Sunshine and walks: Week ending 26th March

Well, that was a sunny springtime week!

The children have spent a lot of time outdoors this week, including a walk on Tuesday afternoon. We were spotting signs of spring. The children were particularly excited to see the lambs in the field. We had to be very quiet to stop them running away (very good sneaking practice). 

We also crouched down, closed our eyes and stayed very quiet to feel spring on us. 

Aside from that, the children have started creating their own stories based on Jack and the Beanstalk, but in stead of Jack and a beanstalk, it is themselves and a giant sunflower. 

We have also been doing some maths facts work, handwriting, reading and super sentence writing. 

At home:

Please keep reading! 

Reception children please:

• keep practising your high frequency sight words
• practice your number bonds to 5 (orally, or by matching up number cards, or by making up number stories). If your child is very confident, please get them to draw part whole diagrams showing all of the bonds to 5. 

Year 1 children please:

• Practice your doubles and halves (children should know half is the inverse of double)
• If you are confident, start looking at doubles of 10s numbers eg double 10, 20, 30 as far as you like
• Beyond this, do some timed doubling challenges. Parents, write lots of numbers (any you know your child will find a suitable challenge) and time how long it takes them either to double, or to half them. 

Early next week, I will be emailing home our assessments of where your child is working in the core subjects, what we will be working on in school, and how you can help at home. 

Have a good weekend!

Miss Nash

Beanstalks and Sunflowers: Week ending 19th March

 What a wonderful week we've had in Hedgehog Class.

The children are settling back into school gradually. In some ways, it's a bit like September: re-adjusting to school routines and expectations and getting to know friends again. They are all doing a great job and it is just wonderful to have them in school.

This week we read Jack and the Beanstalk. 

Then we:

* wrote some letters to Jack

* turned our indoor shed into Jack's house (lots of brilliant creativity here)

* filled three tyres with compost (a great problem solving activity as the compost had to be transported from a pile into the tyres using an array of buckets, tubs and... teaspoons)

* talked about seeds such as acorns, conkers, beans and sunflower seeds

* planted some sunflower seeds

* started creating a sunflower garden wall in our classroom. Here is a sneak preview:

We'll be continuing our Jack and the Beanstalk work next week.

We managed to have a fire at forest school this week and the children enjoyed some 'smores.

On Friday they became superheroes for Comic Relief! Daphne joined in!

Next week I will send home some information on how your child is getting on with the core skills. For now, please do read daily with your child using Rising Stars or any books you have at home.

Should you need more Rising Stars books, please email me via the office email address or catch me for a quick message after school.

Have a good weekend!

Miss Nash

We're back!

Hello Hedgehog Parents,

It has been marvellous to have the Hedgehogs back together again this week. The children have been mainly enjoying spending time together; we even had a couple of warm sunny days to help with this. They enjoyed going up to Forest School to see the new cabin and the (as yet unoccupied) hen run. On Monday the children made some biscuits which we ate in the afternoon to celebrate being back. 

I will be keeping up with the Hedgehog Blog every Friday to let you know what we have been up to in class and any home learning to do over the weekend.

This Weekend's Homework:
Have fun and relax! Why don't you look over the past few Friday blogs and see what you and your child could get up to this weekend? After a few weeks of very hard work for you and your children, it's time to just enjoying being in each other's company. 

Lunches:
The children have been enjoying having lunch in the hall with Squirrel class. Please talk to your child about what they have enjoyed and what they haven't enjoyed at lunch time and what they would like to order next time.

Contact:
From now on please use the office email address to communicate with me or anyone else at school, unless I ask that you should use whaddonteachers@gmail.com (for example if I have set some homework, or have emailed you from that account myself). If you would like to discuss anything, please either email the office and I will make an appointment to call you, or phone the school after 3pm Monday to Thursday.

Have a good weekend!

Miss Nash

Friday 5th March Forest School

Welcome to your final learning-at-home blog. 

You have done a brilliant job, Hedgehogs and Hedgehog parents. I've been blown away by the work you've been doing and the endurance you've shown. We can't wait to see you on Monday!

I won't be able to do a story tomorrow I'm afraid, because I will be in school all day getting the classroom ready. Don't worry, there will be many stories next week.

For today, and the weekend, here are many Forest School ideas from Miss Swain!

From Miss Nash :0)

  

"Hello to you all and welcome to the last Friday of home learning."

I hope you enjoyed the magnificent sunshine last weekend. I really enjoyed walking outdoors without wearing a coat and feeling the warmth of the sunshine on my face. Everywhere looked so shiny and bright too. Fingers crossed that there is more sunshine on the way.

As you all know, this is our last week of home learning before we all return to school. I am very excited and looking forward to seeing you all very much! 

I have one final surprise for you all... You may remember I mentioned the sponsored walk a while ago. You all completed the walk way back in October 2020. I am delighted to show you pictures (see virtual forest school for pictures) of what the money has been used for at Forest School. As soon as we are back at school we will be able to use it. How exciting! 

Virtual Forest School

                           

I am feeling very colourful as you may be able to tell from the coloured text. I think it is the excitement of returning to school although I am feeling a little worried about everything that I need to do and remember as it has been a while since I was last there. I'm sure we can all help each other... 

Thank you to those of you that have already sent in your suggestions. Here is a list of the suggestions so far. If you need help with some ideas, click here

Fancy dancing like a chicken? 

Here is a reminder of forest school activities you can choose to do at home

Shadow drawing

Learn parts of a bird

How to make a paper robin

How to make a paper sparrow

Matching pairs bird game

Crumble pastry maggots

Edible pictures

Make a bug pot

Bark rubbing 

Magic wand

Binoculars

Bird identification sheet

Pinecone weather gauge

How to make a barometer

                               

Finally, as promised... Click here for a chick update (apologies for the angle of the video)

  See you all next week!

   

  

Love from Miss Swain and Daphne

World Book Day!

 Happy World Book Day!

Welcome to World Book Day 2021.

I am very sad not to be celebrating with you this year. However, there are lots of interesting things going on. 

Reverend Dove will be sharing her favourite book with you at 11am.

A good place to go is the BBC website. It has a range of ideas for EYFS, KS1 and KS2 for you to choose from. I couldn't choose from them, because different things suit different children, so I thought you could have look to see if you like the look of them! 

Here are your Whaddon World Book Day activities.

Your two (related) compulsory activities for today:

Here are some other (optional) book-based ideas to help you to have a brilliant day. 

Click here for mini-book instructions.

Click here for Bringing Down the Moon.

Click here for the slides.

Click here for Emily Gravett reading the story.

Click here for the excerpt.

Click here to have it read aloud.

Have a wonderful World Book Day!

From Miss Nash :0)