“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.”   Charles Schaefer

End of Year

It is hard to believe it is the end of the school year! The year has gone so fast but they do say time flies when you are having fun and we have certainly had a fun filled year!  It has been an absolute pleasure teaching your lovely children who have worked so incredibly hard and have shown a wonderful disposition to learning.

We are so proud of the children and will miss them next year but know they are going to have the most amazing time in Year One and they are certainly ready for the challenge!

Many thanks for all your support over the year.

Have a wonderful summer!

Term 6 week 6

This week we said goodbye to our lovely Mrs Collery who has been training with us since September.  She has qualified as an NQT and we wish her all the very best in her future career as a teacher.

 

Our learning this week has focused around the children writing their own stories based on the book Croc and Bird.  We have been amazed not only by the quality of their writing but on the creativity and imaginations of the children.

In Maths this week we have revisited shapes and patterns we are super impressed with the reasoning skills of the children in the activities set up for them.

As the hot weather continues please ensure the children have sun cream on and that they bring a hat and a water bottle.  We do encourage them to drink and to refill their bottles.  In the afternoons when the sun is at its strongest we make sure the children have access to shade.

Next week we have a teacher from Priory coming to make pirate pizzas with the children which is really exciting.  The children will also be meeting and spending time with Mrs Dance and Mrs Shepherd in our shuffle up morning.

Have a lovely weekend

Term 6, Week 5

We are racing to the end of term and the learning from the Busy Bees has been superb this week. We have continued our literacy learning through the gorgeous story of Croc and Bird.  The children are producing some lovely pieces of writing and are enjoying telling stories in the style of Croc and Bird using their own characters. Why not ask them about it!

We were also lucky enough to be given some bee keeping things, including a frame full of honeycomb and delicious smelling honey, some bees wax, bees and a hive. It was wonderful to explore these things and we used information books to find out more as well as tried some delicious honey and matched it to the flowers from which the bees had taken the nectar.

In maths we have explored capacity and had great fun in the water which was lovely learning to do in the sunshine of the garden.

Saturday is our school summer fair and we look forward to seeing you all there for a great family day out.  A really big thank you for all your donations and support.

Week 4

This week the children have enjoyed the sunshine and many exciting activities.  Our literacy and craft activities have focused around a new book called ‘Croc and Bird’. The children have enjoyed retelling the story with props, drawing some amazing crocodiles and birds and have produced some superb writing about the similarities and differences between crocodiles and birds.  We are looking forward to next week when we begin to innovate the story by choosing an alternative setting and characters for the story.

In maths the children have been learning about odd and even numbers and exploring this concept with stories and using concrete objects. Working with numbers 1-10 and a variety of objects the children are learning that an even number is a number that can be divided into two equal groups and an odd number cannot.

In P.E. the children have really enjoyed playing rounders and practicing the many skills needed for this activity. They have been practicing their throwing and batting skills (using a tennis racket) and have been introduced to fielding.  We look forward to playing a two-sided rounders match next week.

In RE the children have discovered more about Umuganda day, based on the Rwandan community project where everyone comes together to make their environment a better place.

Please remember to apply all day sun cream on your child each day and ensure they have a hat for school. Have a wonderful weekend.

Week 3

What a fantastic week we have had in Busy Bees! Captain William Whitebeard returned to school to test the pirate ship the children designed and built for him. He was very impressed with the design and the children’s confidence that the ship would float and be waterproof. Captain William Whitebeard was delighted with the children’s knowledge of pirates and excited that his ship included a crow’s nest, a compass and a treasure map, all of which are very important to pirates! The children even taught Captain William Whitebeard to do the pirate hoop dance and sang him some of their favourite songs. We had a wonderful end to our learning theme and I think we all agreed that it is okay to be friends with a pirate.

On Monday the children enjoyed a ‘Multi Sports’ morning with year 1 and 2 during which they had the opportunity to develop their confidence and skills whilst playing team games.

In maths this week the children have consolidated their knowledge of subtraction and all the children have impressed us with their ability to talk about and explain their thinking in maths.  They enjoyed making up their own subtraction stories and have been recording their calculations.

In art the children experimented with colour and abstract art as they created their own art in the style of Kandinsky.

In R.E. we looked at nature in our environment and searched for bugs. We explored their creation with awe and wonder.

Week 2

The Busy Bees have been busy preparing for the return visit of Captain Whitebeard next week and there has been much sawing, hammering and creativity in the classroom!  The boat design is taking shape and what has been so impressive is how the children understand what materials they need to build the boat and can even say why they will be good materials.

 

Next Tuesday the children can wear pirate dress up for when Captain Whitebeard returns.  Please do not buy anything new ~ if they need dress up we have plenty they can borrow in school.  This learning theme has also inspired the need to recycle and nearly every day I have had children coming in with rubbish they have collected on their way to school.  They have certainly been inspired by this learning theme!

