Summer Term 1 

Castles and Knights

Welcome to Summer Term 1.  Our Topic this term is  Castles and Knights. We will be learning about history and life in the past and comparing it with life today. We will learn all about castles; the different parts and their purpose. We learn about knights, lords, ladies, peasants and squires and use our knowledge to discuss and write what we would do if we were in the different positions.  We will learn about life in Medieval Britain by becoming knights or peasants and preparing for a medieval banquet that you are invited to on May 23^rd at 1.30pm.

In English we will be  writing  sentences to write fact files, information reports, retell stories and create menus. We will be consolidating our Phase 2 and 3 phonics skills and learning Phase 4 consonant clusters and blends. We will be reading and using lots of fiction, non-fiction  and poetry books.

We will use our daily phonics lessons to help us to read and write. Correct letter formation will continue to be a key focus.

In Maths, the  children  will continue to develop a deep understanding of numbers to 10 and key mathematical knowledge by Sorting numbers according to attributes - odd and even numbers, Counting – larger sets and things that cannot be seen, Subitising – to 6, including in structured arrangements, Composition - of 10 including numberbonds to 10 and conducting comparisons – linked to ordinality.

Other Business  Forest School will continue to be on a Friday afternoon this term. Please dress your child appropriately for the weather and the outdoor environment. Even in warm weather long sleeves and trousers are preferred due to risk of scratches or cuts.

Medieval Banquet- on Thursday May 23^rd in the Banquet Hall  from 1.30pm. Please come suitably dressed to enjoy food, music, dancing and games. Please invite family and friends too. The children will be preparing a range of medieval fare,  making the tableware, practising medieval dances and helping you to play medieval games.  Please discuss with the children after week 4 of term whether they are  lord, lady, squire or peasant and could they wear something that you have a home that may be suitable. You do not have to buy new clothes for the occasion. Just make do.

PLEASE TRY AND LISTEN TO YOUR CHILD READ AT LEAST 3 TIMES A WEEK. Please continue to practise their PHONICS SOUND CARDS and any High Frequency and Tricky Words ( not phonetically decodeable) that go home.   Remember to check out Tapestry www.eylj.org to see what your child has been doing and the class webpage on the school  website.

 Class Trip to Bolsolver Castle – May 15th 9am – 2.30pm  Look out for an email containing more details this week. Volunteers are needed so please let Ms Crombleholme know if you are available that day.

Click on the links below to see our holistic plan and how it links to the EYFS curriculum. 

Spring Term 2 

Minibeasts

Welcome to Spring Term 2.  Our Topic this term is  Marvellous Minibeasts. We will be learning about the wonderful world of minibeasts and their habitats and how they contribute to the wonderful bio diversity in our world. In English we will be learning to write sentences using our developing phonics skills. We will be reading and using lots of fiction, non-fiction  and poetry books, including The Very Hungry Caterpillar, What the Ladybird Heard  and The Snail and The Whale.

We will use our daily phonics lessons to help us to read and write. Correct letter formation will continue to be a key focus.

In Maths, the  children  will be deepening  their understanding of numbers to 10 and extending that to numbers to 20. We will be focusing on  number composition, counting, ordering, addition and subtraction. We will also look at doubles and odd and even numbers. We will be using Maths in real life problems and situations to consolidate and apply our understanding. For example ‘How many  minibeasts are here? How many are there if we add the ladybirds and snails together?’  

In  our topic we will be learning about ladybirds, beetles, caterpillars, butterflies, snails, slugs, millipedes, centipedes, bees and wasps. We will also be learning about trees and plants;  planting seeds and learning  what they need to live and grow.  

Other Business

Forest School will continue to be on a Friday afternoon this term. Please send lots of warm clothes as the weather is still unpredictable and the children get cold easily. They always need their wellies.

P.E will be on a Monday afternoon.  

PLEASE TRY AND LISTEN TO YOUR CHILD READ AT LEAST 3 TIMES A WEEK. PHONICS SOUND CARDS WILL BE SENT HOME. We will also begin to send  Key words on Reading Diaries for you to practise reading with your child. Remember to check out Tapestry www.eylj.org to see what your child has been doing and the class webpage on the school  website.

Spring Term 1 

Winter Wonderland

Welcome to Spring Term 1

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and are fully rested and rearing to go.

This term our topic is Winter Wonderland. We will be learning all about Winter in our country and around the world for  people, plants, trees and animals. We will spend time looking at the polar regions of The Arctic and Antarctic and what life is like there. We will use a variety of fiction and non fiction texts, videos and online content to bring our learning to life.

In Literacy we will be enjoying lots of wonderful animations and stories such as Frozen, The Story of Jack Frost, Lost and Found, A Winter Sleep, The Gruffalo's Child and Stickman which will inspire us to read and write. We will also be enjoying non-fiction texts such as The Polar Regions, Animals in Winter and The Coldest Tundra.  

In Art we will be creating many winter pictures and pieces and also learning about the famous artists Wassily Kandinsky and Vincent Van Gogh. They will inspire us to create our own Winter Landscape art and Starry Night pieces. To find out about all the other areas of learning please read the Topic Overview attached.

This term the children will be engaging in our Continuous Provision Challenge Card system where they will be asked to complete a challenge in each area of learning. If they manage to complete all challenges they will receive a special award sticker. Look out for special stickers coming home on a Friday. 

Forest School will continue to be on a Friday afternoon and P.E on a Monday afternoon.

Please could I ask you all to try to read with your child every night and practise the flashcards and homework sheets that come home. 

If you have any questions please ask.

Thank you very much for all of your help and continued support.

Autumn Term 2 

Winter Festivals

Please click on the links below to see how our topic links into the EYFS curriculum. 

Autumn Term 1 2023

What Makes Me Special? 

Please click on the links below to see how our topic fits into the EYFS curriculum.

Dear Parents,

Welcome to an exciting new year in The Little Conkers’ class. We are very happy to welcome all of our new children.  

Our topic this term is ‘ What Makes Me Special.’ We will be learning, talking and sharing things  all about ourselves. We will talk about what ourselves, our friends, our family and what we enjoy doing. Later in the term we will be sharing our favourite books and stories and enjoy acting them out; role playing characters and making up shows for our friends and families to watch.  We will also be discovering what we are all brilliant at and what  our special talents are. It will be so much fun.  We will be showcasing these in a Talent Show event on Tuesday 24^th October at 2.15pm. All are welcome to come.

A Holistic overview  accompanies this letter with further details of our learning this term.

Below is some information regarding the organisation of the class which I hope will help you have a smooth and productive year. If you are unsure about anything or have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Staffing

Miss Crombleholme will be teaching in The Little Conkers’ Class  every day. Mr Swann will teach with P.E on a Monday afternoon and Mrs Rudder will lead the Outdoor Learning sessions on a Friday afternoon. 

P.E

The children will enjoy physical activities every day of the week as part of their daily routine.  They also  have a timetabled P.E slot on a Monday afternoon, so will need to come to school dressed in their P.E  kits on a Monday. They will stay in their kit all day. During the Autumn and Winter please bear in mind that they will be playing outside throughout the day and they may be cold if they come just in shorts so jogging bottoms may be more suitable. Please could you ensure that ALL ITEMS OF CLOTHING THAT COME INTO SCHOOL ARE LABELLED.  

Spare Clothes

Please bring in a spare set of clothes, in a named bag, that can be left at school and used to change into if your child gets wet or dirty. This will be sent home to be washed and any items replaced at the end of each term.

Reading Books.

When your child is ready they will receive reading books from The Pearson Reading Scheme. These will be in line with their phonics learning each week. They may sometimes be given books from different stages to support their phonic awareness and develop their reading confidence.  PLEASE try and read through all books every week, to ensure your child keeps up with the learning in class. Sign, date and comment on their reading in their Reading Records every time. Books will only be changed when they have been shared multiple times with your child at home and a parent has signed in their diary. We encourage the children to read through their books multiple times as they develop confidence and reading skills with each occasion.

  Reception children will receive reading books by the end of the first  term.  

Please could you support your child by trying to listen to them read every week day. It doesn’t need to be for a long time, 5-10 minutes is adequate. When children read frequently it really helps them develop and improve.

Homework

When deemed appropriate you child will receive Home Learning Challenges that will last for the term. Later in the school year they will receive sound cards to practise and  key words to learn to read .

Weekend Diary

This week children will be given a  ‘Weekend Diary’ homework book. This is to be completed each weekend and returned to school on a Monday morning. Please  could they draw a picture and write about something they did over the weekend . Please encourage your child to draw the pictures. In the early days, please could you scribe what they have drawn but from October they will be learning letters and sounds so I would like them to start trying to write what they have done. This will start with just the beginning letters of a word but will soon develop to include the end and middle sounds of words.  These diaries become a wonderful record of their progress over the year.

Star of the Day

Each day, I will pick one child to be the ‘Star of the Day.’ They will get to pick one of the Star Bears  to take home , keep for a night and then return the day after. I will choose the star by thinking about who has shone and tried really hard in their work, with their friendships, or in their behaviour that day.

Water Bottles

The children can bring a water bottle into class each day. Please could they contain WATER not juice as juice stains and causes more problems when spilt.  Please ensure it is clearly labelled.

Outdoor Learning sessions will be on a Friday afternoon, starting on the 15th  of September. A letter will be sent out with more details soon. On Forest School days,  please send your child into school dressed casually with clothes that they are comfortable in. They can bring waterproof overalls in a named bag to be put on in the afternoon.     

Reception Parents Meeting

I will be holding a Parents meeting on Wednesday 20th September at 3.15- 4pm, in our classroom, to explain how we teach your child phonics, reading, writing and Maths in the Early Years.  Children can stay on after school with you or be collected.

Finally, thank you so much for spending the time to read this letter. I know it is long but hopefully it will help you understand the running of the class a little better. If you have any questions on any of the above, or anything else, please do not hesitate to speak to me after school.

We are all very excited about the coming year and the superb learning opportunities the children will have. Thank you in advance for your help and support in enabling your child to learn to their full potential.

Kind regards

Miss Crombleholme    

Summer Term 2    2022-2023

The Wonderful World of Books

Click the links below to see the Reception Holistic Plan and see the links to the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.

Summer Term 1 2022-23

Ahoy Me Hearties

Click the links below to see the Reception Holistic Plan and see how it links to the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.

Spring Term 2 2022-23

Our Wonderful World

Click the links below to view the Reception Holistic Plan and see how it links to the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. 

Welcome to Spring Term 2.  Our Topic this term is  Our Wonderful World. We will be learning about our amazing world, the oceans, land and animals. In particular we will be focusing on different minibeasts and their habitats. In English we will be learning to write sentences using our developing phonics skills. We will be reading and using lots of fiction, non-fiction  and poetry books, including The Very Hungry Caterpillar, What the Ladybird Heard  and The Snail and The Whale.

We will use our daily phonics lessons to help us to read and write. Correct letter formation will continue to be a key focus.

In Maths, the  children  will be extending their learning on simple, complex and numerical patterns  starting to learn to count in different numbers. They will be continuing their understanding of numbers  by learning numbers to and beyond 20. They will learn the value of the number, to count to it, show it, and use it in real life problems and situations such as ‘How many  minibeasts are here? How many are there if we add the ladybirds and snails together?’  

In  our topic we will be learning about ladybirds, beetles, caterpillars, butterflies, snails, slugs, millipedes, centipedes, bees and wasps. We will also be learning about trees and plants;  planting seeds and learning  what they need to live and grow.  

Other Business

Forest School will continue to be on a Friday afternoon this term. Please send lots of warm clothes as the weather is still unpredictable and the children get cold easily. They always need their wellies.

P.E will be on a Monday afternoon.  

PLEASE TRY AND LISTEN TO YOUR CHILD READ AT LEAST 3 TIMES A WEEK. PHONICS SOUND CARDS  High Frequency word sheets for reading will be continued this term. Remember to check out Tapestry www.eylj.org to see what your child has been doing and the class webpage on the school  website.

There will be a trip to The Moorland Discovery Centre on Tuesday 14^th March. We will be learning all about a woodland environment; the plants, trees and animals that inhabit the area, the homes they need and food they need and how to treat the land with respect.   Information will be sent out in the coming days. If you can volunteer for the day, please let Miss Crombleholme know as soon as possible. Thank you.

Spring Term 1 2022-2023

Splendid Skies

Click the links below to view the Reception Holistic Plan and see how it links to the Early Years curriculum.

Welcome to Spring Term 1 2023

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and are fully rested and rearing to go.

This term our topic is Splendid Skies. We will be learning  about space, the earth, the moon, and our sky. We will learn how the sun is a star and how it impacts our planet through night and day, the  seasons and our weather. We will learn about our moon, gravity, the tides and about the first people to explore it. We will learn about our planet and what it is like to live on it. We will  be doing lots of creative activities to help us understand and appreciate our skies more.  

In English  we will be enjoying lots of wonderful stories such as Whatever Next – Jill Murphy, Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker, Beegu by Alexis Deacon, Man on the Moon (a day in the life of Bob) by Simon Bartram, Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Court, I’m Coming to Get You by Tony Ross, Here Come the Aliens by Colin McNaughton, We’re Off to Look For Aliens by Colin McNaughton Laura’s Star by Klaus Baumgart, How to catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers. We will also use non fictions texts to find out facts, information and answers t questions we have. If you have any books that will help us in our topic, please send them in so we can share and enjoy them. Please name them first.

 For more specific information about our learning please see the Holistic Plan overleaf.

Forest School will continue to be on a Friday afternoon and P.E on a Monday.

Please could I ask you all to try to read with your child every night and practise the flashcards and homework sheets that come home. 

If you have any questions please ask.

Thank you very much for all of your help and continued support.

Kind regards

Miss Crombleholme

Autumn Term 2 2022-23

Something Special

Click the links below to view the Reception Holistic Plan and see how it links to the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. 

Dear Parents, 

Welcome back to a new term in The Little Conkers Class. This term our topic is Something Special. 

We will be learning about lots of celebrations, festivals and happy times from different cultures and religions including Bonfire Night, Diwali, Christmas and  Hanukkah  . We will learn about important times in history through  Armistice Day and The Gunpowder Plot and learn about our world looking at our local environment and different countries around the world. 

We will begin our Phase 2 Phonics journey learn to read and write letters inorder to blend them into words. Please help your child at home by asking them what sound they learnt today and helping them to look for it in reading and words in the environment. Please continue to read with them at home at least 3 times a week. 

We will culminate our term by learning about Christmas and the story of birth of Jesus Christ. To support this learning we will  practising a Christmas Nativity, called Whoops A Daisy Angel, which will tell the Christmas Story. Our performance will be on 7th December at 9.30am. All are welcome to come and watch. Please look out for a letter with your child's role and words to practise in the coming weeks. 

In Reception, instead of holding a Parents Evening, where I see everybody in one go, I arrange a meeting following the week where your child is the focus child. Each child will have 1 week where I pay particular attention to them, their learning and what they have achieved; this is called their focus child week. If your child hasn't been the focus child yet you will get it at some point this term.  A letter will be sent home in your child's book bag informing you when it is their week. 

Thank you for all of your continued help and support in helping yor children to learn. 

If you ever have any questions please just grab me after school.

looking forward to a fun filled, exciting term.

Miss Crombleholme

Autumn Term 1   2022-23

Marvellous Me

Click the links below to view the Reception Holistic Plan and see how it links to the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. 

Dear Children and Parents, 

Welcome to an exciting new year in The Little Conkers’ class. We are very happy to welcome our new children into Reception: Arthur, Erin, Meave, Evie, Oliver, Braydon, Samuel, Millie, Felix, Alfie, Isla and Freya.

Our topic this term is ‘ Marvellous Me.’ We will be learning, talking and sharing things  all about ourselves. We will talk about what we like and don’t like, our friends, our family and what we enjoy doing. Later in the term we will be sharing our favourite books and stories and enjoy acting them out; role playing characters and making up shows for our friends and families to watch.  We will also be discovering what we are all brilliant at and what  our special talents are. It will be so much fun.  We will be showcasing these in a parents’ Talent Show event on Tuesday 18^th October at 2pm. All are welcome to come.

In the first week you will receive a copy of our Holistic Overview that will show our learning this term and a welcome letter that will explain lots of practical information about how the class will run. 

If you have any questions about the class or anything else throughout the term please do not hesitate to ask. After school is always easier as I will be focused on the children in the mornings. 

Please visit this class page regularly to see photos of our learning and what we have been up to and remeber to log on to your Tapestry account where you will also see what your child has been doing. 

I am sure we will all have a wonderful term and I can't wait for it all to begin.  

Yours excitedly

Ms Crombleholme

Summer Term 2 2022

People Who Help Us

Click the link below to view the Reception Holistic Plan and see links to the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.

Summer Term 1 2022

Castles and Knights

Click the link below to view the Reception Holistic Plan and see links to the Early Years Foundation stage curriculum objectives. 

Welcome to Summer Term 1. 

Our Topic this term is  Castles and Knights.

We will be learning about history and life in the past and comparing it with life today. We will learn all about castles; what they are, what the different parts and their purpose. We learn what knights, lords, ladies, peasants and squires were and use our knowledge to discuss and write what we would do if we were a knight.  We will learn about life in Medieval Britain by becoming knights or peasants  preparing  for and enjoying  a medieval banquet.

In Literacy we will be  writing  sentences to write fact files, information reports, retell stories and to write menus. We will be consolidating our Phase 2 and 3 phonics skills and learning Phase 4 consonant clusters and blends. We will be reading and using lots of fiction, non-fiction  and poetry books.

We will use our daily phonics lessons to help us to read and write. Correct letter formation will continue to be a key focus.

In Maths, the  children  will be extending their learning on numbers 0-10 by learning and deepening their understanding of numbers 11-20. We will be learning to add and subtract using a range of strategies and we will be learning doubles, halves, Odd and even numbers.

Other Business

Forest School will continue to be on a Friday afternoon this term. Please dress your child appropriately for the weather and the outdoor environment. Even in warm weather long sleeves and trousers are preferred due to risk of scratches or cuts.

P.E will continue to be on a Tuesday afternoon.  

PLEASE TRY AND LISTEN TO YOUR CHILD READ AT LEAST 3 TIMES A WEEK.Please continue to practise their PHONICS SOUND CARDS and any High Frequency and Tricky Words ( not phonetically decodeable) that go home.   Remember to check out Tapestry www.eylj.org to see what your child has been doing and the class webpage on the school  website.

 Class Trip to Bolsolver Castle – May 4^th 9am – 2.30pm  Look out for an email containing more details this week. Volunteers are needed so please let Ms Crombleholme know if you are available that day.

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Spring 2022 Term 2 

Minibeasts

Click the link below to view the Reception Holistic Plan and see how it links to the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum objectives. 

Welcome back to Spring Term 2. 

This term we will be learning all about our wonderful world as it moves from Winter and blossoms into Spring. We will look at the seasons changing, our local environment and all of the life we can see within it.  In particular we will be learning about minibeasts and how they live; naming and planting seeds and learning about native trees. 

To enrich our learning further we will be going on a trip to the Moorland Discovery Centre. Please look out for details in the next few weeks.  At the end of term,  to showcase all of our wonderful learning we will be hosting a Minibeast Mayhem Early Enterprise Event. The children will plan, prepare and run their own event which we would love you to attend. Book it into your diary: Thursday 7th April 1.30-2.30 pm   

To find out more details about what we will be doing in each area of learning please see the attached documents : Holistic Plan and  Objectives covered. 

Spring 2022- Term 1 

Winter Wonderland 

Click on  the links below to view the EYFS holistic plan and how it links with the EYFS curriculum objectives. 

Welcome to Spring Term 1 

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and are fully rested and rearing to go.

This term our topic is Winter Wonderland. We will be learning all about Winter in our country and around the world. We will be learning about The Polar regions of The Arctic and Antartic and what life is like there for the people and animals. We will be learning about life in Great Britain in Winter and learning how people and animals adapt. 

In Literacy we will be enjoying lots of wonderful animations and stories such as Frozen, The Story of Jack Frost, Lost and Found, A Winter Sleep, The Gruffalo's Child and Stickman to help us read and write. We will also be enjoying non fiction texts such as The Polar Regions, Animals in Winter and  The Coldest Tundra.  

In Expressive Art and Design we will be learning about the  famous artists Wassily  Kandinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and creating our own Winter Landscape art and Starry Night pieces. 

Of course we will be enjoying lots of fun activities and learning opportunties along the way; including planning, preparing for and enjoying a winter exploration and hopefully enjoying a trip to Marple Rope Race learning the climbing skills we would need to conquer a mountain such as Mount Everest. 

This term the children will be engaing in our Continuous Provision Challenge Card system where they will be asked to complete a challenge in each area of learning. If they manage to complete all challenges they will receive a special award sticker. Look out for special stickers coming home on a Friday. 

Please read our Curriculum Overview for more details of our learning and objectives covered this term. 

Please continue to read with your child every night and practise all flashcards, key words and homework sheets that come home.

Look at the class page website weekly in the What We Have Been Learning folder.

Welcome to Autumn Term 2 

This term our topic is Winter Festivals.

We will be learning about and experiencing lots of festivals including Bonfire Night, Armistice  Day, Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas. We will also be learning about The Great Fire of London, The Gupowder Plot and The Christmas Story.We will be preparing for and performing a Christmas Nativity that we hope you will be invited to come and enjoy. Please look out for more information in the coming weeks. 

Please read our Curriculum Overview to find out more about our learning in each area. 

Our Class Trip to Whaley Bridge

The children all had a wonderful day having new experiences.

We walked along the canal looking at our local environment. On the way we were invited in to look at the goats and big pig and we even got to feel what a pig's skin and bristles feel like. We were amazed that they were so hard, dry and spiky. We walked on to Tesco where we each found a vegetable that has recently been harvested. ( We are learning about Harvest Time this week.)  We bought and paid for our vegetable so we can use it to make a vegetable pie.  After this we walked into Whaley and went to the cake shop. Everybody chose their own cake and politely told  Jen and Tracey, the shop assistants, what they would like. Everybody paid themselves.  We went to the park to eat our cake and have a play. After that we walked to the bus stop and caught the bus back to school just in time for lunch. After lunch everyone was tired so we watched Cbeebies for 10 minutes to relax. 

EVERYBODY WAS WONDERFUL. THE CHILDREN WERE ALL BEAUTIFULLY POLITE AND WELL BEHAVED. 

VERY WELL DONE  LITTLE CONKERS

Week Commencing 4.10.21 

This week the children have enjoyed  lots of learning in  phonics, maths and Literacy.

In Maths we have been learning how to count 'how many.' We have been been counting between 3, 4 and 10 . We are starting to learn rhymes to help us with number formation which they children are loving. 

One of our key songs this week has been Incy Wincy Spider and a lot of our continuous provision has been based around this. The children have  used the rhyme pictures to order the nursery rhyme, they have made Incy Wincy Masks, they've enjoyed using the tweezers to retrieve certain numbers of spiders from a spiders web, they have been drawing and making spiders and webs using wool, string, balck paint, paer and LOTS of cellotape. They have loved playing outside with the drain pipes and water and washing the spiders out. 

in Phonics the Blue group ahve really enjoyed their Wiggle Whilst You Squiggle dancing learning to make circles. Over the week our circles on paper have progressed from big to smaller and even to starting to write some curly letters. 

Well done Little Conkers on aving a superb week. 

Week Commencing 20.9.21

The children all had a fantastic week develping their friendships, learning about each other and learning about our classroom. They enjoyed playing lots of games together, role playing a cafe with chefs, waiters, waitresses and customers. They loved using the construction toys to make everything from dinosaurs to transformers and they had the BEST time at the park  using and developing lots of strength, balance and coordination. They used all of the fundamental movement skills we are developing in Reception. 

Well done Little Conkers on a super week. 

Welcome to The Little Conkers' Class page.

Week 2 Commencing 13.9.21 

The children all had a wonderful week in school. They started having school  dinners and all REALLY enjoyed Mrs Nolan's wonderful meals.  They continued to  make lots of friends and spent time learning and playing together. They played with the playdough, puzzles, construction toys, the water wall, tools, instruments, farm animals and  they created things. 

We have enjoyed lots of new stories and books and enjoyed learning lots of new words. This week we have learnt : fragile, urgent, foe, mysterious, resilience, poke, tug, buffered, talent, and weary.  

On Wednesday we read the story Jolly Tall by Jane Hissey, about a giraffe who was found in a very big box. We spent time predicting what we thought was in the box, then after we found out, we thought about how we could get him out of the box. The children were brilliant at using their thinking ad problem solving skills to come up with ideas. Then I brought in a big box and we made a plan- how could we make it into a house for the giraffe. I wrote the children's ideas down and then then demonstrated wonderful friendship and teamwork skills by decorating the box and a path way together. They have thoroughly enjoyed playing in the big box too. 

Week 1 Beginning 6.9.21

The children all had a wonderful first week in school and all seemed to really enjoy themselves.

They spent time : making friends and building together; making food together; enjoying the water play and outside toys; writing, drawing, painting and creating at The Creation Station, dressing up and enjoying the role play clothes; playing playdo and using lots of the construction toys. Throughout they were making friends; working together; speaking to each other and listening to each others' ideas and problem solving.

Well done Little Conkers on a wonderful first week. 

Please check in to our page regularly to read a blog about what the children have been doing each week and to see our marvellous photos. 

Newsletters, curriculum overviews and important updates will also be posted. 

Welcome to our Autumn Term 1 2021.

We are welcoming 15 lovely children into our school and we are all very excited to do so.

We welcome you with open arms and hearts and hope you all have a wonderful primary school life at Buxworth.

This term our topic is 'What Makes Me Special?'

