Reception Class News

Fabulous Foundation

Posted on Friday 18 September 2020 by Mrs Wood

The children have had another fabulous week in Foundation!
We are really starting to get to know their interests and personalities.
They are all fantastic at following the school rules and classroom routines – I’m super impressed!

Here’s some highlights this week…

WAKE UP SHAKE UP!

Exploring in the water tray.

Our first lunch at school.

Using our senses to explore the classroom.

Next week, our first focus story is Pete the Cat – Rocking in my school shoes! The children will draw pictures of them rocking in their school shoes and come up with some actions to help us retell the story.

In maths, we’ll be introducing our first focus number which is zero and looking at other numbers that are significant to them e.g. their age, house number etc.

Home-Link Challenge

 

Welcome!

Posted on Friday 11 September 2020 by Mrs Wood

Welcome to all our F2 children! 

Miss Marsden has been looking forward to this week for ages! It’s been lovely getting to know you and your interests.  You all looked super smart in your new uniforms and shiny shoes! I wonder how long they will stay shiny for?

F2 have had a great first week at school! We’ve been busy painting, drawing, building train tracks, cooking in the role play area and making cakes at the playdough table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every morning, your child will come into school and be encouraged to do their daily jobs independently. They will hang up their coat, find their name, choose their lunch and vote for an end of day story.  When you drop of your child, a member of staff will always be available for a quick chat.

This half-term is all about settling in. We will be getting to know each other and finding out about the children’s interests which will guide our learning this term. Our Parent Partners are key in this process, so we really encourage you to start sending photos of any ‘WOW’ moments or new interests your child has at home. Send them to stjameseyfs@speherefederation.org.

 

Things to remember…

  • PE will be every Wednesday – your child should come to school in their PE kit. Our first PE session will be on Wednesday 30 September.
  • A pair of school wellies is essential in Foundation! We go outside to play in all weather!
  • Your child will need a labelled water bottle each day. Please ensure the bottle only contains water – no juice please!
  • At the end of the day (3.00pm), please remember to stand opposite the foundation classroom.
  • Don’t forget to encourage independence when your child is getting ready for school!

Have a lovely weekend!

 

PE days

Posted on Wednesday 02 September 2020 by Miss Beatson

Hopefully you have read the information in the Autumn for all – Key Info St James’, which also has a link to our uniform policy.

On the days your child has PE, they should come to school in their PE kit. (Track-suit bottoms instead of shorts would be good on colder days. Footwear : black/brown/grey/white flat shoes which are safe to run around in.)

Footwear on PE days could be children’s ‘school shoes’ which are often a ‘trainer’ style anyway, if you want to avoid having to buy 2 pairs of shoes.

Please find below the days each class has allocated PE times, which will be taught outdoors, except in extreme weather.

  • Foundation (Miss Marsden) – Wednesday
  • Year 1/2 (Miss Harker) – Thursday & Friday
  • Year 3/4 (Mrs Welsby/Mrs Rowley) – Tuesday & Friday
  • Year 5/6 (Miss Beatson/Mr Mills) – Tuesday & Friday

Summer Time!

Posted on Friday 17 July 2020 by Mrs Wood

It’s the last day of school!
What a crazy school year it has been! We’re sad that we’ve been unable to finish the year together, but we hope that you’ve all enjoyed doing the home learning. Thank you, again, for all of your emails about your lovely home learning moments. Mrs Allen-Kelly and I have loved reading each and every one of them.
I am excited to welcome back the Foundation 1 children returning to us in September.
Thank you to all the Foundation 2 children for being an amazing class and I am sure you will be fab in Year 1. I will  pop into your new classroom to say ‘hello’ and see how you’re all getting on.

I would like to wish all of Foundation a happy and healthy summer!

Miss Marsden
xxx

 

Story time! ‘Recipe For a Story’ by Ella Burfoot

Posted on Friday 17 July 2020 by Mrs Allen-Kelly

Here is the final story time video of the school year!

Please click here to hear to story

It finishes with a little goodbye message from me.

I  just want to add that I am so proud of all of you all and how you have coped with the school year taking such an unexpected turn.

I have loved every day of teaching at St James’ Primary School and will really miss seeing your smiling faces 😊 I will be keeping in touch to see how you are all getting on in your Reception year and Year One.

Have the BEST Summer break Superstars ✨

Mrs Allen-Kelly.

Week commencing 13 July 2020: F1 Home Learning ‘Where’s my teddy?’

Posted on Monday 13 July 2020 by Mrs Allen-Kelly

We can’t believe that this is our final week of home learning activities. We’re going to finish with ‘Where’s My Teddy?’  written by Jez Alborough.