In phonics we have been consolidating phase 3 sounds and sight words learned so far. We have been practising using these in our writing. In maths we have been busy learning about halving and doubling.  In R.E. we have been listening to the story of ‘The Precious Pearl’.  The children have been learning that all people are precious to God and explored what is precious in their lives.

Next week we have a multi skills session on Monday morning so please ensure PE kit is in school.  This session is dependent on the weather however so fingers crossed this rain disappears!

 

Week 1

What an exciting start to Term 6 as we complete the final ‘loop’ of learning before completing our Captain Whitebeard challenge by learning the best ways to join materials.  The children have all made a prototype ship and explored using hammers, nails, saws, duct tape, masking tape, wood glue and many, many other tools and fastenings. Next week we will start on the building his ship before the man himself, Captain Whitebeard returns to see what the children have made for him.  A massive big thank you to everyone who has brought in wood and plastic for the children to use it is really appreciated.

As well as being busy making ships the children have also been counting and calculating using the wonderful book ‘One is a Snail and Ten is a Crab’. They have been taking animals of all shapes and sizes, counting their feet and then calculating how many feet altogether.  They have also been counting teddy bear feet in 2s and crabs feet in 10s and we have seen lots of recording and reasoning in their maths which shows what amazing learners they are!

In literacy we have really enjoyed the book ‘Flotsam’ which is a story book without words. As practitioners we have loved listening to the children’s stories, thoughts and ideas and their use of story language has been fantastic.  Maybe when you go to the beach with your little one you could look for flotsam and make up stories about what you have found too!

 

Have a lovely weekend

 

Term 5 Week 5

What a lovely way end to Term 5 with our amazing Sports Day on Wednesday.  We were so incredibly proud of the Busy Bees who, despite being nervous, competed brilliantly with everyone joining in and feeling proud of their effort.  Well done!

At the start of the week we explored why some things float while other things sink in preparation for our boat building next term.  The children enjoyed testing if things floated in salt water, jelly and red water.  They tested natural materials, manufactured materials and fruit and vegetables. They predicted and tested and then evaluated what they found out.  They even found out that things can float in things other than water!

Having found out about floating and sinking the children then learnt about materials and tested a variety of materials to see if they were waterproof or not.  They have been amazing scientists and we look forward to seeing how they apply what they have learnt next term.

As we move into our last half term of the academic year please have a lovely rest and lots of fun but do read regularly throughout the week and why not keep a little diary of what you do in the holiday’s so the children have the opportunity to keep writing ~ post on Tapestry for us to share and enjoy too!

Happy half term!

Week 4

This week the children have been enjoying learning in the sunshine where they have been retelling the story of The Rainbow Fish in their own words.  As they have become more familiar with the story they have begun to change the story to make their own versions and we have had much fun using words that we learnt from exploring the real fish last week into their stories!

In Maths they have been telling subtraction stories and we have been so impressed with how the children can apply their maths skills in so many different ways.  For example, they recorded their scores in skittles, played squishy subtraction with the playdough and they even used their skills of subtraction to problem solve in the classroom when we had some sneaky pirates taking away gems again!

Next week is Sports Day so can you please check your children’s kit is in school, in full and that it still fits them!  It is so hard to run when your daps are a little too tight!  We are looking forward to seeing you all for the class picnic and to cheering the children on as they compete.

In RE this week we have continued thinking about creation and in particular the impact of plastics in the oceans.

Over the next couple of weeks would you please keep any large boxes you have in readiness for boat building?  We will also be looking for any soft wood, large pieces of material and boat paraphernalia (should you have an old anchor lying around!).

Enjoy your weekend

Week 3

What an exciting week we have had again in the Busy Bees class as we began exploring the wonderful story of the Rainbow Fish. The children have used new tools and explored tinting and shading to make their own fish and they have used some really rich language to explore real fish and sea creatures.

The children have also been exploring some of the skills needed as a pirate such as being able to weigh things carefully and accurately ~ we don’t want our ships to be too heavy! They have been listening to pirate stories and acting out their own stories in our role play area and in our boat in the garden.

 

In RE we have been thinking about creation and our world, how we can do things to look after it. As part of this we had a litter pick around the school grounds today.

Currently the children are practicing for Sports Day so please ensure they have their fully labelled kit in school at all times and please check their daps still fit as they can run the races in comfort!

Have a wonderful weekend

Week 2

What an amazing week we have had as we launched our learning theme ‘Is it ok to be friends with a pirate’! Our launch down at Sandbay could not have been better with the weather being absolutely perfect.  It was so lovely to spend the whole day there searching for treasure, building a den and meeting a real pirate.  The children have not stopped talking about it with many of them saying it was ‘the best day ever’! Giving the children this amazing experience was only possible because of the time so many parents and grandparents gave up to be with us ~ thank you.  Also a big thank you to the amazing team at the Sandbay Tea Rooms for giving the children the experience of eating a pirate lunch in a café with their friends. They are always so incredibly kind to us in there and love seeing the children having fun and building memories.   I was also extremely proud of the children and how beautifully behaved and brave they were.  We talk a lot at school about staying safe and in trusting us to keep them safe ~they certainly had to put their ‘brave boots’ on when meeting a real pirate!

