Year R Blog

We had a very exciting start to the week with the arrival of the eggs.  The children are very excited to see them hatch. Our story of the week is ‘The Odd Egg’ and the children made some fantastic predictions of what they thought might be inside the egg.  In drawing club, they drew their own ducks and described them in lots of different ways.  They finished off their writing this week by thinking carefully about what the new baby creature’s first words might be. In phonics we have learnt ‘oo’ (look at a book) and ‘ar’ (start the car) … Read more →

This week has been another fun packed week in Year R. The children have written a recount of what they did during their trip to Wellington Park.  They have talked about the names of baby animals and what animals eat and created lots of animal crafts.  They even made lovely thank you cards for the staff at Wellington. In phonics we have learnt ‘ow’ (blow the snow) and ‘oo’ (poo at the zoo) In maths we have focused on number 9.  We watched the ‘nine’ episode of Numberblocks, counted to 9, looked at which number is one more / one … Read more →

This week has been a very busy but fun packed week. We began the week finding out all about animals that live on the farm, to help us get ready for our school trip.  On Monday the children all had a go at labelling different animals or objects that they might find on a farm. In phonics we have learnt ‘igh’ and the red word ‘put’. In maths we have been learning about length and height. On Tuesday we had our ‘pancake race’. On Wednesday it was our wonderful trip to Wellington Country Park and on Thursday it was World … Read more →

This week we have started our new topic which is ‘farm animals’.  We have kicked the topic off with the brilliant story of ‘The Little Mole who knew it was none of his business’.  The children have loved it and have worked really hard creating lots of fantastic art work based around the story. In drawing club, the children have designed their own mole and a burrow for him to live in and have come up with brilliant passwords and captions. In phonics we have begun learning the next set of sounds and have learnt two new diagraphs this week, … Read more →

This week is our last week of our ‘Traditional Tales’ topic and it has been so much fun.  Our story of the week was ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and the children had great fun listening to the story, acting it out in our tuff trays, creating lots of different crafts including a cottage for Granny, puppets of the different characters, a wolf, a forest and even Granny herself! In phonics we have been trying really hard to practise words with all of our sounds that we have learnt so far, as well as practising lots of tricky words.      In … Read more →

This week we have been learning about Chinese New Year and have taken part in lots of fun activities.  We have created our own dragons, made blossom trees and even had a go at Chinese writing! Our story of the week was ‘Tell Me a Dragon’ and in drawing club we drew a dragon and wrote a simple caption. In phonics we have been recapping all of the sounds we have learnt so far as well as continuing to practise the red words.    In maths this week we have moved onto the number 7 and have looked at ways … Read more →

This week our story has been ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.  It has been another fabulous week in Year R and the children continue to use their imagination in so many amazing ways both in their play, their creative work and during their Drawing Club sessions.  In Drawing Club, the children have created a giant, a giant’s castle and even some treasure for the giant.   They have even had a go at including ‘special friends’ when writing their passwords. In phonics we have been recapping all of the sounds we have learnt so far as well as continuing to practise the … Read more →

This week our story has been ‘The Three Billy Goats’.  The children have been using their imagination in such fantastic ways both in their play, their creative work and during their Drawing Club sessions.  Well done Year R, you are all amazing! In Drawing Club, the children have created a troll and a bridge and have all produced amazing writing to use as their passwords.  In phonics we have learnt the sound ‘nk’ and practised our red words.  We have also learnt the new red word ‘of’ this week.   In maths this week we have explored weight and capacity … Read more →

This week our story has been ‘Hansel and Gretel’.  The children have taken part in four drawing club sessions. They have created a witch, the witch’s house of sweets, a trick or treat pot and even added on their own adventure. There has been some fantastic writing going on.  In phonics we have learnt the sound ‘x’ and the special friend ‘ng’. In maths this week it has been all about numbers to 5. We have looked at saying one more and one less than a number to 5, discussed the composition of 5 and talked about pairs of numbers … Read more →

Welcome back and Happy New Year!  We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday. This half term we are focusing on traditional tales and our story this week has been ‘The Gingerbread Man’.  There has been some fantastic writing going on in drawing club and the children have used their fantastic imaginations to create lots of lovely pieces of art work! In phonics we have learnt the special friends ‘ch’ and ‘qu’ and recapped the sounds we learnt before Christmas. In maths we have introduced children to the concept of zero as well as sorting representations of numbers 1-5. … Read more →

