Headteacher: Anna Moss

28.06.24

Hello Red Class Families,

What an exciting week! From learning about the Victorian times at Blists Hill to taking part in lots of sporting activities at the Ryland Centre. Not only did the children behave beautifully, but they tried hard in all events throughout both days. During assembly, Miss Townsend even commented on the children’s manners as they said goodbye to the coach driver. Well done, Team Red Class.

In Phonics, we’re starting to write longer sentences with some tricky words such as ‘stormed’. The children’s letter formation is improving every day and gradually reducing in size ready for Year 1. This week, we’ve been reading words ending with -ing and also -ed where the -ed is pronounced in different ways e.g. boasted, cleared, scooped.

It’s been all about patterns in Maths. The children have been copying, extending and creating their own patterns. As always, we keep our Mental Maths skills ticking over by counting back from 20, recalling 1 less than numbers to 20 and reciting and applying doubles, halves and number bonds.

In Computing lessons, we always start with reminders to keep safe online including how to keep your personal information safe e.g. name, age and address. We then moved on to programming the Bee-Bots and Blue-Bots. In PE, we completed our country dance and performed in front of our Nursery friends. Watch out for some fancy feet during our class assembly.

The children worked hard to make their terrariums. They showed good cooperation skills as they worked with a partner. We will now deliver them across school as gifts for the staff to brighten their classrooms.

We’ve issued new group reading books, however, due to our school trips, we will continue to share the same books next week to develop fluency, expression and comprehension skills.

Look out for after-school club (after 3.15pm) information. From Year 1, the children can take part in a range of after-school clubs. From September, the children have the opportunity to join our school choir or our new Rugby Tots club.

Next week, we start our new topic, ‘Food and Farming’. We have two exciting projects including planning for a tea party and our class assembly.

Best wishes,

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class xxx

Hello Red Class Families,

Today, the children enjoyed playing some of the games and activities they’ve been learning about in History. From marbles, to hoop rolling and hopscotch with skipping and a cup and ball too. Earlier in the week, we wrote labels for toys and sequenced them in time and wrote short sentences for Victorian kitchen artefacts. Our work will be presented in a Victorian information book.

In PSHE, we used the Zones of Regulation (red, yellow, green and blue) to talk about change. I showed a photograph of the children’s new classroom and asked them to tell me their colour e.g. red (angry), yellow (worried), green (happy and calm) or blue (sad). The children were great at naming their feelings/colour and some started to explain their reasons. We also discussed how some children might feel two colours at once or they might feel a certain way but they don’t know why. Next week, we will begin to think of strategies to cope with blue, red or yellow feelings. Today, we whispered our colour into our hands, gave the feeling a shake and then used a big breath to blow it away.

We started our country dance in PE. The children worked in two teams to practise some basic steps and tried hard to keep in time. As well as a big focus on counting back from 20, we’ve also been learning how to share equally in Maths and in Literacy lessons we’ve been reading and writing instructions to make our terrariums. Hopefully, we can make our terrariums next week.

Finally, we’ve issued one new reading book this week as we’ve used the same group reading books for two weeks. Mrs Moss’s group have a new book as you were due to change. If your child was part of the ‘teeth check’ today, they will have a letter in their bag to show the results.

Wishing everyone a fantastic weekend.

Best wishes,

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class xxx

14.06.24

Hello Red Class Families,

We’re nearly ready to start week 3, where is the time going? Over the last few weeks, there’s a final push to make sure we’re ready for Year 1. We’ve started talking about ‘change’ in our PSHE lessons and how this can be a really good thing. I’ve told the children they’ll be visiting their new classroom soon and they were very excited.

Hopefully, there should be a letter in your child’s book bag outlining the results of their vision check. We’ve also added new books. If you have the same group reading book, then your group reading teacher just wanted you to keep it for another week to increase speed and fluency. Remember to return your reading books every Friday so we can issue new ones. If you have any library books at home, remember to return these too. Some children choose a book they’ve already read or they choose to keep their book for an extra week, both choices are absolutely fine.

We’ve had a busy two weeks. I thought Red Class did incredibly well on Sport’s Day. Not only did they run their races, they participated in lots of additional events including throw rounders (adapted for 4 and 5 year olds!), multi skills and the treasure race. They showed great resilience and sportsmanship.

In History lessons, we’ve been learning about life as a Victorian child with a particular focus on toys and life at home. We looked at real objects from a Victorian home including an iron and used photos and videos to help our learning.