The next weeks will be spent building the skills the children will need to design and make a boat that floats for Captain Whitebeard.  They will do this through a series of mini enquires and they will also have lots of opportunities to explore real issues such as pollution and climate change as well as writing to our friend Captain Whitebeard. Indeed next week they are going to begin learning about the oceans and the creatures that live there so that they can write stories for Captain Whitebeard to read on his long travels.  If you have any interesting artefacts or objects that might fit in with this topic please let me know as it is so important that the children see ‘real things’.

 

Have a lovey, long weekend!

 

Term 5, Week 1

Welcome back to our penultimate term!  We are all so excited about this term’s learning and the children are already super excited about our learning theme ‘Is it ok to be friends with a pirate?’ indeed they already have one pirate friend Captain Pete Pigeon who sent them a lovely letter and some goodies to get the theme started.  A really big thank you to Mrs Hawkins who organised the surprise ~ the children loved it!

This week we have begun to learn some of the things pirates do including making and following maps.  The children have learnt about landmarks on maps and they are beginning to recognise natural and manufactured landmarks. The have also studied and made other maps including maps of their hearts (which included their treasures from their home learning challenge), maps of their families and some of them even made maps of their tummies!

In phonics we have introduced the sounds ‘oy’ as in boy, ‘ir’ as in girl and ‘ou’ as in out.  This week’s sight words are ‘was’ and ‘said’.  If you would like to support the children at home with their spelling why not practice writing words with these sounds in being as creative as you can in how you write (on pirate paper, in chalk in your garden or in shaving foam in the bath)! Don’t forget to practice sight words too and record for tapestry.

In Maths this week we focused on ‘time’ which led us to making maps of our day as part of our learning to show the passing of time.  The children have also been introduced to the ‘o’clock’ times’ and it would be lovely if you could talk about and look at the clocks, watches etc you have around the house.

The weather forecast for next week is improving for Wednesday’s trip but is still unsettled and likely to be cold but will warm as the day progresses.  Please cater for all the weathers and apply sun cream and give them plenty of layers of warm clothes as it can be very, very cold on the beach first thing.  Many thanks to everyone who has offered to help with the day.  In Reception we need a lot of adults to help take the children out and without your support we would not be able to make the trip possible.  See you at the beach!

Have a very happy weekend!

 

Term 4, Week 6

It is hard to believe we are now at the end of term 4 and what a lovely term it has been!  We finished our learning theme with the magnificent banquet and are finishing today saying good bye to our gorgeous chicks who are off to Puxton Park so lots of other children can enjoy them too.

The children were fascinated watching the chicks hatch and they have been surprised at how quickly they change from being tired and wet and very straggly to being up and about, cute and fluffy!

We are now very much looking forward to our final two terms and I am really grateful to everyone who has said they will help with our SURPRISE trip on the 1^st May.  Remember it is a dress as a pirate day and please bring a bucket and spade if you have one.

Have a lovely Easter break!

Week 5

It is hard to believe we are now at the end of term 4 and what a lovely term it has been!  We finished our learning theme with the magnificent banquet and are finishing today saying good bye to our gorgeous chicks who are off to Puxton Park so lots of other children can enjoy them too.

The children were fascinated watching the chicks hatch and they have been surprised at how quickly they change from being tired and wet and very straggly to being up and about, cute and fluffy!

We are now very much looking forward to our final two terms and I am really grateful to everyone who has said they will help with our SURPISE trip on the 1^st May.  Remember it is a dress as a pirate day and please bring a bucket and spade if you have one.

Have a lovely Easter break!

We have been learning about the story of Easter this week, the children have enjoyed creating their own Easter garden and discovering more about why Easter is so important to Christians.

 

Have a lovely weekend.

Week 4

This week has seen us celebrate the end of our learning theme with our performance of understanding in the shape of a medieval banquet.  Thank you to everyone who came along to support the children ~ you were an amazing audience and the children certainly showed what brilliant learners they are.  We were incredibly proud of each and every one of them! Please check our Facebook and twitter accounts for more pictures of the banquet.

As well as all the hard work that went into preparing the banquet the children have enjoyed learning more about what is happening in the development of the chicks.  They have been scientists and removed the shell and then the membrane of the eggs to get a closer look at the structure of the eggs and we have experienced the hatching of the butterflies too!

Finally we are desperate for more helpers for our surprise trip to Sandbay on the 1^st May.  Please let one of us know if you are able to help in anyway.

