Welcome to Foal's Class!

Mr Fennell teaches the Foals and Mrs Evans and Mrs Sharpe are the teaching assistants. We are really excited to welcome your children to our class and we have lots of fun things planned for them.

Our P.E. day is Thursday. Please bring reading folders into school everyday.

2023/2024

Week Commencing 22nd April 2024

What a busy but brilliant week of learning in the foals. We started the week reading The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers. In the story, the boy got stuck on the moon. We made a prediction about how he was going to get off the moon and go back home. We then read the rest of the text and decided who’s prediction was closest to the story.

We have been busy in art learning what printing is. We looked closely at the moon and found different resources in the classroom to print the craters and mountains. I was impressed with the textures the foals created. For our history learning, we found out what an astronaut is and learnt that astronaut means - star sailor. Next week, we will find out why Neil Armstrong is famous.

For our maths learning, we have been learning how to build teen numbers using mathematical resources such as numicon and counters. For example, we built the number 14 by making 10 and 4 and we built the number 18 by making 10 and 8.

Week Commencing 15th April 2024

Welcome to the summer term in the foals. The year does seem to be flying by and we can’t believe that it is already the summer term. We have made a brilliant start to our learning theme this half term- space explorers. We enjoyed reading Whatever Next by Jill Murphy and making our own Whatever Next! stories. We have also been busy making rocket collages 🚀 in the art area and decorating boxes to make rockets for our space station role play area.

In maths, we have recapped our learning on 3D shapes and tried to describe the shapes using mathematical vocabulary such as face, edge, curbed and straight. Our home learning this week is to complete the I spy 3D shapes activity. We hope you enjoy it.

The children were absolutely brilliant in their class assembly. We are super proud of them all. 

We wish you all a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday, when we will be reading The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers.

Week Commencing 18th March 2024

It has been a lovely spring week of learning in the FS2 unit. We have been busy finding out all about spring. In our English lessons, we have been reading information books about the signs of spring and have then written some good sentences about what we found out. We learnt about spring flowering plants- daffodils, bluebells and crocus, about trees growing buds, leaves and blossom and about spring animals such as lambs.

In maths, we have been looking at doubles to double 10. We used our fingers and learnt a doubling rhyme, used bricks to find doubles.

We have enjoyed looking at houses from around the world and have focused on African round mud houses for our Geography learning. We learnt words such as cone, thatch and clay to describe how they are built. We compared them to our houses thought about if we would like to live in an African round mud house or not and why.

Our chicks had been busy growing and we have thoroughly enjoyed looking after them. We hope you have enjoyed looking at our photographs of the chicks.

We are looking forward to our Easter bonnet parade in school next Monday. We can’t wait to see all your creations. The children are also excited and have been telling us all about what they have been making at home. 🐣🐇

Week Commencing 11th March 2024

What a super week of learning. We started the week reading a non-fiction text called Amazing Eggs. We then looked at our hatching eggs in the incubator and found out all about the life cycle of a hen. We learnt lots of new words such as- egg tooth, pipping and incubator. 5 of our eggs have hatched and we have now moved the chicks to the brooder box. Next week we are looking forward to feeding our chicks and watching them grow.

In maths we have been sorting 10 cherries into 2 groups to help us learn how to make number bonds to 10. Our homework this week is to support this learning.

For our Geography learning, we have enjoyed learning about animals that live in the African savanna. I wonder which animals your child can discuss with you? 🐘🦓🦒

Next week we will be learning all about the season of Spring.

Week Commencing 4th March 2024

What another amazing week in the Foals. This week we have been really busy with Mother's day and world book day.
During world book day we had a storyteller in school who told us a story and we acted it out with music. The children looked amazing in their costumes.
This week we have also celebrated Mother's day and the children enjoyed giving our cards to our grown ups.
In English this week we have been looking at the story 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. We have sequenced the story using pictures and drawn our own simple story maps.
In maths we have been looking at the numbers 9 and 10 and what numbers are used to make them.
In science we have looked at pendulums and in Geography we have been looking at Africa. We learnt that Africa is a continent and that it is made up of 54 countries. We learnt about the savanna and all the animals that live there.

Week Commencing 26th February 2024

We started the week reading The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children particularly enjoyed sharing this story and joining in with the repeated refrains and story actions. We sequenced story pictures then wrote sentences about the beginning, middle and end of the story.

In Maths this week, we have enjoyed learning about the days of the week and time⏰. We have been challenged to see how many things such as claps, jumps or writing our name we can do in just 1 minute.

For our Geography learning, we have enjoyed solving the problem- how can we travel from Calverton to Africa? We learnt a transport song and looked at different modes of transport 🚲🚑🚒🚜🚛🚗🚂🛫..

Next week, we are looking forward to our Mother’s Day workshops🌻. We do hope you can join us for this special celebration.

Week Commencing 19th February 2024

It has been a wonderful start to our new half term. We have enjoyed reading an alternative version of The Three Little Pigs. We read The Three Horrid Pigs and the Big, Friendly Wolf. I wonder if your child could tell you what they story was about?

We have also learnt about Chinese New Year and have been completing lots of tricky challenges linked to this. We have been making Chinese dragons, getting our home corner ready for Chinese New Year and making dragons from play dough.

