St Francis
Week commencing 27th June 2023
We hope you all enjoyed a wonderful long weekend?
This week the children will be continuing to explore the jungle. We begin the week by listening to the story ‘ Now you see me, now you don’t’ by Patricia Hegarty to encourage a discussion about camouflage. We will be learning about why animals camouflage and thinking about different animal patterns we may find in the jungle. We will be creating our own chameleon camouflage artwork.
In phonics, we continue to look at longer words, root words with -ing, -ed/t/id/ed/d/ plus the tricky words put, pull, full, push, my, by, like, some, come, love, do, the, I, go, no, you, said, so and have.
In maths, we will create animal tangrams, use pattern blocks to build stars, do adding/ subtraction with toys in a bucket and problem solve by drawing pictures to accompany the story ‘ mr Gumpy’s outing.’
In RE, we begin our last ‘ Our World’ topic and will be reflecting upon ‘ what we love and wonder about our world.’
We also look forward to seeing the dress rehearsal of year 5 and 6s Summer Production this week!
Week commencing 19th June 2023
This week, we take are finding out about all the amazing creatures who live in the jungle.
In phonics, we continue our phase 4 work with words ending in s/s, s/z and -es. We also revisit the tricky words put, pull, full, push, here, little, says, my, by, like, some, come, love and do.
In maths, we look at how to make new shapes with 2 right angled triangles, make new shapes with squares and will design quilts using different shapes.
We are looking forward to celebrating family day on Thursday. I know the children are all super excited to show you all the sports events and the singing performance they’ve been working hard on over the past few weeks!
Week commencing 5th June 2023
Welcome back! We hope you’ve all enjoyed the break and are all set for the final half term of Summer fun in Reception.
We begin the week writing sentences about our holiday.
We also start a new topic ‘Animal World’ and focus on the story ‘Dear Zoo’ by Rod Campbell. We will think about the adjectives used to describe the animals, choose our favourite animal, write sentences about animals, make favourite animal pictograms, share and group animals, build a zoo, create a new vet roleplay area, sing animal themed songs, create animal masks, snake paper chains and move like different zoo animals.
In phonics, we continue our phase 4 phonics work by reviewing phase 3 long vowel sounds, phase 2 digraphs and the tricky words: we, he, she, me, be, of, says, there, when, what and one.
In maths, we will be grouping and sharing through games, roleplay and fine motor activities.
In RE, we continue our topic ‘Friends’ and think about how we say sorry to our friends when we let them down.
Week commencing 22nd May 2023
This week we are going mad about minibeasts! We will be learning facts about lots of different minibeasts and their habitats, create our own bug hotels, go on a bug hunt, create minibeasts using natural materials, count wriggly spaghetti worms and write simple sentences about bugs. We also continue to care for our caterpillars. On Friday, we had 2 butterflies so I’m sure all the children are excited to see if the other 8 have transformed!
In phonics, we will review previously taught sounds and tricky words to consolidate our learning.
In maths, we will be learning out to double numbers through matching, doubling spots on butterfly wings, doubling dice scores, doubling objects and dominos.
In RE, we begin a new topic ‘Friends’.
Week Commencing 15th May 2023
This week we will be enjoying the story of ‘The Enormous Turnip.’ The children will be writing simple sentences from the story ( e.g. The cat pulls the dog.), writing vegetable descriptive sentences, acting out the story, discovering root vegetables, making imaginary turnip soup, vegetable printing, making an obstacle course to carry the enormous turnip through and thinking about where our vegetables come from.
In phonics, we are focussing on words ending in -ing, -ed and -est plus the tricky words to, into, all, are, they, one, out, today and says.
In maths, we continue our unit of ‘ first, then, now’ by taking away different amounts from numbers up to 20. We will be playing a variety of different games to practise this skill.
In RE, we will be using the computer to create Pentecost pictures.
Week Commencing 9th May 2023
This week we will listen to Eric Carle’s ‘The Tiny Seed’. We will think up actions for the seed’s journey , draw pictures to show what happens to the seed during each of the four seasons and write captions to go with our pictures . We will think about what plants need to grow and set up experiments to find this out.
In phonics, we will be reading and writing phase 4 longer words, compound words and the tricky words we, he, she, me, be, says, there, when and what.
