What are we doing this week?

SPRING TERM 2 WEEK 3 13th-17th March

A lost penguin has arrived in Class 1, We will help it to find it's way back to Antarctica by crossing the equator in Africa. There we will meet Handa, and think how her home and local village area is different to our own.

We will invent stories to the the penguin, having designed and made boats to travel in, and have tested them for size and strength. We will learn an African call and response song to sing to him to, and move in time to the beat of African music.

We will travel in good weather and bad, reading the weather reports we make.

In Maths, will begin to use the skill of estimating, thinking about the range of numbers that an amount could be.

Our Jigsaw lessons encourage healthy choices and in gymnastics on Fridays the children are building confidence, control and agility using large apparatus.

SPRING TERM 2 Week 2 6-10th March

Our topic 'Wild World' gets underway as we think about the weather both locally and around the world, and we will find out about various types of extreme weather.

In our Read Write Inc lessons we will consolidate the sounds we have learned so far, reviewing words and speeding up word reading. We have 2 guided reading groups, one group reading the Red Ditty books and one reading Green Storybooks. Your support at home is really appreciated. Remember to encourage your child to re-read their books to build confidence and fluency, and talk together about the story to secure understanding. 

In Maths, our focus is on exploring the composition of 9 and 10, and how these number bonds can be represented using different apparatus and models.

We will be encouraging back and forth conversations & discussion, and extending vocabulary using photos as stimuli as part of our 'morning jobs' routine as the children come into class.

SPRING TERM 2 Week 1 

This week we will talk about the people we meet in the local area and the places we have visited in half term.

Hopefully we will go on a local walk from school.

Our key text will be 'Noah's Ark'.

In Literacy the children will have opportunities to apply their phonic knowledge in reading and writing.

In Maths we will be ordering numbers to 20, counting aloud forwards and backwards from any number & counting in 2s. The children will review the composition of numbers 6, 7 and 8, before we move on to exploring number representations for 9 and 10.

Friday is our day to celebrate World book Day-the information is on the last newsletter.

Spring Term Weeks 6 & 7

Our visit to The White Horse Chinese Restaurant will help us to learn about people and places in the local area, and about how The Lunar new year is celebrated.

Our Dogs in Space topic concludes with us discovering that Laika actually crash landed on our school playground last year! 

Spring Term 2 Week 5 30th January-3rd February

Please come along to our reading workshop on Tuesday at 5.30pm, to learn a bit more about how the Read/Write Inc storybooks work in developing your child's reading.

In class this week we are nearing the end of our Dogs in Space sequence of learning, just time to speculate as to what happened to Laika, the first Space Dog, who never returned to earth. 

In Maths, we are continuing to explore all the ways to represent the numbers 6,7 and 8, using a variety of apparatus and models. 

Spring term 1 Week 4 23rd-27th January 

We will once again travel in our 'time machine' back to Russia in 1960, and continue to follow Belka and Strelka on their very important mission, as the first Space Dogs to successfully orbit Planet Earth and return safely.

Our key text extends the children's vocabulary, and the document below lists the words and phrases that the children can use themselves in other contexts.

We will also share the story of Laika, the very first dog to travel into space, and speculate what may have happened to her.

In Read/Write Inc we are beginning to learn Set 2 sounds whilst building confidence in reading words and simple sentences fluently. Please come along to our Reading Workshop for parents next Tuesday at 5.30pm when we can demonstrate how best to support your child with reading their storybooks at home.

In Maths we will begin the phase 'Growing 6, 7, and 8' https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning?year=early-years

In PHSE our Jigsaw unit is 'Dreams and Goals' and in PE we are beginning gymnastics on Friday afternoons in the hall.

At Forest School we are thinking about the birds in winter, and putting out food and water for them. You may like to sign up for The Big Garden Bird Watch next weekend.

Spring Term 1 Week 3 16th-20th January

This week our key text will be Dogs in Space. We will change our learning environment to reflect this, and learn more about space exploration and the solar system. Please see the 'Rainbow Challenges and learning prompts below.

In Read/Write Inc, we will begin to teach the Set 2 sounds, and these will be put in the red homework books.

In maths, we continue to consolidate number bonds for numbers to 5.

Spring Term 1 Week 2 9th-13th January

This week we will be reviewing the 'Special Friends' diagraphs- sh ch th qu ng. Look out for consolidation videos on SeeSaw. In our Wordtime lessons we will be reading and writing words with 3 & 4 sounds, trying to build up our 'Speed Words' and using our 'Fred Fingers'. We will also begin to read longer words with 5 sounds or 2 syllables.

In Maths, we are consolidating the composition of numbers 4 & 5, combining groups and learning about equal and unequal groups. Please see the White Rose Home Learning 'Alive in 5' link below.

Our Animal Shelter role play area is set up and we are busy caring for many stray cats and dogs, of different shapes, sizes and breeds.

In story time we will be describing the appearance and characteristics of Tabby McTat and Scarface Claw, using adjectives and descriptive phrases.

