter cards!

It was such a shame that we couldn’t go out for our Easter bonnet parade, but we did this in school instead.  We all showed our bonnets to the Year 1 and Year 2 children in a special Easter Hat assembly.  The bonnets were just amazing, and we really appreciate the effort you put in to making these!  Hopefully next year the weather will be much better for this annual event!

The Year R team wishes you all a very happy Easter and we look forward to seeing all the children again on Tuesday 19^th April!

Friday 25^th March 2022

It has been a lovely week and we have had so much fun in Year R!

The sun has been shining so we have spent more time learning outdoors.  We went on a walk to look for signs of spring.  We found some beautiful flowers and used our 5 senses to describe them. We have also enjoyed lots of water play!

In maths, we have been learning about length.  We have measured the length in different ways and compared longer and shorter.  We went outside to find out which caterpillar had the longest journey to his leaf. We decided to measure the length by laying down and counting the number of children.

After listening to the story of Handa’s Surprise, we made animal masks!  They look great!

We have continued to have fun in the Forest School.  We found some insects and insect eggs!  Some children chose to make a home for a caterpillar from logs!

We found an old log and learned the word 'hollow'.  When we tapped the log we realised it made a funny sound.  We started to tap it with sticks to make music and we sang some songs!

In the forest we went on a fruit scavenger hunt.  We had to find all the different fruits.  Some of us wrote a list of the fruit we found!  We also did some observational paintings of the forest and did some leaf rubbings!

We enjoyed tasting a variety of different fruits.  We talked about our favourites and then made a healthy fruit salad.

Thank you to everyone who has shared photos of what your child has been doing at home using the ‘Evidence Me’ app.  We have really enjoyed looking at them and these will be added to your child’s Learning Journey.  Please contact the school office to find out how to do this if you haven’t already.

Friday 18^th March 2022

Look at what we have been doing this week…

We continued our work on life cycles and have talked about the life cycle of the frog.  Year 1 kindly let us borrow their tadpoles for the day! Some of them have started growing legs!

We had great fun in the Forest School.  We found a caterpillar in a stick and enjoyed talking about it.

We went on a hunt around Forest School for pictures of animals and their babies and matched them.

We made a butterfly using natural materials we found around the forest.

In Literacy we have been continuing to learn and tell stories and recording these in our own way.

In Maths we have been learning about weight.  We compared heavy and light objects using containers in the water tray.

Friday was very exciting!  We came to school dressed as animals.  We went on a red nose hunt around the playground and had a surprise visit from some pirates!

Thank you to everyone who has shared photos of what your child has been doing at home using the ‘Evidence Me’ app.  We have really enjoyed looking at them and these will be added to your child’s Learning Journey.  Please contact the school if you would like help in doing this.

Friday 11^th March 2022

Look at what we have been doing this week…

Our caterpillars arrived this week!  We have enjoyed watching them grow! 

We had great fun in the Forest School.  We found a snail and gave it a nice green leaf to munch on!  We also used coins to buy healthy food for a picnic.

In Literacy we have been learning the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.   We did some lovely writing based on the story!

In maths, we have been learning about the words taller and shorter and longer and smaller.  In Forest School we found sticks that were longer or shorter than our arms.

In class we measured how tall we are and compared who is the tallest and who is the shortest!

In RJ we built a tower that was taller than Mr James!  That was a VERY tall tower!