We will be having a fantastic first term learning all about ourselves, each other and discovering our talents. We will showcase all the things that make us special at the end of the term during our  parents Talent Show event.  

We will be spending time making friends and developing relationships as well as developing all of our personal, social, emotional, communication and listening skills. We will enjoy lots of fun, games and playing whilst all learning together. 

More details are included in the curriculum overview document attached.

Information about how the class will run is included in the Welcome Letter. 

I look forward to speaking with you often and helping you and your child settle in to Buxworth School.

Week 3 Commencing 16.11.20 

They children had a wonderful week doing lots of lovely learning, playing and growing together. 

In phonics the Reception children continued to learnt Phase 2 , one letter phonemes. They loved learning e,  then cracking and making scrambled egg to help consolidate their learning. 

In Maths the Reception children were learning more and less . They counted up to 5 and showed the numbers using counters. They also drew more or less than the numbers I said. 

The year 1 children  continued with their learning about addition and subtraction and understanding how to derive relative addition and subtraction facts from numbers. 

Everyone enjoyed learning the Hindu story of  Rama and Sita . The  Year 1 children did lots of writing about the story and  wrote some marvelous character descriptions.  

The Reception children enjoyed acting the story out and playing the characters. they made crowns like Rama and Sita and used the  big tree branches to enact the forest.

In Science the Year 1 children were learning to be scientists by recording  data. they are learning about seasonal changes and we are recording the weather over the course of the week. To help us record the wind direction they all made weather vanes. 

Week 2 Term 2 Commencing 9.11.20 

This week our focus was Remembrance and Armistice Day. The Reception children learnt about war and what Armistice Day . We started our learning using the Cbeebies  animation below which sparked lots of discussions, talking and thoughts. We talked about how the rabbit felt and so how soldiers must have felt in war time. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOT5CDnYHEs

The children drew beautiful pictures of poppies.

The year 1 children learnt what war was like in the trenches. They decided it was horrible and that they would not want to ever  have to be there.

We found out the names of the soldiers from Buxworth who had died in the wars and we wrote letters to them .

Our work is shown as part of the Buxworth School Virtual Remembrance Day Service.

In Forest School the children showed how they are learning to play and work together, using kind words, gestures  and hands. They shared the tools to start weeding, digging and  planting daffodil bulbs.; they played in the shelter together enjoying the tarpaulin and how it protected them from the weather, they used their senses to look at,  smell and touch  herbs and then they made bouquets. All of the children had a wonderful time and loved their session.

At the end of the school day we have started to do yoga ; it helps calm everyone down and is gteat for our core muscle strength. Try is at home. We use cosmic yoga for kids to help us.

Look out for the Phonics signs which will be fixed to the wooden play house in the playground. They will have on the sound each phonics group is learning each day so you can help reinforce and practise the sounds with the children at home.  The Reception children are in the Red group. The Year 1 children will be able to tell you whether they are Yellow or Green group. 

Next week the children are starting to learn about the Hindu festival of Diwali  which was celebrated this weekend .  We are starting by learning the story of Rama and Sita  this week and then how it is celebrated next week. On Thursday 26th November we will be having a Diwali Day to enjoy the celebrations. 

Week 7 Commencing 19.10.20 

The children had a super time this week doing lots of Maths, Phonics and topic activities. 

We continued with our text of  The Bog Baby and the Year 1 children went to the forest to find natural resources to make Bog Baby homes. They then wrote ia recount text telling how they made them. The Reception children enjoyed making the homes too and combined lots of different materials to make some superb houses that I am sure the Bog babies would LOVE to live in.

On Thursday we all enjoyed our end of topic treat: An Enchanted Forest Tea Party. The children spent time making their own party food of cheese or ham sandwiches  and special sparkly biscuits. Then we went out in to the Forest and enjoyed a lovely party with balloons, bubbles and lots of fun. It was a brilliant way to end our wonderful topic.   

Week 6  Commencing 12th October 

This week the children worked really hard and enjoyed lots of fun activities.  The Year 1 children learnt how to do number bonds to 5 and 10 in Maths and the Reception children were counting up to 4. In Literacy we learnt The Bog Baby story and the Year 1 children rewrote the story in their own books. their writing and work was AMAZING. I am really proud of how hard they tried and how brilliant their work was.  

The Reception children started learning how to read, write and say the one letter sounds. They learnt an action, song, letter formation rhyme, how to sound each phoneme  and  how to write each letter shape. They are all loving their phonics lessons. 

Next week we are continuing with The Bog Baby as our text . We will be collecting natural materials to make homes for our bog babies that we are making out of acorns. We will be writing instructions on how to make our homes. We will all be helping to make sandwiches, biscuits and treats for  an enchanted forest tea party for all of the bog babies and the fairies we have learnt about, created and imagined during our Enchanted Forest topic.  

Week 4 Commencing 28.9.20

The children all had another superb week, learning lots and enjoying their friends.

Continuing our Enchanted Forest theme, we focused on the story of Snow White and the seven Dwarfs. Everybody loved it. The Year 1 children did some AMAZING writing retelling the story. They all showed how they can segment words to spell them , write in sentences and use finger spaces. some children even used conjunctions.  In Maths the Year 1s started to learn how to partition numbers to 5 using the Part Whole Model. They are continuing with it this week and working on number bonds to 10.

The Reception children have enjoyed phonics lessons where they have been identifying different sounds that animals and instrument make. In Maths they have been counting forwards and backwards to 3 and matching the quantity with the numeral.

Every day we all spend time reading and the children are really getting good at quietly sitting and enjoying their books. 

In Forest School we all had a magical time, continuing with our interests of making fairy and wizard wands and we also enjoyed  making magic potions.

We all loved P.E. Learning to warm up  together, following the instructions, playing cups and saucers as a team game and then learning to jump in different ways. 

And, of, course, we have all enjoyed lots of playing too. Well done Little Conkers Class on a wonderful week. 

Week 3 Commencing 21.9.20

The children had a wonderfully enchanting week using Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree as a stimulus. They spent time  learning and understanding what 'enchanted' meant and  then  used it in all of their writng and many activities. They loved listening to The Magic Faraway Tree and being introduced to the characters. 

In Expressive Art and Design they started to make their own Magic tree and used lots of different painting techniques.  

In free play they enjoyed building trees out of duplo and magic crowns using the connecting people. 

In Forest School they went to see if they could find the Magic Faraway Tree and were amazed to find fairy bracelets and even a fairy door way leading to a little house!!! They loved making magical wands , swords and houses of their own. 

the Reception children started their phonics lessons by making listening ears and listening for different sounds. Over the next few weeks they are learning to identify and isolate sounds which will help when we teach them to segment words into their separate sounds. 

We finished on Friday by making fairy biscuits for Silky the fairy from the Magic Faraway Tree story. 

Week 3 Commencing 14.9.20 

What a wonderful week the children had. The Reception children  showed they were a lot more settled and they all enjoyed playing together and mixing with new friends. It was lovely to see them all playing together, listening to each other, sharing and taking turns.  They spent lots of time outdoors, learning new skills and making up games.  On Friday , they made up a marvellous game going to Fairyland on the train. Brandon was the train driver and everybody  wrote themselves a ticket to get on the train and a fairy wand to use when they got there. It was a very popular game with nearly all of the Reception joining in. 

Well done Reception.  

The Year 1 children have enjoyed lots of learning and playing. 

In Maths they have been consolidating counting to 10, comparing numbers and finding 1 more and 1 less than.  

The children  started thinking about what an 'Enchanted Forest' was and we made a mind map; they had some wonderful ideas .

On Wednesday we started thinking about what an enchanted forest  might look like and who might live there. We went to The Eco Area to collect things to make enchanted pictures. We were amazed and excited to find a letter addressed to us from Shimmer the fairy!, who had found herself transported into our land and was trying to find a way back home.  We all read it and then decided to collect materials to make a house for Shimmer . 

A huge congratulations to our award winners this week; Millie was our ' Reader of the Week', Eva got a silver award and certificate for her wonderful attitude to school,  learning and for being a kind friend .

 William won his silver  for always trying his hardest in everything he does  and for always following the class rules. 

Well done to all of you. 

 Week 2 Commencing 7.9.20

The children have all settled well in to their new class. They have made lots of new friends and it has been lovely to see the Year 1 children helping and playing with the new ones coming in. 

Next week the Year 1 children are starting their Phonics, Maths and Literacy lessons. Please ask them what they have learnt each day when you talk with them after school. Please  also help them prepare by practising their spellings ready for their test on Monday. 

Reception children will be continuing  to learn our class and school rules and making friends. 

There won't be any official P.E or  Forest School this week, although the children are very active every day and the Year 1 children will be working in the Eco Area a lot for our topic based Literacy. 

