HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

5th April 2019Jess Burns

Hi everyone,

What a wonderful Easter week we have had, the children have been given lots of Easter eggs and they are so excited to eat them. Thank you to Mason and Sophia, you are very kind the adult’s and children really appreciate it. We have packed a bag of goodies for them to take home.

This week, we have decorated some gingerbread bunnies and chicks and made chocolate nests. We went on an Easter egg hunt around the sports hall and found eggs with special instructions, they were great at searching the big hall. They all listened really well and hugged their friends, lay on the floor, jumped, hopped and ran!

One afternoon, we enjoyed some colouring in and sensory play. The children were digging for carrots, filling pots with rice and bunnies and exploring sounds and objects hidden in eggs.

We have also created a Easter hat! Some choose to make flowers and some chose to make rabbits. We then walked laps around the school to raise money for the Sunshine Fund. Thank you to everyone who raised money, the children’s hats were so great they received a special prize of chocolate and Haribos!

Well done to Ella for receiving our Friday certificate for excellent writing of her name and for just being wonderful!

I hope you all have a safe and lovely Easter break. We can’t wait to find out what you have been getting up to.

Jess and the team

A Little Catch Up

28th March 2019Jess Burns

Hi everyone,

Just a general catch up to show you some of the wonderful things your children have been doing. They are such hard working and determined little bods. As well as subject lessons, the children are learning to develop their fine motor and gross motor skills, use speech, share resources, take turns and work in small groups.

We have been doing lots of maths, especially counting, number recognition and big and small. During Dinosaur Maths, the children were rolling the die, feeding the burping dinosaurs, digging for numbered bones and ordering bones by number and size.

This week, we had very practical maths lesson. The children were working on their fine motor and gross motor skills without evening knowing it. We were threading through the correct numbers, rolling numbered balls and jumping to numbered lines. They were super stars.

For Literacy, we have made a castle and a giant for our role play area! The children have role played the story, they were following instructions and recalling key parts. Jack sneaked up to the Giant and stole his harp and hen, as he was running away the Giant woke up and chased him down the beanstalk!

We have also been working hard on our writing and fine motor skills, the children loved grabbing chunky pens and drawing on the floor. We are learning to hold our pens correctly, copy lines, shapes and patterns and some children are learning to write their name.

They have also been working on reading their names and learning the letter sounds S, A and T. During Science, we have been watering our plants and learning that plants need soil, water and the sun to grow! The children loved spraying the water onto their plants and everyone else! In Music we are learning to create long and short sounds, we explored the EYFS musical playground and the big drum.

Thank you,

Jess, Michele, Katherine, Kairen and Sharon.

The Biggest Thank You to Sophia

28th March 2019Jess Burns

Hi everyone,

Thank you to Sophia and her wonderful parents for the lovely donation that allowed us to have a special trip to Adventure Land and McDonalds. The children chose these places and had a ball of a time. Some children were so quick I couldn’t get a still image! They were all so independent, free and determined to climb everywhere and anywhere. We ate our McDonalds so quick we didn’t have time for pictures.

Jess and the team

We’re Back!

14th March 2019Jess Burns

Hi everyone,

We have had a great two weeks. We had a wonderful World Book Day, it was lovely to see all the different costumes and the children looked great! We started the day with a reading buddies session, Year 6 children came into class and read to the younger children. We then had an assembly and Sofia walked the catwalk dressed as the Hungry Caterpillar. Year 6 children then performed the Bear Hunt which is 30 years old!

 

We have been reading Jack and the Beanstalk! The children love the scary giant and climbing the beanstalk. We have used sensory aspects while reading the story and the children have been asking questions, exploring the resources and learning the names of the characters. The story has filtered into our fine motor/writing lessons, maths and even science! Next week, we are going to plant our very own bean stalk! The new ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ role play section of our classroom is beginning to take shape. They have made some leaves using collage for the beanstalk and we are currently creating a castle and interactive display board!

In maths we have been learning to count using dinosaur bones, digging through the soil and finding the numbered bones. The children are fab at counting and are now moving on to recognising the numerals. We have also been working hard on learning our numbers through Numicon. The children have been ordering Numicon, finding hidden Numicon in water and finding the correct amount of underwater creatures. They love playing in the water and different sensory materials.

In music we have been exploring long and short sounds. The children loved exploring the EYFS outdoor musical instruments and banging on the big drum!