We often celebrate our learning and the end of Foundation with a Teddy Bear’s picnic party. Sadly, this isn’t going to be possible this year but we didn’t want to miss out on all of the fun. So, this week, we’d love it if you could have a Teddy Bear’s picnic at home and send us your photos.

Remember to email your photos to stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org

We’ll share all of your photographs on the class news page. We thought that this would be a lovely way to end the year – to fill our Class News Page with all of your happy, smiling faces.

Where’s My Teddy

  • Did you enjoy the story?
  • How do you think Eddy felt when he lost his teddy?
  • Do you have a favourite teddy bear or soft toy? Talk to your family members about their favourite toys as children. They may still have an old favourite teddy hidden away somewhere that they can show you.

 Here are some activities that you can try that are linked to the story.

Mark Making

Draw or cut out an outline of a bear. Ask your child to add eyes, a nose and a mouth to the bears face. You could encourage them to draw some clothes on the bear or a bow tie and decorate it with patterns. There are also some free printable pencil control activity sheets to download on Twinkl.

 Music

Sing along at home to this well-known family favourite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EsIzsl5nLw

 Cooking  

Find a recipe to bake something to eat at your Teddy Bear’s Picnic this week. There are lots of recipe ideas on the I Can Cook website.  Some bears like to eat honey; you might like to make a honey sandwich! Ask your child to help butter the bread and add their choice of sandwich filling. With help, they can cut their sandwiches carefully into squares or triangles.

Understanding the World

Do you like honey? If you’ve never tried it before, have a try. What does it taste like?

Where does honey come from?  Maddie Moate knows all about where honey comes from because her parents are bee keepers. Watch these short clips to find out about how bees make honey and how Maddie harvests honey from her bee hives.

 Mathematics

1) Top Marks has a teddy bear counting game that children really enjoy playing at Nursery. We help children to recognise the number so that they know how many cupcakes to feed the bear.

2) Ask your child to choose some soft toys/teddies to invite to the picnic. How many have they chosen? How many plates and cups will they need?

Watch

Teddy bears are obviously very popular as there are lots of programmes available to watch all about bears! Here’s an episode from Postman Pat about a Special ‘teddy’ Delivery or you can find out what happens in the town of Biggleton when too many bears arrive for the picnic.

Story time! “Have you filled a bucket today?” by Carol McCloud

Posted on Friday 10 July 2020 by Mrs Allen-Kelly

A bit of a different story time today. Today’s story will be read by the author herself; Carol McCloud.

“Have you filled a bucket today?” is a lovely way of explaining to children our feelings and how we can help improve the feelings of others.

You can watch the video below:

 

Today’s activity linked to the story is simple but important. A conversation. This has links to PSED; understanding / talking about our feelings and how we ‘manage’ them. You might ask:

What might you be feeling if you have an ’empty bucket’?

What makes your bucket feel empty?

What can people do to help you fill your bucket?

What might you be feeling when your ‘bucket’ is full?

What makes your bucket feel full?

What can you do to help fill the buckets of other people?

Your child may want to draw some pictures inside a bucket outline of all the things that fill their bucket.

Have a lovely weekend and remember to always try to be a ‘bucket filler’

Busy week!

Posted on Friday 10 July 2020 by Mrs Wood

On Tuesday, we used masking tape to create a pattern. First, the children stuck the masking tape all over their paper. Then, they coloured the shapes in between the tape. Finally they peeled the masking tape off and they were amazed! 

On Tuesday, it was Virtual Sports Day. They all showed great teamwork and determination when having a go at each of the challenges. Take a look at some of their action shots!

On Thursday, we created some stained glass windows. We talked about where you might find real stained glass windows and how they were made. Look how amazing they are!

Today, we will be having a ‘circle time’ about our Living and Learning statement… I know how to cope with change. This will allow the children to share how they are feeling about going into Year One.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

Virtual School Sports Day – results

Posted on Wednesday 08 July 2020 by Mrs Latham

Thank you to everyone at home and in school who took part and submitted results. Over 200 schools across West Yorkshire took part. You can see the results below.

Did you get sporty today?

Posted on Tuesday 07 July 2020 by Mrs Latham

Well, the rain came – just like when we usually have sports day! We hope you managed to complete at least some of the challenges set by the West Yorkshire School Games for the Virtual Sports Day. Don’t forget to submit your results here : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfdEX8xOo-PtkFwasg0B7deXM1uzvMQMFAPwpKCU9yEKG6qqg/viewform