In Maths, we have enjoyed learning how to measure length. We have collected objects from our classroom and have been comparing the length of them. We have also learning how and why we measure height. We talked about who is the tallest and shorted in our classes and have been comparing the height of objects such as towers.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to seeing you all next week, when we shall be reading The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Week Commencing 29th January 2024

We started our fabulous week by looking and root ginger and discovering what it is. We then used ginger to make our own gingerbread people. They were delicious. For our science learning, we then answered the question- how can we help the gingerbread man to cross the river? We designed bridges for the gingerbread man to cross the river. For our writing this week, we have written instructions for how to make a gingerbread man.

For our maths learning this week we have enjoyed playing games to find one more and one less. We have then looked at the composition of the number 6 and have been placing spots on ladybirds to find as many ways as possible of making 6, for example 5 and 1 or 4 and 2.

Next week, we look forward to reading The Three Little Pigs by Axel Scheffler. We will be making the 3 pig’s houses and describing the characters.

Week Commencing 22nd January 2024

What a brilliant week of learning! We started the week by looking at lots of shoes and wondering where they may have come from. We learnt our new wow word of the week-cobbler. This is a person who makes or fixes shoes.

We then enjoyed sharing The Elves and the Shoemaker. We talked about how the elves were kind for helping the cobblers. We then had a go at lots of independent tricky learning challenges including- designing them, making a pair of shoes, investigating how to waterproof a shoe, building a street of shops in our construction area.

For our maths learning, we have enjoyed learning how to measure- weight and capacity. We weighed objects using non standard units-cubes and we measured the capacity of various containers using pine cones, conkers and pom-poms.

For our Geography learning this week, we have been thinking about how to look after our area. We all made a pledge to care for our world by- picking up litter, turning the tap off, looking after animals, recycling and reusing. What wonderful, caring children you have!

Week Commencing 15th January 2024

We have had another fantastic week in the Foals and Cubs classes. This week we have been looking at the book Goldilocks and just one bear. The book tells the story of what happened after the story Goldilocks and the three bears. The children enjoyed learning about the bear visiting the city and meeting grown up Goldilocks.
The children learnt about the term setting that is used to describe where a story is.
In maths we have started to look at weighing objects on balance scales and reinforcing number bonds to 5.
In art we have learnt about collage and we have collaged a Union Jack.
Next week we are looking forward to reading the Elves and the Shoemaker.

Week Commencing 8th January 2024

It has been a busy but brilliant first week of our spring term. We have started our new English topic, Traditional tales and begun our new Geography topic, The British Isles.

When we arrived at school on Monday, we found porridge outside on the floor, with a footprint and a hand print in. We also found empty bowls and chairs that had been knocked over. We looked at the cause and decided Goldilocks had visited the three bears cottage. We have thoroughly enjoyed reading and re-reading the version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Axel Scheffler and using expression to sound like each bear.

In maths, we have been consolidating our knowledge of numbers, counting forwards and backwards to 50 and finding one more than a number. We are impressed with all the children’s confidence and fluency with numbers.

In Geography, we answered the question, where in the world do we live? We learnt what a globe and map are. We used Google earth to locate Calverton, Nottingham, England and the British Isles. We looked at the flags for England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Next week, we will look at the features of our local area.

For our art learning this half term, we are learning about what a collage is and are going to build skills to collage a landscape.

Week Commencing 1st January 2024

Welcome to the Spring Term in the foals and cubs. We hope you have all had a wonderful, restful break and a brilliant start to 2024.

It has been a pleasure to welcome your children back to school this week and to share all of their lovely holiday news. It sounds like you all had some quality family time together. We are impressed by how settled the children are and we are eager to continue their learning again.

This week, we have begun the new year by learning about the new year celebrations held in the British Isles. We looked at the fireworks on New Years Eve in London and talked about how people around the world count down to midnight,. We talked about what a resolution is and each thought of a new year resolution for school and home. I wonder if your child can share their resolution with you?

This half term, we will be reading Traditional Tales (once upon a time stories) in English. If your child has a favourite traditional tale they would like to share with their friends at school, please feel free to send in. If you do, please write your child's name in the front cover.

Week Commencing 4th December 2023

We began this week reading The Gruffalo’s Child. We enjoyed sharing the book and joined in with the repeated refrains. We thought about how the Gruffalo’s child was feeling at various points in the story-brave, worried, scared- then used these feelings words in full sentences. We have also been busy making the Gruffalo from play dough and from collage materials in out creative area.

In maths, we have been learning about 2D shapes. We have been recognising, naming and describing circles, triangles, squares, rectangles, pentagons, hexagons and octagons. This is quite challenging and so the home learning this week is linked to our work on shapes.

In art, we have worked in our artist sketch books to draw a portrait of Florence Nightingale. We have shown our creative skills and persevered to sketch in detail.

This week we were also joined by the Year 6 pupils from Sir John Sherbrooke. All the children worked together to make Christmas decorations (see below). 

We have also been busy practising our Christmas Nativity, which we are looking forward to sharing with you on Monday 18th December at 9:30.

Week Commencing 27th November 2023

It has been another busy and brilliant week of learning. The foals and cubs have read The Go Away Bird by Julia Donaldson and Catherine Rayner. We enjoyed looking at a real go away bird and learnt some new vocabulary- crest, bill, feather. In our outdoor area, we have been making pine cone bird feeders and bird spotting. We have also been painting the characters from the story and making British birds in our creative areas.

In maths, we found out what a part, part, whole model is and found many ways of making different numbers using spots, animals and counters. For our guided maths work, we were challenged to find as many ways as we could if making 5. Our teachers are impressed by concentrating and perseverance.

