Bats Class Page 2022-23

Welcome to our 2022-23 Bats class page. 

Here you will find important information about our learning this year, as well as regular updates about what we have been doing each week.

Please do not hesitate to contact me via email or catch me at the classroom door if you have any questions.

Term 6

Week 6

This week Bats class made me very proud by behaving impeccably in their new Year 2 class on Tuesday morning. I had some very lovely reports back from their new teachers.

Bats have written their own wishing story this week, which is the last piece of sustained writing I will be asking them to produce this year. I cannot believe how well every child in our class has progressed with their writing this year. 

In Maths we are finishing place value to 100, and will quickly begin to look at time. The children showed me how confident they are with days of the week and months of the year already this week. 

In Science we had a fun lesson exploring our senses and in Topic we compared Watlington to the seaside town of Bournemouth. The children had a go at writing their addresses too!

On Friday we watched the Year 6 play of the Jungle Book, which was amazing. The children loved to see their Year 6 buddies performing!

Reports have gone home this week in your children's book bags. 

Week 5 

This week we have loved doing lots of Art inspired by Frida Kahlo and learning about her life. Thank you for coming to see the children's work in the art gallery in the hall after school. 

We were very excited to have Zoo Lab visit our classroom, along with lots of special animal guests. Ask your children their names! Thank you to the PTA for completely funding this for us. 

We had a PE lesson with Year 3 today and they taught us how to play diamond cricket.

We had a playtime with our Year 6 buddies today and lots of them had written us letters and made us cards. The children will really miss them when they leave in a few weeks time. 

Week 4 Sports Day

The children made me extremely proud at their participation in their first whole school sports day. They all took part and gave everything their best try. Well done.

Week 2

We started our new Talk for Writing model text this week; The Fish that could Wish, and I asked the children to write their own wishing stories to start our unit. The children had some great ideas about what they could wish for; a unicorn, a potion to become invisible, as well as what they could wish upon; a star, a genie lamp or a moon. We begun to learn some actions to help us remember the text, and I have included these in the childrens' home learning books for you to practice at home. 

In Science this week we sorted animals into herbivores, carnivores and omnivores, and all the children could tell me why an animal was in that particular group. Well done Bats!

In Art the children learnt what primary and secondary colours are - ask them! They created some wonderful colour wheels by mixing the primary colours together themselves to create various shades of secondary colours. 

In Art and DT over the coming weeks we are going to be making a model fish using a plastic bottle to tie in with our recycling theme. Please could you save any plastic bottles and send them into school so that we have a selection to make our fish with. Thank you!

In PE the children have done some yoga this week, as it has been too hot for anything more physical. The children enjoyed relaxing and stretching and experiencing the slightly more gentle side of exercise.

In Maths we have been learning about position and direction and the children have enjoyed gicing each other instructions outside to move around a maze. 

Week 1

Welcome back to our final term of this academic year, I hope you all had a restful half term and enjoyed the sunshine.

We are continuing with our Under the Sea topic this term, looking at climate change and how we can look after our planet, especially the oceans. 

We have looked at rhyming words this week and created our own rhyming poem about sea animals. I will create a class book to sit in our book corner of these to go alongside their sea animal fact files from last term.

In Science we learnt what a carnivore, a herbivore and an omnivore is, and sorted animals into these groups.

In RE we looked at 'Puja', the act of worship, in Hinduism. We made a Hindu shrine with Mrs Gardener- Brown, that could be found in a temple or Hindu home. 

In Topic we learnt about recycling and how important it is in helping our planet. The children were very knowledgeable about how to recycle many items we use everyday. 

The children made me very proud on Friday as they took part in our whole school Cross Country Event. Every child ran the whole distance and so many of them showed such great sportsmanship and perseverance when it got hard. I was one very proud teacher. Congratulations to our winners in Year 1, Rufus, Amelia and Wren.

Term 5

Week 6

What an exciting week we have had in Bats focussing on STEM (Science, Technology and Maths). It has been a hive of activity in the classroom; ranging from creating our own zoos, making bird feeders, researching sea animals using iPads, programming the BeeBots and solving some interesting Maths problems.

We were lucky to have a scientist visit us this week to talk about her project 'Building Brains'. The children behaved impeccably and were completely engaged in what she had to say. The children loved making their very own brain model using playdoh after she visited.

