Headteacher: Anna Moss

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Hello Red Class,

Whether at home or at school, you've all been in my thoughts this week. On Monday, I will start your home learning where you can use your home learning packs. Although, it doesn't look like you need me with all the wonderful crocodiles and unicorns I've seen! What a fantastic challenge!

Rest, play and remember it's a special day on Sunday. Your colourful cards are a real treat to brighten any day.

Lots of love,

Mrs Webb, Mrs Reid and Mrs Cain xxx

Hello Red Class,

Well done for completing the first 4 letters in your handwriting books. You will find g, q, s and e in your books this week. The letters have been selected to help you to practise a certain action e.g. round and back.  I can see a big difference in your writing in class. Keep up the good work! If you’re practising in another way, for example, chalking on the patio, please write the activity in the book and then I can reward your super effort.

In Phonics sessions, we’re working hard to spell words with particular digraphs and trigraphs. We practise spelling the digraph first, then we write words and finally a sentence using the sound of the day. We revisited ‘oa’, ‘igh’, ‘or’ and ‘oi’ this week. We also practised spelling ‘no’ and ‘go’ by writing the word, covering it up and then writing it again (look, cover, write and check).

In Maths, we named and described 3D shapes and you were very good at guessing mystery shapes just by listening to their description. We’re also counting all the time. Can you count on and back at home? Can you play tennis with a grown up by taking turns to say a number?

We were composers in Music. We listened to Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’ and then we played a simple 4 beat rhythm. We emphasised the second and fourth beat to give it a reggae feel. Next week, we’ll be listening to ‘One Love’ during our listening sessions.

Remember to read, rest and play and we’ll see you Monday,

Mrs Webb, Mrs Reid and Mrs Cain.

Hello Red Class,

This week, we discovered a time capsule in our classroom. After some investigation work, we realised that a little girl had left it in the classroom.  Inside we found pictures, books and artwork to help us to find out about the Ancient Greeks. Mrs Moss also gave us a little present this week...a new book! When we shared the story, we found out that the little girl from ‘The Big, Big Sea’ was the girl who had found the time capsule and left it in our classroom! Suddenly, it all made sense! We spent the whole morning asking questions, reading clues, making predictions, reasoning and creating pieces of art for the class display. We even used our philosophy work (we call this P4C- Philosophy for Children) to answer the question: Is it always right to open something that doesn’t belong to you? All this and it was only Monday morning!

Later in the week, we practised zigzag letters in handwriting (v, w and z). Next week, we will return to curly caterpillar letters to remind you how to use a round and back action and we will also focus on r, n, m and h to ensure correct formation as I can see we’re finding these a little bit tricky.  Now that we’ve looked at each letter, we will send home a handwriting book. You don’t need to write in the book every week. Instead, you can chalk letters on the patio, write letters in a tray of shaving foam or use your favourite pen in a special book from home.

In Maths, we looked carefully at 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19. Using equipment, we made each number, compared and ordered them.  As part of our Maths work, we wrote numerals 0-9 independently. This was a useful assessment to see which numerals were reversed (mostly 2, 3 and 7) and which numerals were formed correctly. The assessments are in your workbooks so your parents can see which numerals to work on at home and we’ll practise them at school too.

‘The Big, Big Sea’ was the stimulus for our Literacy lessons. We listened to the story, described the pictures, made predictions, linked the story to real life experiences and thought carefully about descriptive vocabulary from the text. We even looked at just one word ‘shiny’ and explored it in lots of different ways (dictionary definition, photographs, illustrations, context of the story) and we composed sentences too.

It’s really important to talk about the meaning of descriptive words, especially those we often take for granted that the children know. These activities support the children’s comprehension skills and help them to write purposeful, accurate sentences now and in the future.   

Last, but not least, our featured musical artist is Bob Marley. We listened to ‘Jamming’ this week and we even used it for our musical keyword game. See, I can put reading into nearly every activity! We’ll learn about Reggae in our Music lessons and listen to a new song each week.  On Monday, we’ll listen to ‘Three Little Birds’.

Have a wonderful weekend Red Class. Read, play, rest and have fun!

Mrs Webb, Mrs Reid and Mrs Cain xxx

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Hello Red Class,

This week, we explored ‘Special Places’. We sketched some special buildings from around the world and shared and performed a poem about a special place, ‘At the Seaside,’ by Robert Louis Stevenson. You can find the poem here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43193/at-the-sea-side

Mrs Reid shared her experience of a Sikh wedding and we role played some of the events. We shared the story of Guru Nanak and thought about how we can be helpful at school and at home. We also discovered another special place called a gurdwara. Video clips and photographs helped us to investigate these special Sikh temples.  

Phonics sessions focused on trigraphs. We recapped igh and then read words with ‘ear’, ‘air’ and ‘ure’. You will find these trigraphs in your phonics books with some example words. Read the words and then draw 1 or 2 pictures.

Your phonics books are now complete. Keep looking back in your books to remind yourself of letter shapes (graphemes) and letter sounds (phonemes). Particularly look at ‘qu’, ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘th’ and ‘ng’. After half term, we will send home handwriting books to support home learning. Well done Red Class.