In Art sessions, we’ve been working with clay. The children have been learning how to pinch, twist and pull the clay, adding texture to their work by using tools and junk modelling. Today, they made a special piece which can be purchased at the Summer Fair. We sent home the children’s work from the week at 3.15pm. If you were a 1.40pm leaver today, don’t worry, I still have your clay work ready to go home on Monday.

In Maths, we’ve been looking at the composition of numbers using new equipment called Five-Wise. We’ve also been recapping work on ordinal numbers and trying really hard to recall number bonds to 5 mentally and some number bonds to 10.

In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be starting our terrariums. If possible, please send in any glass jars (pasta or jam jars would be perfect). If you have any decorative stones or small plants and they’re going spare, we would be grateful of any donations.

Finally, a really big thank you for your support with our Golden Mile. The final total will appear in a newsletter soon. Your donations will go towards new sports equipment. Your support this year has been phenomenal.

Happy Father’s Day when we get there. Thank you to all our dads and grandads for all that you do for our little ones. Hopefully, there should be something special hiding in your child’s book bag.

Best wishes,

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class xxx

Click here.

Click here.

24.05.24

Hello Red Class Families,

First of all, ‘get well soon’ to any poorly Red Class friends. We hope you can rest and recover over the holidays so you’re ready for Sport’s Day on the first Friday back after half term.

This week, in Phonics, we recapped tricky words (like, have, said, were, some) and read a whole host of one and two syllable words. In Maths, we used an analogue clock to find o’clock and half past times. The children are ready for Year 1! It was all about painting in Art lessons as we discovered how to use a paintbrush in different ways and how to mix colours. We also found time to learn and perform a poem, ‘Jumping Panda’, before creating simple versions.

We completed our Fun Run challenge. We managed to run more than 28 laps of the playground. Well done, Red Class. Little legs can run very far! Please send any donations into school after half term in a named envelope.

After the half term break, we’ll start a new topic, ‘Victorians’, and we’ll swap learning partners. This is the half term where the children will visit their new classroom and meet their new teacher. Parents will be invited into school to ‘meet the teacher’ and to find out about Year 1. We’ll be preparing the children in PSHE lessons as we talk about changes and how to cope with change. Can you believe we’re talking about Year 1? It feels like only yesterday the children were walking in for their first day at school. We also have two trips to look forward to and a lot of learning before we wave goodbye!

Wishing everyone a lovely holiday whether you’re at home or away.

Best wishes,

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class xxx

17.05.24

Hello Red Class Families,

First of all, thank you for your fantastic contributions to ‘Flag Day’. There were black stars on tops, cycling shorts and faces with many children representing Ghana. There were lots of other flags too. As promised, I wore the colours of Switzerland (Eurovision winners). In assembly, the children performed a retell of ‘Anna Hibiscus’s Song’. We also celebrated learning from across the school with singing, dancing, storytelling and even an interview with a famous author. Well done, Team Red and all the children of BFS.

Next week, we start our ‘Sport Around the World’ topic. As part of this topic, we’ll be learning poems about keeping fit and preparing for Sport’s Day. Earlier in the week, you may have spotted a fundraising form in your child’s book bag. Each class in the school will run a golden mile to raise money for new sports equipment. We started our challenge today with 5 laps of the playground. We’ll be running laps every day and we’d really appreciate your support. Please send donations into school after half term.

Sport’s Day will take place next Friday. Please bring a blanket and enjoy watching the activities around the field. As well as running two races, the children will take part in throw rounders, multi skills and a treasure relay race. The children will get dressed into their PE kits at school. I’ll contact you in the week if your child is missing any part of their kit e.g. shorts or their white top. They will need a small snack. A named banana or a small snack in a named pot would be perfect. Please apply sun cream before school and pack a sun hat.

Here’s hoping for a sunny weekend.

Best wishes,

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class xxx

10.05.24

Hello Red Class Families,

In Maths, it was all things capacity. We used water and sand to find ‘full’, ‘nearly full’, ‘half full’, ‘nearly empty’ and ‘empty’. We opened a new area on the balcony for the children to explore capacity in their Play and Explore time, in addition to the mud kitchen and sandpit outside. As always, we keep our mental maths skills ticking along every day with songs and games to help recall and apply mental maths facts.

To get ready for Year 1, we’re busy writing sentences with a capital letter, full stop and finger spaces. If you’re working on your writing at home, I would recommend focusing on finger spaces, particularly my boys, as we know why to use them but sometimes forget to put spaces between words. If you notice your child finds this tricky at home, a lollipop stick acts as a good spacer.

