Welcome to Year R!

2024-25

In Year R, our teachers are Mrs Jandula (Class 1), Mrs Baker (Class 2), Mr Tagarsi (Class 3), and Miss King. Mrs Searle oversees all three classes as Assistant Headteacher and Early Years Manager. We are also supported by our dedicated Learning Support Assistants (LSA): Miss Drury, Mrs Bright, Miss Croft, Mrs Eldridge, Miss Kempston, and Mrs Howlett. 

If you have any questions, please contact your child's teacher. If they are not around at pick-up, you can speak to them by phoning the school and requesting an appointment.

Keep referring back to this page for regular updates about the children's learning. 

Update - Friday 13th December 2024

This week the children have continued to practise their nativity. They listened well, worked hard and were amazing on stage. 

In maths, we looked at the numbers 6,7,8,9 and 10. We discovered different ways the numbers could be represented. The children then completed some activities to enhance their provision. 

Our shared reading this week was all about Christmas, and how we celebrate. The children enjoyed sharing what they do at Christmas and loved learning about the different celebrations that took place. Thank you to everyone who shared their pictures. We also completed lots of Christmas themed activities, such as: making cards, christmas trees and festive baubles. 

In phonics, the children completed their phonics assessment for Autumn 2. The children did incredibly well and have made a massive amount of progress.

        

Updated - Friday 29th November 2024

This week our story was Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson. During the partner talk we sequenced the main events in the story and also learnt that some young animals look different from their parents. We also used action words to describe what the animals were doing in the jungle. 

In Maths, we looked closely at shapes with 4 sides. The children used stem sentences to describe the features of the quadrilaterals, such as squares or rectangles. They also explored combining shapes in order to make new ones, for example, folding a rectangle to make a square.  

On the art table, the children practised using different techniques such as folding or joining with split pins to make the main characters from this week’s story. We also created a story map together and next the children had a go at creating their own ones.

In Phonics, we learnt new diagraphs: sh, th, ng and nk, and a few more tricky words: push, he, off, she. Everybody worked extremely hard to consolidate their phonics knowledge during phonics lessons, blending-blast-quick catch up and during adult-led and independent writing and reading activities. The children especially enjoyed our tricky word matching game that they were able to make themselves at the cutting table. 

          

Updated - Friday 22nd November 2024

This week we learnt the new phonemes z,zz,qu and ch. Everybody worked really hard to read new words and practise writing them. Examples were: chip, quick, zip and buzz. 

The children also read their new book fluently and were able to answer comprehension questions. Well done!

The children completed various writing tasks, cutting tasks to practice their word recognition and maths worksheets, looking at 1 more, 1 less and the composition of 4 and 5. 

The children were extra lucky to have their first-ever disco, where they had so much fun. They enjoyed dancing with all their new friends across the year group. The children also got to attend a pantomime called Sleeping Beauty. They enjoyed it a lot and liked being able to boo, hiss and say the classic saying, "They're behind you!".

            

Updated - Friday 15th November 2024

Our book this week was The Gruffalo. The children thoroughly enjoyed listening to the story, sequencing the main events and describing the main characters and their features. Our role play also changed to the Gruffalo Cafe, where the customers were served scrambled snake, owl ice cream and roasted fox.

In Maths, we learnt about numbers 4 and 5, and we spoke about their composition, subitising and matching the amount to the numeral.

In phonics, the children were introduced to 4 new sounds: x, y, w and v and also new tricky words. We enjoyed bingo and memory games, which helped with recognition and recalling of the CVC and tricky words too.

The children are all working incredibly hard during their reading sessions, and therefore gaining increasing confidence in decoding words, comprehension and using prosody.

         

Updated - Friday 8th November 2024

      

This week in Shared Read we focused on Diwali and Bonfire Night. We listened to the Diwali story and discussed how it is celebrated, during the whole class and partner talk. Children enjoyed making their own Rangoli patterns and diya lamps as part of the art activities related to our literacy topic. We also created fireworks pictures by printing.

In Maths, we looked closely at triangles and circles and the children learnt to describe the features of both shapes. Everybody enjoyed playing a shape matching game, as well as the shape hunt with the special-shaped magnifying glasses.

We learnt four new sounds in Phonics ff, ll, ss, j and practised oral blending, even throughout the day when the teachers decided to sound talk words such as s-t-o-p, s-i-t or p-e-n. The children had a go at writing words and captions to label the fireworks pictures and did a fantastic job segmenting words in order to write the correct graphemes. 

We continued our reading practice this week-the children were given their reading books on Thursday and are looking forward to showing their reading skills to you. The books are also available on eCollins platform. Please make sure you continue reading at home with your child at least 5 times a week. It would also be lovely to share some of the children’s favourite stories in class, so please feel free to send them in the children’s book bags next week. 

Updated - Friday 25th October 2024

This week in Shared Read we enjoyed reading Funny Bones by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. We sequenced the story and described the main characters and events. We learned more about our bodies and bones. We looked at X-rays and tried to guess which part of the bodies we could see.

It was our Phonics assessment week, so we revised all the sounds we have learnt this term, and we practised writing graphemes and blending phonemes to read words, such as red, man, peck or sat.

