19th July 2024

Our Fox Class have had a tremendous year. We have learnt so much and the children have thrived from our enriched curriculum that we have created for Reception. All of our Foxes have remembered all the wonderful and exciting things we have learnt this year and are ready to implement these skills when going into Year 1. 

12th July 2024

This week, we celebrated our learning of Under the Sea by having a Pirate Day/Week. We carried out the following activities that enabled the children to enhance all of their skills in every area of our curriculum such as:

-Writing their 'Pirate' names and sentences and placing them in bottles

-Carrying out a timed treasure game. How many gems can you find in a minute?

-Writing and creating maps

-Using our doubling skills when using our gems and doubloons in the water

-Developing our confidence and performing in our music area to Sea Shanty music.

-Creating boats using wooden planks and crates

-Enhancing our fine motor skills to create props such as creating parrots using paper plates and designing and making wooden ships. 

-Using a variety of materials to create our very own treasure boxes to take home. 

-Enhancing our Oracy skills in Show and Tell.

Pirate Day

Show and Tell

Floating and Sinking Experiment

5th July 2024

This week, Fox Class have been introduced to our final sub topic of Pirates. We created a in depth brainstorm of everything we know about Pirates on our first session. The children have also been learning about our book of the week ‘On a Pirate Ship’.

During our UTW session, our Foxes have also been learning and creating our own maps. We carefully stained our paper with tea bags and will be writing on them next week for Pirate Day!

In Maths, we have been learning that number can be represented in different ways. We used our ‘treasure’ boxes and sorted out which pictures represent a number. This was a lovely introduction to our topic and touched on numbers.

Our Foxes came in with their grown ups this week to plant some flowers in our outdoor areas. This was a beautiful opportunity to promote the love of gardening as well as including our grown ups to do something special with their little Fox.

We have also been very busy learning during exploring time by carrying out the following activities:

-Using our outdoor crates and blocks to make our own pirate ship!

-Enhancing our phonics skills to write keywords linked to Pirates

-Sorting and grouping by playing Pirate Snap!

-Developing our knowledge and understanding of the world in our reading areas

-Ordering our pirate numbers to 30! Go Foxes!

-Understanding maps and developing our positional language

-Finding ways to develop our Oracy skills in our Aquarium role play area!

 Exploring Time

Maths

Flower Planting

28th June 2024

This week, our Foxes have really enjoyed exploring non fiction texts linked to sea creatures and our oceans. We gained knowledge and understanding of how non fiction texts are structured, the use of a contents page and how we can find out information from books. Foxes have particularly enjoyed researching odd sea creatures such as coconut crabs and conga eels on our school computer! They have definitely taught the staff at Jordans about creatures we haven’t even heard of! A lovely parent came to our class and brought along two types of fish for our Aquarium role play area. Their names are Sienna and Cupcake, which were chisen by our Foxes. We had a talk about how to look after our fish and used this as a wonderful learning opportunity.

We finished off our week by carrying out amazing challenges on our Sports Day! Well done!

We also carried out many activities during our exploring time such as:

-Carrying out the role of an assistant in our ‘Aquarium’ role play area

-Taking care of our fish.

-Writing descriptive words linked to our topic of sea creatures

-Writing sea creature fact file books.

-Exploring with balancing scales and developing an understanding of measuring weight

-Developing our gross motor skills by creating a boat using planks and crates

-Working as a team to create an aquarium using blocks

-Using sand to build a volcano as a team in our sandpit

-Creating sea creature puppets to support pretend play

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

New Fish!

21st June 2024

This week, we have been reading the story 'The Fish with a Wish' by PM McCormick. The children discussed how the fish wanted his ocean clean. Fox class learnt about the importance of recycling and how we could all make a difference to marine life and its habitats under the sea. For Maths, we have been learning all about length and how it is measured. We had a fun, interactive activity of finding friends who had the same length string as themselves! We saw some great team work in the session. For PSHE, Foxes learnt about the importance of Sun Safety. 

During exploring time, we carried out the following learning activities;

-Exploring different texts on marine life and the sea

-Planting herbs in our outdoor area

-Understanding how magnets work in our investigation area

-Using our phonic knowledge to sound out polysyllabic words on pretend fish!

-Developing our fine motor skills using gems and small stones

-Finding out what our favourite fish is using tally charts and practicing to write our numbers! A big hit this week! 

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

UTW- Magnet Sorting

Show and Tell

14th June 2024

Our Foxes have had a very busy week. This week, we visited Tiggywinkles Wild Life Hospital. It was our first big trip on a coach since joining Fox Class. We learnt so much about baby animals, how animals are cared for and what to do if we found an animal injured or hurt. Our Foxes were also lucky enough to come close to a hedgehog during one of the educational talks. One amazing fact we learnt was that hedgehogs have almost 6000 spines! (That is spines, not spikes!) During our Literacy sessions, we practiced to write a list of things we needed to take on our trip. In Maths, we are continuing to learn about capacity. During our PSHE lessons, we have been learning about how 'Pants are Private' and learnt the famous Pantosaurus song. This was an important lesson directed by NSPCC, which works closely with schools across the country. 