Week 3

Next week is the banquet and the children are very excited and have spent the week preparing for it.  The banquet will start at 1.45pm and should be finished by three.  We will open the doors at 1.30ish  to get you settled so we can start on time.  As we mentioned before it is two places per child and we respectfully ask that if you bring little ones to watch  please be mindful that this is the Busy Bee’s first performance of understanding and we ask that you take them out if they are not settled.

In class this week the children have been learning all about symmetry linked to the imminent arrival of our butterflies! Why not keep a look out with your child for symmetry in the environment.  We were also very excited this week when we put eggs in the incubator ~ we hope to have chicks in time for Easter!

Have a lovely weekend!

 

Week 2

What an amazing week we have had as we have celebrated the joy of reading in World Book Week.  It was great to see so many of you at our bedtime story evening on Monday and I loved sharing some of my favourite stories with the children.  Dress up day was brilliant too and we spent the whole day immersed in stories which had the knock on effect of the children wanting to make their own books and write stories themselves.

In Maths this week we have been solving addition and subtraction number problems.  The children loved making up their own number stories and representing the characters to find the answer to the calculation. Great learning Busy Bees!

Finally a few reminders!  The Banquet is on Tuesday 19^th March at 1.45 until 3pm.  We are planning to hold a SECRET day at the beach on Wednesday 24^th April to introduce our pirate theme.  We will need lots of helpers that day so if you can spare some time we would really appreciate it and I promise it is lots of fun!  Please let me know at the door if you can help and remember it is a secret!  More details to follow!

Week 1

Welcome back to the start of term 4, I hope you all had a lovely half term.  It was great to see the children again so full of enthusiasm for school and learning and they all enjoyed showing and telling me about the learning opportunities you shared with them. Lots of you went to castles, did lots of reading and the writing from the children has been amazing ~ thank you so much.

It is set to be a really exciting term with our first performance of understanding with the banquet on the 19^th March.  The children are so excited about it and we added to the excitement this week with a visit from a real falconer and her birds to teach us about life in a castle and the role birds of prey would play.  The children loved the visit (especially the naughty owl Chilli who started to roost in the hall roof and wouldn’t come down) and they have produced some amazing pictures and writing about the experience.  Why don’t you ask the children to tell you something about the birds of prey and record it for Tapestry.

In other learning the children continue to learn about subtraction and are becoming really confident with many of them writing number sentences in their play!  In phonics the children have been learning the sounds nk, as in ink, ear as in hear, ure as in pure and or as in form.  Our new sight word this week is all.  Please remember to write in their books when they have read with you and if you get the chance practice their sight words with them at home too.

Yesterday the children were lucky enough to have a visit from a real author and next week there will be lots of lovely reading activities to celebrate World Book Day.  Reading is in my opinion one of the greatest things a child will learn to do.  It opens doors to all other areas of learning and there is such a lot of pleasure to be had from reading a good book!

In PE we introduced the children to the Olympic sport of Kurling.  Finally today we had a special delivery ~ 30 very tiny, very hungry caterpillars!  The children have enjoyed a story about ‘the very hungry caterpillar’ and have looked closely at them and recorded in words and pictures their observations.  We look forward to observing the process of them changing over the coming weeks.

Term 3, Week 5

In class this week the children have been shopping!  They went to the ‘great pet sale’ and used money to buy some very unusual pets including a platypus and a skink!  They had to use the skills they have already learnt in maths to find the correct money to pay for their pets.  If you would like to support your child at home why not set up your own shop and price it up from 1p- 5p and then have some fun while consolidating their knowledge and  vocabulary of money.

In phonics this week the children have been learning the sounds ‘oo’ as in look, ‘oo’ as in zoo, ‘ar’ as in car, ‘or’ as in for  and  ‘ur’ as in fur.  They have also been consolidating their knowledge of the sight words ‘the, I, no, go, to, into, me, he, she, we and be.   It would be a great support if you could have these words around so the children become really familiar with them.

This week has also been dragon week and the children have listened to amazing myths, legends and poems about dragons as well as studied the famous piece of art by Uccello, George and the Dragon. Of course they have also made and painted their own dragons as well as had lots of fun fighting dragons as they retold the stories they had heard.

Thank you to everyone who supported our ‘number day’ in aid of the NSPCC.  The children started the day with a number wake up shake up.  We then asked the question, ‘How big is a million?’  We started by looking at 10, then 100, then 1000 then 10000, 10000 and finally a million!

In RE this week we have looked at the parable of ‘The Good Samaritan’, thinking about how we can be helpful and kind to others.

We had an interesting visit from a team from Tarmac today, they parked a big lorry in the playground for us to explore and we  learnt lots about staying safe around lorries.  The whole class stood in front of the lorry and we discovered that when the driver sat in the driver’s seat, nobody could be seen!  We know that these areas are called ‘blind spots’ and we need to be extra careful around big vehicles.

Have a really happy weekend

 

Term 3, Week 4

This week has been lots of fun as we have been scientists, authors, mathematicians and athletes!  The week started with us innovating the story of Jack and the Beanstalk making up our own stories using our own characters.  The children all had a story to tell and it was lovely to see them acting them out and sharing them with each other.