In RE lessons, we’ve been talking about the Bible as a special book for Christians. We’ve role played stories from the Bible and talked about their messages, such as helping people and being grateful. We’ve also looked at stories from other religions, such as the Buddhist story of ‘Siddhartha and the Swan’, which reminds us to be kind and to look after animals.

In Music lessons, the children are working hard to create simple compositions with a partner. So far, the children have used claves and other untuned instruments. I think the chime sets are not too far away! We can also see progress in numeral formation. This is a focus every Tuesday with Mrs Hipkiss, but the children also write their numerals when they enter school as part of their morning routine. Well done, Red Class!

The children have coped well with the change in weather. If we’re lucky to see this beautiful weather again, please pack a sun hat.

Wishing everyone a glorious weekend in the sunshine. It’s my favourite weekend of the year…Eurovision! 😊

P.S. Remember to dress in the colours of a flag on Thursday. I might choose Ghana or perhaps the Eurovision winner!

Best wishes,

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class xxx

03.05.24

Hello Red Class Families,

It was all about subtraction in Maths. Again, we’re trying hard to apply our mental maths strategies to support our subtraction work. We finished the week creating simple number problems by looking at the information on a subtraction bar model. We’re working hard on our number bonds to 5 (pairs to make 5) and trying to recall these as quickly as possible.

We were busy reading two-syllable words in Phonics e.g. shampoo, blossom, forest, children and trying to automatically recall our tricky words as well as learning new words e.g. there, when and what. In Literacy lessons, we planned the beginning, middle and end of our story and it was lovely to see the children using post-it notes in their Play and Explore time to create their own plans.

We focused on the changing seasons in Science and created a little weather station outside the class door. We hope to add to this station during the half term. Computing lessons were all about staying safe online.

New reading books were issued today and eBooks were added to the children’s accounts. The eBook is the same book as the children’s group reading book. Please ensure books are returned on Fridays as we often swap books between groups and sometimes we’re short of the books we need.  

Again, the standard of homework was incredible! It was lovely to see some children completing their first piece of homework. I’ve never seen the flag of Ghana created in so many ways! As part of our ‘Take a Trip’ topic, the children are invited to dress in the colours of any flag of the world, Thursday, 16^th May. It would be great to see some colours from Ghana’s flag. On this day, the children will perform their class story to the rest of the school.

Hopefully, we’ll see better weather for the long weekend.

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class XXX

26.04.24

Hello Red Class Families,

Another busy week in Red Class with lots of super learning. However, before I talk about school learning, can I just celebrate the standard of home learning. The level of detail, research and creativity has been amazing! It was an incredibly tough decision for ‘Homework of the Week’. Well done to all our Red Class superstars.

We covered lots of tricky words in Phonics. When we teach tricky words, we look at the parts that are phonetically plausible and then talk about why the other part is tricky. So, we looked at ‘here’ and talked about how ‘h’ was the usual sound and ‘ere’ was making the ‘ear’ sound. We also listened carefully to the second and third sounds in words like ‘strong’, ’string’ and ‘strap’. Try reading words like these at home.

In Literacy lessons, we used action verbs (jump, hop, clap) to write sentences. The children were also given the challenge to add ‘and’ to make their sentence longer. We finished the week by writing sentences about Anna from our class story, ‘Anna Hibiscus’s Song’. The children worked hard to use a capital letter and a full stop and to use their phonic knowledge to spell words. Here are a few examples of their sentences:

-Anna can jump and count in the garden.

-Anna can dance and swim in the pool.

-Anna can clap and dance in the field.

-Anna can jump and dance in the veranda.

It was lovely to see the children using vocabulary from the story and having the confidence to create their own ideas.

A couple of weeks ago, we played an addition game on the interactive whiteboard and I was surprised to see the children reverting back to counting the images. As a result, we’ve spent the week working on recognising numbers, doubles, number bonds and finding 1 more. We played the same game today and the difference was striking. The children no longer relied on counting each picture but used their mental maths skills. Well done, Red Class.

Science lessons were all about plants. We named plants, talked about their features and finished the week by sketching them as scientists.

Mrs Hipkiss was busy on Tuesday helping the children with their numeral formation. Any extra work on 7 at home would be great as we tend to reverse this one. We say, “Across the sky and down from heaven. That’s the way to make (write) a seven.”

No wonder we’re all tired with all that learning!

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Mrs Webb and Team Red Class XXX