Autumn 2 2022

Friday 16th December 2022
 
Our final week of the first term! How has it gone so fast?
 
This week the children have been full of beans (and probably advent calendar chocolate!) but we have tried to maintain some sort of routine. 
 
We have continued with daily phonics where the tricky word focus was 'he' and we have looked at sounds: y,z,zz and qu. We had a wonderful language session today where the children spotted the words, finger spaces and full stops/question marks in the sentences and even read them!
 
Children have written the insides of their Christmas cards this week and we have been doing lots of name writing practice.
 
We have had a very Mathsy week of looking at the number 4 and the number five and how they can be represented in different ways. At lunchtime the children were heard saying 'two add two equals four' and 'one add three equals four' etc. It was amazing to hear! The children have also been looking at numbers one more and one less of numbers up to 5 and how we can check the accuracy by counting forwards and backwards. Today we went on a rectangle and square hunt and read a wonderful book 'Square' by Klassen and Barnett.
 
Please keep reading with your children during the holidays, it really does make a huge impact. 
 
Could you also keep pointing out numerals up to ten? It's always handy to have these in our memory to help us doing things such as the date and how many fruits are in the fruit bowl, for example.
 
Have a wonderful Christmas, be safe and I look forward to welcoming you back for the Spring Term 1 on Wednesday 4th January 2023.
 
PE will continue to be Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Wellies will still be required on Thursdays too.
 
Miss G x
Friday 9th December 2022!
 
How amazing were our little superstars performing their Nativity!? I am so proud of them for all using their confidence value and remembering all of the words and actions. Can you imagine all of those grown-ups staring back at you!? They have been practicing a lot this week and have really been trying their best.
 
In Phonics we have learnt the sounds, 'j,v,w,x' and the tricky word 'we'. Some children have been challenging themselves to write sentences about what the best day of their life was. I have had 'I got Peter.' and 'I got sweets.' The children remembered to add full stops! I am in awe of these brilliant beings. 
 
The children have been painting their salt dough decorations this week and finger painting to start their Christmas cards that they will be writing the inserts for next week. The children have been learning about prepositions this week and have been verbalising where things are - I have lots of very funny photos of children behind, on top of and underneath things.
 
In their own choosing time, children have been playing some wonderful imaginative games where they have been in the kitchen making Christmas dinner whilst the others decorate the library ready for a party. The children have been colour mixing and painting some wonderful Christmas pictures and really experimenting with a variety of brush strokes. 
 
The children got to watch the rest of the school perform their play and they sat every so beautifully. 
 
In PSHE we have been talking about how to make friends and what to do if we see someone on their own on the playground. We had lots of lovely suggestions about how we could make people feel happier.
 
One more week left to go! Please keep reading.
 
Have a wonderful weekend, 
 
Miss G x
Friday 2nd December 2022
 
We have had another busy and action-packed week in class Plym!
 
The Gruffalo from the story really wanted to learn how to make a jam sandwich so we had to show him! The children told me how to make it, sequenced some pictures which involved practicing their cutting skills and using glue and then.. then they had a go at making their own jam sandwich! I took lots of photos and then the children had to write captions in their writing books. They did amazingly!
 
The children also helped Mrs Gibson to make some salt dough and they used cutters to create some Christmas decorations.. The children will be painting them next week.
 
The children looked at Kandinsky's concentric circles artwork and had a go at creating their own .. they put them all together and made their own giant piece of artwork too.
 
I am absolutely astounded by how motivated the children are to mark make. The children have been picking up pens and paper and are actually WANTING to write. They all support and applaud one another.
 
In PSHE we looked at lots of different types of houses and saw that some people live in boats, flats, semi detached, detached and farm houses and all sorts of other types. It was another thing that we might have that's dofferent which we think is awesome. It would be so boring if we all had life the same.
 
In Phonics we have reviewed h,b,f,ff,l and ll and the tricky word into.
 
The children looked like they had a superb time at the Christmas fayre, thank you for all of your support and participation.
 
Have a wonderful weekend, 
 
Miss G x
Friday 25th November 2022
 
This week we reviewed ck, e, u and r and on Friday worked with a partner for guided reading. Our tricky work review was the word 'to'. It has been so amazing to see the children spotting these tricky words in all of the words and signs around them.
 
We used a hot glue gun and lolly sticks to create some Christmas tree decorations to go on the tree in the church in Millbrook. We were so careful and listened to instructions brilliantly. 
 
In PE we moved on from jumps to rolls. We learnt how to do a dish roll, an egg roll, a rock roll and a straight roll. We had to work really hard to make sure we kept our legs together.  A few off us rolled off our mat and onto the floor, hehe.
 
In PSHE we thought about our families and how not all of our families are the same. Some of us are an only child, some of us have brothers and sisters, or one mum in our house or a mum and a dad in our house etc. We talked about how all of this is absolutely fine and that it is good to be different. We listened to the story of The Hueys and the New Jumper and saw how they chose to be different too.
 
In Outdoor learning we went outside in our waterproof clothing and used mud and water mixed up in pots to do some mud painting. We used paintbrushes and created wonderful pictures on white paper. The children were then inspired by their new English text, the Gruffalo, and went in the dens on a Gruffalo hunt.
 
In English the children worked in pairs and used puppets of the Gruffalo characters to re-tell the story. They remembered lots of the repeated phrases and did the most tremendous partner work.
 
In Maths we had to use our listening skills to listen to claps and items being dropped into a metal container. The adult them removed items and the children had to try and guess how many were left. The children also had to put their hand into a bag and feel how many items were in the bag.. It is really hard to count when you can't see and it's only by listening or feeling. Our other senses were working extra hard!
 