In maths we have been learning about 3D shapes and the children have loved making their own models using these shapes and playing games with them.  If you would like to support them at home why not go on a shape hunt at home and record some of the shapes they see ~ our store cupboards are always a good place to start with this activity!

Last week the children planted beans in a bag and they are growing really well in the greenhouse that is our classroom!  At the start of next week we are going to be sending the beans home with them and we would like you to re-pot them into soil.  Then we would like your child to record in words and pictures the growth of their bean and share it with us on Tapestry.  We look forward to seeing whose bean will be the tallest and whose will produce the most beans!

As many of you will have seen, the date for our banquet is Tuesday 19^th March @ 1.30pm .  We look forward to seeing you  ~ fancy dress is optional!

We hope you have enjoyed the snow today, any snow creations would be welcome on tapestry!  Have a lovely weekend.

Term 3, Week 3

What an exciting week of learning we have had! On Monday we were scientists and answered the question ‘where is the beanstalk in the bean?’  The children were amazed to find the beanstalk is inside waiting for the right conditions for it to grow! They learnt the names of the parts of the beans and labelled pictures of what they had observed.  We also planted some beans in bags so we can observe the process in action.  We are excited to say some of them have already begun to sprout!  We will watch over them carefully over the coming weeks.

In Phonics we have been learning the diagraphs ‘sh’ as in sheep, ‘ch’ as in chips, ‘th’ as in thumb, ‘ng’ as in strong, ‘ai’ as in snail, ‘ee’ as in bee and ‘oa’ as in goat.  We have also learnt the trigraph ‘igh’. This week’s sight word is ‘she’. Please keep reading with your child at home ~ they are so enthusiastic and really want to learn to read.  It is also one of the single most important things they will ever learn to do as it is the key to accessing all other subjects.  Don’t forget to write in the book so we can change the books!

In maths this week the children were exploring numberless word problems and the children loved representing the characters in the problems with pictures and counters and many of the children had a go at writing number sentences too! Great work Busy Bees.

In PE this week we challenged ourselves to bounce and catch tennis balls…and soon discovered this isn’t as easy as it looks!  In RE we learnt about the story of Matthew the tax collector, how he was given a second chance by Jesus and how we can be given (or give) second chances too.

Have a wonderful weekend

Term 3 Week 2

This week the children have started to explore their key text for this term, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.  They started by listening to the story and hot seating some of the characters to give them a better understanding of the characters and the plot!  They then had the opportunity to act out the story with the beanstalk and props which had appeared in our role play castle. The children also had the opportunity to play with puppets from the story and build their own small world castles and to retell the story that way. Next week we will be planting the ‘magic’ beans’ kindly donated by one of our parents ~ many thanks!

In maths we have been following on from your home learning challenge by estimating in lots of different ways. It was really lovely to hear the children talking about what they had done and to see them on Tapestry!

This week we were also exploring ways to keep healthy and have started the daily mile challenge.  I joined in with the children and was helped around the course.  I was very proud of even having a little run, cheered on by the children!

In RE this week we have been starting to look at what Christians believe, focusing this week on creation.

Have a lovely weekend

Term 3 Week 1

Happy New Year to all our lovely children and their families.

What a fantastic and exciting start to 2019 with our wonderful ‘wow’ day on Tuesday when the children met a Queen! Queen Elsa from the popular film Frozen came to school to ask for the children’s help.  She challenged them to put on a banquet for Anna as a way of showing she is sorry for the way she treated her.  The children were so excited and readily accepted the challenge.  Queen Elsa has also invited parents to the banquet and we will provide the date as soon as possible so you can make arrangements.  Thank you to everyone for the enormous effort you put into their costumes and ensuring they had a really memorable day.

As well as lots of castle play the children have been deepening their understanding of number by ordering numbers that are out of sequence.  They have also been making castles out of flat shapes and solid blocks and it has been amazing to hear the mathematical language they use in their model making.

The children’s knowledge of phonics and enthusiasm for writing has been lovely to see this week and we have been practicing writing some simple sentences with the children.  In other areas of learning the children have continued to develop their ball skills with bouncing and catching.  In RE they looked at how and why Christians pray.

Have a lovely weekend

Term 2, Week 7

Christmas is almost here and this week we have been have been enjoying lots of Christmas activities and crafts and a wonderful Christmas dinner cooked by our lovely cook Sharon.

In phonics this week we have learnt ‘y’ as in yogurt, ‘z’ as in zip and ‘qu’ as in queen. The children have begun consolidating the alphabet of sounds they now know and are working really hard with their reading. Please keep reading with them over the holidays ~ a little and often.  If they finish their book please ask them to read it again ‘Fred in their head’ (the children are familiar with this terminology and know what to do).  They can then read it again for fluency and expression and you can use the questions in the book to check their understanding of what they have read.  You might also like to support them to practice writing some of the words from the story. All of these skills will really support them with their learning.

