Year R Squirrels
You are here:
Team Squirrel - Mrs Browne
PE is on a Thursday: Come into school in PE kit. Children must have shorts and long trousers/leggings.
Forest school is on a Friday: Come into school in PE kit. Children must have a long sleeved top and trousers (even in warm weathers). Forest school kits must have named wellington boots, spare socks and waterproofs in a forest school bag, which can stay in school.
Library day is on a Friday: please return your library books on this day to choose a new one.
Week 13 - We all have feelings
This week has been a great time to reflect for all the children as they have been able to share a time they felt a different emotion. The emotions we talked about were happy, sad, angry, tired, poorly, scared and excited. We also dipped into feeling confused, worried and anxious. I was very impressed that the children could explain a time they felt a different emotion and the reasons why. Some children explained that their dog made them feel angry when they get too excited and jump up at them or when their siblings took their toys away. We have read some lovely books about feelings which help us manage ways of feeling angry or sad. I have even noticed in children's conversations that they express how they are feeling and share how others may feel if they did something.
Phonics:
In phonics, we have learnt the sounds 'h', 'b', 'f', and 'l'. We only have 3 more sounds to learn in phase 2 then we will do lots of recapping and learning what sounds to put together to make words and write sentences. To support our topic we have been writing about what makes us happy, enacted a role play school so the children could be a bossy teacher like Mrs Browne, and matched different emotion faces. In pairs, we have also taken photos of each other showing a different emotion. Here are some brilliant faces!
Maths:
In maths, we have been counting out from a larger group. To do this, we counted then recorded how many 2D shapes there are, completed an I spy and count to 5 and 10, used 'find me' cards to find 10 blocks, 5 pine cones or 3 animals, and also sorted and hunted for 2D and 3D shapes.
Next week we will dip into the birth of Jesus and be Nativity ready!
Week 12 - Autumn Observations!
This week we have looked at Autumn. We learnt that there are 4 seasons in the year, which are Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. We compared each season and then focused on Autumn. The children could tell me that the leaves fall off the trees and change colour. We found out that the leaves are changing colour and falling off the trees because they are dying and in the Spring time, they will grow again. The children also shared what clothes we wear in Autumn and how it's getting darker earlier, meaning the days are shorter.
To support our topic, in groups we created an Autumn picture together on a big piece of paper, to include animals, foliage, trees and people wearing the correct clothing, such as hats, coats and welly boots. The children have loved exploring the Autumn table. There was so much to touch, smell and talk about, so thank you to those who brought something in.
Phonics:
In phonics this week, our sounds are 'ck', 'e', 'u', 'r'; 'ck' was our first digraph, meaning two letters that make one sound! More of these are on the way after Christmas! In phonics, we have been writing about what we see in Autumn. Some of us had a picture to support our writing and others drew what they see in Autumn.
Maths:
In maths, we have been recapping what a 2D and 3D shape is. We are now comparing and finding the total of a given amount. We have been writing the total number, finding the total number and drawing the total number using dots or shapes. To support this, we played autumn bingo and the children had to count how many they had matched and how many they had left to win the game.
Next week's topic is 'we all have feelings'.
Week 11 – We are all different
We have had a lovely week reading brilliant stories all about difference. We talked about our differences and similarities such as our hair, favourite colour, hobbies, who we live with and features such as glasses and freckles. The children enjoyed designing odd socks and talking to each other about their likes and thoughts linked to our theme to celebrate difference. The children have enjoyed using Mr Potato Head to create different faces with different features on too. We also discussed the festival of Diwali and what it means to Hindus around the world. We then created our own rangoli patterns.
Phonics:
This week our sounds were ‘g’, ‘o’, ‘c’ and ‘k’. I am so impressed by how brilliantly the children are writing the sounds and making words with previously taught sounds. We have been drawing and attempting to write what makes us special. The children have drawn pictures with their families, pets, hobbies on and given great explanations as to why that makes them special.
Maths:
In maths, we are all about 2D shape. See if your child can remember what 2D means…
We looked at different 2D shapes and where in our environment objects represent those shapes. We have even counted how many sides different shapes have and wrote down the number. Within our maths activities we cut and stuck shapes to make pictures, played shape bingo and created pasta faces!
Next week our topic is Autumn observations. Please can you go for a walk this weekend and find an object while you are out and about which links to autumn. It can then go on our exploration table so the children can explore and talk about what they found.
Week 10 - Minibeasts and the question, 'Why are people wearing poppies?'
Remembrance day:
This week started with remembering those who were injured or died in the war. We spoke lightly about why people are wearing poppies, what it means to wear one and what happens to the money raised from all the poppies bought. The children then created their own poppies which they couldn't wait to take home and show you. We even managed a two minutes' silence at 11o'clock! Well done Squirrels for showing your respect; I am very proud. In forest school, we created minibeasts using clay, mud and the natural resources around us.