We have also been learning through the following activities:

-Learning about weight and capacity (cooking puffer fish Pizzas)

-Exploring our marine life water tray 

-Working as a team to create a submarine using planks and crates

-Discussing and exploring fiction and non fiction books linked to sea creatures

-Using our fine motor skills to create Father's Day cards

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital

Show and Tell

Cooking-Puffer Fish Pizza

7th June 2024 

What a busy first week back from half term! Over the next few weeks, we will be learning and exploring the topic of 'Oceans and Under the Sea'. We have been reading the book 'Commotion in the Ocean' and have been learning some exciting facts about sea creatures. During PSHE, we have been expressing different emotions using different objects such as twigs, leaves and jewels. In our Science lessons, we have been comparing sea and land animals.

We have also been carrying out the following activities during our exploring time:

-Using water to measure volume and capacity in Maths

-Writing the names of different sea creatures in our indoor and outdoor environment.

-Reading and exploring fiction and non-fiction texts linked to Oceans and Seacreatures.

-Dressing up as divers for role play activities.

-Enhancing our musical and performance skills in our Music area.

-Using magnetic fish to make words.

-Developing our phonics skills by playing reading games and using the 'word bones'.

-Hunting for bugs near our 'bug hotel'.

-Developing our cutting skills to create Under the Sea scenes.

Exploring Time

Show and Tell

PSHE- Emotion Faces

24th May 2024

Our last week before half term has been wonderful in Fox Class. This week, we read the story 'One Hundred Steps: The Story of Captain Sir Tom Moore'. This was a perfect end to our topic of 'People Who Help Us'. The children had an in depth discussion about Tom Moore and why he was known as one of our Modern heroes. We all had a circle time discussion about who we would like to be when we grow up and created a poster of us grown up. We also set ourselves 'challenges' like Tom Moore did such as creating obstacle courses and timing ourselves with a sand timer, balancing on the climbing frame for a period of time, building Lego models on with a time limit. For our Oracy session this week, some of our Foxes sent a picture of themselves when they were babies/newborn! Even our Fox staff team took part! It was a beautiful way to discuss how features change over time and comparing past/present. This week, for PSHE, we were very lucky to have a parent visit our Foxes who is a Doctor! We learnt about the role of Doctors and how they help us feel better if we are injured or sick. Some children were very lucky to hear their own heartbeat and try on some scrubs!

Our personal challenge of making fruit smoothies was a great success. We were able to use our chopping skills to make our superfood smoothies!  

We also had the opportunity to talk about everything we have learnt over the last half term during Oracy time to ensure that our Foxes remember what they have learnt and can build on their skills learnt so far. Our 'Learning Journey' wall is always a useful tool that were refer to during our carpet sessions. 

During exploring time we carried out the following activities independently:

-Creating and writing up our own Fox timetable

-Using our imagination to create worlds for animals using blocks

-Developing our fine motor skills by creating patterns

-Reading non fiction and fiction texts in both our indoor and outdoor areas

-Using Lego and Duplo to build our own fire and police stations

-Developing our communication and language skills in our camping area

-Using sand timers to develop our counting and measuring skills

-Enhancing our fine motor skills to cut and make our own superhero puppets!

-Working as a team to create structures in our Forest School sessions.

Doctor Visit

Exploring Time

Show and Tell

Making Smoothies

Forest School

17th May 2024

This week, Fox Class we very lucky to have celebrated our school’s 80^th birthday. Fox class had a good lesson on how children dressed in the past and we created timeline bookmarks, made/tasted bread pudding (A famous pudding in the 1940’s) and created birthday cards for our school. Foxes also had a wonderful opportunity to learn about how doctors help us as well as naming different parts of the skeletal system. During PSHE, we discussed how to express different emotions in the healthy way. Foxes have also been planting some herb seeds. In a few weeks we will be able to plant them in our planters and will be used by our cook Mrs Walker! Our garlic and spring onions grew so well and they have been used in our pasta dishes at school. We have also noticed that we have some special visitors in our outdoor area. During Forest School, we have been creating Art using natural objects such as sticks, twigs and leaves. 

A sparrow has made a nest in one of our sand buckets! A fascinating experience for our Foxes to observe and learn from. Please do take a look on our Exploring Time page to see if you can spot how many eggs there are!

During exploring time, we carried out the following activities:

- Learning about the take away symbol and simple subtraction problems

-Learning and writing new vocabulary linked to our topic of 'Doctors'

-Working together to complete sorting games.

-Using our fine motor skills to create emergency vehicles and stations using Lego.

-Developing our weighing skills when cooking (Maths)

-Exploring non-fiction texts on 'People Who Help Us' in our reading den.

-Enhancing our gross motor skills by making an obstacle course in our outside area using blocks and crates.

-Using our phonic skills to label our obstacle courses using chalk.

-Building our knowledge on capacity using the water tray and measuring jugs. 