The children wrote their sea animal fact files in 'best' this week so that we can create a class book of fact files to display in the KS1 library at school. I am sure we can then teach other children in the school the amazing facts we learnt about a whole range of sea animals. 

Week 5

Huge congratulations to Bats class for performing a wonderful class assembly. I was so proud of each and every child as they all spoke with wonderfully clear voices and demonstrated their super work so well. Thank you to parents for coming to support them.

The children produced some incredible fact files on sea animals this week; its safe to say we ALL learnt a lot of new and interesting facts about animals ranging from starfish, to squid, and to dolphins. 

Week 4

The children have enjoyed our Science this week; finding out about the groups that animals are classified in. They have revealed some great knowledge about different animals. This enthusiasm continued into our writing lessons where we produced our class shared write fact file about sea turtles; and then the children started to plan their own fact file about their favourite sea creature. I have asked the children to find out two facts about their chosen sea creature to add into their fact file that they will write next week.

In Maths we have started our multiplication unit by counting in 2s, 5s and 10s and are now moving onto repeated addition to begin our understanding on how to multiply numbers. 

We enjoyed a PE lesson on Friday learning how to bowl a ball in cricket. Ask the children about the 'rocking star'!

Thank you for all the wonderful 'show and tell' books and objects the children are bringing in when it is their 'show and tell' time. They have loved sharing them and the other children are very interested in asking questions all about them.

Week 3

We had a really fun week celebrating King Charles III Coronation, with a fly past from RAF Benson on Wednesday afternoon, a special assembly on Thursday where Mrs Sterjo and Mr Gale told us all about the coronation by acting the ceremony out, and on Friday we had a whole school coronation lunch with music and decorations. In Bats class we celebrated the Coronation by making flags, crowns, commemorative plates, designing coins, drawing portraits of the King and making stamp bunting for the PTA events. We also learnt a song about the King. 

In other news we have been learning our Sharks fact file off by heart and the children can confidently recite it back to me and remember key facts. This is wonderful! This will support them when writing their own sea creature fact file next week. 

In Maths we finished off learning about measurement and capacity. The children explored capacity and volume by using containers of various sizes to estimate and then measure the amount of liquid a container held. 

In Topic we learnt that the United Kingdom was an island. Ask your children what an island is and can they remember the names of the seas around the UK? 

In Art we created 'lino-print' type pictures of shells drawn in white pencil, chalk, crayon or pastel, on black card, after looking at various 'seaside' artists over time. 

Please could I remind you all to make sure the children bring back their borrowed library book to school on a Thursday, as this is the day that we visit the KS1 library to swap our books.

Week 2

This week we learnt how to type into a word processor using the iPads. We continued with measurement in Maths using objects (blocks, paper clips) and then rulers to measure items in the classroom.

In Art we made sea creatures for our Under the Sea display and in PE we had some sports leaders from Year 5 and 6 to help us with our cricket lesson where we learnt how to catch and throw a ball in various ways.

Week 1

Welcome back to Bats class for our Summer term, and thank you for all of the Phonics work you have been doing with your children over the Easter break. Please carry on with this as much as possible for Home Learning as it will really support our Phonics lessons in class.

We had a wonderful first week back, introducing our new topic 'Under the Sea' with some painting to create some sea creatures for our class display. The children also did a scavenger hunt outside to find lots of different sea creatures.

The children have done measuring this week in Maths, learning how to use a ruler to measure in centimetres. 

In Jigsaw (PSHE) we talked about families and how important they are and how they all look different. The children played an animal families game which they really enjoyed. 

In our Reading lesson we introduced our new reading book 'The Storm Whale' and the children wrote a fact file about Bats to start our English work on non-chronological reports (i.e. fact files). They were very knowledgeable about all things 'Batty'! This term we are having a big push on handwriting, and the children have really begun to show me how beautifully neat they are able to write. Keep it up Bats!

In PE we stared learning some Athletics with Mrs Heycock and on Thursday we had a special PE lesson with WR Sports doing Cricket. The children LOVED it. 

Week 6

The last week of term was a great one. We planned, made and evaluated our yummy salads. I couldn't believe how skilled the children were at preparing their salads by themselves.

The children have written some poetry this week, exploring alliteration and tongue twisters, as well as creating an acrostic poem about our topic 'Toys'. 

In Maths we finished off our work on numbers up to 50 and did some Easter measuring.

I have sent home a Phonics pack at the end of term, which contains practice 'real' and 'alien' words for the children to practice sounding out. This will support them in their Phonics work ahead of the Phonic screening in June. 

Myself and Mrs Heycock wish you all a restful and enjoyable Easter break and thank you for your continued support with reading and home learning that you do with your children.

Week 5

The children have completed their own story version of 'Dogger' this week and I have been super impressed at the high standard of writing we are seeing in Year 1 now.

Over the week we have grown cress seeds as part of our Science investigation. We placed them in different conditions around the classroom to identify what a plant needs to grow to its potential. Ask your children about the results.

The highlight of this week was Outdoor Learning Day, where we really got to put our learning from our Science topic of Plants into practical use. We planted some flowers in tyres to brighten up our playground, have a look when you pick your children up. We went on a visit to the allotments in Watlington to see some vegetable plants as they started to grow. We saw a lot of root vegetables and rhubarb, ask your children about what the saw! The children enjoyed forest school, where they built dens, swung on the swings, 'cooked' us some yummy mud kitchen treats, and created patterns and pictures using natural objects. We finished our session by having a treat of hot chocolate and a biscuit. In the afternoon we took our PE session to the outdoor gym on the paddock and enjoyed stretching and using our muscles to get fit.

Week 2

Another week has flown by in Bats class with some wonderful work done on a 'Dogger' text. I have sent home in the Home Learning books, a copy of the 'Dogger' text that we have been learning along with the story map that helps the children to remember the sequence of the story. Ask your child to show you the actions of 'Dogger', which we are practising in class with the aim of performing to another class next week. Ensuring the children really learn this text helps them with their writing and comprehension, and will allow them to innovate a new story successfully by the end of term.

In Maths, the children have demonstrated their strong ability to perform and solve subtraction problems, with a high amount of independent work that has 'wowed' both myself and Mrs Heycock this week.

In Topic we have continued our look into toys, focussing on 'present day' toys this week and sorting them into the most suitable age range for play. We also had some wonderful 'show and tell' toys with amazing facts to support them, by your lovely children on Friday. 

On Friday we had a fantastic 'World Book Day', the children looked incredible in their costumes and they could all tell me about the book that their character came from. We did lots of reading throughout the day, and listened to stories from teachers all over the school. We also had a giggle when we had to guess the teacher reading a story who was disguised as a character. It was lovely to see so many of you at the Reading Cafe after school as well, the children really do love this event and, as always, love bringing their parents into their school.

Week 1

We have had such a lovely first week back in Bats class, starting with introducing our new topic of Toys, which the children are fully embracing. We will be looking at toys from the present day and comparing them to toys from the past, and the children have already enthusiastically told me about lots of the toys that parents and grandparents had as children. For our show and tell this term, I have asked children to bring in a favourite toy, or even better, an older toy that has a history to be told, so if you are able to support them with this that would be wonderful. 

Our new book this term is 'Dogger' which we will be basing our writing on, and we will also be reading 'Traction Man' this term as our Reading lesson book. In Maths we carried on with subtraction within 20 as well as understanding the doubling of numbers. Bats were excellent at this!

In Science this week we started to look at our new topic of Plants and the children really impressed me with their current knowledge level already. 

On Pancake Day we had our own class pancake race and the lovely Lucy became our class pancake race winner. All the children then had a pancake back in class with lemon, sugar or banana on them. 

In PE this week the children did Basketball with Mrs Heycock and Circuits with me, which they both enjoyed equally. 

The children have worked so hard this week and we spent a very productive Friday afternoon finishing a lot of work off and listening to some wonderful show and tell presentations from a few children. I think the highlight was the old toy till that Wren bought in to show us. 

Week 6

Our last week of term was a fun and very busy one. I really enjoyed meeting you all in person for parents evening over the two evenings; I always enjoy telling you all how amazing your lovely children are. 

This week was 'Children's Mental Health Week', so we spent some time each day talking about this and doing some 'connection' activities to support this. On Friday we all had a chance to have our photos taken with some fun props in the photo booth, to support Children's Mental Health Week.

The children wrote some wonderful stories this week; their own twist on our class text of 'Tom and the Island of Dinosaurs'. We did two full afternoons of Topic this week which the children really engaged with. We learnt who Mary Anning was and discovered the theories behind why dinosaurs became extinct. 

On Tuesday we had a morning treat as our Year 6 buddies came into class to read their own sci-fi stories to us, and then we acted them out together. 

In Art we used all of the sketching techniques that we have learnt to draw our final dinosaur piece of art, which will go on display in the corridor at school.

On Friday we all watched the Year 4 class assembly which was incredible and we learnt a lot about the digestive system from it.

I wish you all a lovely half term break and look forward to seeing you all again next week for our fun new topic of Toys. 

Week 5

Another week has flown by in Bats class. It was amazing to see lots of wonderful home learning when we looked at it all on Friday.

In English this week the children have helped me to innovate a new story based on Tom and the Island of  Dinosaurs, called Harry and the Island of Racoons. They have some great ideas to share.

In Science we learnt who Mae Jemison was and the children wrote questions to ask her in an interview. If only she could have actually come into school for a visit and to answer their questions!

In Art we learn how to sketch texture and patterns using sketching pencils, which the children loved. We will then apply this to our final dinosaur sketch that the children are going to do next week.

On Friday we were very lucky to have a chance to try challah bread from the local bakery, kindly brought in by Mimi's mum. Thank you so much, the children were super excited to try it and nearly all of them loved it. This was a great addition to our work on Judaism.

The children were very excited to share their work in Science with the rest of the school and parents on Friday. I'm sure you will agree that they did a fantastic job, especially with their speaking roles. I was so very proud of them.

Parents evening slips went home on Friday in the children's book bags so please do check them for your allocated time. I look forward to seeing you all either on Wednesday or Thursday this coming week.

Week 4

In Maths this week we have been looking at numbers to 20, comparing them and ordering them, using lots of practical resources. 

In Science this week we found out who invented Lego, how it is made, and then had a go and building our own creations.

In Topic we learnt the 7 continents, labelled a map of the world and found out where in the world the most dinosaur fossils have been found. 

In English we started to plan our own version of 'Tom and the Island of Dinosaurs', showing the amazing imaginations your children have at creating their own stories.

On Friday we enjoyed having our grown ups in to show them all of our wonderful work in our books.

Week 2 and 3

We have had a busy few weeks of term. 

In week 2 we were very lucky to watch the panto of Sleeping Beauty at school, as well as having a special Cricket lesson on Tuesday.

We started to learn our new story for this term, 'Tom and the Island of Dinosaurs'; the children have come up with so many wonderful actions to help us remember the words. Ask them to show you at home and I will send the words out in home learning books along with our story map.

In PE we started our gymnastics lessons, with Lucy being my expert helper!

Last week in Maths we are learning our teen numbers and identifying them on a number line. In English the children really impressed me with their likes and dislikes of the story 'Tom and the Island of Dinosaurs', including asking really insightful questions to find out more information.

We met our buddies on Friday and they listened to us read. Bats were so happy to spend some time with them again after the Christmas break. 

Week 1

Happy new year to you all and welcome back to school. I hope you all had a lovely, restful and fun  Christmas with your families. A very big thank you from both myself and Mrs Heycock for all of our amazing Christmas presents and cards; you were very generous and they were very much appreciated. Thank you.

Our new topic this term is Dinosaurs, and we have already had a fun day introducing 'Dinosaurs' into our classroom, with our own real life dinosaur visiting our classroom. He left footprints and a nest with some eggs in, so we are now responsible for caring for two baby dinosaurs over the next few weeks. Wish us luck!

Our PE days continue to be Monday and Friday, although I chose to give the children some time to 'play' with the dinosaurs and emerge themselves in our new topic this afternoon, rather than do PE today.

We have finished off our Maths topic on shape this week, with some lovely practical Maths this afternoon, and we have introduced our new RE and Jigsaw topics.