In maths, we begin a unit of learning ‘First, then, now’. We will be:
1. Playing a track game- counting on
2. Adding more
3. Adding more- unknown then
4. Adding more- unknown first
In RE, we continue our Pentecost topic ‘Good News’.
We continue to care for our caterpillars and I’m looking forward to seeing if any changes have occurred over the bank holiday weekend!
Please don’t forget trainers tomorrow as we hope to be going on to the field if the weather allows!
Week Commencing 2nd May 2023
This week we will begin by listening to the story 'What the ladybird heard.' We will draw and label animals from the story, using adjectives. We will also create wanted posters to help catch the criminals! Our artwork this week will be cow themed, using a mixture of watercolours, felt tips and tissue paper. We will be investigating our own finger prints too!
As it is Coronation week we will be enjoying jubilee themed role play acitvities and messy play. A Coronation tea room will be opening at our Garden Centre to celebrate. Don't forget that the whole school will be coming together to celebrate this Friday too!
We continue to look after our caterpillars in class, keeping a close eye on their growth and ensuring they have everything they need.
In phonics. we will be reading and writing CCVCC words and the tricky words are pure sure was do, were, here, little.
In maths, we will:
1. Find and match 2D shapes.
2.Find and match models.
3. Match shapes in a picture.
4. Replicate shape models.
In RE, we will continue our Penecost topic of 'Good News' by drawing pictures to add to our whole class 'Good News' board and making birthday cards for the Church.
Week Commencing 24th April 2023
At the end of last week some very important visitors joined us. Over the next few weeks we will be learning how to care for our caterpillar friends as we look after them in class. We will listen to the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and think about how to sequence pictures from the story. Later in the week we will be writing a sentence from the story. We will also learn how to write the days of the week, think about healthy/ unhealthy foods, do fruit printing, symmetrical butterfly pictures and learn about the life cycle of a butterfly.
In phonics, we continue our phase 4 learning of CVCC words and the tricky words put, pull, full, push, my, by, like, some, come and love.
In maths, we continue our unit of ‘to 20 and beyond’ by representing numbers 11-20, ordering numerals to 20, playing a race to 20 game, matching picture cards to 20 and matching shapes.
In RE, we continue our new topic ‘ Good News’.
Week Commencing 27th March 2023
During the final week of the Spring term we will be learning about the emergency services and the people who help us. We will also be taking part in lots of fun Easter themed activities.
Each day we will be watching year 3 and 4 present the stations of the cross to the school. Father Brett will be visiting us for reconciliation on Tuesday.
In maths, we continue to work on our consolidation of number bonds to make 10.
In phonics, we will look at longer words, words with 's' in the middle, words ending with 's' and words ending with 'es'.
Week Commencing 20th March 2023
Wishing all of the wonderful Reception Mums a Happy Mother's Day. We hope you all had a lovely day with your children.
This week we embark on a journey in to space, inspired by the well known story 'Whatever Next.' We will be role play a journey in to space, write lists of the things Baby Bear prepares for his journey, make observational drawings of planets, recreate the painting 'Starry Night' by Vincent Van Gogh, think about what is beyond the sky and what an astronaut does.
In phonics, we reviewing longer words, words ending in -ing and compound words. We will also look at the tricky words he, we, me, be, was, you, they and all.
In maths, we will consolidate our understanding of number bonds to make 10 by looking at their composition and exploring numbers to 10, We will also revisit our 3D shapes and patterns.
In RE, we will be ordering the events of Easter Holy Week.
Tomorrow is our open evening, an excellent opportunity for your children to come and proudly show you some of the things they've been doing in class. We also look forward to meeting with many of you during our parent consultations.
If you are able to, don't forget to pop in on Friday for our Science Fair when the children can show you some of the things they got up to during Science Week.
Week Commencing 13th March 2023
We have a very busy week this week indeed!
This week we are taking part in ‘British Science Week 2023’ and our class theme is ‘Protecting our oceans!’ We will be exploring the effects of plastic on animal life in the ocean through role play, rubbish sorting, working with our buddies to create sea creatures using recycled plastic, litter picking and poster designing. We will also be listening to the story ‘Somebody Swallowed Stanley’.
We will be hearing the story ‘Mr Gumpy’s Outing’ and explore boats during our activity time in class.
In phonics, we focus on words with two or more digraphs and the tricky words no, of, to, into, she, he and we.
In maths, we explore 3D shapes by matching, building and printing before moving on to pattern making at the end of the week.
