Reception Class News

Crime scenes, carrots and construction!

Posted on Saturday 14 September 2019 by Mrs Allen-Kelly

We soon had our police investigators on the case at our ‘Classroom crime scene’ yesterday. “A burglar has been in here and trashed the classroom” announced F.L before writing his crime scene report (amazing segmenting and writing!) He was soon joined by officers E.P and C.R with their magnifying glasses, who shouted “I can see footprints” as they trailed around the classroom.

   

Miss Feldman has been preparing the planting area with the children this week, for some new planting to begin. We found lots of teeny carrots in the soil, planted last year. The children were so excited to find them- it was like hunting for buried treasure! We heard lots of great size vocabulary; “I found a big one said W.J whilst G.D told us “I found a tiny carrot”

   

After discovering the veggies, we soon found creatures who enjoyed living amongst them- a number of bright green caterpillars had made their home in the planter. F.L and C.H took such a liking to one of them that they made it a home in a stepping stone; “It needs leaves and grass, so it doesn’t die” they decided.

We really enjoyed being out in our lovely outdoor space in the sunshine this week.

We were so proud of how sensible and smart the F2 children were in their first achievement assembly yesterday.

Well done to Lily, Freddie, Christian and Mia on their special certificates.

Home-Link Challenge

We’ve only received a couple of family pictures for our Home Corner wall so far. We will therefore role the home-link challenge into next week. Please discuss with your child who lives in your home and either bring in or email a family photo to us, at:

stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org

Parent Partnership

Please join us Wednesday 18 September 6.00-7.00pm, for our Parent Partnership meeting. It will involve a short presentation on ways to share your child’s learning experiences from home.  After, there will be time to ask questions and speak to the class teachers should you wish.

We hope to see many of you there.

 

 

 

 

 

The classroom crime scene…

Posted on Thursday 12 September 2019 by Mrs Allen-Kelly

Child-led inspiration; a classroom crime scene.

This week, we’ve seen lots of role play involving “police”, “bad guys” and “jail”. The children have been using the construction hi-vis jackets and any space they can find to act out their scenarios.

Those police might just come in handy tomorrow because someone has left chaos in our home corner!

We’ve added police tabards, hats, magnifying glasses and evidence clipboards to ensure we have the right kit for the job. Watch this space to see where our investigations take us.

 

Welcome to Foundation!

Posted on Friday 06 September 2019 by Mrs Allen-Kelly

We’ve had a wonderful morning getting to know our new F2 children and welcoming back the children moving up from F1. We’ve been busy painting, exploring outside, making food in the role play area, drawing and using our fiddly fingers to make dough cakes. We’ve seen lots of great numbers and letter sounds being used already too!

We’re really looking forward to seeing our nursery children this afternoon.

Home-Link Challenges

Today we have sent home our ‘All About Me’ bags for you to fill with your favourite things from home or photos if you wish.

We would also like you to bring in a copy of a family photo in your home for the role play area or you can email a photo to us at:

stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org

Reminders

Please leave a pair of wellies at school for our muddy outdoor play.

Please bring a named water bottle to school every day. The bottle must contain water only- no juice please.

Please ensure all uniform, bags, shoes and personal items are named.

Please remember we will now be opening the gate at 3.15 and asking you to collect your child/ren from the classroom door.

If you are collecting from F1 at 11.30, we will continue to bring the children to you at the gate.

Thank you.

 

Craft Club 11.07.19- Slime!

Posted on Saturday 13 July 2019 by Mrs Allen-Kelly

We had a super- gooey, squishy time at our final craft club of the year on Thursday.

We made slime 🙂 Sorry grown-ups!

We had to be really careful when adding our activator to make sure we had the perfect consistency. We selected our colours and added sequins for a sparkly textured finish 🙂

Transition, pirates and picnics!