I just wanted to explain a little about the Phonics reading books that are now coming home. We are sending one book home that has the sounds in that we are learning or recapping in class that week, and then a second book which is more accurately linked to your child's reading level. Please read the Phonics sounds book with your child and ask them to recognise and point out the sounds, reading the words together if necessary. A little tip is to read each sentence 3 times, something I am encouraging them to do in class; first time to sound out the words, second time to read in full with no expression, and then the third time to read with a lot of expression to model to your child how to make reading sound more exciting and engaging. 

We will change these books each week on a Tuesday so that they are linked to the Phonics sounds of the week, and will continue to change the other book when we read with each child at some point during that week. I hope that all makes sense.

Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to our first full week back next week to immerse ourselves in all things Dinosaurs!

Term 2 Key Documents

Bats Term 2 Kings and Queens Topic Web

Bats Term 2 Home Learning Grid

'The Queens Hat' Diary Entry Text and Story Map

'Little Donkey' Song Words

Week 7

We have had the BEST week in Bats and it has been so Christmassy and exciting for us all.

The children loved performing in the church on Wednesday and I was super proud of them for being so brave. The children have enjoyed creating lots of Christmas makes, which they will bring home next week, and they made Christmas party hats for their Christmas dinner on Wednesday, where a special visitor surprised them. 

We have designed and made our own royal Christmassy puppets this week. I was so impressed with how quickly the children learnt to sew.

The highlight of our week has been our trip to Windsor Castle, where the children behaved absolutely impeccably for the entire day. The children were very privileged to be allowed to watch the changing of the guards from a special viewing place, as well as standing in front of the marching band to have their photo taken with all of the guards. The workshop we took part in 'Meeting the Monarch' was absolutely amazing and the children got to dress up and take part in ceremonies and activities that our King would have done. We even fast forwarded to next year and Hector, our King Charles, had his coronation in front of our eyes. We visited St Georges chapel, and the children were all very respectful with regards to Queen Elizabeth II's burial place, and we got to view lots of special rooms within the castle itself. 

We have ended our week today with some practical shape work in Maths (even building a 3D shaped castle), some more Christmassy crafts and some 'golden time' as well as singing our favourite Christmas song in assembly to you all. 

Christmas Carol Concert

We have reduced the words to 'Little Donkey' for Wednesday's performance at the church. Please could you practice these 3 verses ONLY with your child. Thank you so much.

Little Donkey

Little donkey
Little donkey
On a dusty road
Got to keep on plodding onwards
With your precious load

Ring out those bells tonight
Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Follow that star tonight
Bethlehem
Bethlehem

Little donkey
Little donkey
Had a heavy day
Little donkey
Carry Mary
Safely on her way

Weeks 5 and 6

It has been a busy few weeks in Bats class. 

In English we have finished writing our diary entries and have now begun to learn how to write a letter. We were very excited to read a letter from Santa that was delivered by our Elf on the Shelf, Flake. Santa said he was so impressed with how well we had been behaving for Mrs Eltham and Mrs Heycock and we were all on the nice list! 

In Maths we have been recapping our addition and subtraction unit and in Science we did some fun experiments to test the properties of different materials.

We were very excited to see Santa fly over this week in an RAF helicopter and to hear from our class school councillor, Max, about how he helped to decorated our school Christmas tree in the church with our handmade decorations. Make sure you go and have a look in the church.

We have been practicing our song, Little Donkey, which we will perform to you all at the Church service next week. I have sent home the words in home learning books this weekend, so if you please have any free time to practice the song with your child I would be most grateful. 

We have been changing the way we send home Phonics books this week. Every child will have the same level Phonics book sent home with a slip in their reading diary that identifies the sounds we have been learning that week. Please can you share the book with your child and ask them to identify these sounds as you read together. The other book that comes home should more closely reflect your child's reading level and should be read more independently. Please do ask if there are any questions with regards to this. 

Week 4

We have been doing Maths quizzes this week but have continued to practice our subtraction sentences through practical activities. 

In English we finished our plans for our own version of the diary entry from the Queen on the day she lost her hat.

In PE we had great fun being star constellations in space and moving around the hall in different shapes, as well as performing a 'star dance' to our friends, who were a great audience.

In Science we discussed the properties of different materials, having a lot of fun feeling objects in a feely bag and describing them to our class for them to guess. 

We made swans this week to add to our joint Windsor Castle display with Year 2. We had to practice our cutting skills to create our handprint feathers. 

