After reading the story about Stanley and his stick we set off in search of our own multi-purpose stick. Can you guess what each one is?
Our topic this term is ‘Life Cycles’. We have already started thinking about Spring and new life and will be taking this further by setting up our own potting shed so, hopefully, the outdoor area will not only be bursting with learning opportunities but also with flowers! We will then be moving on to think about animals, starting with pets but then exploring life on the farm, the jungle and the ocean!
The focus in literacy is stories and rhymes to not only develop reading and writing skills but also to encourage children’s love of books by sharing some of our favourites. We will also be using information books to help us to find out more about plants and animals, giving real purpose to our reading.
In number work we will continue to explore patterns in numbers and build confidence in recognising and sequencing bigger numbers. Calculations will be linked to problem solving tasks to develop confidence in using and applying mathematics and also develop mathematical vocabulary. Through children’s play there will be lots of practical activities involving money: counting, making totals and giving change and also timed challenges to develop children’s concept of time.
Opportunities for investigative play and child initiated learning will continue to be a central part of daily activities.
Thank you so much for all your help and support so far this year.
Jill Evans
We took full advantage of the sunshine to get active for Sports Relief.
Thank you for your kind donations.
On Monday we went into the garden for an Easter Egg hunt but it turned into a rescue mission! We discovered some strange pieces of metal, including a rocket booster, not dissimilar from the one QPootle5 had on his spaceship.
We undertook a thorough examination of the area and discovered a very small alien caught in the tree. On closer inspection (and a bit of research) we realised it was in fact an alien teddy!
This was very concerning, who did he belong to and how would we get him home? The children busied themselves designing and making space pods to try to get him home.
This morning however we discovered strange footsteps across the classroom floor, at first we thought it might have been the Easter Bunny leaving chocolate (ever hopeful!) but then we noticed teddy was gone! We are hoping he is safely back home with his owner, but now, somebody has to clean up this mess!
We had an absolutely fabulous day at ‘The Centre For Life’. The Planetarium was amazing and so were your children, teaching Toni, our guide, all about the moon and the planets in our Solar System. In the laboratory we analysed the planets, got down to some careful research to find out which rockets travelled the furthest, then finished off by creating our own star constellations. We barely had time for a rest! The children were a credit to you and Bede Burn School.
This half term we are beginning our Astronomy training, to find out the facts and the fiction about Space. The topic lends itself to lots of creative and imaginative play opportunities developed through stories, poems and of course children’s own ideas and imagination. At the end of the unit we are hoping to organise a visit to the Centre for Life to include a planetarium show and the opportunity to explore what life is like in Space.
The topic will give us plenty of reading and writing opportunities, using both fiction and non-fiction texts. The emphasis on developing reading skills will continue through shared reading sessions. As well as reinforcing keywords and developing word building skills these sessions will give us more opportunities to discuss story events, reinforce elements of story structure and for children to share their views in small groups. Thank you for your continuing support at home with individual reading books; children will continue to read these books in class on a weekly rota and new books will be issued at this time.
In phonics we will continue to reinforce letter sounds through word building and blending. The next phase in Letters and Sounds focuses on introducing vowel digraphs and phonics homework will reinforce these. (I know you are really looking forward to it!)
In number time we are hoping to extend children’s confidence in recognising numbers up to and beyond 20 through counting games, matching activities and sequencing tasks. Through practical sessions, we will be exploring numbers. Problem solving activities will be linked to measures including size, weight and capacity. Any opportunities at home to reinforce these activities will be very valuable to the children.
Opportunities for investigative play and child initiated learning will continue to be a central part of daily activities.
Thank you for your support.
J. Evans
On Monday Reception took part in the first Multisport Festival at Temple Park Leisure Centre. Thank you to all the parents who came along and discovered that they had to join in! We all had a great time though the children certainly had more energy than us in the afternoon!
Yesterday was the national ‘sing up’ day and, as you would expect, we got heavily involved at Bede Burn!
The children were visited by Charlotte and Jack from the Sing Up organisation and they spent the morning visiting the classes and singing with each year group. The teachers stayed in their rooms and each class visited to sing a song in every room in the school. We then gathered together to sing the ‘Sing Up Anthem’ in the hall.
The day was rounded off by our attempt at a flash mob song after school!
For those of you on twitter, check out @SingUpChar she has posted some very complimentary tweets about her day with us!
There is a gallery of photographs here.
Hopefully there will be some video clips below this post soon!
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The characteristics of effective learning include playing and exploring (being involved), active learning (motivation) and making links (thinking). We use all of these skills in our activities but, to be honest, it just means we all have fun!
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Thank you so much for all the cards and gifts you sent us.
Our first topic this half term is ‘Move It!’ and is mainly science based with lots of opportunities for creative activities and exploratory play. The focus will be on children asking questions and finding things out for themselves. We are looking forward to learning lots of things together.
We will then move on to begin our Astronomy training. With lots of creative and imaginative play opportunities we will explore Space, the facts and the fiction. As part of our mission we will be travelling to the planetarium at the Centre for Life and designing our own rocket ships!
Both topics will give us plenty of reading and writing opportunities, using both fiction and non-fiction texts.
We will be continuing our ‘I Like To Read’ book in school, using stories from the school reading scheme to develop story ideas and also encourage sentence building and independent writing. These books will not be sent home on a regular basis as all children will have their own individual reading book to share at home and Home/ School Reading Record to share positive comments and targets. Please return books to school on the day specified in your child’s reading record.
In phonics we will review the letter sounds with the emphasis on word building and blending to support reading progress and independent writing.
In Numeracy, we will continue to explore numbers through practical activities as well as some recording of number work to reinforce patterns in number and calculations. In topic based maths we are exploring measures with lots of practical activities which the children can apply in their play.
Wizzy Work folders will continue to be sent home each Friday to be returned the following Monday. Thank you for your continuing support.
Opportunities for investigative play and child initiated learning will continue to be a central part of daily classroom activities.
Thank you for your support.
J. Evans