In maths we have been doing lots of counting and thinking about numbers that are more or less (fewer). There will be lots of opportunities over Christmas for you to support them with counting (how many presents, pigs in blankets, and chocolates in the tin) and of course for playing board games which support them to recognise and order numbers.  Christmas paper for looking at repeating patterns and shapes and if I eat 3 chocolates how many will be left? ~ this is a particular favourite of mine!

As a church school we have also been learning about why we celebrate Christmas and have been reading lots of wonderful Christmas stories.  I wonder if your little one can tell you about the Christmas story?

We are all very excited about next term’s learning theme ‘who would you be if you lived in a castle’ and our introduction day will be on Tuesday 8^th January when we would like the children to come to school dressed as a castle character.

Finally we would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ for all the wonderful presents and cards. We have been over whelmed by your generosity and would like to wish you and your families a happy and healthy Christmas and we look forward to seeing you again in 2019!

Merry Christmas from the EYFS Crew

Week 6

Week 5

Without a doubt the highlight of our week was the amazing nativity performance of ‘The Magical Christmas Jigsaw’.  The children were absolutely fantastic! Thank you for your support with costumes, we are sure you will agree, the children all looked amazing!

Our Christmas preparations have begun in the classroom. The children have enjoyed making some Christmas crafts and have enjoyed hearing and learning about Christmas traditions through stories. The children have been sharing what they love most about Christmas. It has been so lovely to hear about all of the fantastic family traditions that take place during the festive period. They have started to think about the reason for Christmas and the nativity story.  We look forward to continuing Christmas activities next week.

This week the children have learnt the sounds ‘b’ as in bat, ‘f’ as in fog, ‘l’ as in leg as well as the double consonants ‘ss’ as in hiss, ‘ff’ as in huff and ‘ll’ as in doll.  The sight word this week was ‘no’. Thank you for your continued support with phonics and reading.

In Maths we have been learning about money. The children have had the opportunity to handle real coins, and talk about their value. They have been learning that a 5p coin has the same value, or is equivalent to five 1ps and variations using 2p and 1p coins. We have set up a Christmas shop in the role-play area and the children have had the opportunity to use real money in their play. They have enjoyed handling money and observing the differences in size and colour of the coins.

Have a wonderful weekend

Week 4

This week the Busy Bees have been enjoying practicing phonics in lots of fun games and activities.  They have learnt the new sounds ‘e’ as in egg, ‘r’ as in red, ‘u’ as in up and ‘h’ as in hat and the new sight word is ‘go’. They are beginning to read simple words and sentences and a really big thank you for supporting them at home with their reading ~ it is so very important that they get the opportunity to practice this new skill.

Also this week the children have been thinking about how we stay well and healthy through a good diet and lots of exercise.  They made fruit kebabs and filled ‘healthy’ lunchboxes as well as did lots of physical exercise (when the weather allowed)!

In Maths the children have been ordering numbers and finding the parts that make the whole of a number as well as playing lots of games that support the concepts we have been learning.

We hope you have a lovely weekend and enjoy the school fair tonight!

 

Week 3

The children continue to make great progress with phonics and reading. We have been learning the sounds , g as in goat,  o as in ostrich,  c as in cat, and k as in Kangaroo this week as well as the sight word ‘I’. It is wonderful to see how well supported the children are with their phonics and reading, it makes such a difference in their reading development. We aim to change reading books on Monday, Wednesday and Friday but please send books and journal in their  book bag everyday. If we can just ask you to remember to record when they have read and any comments on their progress is particularly helpful. If you feel your child might benefit from holding on to the book another night just let us know via the journal.

In maths this week the children have been exploring different repeating  patterns and have begun to recognise, create and describe patterns.  They have been immersed in lots of hands on practice developing their own patterns using shapes, colours and even animals!

In literacy the children enjoyed the story of the ‘Leaf Man’ by Lois Herbert. This inspired the children to become very creative as they made their own leaf characters or stick men and then developed their own stories around their characters. What wonderful stories and imaginations we have in Busy Bees!

In art we learned about a fun painting technique called Pointillism developed by the artist George Seurat. After looking at some famous paintings the children made their own dot paintings using q tips.

In RE we have looked at the Jewish festival of Passover, tasting some of the different foods from the Seder plate.

  

As part of Road Safety Week, we learnt how to be safe on and near roads, we pretended to be cars and pedestrians finding safe places to cross the road.

Finally, the children have also been doing a great job practicing for the The Magical Christmas Jigsaw’ nativity ‘ which they will perform on the 6^th of December. A letter regarding costumes was sent home in your child’s bag. If you have any questions please ask one of the teachers.

