Class Trip to Gloucester

 Ms Penny talked about the Christmas story and the journey that we had been on around the Cathedral.

 We started making our own Nativity scenes that we will finish in school this week.

 Whilst walking through Gloucester we saw a very big organ. It was playing lots of music so we stopped to have a look. It was very loud, but we enjoyed dancing to the music!

 We then carried on our journey towards the train station.

 The train journey was great fun!

We were very tired when we got back to Stroud station but we had a brilliant day! 

NOTE: Homework books will be collected in on Monday for Miss Fogarty to prepare homework. Children's reading books will also be taken in at some point next week to get Christmas books ready!

Book Week

This week is book week and the children are enjoying all sorts of different kinds of books. On Monday the children talked about their favourite type of book and entered a bookmark competition. They also met an author who entertained them with some fantastic rhyming songs which the children really enjoyed.

Yesterday the children made their own books including picture books, information books, books for babies and story books.

Today we have been talking about a reading book called 'Usman's Books'. In the story, Usman jumps into books and meets the characters. The children thought about which book they would like to jump in to, who they would meet and what they would do with that character.

Danny - I would jump into 'The Gingerbread Man' and eat him!
Harry - I would jump into 'Where's Wally' and hide with him.
Eleanor - I would jump into 'Winnie the Witch' and make spells with her.
Molly - I would jump into 'The Hungry Caterpillar' and fly with the butterfly.
George - I would jump into 'Noah's Ark' and help him with the animals.
Oliver - I would jump into a dinosaur fact book and play with the dinosaurs.
Amber - I would jump into 'Amber the Fairy' and play games with her.
Barnaby - I would jump into 'Thomas the Tank Engine' and play with Harry.
Ioan - I would jump into 'Monkey Puzzle' and go swinging in the trees with the monkey.
Oscar - I would jump into 'Where's Wally' and hide with him.
Tom - I would jump into 'Funnybones' and scare people.

As you can see they had lots of lovely ideas!

• REMINDER: Dress up as your favourite book character on Friday.
• REMINDER: The book fair will be in Class 3 after school until Monday.

Take Over Day

We have had a very busy week since the last blog update.

We hope you enjoyed our Class Assembly on Wednesday and that you enjoyed seeing all the work we have done in Class 1.

Today was 'Take Over Day', where Natasha and Hero were the class teachers for the day. In Literacy we read the story 'Elliott Jones: Midnight Superhero.' The children came up with their own superhero characters, their special powers and who they would help. In maths today, and for the rest of the week we will be looking at money, including recognising coins and ordering them.

There were lots of letters sent home today including a letter about each child needing a 'Pringle' tube for Christmas Activity Week.

THE BOOK PEOPLE HAVE DELIVERED BOOKS TO SCHOOL FOR YOU TO BUY IF YOU WISH. THERE ARE SOME FANTASTIC BOOKS SUITABLE FOR CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!! SCHOOL ALSO GETS COMMISSION. (Class 1 would really like to be able to have the Biff, Chip and Kipper books!)

REMINDER: Please return Barnardo's envelopes on Wednesday and remember to send children to school  wearing their badges that they have designed.

The End of Last Week

 Barnaby's picture

 Danny's picture

Molly's picture

On Friday we finished the week by looking at bonfire night. The children looked at fireworks as a source of light and we talked about the different shapes, types and colours. The children then completed their bonfire night pictures, adding to their bonfire that they had created earlier this week.

Mrs Shiner made 'chocolate sparklers' with the children. They were very simple and the children enjoyed waving them around outside at playtime and, of course, eating them!

Chocolate Sparklers: Chocolate fingers, icing and hundreds and thousands!

REMINDER: Class Assembly on Wednesday at 2:45pm.

Aliens and Guy Fawkes

This morning we went to The Village Hall and visited the planet 'Evon'. A large blue and silver sandy planet is home to a huge variety of different aliens! The children thought about how they would travel as an aliens whether it shuffled, jumped, hopped, crept. There were some wonderful aliens in our class!

After playtime we had a fire practise. All the children were very grown up and sensible about it.

This afternoon we learnt all about Bonfire Night and the history behind it. Some children were very knowledgeable about Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot. We then made bonfires using different fire coloured papers and cardboard. In science on Friday we will add fireworks to our pictures, when we look at fireworks as a source of light.

REMINDER: Class 1's assembly will take place next Wednesday at 2:45pm. All are welcome.

NOTE: For those children who attend 'Puzzle and Games Club' in years 1 and 2, there will be no club on Monday 7th November due to book look taking place in classrooms.

Back to school

Welcome back to school today. I hope you all had a lovely half term break and the children had a well earned rest. Some of them were full of their adventures over the week including trips to the zoo and visiting friends.

Mrs Shiner was the class teacher today as I was on a course in Bristol. This morning the year 1 children began looking at fantasy stories and over the next week or so will be creating their own alien characters and writing stories about them.

The children have also been looking at the rule 'We are gentle, we don't hurt others'. We have been looking at this rule lots and will be our main focus this term. We would appreciate your support with this rule and reinforce it outside of school. We have been talking about what 'gentle' looks like in school.

NOTE: Please check your child's book bag for a letter about parents evening. Please return the slips ASAP to myself not Mrs David.

Alien Homes

An alien home by Amber.

Photos from 'The Citizen'

Just a selection of photographs taken by 'The Citizen' newspaper and available to buy if you so wish from:
http://www.dipintosales.co.uk/thisisGloucestershire/dgallery.asp?i=78&f=STARTING+SCHOOL&items=16&p=16
and...
http://www.dipintosales.co.uk/thisisGloucestershire/dgallery.asp?i=78&f=STARTING+SCHOOL&items=16&p=17

The children had their Zumba taster session this afternoon. The all seemed to really enjoy it. It would be nice to see lots of the year 1's coming to the club. It is one of my passions and hope they are excited by it as well! Check your child's book bag for their letter all about it.

REMEMBER: The children's card designs will be available for you to view after school tomorrow in Class 1.

Zumba

Tomorrow the year 1 children will be taking part in a 'Zumba for Kids' taster session at the Village Hall. After half term we will be offering a 'Zumba for Kids' after school club every Thursday. Letters will be sent out tomorrow for the children to sign up if they would like to come. A half termly cost will be involved as the session will be run by a qualified Zumba teacher.  The children are all very excited about the taster session happening tomorrow afternoon.

REMINDER: Come and see your child's beautiful card design on Wednesday after school in Class 1 and decide if you would like to order the design on a pack of cards.

Rockets and Aliens

We were very pleased with the children after Harvest Festival. The FS2 children were fantastic and sat so still and quiet throughout. Thank you all for your kind donations of food for the charity MARA.

Today we went to the village hall and continued our dance based upon space. The children were rockets blasting into space, flying around avoiding shooting stars and spinning planets!

This afternoon George's mum came in to help us continue our card designs so that they are ready in time for you to look at next Wednesday after school.









We have also been very busy making blow painting aliens. Some of us ran out of puff and others could have gone on and on!

REMINDER: Cake Sale on Friday. Remember to bring in your 20p. Please send money in a purse, as it makes finding it much easier for the children and us!

The Magic Bed and Cards

All of FS2 are now in full time. Today they began looking at the story 'The Magic Bed'. We talked about where the bed might take us such as to the woods, toy shop and out to sea. FS2 are now beginning to read simple words by sounding out letters that they have learnt so far such as 's-a-t' 't-a-p' 'a-t'

Year 1 are beginning a block of work in literacy based upon labels, lists and captions. Today they have been talking about their favourite t-shirts.

In the afternoons this week we are making our Christmas card designs ready to be sent to the printers. These will be available for you to buy cards printed with your child's design.

Reminder: Harvest Festival tomorrow so please bring in one item to donate to MARA. Something small in a packet that is easy to carry would be best.  Harvest Festival will begin at 1:30pm in the village hall. Class 1 have a lovely poem to share with you and some of their work that they have done with Mrs Shiner in RE.

Measuring and the Fire Alarm

FS2 have settled in very well. Here they are building tall towers out of bricks and trying to get dinosaurs to balance on the top.

One FS2 child decided that he was going to join in with the year 1 work in measuring. He noticed that he was 2 fish high. There was a little bit of cheating going on!!

Year 1's enjoyed writing lists today of food that a tiger might like to eat if he came to their house. There were lots of lovely ideas.

We had a fire practise today in school, some of the children found the alarm noise very load, but were very sensible and listened carefully to instructions.