Minibeasts:
We learnt about all types of minibeasts using new vocabulary such as micro-habitat, camouflage, hibernation, predators and moist to describe some habitats. We learnt how they live, what they eat and the special skills they have to survive in nature. We looked at worms, ladybirds, spiders, caterpillars, ants and woodlice. We played a game where we had to guess the minibeast based on questions asked to describe it. The children did brilliantly! They also taught me a few things about what they already knew about minibeasts... and it was a lot! Great job team.
Phonics:
Our sounds this week were 'i', 'n', 'm' and 'd'. The children did a great job at remembering the sounds taught last week and used them to make words from this week's sounds. I can already see the children using their phonetic knowledge to read words without the support from pictures, which is fantastic! Keep up the good reading at home. To support our topic we drew our favourite minibeast and copied the word from a word mat. The children tried hard to match the letters and follow how they were written. We also had a minibeast small world area to explore with a variety of non-fiction and fiction books.
Maths:
In maths, we are learning about numbers and what they represent. We have been matching numbers to quantities and using key vocabulary such as bigger than or smaller than and one more and one less than a given number. To support our topic and maths, we have been threading caterpillars with a given number, creating habitats with a variety of numbered resources and making playdoh spots to match a number.
We had a visit from the Police!
We had the best Thursday afternoon with a visit from the Police! They told us what they do to help people and even dogs sometimes! We got to wear their uniform and hats, go in the car and put the lights on and even got to hear sirens! The children loved it and asked the Police some brilliant questions like:
What tools do you have and what do they do?
Do you catch monsters?
Do you go to other countries?
Next week: Our topic is 'We are all different'.
Week 9 - Welcome back and our topic this week is 'All about me and my family'
This week has been a big week of remembering and learning even more things to do with our daily routine, such as remembering our bird groups for completing activities and packing and unpacking our reading wallets in and out of our bags!
All about me and my family:
We have been busy looking at our features in a mirror then drawing self portraits, ensuring we include all we can see such as pupils, freckles (if we have them), glasses and hairstyle. I was super impressed by the detail and care given from the children to ensure their portraits looked like them. Next, we constructed and built where we live using lolly sticks, then drew who lives in our house with us including our pets! Then, using playdoh, we created the faces for different people and animals and worked in pairs to draw around each other's bodies before adding their features. The children worked really well together and took turns without a fuss!
We talked about what makes each of us special and shared with one another either our favourite toy, person, pet, place or hobby. Here is what some of the children said:
- I am special because I have a dog.
- I am special because I have a lightsabre at home.
- I am special because I really love my Mummy but I also love going to places with and without her.
Phonics:
In phonics, we have begun teaching the sounds 's', 'a', 't', and 'p'. We have found words which have each sound in, read some CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words and practised writing the letters. To support our sound knowledge, we have matched pictures to the initial sound using pegs and practised writing our names on huge pieces of paper!
Maths:
In maths, we are recapping our counting skills up to 10. We counted different objects then used our fingers to show the total in different ways. Using the numicon, we put them in order from 1 - 10 then 10 - 1 and also created patterns with the shapes to create bigger numbers. In small groups, we counted actions such as: jump 3 times and clap your hands 10 times. The children worked together to create their own counting, action patterns to follow.
Next week:
Next week our topic is minibeasts! We will also be touching lightly on the question, 'Why do people wear poppies?'
Week 8 - We have completed our first half term! Well done Team Squirrels!
We have had a great week making music with musical instruments, making Halloween ghosts with black paper, white paint and leaves, cutting and sticking anything and everything and even creating our own potato heads - which I have to say look incredible!
Thank you to all the parents who came to Meet the Teacher on Wednesday. It was great to see so many of you there. Attached at the bottom of this page is the PowerPoint, if you want to refer back to the slides, or you couldn't make the meeting. Remember, any questions or worries you have please do ask me.
Well done to all the Squirrels for a great start to school! Enjoy half-term, have a good rest and be ready for some learning when we come back. Our topic is 'All about me and my family'.
Week 7 - Letters u, v, w, x, y and z!! Horraaayyy!
We did it! We did our letter a day, and now we all deserve a well earned rest... In one week's time anyway... Don't worry, it will be filled with fun Halloween activities obviously linked to all of the things we have already been learning!
So this week we have been making waterproof umbrellas and welly boots, painted volcanoes, made paper aeroplanes (well, Mrs Browne had a wonderful time making 30+ aeroplanes which were then beautifully decorated by the children), re-told the story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by counting and drawing what he ate each day, used play dough to support our fine motor skills AND took turns and played maths games on the interactive whiteboard.