We have continued finding out about Florence Nightingale and answered the question- why is Florence known as the lady with the lamp? We looked at sources of light and ten discovered that electric lights were not used in the Scutari hospital.

Week Commencing 20th November 2023

This week, we have been busy reading a Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. The story made us laugh lots as it was ever such a tight squeeze to fit all the animals in the old ladie’s house. We enjoyed telling the story and joined in with repetitive phrases.

We continued learning about Florence Nightingale and answered the question: How did Florence Nightingale make a difference? We are fascinated by how much she did to help the soldiers and how much she has an impact on our hospitals today.

In maths, we have explored the composition of numbers and investigated lots of different ways of making each number. This was tricky but we persevered and impressed our teachers.

Once again, well done to all the children for making super progress with their reading. We are delighted to hear you are enjoying your reading at home. Keep it going!

Have a wonderful, restful weekend and we look forward to seeing you again next week for more super learning.

Week Commencing 13th November 2023

It has, as always, been a wonderful week in the foals.

In English, we have begun reading texts by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. This week, we enjoyed reading Room on the Broom 🧙‍♀️. After reading the book, we acted out the story on our stage. We are also busy setting up a theatre box office with tickets, posters and programmes. In our writing books, we answered the question: who is on the broom? We sounded out the character names using our phonic knowledge and impressed our teachers with our handwriting, finger spaces and full stops. We shall read A Squash and a Squeeze next week.

We have also begun learning about Florence Nightingale. This follows on nicely from our ‘people who help us’ topic. This week we discovered who Florence Nightingale is. Next week, we will ask: How did Florence Nightingale help others? How did Florence Nightingale make a difference?

In maths, we have consolidated our counting skills and have been rolling dice, counting the spots then drawing a corresponding number of objects. Again, we impressed our teachers with our understanding of number.

We are pleased you are all enjoying your new reading books at home. 📖 The children continue to amaze us with their independent reading at school and it’s lovely to hear how well they are also doing at home.

Week Commencing 6th November 2023

We have had a really busy week in the Foals class. This week we have been focusing on Diwali (the Hindu Festival of Light). During the week we have learnt about the festival and why it is celebrated. We have made Rangoli patterns, Diva lamps and we have painted Mendi patterns on paper hands. 
In maths we have been learning how to subitise to 5 and then 10. Subitising is when you are able to look at a group of objects and realise how many there are without counting.
This week we have also planted bulbs, been visited by a dentist, and we have been learning about Remembrance Day and why people wear poppies. 
In phonics we have learnt the sounds ll, ss, ff and j. We continue to revisit and recap all the sounds that we have learnt so far too. 
Next week we are starting to look at the author Julia Donaldson. We will start with the book 'Room on the Broom'. 

Week Commencing 9th October 2023

It has been another wonderful week of learning. Thank you to all parents who joined us for our Harvest festival in church. It was a wonderful celebration. There are some photographs of our celebrations on Tapestry that we posted earlier in the week.

For our English learning this week, we read a fiction text called Awesome Ambulances then we sounded out some words, phrases and sentences for our writing books. We are doing very well at sounding out then writing the matching grapheme (letter).

In Maths this week, we have been finding one more and one less. We found out that more means finding a bigger number and less means finding a smaller number. We have used a number line to help us find our answers.

For our art learning, we have looked carefully at paramedics and learnt how to draw one. We drew an outline then added facial features and tried to draw the uniform. Next week, we shall paint our paramedics, thinking carefully about the colours we use and mixing shades.

We also met Harold the giraffe from the Life Education Bus who taught us about staying healthy. 

In PE this half term, we have been travelling back in time, then going on a dinosaur hunt. We have been finding different ways to move our bodies to represent various dinosaurs. We shall put all our movements together next week for our final performance.
 

Week Commencing 2nd October 2023

We have had another exciting week in the Foals class. This week we have been learning about refuge collectors as part of our topic ‘People who help us’. We have learnt about what they wear, what they do, where the rubbish goes and how to recycle. We have looked at the book ‘I’m the bin lorry driver’ to help us with our understanding.

In maths we have been comparing numbers using the words more, less and equal to. We have also been looking at length, height and weight using the words tallest, shortest, lightest and heaviest.

This week we have also met a police officer, police dog and a vet as part of our topic ‘People who help us’.

Week Commencing 25th September 2023

This week, our lovely little learners have been busy finding out all about the Police service. We started the week reading Topsy and Tim meet the police and discussed how the police help us.

We are continuing to enjoy our phonics learning and have now learnt all the following phonemes: s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck, e, u and r. We have begun our guided reading sessions and have enjoyed reading a booked called Old McDonald Has a Farm.

We all worked in our new writing books, where we drew a picture of a police officer, police car or police dog then wrote labels to go with our illustrations.

In maths, we have been busy sorting and grouping. We learnt how to sort by colour, size and shape. We were given pictures of space ships and rockets of various sizes and colours and have to decide how to group and sort them. Our teachers are impressed by how many different ways we found to sort them.

Week Commencing 18th September 2023

We have had another exciting week in the Foals. This week we have carried on our topic all about ‘People who help us’. This week we have been looking at vets and how they help animals and their owners. We looked at the story ‘Mog and the V.E.T’ by Judith Kerr. We have learnt about Judith Kerr and we have acted out the Mog story many times. We have also been practicing to write our name. 