-Acting out the role of Doctors and Nurses in our role play area!

Exploring Time

Bread Pudding Making and Tasting!

Show and Tell

Herb Planting

Forest School

10th May 2024

This week in Fox Class, we have been learning about the role of a Postal worker. The children wrote some wonderful thank you letters to our Headteacher, Mrs Swain. We also read the story ' The Jolly Postman' which was our book of the week. Fox Class also had an opportunity to write some 'Thank you' letters to their family and friends. In Science, we learnt about our bodies and what keeps us healthy. 

During our exploring time we carried out the following activities;

-Carrying out the role of a postal worker

-Writing new vocabulary linked to our topic of Postal workers

-Using a 10's frame to work out addition problems

-Exploring and writing in our outdoor area

-Creating and writing up maps in our outdoor area and using maps to build our own town using Lego and large blocks

-Exploring with emergency vehicles in the sand and creating patterns with the tyres.

-Using water and 'emergency' boats to explore floating and sinking.

-Measuring capacity and volume using the water tray

Indoor and Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

3rd May 2024

Fox class have had a brilliant and exciting week. We began by having a Police Officer coming in to talk about the role of the Police and how they help us! We even got to sit next to a real police car! We showed the officer our role play Police Station and also got to wear a real Police uniform! On Tuesday, we began our new topic, Firefighters and read 'Charlie the Firefighter' as a whole class. We had some good discussions about the role of a firefighter and how we help others every day. During Forest School, we had a focus on observational drawing and searching for new bug homes. We also enhanced our learning experience by carrying out the following activities;

-Colour mixing (making orange) to create fire pictures

-Creating potions and medicine in our mud kitchen

-Using our fine motor skills to create paper Fire Engines.

-Practicing our weaving skills in DT to make police cars.

-Reading fiction and non-fiction texts with our friends.

-Practicing our phonics skills and writing firefighter keywords!

-Enhancing our gross motor skills and making a fire engine using blocks and crates.

-Playing pretend in our fire station and police station areas. 

-Using Lego to create our own emergency service stations and vehicles.

Exploring Time

Show and Tell

Gardening- Grown Garlic and Spring Onions!

Forest School

26th April 2024

Linked to our topic of 'People Who Help Us', Foxes have been learning about the role of the Police force. We have been reading our book of the week 'Cops and Robbers' by Janet and Allen Ahlberg. During our learning time, we have been discussing the importance of having police officers, how they help us as well as comparing police from the past and present. We had some great discussions during our Oracy sessions about how the world would be without having police officers to help us. We also enjoy library day every Wednesday, where we get to explore and choose our books to take home. We have carried out some fantastic learning during exploring time which is listed below;

-Creating and carrying out the role of a police officer in our new Police Station role   play area!

-Thumb printing and writing about ourselves on our police badges

-Developing our fine motor skills dressing in emergency services clothing

-Using our phonic knowledge to label our 'jail' in our outdoor area!

-Practicing our weaving skills to make a police car!

-Developing our gross motor skills to create our own outdoor police car!

-Planting cress seeds as part of our EAD curriculum.

-Practising our number formation

-Using our phonic knowledge to label different parts of a police officer!

-Exploring different tools and role playing detectives in our Forest School session

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

Planting Cress

19th April 2024

A fantastic first week back for Fox Class. This week, we have introduced the topic 'People Who Help Us'. We created a class brainstorm about who helps us in and out of school. The children gave some wonderful answers. Paramedics was a popular one! In Maths, we have been counting and creating number bonds. Our book of the week 'Superworm' was a wonderful read. The children had a lovely discussion about how Superworm helps others in their time of need. In PSHE, we have been learning the importance of friendship and helping others.

We also carried out many activities during our exploring time such as:

-Creating observational drawings of trees in our outdoor garden

-Using our fine motor to create hospitals and police stations using Lego

-Enhancing our cutting skills to create puppets

-Writing about different people who help us such as police officers and firefighters

-Exploring fiction and non fiction books in our reading area (chosen by some children from our Library!)

-Having a go and writing sentences with finger spaces

-Exploring pattern and shape by completing jigsaw puzzles

-Creating emergency vehicle sounds in our music hut

-Reading and developing our communication skills in our outdoor camping area

-Using phonic knowledge to write descriptive words.

-Developing our skills in ICT when using remote control cars

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

ICT

28th March 2024

We have completed another term of Reception! This week, our Foxes explored a range of non-fiction texts linked to Spring. We were able to talk about different flowers we might spot, such as bluebells and daffodils. In our Understanding the World sessions, we have been discussing and exploring the Easter story and how Easter is celebrated by so many people around the world. During our DT lessons, we have been making some delicious hot cross buns. We used our skills of kneading, mixing and rolling the dough and piping crosses on top. In Maths, we have been using our number skills to count and order numbers as well as discuss any 3D shapes we are aware of.

Exploring time activities as follows:

-Using a variety of materials to create some Easter themed crafts

-Exploring non-fiction and fiction books linked to Spring and Easter

-Writing key words from our Easter story

 -Enhancing our fine motor skills by creating lolly stick Spring flowers

-Exploring shapes such as cubes and cuboids in our outdoor area

-Taking part in team building games during our Forest School sessions

-Using our Oracy skills during our Show and Tell sessions based on Spring

Exploring Time

Show and Tell

DT-Hot Cross Buns

FOREST SCHOOL

22nd March 2024

Our Fox Class have had an action packed learning week! We had some close encounters with a range of farm and woodland animals bought by Ark Farm. This coincided perfectly with our topic of ‘Farm Animals’. Our classroom was filled with different animals that our Foxes we able to feed and interact with personally. We learnt a great deal about nocturnal animals as well as learning how to feed guinea pigs and rabbits. We were able to stroke and hold animals such as chinchillas, sugar gliders, skinny pigs (yes that is spelt correctly!), rabbits, guinea pigs, harvest mice, a hedgehog a gecko and many more! In Literacy, we have been exploring a range of non-fiction texts linked to Spring. In Maths, we have been learning to subitise numbers in different forms. For our Understanding the World session, we were lucky to have a Fox Parent to come in and talk to us about Ramadan and Islam. The children really enjoyed the story that our Fox Parent read to the class and was a delightful way to learn about different faiths and celebrations.

During exploring time we have carried out the following activities:

-Discovering new shoots and plants that have bloomed in our Forest School sessions

-Creating and exploring different media to create our very own farm animals

-Writing vocab cards and signs for our new Farm Café role play area

-Using our number skills to work out how many cups of water we need to fill a jug in our water area

-Working as a team to build a Spring garden using Lego

-Exploring fiction and non-fiction texts linked to Spring in our reading den

-Making mud cakes and potions in our mud kitchen!

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Forest School

Show and Tell

15th March 2024

This week, we have continued to learn about farm animals and life on a farm. In Literacy, we have been creating lists of all the animals we may find at a farm. We used our phonic knowledge to help us with our words. In Maths, we have been using different shapes to create a farm animal! Our Foxes used circles for the face, rectangles for trotters and triangles for ears! In our outdoor exploring session, we have been finding out which farm animal is the post popular using tally sheets. The children had so much fun finding out who our favourite animals were and developing their counting skills. 

We carried out various exploring activities such as:

-Making animal homes using various materials

-Working together to make a stage to perform our songs on

-Creating animal farms using stickle bricks

-Practising our throwing and catching skills in P.E

-Developing our fine motor skills when cutting and sticking to create our own animals

-Understanding the importance of safety in our Forest School sessions

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

8th March 2024

What an exciting week our Foxes have had! We had a wonderful start by attending our Forest School session. We learnt how to look out for signs of Spring and recognising the different plants and names of trees in our Bluebell woods. In Maths, we have been learning about properties of 2D shapes, including some irregular 2D shapes such as trapezium and rhombus. For Literacy, we have been learning about the story of ‘Mr Gumpy’s Outing’. We have been exploring different animals and their young. In PSHE,  we read the story ‘Mothers and Others Day’ which was a great way to learn that lots of our family members help us to learn, grow and thrive. 

During exploring time we carried out the following activities:

-Creating a farm using our small world tuff tray

-Reading and exploring books we have brought from home for World Book Day

-Developing our fine motor skills whilst creating our Mother’s and Other’s Day cards (sssh!)

-Designing and making book marks

-Junk modelling and creating animal homes.

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Forest School

Show and Tell

1st March 2024

This week, our lovely Foxes have been learning about the book 'Dear Zoo'. We have been exploring the animals from the book and other zoo animals we might know of. For our word bank, we have been learning the words 'amphibian' and 'mammals'. In Literacy, we have been writing and drawing our very own animal fact file books. In Maths, we have been exploring different patterns around us including animals. We have been comparing patterns on animals, their similarities and differences. In Forest School, we have been learning how to create small dens and hunting for bugs! In PSHE, we have learning about oral hygiene and how to take care of our teeth!

During exploring time we have been carrying out the following activities:

-Designing animal homes

-Acting out the role of a vet in our new Veterinary Clinic role play area

-Learning about different groups of animals

-Creating and writing animal fact files

-Developing our fine motor skills in cutting and creating animal masks

-Learning how to brush teeth correctly. 

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

Forest School

PSHE- Oral Hygiene

Our Pets

23rd February 2024

This week, our Foxes have been learning about the story of the Gruffalo. In Literacy, we have been practising to label different parts of a Gruffalo. In Maths, we have been learning about shapes that can be found in other shapes. We are also learning about Wassily Kandinsky. We learnt how much he loved using shapes in pictures and made our very own Concentric Circles! This will be put up in our Fox art gallery these coming weeks. In our Forest School sessions, we have been making animal homes and dens using natural materials such as sticks, wood chippings and leaves. In the mud kitchen, children have been making Gruffalo crumble using leaves, mud and other natural ingredients! We also introduced a memory game in our Communication and Language lesson using items from our Gruffalo tray. For Show and Tell, many children were eager to show us their picture books they made over half term and pictures of their activities over the week. This was a fantastic way to expand their Oracy skills and develop their language skills. 