Finding the difference was the focus in Maths. We used stories, role play and a range of equipment to compare two small numbers. The children are definitely growing in confidence to find and work out the difference.

During PE, we discovered new ways to travel including walking like a monkey, bear and caterpillar. We combined travelling movements with rolls and tried hard to move with control. 

Just a reminder, please keep toys safe at home. Please send in any cardboard tubes or small boxes for our junk modelling box. Next week, we will explore collage in Art and we’ll design and make postcards for special places using our collage skills.

Rest, play and enjoy the weekend my little stars,

Mrs Webb, Mrs Reid and Mrs Cain xxx

Hello Red Class,

Today a little girl said to me, "Mrs Webb, I think this has been my favourite day at school" and I think it's been one of my favourite days too! Singing our ‘Skye Boat’ song in assembly, listening to the fantastic ceilidh band and parading our teddies in a fashion show, were just some of the highlights. The teddies even shared our snacks today! You worked hard to make your kilts and even designed and printed your own tartan pattern. I hope your teddies enjoy wearing their kilts at home with you.

This week, we recapped some digraphs including 'ai', 'oi','ur' and 'er' and we played keyword games for 'are' and 'all'. We also started to write some labels and short phrases too.During handwriting sessions, we focused on ‘s’, ‘f’ and 'i'. Next week, we’ll continue with ‘l’ and ‘t’ as we begin these letters the same way as ‘i’.

On Monday, our topic will change to ‘Special Places.’  RE sessions will focus on Sikhism and we will find out about Sikh temples but our idea of a special place will also stretch to special places across the world. So, if you have a special place or building that you would like to talk about, please send in a photo or a picture. We will also change our learning partners.

Enjoy the weekend Red Class. I need a rest after all our ceilidh dancing!

Mrs Webb, Mrs Reid and Mrs Cainxxx 

Hello Red Class,

From making maps to telling the time, we’ve had a very busy week. We discovered the sound and action for ur (fur), er (her), oi (coin) and ow (cow). We enjoyed using the clocks to read and find times to the nearest hour and we had a lot of fun timing activities with the sand timers.  In handwriting sessions, we practised ‘g’ and ‘q’ and revisited ‘c’,’o’, ‘a’ and ‘d’. Mrs Cain was also very busy helping you to make tree cookies and necklaces in the outdoor area. You were very sensible using the saw and drill.  If you haven’t made a necklace yet, don’t worry, there will be plenty of opportunities this term.  

On Monday, remember to pack a small teddy. We’re going to make a kilt, during our textiles work, for your teddy to wear. We’ll host a teddy fashion show for our Nursery friends. Next week, it’s our turn to visit Hetty (our school dog). We’re very excited!   

Have a lovely weekend Red Class,

Mrs Webb, Mrs Reid and Mrs Cain xxx

Dear Red Class,

We’re feeling a little tired this week. Well, I certainly am! It must have been the fitness circuit at the start of the week when Eden Francis visited. Eden is a shot put and discus thrower who represents Great Britain. It was really interesting to listen to Eden talk about her diet and training. I think we’ve got some aspiring athletes in Red Class now. We were also really lucky because Eden allowed me to film her as she read ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance.’ We’re going to use this story for our next ‘story swap’ at school.

We’ve worked really hard in lessons this week too. We’ve discovered igh (light), oo (moon and book), or (fork) and ar (barn). We’re growing in confidence to read words using our new sounds. Try to find these digraphs (two letters) and trigraph (three letters) in your reading books or at home.

We recap previously taught letter sounds every day at school so, in time, you will learn to ‘see and say’ these sounds straightaway. Please leave ‘Phonics Book 2’ in your book bag as we add letter cards to these books every week. Book 2 was handed out just before Christmas, if you’re missing a book, please pop a note in the book bag and we’ll make a new one. Phonics book 1 can stay at home.

Communication and Language lessons were filled with rich language as we explored key pictures from ‘Katie Morag Delivers the Mail’ and we also started to retell the story with actions. It’s a little trickier than ‘The Enormous Paella’ but we like a challenge! I was very impressed with your story maps!

This week, I've noticed lots of children starting to make marks and write letters during play and explore time. You’ve been making cards, party invites, stories and all sorts of interesting things. You’ve made such a great start to your handwriting sessions. We’ve explored c, o, a and d where we use a ‘round and back’ action. We know that our lower case letters always start from the line.

Maths sessions focused on ordinal numbers. So, we’ve been reading, using and talking about ordinal numbers across the week (1^st/2^nd/ 3^rd etc.). We explored ordinal numbers through races and by using objects. We’ll keep using ordinal numbers during our daily routines such as finding the second person in the line or describing the colour of the 5^th cube in your egg box.

Well done for being brave in the mornings now that Mrs Reid is standing by the wooden door. We’ll position Mrs Reid on the balcony next week. Let’s see if you can walk to your classroom like the older children. Mrs Cain will be on standby for any little ones who need a little cuddle.

Sadly, Miss Davis has finished her first placement in Red Class. She will now move to a different school to gain experience in a different year group. However, she will return later in the year to complete a second placement at Blackwell. Thank you Miss Davis for all your help so far this year.

Right my little ones, I’ll see you Monday,

Mrs Webb, Mrs Reid and Mrs Cain xxx