In maths we have been counting to 20 and practicing writing the numbers 1 to 9 correctly. The children have also been introduced to a 10 frame and have been learning how to count quickly using the 10 frame for support.

In art we have been drawing animals in our sketch books, ready for painting next week. In computing we have learnt about computers, mobile phones, tablets and cameras and how they help us in everyday life. In understanding the world, we have looked at and discussed what a vet does and who helps the vet in the surgery.

In phonics we have learnt the phonemes G,O,C and K.

Week Commencing 11th September 2023

We have had another fantastic week in the Foals class. This week we have been looking at the book Mr Tick the teacher as part of our topic 'People Who Help Us'. We have been learning the story and how to answer comprehension questions orally. In maths we have been learning how to count objects and how to write numbers from 0 to 9. In phonics we have learnt the sounds S,A,T,P,I,N,M,D and in topic time we have learnt colour mixing, discussed our families and we looked at all the people that help us in our community.
In science we conducted an experiment about how we could protect Humpty Dumpty when he fell off the wall in the nursery rhyme.

Week Commencing 4th September 2023

Hello and welcome to the Foals. I have really enjoyed getting to know all the children this week. This week we have looked at the story The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas. In the story a monster experiences the feelings of sad, happy, love, as well feelings of being afraid and calm. The children have learnt about these feelings and have managed to identify how they have felt as they start the next chapter of their learning in Foundation stage 2.
This week we have been counting objects in maths and recording numbers as well as predicting how many objects there are. In science we have been looking at fruit and vegetables and have used our observation skills to discuss what a fruit looks, smells and feels like. In art we have been drawing the Colour Monster and we have also made him out of playdough. 
Outside the children have been exploring the sand, water and mud kitchen as well as the ice cream parlour role play and writing shed. 

2022/2023

Week Commencing 10th July 2023

This week in the Foals and the Cubs we have looked at coral reefs and discovered lots of facts. We found out that coral is an animal and where the reefs are located in the world. We have created coral reefs by using PVA glue, salt and watered down paint. We have also printed coral reefs using sponges and used boxes to make a 3D coral reef. We have continued to do phonics as well as maths. In maths we have been subtracting from 5 and 10 using a number line.
This week we also had a great sports day. It was lovely to see the children running their races and all the parents and carers supporting them.

Week Commencing 3rd July 2023

This week we have enjoyed art week and learned about the artist David Hockney. We have focussed on his ‘Splash’ painting which depicts a splash in a swimming pool made by a diver. We looked really closely at the shape of the splash and drew it carefully on paper. We made and photographed our own class splash by dropping an object in some blue coloured water. We also drew our own splash carefully. We will be recreating Hockney’s ‘Splash’ painting by dropping paint onto the paper using a pipette. We have also been practising our many races for sports day and we are hoping for good weather next week.

Week Commencing 26th June 2023

This week we have been learning all about the pollution in our oceans and in particular how harmful plastic can be to the animals and plants. We have talked about reduce, reuse, recycle ♻️. In literacy we read a story called ‘Little Turtle’ and wrote about it in our books. We also created posters about stopping the pollution of our oceans. In addition we have learned about Sir David Attenborough. In maths this week we have focussed on naming 3D shapes and discussing their properties. We recorded how many faces each shape had and how many were flat and how many were curved. We also recorded how many vertices each shape had. We used our knowledge of the shapes to sort them using different criteria. Independently we have been ‘marine scientists’ and monitoring our ocean in the classroom. We recorded how it changed each day. It got increasingly polluted over the week. We made turtles using the play dough, painted seascapes on clingfilm and collaged fish using scales cut from plastic bags. We read some words and matched them to the correct picture and also sorted 3D shapes.
We had a great visit to Lowdham where we participated in a multi sports event with other schools.

Week Commencing 19th June 2023

This week we have been focusing on predators in the ocean namely sharks. We have labelled the parts of a shark and learnt some interesting facts. We then used this information to write in our literacy books. We have also completed a piece of independent writing about the story ‘Shark in the Park’ by Nick Sharrat. In mathematics this week we have been learning about positional language. Using a box and a bowl we have put a teddy in various places such as ‘on top’, ‘next to’, ‘behind’, ‘inside’, ‘outside’ and ‘in between’ and so on. We have also learned about different types of sharks and learned how to draw a shark. Independently we have made sharks teeth using play dough, painted sharks, created a rocking shark and a picture of a shark using newspaper. We have also read and followed instructions using positional language and made a habitat for a sea creature in the construction area.

Week Commencing 12th June 2023

This week we have continued to learn about the oceans. We have focused on ocean habitats. We read facts about the different ocean zones and found out about some of the animals and plants which live in the deepest depths of the ocean. We wrote some of the facts about ocean habitats in our literacy books. In numeracy we have investigated halving shapes and quantities. We learned that halving means to have two equal parts. We also read a story called ‘The Doorbell Rang’ by Pat Hutchings and investigated sharing a given quantity equally between different numbers of children. For example sharing eight between 2 children and then 4 children. We have also been Super Scientists and made ocean waves in a bottle using blue water and baby oil. We also made the layers of the ocean in another bottle too. We have been amazing artists and mixed different shades of blue to represent each of the different ocean zones. We have made handprint octopuses and stuck cereals on the tentacles to represent suckers. We have enjoyed playing in our yellow submarine role play and singing ‘Yellow Submarine’ by the Beatles!