During exploring time we have been carrying out the following activities:

-Using our fine motor skills to create Gruffalo character puppets

-Carrying out role play activities using our Gruffalo tuff tray

-Mixing primary colours to create secondary colours for our Kandisky circles!

-Playing Gruffalo memory games with our friends

-Sorting animals into their correct habitats

-Sharing and talking about books we have created at home for Show and Tell/Oracy sessions. 

Indoor Exploring

Forest School

Show and Tell

Kandinsky Circles

Sorting Animals in their Habitats

19th February 2024

Our lovely Foxes have had a fantastic last week before breaking for half term. We have been continuing to learn about Lunar/Chinese New Year, including some interesting facts about China! We have also been discussing the celebration of Valentines Day and Saint Valentine. This was a brilliant way to include our PSHE lesson about friendship and caring for others. As a class, we made some 'Friendship Soup'. We spoke about the ingredients needed in our 'Friendship Soup', such as kindness, helping and being kind. 

In Maths, we revisited the topic of measuring length. We spoke about using the correct vocabulary such as short, shorter, long and longest. In Literacy, we have been learning how to use our phonic knowledge to write names of animals from the story of the 'Great Race'. In Forest School, we have been creating dens for animals, exploring and learning names of different plants. 

During exploring time, we have been carrying out the following activities such as:

-Cutting and creating pretend bouquets

-Using out phonic knowledge to write and create Valentines Day cards for our families

-Developing our Oracy skills through Show and Tell

-Exploring our reading den, reading fiction and non fiction texts

-Learning and writing facts about China

Forest School

Valentines Cards

Show and Tell

2nd February 2024

This week, our Foxes have been learning about Chinese/Lunar New Year. We have had a wonderful discussion about our world and where China is on a world map. We have also been very busy making wontons in our new Chinese Restaurant role play area this week. We have been writing menus and building our fine motor skills in making wontons using paper and thread to tie a knot. Our book of the week 'The Great Race' has been a highlight of our Literacy lessons this week. We have acted out the story, discussed its origin and have been using our phonic knowledge to write the names of the animals from the story. 

In Maths, we have been sorting animals in height order and have been learning the vocabulary 'short' and 'tall'. 

In our PSHE lessons, we have been discussing the importance of friendships and turn taking. 

Below are some more exciting activities that have been carried out during exploring time: 

- Using our fine motor skills to create paper lanterns

- Enhancing our cutting skills when making dragon puppets

- Using props to support role play and acting out the story of the 'Great Race'.

- Developing our catching and throwing skills in our outdoor area

- Finding spiders, webs and learning how to keep safe in our Forest School sessions

- Practicing how to write some numbers in Mandarin! 

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Forest School

Show and Tell

Maths-Number writing in Mandarin

26th January 2024

This week, we have been learning about our book of the week 'Town Mouse Country Mouse'. We have been building our vocabulary and have been learning about words such as 'fable' and 'prey'. In our Understanding the World sessions, we have been exploring the differences between towns and countries. For our DT lessons, we attempted to make some delicious cheese twists. We were working on our skills such as sprinkling, rolling, cutting and twisting! In Maths, we have been learning simple number bonds and discussing what different symbols mean. During our Forest school sessions, our lovely Foxes had a wonderful time exploring our Bluebell Woods. We carried out activities such as bug hunting and balancing on logs!

We also have been carrying out many activities to enhance our skills during exploring time such as:

-Improving our fine motor skills by threading pasta!

-Using playdoh 'cheese' to develop strength in our hands.

-Enhancing our cutting skills by making puppets and masks linked to our story.

-Exploring our reading area and finding the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts.

-Developing our Oracy skills through our Show and Tell sessions.

-Reading with an adult whilst improving our phonics skills.

-Writing and forming numbers to 10 and beyond.

Forest School

Show and Tell

Exploring Time

DT- Making Cheese Twists

Fine Motor- Threading Pasta

19th January 2024

This week, our Foxes have been learning about the story 'Don't Forget the Bacon'. This was a wonderful way to link our learning about our local area (Jordans) and even paying a visit to our local village shop! We had the opportunity to buy a piece of fruit using real money! Our Foxes were so polite and remembered their 'Safe, Respect, Ready' rules. In PSHE, we learnt about Road Safety and the Green Cross Code. Our Fox class really made us proud when we walked up to our village shop and remembered the Green Cross Code when crossing. We have also set up our very own Fruit and Veg shop in our role play area. Fox class made their own fruit and veg as well as using some real root vegetables too! We have been practicing our maths skills in counting and using pretend money. 

During exploring time, we have carried out various activities such as: 

-Using our fine motor skills in cutting and sorting fruit from vegetables

-Enhancing our phonic knowledge when writing shopping lists in our fruit and veg shop

-Writing key words from our book of the week. 

-Exploring fiction and non-fiction books in our reading area

-Building dens, nests and using the mud kitchen in Forest School.

-Developing our Oracy skills in Show and Tell

-Describing and writing about different fruit and vegetables

-Comparing pictures of our Jordans Village shop from the past and present

-Using a variety of vocabulary linked to History and Geography such as 'past, present, then, now, key, map'. 

Indoor Exploring

Forest School

Show and Tell

Jordans Village Shop Visit

12th January 2024

Our Foxes have had a wonderful start to the term. This week, our Foxes have been learning and comparing towns, cities and villages. In Maths, we have been learning about one more and one less. The children have been using their counting skills to understand this concept. In PSHE, we have been discussing the importance of sleep and how it helps us to grow and learn. We also had our first Forest School session. Our Foxes have been very busy exploring our Bluebell Woods and understanding the importance of safety in a Forest. 

We have also been carrying out many exploring activities such as:

-Exploring ice and how water can change from a liquid to a solid!

-Using our phonics skills to create mini town and village books

-Enhancing our fine motor skills and making mini towns out of 'Stickle Bricks'

-Creating simple maps of our Jordans School

-Developing our cutting skills by creating the city of London

-Creating props for our Fruit and Veg stall which will be open next week!

Indoor and Outdoor Exploring

Forest School

Show and Tell

15th December 2023

This week, we have been continuing to learn about the 'Nativity Story'. Our Foxes have really enjoyed acting out the story as well as taking part in our very own Nativity in school. We have also been working on our Oracy skills during Show and Tell. We have also been carrying out many fine and gross motor activities when taking part in Christmas themed arts and crafts. From cutting and sticking and creating snowflakes to designing and joining baubles! For maths, we have been revisiting our recognition of number and matching numerals to quantity. In Literacy, we have been using our phonic knowledge when writing our very own Christmas cards. 

Our Foxes have also been carrying out the following activities during our exploring time;

-Measuring weight and capacity when making gingerbread and star shaped biscuits.

-Enhancing our fine motor skills when cutting and creating snowflakes.

-Practicing wrapping presents in our Santa Workshop!

-Retelling the story of the Nativity with our Nativity scene. 

-Using numbers and matching quantity in Christmas games.

-Creating and making mini Christmas stockings.

-Exploring different books and texts linked to Christmas. 

Indoor Exploring

Show and Tell

1st December 2023

This week, our Foxes have continued to learn about the 'Christmas Jolly Postman' story. We have been expanding our learning in writing by using our phonic knowledge to write letters, using our reading skills when learning new keywords for our 'brain word bank'. In Maths, we have been learning how to recognise and spot numbers that are represented in different ways. We have been exploring number using numicons, dice and also using our fingers. In Understanding the World, we have been comparing stamps from past and present. Our Foxes could not believe how many stamps have existed in the past! 

We have also carried out the following activities during exploring time:

-Developing our fine motor skills using scented playdough (cinnamon and ginger!)

-Using different writing tools such as chalk and whiteboard pens to develop our writing

-Exploring our post office role play area

-Creating potions using herbs such as coriander and thyme in our mud kitchen!

-Going on a tricky word hunt in our outdoor area!

-Enhancing our number skills when finding numbers on envelopes in our outdoor area.

-Using lentils to develop our skills in weight and capacity. 

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

24th November 2023

This week, our Foxes have been learning about the story of 'The Jolly Christmas Postman'. We have also been learning about the role of a postal worker and have set up our very own post office role play area. We have also been lucky enough to have a postal worker come to visit our Fox Class this week. Our Foxes found out lots of information about posting letters and we even tried on the uniform! For Maths, we have been carrying out shape hunts in our indoor and outdoor areas. We found many shapes within other shapes! During our Understanding the World session, we went for a walk in our Bluebell woods and explored how our seasons are changing. We matched leaves to colour charts and discussed how the weather has changed our woods! In our PSHE lessons, we spoke about morals and discussing different scenarios from our book of the week, have the characters made good or bad decisions in the past? 

During our exploring time, we carried out the following activities: 

-Wrote letters to our friends and family and used the post service in our classroom!

-Explored a range of fiction and non fiction texts linked to the post office/letters

-Used scales to explore weight in our post office role play (some parcels were very heavy!)

-Counting using our class number line

-Found shapes in our indoor and outdoor learning areas

-Used our phonic knowledge to read words and simple sentences in our focus activities

-Practiced lining up and independent changing in P.E

-Carried out the role of a postal worker and delivered letters to our friends and family

-Learnt new keywords such as 'postcode'. When we learn new keywords it gets stored in our 'Brain Word Bank'.

-We revisited the learning we have done in the past few weeks to secure and remember what we have learnt. 

-Developing our Oracy skills during snack time and 'Show and Tell'

-Securing our independence by pouring our own milk and washing our own fruit during snack time. 