 Autumn Term

Week 1       3.9.20 

Welcome back to the beginning of our Autumn Term. I hope you all had an enjoyable summer with lots of fun. 

I am so excited to be back at school and back with our Little Conkers' class. The new and old children have all come in to school excited, happy, rested and ready to learn. 

Our topic this term is THE ENCHANTED WOODLAND  and I am sure we are going to have lots of fun with it. We will be learning inside and out,  using our wonderful Eco Area and  our imaginations a lot to learn about our real world and create some wonderful imaginary , fairy worlds too. We will be using lots of fairy tales and stories to help us on our way. 

At the bottom of this entry are the Curriculum Overview letter you received and the Welcome Letter. 

I will endeavour to post photos  and a little blurb of what we have been doing each week in class so please check in to the class page each Sunday evening . I will also use it as a forum to post class messages.

If you have any questions or anything that you would like to communicate with me please email me or contact the office .

lindsey.crombleholme@buxworth.derbyshire.sch.uk

k.newman@buxworth.derbyshire.sch.uk 

Week 5 Commencing 29.6.20 

Well done everybody in The Little Conkers Class whether you are home or school learning. It looks like everyone has tried hard and had a superb week. 

In class we have had a great week learning about water. We enjoyed listening to and writing about Rainbow Fish and The Little raindrop stories. we also loved finding out about,  making and writing about the  water cycle. The  children extended their learning in Forest school by going in the river and feeling the water. They made fishing rods to use, learning the skills of peeling the sticks before decorating them  and learning to tie a granny knot to make fishing rods. As it was Evie's birthday they decorated a biscuit  ( using their own spoons) and had a Happy Birthday song. 

The children have enjoyed learning more about numbers  16-20 and have spent time practising counting,  writing the numbers correctly and showing the value of the numbers.

They have also enjoyed lots of  reading and of course, outside play . 

Below are just a few of the lovely learning photos from this week .

If anybody who is home learning needs any help or advice,please don't forget you can always email me. or if you would like your child to come into class on any day, just let us know.  They can come in any number of days per week. 

Learning for next week is below. Our topic next week is Air. 

Happy learning everyone. 

Week 4 Commencing 22.6.20  

Well done everybody who has kept up their home learning and continued to learn some amazing new things. I gather from all of the Tapestry posts that there has been some brilliant hard work done and a lot of fun.  

Below are a few photos from your week. 

Harry made some brilliant nature frames.

William enjoyed a woodland walk.

The children back in school loved doing Forest School again and working as a team. 

We listened for birds, did some bird watching, made bird feeders and enjoyed playing together.

Alfie has worked so hard on his maths, writing and learning about birds. 

A huge well done to everyone.

This week we are learning about water. 

I have attached a different type of plan that has some superb links, learning and fun things to do. 

There is also a phonics plan attached with the sounds to focus on each day and maths resources to support the home learning topic plan. 

Have a great week everyone. 

Week 3 Home Learning Commencing 15.6.20

This week we are learning all about birds. I see and hear  so many beautiful birds where we live, some of them perching, some swooping and some zooming.  See what you can find out about the wonderful nature around us. 

Hope you have a brilliant week. 

 June is the start of The Wildlife Trust's 30 Days Wild programme. Children are encouraged to do something out in the wild on each day. There are so many wonderful activities and suggestions on their website about different ways to enjoy the wilderness and wildlife around us. Visit the website and have a go at the 30 days  Wild campaign. Please send photos of things you have done, collected or experienced and  pictures and writing you have done. Copy and paste the link  https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildness

or click on to the external link below .

Week 2 Home Learning Plan Commencing 8.6.20

Hello Little Conkers, I hope you have all had a wonderful week and still managed lots of outside time, despite the change in weather.  I have been so impressed with your wonderful learning last week and some of the brilliant pieces of art work and scenes you have created. 

Check out Harry's amazing sea scene. 

And Florence's too.

For this week's learning our topic focus  we are going to be learning about the fastest sea creatures in the ocean. Hope you enjoy it. 

As always , please send me photos on Tapestry. 

Hello Little Conkers, 

Welcome to the final term of the year. I hope you all had a wonderful, fun and restful holiday and are now ready to enjoy lots of fun work and activities this term. 

When school reopens on the 8th June, I will continue to post the online learning plan each week and will be looking at Tapestry and commenting on all of your work daily, as usual. The in class plan and the online one will be very close to each other. 

This term we are continuing with our Zoom topic and will be finding out about fast sea creatures, fast birds and fast people but to set the scene for our fastest sea animals week next week, we are starting with learning all about sea creatures. We will enjoy all the different animals and beautiful world there is under the sea. 

I have attached the weekly plan and resources. If you have any questions, as always please email.

Please post your work on Tapestry. 

Enjoy your week my beautiful little conkers.

For brilliant phonics lessons to support your child's learning on each sound please click on the link below and navigate the page to find the sound you would like to learn. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siVkXoEQDNc&list=PLuGr6z2H2KNG4XgGr7UylwowIcDLr-T-k&index=40

Week Commencing 18.5.20  Home Learning Plan

Thank you so much to everyone who took up the 'What Makes Me Happy' challenge from last week and sent some photos; I loved seeing you in your happy places. For those that didn't quite manage to send their photos yet, I have added some of them doing their work.

Here are a selection. 

 Good evening Little Conkers, 

I hope you are all well, happy and safe. 

I have attached next week's plan below. Our theme is Cheetah's, the fastest land animal that zooms.

Thank you everyone who has posted lots of photos on Tapestry which have made me smile and kept me in touch with the children. I still feel so connected to so many of you. I wondered if a little side project this week could be to do things that make you feel happy and then email a photo to me or post it on Tapestry. I will attach them here next week so we can all see each other and feel connected.

Here are my things I have done this weekend that has made me feel happy: As you all know, I love to run and cycle. My family and I  cycled up Winnats Pass as part of a bike ride; it was very hard!!!

I have done lots of baking....and eating of cake! (We love chocolate cake.)

On Friday ,  Will made a V.E day cake , we decorated the house and learnt about V.E Day .

Finally my morning walk with Tilly and Baxter is very peaceful and beautiful. 

I have attached some extra resources dated 12.5.20 that are a little easier. They are aimed at children who would this week like to work with numbers to 10 ,  practise 3 letter words and work on pencil control. The level of work children are doing doesn't matter one little bit, you should choose the work that is right for your child, that they want to do.

PLEASE DO NOT COMPARE OR WORRY IF YOUR CHILD WANTS TO DO THE LOWER NUMBERS OR EASIER PHONICS. IT DOESN'T MATTER...THEIR HAPPINESS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. WE WILL BE BACK SOON ENOUGH AND WE WILL BUILD FROM WHERE THEY ARE.  

 Hi Little Conkers, 

I hope you are all well. It has been so lovely to see you all on Tapestry through the photos your grown ups have posted and I have loved being able to chat with your parents on it too. Thank you sooooo much for all of the hard work you are doing. It makes me so proud and even more excited about us all coming back to class, as soon as we are allowed. I can't wait. Until that time....I have posted some pictures of work you have done this week below and of course put next week's plan and resources on too. I will post a few story times on Tapestry so please do check in each day to catch the  session , listen and enjoy them. 

Missing you all so much. 

Week 2 Summer Term Commencing 27.4.20

This week we are sticking with the rocket theme to enjoy a story book which I love, and I know you will too. It is called Whatever Next and the author is Jill Murphy.  I have presented the work in a different way this week, giving shorter and less work.  I have focussed on short writing, reading, phonics and maths jobs, to allow lots of playing and fun family time after. If you would like more or harder challenges, extend the learning for them or email me if you would like more suggestions. I have suggested a rainbow challenge system so the children can do extra activities, if they wish, to complete their rainbows.  

There are 2 plans; the Sunshines' plan is the medium challenge level and the Stars' plan is the higher level challenge. Hope it goes well. Please continue to work hard and post your work and photos on Tapestry. Every little you do will make a difference. 

Keep well, stay safe and enjoy.

See you all soon Miss Crombleholme

Welcome to the Summer term.  . 

I hope you all had a happy, fun and enjoyable Easter break. 

I am sorry that we are not able to continue our learning together in class, so until we can I will continue to post our weekly plan and resources on here. 

This term our topic is ' Things that Zoom' .

We will be learning about the fastest in many things: cars, space craft, trains, emergency vehicles, land animals, sea animals, birds and more. It's going to be a fun learning tpic that I am sure you will enjoy. Any suggestions for other fast things we can learn about just let me know. 

I have attached a curriculum overview for this half term and this week's plan below. I have also attached resources to help in your learning. 

As ever,  your child's learning is very important to me, but the most important thing, at this young age, is their emotional wellbeing. Please remember to make time to enjoy them, relax , have fun, cuddles and good quality play time together too. .....and read every day!!

