Owls Class Blog
Welcome to Reception Owls
PE day is Monday
Book & Biscuit Dates
10th January, 24th January, 7th February, 28th February, 13th March & 27th March.
Week beginning 18th March
The children have been taking part in some planting this week. Our potato seeds had chit so they helped to plant them outside - fingers crossed we will have a good harvest of potatoes later in the year! The children also planted some cress seeds to see how long it will take for them to grow. They are very excited to spot any changes happening.
We also visited the church this week to take part in Experience Easter. The children learnt about the Easter story and enacted the last supper with bread and grape juice! They took part in some craft activities and helped to create an Easter garden.
Please find below some links to reinforce the phonics learning this week.
Week beginning 11th March
The children have had a very busy week. To mark British Science Week, they took part in a Lego workshop. First they had to create a self portrait and then they had a competition to see who could build the tallest tower in 10 minutes.
The theme for British Science Week is time so we looked together at how to make a sand timer. I showed the children the resources to use and they had to tell me what I needed to do to create a working sand timer. The children had some great ideas and we did end up with a 30 second sand timer.
Literacy
The children have been learning the story of The Sleepy Bumblebee. They worked with Little Owls to act out the story and then we created our story map.
Maths
This week the children have been looking at the numbers 9 and 10, using 10 frames to show how the numbers are made.
The children have also been working on their observational skills to paint pictures of Spring flowers.
Week beginning 4th March
What lovely Spring weather we have been enjoying this week! The children were able to go on a hunt around the school to look out for the signs of Spring. They found lots of blossom & daffodils which they used to paint and draw pictures of. We are hoping to see the lambs in the field very soon!
Literacy
The children were able to look closely at a honeycomb, spotting the hexagon shapes and the honey inside. They then made their own honey sandwiches and wrote down the instructions using sequencing words such as first, next, finally.
Below are some links to support our work in Phonics.
World Book Day
The children enjoyed taking part in a dance workshop to bring the book 'Dinosaurs & all that Rubbish' to life. They listened carefully to the story, followed the dance instructions and added their own ideas to the final piece.
Week beginning 26th February
It has been great to see everyone back in school after the half term holiday. The children have been learning about firefighters this week, looking at what they do to help people and what uniform they have to wear. They then had a firefighter challenge to complete. They had to transport water from a watering can to an empty watering can representing a fire. The children were told that they had to work as a team and they were not allowed to walk with the water. They had some time to think about how they could complete the challenge and decided that they needed to use a bucket and pass the bucket from person to person down a line. At first the children all stood close together but they soon realised that they wouldn't be able to reach the 'fire' so they spread themselves out like a human chain and successfully completed the challenge.
Phonics
This week the children have progressed from reading paper ditties to reading books. They have impressed me with their ability to read Speedy Green Words like 'and', 'on', 'with' quickly without needing to Fred talk. Some of the children have been introduced to the Red Words 'your' and 'he'. The children will come home today with a copy of their book to read at home. Below are some links to the first Set2 sounds that have been introduced this week.
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/JmljCjMs/gjWRBdH6
Maths
The children have been playing dice games and using counters to learn about number doubles up to double 5 this week. They have been using stem sentences such as, '4 is made of 2 and 2, double 2 is 4' to show their understanding.
Week beginning 12th February
Literacy
This week the children have been learning about letter writing and have been sending lots of letters to each other, using our post box in the classroom. Using a letter map, they wrote a letter to The Rainbow Princess from Mr Frog.
Maths
The children have been using their subitising skills to find parts of whole numbers. They then focussed on the number 7, finding different ways to partition it.
We hope you have a lovely half term break and look forward to seeing you back in school on the 26th February.
Week beginning 5th February
The children have learnt about Chinese New Year this week. They have listened to the story of The Great Race and used props to retell the story. They have learnt that the lucky colour is red and it is the year of the dragon. They also made their own lanterns.
Literacy
The children innovated the story of The Rainbow Princess by changing the characters. We had some rainbow dragons, rainbow unicorns, Mr Swans and Mr Tadpoles!
Below is a phonics link to consolidate the children's knowledge of the sound 'ck'.
Maths
This week the children have been ordering numbers and saying which numbers are more than others. They have consolidated their knowledge of the number 8 and have been noticing when numbers have been increased or decreased.
Week beginning 29th January
This week we have continued to look at People Who Help Us. We went for a walk around the village, identifying the places where people who help us might be. We saw the church, the shop, the doctor's surgery and our school and we also found some bus stops and post boxes. The children then programmed Bee-bot around to photographs of the places we visited on our walk.
Literacy
This week the children started to innovate the story of The Rainbow Princess. We picked four different places for the characters to visit and added them to the class story map using post-it notes. The children then chose their own places to add to their story map.
Maths
The children have been looking at the numbers 6 to 10 this week, partitioning them into 5 and 'a bit.' They have used cubes to show their understanding, using stem sentences such as, '8 is made of 5 and 3, 5 and 3 is 8.' Below is a link to an episode of Numberblocks which links to this learning.
The children have also started to make their sock puppets this week and they can't wait to bring them home once they are all finished.
Week beginning 22nd January
This week the children have continued to enjoy The Rainbow Princess story. We created a class story map with them remembering the key places the characters visit and they then showed their knowledge of this to programme Bee-bot around a mat showing these places, in the correct order.
Phonics
The children have continued to work on the Ditties this week. They used Fred talk to read the words and then blend for reading whilst also being able to read short words, such as 'on' and 'in', by sight. This week they have learnt the Red words 'my' and 'go'. I have sent home this week's Ditties for them to read at home, one ditty per day is ideal.
Maths
This week the children have been comparing quantities in two groups. They have used the words 'more than' and 'fewer than' to describe the quantities. We also talked about using the word 'equal' when the quantity is the same.
Also this week the children made their own stick puppets using the characters from The Rainbow Princess. They chose which character they wanted, coloured it in, cut around the shape and then stuck a lolly stick at the bottom. Afterwards the children enjoyed playing with their puppets, telling the story with them.
Week beginning 15th January
This week we continued to think about people who help us and we asked the children what job they would like to do when they grow up. We had lots of children wanting to be police officers or fire fighters, we even had someone wanting to be a midwife and someone wanting to be a painter and decorator. The children painted a picture to show which job they would like to do and added some writing to this.
Literacy
The children received an exciting letter this week from the Rainbow Princess. She left a story for the children and they decided to learn this as the new class story. We added actions to the story and filmed it for the Rainbow Princess to watch.
Maths
This week the children have been partitioning the numbers 6 and 7 by finding the 'five and a bit.' They used stem sentences to show their understanding and then looked at the numbers 8, 9 and 10 using cubes to find the five first and then work out the other number - 8 is made of 5 and 3, 5 and 3 is 8.
Week beginning 8th January
Our first full week after the holiday and the children are back into the swing of things again! It has been great to be able to access the outdoor area more with less rain being around!
Phonics
This week the children have started to read ditties, these are short stories containing 4 or 5 lines of text that the children can read by decoding the words (Fred Talk). They have also learnt the red words, 'I' and 'the'. The children have got this week's ditties in their book bags so they can read one or two ditties a day at home.
Maths
This week we have been using the song Five Little Speckled Frogs to learn how to partition the number 5 into two groups. The children have been using the stem sentences; 5 is made of 4 and 1, 4 and 1 is 5. 5 is made of 3 and 2, 3 and 2 is 5.
Friday 1st January 2024
Happy New Year
Welcome to the Spring Term, it has been great to see everybody back in today. Our topic for this half term is going to be 'People Who Help Us.'
Just a reminder that Book & Biscuit takes place every other Wednesday at 3.10pm.