This afternoon Mrs Shiner continued to practise with the year 1's for harvest festival and they have created some beautiful work to show you in harvest festival next Tuesday afternoon.

Astronaut Ice Cream and Conkers

Year 1 are revisiting 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea'. Today they sequenced pictures from the story and in a group had a go at retelling the story, trying to remember to use story language. We then retold the story but substituted the tiger for another animal. We have also started measures in maths and today looked at comparing objects of different lengths.

FS2 are looked at 'Mr Gumpy's Motor Car' this week. Today they thought about long journeys that they have taken in the car and how they entertained themselves.
In maths FS2 are practising recognising numbers 1-10 and counting 1:1. They have been enjoying using the dice and number cards to make up games.

This afternoon, year 1's had the opportunity to try real astronaut ice cream. It was chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. It was very different from normal ice cream! Ask them what they thought of it! They all decided that it was vital to pack some on their space shuttle ready for their mission!

At the end of the day we sang a song all about conkers after finding some on our Autumn walk last week.

Our Autumn Walk

This morning we went for an Autumn walk. Before we left we talked about all the different things that we might find. The children were very excited and keen to find lots of signs of Autumn. We investigated leaves on the ground, and each chose a leaf that we felt was the most beautiful. Warning: Leaves may still be in pockets!! We went right up to the playing field and tried so find some acorns. We didn't manage to find any. We came to the conclusion that the squirrels may have taken them all. On the way back we stopped off at the horse chestnut tree opposite school to try and find some conkers. The weather was beautiful and we had a super time.

Please note that we aim to start FS2 sound work next week. Please check for their sound books that will be sent home in their book bags on Monday. They are expected to practise writing each sound on the night that they bring it home and show you the action to go with it. We will be learning 4 sounds a week, so keep an eye out on Monday for their practise sheets

REMINDER: Homework books and spelling books need to be sent into school tomorrow.

Monkeys and harvest

This morning FS2 were looking at the story 'Oi get off our train'. We tried to remember all the names of the animals who went on the train. We then had a go at thinking about our own animals that we would like to have on our train. Here is Tedd's monkey below:

In maths year 1 are working on writing number sentences. Today we have been thinking about different ways of making 5. For example 1+4=5, 2+3=5, 5+0=5.

Mrs Shiner was the class teacher this afternoon. She has started talking with the children about harvest.

COMING UP: We are hoping to go on a Autumn walk on Thursday, even though according to the weather man it will be more like a summers day!

The Working Zone

Work has finally finished on our outside area. The children have been using it today for the first time. Our aim is to provide opportunities for outside play continuously throughout everyday, especially for children in foundation stage.

 Construction making outside

Our sand tray has now moved outside!

FS2 today have been investigating different seasons. Next week, we hope to go on a 'Autumn walk' and see what we can find that give signs as to which season we are currently in.

Year 1 were very excited today as they used the computer suite for the first time. We have been practising turning on, logging onto the computer and mouse skills.

Spiders and Holidays

Year 1 have been looking at an E-book this week called 'The boy who was afraid of spiders.' The children made a spider and have been thinking about story sequencing today.

FS2 have been talking about their holidays and what they did. Some of the children talked about and drew a picture of their holiday.

In maths, year 1 have been learning about 'next numbers'. We have been working on numbers all the way up to 100. This weeks homework will be thinking all about the next number/one more.

REMINDER:

• PE tomorrow, so please wear your PE to school in the morning and bring your school clothes in your PE kit bag.
• Homework is due in Friday.

The Citizen Newspaper Visit

The Citizen newspaper came today to take photographs of the new FS2 children. Keep your eyes peeled for the photo/s to come over the next few days/weeks!

Dog Biscuits and Invitations

Welcome to Kate, Che and Tahlia who all joined us in Class 1 today. The year 1 girls were very relieved to meet some more girls to play with. We have been taken over by boys this year!!

The year 1's this morning talked about who they would invite to tea at their house, inspired by the story 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea'. We then talked about invitations and their main features. The children then wrote invitations trying to remember all the important information that had to go on it.

FS2 have been looking at some of the stories we have in our classroom. They have also been given plenty of time to 'bond' with each other. Today they went outside to play some maths games and joined in with singing.

This afternoon we finished our Kasper biscuits. You hopefully managed to see them, as they were lovely, before they disappeared into little tummies!  Here are some pictures if you didn' t manage to catch a glimpse!