In RE we continue our topic ‘Growing’ by learning about how Lent is a time to grow more like Jesus. We will be planting cress seeds to look after and grow in class.
On Thursday, we will be presenting our ‘Mother’s Day’ assembly to you all and look forward to you enjoying all the children have prepared for you!
Week Commencing 6th March 2023
This week has a bus theme and we will begin by reading the story 'Naughty Bus'. In groups children will go on a journey around school with their very own naughty bus. We will take photos of the bus in the different places we pass on our journey. As a group we will write a sentence about where the bus has gone to create a class Naughty Bus journey story book.
In phonics, we will be revisiting er, air, double letters and longer words. We will also review the tricky words full, push, and, go, no and of.
In maths, we will be:
- Counting back from 10
- Comparing numbers within 10
-Making 10
In R.E., we will be making Lentern promises and beginning our new topic 'Growing'.
We will also we doing some preparations for our special Mother's Day assembly!
Week Commencing 27th February 2023
This week we will be listening to the story ' The Train Ride' by June Crebbin. We will look at repetition in the text, use pictures from the story to look at preposition, think about journeys we've been on and explore different movements to represent scenes in the story. We will be making lists of places the train went past on its journey and write simple sentences beginning with 'I can see....'
We will be exploring work by the artist Piet Mondrian and create our own train inspired artwork influenced by his paintings.
We will be learning about who St. David is and his importance to the Welsh people.
On Thursday we celebrate World Book day with some fun book themed activities!
In maths, we begin a new unit of work 'Building 9 & 10'. Our objectives this week are:
1. Representing and sorting 9 & 10
2. Order numerals to 10
3. Composition of 9 & 10
4. Numbers to 10- bingo
In phonics, we will review our phase 3 sounds: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, oi, ur, ow, ear and or.
Week Commencing 20.2.2023
Welcome back Reception! We hope you all had a wonderful half term break?
Our new half term topic is 'Ticket to Ride'. We commence our topic this week by listening to the story 'Rosie's Walk'. We will be creating story maps, playing listening games, creating obstacle courses, making a farm shop and acting out the story with small world figures.
We are also excited to celebrate pancake day on Tuesday with a special pancake making visit from the PTA and Ash Wednesday in school with Father Brett. We will be doing some measuring, roleplay pancake making and tricky word pancake flipping!
In phonics, we will be revisiting previously taught graphemes and tricky words from the Spring 1 term.
In maths, we will be continuing our 'Growing 6,7 and 8' unit of work by:
Comparing height
Comparing length
Learning and ordering days of the week
Measuring height
Measuring time
In R.E, we continue our topic of 'Gathering' from last half term.
Week commencing 6th February 2023
This week we will be hearing two 'Old Bear' stories called 'The Winter Picnic' and 'Jolly Snow'. We will be playing picnics, doing observational drawings of bears, designing sledges and warm clothes for our bears. There will also be a bit of a 'Valentines' theme to the week and we will be thinking about the people we love and care about.
In phonics, we are focusing on longer words such as carpark, lemon, chicken, rabbit and picnic. We will be learning how to use the chunking method when we sound talk longer words with more than one syllable, look out for double letters and learn what compound words are. We are looking at the tricky words are, sure, pure, into, she, push, he, we, me, be and of.
In maths, we will be matching 6, 7 and 8, making pairs, combining 2 groups and adding more.
In R.E. we will think about how we are welcomed to gather together to celebrate at St. George's Church.
Week commencing 30th January 2023
This week we will be enjoying listening to the story ‘Snowball’ by Sue Hendra. We will be writing simple sentences using pictures from the story as inspiration and, later in the week, we will look at rhyming words.
In phonics, we will be learning air, words ending er ( digger, double letters dd, tt and mm), double letters (bb, rr and gg) and double letters- dd, tt, ft and pp.
In maths, we will begin a new unit of work ‘Growing 6, 7 and 8’. We will look at the composition of 6, 7 and 8, match 6, 7 and 8 and calculate 1 more/ less.
In RE, we begin a new topic of ‘Gathering’.
Week commencing 23rd January 2023
This week we will be focusing again on our theme of ‘Winter Wonderland’ by listening to the story of ‘Lost and Found’. We will look at maps of the Antarctic and label our own map. We will write lists of what we would need to go and explore the Antarctic ourselves!
