Mrs. Todd and Year 6 worked with the Reception children to show them the different races for Sports Day. The Year 6 were very proud of their buddies!
With most of the year six children away at Thurston, a small group of would be authors created something amazing this week!
Their only instruction was ‘make a book for your reception buddies.’ From here the children researched picture books, counted pages and words and wrote the story themselves. Next comes the clever part. I fully expected them to use paper and felt tips, perhaps using word processing for the text, but no, these are the children of a modern Bede Burn!
Out came the iPads and Book creator was swiftly opened! With no help from any adult, the children organised themselves into task forces, took photographs of the reception children to go into the book, recorded sounds and created a front cover.
After assembly this morning they read their finished book to the reception class. As you can see from the photographs, everyone had an amazing time and the youngest children in our school thought that the oldest ones were very clever indeed.
A brilliant effort from the year six children, well done!
Having completed our botany studies, as well as demonstrating our skills as budding entomologists, this term we will be becoming historians, finding out about what life was like in the Middle Ages, with a visit to Newcastle Keep to find out just how great it would have been to live in a castle. Not!
Reading, writing and number work will continue to build on the skills the children have developed, focussing on their needs and ability using a variety of active, practical and fun approaches with some more formal work where appropriate.
We are hoping to have our now traditional ‘Family Picnic’ at the park before the end of term. Hope to see you all there.
Thank you once again for your support.
J.Evans
Well, we finally made it to Space! The children all felt it had been well worth the wait and I was the proudest teacher on Earth at how much they had remembered.
While we were there we helped the scientists to test rocket designs using a ‘real’ rocket launcher and made some super star pictures in the night sky.
Lunch was a definite highlight of the day and a much needed energy boost before tackling the trek back to base.
Thank you to our parent volunteers, we couldn’t do it without you.
Our topic this term is ‘Life Cycles’. We have already started thinking about Spring and have been planting new life so hopefully the outdoor area will not only be bursting with learning opportunities but also with flowers! Of course wherever there are flowers there are always minibeasts to investigate and we will be finding out how some of these creatures help the flowers and how others don’t!
The focus in literacy is stories to develop reading and writing skills but also to encourage children’s love of books and to appreciate the magical worlds they can take us too. We will also be using information books to help us to find out more about minibeasts and other living things, 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.
Opportunities for investigative play and child initiated learning will continue to be a central part of daily classroom activities.
Thank you so much for all your help and support so far this year.
Despite the wet start to the day Reception had a great day Down At The Farm.
We barely had time to put down our bags before it was time to feed some very hungry lambs and then there were chickens to feed, pigs, reindeer, greedy goats and red deer.
After a well earned lunch and a bit of exercise in the play park it was back to work; washing the pig, brushing the donkeys and driving the (toy) tractors.
Then there were rabbits to cuddle and chicks to hold. Well, someone has to do it!
We finished off our day with a bumpy ride on the barrel train.The children were a credit to you and the school.
More Photographs here
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 finding out how to send a mouse astronaut up into Space!
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.
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
So very proud of the children, I thought they did so well performing for you all!
‘It’s Christmas Day’
Also thank you for all the lovely cards and gifts we received.
We hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.
J. Evans
I hope you have all had a lovely half term break and that the children have
had a chance to recover ready for the next half term. Looking back we have
been so busy already, helped by the positive attitude towards learning shown
by the children and their ability to get along with one another (most of the
time).
Classroom activities, indoors and outdoors (weather permitting) continue to
be centered on developing language and communication and problem solving
skills across all areas of learning with activities linked to class topics as well
as evolving from children’s interests.
Our first topic this half term is ‘Me at School’, giving us a chance to explore
more of the building and find out who everybody is. The children will be
involved in planning routes around school and making simple plans as well as
making signs to help others find their way around. We will also be thinking
about how we can keep our school looking nice and maybe even adding a few
of our own improvements!
Other topics this half term include ‘Magic’ with very much a focus on stories,
imagination and fantasy worlds leading us nicely up to ‘Christmas’, a magical
time in school and particularly in the Reception classroom!
Thank you for your support in reinforcing reading activities introduced in
class, it really does make a difference. If you have any questions please feel
free to pop in.
J. Evans
Thank you for your support and understanding over the last two weeks. The children are settling into routines and are already showing a keen interest in activities.
Our first topic is ‘Bears’, developed through familiar stories and rhymes. We will be doing lots of drama and creative activities as well as finding out about bears around the world.
We are currently working through the first phase of the phonics program, developing listening skills and exploring rhyme. There are lots of fun activities you can do at home to support your child through sound games and making up silly rhymes. Soon, the children will be starting their first reader. This book centres on introducing keyword vocabulary and also introduces the main story characters from the early reading scheme.
In number activities, the focus is on developing vocabulary through practical activities, including counting rhymes, sorting and matching activities and number recognition games. We are also continuing our early work on shape through our Bear topic.
Alongside these activities, the children have lots of opportunity for investigative play and reinforcement activities, as well as sessions in the ICT suite and regular PE lessons. Children will need a PE kit in school from next week. Please make sure all items are named and encourage your child to be as independent as possible in dressing and changing.
If you have any concerns or questions please call in or make an appointment to see us.
Thank you for your support.
J. Evans