Week Commencing 5th June 2023

This week we have started our new topic all about the Oceans. The children have learnt facts about the oceans including how many oceans there are, which one is the deepest and the smallest. We have also found out what happens to our eyes when we open them under the water. The children have been learning about all the animals that live under the water and the different layers they live in. The children learnt about the sunlight, twilight, midnight, abyss and trench.

In maths we have been looking at shapes and rotating them to make new shapes and pictures. In science we have been investigating salt water and we have learnt that an egg will float in salt water but not in fresh water. The children therefore learnt the word density! We also made salt crystals by submerging sugar paper in salt water (see below).

The children have also been creating waves in the art area using chalks, pastels, crayons and felt tips. 

In R.E. the children learnt the Christian bible story, the Good Shepherd.  

Week Commencing 22nd May 2023

This week we have been historians and learned about houses in the past. We have learned lots of interesting facts which we have used to complete our writing in our literacy books. For maths this week we have been learning about subtraction. We started the week with a number of biscuits and talked about how many were left after we had eaten some! We also learned how to record and solve subtraction number sentences using class chants to really embed our understanding.
Independently we have been designing our own wallpaper by using rollers, stencils and printing. We have also made some houses using materials in the making area.
The children continued to work with the Mansfield stags on their football skills.

We also bought a new climbing structure for the children to enjoy...

Week Commencing 15th May 2023

This week we have continued our learning about trams and we had a great trip to Crich. We have compared an old tram with a modern tram by discussing what is different and what is the same. We wrote about the trams in our literacy books and we were challenged to write a sentence using the conjunction ‘but’. In mathematics we have been learning how to solve addition number sentences by counting on using a number line.
We have learned how to make a winding mechanism to pull a vehicle up a ramp. Independently we have also made a moving tram using a sliding mechanism. We have also painted trams and enjoyed our role play tram following on from our trips to Crich.
We have continued to train with the Mansfield Stags and we have used musical instruments to create our own music with Mr Asplin.

Week Commencing 8th May 2023

We have had another fantastic week in the Foals. This week the children have learnt about trams as well as some of the houses from the past. In English the children have been writing about trams and reading labels and matching them to the features on a tram. In maths the children have been adding more to a number, whilst in topic the children have been learning about road safety and the amenities that are in Calverton. This week the children have also enjoyed football training with Mansfield Stags.

Week Commencing 1st May 2023

This week we have been celebrating the coronation of His Majesty King Charles lll. We have created cards and written messages inside which we will be sending to the King. We have made flags and crowns. We have also painted portraits of both King Charles and Queen Camilla. In mathematics we have been learning all about doubles. We have used our fingers and painted dots to create dominoes. We also played a game of pelmanism to find pairs of numbers to make doubles. We have continued to practice our football skills with Mansfield Stags.
In our topic time, we have researched the coronation and today we had a coronation lunch and little celebratory party in the classroom.

Week Commencing 24th April 2023

This week we have been learning all about our house. The children have been talking to their friends and the class about their house. This week we have been writing about our house in English and learning about teen numbers in maths. In phonics we have been identifying digraphs and trigraphs in words and then reading the whole word out loud. This week we have participated in a cricket and football workshop from Shine and Mansfield Stags.

Week Commencing 17th April 2023

This week we have been learning all about St George and the Dragon as it is St George’s day on Sunday. In our literacy books we have written about St George. In order to develop greater confidence and independence when writing the children have each completed a piece of writing about the dragon independently. In maths this week we have been investigating the ‘teens’ numbers using ten frames and Numicon. We have discussed how the numbers are composed of one ten and … . For example, 14 is one ten and four. We have located England on Google earth and discussed English traditions and symbols such as the lion and the rose.
Independently we have painted some amazing dragons, adding features using a black pen when they were dry. We have created an English flag by ripping and sticking red tissue paper for the cross. We have made knights and dragons by joining the pieces together using split pins. We have built castles using the Lego and sorted words by identifying digraphs and trigraphs. In addition we have made teens numbers using ten frames and counters.
We have also practiced football skills with Mansfield Stags. We will be doing this every Thursday in our PE kit.

Week Commencing 27th March 2023

This week we have been learning about Easter. We had a discussion about the different ways that we celebrate Easter. We had various images associated with Easter which we used as a prompt for our discussion. We learnt that Christians remember and celebrate the first Easter all about Jesus. We learnt the rhyme ‘Hot cross buns’ including signing some of the words with our hands. We each made a card and wrote inside. We all looked amazing in our wonderful Easter bonnets. Thank you grownups! In mathematics this week we have been learning about repeating patterns. We have been investigating whether a repeating pattern will fit exactly around the edge of a rectangular grid. Independently we have printed a sheep, made rabbit hats and a rabbit by drawing around our hand. We have investigated repeating patterns and our small world has been a farm as we have been discussing new life and naming baby animals as well as identifying signs of spring. In addition to our busy Easter week we also participated in a Shakespeare drama workshop and learnt about the play ‘The Tempest’.

Week Commencing 20th March 2023

We started the week by looking at the St Patrick's Day festival in Ireland. The children learnt about the festival, how it is celebrated and the story behind it. 