Have a wonderful weekend

 

Week 2

The children continue to make great progress with phonics and reading. We have been learning the sounds , g as in goat,  o as in ostrich,  c as in cat, and k as in Kangaroo this week as well as the sight word ‘I’. It is wonderful to see how well supported the children are with their phonics and reading, it makes such a difference in their reading development. We aim to change reading books on Monday, Wednesday and Friday but please send books and journal in their  book bag everyday. If we can just ask you to remember to record when they have read and any comments on their progress is particularly helpful. If you feel your child might benefit from holding on to the book another night just let us know via the journal.

In maths this week the children have been exploring different repeating  patterns and have begun to recognise, create and describe patterns.  They have been immersed in lots of hands on practice developing their own patterns using shapes, colours and even animals!

In literacy the children enjoyed the story of the ‘Leaf Man’ by Lois Herbert. This inspired the children to become very creative as they made their own leaf characters or stick men and then developed their own stories around their characters. What wonderful stories and imaginations we have in Busy Bees!

In art we learned about a fun painting technique called Pointillism developed by the artist George Seurat. After looking at some famous paintings the children made their own dot paintings using q tips.

In RE we have looked at the Jewish festival of Passover, tasting some of the different foods from the Seder plate.

As part of Road safety week, after learning how to be safe on and near roads, we pretended to be cars and pedestrians finding safe places to cross the road.

Finally, the children have also been doing a great job practicing for the The Magical Christmas Jigsaw’ nativity ‘ which they will perform on the 6^th of December. A letter regarding costumes was sent home in your child’s bag. If you have any questions please ask one of the teachers.

Have a wonderful weekend

This week the Busy Bees have been extremely busy doing lots of amazing learning!  They have learnt four new sounds and a new sight word and they are all so keen to write that we have had to extend our writing table! The sounds they have covered this week are i as in ink, n as in net; m as in mat and d as in dog and the sight word is ‘to’.  We have also sent home reading books for you to read with your child at home.  Help them to sound out each word and then blend the sounds together to read the word. When they are confident doing this they need to try reading it ‘Fred in their head’ (the children know they need to read it in their head and then say the word.  This is to increase their fluency and understanding of what they have read.  Finally please focus on their comprehension of the text.  You can do this be using the prompts at the beginning and end of the books. Don’t forget to write in their journal to say that they have done this so we know when to change their book.

 

In Maths they have been estimating how many and checking by counting.  If you would like to support the children at home you could put small collections of objects into a jar and ask the children to estimate how many.  They can record their estimate by drawing dots to represent their number or they could write the numeral. They then check how many there are by counting the objects.

   

Also this week the children have had a lovely story sent to us by Network Rail about keeping safe on the railways which prompted lots of really good discussions about staying safe.

The children looked great in their spotty clothes today, the total collected for Children in Need will be in the newsletter.  Thank you for supporting this.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend

Week 1

Welcome back to term 2!  I hope you all had a wonderful two week break. It was really lovely to see the children again and they have settled back really well.

We started the week by thinking about why we celebrate Bonfire Night with the children.  We then listened to and discussed the story of Guy Fawkes and the Houses of Parliament and created some lovely firework art and most importantly talked about firework safety.  The following day we looked at and compared our celebrations to another festival which often has fireworks, the festival of light ~ Diwali.  The children absolutely loved listening to the story of Sita and Rama and enjoyed making masks to retell the story with as well as getting creative with mehndi and rangoli patterns.

A really big thank you to everyone who attended our maths and phonics sessions this week.  It was lovely to see you and I hope it was useful. I understand it was a difficult time for everyone to attend so we will be holding a ‘mop up session’ on Thursday 15^th November at 2.30pm ~ it really would be great if everyone could come.  As one parent with a child in Year 2 said on Tuesday ‘it was a really useful reminder’!

In phonics this week the children have been busy reading simple words with the sounds they have learnt this week.  These are: ‘s’ as in sun; ‘a’ as in apple; ‘t’ as in tap and ‘p’ as in pat.  This week’s sight word is ‘the’.  Please support your children at home by looking for objects that begin with these sounds and record them and show us what you have found on Tapestry.

In maths the children have been looking for the parts in numbers and have taken part in lots of practical games and activities to support this.  I wonder if they can tell you about the parts and the whole?

On Friday we found out more about Remembrance Day and the reason we wear poppies.  As a whole school we had a minutes silence at 11 o’clock.   The children enjoyed making and drawing their own poppies and reflecting on being thankful.

Have a wonderful weekend.

 

Term 1,  Week 6

In class this week the Busy Bees have been very busy thinking about what they want to be when they grow up!  They have been listening to stories, dressing up and learning about what different jobs involve! The children have had some wonderful ideas that have ranged from being superheros to mums (I would argue that is the same job!) and from astronauts to zoo keepers.

We have been really working with the children on their fine motor control and the children have been playing in the finger gym, hammering golf tees into pumpkins and doing a dough disco to aid their development.  They have also used the few days of sunshine we had at the beginning of the week to work on their gross motor control by using the scooters, balls, golf equipment and big playground chalk.  We are really seeing the impact of this in the children’s mark making which they are all enjoying very much.