Our story of the week has been ‘The Hundred Decker Bus’ which is all about a bus that goes on an adventure, lots of people want to get on and the bus ends up with 100 decks!  In Drawing Club, the children have designed their own bus and bus driver and done some amazing writing.  In phonics we are continuing to revisit sounds already learnt as well as continuing to learn new sounds.  This week we have learnt the sound ‘th’ and ‘z’.  In maths this week we have been focusing on one more, one less and pairs of numbers … Read more →

Christmas has arrived in Year R.  The children were very excited to begin their Christmas activities and we are sure they will have lots of fun over the next few weeks. Our story this week was ‘The Christmas Pine’ and the children found out that this story is based on how the tree that is placed in Trafalgar Square is chopped down and bought over from Norway every year.  The children have designed their own tree and forest in Drawing Club after listening to the story.  In Maths we have looked at the properties of squares and rectangles and in … Read more →

Our story of the week has been ‘The Way Back Home’ which is all about a boy and a Martian who are both stranded on the moon, and how they help each other to get back home. In Drawing Club, we have drawn our own Martian and a moon and have come up with some brilliant passwords and passcodes.  There has been some amazing artwork being created this week, including junk modelling space rockets, Martians and alien hats! In phonics we are continuing to revisit sounds already learnt as well as continuing to learn new sounds.  This week we have … Read more →

​ This week the children have been enjoying the story of ‘The Bear in the Cave’. In drawing club they have designed their own bear and a place for it to live. They have been trying very hard to hear the first and last sound in simple words when giving the bear a password. In maths we have looking at circles and triangles and sorting them into groups. We have been really enjoying seeing all of the amazing phonics homework being put onto tapestry. Thank you all for your support with this. This week you would have received a letter … Read more →

We hope you all had a restful half term break and are ready for more fun learning this half term. Our new topic is called ‘Ticket to Ride’ and our story of the week is ‘The Naughty Bus’.  We have been looking at simple maps of the UK and finding out where London is.  We have explored different buses and how they have changed from long ago to now. In Drawing Club, we have drawn our own naughty buses, along with a setting and a place where our naughty bus may travel to. In phonics we are practising the sounds … Read more →

There has been great excitement this week over the very funny and brilliant story called ‘The Hairy Toe’.  The children have loved listening to the story and have come up with some amazing art work. In Drawing Club, we have drawn the monster, the setting for the monster and even created a character to come and rescue the women after the monster finds her. In maths this week we have been focusing on the numbers 1, 2 and 3. We have used the brilliant Numberblocks series to help them explore the different representations of 1, 2 and 3. The children … Read more →

Our story this week was ‘Once there were Giants’.  This story has inspired lots of discussions around families, who is in our family, who is older and who is younger.  We have been looking at baby photographs and talking about what we can do now that we are bigger. In Drawing Club, we have drawn a character and a setting for the story and chosen a password to make our character grow into a giant and one that opens the door to the setting.    In maths this week we have been focusing on the language of big and little, … Read more →

Our story this week was ‘Owl Babies’.  This story formed the introduction to our brand new ‘Drawing Club’.  The children were so excited to join the club and find out all about what happens.  In Drawing Club, we focus on a different story each week and the children are asked to design drawings based on the story, using their own ideas.  This week they have drawn their own owl and a tree for the owl to live in.  They have even drawn some shapes which act as a password for their owl.  As the children progress with their phonics, we … Read more →

Our story this week was ‘The Rainbow Fish’.  This story is all about being kind and sharing.  We have spent lots of time talking about how it makes us all feel when we share or when someone shares with us.  There has been some beautiful Rainbow Fish artwork produced this week. We have also been looking at what happens in Autumn as the season changes.  Thank you for sending in conkers and leaves this week. In literacy the children have been developing their mark making skills by taking their pens on an adventure and creating lots of prewriting shapes.  Can … Read more →

Our story this week was ‘The Colour Monster’.  The children have enjoyed listening to it and it is a fantastic way of helping children to understand and name their different feelings and emotions.  The children had a go at making some lovely colour monster puppets to use within their play. We began our maths carpet sessions with some number songs such as ‘12345 once I caught a fish alive’ and ‘5 currant buns in the Baker’s shop’.  Please encourage and support your child to sing some counting and number songs at home. This week we started our fun ‘Dough Disco’ … Read more →

The children are settling into their new classes absolutely brilliantly and we are all really proud of how well they are doing. This week we have been listening to the story of ‘Only One You’ and the children have created some fabulous fish art work based on the story.  They have also drawn some fabulous self-portraits. Could you please ensure that all of your child’s school uniform is labelled as this makes it easier at the end of the day to hand out jumpers. Thank you for all of your support in helping your child to settle into school.  We … Read more →