Week beginning 4th December
What a busy couple of weeks we have had, Christmas has well and truly arrived in Owls! The children have taken part in lots of Christmas related experiences. Last week we invited grandparents into school to complete Christmas craft activities with the children. This week we visited the church to learn about Advent and the Christmas story.
On Wednesday we had an amazing trip to Westlodge Farm to see Father Christmas. The children made bags of reindeer food to take home, they went to Elf School to learn how to be an elf and receive their very own Santa hat, they sat in Santa's sleigh, they wrote a letter to Father Christmas and posted it in the North Pole post box before meeting Father Christmas and they all picked a toy to take home. In the afternoon the children took part in a Nativity play and we also looked around the farm and saw lots of animals - we even saw some newly born piglets! The children had a great time and were a credit to the school - we are very proud of them.
Week beginning 20th November
The children have had a busy couple of weeks. We are starting the build up to Christmas, learning the Nativity songs - the children are really excited about going on the stage!
Literacy
Our class story is The Little Red Hen. Over the past couple of weeks they have been learning about the journey of bread. They can tell the story using the actions and they have been writing key character phrases into speech bubbles.
Maths
This week the children have been reviewing the counting rules: start at number one, count each item one at a time, the last number you say tells you how many there are. They have also been finding equal amounts.
Week beginning 6th November
The children have had a busy week learning all about Diwali. They have made Diva lamps with clay & used coloured sand to create Rangoli patterns as well as lots of other activities to increase their understanding of Diwali. The children also had the opportunity to try some authentic clothing on belonging to one of our children who talked to the class about her experience of Diwali. The children have also been looking at poppies.
Phonics
The children have learnt the Set 1 Special Sounds; sh, ch, th and qu. There are some links below to reinforce the learning at home.
Maths
This week the children have been introduced to 'parts' and 'whole'. We began by looking at the parts of toys & then the parts of animals, moving into the parts that make the numbers 2 and 3.
Week beginning 16th October
This week the children have been learning to tell the story of the Magic Porridge Pot. They created a story map, ordered key pictures, used their phonics skills to write some key phrases from the story and even made their own porridge!
We also looked at the colours the artist Lowry used in his pictures and learnt how to make our colours lighter and darker by adding white or black.
In phonics this week the children have learnt the sounds v, y and w. They have been blending sounds to spell some simple words and are beginning to write these in sand, on whiteboards and in their books. New links to phonics films have been emailed home so the children can access these at home.
We hope you have a great half term and we look forward to seeing you all on 30th October.
Week beginning 2nd October
The children have had a busy few weeks. We have started to do a calendar every day to improve their awareness of the days of the week and the season we are in.
Literacy
In Phonics the children have learnt the Set 1 sounds; m,a,s,t,d,p,g,c,o,n,k,u,f,e. They are beginning to use these sounds to word build. Below are some links to reinforce the learning at home.
The children have also been learning the story of The Gingerbread Man this week. They have used a story map to help them remember it & have enjoyed retelling it with the puppets & making their own pictures.
We even did a little experiment with our own gingerbread men to see what happens when they are put into different liquids; water, oil & vinegar.
Maths
This week the children have been subitising different dot patterns and describing them using positional language such as; diagonal, across, down, straight. They then looked at the number 4 and investigated the different patterns they could make with four cubes.
Week beginning 11th September
Welcome to a new school year. It has been lovely to welcome the children back. All the children have settled well and it has been really pleasing to see them help and support the new preschool starters.
All the children have picked a library book to bring home and share. These will be changed weekly but please keep them in book bags as the day they are changed may differ.
In Maths they have been subitising numbers (saying how many there are without counting) and describing different dot patterns.
In Phonics the children have been looking at the Set 1 sounds; m, a, s, d, t, i, n. Below are some links to some films to reinforce the learning at home.
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/BHmLXt3C/M6S52gz3
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/WPoTZ2wq/Kxju7k1i
In other areas the children have been learning about the skeleton and then used art straws to create their own. They were also excited to take part in an experiment using coloured ice cubes to explore colour mixing with Primary colours.