In Maths our focus was numbers 1,2 and 3, and we looked at number composition, representations and also the concept of 1 more and 1 less.

The children all had fun creating their own skeletons and X-ray pictures on the art table. We also all enjoyed spending time in our new outside area, where we explored resources and learning jobs inspired by Humpty Dumpty, which was our rhyme of the week.

         

Updated - Friday 18th October 2024

This week we continued celebrating Black History Month and in Shared Read we concentrated on a story ‘We are Going to Find a Monster’ by Malorie Blackman. We talked about the main characters and sequenced the most important events in the story. The children enjoyed making maps of how to get to the monster’s lair and learnt how to use a timeline to recognise the difference between past and present. 

In Maths we have been consolidating our knowledge of patterns and we learnt to recognise a unit of repeat. The children showed an interest in making their own movement patterns and practising them with the rest of the class.

In Phonics we learnt sounds f, b, h and l and we have worked really hard to practice oral blending and segmenting to spell and write the words such as ten, dog or mum. The children listened to initial, middle and final sounds to write the words and label the pictures. We also played CVC words bingo, wrote words to match the pictures and joined in with listening games, such as ‘blend from the box’ or ‘can you touch your…?’ to further consolidate our phonics knowledge.

At the creative table we have been making recycled modelling monsters and mixing colours to decorate them. 

We absolutely love looking at all the Tapestry updates and the children are very excited to talk about their achievements and adventures at home. Please keep posting your news!

All of the children had a reading book to take home this week. The books have also been assigned on eCollins platform and you can find login details in your child Reading Diary. 

Updated - Friday 11th October 2024

To celebrate Black History Month in shared read we looked at 'My Hair' by Hannah Lee and we talked about ways we look after our hair. We sequenced the main events in the story and we worked hard to retell it. 

In maths we learnt about mass, capacity and patterns. Chldren enjoyed making their own repeating patterns using objects, movements and sounds. We also checked how much rice different containers can hold and worked in pairs to find out which objects where lighter or heavier.

In phonics we learnt four new sounds ck, e, u, r and practiced oral blending, writing grapmemes and reading words independently. We also started our reading groups this week and the children were very excited to be able to take books home to share them with their grown-ups. 

Update - Friday 4th October 2024

In shared read we listened to 'We are all different' story and the children enjoyed sharing facts about themselves, as well as their families. We looked at the photos shared on Tapestry and talked about festivals and celebrations such as Eid, Diwali, Christmas or weddings and birthdays. Class 1 children then enjoyed making special occasions cards and creating their own birthday cakes made of recycled modelling.

In Maths we explored concepts omore, less and the same and the children had a go at playing games such as funky fingers counting to support this topic.

In Phonics we learnt new sounds g,o,c and k and we worked hard to consolidate our knowledge by playing oral blending bingo and taking part in grapheme hunt.

Update - Thursday 26th September 2024

This week in we talked more about how we feel and how our actions can affect other people and their emotions. Our book of the week was 'Have You Filled a Bucket Today?' and we have spent a lot of time thinking about how we can ‘fill others buckets’ with kindness and how not to ‘dip in someone’s bucket’, as it would make them feel sad. 

In phonics, we have learnt new sounds: i, n, m and d and the children blended to read words, such as sit, tip, nap, mat or pan. Everybody worked really hard to practice writing graphemes and using ditties to help with letter formation. 

We discussed matching and sorting in maths. The children enjoyed matching pictures to the objects and finding pairs of the same items. We have also made sets and compared them. We have revisited counting from 0 to 10 and then from 10 to 0.

We all really enjoyed exploring colour mixing and using white and black paint to change the shades of the colours. Year R children were also busy making and decorating their own buckets.

Update - Friday 20th September 2024

In our shared read, we focused on 'The Colour Monster'. We looked at the front and the back cover and we talked about what title and blurb were. We sequenced the story and shared some comments about our feelings and emotions and how they can be expressed through facial expressions and actions. 

We continued singing number rhymes during daily maths. We have also worked on matching the numerals to the correct amount and counting out the sets and stopping at the given number. Children enjoyed a range of maths activities, such as number hunt or counting out the stickers to match the numeral. 

We were very excited about starting phonics this week. The children learnt sounds s,a,t and p and then had a go at writing their graphemes. We played I spy phonics games and listened to the initial sounds in words to label the pictures. 

At the art table, the children had fun making Colour Monster collages and exploring mixing blue and yellow in order to paint green waves.

Updated - Friday 13th September 2024

We have had so much fun during our first week of school.

We have learnt new routines and rules. Have learnt about our school ‘Rainbow Rules’, which are: good listening, good sitting, respect the environment, challenge yourself, be kind and kind hands.

We have explored our feelings display and had regular check ins to show how we are feeling throughout the day. We thought about how we can help our friends if they are feeling sad or angry.

We have been doing lots of name writing practise, have been refining our cutting skills and have been following instructions to complete activities.

We started foundations for phonics, listening for syllables in words, hearing rhyming words and learning nursery rhymes.

In maths we have been identifying amounts, making sets, using shapes to create pictures and subitising.

As you can see we have been incredibly busy this week.