We also made our own bookmarks for our new reading wallets which will come home after half term! We used water colour pencils so they looked bold and bright. The children spent a long time on them and took great pride in what they looked like.
For PE, we got the parachute out, which the children loved! We played a variety of games, followed instructions, sang songs and giggled the whole time. The best parts were making popcorn and running under it and getting out before it falls down.
Don't forget next week is our Meet the Teacher on Wednesday at 2:40pm! I hope to see you all there :)
Week 6 - All about the letters p, q, r, s and t... We're nearly there!
This week has been about making penguins, practising our cutting skills and using our fine motor skills to move small objects using tweezers. We have also drawn our own castles fit for a Queen, played skittles and made crowns using buttons and sequins. Some of the children drew dragons, dungeons and princesses in their castles - they were very detailed!
To support our sounds, 'r', 's' and 't', we built rockets, did so much running, collected beautiful red leaves to make trees and counted Stickman's family and seashells. The children were independently counting the objects and writing the total down - it was AMAZING!!!
In PE this week we played a game called 'Robin Hood' where, in teams, you have to collect treasure in quick time and the team with the most treasure at the end wins. Mrs Browne made the game tricky as each time the children had to do different movements such as bear crawl, jumping and running. The children were competitive and worked as a team to get the most treasure. Go Team Squirrels!
Week 5 – All about letters k, l, m, n, o
The children are really getting in the swing of things now in Team Squirrels! We have even begun practising sounds on whiteboards and playing games to find the initial sound in words.
To support our letter a day, we have been making kites, designing crowns fit for a King and practising our kicking skills using footballs and goals. As a class, we created our own lunch boxes and drew the foods which we would find in our lunch boxes. We had a variety of filled sandwiches, hotdogs, apples, bananas, grapes, yoghurts, crisps and even a pain au chocolat in someone’s lunch box! We found so many words which start with ‘m’ in our classroom, so of course we had to play with them all – mobilo, marble run, mosaic mats, multi-link. The list was endless! For ‘n’ and ‘o’ we played with numbers, did some ordering of number and found all the pictures which start with the sound ‘n’ and ‘o’ independently.
In forest school we have begun using hand drills to create giraffes using conkers. The children absolutely loved it! They learnt how to use hand drills safely and create something with only natural resources.
Don’t forget to bring your library books back every Friday to get a new one each week!
Week 4 – All about letters f, g, h, i, j!
This week we have been busy cutting and sticking flowers, drawing still life drawings of flowers and flower printing with paints. Also, we have been practising writing our names, finding pictures which start with the ‘g’ and 'i' sound, heading into forest school to make hedgehogs, decorating hearts and creating colourful ice creams!
To make our classroom look fabulous, we made sparkling jellyfish which all look happy and bright!
To have time away from the classroom to venture into a new area of the school, we have taken the children in small groups to play a variety of turn-taking games. This has given the children time to be in different places around the school, learn a bit about each other and have fun together in a smaller group.
Week 3 - Letters a, b, c, d and e
A wonderful week beginning our letter a day… and I am already super impressed! We have learnt the sounds ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’ and ‘e’. We have been making animal masks, building and climbing apparatus, adding, collage a bug, playing with the bats and balls, balancing on the balance beams, making boats float, cutting caterpillars, role play castle, cars, finishing dinosaur pictures, dancing, building dens, banging drums, designing eggs AND colouring in the Earth!
Next week –
We will also begin sending home library books Friday! Please keep them for a week and bring them back each Friday so we can exchange it for another one.
Final thing from me... Please can I ask you to label trousers and shorts, as when the children take their trousers off at random times in the day, they then don't remember if they are theirs.
Week 2 – Our first full week together!
I am so proud of how resilient, kind and understanding all the children have been. They have had to learn so much in just one week. Here are just some of the things:
- Remember how to get to the classroom each morning
- Find their peg
- Put their water bottles in the box
- Choose their lunch by finding their own name first!
- Remember where to sit on the carpet
- Remember their house colour group
- Try and remember all their new friends' names
- Learn how break times and lunch times work... and that’s just a part of their morning routine!
We have even managed to squeeze in a sneaky bit of phonics and maths and I have to say we have some great counters here! I cannot wait to get going with our formal learning. For our PE this week, we explored the apparatus to find our balance, did some throwing and catching, worked on control and taking turns safely.
Well done Team Squirrel for a brilliant, rainy first week at school! It has been great getting to know you all in your homes and now at school. Have a restful weekend and see you bright and early Monday morning - gate opens at 8.25am!
Last thing from me:
Remember school is busy and all very new for some of you. If you have any worries, questions or thoughts, do come and see me at the door at the end of the school day or email the school office. I am always here and happy to chat.
Mrs Browne
Useful Websites:
