Favourite stories

To celebrate the end of a fabulous year in Reception, this week the children are choosing some of their favourite stories to share with the class.

Blast-off!

Everyone is very excited about seeing the KS2 production. We have seen stars, spacemen, smoke, aliens and even a rocket in school. It has inspired lots of imaginative space-themed play in Reception.

All Around the World

This term we are learning about story settings from all around the world. We have begun with stories set in Africa. Africa is a big continent with 54 countries. We have enjoyed learning about some of the animals who live in Africa.

Here is a quiz about animals. All the clues were written by Oak Class. 

Temple Newsam

We had a great visit to Home Farm at Temple Newsam.

Daniel says, "It was the bestest day ever!"

Purple People Eaters

Thank you to everyone who wore purple and helped to raise money to support St Gemma's Hospice. 

We listened to a very funny song about the Purple People Eater who wanted to be in a rock and roll band. We listened carefully to the description of the creature in the song and drew some pictures.

Yorkshire Wildlife and Farm Animals

We have been reading lots of different animal stories and thinking about which animals live in Yorkshire. We are particularly enjoying some of Kim Lewis's books about farm animals.

Sheep

We thought about why farmers keep sheep. We watched this video to learn how wool is made:

Sheepdogs

"We've been learning about sheepdogs." - Max

"The sheepdogs drink water." - Michaiah

"They round the sheep up into the pens." - Hollie

"They help look after the sheep." - Grace

"The sheepdogs are puppies and they get trained." - Emily

"The sheepdog stops the sheep going on roads." - Thomas

Tour de Yorkshire

The children have all enjoyed making t-shirt bunting to help decorate the village for this exciting event!

The Queen's birthday

It was lovely to see everyone dressed in their finery today! We had an exciting lunchtime party in the hall, with some very special visitors from ITV. Watch out for us on the news! This afternoon we enjoyed the sunshine in our Outdoor Area. 

Happy Easter!

Sport Relief

We ran laps in the playground to help achieve our school target. We wanted to run the whole distance that William Shakespeare travelled when he first went to London.

We counted our laps using a tally. We did a LOT of laps! It was too many fives for us to count, so we went to visit Year 4. The children in Year 4 showed us how they count in fives. They counted the tally and said we did 261 laps! Then we showed Year 4 how we can count in tens to one hundred. Some of the Reception children are very keen to count in fives next. 

Shakespeare Week

"Shakespeare lived in the past." - Louis

"William Shakespeare died 400 years ago." - William R

"He is famous because he made lots of stories." - Tilly

"He didn't write stories for people to read because they didn't read so he made them plays." - Zack

"The actors did the plays." - Niamh

"We are learning about A Midsummer Night's Dream." - Ethan

"Titania is the queen of the fairies." - Lexi

"Puck is the naughty fairy." - Amelia

"Oberon is the king of the fairies." - Jake

"The little naughty fairy turned Bottom's head into a donkey head!" - Emily

Minibeast art

We have begun to explore ways of creating digital art. We used the computer to make pictures of the minibeasts we hope to find in the Active Learning Zone. Here is a link to the website we used: many of the children said they would like to do more of this at home. Please note that the activity is not tablet-friendly; it can only be done on a computer/laptop.

Minibeast hunt

We have been talking about the different creatures we might find in our new Active Learning Zone. We collected pictures of the different creatures and made an outdoor pictogram to show what we had found.

Snow!

We were excited to play out in the first real snow this year. Afterwards, we painted some snowy pictures. 

World Book Day

We've had a very exciting start to World Book Day! All the children stood up and told the class about their costumes. Then we had a parade, complete with music. Mrs Jameson and Mrs Slater clapped and cheered as the parade went past.

Goldilocks Group

Some of the children joined Mrs Warrington in the Resources Room. They read the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and made some porridge. Almost everyone ate the porridge. Zack said, "It was very nice!"

Gingerbread Group

Mrs Jameson's group read the story of The Gingerbread Man. Then they solved clues in rhyme to try and catch the Gingerbread Man. They didn't find the real Gingerbread Man, but they did find some gingerbread men decorate and eat. 

Snow White Group

Mrs Slater's group read the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Then they worked hard digging for precious jewels like the dwarves in the story. "We found some big ones and some little ones," said Hollie.

Red Riding Hood Group

This group went to Nursery and worked with Miss Leeman. They read the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood' and made some biscuits.