The children have been working very hard on their Nativity practice and as part of their RE learning have also been acting out the Nativity story. We had all the costumes out and the children remembered lots of details of the story. The children remembered what the three wise men brought to the baby Jesus as gifts.
 
Please read 5 times a week.
 
Have a superb weekend, 
 
Miss G x
Friday 18th November 2022
 
This week we reviewed: g,o,c,k and did a guided reading session using a book that had these sounds in it. The children worked beautifully in their pairs and really supported each other. We focused again on the tricky word 'go'.
 
In Maths we thought about the number 3 and how this can be made up of 3 and 0. 2 and 1 etc and used our fingers, Numicon, cubes and even ladybirds to help us explore this deeper.
 
In PSHE we thought about being unique and how it is so okay to be different from our friends. We made paper chains and on each one wrote something that we are good at, something that makes us unique.
 
In PE we used our jumps to help us jump on to, over and off of things. We jumped over cones, jumped off of benches and even off of higher apparatus.
 
In RE we thought about why everyone is special and unique - Jesus got lost and his parents came to find him when he was twelve years old, because he was special to his family. Just like we are special to our friends, our family and even our Teachers. We passed Watson the dog to a person at a time and told them something that was special about them.
 
In outdoor learning we got the clay out again because of the excitement last week, but this time we made minibeast models. We had moths, ladybirds, snails and spiders. The children have so much more strength in their fingers now than when they begun.
 
The children have spent a lot of time rehearsing their performance this week. We have been doing lots of singing and it is beginning to all come together. 
 
Please keep reading and writing, the children have become very self-motivated to write in their own learning time which has been absolutely fantastic to see. 
 
Have a superb weekend, 
 
Miss G x
Friday 11th November 2022
 
This week the children really showed their respect and responsibility value by learning about Remembrance day and why we have the symbol of the poppy. They also sat exceptionally well for the two minute silence today. The children have created some superb poppy pictures using potatoes and paint. The children also completed some fine motor challenges where they had to roll up play doh into tiny little balls and place them all on the poppy pictures. 
 
In phonics we have been reviewing i, m, d and n and reading and writing words such as 'dog', 'map' and 'sit'. Some children really challenegd themselves this week and in their English books wrote 'a sad man' and 'a dog'.. I am so proud! The children undertook their second guided reading session this morning, we are beginning to get the hang of it!
 
In PSHE we talked about what we are good at and how not everyone is good at the same thing but that this is perfectly okay. In PE we had a go at reviewing our jumps from last week and also learnt a new jump, the half-turn jump. We then had a go at creating a little mini sequence of linking some jumps together by using other movements such as hopping on one leg or moving our arms around. In outdoor learning we got little balls of clay and made some nature faces using things from the floor such as baby pine cones, berries and leaves to create the facial features. In RE we looked more closely into the Nativity story and why we celebrate Christmas and how it happens in Decmber. We talked about what some Christians choose to do to celebrate: midnight mass, carols etc...
 
In Maths we have been looking at one more and one less using numbers to 3 and creating cube towers and comparing this to Numicon pieces. Today we also played a little game with 5 frames where we had to take it in turns to roll a dice with numbers up to 3 on it, and put that number of counters on our five frame and see who filled it first.
 
Apologies for the delay in reading books being changed this week, Mrs Gibson was poorly and I can't do it all! We were so happy to have her back with us on Thursday. 
 
Please keep reading at home, counting everything around the house or when you're out and about. Ask little questions like 'if I have two sausages and then had one more, how many would I have?'.
 
Have a superb weekend and it's time to start prepping for our Christmas performance.. Eeeek!
 
Miss G x
Friday 4th November 2022.
 
Welcome back to our second half term of big school!
 
We have had a busy week learning about the Hindu festival of Diwali and listening to stories about how it is celebrated. We listened to the story of Rama and Sita too and found out it is the festival of light to help guide Rama back home. We had a go creating some wonderful rangoli patterns on the playground using colourful chalks.
 
We have also learnt about firework safety this week as November 5th is bonfire night. We looked briefly at the story about the Gunpowder plot and then focused on firework safety. We know we mustn't touch fireworks, only adults. That sparklers need to be held away, pets need to be kept indoors and we must stand really far back from a bonfire. We then used chalk on black paper to create some firework pictures and then flared toilet roll tubes and lots and lots of glitter - sorry Mrs Boyle!
 
The children have been learning our new English text, 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' and we now have actions to go with every part of the story and perform it at the start of each lesson. We went on the field to explore some 'long, wavy grass' and we had a tub of water to help us think of lots of wonderful adjectives. The children produced a piece of writing and I am so proud of their sound knowledge application.
 
In Phonics this week we have started to review phase 2 but this time the children have to use the sound to sound out and write CVC words in their books. On Friday we had our first ever guided reading session where the children worked in pairs and had to take it in turns to read to their partner whilst an adult guided them through and asked lots of questions. They did amazingly.
 
In Maths we have been looking at what '1', '2' and '3' look like. What they look like with fingers, on a dice, on a bead string, on a ten frame, the numeral, the words etc etc. We found that 1 and 1 and 1 makes three, by using the Numicon pieces to help us.
 
In RE we have heard the Christmas story and are beginning to find out why Christians like to perform Nativity plays and why Christmas is celebrated. We had a great class discussion and some wonderful questions were asked such as 'What country does God live in?' and 'What language does God say hello and goodbye in?'. Very thought provoking! 
 
In PE children had a go at trying some new jumps. We did a straight jump, a star jump and a tuck jump. We found out that we must bend our legs to ensure that we keep our knees and joints safe. We also used a mat to help with this too.
 
Please keep reading, lots of children are beginning to progress onto the next book band now so please keep supporting them with their sounding out and blending. 
 
Have a super weekend and please stay safe with any fireworks.
 
Miss G x