Week 3

It was lovely to 'finally' catch up with you all via Zoom this week and chat about the progress your lovely children are all making. We have continued with addition in Maths this week, ending the week introducing subtraction to them. We will have lots more practice with this new concept this week, so ask your children what they have learnt.

In English we finished up learning how to write a wonderful diary entry, so this coming week the children will be independently writing their own diary recount.

The children enjoyed doing Bee Bots with Mr Gale for a bonus hour this week as well as having a great day with Mrs Heycock on Monday doing PE and Music.

The children really impressed me with their acrostic PUDSEY poems on 'Children in Need Day', as well their thoughtful reasons why the day is so important. Did you see their lovely Pudsey drawings with their writing on that they brought home on Friday? We also enjoyed watching some of our Year 6 buddies perform their class assembly on Friday afternoon.

Week 2

Another week has flown by, and we have had great fun here in Bats class. Mrs Heycock is now teaching Bats on a Monday and they had a fun PE lesson learning how to balance, as well as starting our new class reading book, 'The Snow Queen'. 

In Maths we have continued our unit on addition and have introduced the term 'number bonds'. Ask your children if they can tell you the number bonds to 10. Any practice on these this week at home will be really beneficial for them so they become quicker at adding numbers together, rather than using fingers to work it out. 

In English we have continued learning how to write fantastic diary entries and to add amazing adjectives, verbs and nouns to our sentences to make them sound fantastic. Ask your child for another word that means nice.

Today we held a short KS1 assembly about Remembrance Day and I was so incredibly proud of how respectful and sensible the children were when we held a 2-minute silence at 11am.

This afternoon we met our Year 6 buddies, and they showed us how to start using our new school iPads. We had a lot of fun doing some Maths games as well as drawing some art on them.

Week 1

We have had a wonderful first week back and the lovely Bats have made me feel very welcome after my week off poorly, as well as welcoming our lovely new boy, Rufus.

This week we have begun to learn about addition in Maths and the children have wowed me with their knowledge when writing number sentences and remembering the part part whole model from the end of last term. 

In English we dug up a diary that belonged to the Queen and read about her exciting and tiring day when she had to chase her lost hat around London all day. Our new book this term is 'The Queens Hat' and we will be writing diary entries based on this story. The children have already written a wonderful diary entry based on their favourite day of half term. Trick or treating featured a lot!

In Science we introduced our new topic of 'Materials' and went on a materials hunt around our classroom and the playground. The children are very knowledgeable about this unit and definitely taught be a new 'material' or two.

With great excitement the children returned to our classroom to find our pirate ship had set sail and, in its place, we had a castle with a banquet hall and throne, to encourage role play in our new topic of Kings and Queens. We started the topic by asking the children to think of some rules that we should have in our county, and you will be pleased to hear that "brushing our teeth every day" featured more than once!

Term 1 Key Documents

Bats Term 1 Pirates Topic Web

Bats Term 1 Home Learning Grid

The Night Pirates Text and Story Map

Week 6/7

The last two weeks of term flew by and thanking the lovely Mrs Heycock for holding the fort while I was poorly at home. 

A quick round up of what we did at the end of last term:

- Made windsocks with Mr Gale

- Tasted some apple crumble using the produce we picked on Outdoor Learning Day

- Finished our pirate stories

- Made pirate hats

- Used bee bots to travel round a treasure map

- Performed our Harvest assembly to our parents showcasing our Harvest Van Gogh pictures

Week 5

Parents evening slips have gone home this week with a confirmed appointment time.

The children have enjoyed making windsocks with Mr Gale in Science this week and are looking forward to trying them out outside. 

In Maths we have begun to compare numbers and groups of objects, using our 'crocodile' signs greater than, less than and equal to. Ask the children about the crocodile song and which number (greater or smallest) he 'chomps'!

In English we have begun to create our own versions of 'The Night Pirates' story, where the children have changed key points of the story to make it unique to them. I am looking forward to the children finishing these stories off next week and then we can share some of them with you. In the meantime, have a watch of the video of the children reciting the story of The Night Pirates with our actions that we created as a class. I could not be prouder of each and every one of them for joining in so well with this recital.