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Postal Worker Visit

Autumn Walk

Show and Tell

Shape Hunt

17th November 2023

This week, we have been learning about Transport. We have been discussing how there are different modes of transportation and which one we have never used! In Literacy, we have been segmenting and blending words and practising our letter formation! In Maths, we have been learning about the properties of 2D shapes. We learnt what the word 'vertices' means and have kept that in our word bank! In our Understanding the World session, we have been exploring transport from the past and how much it has changed over the years!

We have also carried out the following activities during exploring time:

-Using our new remote control cars in our ICT lesson

-Creating transport pictures using 2D shapes

-Exploring non fiction texts on transport in our reading den

-Carrying out our role play activities in our London Underground Station role play area

-Writing key words from the story of the Train Ride. 

Indoor Exploring

Show and Tell

ICT-Remote Control Cars

10th November 2023

Our Foxes have been learning about the story of Rama and Sita linked to our topic of Festivals. We also learnt about Diwali and how it is celebrated throughout the world in different ways. We enjoyed sharing each other's celebrations during our lessons. It was so wonderful to see all the beautiful traditions and how people celebrate special occasions with their families. Our Foxes are really looking forward to learning about upcoming festival such as Hannukah, Christmas, Eid, Lunar New Year, Easter (Just to name a few!) In Maths, we learnt about repeating patterns and what repeat means! In Literacy, we learnt how to retell the story and to describe characters in detail. We also learnt about Remembrance Sunday and why we wear poppies. 

During exploring time, we carried out the following activities: 

-Cooking Asian sweets called Barfis (Weighing and measuring)

-Creating Rangoli repeating patterns using coloured rice

-Ordering numbers to 10

-Exploring different types of Asian food such as poppadoms and naan bread

-Developing our gross motor skills in Gymnastics.

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

Barfi Making

Asian Food Tasting

Gymnastics

3rd November 2023

We have started off our first week back with a bang! We have been learning about a story called 'Sparks in the Sky'. This links perfectly to our theme of Bonfire Night this week. We then wrote some simple words that describe fireworks such as 'pop' and 'spark'. In Maths, we have had a real focus on using 5's frames and finding different ways to make 5. Conkers and acorns have helped us when making 5! In our UTW sessions, we have been learning about the artist Vincent Van Gogh. The 'Starry Night' painting was a perfect painting to study and discuss. We even created our own version of the painting and will be displayed in our Art Gallery. For PSHE, we have been discussing how members of our community help us during Bonfire Night. We talked about the roles of a firefighter and why its so important to stay safe from fireworks. 

We also carried out the following activities during exploring time:

-Developing our fine motor to create firework playdoh using glittery pipe cleaners and shiny materials.

-Using tools independently to produce marble firework paintings.

-Learning about the importance of stretching in our Gymnastics session.

-Using our magic chalk pens to write some keywords linked to Bonfire Night.

-Linking magnetic shapes together to create rockets.

-Pretending to be builders in our outdoor area

-Finding and writing signs of Autumn using clipboards and writing frames outside

-Preparing a Bonfire Night feast in our Mud Kitchen

-Exploring fiction and non fiction books in our Camping area. We even placed some wood to pretend their was a fire in the middle!

-Listened to some stories in our cosy reading den

-Set up a pop up Cafe, writing orders and giving change to our friends. 

Indoor Exploring 

Outdoor Exploring

Vincent Van Gogh- Starry Night

Show and Tell

20th October 2023

Our amazing Foxes have completed their first half term at Jordans. In our last week, we have been learning about the book 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. The children have really enjoyed acting out the story in our bear hunt role play area. We have also been sequencing pictures from the story which was a really fun challenge. In maths, we have been learning how to make 5 in different ways and will how to use 5's frames. We will be continuing this venture in maths after half term. For PSHE this week, we had a Teddy Bear day. We were able to talk to each other about how our cuddly is special to us and enjoy our morning snacks with them. In P.E this week, we have been developing our team building skills and working on following 2 step instructions!

During our exploring time, we carried out the following activities:

-Using different tools such as forks to create and paint a bear face! This was a challenge!

-Enhancing our fine motor skills by creating patterns using peg boards

-Manipulating shapes by creating patters using small 2D shapes and placing them on our teddy bear outlines!

-Exploring a range of fiction and non fiction texts on bears in our very own outdoor 'Bear Cave'. We also used torches to help us see and read our books!

-Developing our ICT skills in our indoor reading area by listening to stories using a CD player. We are getting much better at using this independently!

-Finding food for our bears by collecting as many acorns as possible! We used the acorns to create shapes! 

-Understanding that number can be represented using Numicons! We really enjoyed using these independently and pretending they were jigsaws!

-Exploring a variety of paint colours to create 'swirling, whirling snowstorms!'. 

-Using our phonic skills to write some key vocabulary from the story. 