Also, this week, we have been learning the story of The Princess and the Pea. We created a story map and talked about the order of events. We then wrote about the story in our literacy books. In mathematics we have been comparing numbers by creating towers of bricks. Each tower increased by ‘one more each time’. We have also been ordering given numbers from the smallest to the largest and vice versa. We have been naming and talking about the properties of 3D shapes. We also investigated whether they could roll or not and also whether they could be used to build a tower. Independently we have created pictures of the bed the princess slept on and making ladders using straws and card. We have made peas using the play dough and balanced dried peas on golf tees! Following on from our phonics we have reading compound words independently, such as popcorn, carpark and farmyard, and matching them to the correct picture.

Week Commencing 13th March 2023

Science Week

Monday

It's the start of science week! We told the children that we will be focusing on water and experimenting with different materials. We looked at the book Float by Daniel Miyares. In the book the little boy has a newspaper boat which he uses on a rainy day and has an adventure. We used a newspaper boat and explored dropping the boat in water to see what would happen to the newspaper. The children observed the boat and could see that it was becoming soggy and eventually it sank. We took the boat out of the water and witnessed it ripping as it was so wet!

Tuesday

Today we have been testing different paper to see which papers absorb and which do not. The children made a prediction first and then tested each type of material (magazine paper, card, wallpaper, sugar paper and kitchen towel) with a pipette. They slowly dripped water on each type of paper and looked to see how the water was being absorbed.  

Wednesday

Today we have been testing different materials to see which one absorbs water the quickest. We cut out flowers from different materials, folded the petals over and then dropped them into water at the same time. The petals on the flower made out of paper towel opened the quickest meaning that the paper towel was the most absorbent. 

Thursday

Today we have been experimenting with fruit and vegetables and we wanted to find out which might float and which might sink. We looked at an orange, grape, courgette, pepper, tomato and lemon. We discussed which fruits and vegetables might float, which might sink and why. Some children thought that the larger heavier fruit and vegetables would sink and that the grape would float. We experimented with the fruit and vegetables and to our amazement the grape sank and all the other fruits and vegetables floated. We discussed the idea of density and that items that are less dense compared to water would float and that items that are more dense than water would sink. 

Friday

Today we explored making boats from fruits and vegetables. We carefully scooped out the fruits and vegetables so that only the skins were left. We placed these boats on the water to see which would float and if any would sink. See the pictures below for the results.

The children have really enjoyed science week and have learnt new vocabulary like absorb and density. 

Week Commencing 6th March 2023

We have had another amazing week in the Foals. This week we have continued to look at  the story, Jack and the Beanstalk. We have built beanstalks in the classroom out of tubes and have tried our best to reach the clouds in the sky. We have been building up our fine motor skills by milking daisy the cow in our outside area. We have also been measuring length by throwing wellies and seeing how far we have thrown them in strides. In English we have been writing about the giant using adjectives and the conjunction 'and'. 

Also we have planted broad beans and we hope they will grow into huge beanstalks. 

It snowed this week and we have been having a little fun in the snow. 

Week Commencing 27th February 2023

Wow what an amazing week we have had in the Foals class. This week we have celebrated St David's Day and World Book Day. We have also looked at the story Jack and the Beanstalk in English where we have been learning the story and writing about Jack.

In maths we have looked at odd and even numbers, whilst in P.E we have been working on our dance skills and have been dancing to nursery rhymes. 

This week we also took part in Wheelchair Basket Ball!

Week Commencing 20th February 2023

This week we have been focussing on the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We have sequenced the events in the story and then retold the story in our own words using the repeated phrases and appropriate voices for each of the characters. In our literacy books we wrote three events that happened in the story in the right order. So an event from the beginning of the story, one from the middle and one from the end. In mathematics we have been investigating pairs of numbers which make a total of ten using ten frames and numicon. We have also been recording the addition number sentences in our books and checking to ensure we have found all possibilities. Independently we have been mixing green to paint a troll and using the paint to create a handprint goat. In the making area we have made goats, trolls and the story setting so we can retell the story. We have retold the story in the small world and investigated ten using ten frames and counters.

Week Commencing 6th February 2023

We have had a very exciting this week in the Foals. The children have been acting out and performing the story the Gingerbread Man. The children have been writing speech bubbles as the cow, horse, baker and baker's wife.

In maths the children have been combining numbers and using the words together and total. They have also used the add and equal signs. 

In phonics we have been looking at longer words e.g. sunset, violet, rubber, rabbit and chicken. 

In P.E we have continued to work on being champion gymnastics on the apparatus. 

In topic time the children have learnt about ginger. They have learnt what it looks like, where it comes from in the world and how it is grown.

This week we have also taken part in Bikeability. The children learnt how to put a helmet on, how to steer and stop a balance bike. The children found using the brake a little challenging. 

Week Commencing 30th January 2023

We have had another exciting week in the Foals class. The children have been learning about the Elves and the Shoemaker. The children have acted the story out and drawn their own story maps. Outside in the garden we have been shining shoes using brushes and dusters and in the writing shed we have been writing certificates to the elves to reward them for all their hard work. 

In maths, the children have been looking at how to make 8 using the part, part whole model. The children have also been counting to 100 in 1's, 5's and 10's.
In phonics we have been learning the sounds ear and air.
On our making and painting tables the children have been making and painting shoes.
In P.E we have been working on how to be champion gymnasts on apparatus. 

Week Commencing 23rd January 2023

We have had a very exciting week in the Foals class. The children have been bird watching and learning about birds. The children have learnt about robins and as a class we created a fact sheet all about them. The children have written sentences about robins using all their phonic knowledge. 

This week we have also been looking at Chinese New Year. This year is the year of the rabbit. The children have learnt about the story behind Chinese New Year, China and Chinese food.