Spring term 2023 Week 1 3rd-6th January

In our first week back we will be introducing our topic Animal Adventures, looking at the similarities and differences between different breeds of dogs and cats, through the stories Tabby McTat and Hairy McClarey.

In Letters and Sounds, we will review all set one single letter speed sounds, and learn to read and write words with 4 sounds.The children will review letter formation.

In maths, we will learn about zero, and review the composition of 3,4 and 5, learning about the Part-Part-Whole model.

We will also talk about time; years, months and days, and measure short amounts of time. We will use money in role play to reinforce coin recognition.

On Friday, we will visit the chancel, to learn about The Creation Story from The Bible.

Our Thursday PE session continues to develop our skills in rugby and on Fridays we will have 2 weeks of Space themed dance lessons, before moving on to gymnastics for the rest of term.

Autumn 2 Week 5 28th November-2nd December

This week we are invited to explore the forest at night, through our key text, The Owl Babies, and will be browsing non-fiction books about nocturnal animals.

In phonics we will revisit the 'Special Friends' that we have learned so far, and begin blending words with 4 sounds.

In Maths, we will think about time, sequencing events and sorting night and day, as well as continuing to compare numbers to 5, using '1 more' and '1 less' as we count forwards and backwards.

We look forward to our visit to watch 'The Snow Queen' on Thursday, and will be learning the songs and dances for our nativity.

Autumn 2 Week 4 21st-25th November

The children concluded our 'Autumn Celebrations' topic on Friday afternoon by performing to each other in our PE dance lesson; a dance developed over the last three weeks which expressed their responses to the various festivals & special times that 'Little Glow' introduced us to.

Our science lessons 'My Body' on Thursday afternoons continue this week; so far we have learned about our bones & joints, our digestive system & healthy eating. This week, we will look at our teeth and how to take care of them.

Our topic 'Into the Woods' will begin with the traditional tale of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'.

Maths in the environment will promote mathematical language of measures; making comparisons of height, length, size and capacity. In Maths lessons, we will begin the White Rose phase 'Light & Dark'-see link below.

We will continue to experience the beauty of Autumn at Forest School, making a close study of trees.

Autumn 2 Week 3 14th-18th November

We will be making bread this week with the help of 'The Little Red Hen'

In Maths, we will focus on circles & triangles, looking for them in the environment and in art, before moving on to positional vocabulary.

In 'Read Write Inc' we will learn some more single letter sounds and new 'Special Friends' sounds.

As our 'Autumn Celebrations' Rainbow Challenges conclude this week, our next 'Light and Dark' unit of work will take us 'Into the Woods' when we will learn about day and night.

Autumn 2 Week 2  November 7th-11th

Our Autumn Celebrations continue into this week, when we will celebrate Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light, and compare it to other celebrations we know. Having found out about the way people in Mexico celebrate 'The Day of the Dead' to remember their loved ones, we will discuss why we 'Remember, remember the 5th of November' and our thoughts will turn to remembering the brave soldiers on Poppy Day. We will continue to celebrate Harvest, and think about healthy food choices. Our story this week is a rap version of 'The Little Red Hen' and we will learn to tell it using actions and a story map.

As part of our challenges, we have tried hard in making moving skeletons, using different ways to connect card and learning how our joints move too, We will be exploring different instruments to represent rattling bones, and are developing a firework dance in PE.

In Phonics this week we will continue to review the sounds we know, and use them to read and write words. This video will help you review the sounds at home.

In Maths, we will continue with White Rose 'It's me,1 2 3'; learning about a five frame and playing snap with representations of 1 2 and 3.

Autumn 2 Week 1 October 31st-November 4th

This week will see the start of our work on 'Autumn Celebrations', please see the Learning Prompts and Rainbow Challenges below. A little candle character called 'Little Glow' will help us learn how different communities celebrate in different ways. Please see the Curriculum Overview for more information.

In our 'Read/Write Inc' lesson we will review Set 1 sounds and read & spell VC and CVC words.

In Maths we will compare masses and use the vocabulary 'heavier than' and 'lighter than' as we role play in our 'Farm Shop'. This will also be an opportunity to use coins 1p, 2p, 5p, & 10p to pay for goods. We will explore how 1. 2 and 3 are represented in different ways and develop the skill of subitizing-recognising an amount without counting.

Follow the link for White Rose Maths below.

In science, the children will learn about their skeleton. 

Autumn term 1 Week 6 

As we near the end of the children's first half term in school, can I say how proud we are of how well they have settled into school life. Our 'Home and Away' topic will conclude as the challenges are completed.

We have been recreating The Train Ride, using small world resources and drawing the map of the route. Some of the vocabulary from the story to explore: 'a mare and her foal' - can you think of other male and female animal words, and their young?  'A gaggle of geese' - can you think of other collective nouns for groups of animals? 

Our role-play journeys by train have brought us to the seaside! We will share the illustrated books that the children have shared at home with a sea setting and use these to inspire our own illustration.

