Welcome to the Spring Term :)

Christmas at St Marys

We have enjoyed performing our very own nativity, thank you to everyone that attended.

We had a visit from Father Christmas himself accompanied by his faithful Pickle Bottom Elf.

We have had our own Christmas shop in class and we have make lots of Christmas creates.

We also had our own elf, Jingles. He has caused lots of fun, and mischief within the classroom.

Lastly we had  the opportunity to attend the school labyrinth with Mrs Batorska, we took a walk through the Christmas story collecting memories along the way. We loved talking about the story of Christmas and linking it to our own experiences in the nativity.

25^th November

This half term we have been exploring the story of the Billy Goats Gruff and as part of that we have explored making out own bridges. We sued small construction including wooden blocks and Lego inside and we used large constructions into blocks and tyres outside. This has also inspired a love of building obstacle courses and we have made some fantastic and rather tricky courses for each other.

22nd November

We have been exploring numbers 1-5 today we used the multi-link to represent these numbers and explored how when lining up the numbers they make a staircase

16th November

This week in our number work we have been exploring using a 5 and 10 frame. These are a great resource for counting objects, Objects can be placed within the frame, making it easy to see how many items there are without the need to always count. Children have explored them inside with smaller objects and outside using the giant numicon shapes.

20th October

Today we have been making Autumn reefs to talk and discuss Autumn and the changes we may see. We discussed the different seasons and how trees and flowers change over time. The children were all given a carboard circle and cut their own leaves and petals to add to their autumn reef. Some also chose to colour it in to decorate the reef further.

w/c 26-09

This week in phonics we have learnt the sounds o/c/k/u/b. Children are learning the sounds well and enjoying using this sounds to begin to form words during the word time session.

In our number work we moved to introduce three. We have looked are how to show three using our fingers, how to place three items onto a 5 frame and how to write the number three. We have also looked for three in the environment around us, three windows, three birds flying, three trees, three pebbles and so on.  

In our topic work we started the week with talking about our familiar routines. We talked through our morning routines and how can be similar or different to our friends. We made a timetable of what we do in the morning before coming to school and we sang ‘here we go round the mulberry bush’. In our second topic session we went on a nature trail around the school grounds. We were talking about the leaves and colours in the autumn and how they change from summer to winter. We had to look out for colours and stick them on our autumn scavenger hunt sheet. We found leaves, berries, nuts, and twigs to help us complete our hunt.

When outside on the scavenger hunt, the children were alerted by the school fire alarm as we had a practise fire drill. The children listened really well to the instructions and acted very quickly and sensibly. We talked through the steps of what we needed to do and how it may have been different if we had been inside the building. We talked through what would happen if there was a real fire. Mrs Batorska came to explain to the class it was a drill and to praise them all on how sensible they had been and how well they had listened.

Within our continuous provision, when children are choosing what activity, they join within the inside and outside classroom environment. We have enjoyed the castle, snakes and making their own dens and houses. We have built obstacle courses and used power paints to make patterns. As well as some great engineering to build train tracks and marble runs. The children are really enjoying the addition of envelopes into the message centre and there have been lots of birthday cards and party invitation being written and posted.

Friday 23rd September 

Thank you to everyone who attended our Goldilocks reading event. We loved sharing the magic of stories with you and we hoped you found it a useful first dip into the world of reading with your child. Lots more to come. I am sorry I didn't manage to get any pictures. 

w/c 19-09

This week in phonics we have learnt the sounds i/n/p/g. Children have learnt the sound, associated pictures and then the writing rhyme to have a go at writing these sounds. We have also been doing ‘Word Time’. This involves using magnetic letters to form words using the sounds that we have previously learnt.

In our number work we have continued looking at 2, introducing the use of a five frame to supporting counting and explore composition of numbers.  We have also moved to looking at three and looking for three in our activities.

In our topic work we have been looking at mazes. We have walked through mazes made with bricks and we have drawn our own on big sheets of paper outside.

In our Heart Smart this week, we have been exploring what shapes we can spot in Boris. This week Boris was reminding us 'We are all different and we are all special’

Within our continuous provision, when children are choosing what activity, they join within the inside and outside classroom environment. We have enjoyed the cars and ramps, marble runs and train tracks. Also, we have redesigned our mud pit to allow for great digging, which led to the great discovery of a ‘dinosaur bone’ (a tree root allowed for a great natural source for the children to imagine and dream of dinosaurs). Pictured below.

w/c 12-09

This week in phonics we have learnt the sounds m/a/s/d/t. Children have learnt the sound, associated pictures and then the writing rhyme to have a go at writing these sounds. 

For number work this week we have focused on the numbers 1 and 2. We have watched the associated Numberblocks episodes and have done activities around them. For one we did a range of actions once, one hop, one jump, one clap etc. For two we all received a one block and had to find another one and exchange for a two block. We also did some dancing with Numberblock two. 

In our topic work we have been on a tour of the outside of the school and then using the pictures we took have made a map of the route we took. We talked about the key features we passed on the way. 

In our Heart Smart this week, we have explored the story of Boris the robot (the robot with a heart) AS a class we have made our own Boris to stay in class and remind us of the key messages. This week Boris was reminding us 'We are learning to be Heart Smart'

Within our continuous provision, when children are choosing what activity they join within the inside and outside classroom environment. We have played games, built models using various construction materials in carpet kingdom and used the message centre to cross swamps, fly to magical lands and have super powers. 

Our dinosaurs in the picture below needed a key to get across the bridge so that the swamp monster didn't get them. The children loved it and were so engaged. In the adult world, children were writing the sound of the day to support their writing, they were winding string to fasten the key practising key motor skills to support pencil grip, they were using language to talk with their friends to extend the story and they were building relationships by working together to collect resources. A very valuable learning experience :)

w/c 05-09

We have been learning the picture names for the phonic sounds we will be learning over the coming weeks. The children have learnt 5 new pictures every day and have had some good discussions understanding some of the more tricky ones for example 'yak' 'vulture' The children can practise these in their green sounds books they received at the teddy bears picnic. 

Welcome to our class page with lots of news and photos for you to be able to share in your child's learning journey.