Mrs Brentnall, Mrs Ashton-Lovett and Mrs Frattaroli

would like to welcome you to

ORANGE CLASS

Term 5

'Ticket to Ride'

Term 4

Let's Explore

What can you do outside? 

Term 3

Terrific Tales

Where will your imagination take you?

Our topic this term in literacy is called 'Terrific Tales'. We are going to be immersing the children in a range of stories which will include alternative versions of traditional tales. We are going to be thinking about the structure of a story, as well as the main characters. Our core text to support this topic is called ‘Croc and Bird’ and is written and illustrated by Alexis Deacon. We will be revealing the story slowly throughout the term so please refrain from buying the book and reading it at home until we have completed the book.

Our PSED focus this term is all about accepting difference. Our core text 'Croc and Bird' is based on two brothers who both hatch from an egg but have an extreme difference, one is a crocodile and one is a bird. It explores the trial and tribulations of the brother’s journey as they explore their differences and eventually come to love them. Through this text we will begin to think about what makes us individual and explore our differences in a positive way. We hope to develop our tolerance for one another as well celebrate diversity.

We had an exciting discovery in the Reception garden this week! We found a large, purple egg in a nest beneath the bushes. We are curious to find out what will hatch out of it. Some of us thought it must be a dragons egg, others a dinosaur or even a unicorn! The children decided we must bring it in to keep it warm and safe. They have been very gentle with the egg making 'do not touch' signs and surrounding it with feathers and blankets to keep it warm. Watch this space...it's all very eggciting!

Term 2

Let's Celebrate

How do we celebrate?

Through our topic ‘Let’s Celebrate’, we will start with getting the children to think about how and what they celebrate with their own families. We will then explore how different people and cultures celebrate, developing an awareness of similarities and differences between themselves and others. This will support them developing an awareness of cultural diversity.

Remembrance Day 

The children went on a walk to visit the Remembrance display at the Whitstable Army Cadets hut on Cromwell Road. We talked about the importance of the poppy and thought about how Remembrance day is a special celebration of the lives lost in war. Many of the children were inspired to make their own poppies. The children showed their respect by sitting quietly for two minutes at 11 o'clock whilst watching the animation below:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04p4zsl/poppies

Phonics 

So far we have learnt the following sounds:

s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck, e, u, r, ss, h, b, f, ff, l, ll

We have also been learning some harder to read and spell words. These are words that can not be sounded out and have to be learnt by sight and repetition.  So far the children have been introduced to the following harder to read and spell words:

I, the, no, put, of, is, to, go, into, pull, as, his

Maths

In maths this term the children will continue to develop their number sense, exploring numbers represented in different ways and through a range of activities and through their play. The areas that we will be covering this term will be:

Numbers 0-5, one more and one less, 2D shapes and time (yesterday, today and tomorrow).

Term 1

All About Me

What can you tell me about yourself?

We have been having fun finding out all about our new friends in Yellow and Orange Class, including the adults! We have been learning about the differences and similarities between each other, including how we look and feel.

The children have been exploring and learning about their new environment at school, finding out where everything is and how to use it independently.

Autumn in Orange Class

The children have loved exploring the world around them, looking for similarities and differences and noticing all the autumnal changes outside. We read the stories 'Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn' by Kenard Pak and 'Leaf Man' by Lois Ehlert. Some of the children were inspired to make their own leaf men/ animals.

We enjoyed visiting the Canopy area and looking at the seasonal changes. We looked at the colour of the leaves and noticed that there were lots on the floor. We collected some natural objects such as twigs, leaves and conkers to take back into class and look at more closely. There were a few 'helicopter seeds' from the sycamore tree and the children enjoyed experimenting dropping them from different heights. 

Maths 

In maths we have been looking at grouping and sorting objects and numbers. We thought about different ways of sorting objects using colour, size, shape and number. We have also been comparing amounts using the language 'more' and 'fewer'.