Welcome to the Beetles!
Hello and welcome!
*Meet the Beetle grown-ups*
The grown-ups in the Beetle class are Miss Mason and Miss Farmer. We love teaching the Beetles and we are so proud of their achievements!
If you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Thank you!
*Our Christian Value for the term*
JUSTICE
Our value in term is 'Justice'. Justice is about ensuring fairness in the way people are dealt with and making sure that all people are treated equally. It is having the quality of being reasonable and fair. It is striving to put right or prevent an injustice.
Proverbs 21:15 When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous. Amos 5:24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream. Psalm 106:3 Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what is right. Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do right, seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
What can you do to show justice? Here are some examples:
Include everyone in your play. Don't judge people by how they look - remember we are all the same on the inside. Take turns with equipment and resources - don't keep something for yourself but make sure it is shared and everyone has a turn. Are you good at working as part of a team? Show consideration and empathy for others. Are you good at resolving arguments with others? How can you ensure a fair outcome?Practise seeing things from someone else's point of view. Think about ways that you can help people in the world who may not have as much as others. What can you do to help them? How can you bring about positive change in the world where everyone is treated fairly and equally?
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." Elie Wiesel
*Our Learning for the term*
Spring 2
We are so proud of each and every Beetle for their resilience and flexibility becoming accustomed to this new way of remote learning. We have loved seeing you every day for our “Zoom school” and we miss you all lots!
Remote learning and “Zoom school” will continue this half term. Each week we will be focusing our remote learning challenges on a different popular children’s story or song each week. These include: Dear Zoo, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Aliens Love Underpants, The Tiger Who Came To Tea and Spring Chicken.
Through these stories we will be exploring different purposes for writing, developing our confidence and stamina for independent writing and giving an opportunity applying our phonics knowledge and punctuation skills.
Each day there will also be a creative challenge based around the story which the children will be able to develop and express their creativity through and encourage learning both indoors and outdoors!
In phonics, we will be continuing to learn and practice the tricky Phase 3 digraphs, trigraphs and tricky words that we looked at last term. We will continuing to practice and apply these in both our reading and writing.
Our maths challenges this term we will be continuing to develop our maths skills further, looking more specifically comparing and ordering quantities; number bonds to ten; 3D shapes; doubling and halving. We will be practicing these skills practically and applying them within our play.
We can’t wait to welcome you all back on Monday 8th March! We have missed you so much and can’t wait to continue our learning journey altogether! It will be lovely to continue making memories as a Beetle Class, building on friendships and following our interests through our play.
Spring 1
We will starting off our term learning about South Africa as we prepare some work to send over as part of an exchange programme. We will be exploring our own journeys to school, our modes of transport and what we see.
Our Talk for Writing text this term is The Sleepy Bumblebee written by Pie Corbett. Through this text we will begin by learning all about bees. Then we will focus on retelling the story and creating our own alterations and innovations. We will working on gaining more independence and confidence in our writing as well as practising our handwriting and letter formation.
We will be focussing on the stories Whatever Next, Mr Gumpy’s Outing and Mrs Armitage on Wheels in our shared reading sessions. All of these stories, along with the Sleepy Bumblebee, are journey stories looking more in depth into these stories and as well as we will be looking into different modes of transport and experimenting in different ways of moving. We are lucky enough to even have weekly balance bike sessions too this half term!
This half term we are also going to continue learning the remaining Phase 3 diagraphs, trigraphs and tricky words in our phonics sessions which we will be applying to our reading and writing.
In maths we will be continuing to develop our number and shape, space and measure skills, gaining confidence, building on and applying the skills we have learnt into our play.
Autumn 2
We had such a busy and exciting first term in Reception last half term and we can't wait to continue learning, playing and growing this half term! This half term we will be continuing to developing our love of reading, practice sharing and turn taking as well as showing kindness to our friends.
This term our learning will be focussed around The Baby Mouse story, written by Pie Corbett, which is this term's Talk for Writing text. We look forward to fully immersing ourselves learning the story, creating story maps and story mountains then finally innovating the story to make it our own! Through the story we will have to opportunity to explore the characters and find out more about woodland environments and animals.
We will also be looking deeper into our shared reading stories "Owl Babies" and "Goodnight Moon". The children thoroughly enjoyed exploring the in last term's texts, so we look forward to getting to know these stories in greater detail as well. In addition to this, we will continue learning a new song or nursery rhyme every week!
So far in phonics we have learnt all of our Phase 2 sounds and tricky words, so we will continue to practice and apply these to our reading and writing. We will also be beginning to learn our Phase 3 sounds and tricky words.
In maths, we will be continuing to play lots games and do activities to develop our maths skills around number, calculation, shape and measure, and apply these within our play!
Autumn 1
The Beetle Class will be having a busy and exciting first term in Reception.
We will be making lots of new friends, learning about each other and ourselves. There will also be lots of time to explore our classroom and discover all the resources available, with provision set out each week following the children's interests.
Our learning this term is themed around the Gingerbread Man which is our Talk for Writing text. We will be learning the story, creating a story map and retelling the story, altering the story and exploring the different characters.
Alongside Talk for Writing we have begun shared reading, where we will be looking into more depth at two texts: 'Shhh!' and 'Rosie's Walk'. We will be looking at the characters, settings and vocabulary used.
We have also begun learning Phase 2 phonics, following Letters and Sounds. This will enable us to begin reading and writing more together!
*Our Weekly Newsletters*
Keep updated with our learning and our news!