Posted on Saturday 13 July 2019 by Mrs Allen-Kelly

For F2 children, this week saw the first opportunity to spend time in their new classroom and with some old (now new) classmates. F1 have had their final stay and play with children joining us in September too. We have spent time talking about what we think might be different in September and discussing all the new experiences that we are excited for.

We used drama in Literacy to act out the thoughts of our main character in our story. In The Night Pirates, we met a group of “Rough, tough, little girl pirates” who manage to steal away treasure from the “grown-up” pirates! We made a ‘subconscious alley’ (or “thinking alley” for Foundation) where we said out-loud the thoughts of our character when he met the pirates. F2 then used these skills to write down some thoughts and speech of different characters from the story.

 

Junk modelling has been a returning favourite this week- we are always amazed at the imaginative, thoughtful models made in our creative areas!

We enjoyed our picnic outside Wednesday lunchtime:

Next week, our ‘Learn with me’ table top challenge is going to be to write your favourite memories from this year in Foundation Class. Please do visit the activity with your child to help them focus on the ‘reflection’ element of next week’s Living and Learning statement.

I know how to reflect and look ahead.

Notices for the final days next week:

-We will be sending PE kits home on Thursday after our final gymnastics session.

-Please return all reading books to school by next Thursday. We will be taking all of the books back in over the summer.

-Please bring in a large plastic carrier bag by next Friday to keep in your child’s drawer so that we can send home their things on the final day.

-On Friday afternoon, we will be having a ‘Writing Warriors’ linked end of year class party! No need to bring anything as we will be wearing school uniform 🙂

Wonderful Windchimes

Posted on Thursday 04 July 2019 by

Today in craft club we started making Windchimes.  We used lollipop sticks and we threaded string with beads. The wooden beads will make a calming sound as they bump into each other in the wind. Take a look at our creations.

Tropical World

Posted on Wednesday 26 June 2019 by Mrs Allen-Kelly

We had a fabulous day at Roundhay Park and Tropical World.

The children were so excited and enthusiastic. They behaved brilliantly throughout a long day and we are very proud of how they represented the school and themselves. Well done Foundation.

Thanks again to our parent volunteers Mrs Kwallah and Mrs Greenough who were a huge help today.

Take a look at photos from our special class trip:

We were so excited for our school trip this morning…
When we got to the park we went for a nature walk…
and collected our own nature sticks…
Next, we went to the play park…
We practised our climbing…
Later, we had our picnic at the Bandstand…
After our picnic, we played parachute and circle  games…   
Then we took a close look at the beautiful ‘Leeds in Bloom’ flowers…
At Tropical World we saw so many amazing animals, like Gheckos…
Fish “Just like Dory and Nemo!”…
The friendliest Sting Rays…
… Meerkats

 

Tortoises and more!…
We finished the day with an ice-cream lolly, before heading back to our coach.

Penpals

Posted on Thursday 20 June 2019 by

Today in craft club,  we made pencil top characters. We used pipe cleaners and googley eyes to bring our characters to life. Take a look at our creations!

Our exciting day

Posted on Thursday 13 June 2019 by Mrs Allen-Kelly

Two special things happened in Foundation today!

F2 and F1 children going up to F2 in September have enjoyed their first session with North Leeds Gymnastics. We have learnt some new floor positions…

The ‘Tuck’
The ‘Pike’
The ‘Straddle’

and we demonstrated some great travelling movements, inspired by animals:

The ‘Crab’
The ‘Bunny’
The ‘Snake’

We can’t wait to try even more next Thursday!

Our second piece of exciting news, is that our competition entries in the book ‘My First Riddle’, have finally been published. Any orders for books have arrived and we will proudly have a copy of the book on display in the classroom too.

Craft Club- Our Superheroes!

Posted on Thursday 13 June 2019 by Mrs Allen-Kelly

*W A R N I N G* any super Dads or Grandads reading this, should look away now!…

In honour of Father’s Day this Sunday, today we decorated some sweet treats for our very own superheroes- our Dads and Grandads. We hope they enjoy their creations and special messages.