TERM 1

Cherry class was full of new things when we started school in September!

• Our brand-new Reception children joined the Year 1’s that were staying in Cherry class for another year,
• We had 2 new teachers, Miss Parker and Mr Sharman,
• Our outdoor space had a makeover with a new ‘Builder’s Shed’, new ride-ons, a new stage area and our role-play house and mud kitchen area both had a refresh too,
• We had new furniture in the classroom,

And…

• We started a brand-new phonics scheme, Little Wandle Letters and Sounds.

Our maths work for the term was all about Number and Place Value so we did lots of counting practice and played some counting games. We explored different numbers and worked on understanding ‘more’ and ‘less’. The Reception children focussed on numbers to 5 and the Year 1’s started with numbers to 20 before moving on to numbers to 100.

Our science work was all about the human body and in literacy, we learnt about labels. We worked together to name parts of the body and sang songs like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. The Year 1’s then put their science and literacy work together and had a go at labelling a body.

Our topic was ‘Where We Live’, which had a Geography and History focus. We created pictures of our houses using all kinds of art materials. We looked at a map of the UK and learnt about where Weston Hills is on that map. We also talked about being near ‘The Wash’ and learnt about King John losing his treasure here many years ago. After finding Weston Hills on the map, we also learnt about the 4 countries of the UK, their capital cities and the seas around the UK. We all climbed aboard our own ‘Weston Hills Airline’ and journeyed around the UK with the help of Barnaby Bear. When we arrived in Scotland, we tried some traditional Scottish Shortbread. We also learnt about ‘human’ and ‘physical’ features and talked about what made Weston Hills special.

After talking about King John losing his treasure, we read the story ‘We’re Going on a Treasure Hunt’. It reminded us of the story ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ so we read that too. We then joined in with Michael Rosen telling the story and thought about our own ideas for improving the story. We decided that it would make more sense for us to go through the mud and then go through the river so that we could give our feet a wash! We drew story maps and then had a go at writing our own versions of the story.

Our art work this term was all about Ceramics so we explored playdough and clay. The Reception children learnt how to use the rollers and cutters with the playdough and the Year 1’s used their skills to make clay tiles and decorate them.

We have enjoyed getting to know each other, exploring our new space and starting our PE sessions with Mr Sharman too. We have made a great start to the year!