Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas Hedgehog children and parents!

It has been a happy and sad final week. We've had a lot of fun in class (did you see the stocking tree decorations?) but with so many of you away, it just hasn't felt quite right in Hedgehog class. I have been thinking about all of our missing children, and parents, and I hope that you are all on the mend and manage to have a good Christmas. On our last day there were just 15 children in class - we were a merry, but quiet, bunch!

Thank you all so, so much for your kind words, cards and gifts this week. I have been overwhelmed by your support and kindness. In the flurry of the end of term, and masking,  I have not been able to talk to you all properly but please know how thankful I am for your support. 

I was so proud of the children last week during their two Nativity performances. You will have seen just how hard they have been working and it was lovely to see how they shone in front of you all. Despite the challenges of this first term, the children have really settled in together as a group and I can't wait until Spring term!

Thank you for bringing in your reading books. I need to have a really good sort out of them, hence not sending any home. However, I will be updating Rising Stars very soon to keep you busy. 

Due to the lack of children and staff, I have not managed to do the usual end-of-term things such as Year 1 spelling checks and Reception and Year 1 phonics checks. I will do these during the first week back and let you all know how your children are getting on. 

We have finished our Percy the Park Keeper mantle story. It's been fantastic and the children enjoyed talking about their memories of the story. I'll be putting all of their work together in a scrap book for them to enjoy in the class. 

Have a really lovely Christmas, and thank you again for your ongoing support. 

Mrs Simpson :0) 

Autumn 2 Week 5: A Very Busy Week (glitter included)

 Happy Friday Hedgehog Parents,

This week has flown by in a whirlwind of nativity and glitter. 

It's been a very full week. On Monday we spent some time out on the field exploring the sprinkling of snow and talking about the change of season. This led to the children making a 'Frosty Day' book, with photos and writing in. The Year 1s were fantastic - they all did their writing independently while I did some writing with Reception. They are very proud of their book, which is now in the book corner.

Wednesday saw us making Christmas crafts all day. By the end of the day, our classroom looked as though Christmas had exploded in it! The children had a great day making decorations to bring home. 

On Thursday we had our final Forest School session of the term. It was a short one, because then we walked down to the village hall to decorate the Christmas tree there. 

What a busy, happy week!

Phonics:
Reception children learnt 'l' and did a LOT of word building this week. 
Year 1 children continued to look at short vowel sounds and the 'nk' blend after a short vowel sound - sink, think, thank, bank, pink, honk...

Maths:
Both year groups began looking at 2D shapes this week, and created some wonderful shape snowman pictures. Year 1 children need to know square, rectangle, triangle and circle confidently and to begin to recognise hexagons and octagons. 

I am not setting any work this weekend - instead, Year 1 children need to make sure they know their lines really well, inside and out, and can say them loudly and clearly!

Below are just a few photos from the week.

From Mrs Simpson

                                        (context - Reception children had just heard the story 
                                         of 'Hugless Dougless and were trying out a 'daisy chain'
                                         hug) (this was optional, hence not all children being present).