In maths, the children have been looking at how to make 6 and 7 using the part, part whole model. The children have also been counting to 100 in 1's, 5's and 10's.
In phonics we have been learning the sounds oi, ur, ear and ow.
On our making and painting tables the children have been making and painting birds.
In P.E we have been working on how to be champion gymnasts whilst outside we have been bird spotting, making bird feeders and exploring the water.

Week Commencing 16th January 2023

We have had another great week in the Foals. The children have been learning about the story the Three Little Pigs. The children have been writing wanted posters for the wolf and practicing the story. The children have been sequencing pictures of the story and have been thinking about the beginning, middle and end.
In maths, the children have been looking at mass and capacity. They have been weighing objects and filling containers using the words lighter, heavier, lightest, heaviest, full, empty, half full, nearly full and nearly empty.
In phonics we have been learning the sounds oo (in zoom), oo (in book), ar and or.
On our making and painting tables the children have been making and painting pigs.
In P.E we have been working on how to be champion gymnasts whilst outside we have continued to act out stories and create food in the mud kitchen.

Week Commencing 9th January 2023

Happy new year and welcome back to a new term. This week in the Foals the children have been learning about Goldilocks and the three bears. The children have learnt the story, tasted porridge, designed a chair for the bears, made bears from playdough and conducted science experiments using golden Haribo bears. The children learnt that sugar water can cause Haribo golden bears to expand due to osmosis. 

In maths this week the children have been learning how to make 4 and 5 using the part, part whole model as well as tennis balls in two buckets. The children have been asked to guess what might be in the one bucket and then when they have found out, they have been asked what should be in the other bucket to make 4 or 5 altogether. 

In P.E the children have started to think about being champion gymnasts. We learnt how to move and make shapes like champion gymnasts. 

In phonics we have learnt some new diagraphs and trigraphs (igh, ai, ee and oa).

Outside in the science area we have been looking at materials and investigating which material is best for making boats for the bears (see below).

Week Commencing 12th December 2022

This week the Foals performed their Christmas performance entitled 'The Nativity'. The concert was amazing and all the children did a fantastic job. 

This week, in class, we have studied the Christmas story. We have acted it out and drawn a story map to accompany the story. 

In maths the children have been looking at repeating patterns and in topic time the children have found out about the three gifts that the wise men brought baby Jesus and where Bethlehem and Nazareth is. 

In phonics we have recapped how to blend words and all the tricky words.

The children are getting very excited for Christmas and we have discussed how we all spend Christmas day at home with our families. 

Week Commencing 5th December 2022

We have had another amazing week in the Foals and Cubs. Both classes have been to Brackenhurst to experience the Christmas nativity. The children travelled to ‘Bethlehem’ and met some of the animals along the way. The children finished their journey in a stable and stroked two beautiful donkeys.
In school the children have practised their nativity concert ready for next week and they have continued to learn the songs. They are becoming very confident and we all hope they don’t get stage fright on the day!
In the classroom the children have been learning about 2D shapes including circles, rectangles, squares, triangles, pentagons and hexagons. The children have learnt the names of the shapes and their properties. They have been using the words curved, side and vertices (corner).
In English the children have been learning another Julia Donaldson story, Stick Man. The children have really enjoyed story mapping the story and learning some actions to go with it.
In phonics we have revisited the digraphs ch, th, nk, ng and sh.

Brackenhurst Trip 2022

Week Commencing 28th November 2022

This week in the Foals we have continued to look at our new book a Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson. The children have been reading simple sentences and finding the physical object and placing it in our dolls house which is acting like the house from a squash and a squeeze. 

In science we have been using our observational skills to look at a mixing water and oil and seeing what happens.

In maths the children have been looking at the composition of numbers to 5. This is where the children learn how to make numbers in different ways, e.g. 4 can be 4 and 0, 3 and 1, 2 and 2 etc. In phonics we have been recapping all the sounds and tricky words that we know. We have been using these sounds and blending words to read. 

In our outside space we have been performing a Squash and a Squeeze. The children have dressed up as the characters and used props to retell the story.

Week Commencing 21st November 2022

This week in the Foals we have started to look at our new book a Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson. The children have been reading simple sentences and finding the matching food picture. They  have then placed the picture of food into a pretend larder. The children have also been painting the characters. 

In science we have been using our observational skills to look at a mixing coloured water and seeing what colours we can make.

In maths the children have been looking at the composition of numbers to 5. This is where the children learn how to make numbers in different ways, e.g. 4 can be 4 and 0, 3 and 1, 2 and 2 etc. In phonics we have been looking at the sounds ng, th, nk and sh. We have been using these sounds and blending words to read. 

In our outside space we have been performing a Squash and a Squeeze. The children have dressed up as the characters and used props to retell the story.

Week Commencing 14th November 2022

This week in the Foals we have continued to look at the story Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. The children have been reading simple sentences and finding the matching picture. They have placed these pictures into a cauldron to make magic potions. The children have also been painting dragons as well as threading beads on to pipe cleaner broomsticks. This is to improve their fine motor skills.

In science we have been using our observational skills to look at a mixing coloured water and seeing what colours we can make.

In maths the children have been subitising to 5 or 10. This is where the children have to look at an arrangement of dots and say straight away how many there are without counting. In phonics we have been looking at the sounds z, qu, zz and ch. We have been using these sounds and blending words to read. 