Missing you all more than you know. Keep well and safe.

Miss Crombleholme

Well done everyone who has worked so hard and done so much learning over the last few weeks. It has been wonderful to get your regular pictures and posts on Tapestry. Thank you. 

Have a look below at just a few photos from your work.

Super well done Everyone.

For the Easter holidays there will not be a plan; it is a holiday. Enjoy your children, family and time playing together. If however, you would like some ideas of things to do, ( these are a choice, no obligation),  I have attached some documents below with Easter Maths , Easter learning, Spring activities etc. I also thought the children might like to make Easter cards and do some Easter cooking and baking.  This week and last a few children have already  been baking. Florence has been making biscuits, William a delicious looking cake,  Harry Z  has made his own butter ( inspired by the farm clips) and  Millie has made some wonderful hot cross buns which   inspired me to do the same. 

I wondered if the children might like to bake their favourite treat, take some photos, write out the recipe and then I will share them on here for everyone else to try too. We could have a Little Conkers' Bake Off … virtually. 

Happy Easter everyone. The next plan will be on here the weekend of 18th April.

A little message from me. I have posted a video message to you all on Tapestry. Please have a look. Take care my Little Conkers. xx

Home Learning Planner Week 2 Commencing 30.3.20

Thank you so much to everyone who has been posting their learning and work on to their Tapestry journal. I have been looking and writing on each of them. Keep it up.

If you have forgotten your password or need help to re engage with tapestry send me an email; lindsey.crombleholme@buxworth.derbyshire.sch.uk 

Please try to read with your child each day; 5 or 10  minutes is enough to keep them progressing.

I have written a full plan but you don't have to do everything on it. Pick what you can. Please don't overload or over work the children. they would have lots of time to play whilst in class usually and they should have the same with you. Happy children will learn. 

Thank you for all that you are doing.

Wednesday 25th March 

Are there any changes? Look at the colour of the chrysalis, the shape and the texture. There are 4 hung to the top of the pot and 1 that has chrysalised on the bottom. How are they different? 

Write and post your comments on Tapestry. 

Little Conkers, the caterpillars have got a new home....in my home. I will take a picture each day and post it for you to look at so you can watch their metamorphosis. You could  talk and write about the changes each day in your writing book. 

Tuesday 24th March. 

PLEASE TAKE PHOTOS OF ANYTHING YOU DO AND LOAD THEM ON TO TAPESTRY. I WILL CHECK IT EACH DAY AND RESPOND. 

Home Learning Week beginning 23.3.20

Hello everyone. Thank you for checking the class page and finding out how to help your child continue to learn each day . I am very sad to not be the one helping your child but am sure that together, through you accessing my plans and activities and then delivering their learning, they will continue to grow and blossom.

  I have prepared packs of work that will be sent home with your child on Friday. These include phonics sheets, maths activities and a writing book.  I will post a weekly lesson and topic plan on here that will include activities and learning related to the theme for the week. Please ensure your child does some learning and work every day to keep their brains active and engaged and ready to learn when school resumes.  

I have written a daily timetable that may help you and your child to maintain a routine and structure over this period. Please use if you wish or adopt your own.

Please ensure you read with your child  every day,  as this is essential in helping them  to learn to read and access all future learning. 

Epic Early Years website are posting a series of practical ways you can  teach your child each Sunday evening and which will be worth checking out. 

Also worth noting is that The National Trust are opening all of their  parks and lands up . free of charge during this period so please use them as part of the children's outside play time scheduled each day. 

Activities for next week will be posted tomorrow.

Suggested daily  routine is posted below. 

The timetable of work for next week is attached below. Please do what you can. 

Please ensure you read with your child for at least 15 minutes EVERY DAY.  I will post websites and ;inks for sites that will give access to online reading materials as the weeks progress. For now, please read the school reading books.

A wonderful resources that is already offering free access is www.phonicsplay.co.uk  . Please enter the username : march20  and the password: home   . This site also has decodeable comic books to read on www.phonicsplaycomics.co.uk   

I will post new timetable each week. 

Please use Tapestry to upload any pictures you take of your child working and of their work, on to their account. I can access it from my side and can see their progress. Enter a ' new observation' and follow the link to upload media content. 

Keep well and keep safe. Missing them all, already. 

Ms Crombleholme

Welcome to Term 4 and our topic of Lifecycles. 

Please see below for the curricululm overview.

Learning to Read and Write

We teach the phonics phases through Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 , if needed. We use  the Department of Education document, Letters and Sounds to guide us and use a variety of fun, active and engaging resources such as Jolly Phonics which help teach children in a multi sensory way.  For more details about jolly phonics please click the link below.

https://www.jollylearning.co.uk/jolly-phonics/ 

Our main reading scheme is  Oxford Reading Tree, however we supplement this with other fiction and non- fiction books regularly, to ensure children become confident, capable and fluent readers.  Please click the link below for further details. 

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/oxford-reading-tree-levels/

Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are expected to share their book with a grown up daily. The more frequently you share their reading experience, the more confident they become.

For more information regarding Phonics please see our Phonics Coordinator Miss Crombleholme or the Literacy Coordinator Mrs Tamkin.

Welcome back to a new term in The Little Conkers' Class. Our topic this term is Winter Wonderland. 

We will be learning about all about Winter in England, The Arctic and The Antarctic. We will think about the land, climate, environment, animals, people and more. We will consider how to keep ourselves and animals warm and comfortable in Winter.

We will be using lots of our Project 25 values and skills throughout the term to make a Winter Wonderland museum where there will be models of Buxworth, The Arctic and The Antarctic,  examples of lots we have learnt and many interactive exhibits. Please come and look at our museum on share in our learning on Tuesday 11th February from 2.45pm.  

For more details please see our curriculum overview  below. 

We have thoroughly enjoyed our topic this term and learnt lots. The children started by learning about their local environment, Buxworth and naming all of the geographical landmarks around. We went on walks around the village and then came back and made the village using junk modelling materials. 

The following week we learnt about the woodland environment and in particular all of the animals. They were really interested in those that hibernate. We used lots of materials to make the animals and particularly enjoyed using clay. 

Week 3 saw us learning about The Arctic . We learnt about the terrain, the weather and the animals. The children amazed me how much they learnt and could recall weeks later. 

Week 4 we looked at the film Frozen and enjoyed learning and writing about the characters, they loved making Olaf biscuits. 

On our final week we used The Polar Express as a stimulus. The children wrote a plan of what they would like to learn which included finding out about different trains, going on journeys and learning about snow and ice. Of course, we did it all.

We went on a journey to London  and learn about different landmarks. The children did some amazing art work and writing about Big Ben, Tower Bridge and The Tower of London. On a different day we went on a journey to Paris; we learnt French greetings, painted pictures in an impressionist style and sampled lots of French food at our ' French Café.'  We carried out a super investigation with big ice balls, placing them around the classroom and outside to see what happened to them. 

It was all very exciting. 

We finished our topic by preparing for our winter Wonderland event when our parents and grandparents came to see our work. The children all LOVED showing off their work. 

Week 6 Beginning 9.12.19

The children had a wonderful penultimate week working and playing hard. They performed brilliantly in their first nativity , Higgledy, Piggledy Stable in St James' Church, in front of a massive crowd. I was very impressed with their confidence and courage. They all sang and acted brilliantly.

We continued learning and using our phonics to write letters to Santa. I was very impressed with how everybody thought of what they would like to ask Santa for, listened to the sounds in the words and wrote them down. 

On Thursday we had a fantastic time walking along the canal in to Whaley Bridge to post our letters. Along the way we learnt so many new things  about different trees, bridges, why things echo, how many steps there are on the bridge over the canal and more. We all bought a nice treat from the bakery and were beautifully polite to the ladies who served us. We walked back to the canal basin and ate our cakes before feeding the ducks and then walking back to school. The children were amazing and I was very proud of them.

The wedding was in St James' Church and was performed brilliantly by Reverend John., whom we thank massively for donating his services to help our children learn. 

All of the children loved dressing up and they  looked brilliant; they performed their roles perfectly and enjoyed the whole experience. Furthermore they showed off their wonderful foxtrot dancing at the wedding breakfast, immediately followed by one of their favourites: Baby Shark.

Well done Little Conkers.

The children have been working really hard on their phonics and have now learnt the letters and sounds for s,a,t,p,i,n,d and m. They always enjoy waking their phonics fingers up with some 'Dough Disco' to music. Tey have learnt actions, songs,  letter formation rhymes and how to form the letters correctly. They have even started to read words and hear lots of sounds.

Well done Little Conkers.   