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

Teddy Day

13th October 2023

This week, our lovely Foxes have been learning about the story 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. This falls under our theme of Bears, which has been our focus this week and will also roll to next week. The children have been fascinated in learning about different types of bears that exist in our world! Our personal favourite was learning about Moon bears! We have been learning new vocabulary linked to bears this week such as 'hibernation' and 'humongous'. In ICT, the children have been learning how to use a CD player to listen to popular stories. Our Foxes have been learning how to stop and start the player and have really embraced listening to stories with their friends as well as building the skills in areas of ICT. In Maths, we have had a real focus on matching number to quantity. Our Foxes independently wanted to put our number bears in order which was was wonderful to see. In PSHE, we have been exploring social stories and what we can do to help ourselves or others in different friendship scenarios.  Our class bear Jordie, teaches us how to take turns and show kindness to others. He was listening to our discussions which the Foxes really enjoyed. 

We have also been extending our learning during exploring time by carrying out activities such as:

-Exploring capacity in our mud kitchen and pretending to make porridge for the bears!

-Mixing colours to create a bear picture using paint.

-Developing our cutting skills by making Bear masks. 

-Recognising shapes by playing 'shape snap'.

-Using Lego to build the Three Bears cottage.

-Sorting compare bears in their correct colour and size.

-Using our phonics skills to write keywords from a story. 

-Show and Tell sessions to help develop our Oracy skills. 

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

ICT

6th October 2023

This week, our learning has been based on a book called 'Handa's Surprise'. This book explores exotic fruit that can be found in Africa such as guavas, passion fruit and avocados! Our Foxes were able to explore the fruit as they wished, describing how the fruit smells and feels. We also had a wonderful session on developing new vocabulary, such as squishy and delicious! We also introduced the uses of tally charts and how there are different representations of number. All of our new vocabulary, including snapshots of our learning is placed on our learning journey wall. This way, our Foxes can remember what we have been learning and we are able to see the developments of skills in all areas of the curriculum. 

We also carried out many activities during exploring time, such as: 

-Developing our hand eye coordination using number cans and beanbags

-Using our fine motor skills to create Handa's Surprise stick puppets

-Understanding the importance of washing fruit and using our chopping skills to make a fruit salad

-Using tally charts to find out our favourite animal or fruit from the story

-Learning the formation of sounds and numbers

-Exploring our senses when learning about fruits we have never eaten or seen before

-Learning about the importance of handwashing and keeping clean

-Using a variety of junk to create models of Handa's house from our story. 

-Moving on time to percussion instruments and leading songs. 

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

DT- Fruit Salad

Exploring Exotic Fruits

29th September 2023

Our lovely Foxes have been learning about the story 'Funnybones'. We have been discussing why we need bones and how they help us to move. We have also been practicing our phonics skills by writing the sounds on whiteboards this week. During PSHE, we have been learning how to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy food. We also had a wonderful carpet session where we drew around one of our Foxes. The children really enjoyed drawing and labelling different parts of the body. 

During our exploring time, we have been carrying out the following activities:

-Developing our writing skills using the topic word mats

-Understanding how number is represented in different forms (Numicons)

-Using props to retell stories

-Comparing sizes when drawing around each other's bodies using chalk

-Enhancing our fine motor skills by creating skeleton pictures using straw and PVE glue

-Exploring non fiction texts linked to the human body

-Taking part in physical exercise during P.E sessions

-Practiced our number formation using the number magnets

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

22nd September 2023

Our Foxes have been very busy this week learning about Friendship and Autumn. We have been learning about building relationships with our peers through PSHE sessions and playing team games to build self confidence and communicating with our new friends. We also created a brainstorm on everything we knew about Autumn. This was a great way to build up new vocabulary and interacting in class discussions.

We have also been very busy learning during our exploring time by carrying out the following activities:

-Developing our fine motor by cutting and sticking to make Friendship bands.

-Exploring a range of Autumnal findings to create an Autumn collage.

-Reading and exploring a range of books linked to Friendship and seasons.

-Understanding the importance of E-Safety and using educational apps on our new IPads.

-Working as a team to build models

-Practicing to form letters correctly

-Using our phonic skills to write our friend’s names

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

ICT

15th September 2023

This week, our lovely Foxes have been learning about the book 'Owl Babies'. We have been retelling the story as a class and have been working on number recognition. We also had a scavenger hunt in our Blue Bell Woods to find as many leaves, twigs and sticks for our Owl Babies tuff tray. We also found a baby frog hopping about in our outdoor area.! We have had a wonderful first full week and our exploring time has been full of learning adventures. To develop our Oracy skills, we have introduced Show and Tell. This was a great success and will be taking place once a week.

We have also been carrying out the following activities during exploring time such as:

-Developing our fine motor skills by cutting and creating stick puppets for story telling

-Exploring books in our reading area

-Using the Duplo and working as a team

-Creating owls by using different media and materials

-Making portraits of owl and developing pencil control

-Counting bears and number matching

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

Show and Tell

8th September 2023

Welcome to our lovely Fox families. It has been a wonderful week getting to know all the children and they have all settled in so beautifully. This week, we have been building our confidence by carrying out circle games, learning new school routines and building friendships. During exploring time, our Foxes have been very busy learning and getting used to their new environment and had their first P.E session! We are so proud of our Foxes. Below you will find some snapshots of this week. 

Indoor Exploring

Outdoor Exploring

P.E