The end of the week brought Outdoor Learning Day and it was a joy to see all children flourish in an outdoor environment, which really helped them to bring their learning to life. We started with some outdoor Phonics and followed on with some Maths using conkers and pinecones to compare and represent numbers. The children then had their first visit to Forest School this year and they had the best time building a den/ship for the pirates, as well as swinging and cooking some 'treats' for myself and Mrs Heycock. 

Carrying on with our autumn theme, the children used conkers and pinecones to create some spectacular and rather messy art (sorry about the paint covered clothes the children came home in!), and then went on to create their own self portrait masterpiece using natural materials. I was truly inspired by the children's brilliant ideas to model hair, bodies and features using leaves and other objects that they found themselves outside. 

We ended the day with our much looked forward to buddy time; where our Bats collected apples from the paddock with the help of their taller Year 6 buddies to reach the higher ones on the tree. We will be trying some apple crumble next week, as a result of our hard work collecting the apples. 

Week 4

We have had an exciting week in Bats class, with the highlights being our visit from a police officer, talking about how they keep people safe, as well as a visit from our lovely parents, which the children were so excited about. 

In Maths we took our learning outside to practice our backwards counting as well as finding one less than a given number. The children loved running around outside to find objects to represent the numbers.

In English we have been concentrating on adjectives, and using these describing words to make our writing about 'The Night Pirates' story more interesting. I have been amazed by some of the words the children use to describe the moon, the sea and the (all important) treasure chest. 

We visited our Key Stage 1 library again this week and were excited to see two display boards that we had done art for with our Year 6 buddies.

In Art the children relished in creating a self portrait using collage materials. When asked why an artist might use collage to create their self-portrait, one wonderful answer was "because they can't decide what colour to use so they use them all!"

The children tried some yoga this week as well, which we found really helped us to calm down and settle back into our learning after our lunch break. 

I have been asked by a few parents how they can help their children at home with phonics. A good resource to help you and the children learn the correct pronunciation of the sounds is Mr Thorne Does Phonics on YouTube. He does simple videos where he simply says the phonics sounds in the order that we learn them at school. I hope this helps!

Week 3

Another week has flown by in Bats class. We have remembered and celebrated Queen Elizabeth II this week by using water colours to paint our Queen portraits, as well as working with our Year 6 buddies to write messages and memories in our very special keep sake book about Queen Elizabeth II.

We have had more fun painting in our Science lesson with Mr Gale this week, creating some wonderful trees to show all of the 4 seasons. 

In English we have continued to learn our story 'The Night Pirates' with some very creative and fun actions made up by the children. Ask them to show you at home!

In Maths we have learnt to count in a sequence from any number as well as writing our numbers as words. The children really enjoy using the Maths resources to demonstrate their understanding to me.

I was really impressed with the home learning work the children have been busy with this week. On Friday they really enjoyed showing off their work to their classmates and talked about their work with such passion.

Week 2

The children had their first day with Mr Gale this week and he introduced our topic in Science this term, Seasons, as well as reading a really fun Pirate story. 

In English the children have been writing their own recount of what might have happened when some nasty pirates stole our class treasure over night. We were shocked by how messy they had left our classroom, and the children enjoyed finding clues outside to lead us to the treasure. 

I have introduced the children to our first text of the term 'The Night Pirates' and we have begun to learn this story by heart. Please look out for a copy of the story and story map in t4he Home Learning books that your children can use at home to continue practicing this story. 

In Maths we have had a lot of practical fun sorting objects and counting these objects. I am so impressed by how confident the children are with their numbers already. 

In Art we held a gallery viewing to appreciate some famous artists' self-portraits, with a view of creating our own self-portraits by the end of this term.

In PE we had so much fun exploring our new 'Sunshine Gym' and we all felt very strong after using it! Today we have learnt an Irish Dancing jig and performed our routines in front of our class mates.

We ended our week with a fun afternoon with our Year 6 buddies, creating some personalised art work for our KS1 Library display.

Week 1

We had a wonderful first week back at school and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of your wonderful children. We spent the week exploring our new classroom and routines as well as introducing our topic of the term, Pirates! As you can imagine the children were very excited about our first topic and didn't hesitate at telling me all that they knew already about pirates. We ended the week by making our own pirate ship for our role play area, as well as meeting our Year 6 buddies, who will spend time with us every Friday afternoon this year.