PCSO Karen Green and PCSO Wilson came in to class to see if they could solve the crime of who trashed the classroom / world with lots of rubbish and waste a couple of weeks ago? The children  told them how they had written incident reports and used the  question words what, where, when , how and why to try to work it out. Everyone enjoyed dressing up as police officers to solve the crime.

In Forest School the children enjoyed looking for different shapes, colours and natural items and using them to make art.  Some children pursued their interest with making minibeast houses, decorating sticks they found or  tying knots. Everybody enjoyed the outdoors environment.

On Thursday we went on a walk to Tesco to recycle the rubbish that had been left. We talked about all of the different things we could recycle. Later we went in to Tesco to look at how much plastic was used in a shop and we tried to find ways to reduce the amount of plastic we used. the children were fantastic at realising  how they could buy their fruit and vegetables loose instead of pre packaged.

Term 4

This term our topic in Marvellous Minibeasts. Please see the attached curriculum Overview for more details.

Week 6 Commencing 1.4.19

What a wonderful, enterprising, hardworking, creative and inspiring class I have.

The children used and demonstrated skills in communication, creativity, positivity, organisation, initiative, problem solving and masses of positivity and resilience to plan, organise, prepare and then deliver their Minibeast Mayhem afternoon.

They provided 10 different activities for their parents and the children from The Horse Chestnuts class. These were: minibeast colouring; making a minibeast garden out of tissue paper and pastel crayons; making a minibeast biscuit; making a healthy eating minibug out of salad and vegetables; paint a bee, doing a minibeast hunt, making a minibeast out of construction and  out of clay; move like a minibeast on the mats and find out about minibeasts at the information desk. Everybody was confident, chatty and totally in charge of their activity. I was very proud of everybody.

Well done Little Conkers.

Week Beginning 25.3.19

In Forest School the children displayed the wonderful skills they have been developing in emotional intelligence; working together, listening to each other; having empathy for others and solving problems together. They worked on minibeast hunts where they looked for different minibeasts, taking care to replace all turned over logs and rocks. They made minibeast houses because they wanted them to be warm and cosy and they tied granny knots and tied sticks together. They all had a fantastic time.

Week Beginning 18.3.19

Well, what a busy week we've had already, and it's only Wednesday!

The children have been learning about snails and slugs this week. They've learnt lots of facts and written superb information cards. They also enjoyed independently making snail biscuits.

In Forest School the children went on a minibeast hunt. They chose their partners and worked together to hunt for different minibeasts. They had already learnt where different minibeasts like to live, so they knew where to look. It was SOOOOO exciting when they found minibeasts on their hunt sheet. The children could hardly contain themselves!!!

In Maths we've been learning to compare lengths and measure using cubes and footprints. We've even moved on to making our own rulers and measuring in cms!

Week 3 Commencing 11.3.19

This week our focus has been worms.

The children were fantastic at looking at the picture instructions and some read the sentences on how to make a  wormery. They all helped collect the ingredients and then make it. They had great fun looking for worms, who were a little reluctant to be found!

We enjoyed the book Mad About Minibeasts and talked about all of the different minibeasts we knew. The children did some beautiful art work using pastels drawing minibeast pictures. They also used tissue paper to collage gardens for the clay worms they had made.

The children also started to design and make their own minibeasts using construction pieces.

Some children thought about what their minibeast would be called, where it would live and what it would eat. They labelled their minibeast.

In Maths we all learnt to measure using non standard units: cubes. It was good fun.

Week 2 Term 4

Caterpillars

This week we welcomed some very tiny caterpillars in to our class and we have been watching them grow.  The children have been measuring how long they are each day and filling in a chart.

We have used The Very Hungry Caterpillar as our story focus and enjoyed learning the story. We all completed a Very Hungry Caterpillar maths activity booklet spending time learning about repeating patterns, size, addition and of course symmetry whilst painting butterflies.

We used caterpillars and butterflies to inspire our art work and made some wonderful pieces of art.

We have done some amazing writing about our favourite part of The Very Hungry Caterpillar story which is on a display outside the office. Please go and have a look.

We had a wonderful World Book Day on Thursday and all enjoyed sharing our favourite stories. We  also drew pictures and wrote what we liked about the stories. We all LOVED dressing up in our favourite book characters.

On Friday we enjoyed the first of many yoga sessions I and Diane will be leading with our class. On the whole we are a very active class, so on Friday we started to learn the other skill of balance, calmness and how to be mindful using toys, games and physical skills.

Term 4  Week 1

Ladybirds

This week our focus has been ladybirds. The children have learnt lots of facts such as what they look like, how many legs they have, where they live and what they like too eat.  Some children have done some wonderful independent art work making ladybirds.

We have also been learning about what plants and seeds need to grow. We have planted bean seeds. Over the coming weeks the children will be tending their own seeds to see if they can make them grow.

This week the children have enjoyed practising their blending  for reading skills by playing bingo.

They have also learnt how to order numbers 0-20 , add  two groups of objects together and read maths stories.

Week 6 Commencing 11.2.19

This week the children enjoyed a trip to The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. We used lots of public transport to get to and from the museum; enjoying the sights and sounds of a big city. We went in to Piccadilly Station, where the children were quite amazed by how busy it was and how many people there were. We took the public bus and then walked along Deansgate to get to the museum.  

The children absolutely loved the museum;  they learnt about lots of old engines,  including the first steam engine, Stephenson's  Rocket, which paved the way for the modern railway. They spent an hour in the Experience Gallery where they all enjoyed hands on science and they all LOVED eating their packed lunches. All in all, we had a fantastic, busy day out.

Thank you so much to our volunteer helpers Laura, Rebecca and Miss Puri.

In Forest School the children were  thinking about what was in our Eco Area now so we can  make plans about what we would like to plant and how we would like it to look in the future. To help them work out what is currently there the children made a journey page, by sticking natural things they found as they journeyed around the area.

Week 5 Commencing 4.2.19

 This week the children enjoyed a superb trip to Whaley Bridge Fire and Rescue Station.

We walked along the canal, and through the village to the station. We found out what the Fire Service do and what we should do if we find ourselves in an emergency situation. We had a look at the clothing fire fighters wear and then we had a play in the fire engine and with the fire hoses. Everyone had a great time.

Week 4 Commencing 28.1.19

 What a fun week we had this week, learning lots and enjoying the snow.

Our topic focus was aeroplanes which the children learnt about using books and videos. They chose to further their learning in numerous ways; some children wrote about the planes in our story book; some painted pictures and others collaged planes.

In Maths the children learnt how to compare groups of objects, using multi links cubes and the hungry crocodile greater than sign. Later in the week they learnt how to compare numbers and were fantastic working with abstract numbers and greater and less than symbols.

We all enjoyed the snow this week. The children were very excited to come back after the snow day and tell me all about what they had done. As there was still so much snow around we went out and played again, learning what snow was, what it was like and using our senses to experience it.  When we came back we showed our learning in different ways. Some children made snowflakes, using lots of fine motor skills,  and wrote describing words on them; other children painted pictures and some wrote about their experiences.

Next week we are learning about emergency vehicles and on Thursday we will be going on our trip to Whaley Bridge Fire Station to see the fire engines and ambulances. Look out for a letter with further details.

We are rearranging our trip to MOSI for Wednesday 13th February. All other details will remain the same.

Week 3 Commencing 21.1.19

The children did lots of wonderful learning this week, in lots of fun ways.

In Phonics they played Twister , with different phonemes written on the dice and spots that they had to step or balance on. Whilst learning the digraph 'ch', they made a train which they put lots of 'ch. ch ch' digraphs all over. Some children learnt the 'igh' trigraph and spent time in exploring and playing in the 'light and bright' box. They then wrote igh words on a picture and decorated them with light and bright materials.

The children are still enjoying lots of child initiated learning which they spend in all of the areas. Lots of children love to be outside. One little girl cleverly discovered and reinforced her learning about forces and pushes by building a marble run and tipping water down it to see if the marble moved any quicker.

Some other children spent lots of time transporting water from the water wall tray to a box, which they then used to push objects down the drainpipes on water.

Next Wednesday we have our trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. Please don't take your children to school on Wednesday morning rather straight to Whaley Bridge train station by 9. 05. Collection is from the station at 3.29pm. Please refer to the letters for what to wear and bring.

Week 2 Commencing 14.1.19

The children had a superb week learning lots. In Phonics both groups moved on to Phase 3 with the Red group learning j,v,w and x. The Rainbow group learnt the phonemes ar,ear,oa and ow. In Maths the children were amazing at how quickly and well they learnt to count backwards. We counted backwards from 5, 10 and even 20! They used lots of concrete objects to understand and order the numbers as they counted backwards.