In our outside space we have been performing Room on the Broom. The children have dressed up as the characters and used props to retell the story.

This week we also took part in the annual Pudsey Bear day. The children dressed up in Pudsey Bear outfits and learnt about the day and where all the money raised goes.

Week Commencing 7th November 2022

This week in the Foals we have been looking at Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. The children have been reading simple CVC words and finding the matching picture. They have placed these pictures into a cauldron to make magic potions. The children have also been painting witches as well as using tweezers to capture spiders. This is to improve their fine motor skills.

In science we have been using our observational skills to look at a chemical potion reaction!

In maths the children have been subitising to 5 or 10. This is where the children have to look at an arrangement of dots and say straight away how many there are without counting. In phonics we have been looking at the sounds j,v,x,y and w. We have been using these sounds and blending CVC words to read. 

In our outside space we have been building our theatre ready to perform Room on the Broom next week. The children will practice retelling the story to each other and the class and then take their performance outdoors and perform it in front of each other on our outdoor stage. 

Week Commencing 31st October 2022

This week in the Foals we have been looking at Diwali. The children have learnt that Diwali is a Hindu festival of lights and that the festival is a celebration of Sita being rescued by Rama from the evil Ravana. The children made diva lamps, rangoli patterns and ate Diwali food. The children also made Diwali cards and wrote inside them with their best handwriting. 

In maths we focused on one more and one less, whilst in P.E we looked at using our hands to control a ball and keep it close to our bodies. In art the children painted mehndi patterns and ragoli patterns. 

Week Commencing 10th October 2022

Wow, what an amazing week we have had in the Foals. This week we have performed our harvest festival performance in front of all the parents. The children sang beautifully and we were all really proud of them. Also this week we have been learning about Autumn and all the signs of Autumn all around us. In maths we have been learning one more and one less as well as counting to 100 in 1's and in 10's. 

We have also planted bulbs outside ready for spring and we have learnt what a bulb is. 

In phonics we have been reviewing our sounds and practicing oral blending and blending for reading. 

In literacy we have also been learning a poem called Whisky, Frisky Hipity Hop which is all about a squirrel. 

Independently, we have created squirrels and hedgehogs with forks, printed leaves and made cardboard squirrels. 

We all hope you have a great half term break. See you all on the 31st October. 

Week Commencing 3rd October 2022

This week in the Foals we have been reading and learning about the international space station. The children learnt how the astronauts live on the space station. They have learnt how they brush their teeth, sleep and what they wear in space. 

In maths we have been learning new vocabulary. We have been learning the words more, less, fewer, fewest, longest, longer, taller, tallest, shorter and shortest. We have been using these words to compare numbers, length and height. 

This week in phonics we have been learning the phonemes l, f, h and b. The children are becoming more and more confident with blending the sounds and reading CVC words.

We have also been getting ready for our harvest festival performance on Monday. We are very good at singing our songs, and we all hope they don't get stage fright!

Week Commencing 26th September 2022

This week we have been reading the book Goodnight Spaceman by Michelle Robinson. We have learnt about gravity and what life is like in a Space Station. We decided what we could take into space like a cat, a top, a pan, a map and a dog. The children have been learning how to write these simple CVC words using their knowledge of sounds or phonemes. 

In maths we have been sorting objects like buttons and shapes by their colour, shape and size. The children are getting very good at sorting and can tell you how they have sorted objects.

The children have been practicing their cutting skills by cutting out shapes, arranging them on paper and making rockets. The children have also been painting rockets and exploring a rocket in our role play area. They especially enjoyed dressing up in the space suits!

This week in phonics we have been learning the phonemes k, ck, e, u and r. The children are beginning to blend these sounds to read. 

Week Commencing 19th September 2022

This week we have been reading about the solar system. We have learnt about all the planets and some amazing facts, like Neptune is the coldest planet because it is the furthest from the sun. In maths we have continued to learn to count, really focusing in on our one to one correspondence (touching each item as we count). 

The children have been practicing their cutting skills by cutting out planets and arranging them on paper. The children have also practiced their pencil grip and have been writing the planets names and drawing planets. The children have also arranged space patterns and completed planet jigsaws too. 

Week Commencing 12th September 2022

What another great week in the Foals class. This week we have been reading the story Whatever Next which is about a little bear that travels to the moon and has a picnic. We have been looking at the moon and what it looks like and what we might find on the moon. We have been creating moon pictures, learning through small world, threading moon helmets and sequencing the Whatever Next story. 

In maths we have continued to count out loud to 20 and have begun to write our numbers.

This week we also had Guy and Harold arrive in school. Guy introduced us to Harold the giraffe who taught us about exercise, healthy eating and how to stay clean.

This week we have also started to create new areas in our outside provision. We have lots of ideas and this will develop over time.

Week Commencing 5th September 2022

Wow, what a great first week in the Foals class. The children have settled really well and they have been remembering where they should sit on the carpet. The children have explored the environments and have been cutting, gluing, writing, counting, building, reading and learning through play. In literacy we have been looking at the book the Colour Monster. In the story the Colour Monster displays different feelings. The children have been exploring their feelings and sharing how they feel with everyone. The children have been creating Colour Monsters and they have been writing cards expressing how they are feeling. The children have also taken part in their first P.E lesson, where they learnt how to get changed. In P.E we used the parachute and played a few parachute games. 

Next week we will start looking at our new topic, Space. We are focusing on the moon next week.

The outside space will be improved shortly, but this might take a few weeks.