Willow

Chicks in Willow Class

We have enjoyed having the incubator in Willow class and the children have been very excited to see the eggs hatch this week.  We have talked about the life cycle of a hen in science and worked together to make a word bank of topic words for the chicks which helped the children to label chick pictures.  However, the best part was holding the chicks, as you will see from the pictures below! 

Helicopter Stories

On Fridays, we now have a 'Helicopter' stories session.  The children are all given the opportunity to make up and tell  their own stories to Mrs Curry, who writes the stories in our class book.  

We then act out the stories, with the story writer choosing who plays the roles in the story and how it should be acted.  The children have loved the 2 sessions which we have had so far!

Active Children

Alongside the Pre-School, we are working with SASP to ensure that all of our youngest learners develop a healthy, active lifestyle as early in life as possible.  To help us with this, we have asked for your input, to enable us to understand what you already do at home and what school/pre-school could offer to broaden or enhance experiences.

You should all have received a link asking you to complete a short online survey and we would be very grateful for as many responses as possible, to help us gain a fuller picture.

Activity guidelines from the Chief Medical Officer are attached below. 

In school, the children are active for up to 90 minutes a day (as part of their play-times), they regularly take part in 'The Golden Mile' (a walking/ jogging route, which they complete before playtime) and they are encouraged to be as active as possible during the school day by accessing free-flow provision.

Additionally, they will undertake a range of activities away from school.

Further advice and guidelines to reduce sedentary behaviour and improve sleep amongst the under 5s can be found on the SASP website, the link for which is below.

Week ending 11th October

In phonics this week we have continued to practise consolidating previously taught sounds whilst introducing new sounds: /p/, /g/ and /o/.

In maths we are looking at closely at how numbers are made up.  For example, we are thinking about different ways of adding two numbers to make 4 and 5.  This will help the children to have a really sound foundation for future maths teaching.

The children have also enjoyed a second PE session with the sports coaches as you will see from the photos.

Week ending 4th October

Thank you to all of the parents who attended the KS1/EY harvest service.  We hope that you enjoyed seeing your child taking part in their first school 'performance'.  They all did brilliantly!

This week in phonics, we have learned the sounds: /t/, /i/ and /n/ and we have started to think about how we blend these sounds to make words.

We have continued to use the Numicon resources to help the children start to develop a secure understanding of number and how it is represented.

Phonics and maths

We have started to learn phonics in groups this week.  So far we have learned the sounds: /m/, /a/, /s/ and /d/ and we are learning how to write them.

In maths, we are using Numicon to ensure that the children have a secure understanding of the numbers 0-10.

The children are also enjoying a range of activities to develop a range of skills, including fine motor skills for writing.

Welcome to a new school year!

The children are all now settling well into our class routines.  They are enjoying staying for lunch and we look forward to them staying for full days from Monday 23rd September.

Please be aware that school lunches must be ordered online by a Wednesday evening for the following week.  If you have any queries or problems, please speak to the staff in the school office.

I will add information about what we are doing and add clips of activities/ songs which we have enjoyed in class.  For example, the children are enjoying the Dough Disco, so I attach a link below.

PRIME

To develop a lifelong love of learning and valuable life skills, we aim to support every child to develop a positive learning and life approach.  As part of this, you will increasingly become aware of the characteristics of PRIME. 

Nelson (our school mascot) accompanies and illustrates each strand of this.  

I attach a 'poster' to identify each of the characteristics of PRIME which we will be aiming to develop in every child during their time at Ruishton school.  Please see below.

Behavioural Expectations

For your information, I now attach an outline of the behaviour expected of our children as they move through Reception class and on into Key stage 1.  This should be read in conjunction with the school's behaviour policy.  

As the children progress through Willow class, they will be supported and guided towards meeting the level of behaviour expected.  This is a gradual and ongoing process.  Please speak to Mrs Curry if you have any questions.

Maths Games

Have a look at the addition and subtraction section of the website.  You can set the sliders to change the level of difficulty.  Have a go!