In Forest School we started doing a bird survey, as part of the RSPB Big School Birdwatch survey. The children learnt to identify different birds and listen to their calls using the interactive whiteboard and then we went outside to do a survey of the birds in our Eco Area. We also made some bird cake, bird feeders to encourage more small birds in to the area.

During the week it was one of the little girl's birthday so the children put on a party for her   and everyone came. They were brilliant and very amusing as they all took on roles - the hostess, the helpers, the party guests and  the mischief makers. Everyone had a fun time.

Our topic focus this week was trains. We watched a superb video about them  and then everyone did some brilliant writing. Pictures will follow.   See the link below to watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve2GrQrnVGk

Week 1 Commencing 7.1.19

The children all came back to school well rested and ready to learn. We had a wonderful week enjoying our new topic, being back together and learning new things.

Phonics was fun and we learnt lots of new sounds including j,v,w, ar, or and oa. We used our phonics often to sound and spell everyday. The children are becoming excellent at 'toy talk' when we segment and blend words together.

In Maths they practised forming numbers correctly and then showing the value.

We all enjoyed P.E on Wednesday that was taught by Miss Heath, the teacher from Chapel High School. We were learning ball skills. We learnt how to throw , catch and manage a ball.

In Forest School we went on a hunt for signs of winter. We started by reading a lovely story called ' A Little Bit of Winter', and used it as an inspiration to find a little bit of winter ourselves. The children spent time using their senses of sight and sound  to hunt for things on their winter hunt sheet.

When they found things that weren't on their sheet, they wrote the words themselves. I was very impressed.

This week our topic focus was cars; we enjoyed listening and talking about the story Little Red Bumper Car . We used it as a stimulus to learn how to cross the road safely . We used Super Cat to teach us to ' Stop, Look, Listen and Think.' On Friday we put our learning in to action and practised crossing the road safely.

In Understanding of The World we learnt about the forces of pushing and pulling. We used them in the park, pushing and pulling the swings and on the bikes in the playground.

The children used their road safety and phonic knowledge to draw traffic lights and write stop and go to control the traffic!

The wedding ceremony was amazing, as were the children. They LOVED getting dressed up, having the ceremony in the church, in front of the whole school and the parents and also having the reception afterwards. Their dancing was beautiful and their cake eating was speedy!! They love a cake.

Week 4 Commencing 26.11.8

In Maths this week the children spent time consolidating their learning and understanding of numbers 0-10. For those that were confident and wanted to they challenged themselves  with numbers 11-16. The children spent time counting, ordering,  learning correct number formation with songs, and understanding the value of each number. They showed their understanding by using numbers in all areas of the curriculum; for example counting out the number of tissue paper sheets needed to make a flower, counting the number of cars allowed for a race, ordering number cards and writing the missing numbers.

In PE the children have been learning to move their bodies in different ways and travel in different ways. They crawled, hopped, walked, rolled, shuffled and slid. They learnt to travel in a combination of different ways between mats and then along equipment.

The children have been learning that a wedding  happens when two people love each other. They have learnt about who is in the ceremony and what happens and how as part of the ceremony the bride and groom make promises or vows to each other. The children talked about the promises they  would make to the people they love and then they wrote them down. They made some beautiful promises  such as "I will always love you", "I will always make you pictures", "I will always watch your things on the tele,"  and  one of my favourites "I will always make you pizza!".   Earlier in the week the children wrote invitations to people they would like to invite to the wedding and some children decorated them also. All of the children's writing will be available to look at after our wedding. 

They have been also  busy making flowers for the bouquets and to decorate the church.

On Thursday we went to St James' Church to have a look around, learn about parts of a church and to have a little rehearsal before the big day on Wednesday. It was very exciting. 

Next week we will be making a wedding cake, practising our wedding dance and making our badges so everybody knows what our job is on the wedding day.

We are very pleased to announce that a very kind parent, who is a wedding photographer, has offered to take pictures of the event so please come dressed in your finest wedding clothes.

Week 3 Commencing 19.11.18

Birthdays

Last week our focus was Birthdays; we had a superb week learning what a birthday was and talking about how we celebrate them. We worked hard all week  writing party invitations, writing lists of food we would like at a party, games we would play and teddies we would invite . On Friday , the children got their wish and they all brought in their teddy bear for a teddy bears' birthday party.

I was amazed and very proud at how much the children have already learnt in their phonics lessons. They showed their amazing writing skills when they wrote lists of food, games or toys they would like at the party.

The children spent time practising their communication and language skills; their maths, learning about knowledge and understanding of the world and working on the personal, social and emotional skills whilst making things for the party. They enjoyed making cakes where they were taking turns, listening to each others' ideas and thinking about how materials change when they  added heat and mixed them together. They learnt and used lots of maths language making sandwiches learning shapes, halves and quarters.

In Forest School the children made a party for the animals that live there. They made cakes  using mud, leaves, twigs and anything they could find and decorations using string and natural materials.

Week 2 Commencing 12.11.19

This week our focus was Diwali.

The children learnt all about  how Diwali is celebrated by Hindu people and why it began.  We spent time listening to and watching shows of the  Rama and Sita story and many children enjoyed making masks to act out the story themselves. We used the story in our writing with everybody having a go at labelling pictures of the characters; some children even wrote a  sentence.  We took the Diwali theme in to Forest School  and the children chose either to make the characters out of leaves and sticks; make something from the story( one little girl made a decorated bridge like the monkey king made to get to Ravannna's island),  and other children chose to make diya lamps, like those used to light up the path of Rama and Sita on their journey back to their kingdom. We also learnt about rangoli patterns and all enjoyed colouring some using chalk and later in the week we made some Indian sweets and used all of our senses when investigating the ingredients , tasting them and then noticing how they changed when we heated them up.

 We all loved Diwali.

We have lots of fun in phonics. We always use dance to start our lessons and help us make the letter shapes with our bodies before we try to write them. We sing songs, learn actions and learn letter formation. To consolidate our learning we try to make the lessons kinaesthetic. We enjoyed cracking lots of eggs and making scrambled egg when we were learning the phoneme 'e'!!!

Term 6

Welcome back to our final term for this academic year! I can't believe how quickly the year has flown by or how much fun we have all had. This term our topic is Julia Donaldson. We will be learning and enjoying lots of her stories and characters in a fun and creative way. Please see our Curriculum Overviews for more details. 

Mrs Somerville and I are really looking forward to enjoying  our last term with a wonderful class  doing lots of fantastic learning.  

Week 3 W/C 19.6.17

The children worked really hard to practice and perform an amazing Julia Donaldson assembly. They were all amazing and made Mrs Somerville and I very proud.

Also in the week we enjoyed lots of Gruffalo learning and activities.

Week 2 commencing 12.6.17

Zog

Last week we learnt the story Zog. We had great fun working together to talk about our favourite bits, to put the story in order and to draw picture maps. I am so proud of how the children work so well together.

The children also acted out the story and made it in to a show. They  were very independent and creative making their own costumes and organizing their own shows. Another example of how well they can work together independent of grown up help.

We also enjoyed making the characters.

We did lots of other learning too but of course found time to enjoy playing together.

The Year 1 boys creating a cascading torrent of water.... such fun, especially when it all whooshed up!

We learnt a lot about gravity and forces doing it.

We all loved David's Show and Tell.

Week 1 Commencing 5.6.17

Room on the Broom

This week the children learnt the story of  Room on the Broom. They used their listening ears and their 'talking to a partner about what they have just heard' skills really well. They worked in groups to draw a long picture map of the story which included all of the events in order. I was so impressed with how good the children are at working together in groups, working out which part each person in their group will do and then working, without any adult help, to produce fantastic pieces of work.

Following on from this the Reception children wrote sentences about their favourite parts of the story and the Year 1 children retold the story.

The children worked together to paint big pictures of the characters. They decided what colours they should use and again, they decided who would do what part.

The children enjoyed going to The Eco Area to make their own potions, just as they had done in the story. They collected things they would put in a cauldron. They children worked in groups and made some wonderful spells and potions.

They made wands too.

....and of course had a lovely play.

The children enjoyed making broomsticks .

And painting using computer programs.

On Thursday , Class 1 enjoyed a superb walk along the canal to Tescos. Everybody took their own money in to the shop, decided what they would like to buy, looked at the price and worked out if they had enough money. Then they each took their item to the self server check out, scanned their item and then paid for it. Everybody enjoyed collecting their receipt and change, which they put in to their pockets. Hopefully the parents found it!  Everybody enjoyed eating their treat of course.

Welcome back to a new term in Class 1.

This half term our topic is Big and Little. We will be finding out about big and little animals, buildings, places and more. Please see our curriculum overview above, for more information. Next half term our topic will be Julia Donaldson where we will be doing lots of fun games, activities, writing and acting. More details will come home after half term.

Week Commencing 15th May

Take One Picture Week-