We also had a great Pancake Day! We made big fluffy pancakes, they were so tasty we didn’t even have time to take photographs. The children were pouring, mixing then flipping them into the air. We even had pancake names, the children are great at recognising their own names and the children in their class. We had a fab assembly, where we watched everyone compete to see who could flip the pancake the highest and catch it! The children loved cheering on their peers and the adults!

I will see you all at parents evening. I am going to do a separate blog from the soft play trip.

Thank you,

Jess, Michele, Sharon, Kairen and Katherine.

 

 

Messy Work

15th February 2019Jess Burns

Hi everyone,

Well what a wonderful last week we have had. Thank you to everyone who came to the Parent’s Coffee Afternoon on Monday. It was great to see you all and we hope you enjoyed the biscuits and a catch up. The difference in the children since September is massive and we are so proud of each of them. They were all so excited to show their parents around their classroom and playground.

This week has been filled with fun and love, especially since it was Valentine’s Day. They created some beautiful cards that will be sent home today. They love experimenting and really enjoyed using the water colours and wax crayons. We even had heart shaped crumpets thanks to Sophia!

Yesterday, we took the children to our outdoor art area, in overalls of course, and let them freely explore and paint. They were given paint brushes, printing pads and lots of different coloured paints. What a great experience for the adults to watch and the children to do. They were experimenting with the different colours, mixing them on the walls and on their hands. They were all so brave putting their hands into the paint and happily being messy. Some made huge circles and lines while others printed with their hands. They were engaged for such a long time, we had to go get more paint!

  

Sophia’s mam has organised the Alan Shearer Centre during half term – Thursday 21st February 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm. Hope you can all attend.

Next Term

Tuesday 12th March – all day. Thank you to Sophia’s parents for the lovely donation. We will be attending Adventure Land in Benton and having a McDonalds.

Wednesday 20th March – Dobbies Garden Centre for the morning

Have a great and safe half term.

Jess, Michele, Katherine, Kairen and Sharon

 

Gung Hay Fat Choy (Happy New Year)

8th February 2019Jess Burns

Hi everyone,

We have had a great time this week celebrating Chinese New Year. We decorated a dragon that was used in the assembly. It was bright and colourful. They loved putting it on their heads and dancing around. They listened to lots of music and learnt all about the traditions of Chinese New Year – including tidying their house, having a hair cut and receiving a special red envelope which was given to Sofia in our class. The children ate noodles and prawn crackers. I think the food was their favourite part.

 

During literacy, they have been working on The Three Little Pigs. They used the three different materials to build their own home. The children really enjoyed trying to blow them down.

They enjoyed cooking this week and made some delicious rock buns. They all waited patiently to scoop the ingredients and mix them all up.

On Wednesday, they visited The Walker-dome for a multi-skills afternoon. They all tried so hard jumping over hurdles, moving in different ways with bean bags on their heads and shoulders and keeping a balloon in the air!

  

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Jess and the team

A Week in Class 1a

1st February 2019Jess Burns

Hi everyone,

We have been working hard in Literacy, we have role played our story twice using different actors. They were great at following instructions and shouting key phrases from the story. They were fab at drawing straight lines and colouring in either a pig or a wolf head mask. Just look at those mark making skills.

During maths, we have been working on shape. They were great at throwing the shape bean bags into the correct shape. We then went on a shape hunt to find shapes in the environment, their favourite was obviously pizza as a triangle!

During Science, we have been making predictions, sorting materials and experimenting whether they are heavy or light. The children loved trying to blow away the different materials with a hairdryer and sorting them into yes and no piles.

We are now back into the swing of hydro! The children are on their way to completing their hydro targets for this year and their confidence is just wonderful to watch.

We have snow!! What a lovely and exciting treat, the children have enjoyed putting on their wellies and playing in the snow. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Thank you,

Jess, Kairen, Sharon, Katherine and Michele

 

What a Bunch of Super Stars!

25th January 2019Jess Burns

Hi everyone,

We started our week by revisiting our key words ‘pig’ and ‘wolf’ and learning the phrase ‘I’ll huff, puff and blow’. The children were great at being the wolf and blowing their friends away. We then read our story for the first time, the children were so engaged and loved exploring the different sensory materials and sounds linked to the houses of the three little pigs.

 

We have been very busy creating our new role play areas, we have recently opened a construction zone. The children have been printing bricks, sticking straw and will soon start the house of sticks. We have some serious site managers and they have been making sure the houses are fit for the three little pigs by writing lots of notes and by fixing any problems with their tools.