In phonics, we will be looking at the digraphs ur, ow, oi and the trigraph ear. We will focus on the tricky words was, you, they, into, my, by and all.
In maths, we will be comparing mass ( heavier and lighter than), comparing and measuring capacity and measuring ingredients.
Week commencing Monday 16th January 2023
This week we will be learning all about Lunar New Year! On Wednesday, we will be wearing red to school. In Chinese culture red symbolises luck, joy and happiness.
In phonics, we will be looking at the digraphs oo (moon), oo (book), ar (dark) and or (horn). Our focus will be on the tricky words and, push, was, you and they.
In maths, we continue our unit of 'Alive in 5' by looking at the composition of 5 (in 2 and 3 groups), calculating how many objects altogether and playing games where we work out how many are hiding.
In R.E. we continue our topic of 'Celebrating'.
Week commencing 9th January 2023
This half term our topic is ' Winter Wonderland'. This week we will be looking at the story 'Elmer in the Snow'. We will be thinking about the season of winter and what the weather is like by keeping a weekly weather diary.
In phonics, we will be learning the new digraphs: ai, ee, igh and oa. We will look at the tricky words: is, the, as, I, put, pull and full. We will also be looking at how to form capital letters during our daily handwriting sessions.
In maths, our new unit is called 'Alive in 5'. This week we will look at one less (with counting songs), how many? (representing zero), the compositon of numbers to 5, comparing numbers to 5 and equal/ unequal groups.
In R.E. we will begin a new topic of 'Celebrating'. This week we focus on what the parish family celebrates (weddings, baptisms, Christmas etc).
Week Commencing 7th November 2022
This week we will be listening to the story of 'Leaf Man'. We will be making our very own leaf people, deciding where the wind would take them on a journey and using these ideas to write a sentence. We will be continuing to learn how to write numbers and some CVC words.
We will also be thinking about animals in Autumn and what 'hibernation' means.
In maths we will be sorting triangles and circles, making shape pictures, playing I-spy with shapes and using positional language.
We will be joining the rest of the school in a special Remembrance Assembly and making our own poppy pictures.
We will be reading sentences, e.g. The jam is red.
The tricky words we will be practising are is, the, I and as.
Week Commencing 31st October 2022
Welcome back after the half term break. We hope you all had a wonderful time!
This week our theme is 'Bonfire Night'. We will be thinking about how we celebrate, what fireworks look and sound like, doing firework dances and learning how to be safe around fireworks. We can't wait for our firework day on Wednesday!
In phonics we will be revisiting everything we have learned so far.
In mathematics be will be comparing 1, 2 and 3, matching numeral and picture cards and comparing 1 more and 1 fewer.
In R.E. we will be continuing to learn about Judaism and thinking about the celebration of Hanukkah.
Week Commencing 17th October 2022
Our theme this week is 'Harvest'. We will be continuing to think about healthy eating, finding out about Harvest Time and where fruit and vegetables come from. We will be listening to the story of 'The Runaway Pea' and creating story maps.
The phonemes we will be focusing on this week in school are:
We will also be practising the following tricky words:
is the I
We will be orally blending CVC words containing the phonemes taught so far e.g. h-u-g.
In maths we will be learning how to represent and sort the numbers 1, 2 and 3.
In R.E. we will be starting to learn about the religion of Judaism.
Week Commencing 10th October 2022
Our theme this week is 'Senses'. We will be exploring our senses of see, hear, smell, touch and taste and will go on a senses walk. We will be thinking about what healthy foods we should eat and why. We will also be looking at the story 'Handa's Surprise'.
The phonemes we will be focusing on this week in school are:
We will also be practising the following tricky words:
'is' and 'I'
We will be orally blending CVC words containing the phonemes taught so far e.g. s-o-ck.
In maths we will be exploring repeated patterns using natural objects, printing patterns, making fruit patterns and making patterns with our bodies (e.g. tap, clap, tap, clap).
In R.E. we will be continuing our topic of 'myself'.
Week Commencing 3rd October 2022
Our theme this week is 'Our Bodies'. We will be learning the names of different body parts, playing in a Doctor's Surgery role play, making skeleton pictures and learning how to brush our teeth/ keep them healthy.
We will also be learning the following tricky word:
is
We will be orally blending CVC words containing the phonemes taught so far e.g. d-o-g.
In maths we will be comparing size, amounts, heights, lengths and shapes.
In R.E. we will be continuing our topic of 'myself'.