Welcome to school Robins! 

This half term we will be focusing on our school value of Friendship. 

To help us to answer the question of How can we be a good friend? we will be looking at lots of different books including the following: 

Week 6: Kipper's Birthday

The children have loved this story and couldn't wait to retell it to Mrs CC during the latter part of the week! They understood that Kipper's invitation to his friends hadn't been very clear, so set about writing their own party invitations. We are so proud of the effort the children put into these, working hard to apply their phonics skills. Miss Robinson was invited to a party in Robins at the end of the week and we enjoyed being able to read her RSVP, again applying our phonics learning. 

In Maths we looked at the number four in more depth, considering how it can be made up and the different ways it can be represented. We practised our subitising by playing games involving dice, recognising the number of dots shown rather than having to count them each time. We then practised counting out the amount shown on the dice, working hard to make sure we said one number for each item.

In Phonics, we continued learning the set 1 sounds: r, j, v, y, w. We have also begun 'Word Time,' where we practise reading short words using the sounds we have learnt so far. The children know to 'Fred Talk' (say each sound individually) and then read the word by blending these sounds together. Great work, Robins! 

The children took part in many fine motor activities this week in preparation for Kipper's birthday party on Friday. They decorated bunting and paper plates, printed their own wrapping paper designs, and wrapped up presents for Kipper using the paper they'd made.

Miss Robinson came along to the party on Friday afternoon and everybody had a great time dancing and playing party games together! We were particularly impressed by the children's support for one another during pass the parcel, congratulating those who had a turn unwrapping a layer and giving a round of applause to the winner! Great friendship, Robins!

Week 5: Elmer

What an exciting week! We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Harvest Festival together in the church, and are very proud of how well the children performed their Bean Song. Thank you to all families who supported this event, and also to those who have shared positive feedback with us afterwards. The children worked very hard and we love to hear that it came across in the church!

This week we've continued thinking about ourselves and our friendships through the story of Elmer. The class really enjoyed this story, and were very keen to read other Elmer stories throughout the week. We used images from the book to think about the order of the events, recalling what happed to retell the story. His colourful patchwork appearance inspired us to create many different representations of Elmer: large scale printing, large scale colouring with chalks, smaller scale colouring using pens, finger painting, painting with cotton buds, and colouring by number. We even designed our own patterned elephants!

In phonics, we continued learning our set 1 sounds: f, e, l, h. By Friday we were ready to have a go at reading some word cards by segmenting them into their individual sounds and then blending those sounds together. Amazing work, Robins!

In Maths, we've continued exploring numbers to 5 by looking very carefully at what they can be made up of. We've enjoyed meeting different Numberblocks characters to help us make links between the numbers we say and what they really mean.

Stay tuned for more photos!

Week 4: The Little Red Hen

What a busy week! We started it off with a visit to St Dunstan's Church, where we explored the building and listened to Reverend Sally explain what things were for and how we behave when we are there. We've been working hard on our song for the school's Harvest service and cannot wait to perform it in the church next week!

We enjoyed the story of The Little Red Hen and were able to recall what happened using our class story map. We didn't hear what happened at the end of the story until the end of the week, which allowed us to enjoy a discussion on what we thought the Little Red Hen should do. We listened to each others' ideas on whether or not she should share the bread, that she'd worked so hard to make, with her friends who would not help her to make it. This discussion helped us to make links with our topic question this term: How can we be a good friend?

In Phonics, we continued learning out Set 1 sounds: o, c, k, u, b. We used some of the sounds we've learnt so far to describe how the Little Red Hen might have felt when her friends wouldn't help her. We segmented the word, for example 'sad', into its individual sounds, and then had a go at writing it or building it with magnetic letters. 

We met our Maths puppet, Melody, who we have been helping learn how to count carefully. We taught her how to count in order from 1 to 5, to touch or move each item as you count it, to say one number for each item, and that the last number you say is how many items there are altogether (the total). 

We have enjoyed many different creative activities in the classroom. A particular favourite was using magnifying glasses to look closely at a selection of squashes and gourds. Many children drew and painted pictures of these, and loved exploring the insides once we'd cut them open!

Week 3: Where the Wild Things Are

We couldn't believe what had happened to our classroom when we arrived at school on Monday. A creature had left scratch marks, leaves, mud, and upturned chairs all over the place! We wondered whether it could've been a visit from a Wild Thing...

We enjoyed joining in with this story throughout the week, creating our own Wild Things, and even making boats to test out on the water at the end of the week. 

In phonics, we continued to learn the Set 1 sounds. This week we learnt t, i, n, p and g. We enjoyed practising letter formation and recognition in different ways: in glitter, in chalk, on paper, and by throwing bean bags at sounds on the wall.

We began our formal maths teaching this week and we've been so impressed by the children's enthusiasm. Our learning this week centred around subitising (identifying an amount by recognising it, rather than counting it) quantities up 3. We also represented 1, 2, and 3 on our fingers.

On  Friday we celebrated European Day of Languages. We feel very fortunate to have had visitors in to teach us some French and Spanish, and to hear some of the languages spoken by people in our class and school.  

Week 2: Our Class Is A Family

We've had a fantastic second week at school, jam packed with learning! The children have settled into school beautifully, all coming in with smiles on their faces and embracing the learning and play opportunities we've thrown at them! 

We started learning our 'Set 1' sounds in phonics this week: m, a, s, and d. We're very proud of all the children for trying their hardest to listen to the sounds, say the sounds, have a go at writing them and even blend some of them together to make words! For more information on their pronunciation, and the mnemonics we use to teach letter formation, please see the class welcome page.

This week's text Our Class Is A Family helped us to think about what a family is and how, as a class, we are a special group of people who also spend a lot of time together - just like a family. We discussed our school values of 'respect' and 'friendship,' what we can do to show these in our classroom to make sure everyone feels happy and safe at school, and how we can look after one another. 

All children have now had a turn sharing their holiday boxes. Thank you for supporting your children over the summer to put these together! It was really special to hear each child speak to the class about themselves, and it has helped us get to know each other better. Continuing on from these conversations, the children worked hard to paint their own self portraits this week. These are now displayed on the 'Wow Wall' in the main school corridor, as well as in our classroom. 

Thank you for your continued support, and we can't wait to see what next week will bring.