 

This week, they have been working hard on their name recognition skills and some children are learning to build their name.

They loved flipping eggs with their initial letter sounds and most of the children can now recognise the written first letter of their name and the sound. It is great watching their determination as they try to independently use the spatula to flip the egg.

We have been doing lots of mark making, we have just finished our mark making corner and the children can’t stay away. The have been pushing cars around the roundabout and drawing huge circles and lines.

Look at those independent big year 1’s sitting and waiting patiently for their turn on the balance bikes. Their confidence has definitely grown and they were all so eager to get on to a bike. They learnt how to follow a track and move using big steps.

I hope you all have a great weekend! Thank you for the lovely snacks.

Jess, Michele, Kairen, Katherine and Sharon

 

Our Week in Class 1a

21st January 2019Jess Burns

Hi everyone,

Just to fill you in on last week. It was a great week, the children loved the balance bikes. We have natural cyclists in Class 1a! What a brave class, they were all so keen and excited to have a try. They learnt all about the importance of wearing a helmet and how to move like different animals so that when they climbed on to the bikes they were pros. This will be a weekly session on a Tuesday morning for 5 weeks.

Look at Sehrish go

We have been working really hard during maths. We have still been having our weekly tuck shop and it is amazing to see the progress the children have made. They can all buy their snack and exchange it for money  – some are working on up to 6 coins. It is getting expensive for them. This week, we have been exploring Numicon, the children have been learning Numicon 1 to 6, ordering Numicon and completing jigsaws. It is a fab way of teaching number and the children love sensory play.

 

David can drive the car into the correct Numicon parking bay – 1 to 3.

Mason can now order Numicon 1 to 6

This week during phonics, we spilt into 3 groups and worked on lots of different skills. One group of children explored different sounds using tapping sticks, they loved being outside and tapping the different areas in the playground. They especially enjoyed tapping loudly and listening to the sounds! One group played noisy neighbour! They pretended to be asleep and a noisy neighbour would play a musical instrument and wake them up, they could then match the sounds to the correct musical instrument. This was all going on while another group of children, worked on their fun sounds and matched objects by their initial sounds, ‘ssssss’ or ‘aaaaa’.

What a wonderful, clever and enthusiastic bunch we have in Class 1a. I hope you all had a great weekend.

Upcoming Dates

Monday 11th February we will be having a coffee afternoon, I hope you can all attend. The classroom is currently under a transformation so I cant wait for you all to see it.

Sehrish will be receiving our half term achiever award on Friday 25th January.

Thank you for reading,

Jess, Michele, Kairen, Sharon and Katherine

 

 

Welcome Back!

11th January 2019Jess Burns

Hi everyone,

A massive happy new year to you all and we are all very excited to be back in Class 1a. We have had a great week seeing the children and finding out about their wonderful Christmas’.

The children came back well rested, calm and excited to learn. We started the week with  some lovely Thrive time, we played and explored different resources and toys together. The children have all missed each other. We caught this great moment, as Dua read Ella a story.

For Literacy, we have been working on our mark making skills, the children loved grabbing a wet paint brush and observing their marks on the outside walls and play equipment. Look at those great lines and circles!

We introduced the characters of our new class story ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We started the story by introducing the characters to the children, we learnt the word, sign and symbol for pig and wolf. Some children can even recognise and read the words ‘pig’ and ‘wolf’ with no picture support! Next week, we will read the story and hope they can remember the words and signs.

   

We have also been learning all about our names, the initial sounds and recognising our written name.

                        

During PE, we started our topic ‘Games’, we began with a very hot warm up! After that, we practised our throwing and catching skills. All the children have different skill and it is fabulous to watch them shine in different areas of the curriculum. We have also had Rebound, soft play and some children have been swimming.

 

The children work extremely hard on their physical skills and we have noticed a huge difference in their strength, co-ordination and balance.

Well done to Sofia for receiving our Friday assembly certificate for independently standing up from her chair and walking to an adult.

Upcoming events:

Next Tuesday, we begin a weekly session on balance bikes for 5 weeks.

New Topics

Science – Sorting and Using Materials

Humanities – What I can see around my classroom/school/local area?

Art – Clay

D.T – Homes

R.E – Judaism

We will be introducing a Chinese restaurant to our class role play area and a construction site!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Jess, Michele, Kairen, Katherine and Sharon