Our story this week is 'The Sea Monster' to inspire creativity and develop vocabulary. Here is a video of a teacher reading it. The Sea Monster by Chris Wormell.

We will use the story to introduce the 'Story Toolkit' to the children, which is a play-based approach to creating and writing stories. 

In Maths we will apply our knowledge of repeating patterns and Mrs George will conclude her science lessons about our senses.

We have been learning a poem and a song to perform to you at the Harvest Service.

A reminder of our timetable in class 1. Red books are needed every day. 

Week 5 Autumn Term 1 2022 10th-15th October

Our trip to Gloucester Docks will inspire the next unit of work 'Journey to the Seaside' and the next set of challenges.

We will listen to The Train Ride story, including the sung version-see below.

In Maths we have been comparing amounts and measures using the language of comparison: more & fewer; full & empty; big and small; longer & shorter and taller & shorter. We will be describing, continuing and creating repeating patterns.

In Letters and Sounds the children have been reading and writing CVC words, and learning new sounds. If you could help your child review all sounds and support them with blending the CVC words in the books they bring home, use the 'My turn, your turn' method to build their confidence.

Our 'Funky Fingers' morning sessions are for the children to practise key skills.

Week 4 3rd-7th October

The children have responded so well to their first set of 'Rainbow Challenges'. They will conclude this week with the writing challenge, to make a treasure map, and the maths challenge, to sort the buttons using different criteria.

Our second 'Home & Away' challenges will launch after our trip on Wednesday, when we will learn about travel past and present.

In Literacy we will be learning new sounds and using the sounds we know to read and write CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) and VC words. Our key text of the week will be 'The Train Ride' by Julie Crebbin, but we will also enjoy some Mr Gumpy stories.

See this link Guide to vowels and consonants

Week 3 26th-30th September

We have introduced our 'Rainbow Challenges' to the class, and they will work towards collecting their coloured lolly sticks to create a rainbow and reach the 'Proud Cloud'. Our first 'Purple' challenge is for them to remember the morning routine with very little prompting from us; let's see how independent they can be!

This week we carry on focusing on Nursery Rhymes and our key text is 'Little Lumpty'.

We have made a start with our 'Letters and Sounds' and the children are doing so well in class and at home too, as seen in their red home learning book-thank you for your support!

If you would like to support them at home with their Maths, follow the link below to the White Rose Home Learning resources. We are starting the unit of work titled 'Just Like Me'-Week 1 which is all about matching and sorting.

Last week we looked at different ways of representing the number 1, and this week we will do the same for the number 2.

On Friday this week we have a whole school well being day, and the children will try exciting activities together with the older children in their house teams.

Week 2 Story and words

Our key text for the week was 'Mr Big' a jazz pianist gorilla who had no friends; he was so big that he frightened everyone away, and inside he felt very small. He was very lonely until he bought a piano and his music drifted out of his window around the town. He received an invitation from other musicians to play in a band in the jazz club, and then he wasn't alone or lonely anymore! We have been encouraging the children to play together, to be friendly, to incude everyone. We have paired them up to be a 'Learning Partner' with a new friend.

Week 2 20th-23rd September

Our Focus texts last week were 'The Colour Monster' and 'The Colour Monster goes to school'. These books help us to understand our feelings, including the mixed up feelings we have about staring school. We have thought about feeling happy, sad, calm, angry and frightened, and how these feelings are represented by the colours yellow, blue, green, red and black. To extend our vocabulary we thought of other words for these emotions, such as cheerful, miserable, relaxed, furious and worried. These words will be revisited through the year as we share stories and empathise with others.

We have been using the social phrases of greetings and partings; saying 'hello', Good Morning, and 'goodbye',

as well as remembering good manners by saying 'Please' and Thank you'.

This week we begin our teaching of 'Letters and Sounds' using the Read/Write Inc approach. You are all invited to learn more about this at our reading meeting on Tuesday 20th at 5.30pm.

Induction Week 12th -16th September 

Thank you for making us so welcome during our home visits last week. 

Don't forget to put your little bag of magic under your pillow! 

In addition to the information below, the children will need to bring their Forest School bags with them on Friday.

Our topic for this half term is 'Home & Away', with the first unit titled 'Me, You, Us'. Please see the curriculum overview below.

Induction Week Monday 12th-Friday 16th September

On Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday your child will be attending school for a 2 hour induction session in a small group, either in the morning or the afternoon. They will learn about the entering school routine; what they will be expected to do independently every morning.

The children will have the opportunity to explore and play in the different areas of the classroom, indoors and outdoors; to select and use resources and to return them to the right place when they have finished with them, or at tidy up time. They will begin to get to know each other and the layout of the room, including the toilet. Please help your child to be independent with toileting and hand washing. However, there will be explicit teaching of good hygiene procedures in school.

We will observe and chat with the children to get to know them better. We will share stories, songs and rhymes and games that help us to get to know each other too.

We will meet together as a whole class on Thursday, and the children will need their PE kits.