In maths this week we have been focusing on non standard measurement and as well as measuring lots of objects they also measured some wolves footprints as part of a challenge from the three little pigs! Please check your child’s bag as there is a homework sheet for you to continue the learning at home.

In RE this week we have learnt about the first part of the story of Moses.  In PE we have been focusing on throwing and catching.  The children are really proud of themselves changing independently, thank you for helping them to do this.

We hope you have been enjoying reading the Tapestry observations about your child’s learning.  If you have not logged in yet or if you have any problems please talk to either Katie in the office or see one of us at the door and we will support you in accessing their diary.

Exciting news!  We will be hosting an evening for parents about how we teach phonics and maths in the Early Years on Tuesday 6th November from 4.30-6.00pm in the hall at West Wick.  There will be lots of practical ideas about how you can support your child with their learning as well as the opportunity to ask any questions you may have.

   

Have a lovely weekend.

 

Week 5

This week the Busy Bees have been making up their own stories using the structure of ‘the three little pigs’ tale.  They have had some amazing ideas for characters including three little ninja’s and the big bad Pokémon, the three little dogs and the big bad butterfly and the three little diplodocuses and the big bad tyrannosaurus rex! They also explored houses around the world and looked at materials for building houses other than the traditional straw, sticks and bricks and next week we are going to be building with some of their more unusual ideas!

In maths this week we have been doing lots of counting and the children are beginning to record their maths pictorially in lots of ways including on whiteboards, with playground chalk and even in the sand.  They are enjoying playing maths games and making number puzzles with their friends and we have been working on them talking about their maths and explaining their reasoning in maths.

This week the children attended our beautiful Harvest worship where they enjoyed singing harvest songs and finding out about how we can support our community.  They also made their own harvest bread, we hope they enjoyed ( and maybe even shared!) the bread they  made and brought home today.

Have a wonderful weekend

Week 4

This week has been all about the ‘Three Little Pigs’!  The Children have had fun listening to and retelling the story with some beautiful puppets.  They have built houses big and houses small; houses out of Lego and houses made from real bricks. They have been architects, designers and builders and we have been so impressed by their creativity and imaginations.

The late September sunshine has provided us with some lovely opportunities to develop our core strength as we have played in the garden on the scooters and bikes.  We also have explored a range of small equipment such as stilts, launchers, discs and balls as well as played in the water tray and created wonderful worlds for our dinosaurs.

We continue to learn to toy talk ready for reading and are tuning into sounds by playing some fun games and activities.  We have also been playing with numbers and have been focusing on ordering them and recognising them out of sequence.

Have a lovely week end!

          

 

Week 3

Our first full week of school has been fantastic with all the Busy Bees settling really well and enjoying their learning at St Anne’s.

This week we have been doing lots of early phonics in the form of ‘toy talk’ and it is great to see how well the children are tuning into sounds.

The children have also been thinking about staying safe in school and we have been meeting the people and things that keep us safe in school.  We have also been learning our school rules and thinking about how the two things link.  Our school rules are:

• Respect yourself
• Respect others
• Respect the environment

We have been unpicking these rules with the children and it has been lovely to see how they are really applying them in their learning and in their play.

In Maths this week we have been counting collections of objects, looking at recognition of number and ordering numbers in their play.  We have also been playing lots of listening games and enjoying the garden and the Learning Street where they have been role playing with their new friends.

Today the children had their first PE lesson where they fully changed into their PE kits, please ensure all clothes are fully named.

Have a great weekend.

Week 2

This week the children have stayed for lunch and been out to play in the playground and they have been absolutely superb. They have shown good manners; they have played together beautifully and we have been really proud of their attitude to learning.  What a great start to school Busy Bees.

In school this week the children have been practicing writing their names using the correct letter formation and they have been making ice creams to sell in the garden.  They have also been counting collections of objects accurately and they have been using lots of numbers in their play.  For example they were building a wall for Humpty Dumpty in the construction area and they had to build it using 20 bricks.

Next week all the children will be in full time and we are looking forward to introducing our key text ‘The Three Little Pigs’. Please remember the children will need a coat in school every day as the weather is changeable but we will be outside! We will also need PE kit in school next week.

Thank you for all your support in helping us to make the children’s start in the Busy Bees so positive and happy.  Remember if you are ever worried please speak to one of us as we are here to help and we want happy children and parents!

Have a lovely weekend!

 

 

Week 1

Welcome to all our new Busy Bee children and families, it has been lovely getting to know you this week.  Thank you for making us so welcome on the home visits.

The children have settled really well on their first two days, it is lovely to see them already starting to come in independently and confidently.  They have enjoyed exploring and playing in the classroom and the garden, starting to build friendships and getting to know new faces.

We look forward to next week, have a lovely weekend.