Beanstalk group

The Beanstalk group read the story of Jack and the Beanstalk with Miss Hurst. Then they planted some seeds. Annabel says they will grow into beanstalks. The children predict that their beanstalks will reach the sky!

Measuring

This week, the children in Oak Class have been very interested in building towers and finding out who is taller and shorter.

We decided to measure heights using the outdoor Lego. The children counted the bricks and recorded their heights.

Mr.Cutler very kindly came to visit so that we could investigate. Everyone added a brick to the tower and it still wasn't tall enough! We found out that Mr.Cutler is as tall as 33 giant Lego bricks.

The children all agreed that it would take fewer than 33 bricks to match Mrs.Jameson's height. 

There was a suggestion that Mrs.Jameson might be as tall as 20 bricks. Some of the children remembered that they had been as tall as 20 bricks and said that Mrs.Jameson was taller than them. Max guessed 26 bricks. We built a tower to find out...

Healthy Heart Day

The children in Oak class showed very good understanding when we talked about helping to keep our hearts healthy through exercise and healthy food choices. 

Flatbread

Some of the children made Native American style flatbreads with Mrs Warrington. They ate them with tomatoes and raw vegetables and everyone said they were delicious!

New Topic

Our new topic is Native Americans. We have a teepee in the role-play area and the children have wrapped themselves in (fake) furs to keep warm in the cold weather. Our key text has been "The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush" - a story about Little Gopher who painted the memories of his tribe and who wanted to paint with all the colours of the sky. We were blessed with stunning skies on Wednesday morning which inspired some amazing paintings. 

Role-play

Space week

We had such an exciting start to term that, in Reception, our Space Week became a Space Fortnight! We built a Space Station in our role-play area and learnt how to use a 'Contents' page to find what we wanted to know in information books.

The children enjoyed learning the names of the planets and even some of the constellations. 

Nativity

Thank you to everyone who supported the Nativity - by coming to watch, providing costumes and listening to all the hours of practice! The children thoroughly enjoyed their performances. Here are a few photos from the dress rehearsal.

Pantomime Trip

We had a fantastic time at Jack and the Beanstalk. The children behaved impeccably and were a credit to all.

Advent

We have been learning about this special time when we prepare for Christmas. We have been acting out a story called, "Is is Christmas yet?" and thinking about all the different things we are doing at home and school. 

Christmas Fayre

We have been busy preparing our class stall. The children thought up lots of names for the elf and made Christmas trees to decorate the table. We're very excited! Please come and help us to raise more money than any other class!

Anti-Bullying Week

Oak class talked about behaviours that affect others. In role-play activities, everyone practised asking a friend to stop doing something that they didn't like. The children showed a good understanding of the difference between occasional disagreements and bullying.

We discussed our Anti-Bullying Charter and everyone agreed that they will always tell a grown-up when someone is unkind or makes them feel sad. Well done, everyone!

Bird Feeders

This week we decided to make some gifts for the birds. We threaded cereal hoops onto pipe cleaners and twisted them into shapes. Then we hung them in our outside area. The children have been checking the bird feeders daily and counting the hoops to see how many have been eaten.

Remembrance

We joined in the Remembrance Assembly this morning. Afterwards, we looked at some pictures of poppy fields and the children created these beautiful paintings.

Christmas Gifts

This week, a very exciting letter arrived from a very special person! Father Christmas has asked the children of Barwick School to help him with a most important job. Oak Class are opening a Toy Factory in which we will design and make some new toys. The children have also said they would like to bake some tasty treats to give as gifts. So, this half-term, we will be Makers and Bakers!

Ambulance!

There were blue flashing lights outside school this morning, but fortunately there was no emergency! It was our visitor, Andy, who very kindly brought his ambulance because he had heard that Nursery and Reception were so interested in learning about real-life heroes. It was a very exciting morning, which inspired a great deal of role-play in our outdoor area! Thank you very much, Andy for bringing the ambulance to school. 

Special visitors

Oak Class would like to say a huge thank you to Warrant Officer Westmoreland and Firefighter Stuart Daly who visited us. All the children loved meeting these real-life heroes. Please see the Chestnut Class page for some great photos of the visits. 

Emergency!

As we came to the end of our 'Heroes' theme, the children really enjoyed dressing as real-life heroes and acting out their own scenarios. There were a lot of cats stuck up trees! 

Real-life Heroes

We have been thinking about real heroes and people who help us. The children were very good at recognising that they are helped every day by mums, dads, grandparents, brothers and sisters and adults in school. They also thought of lots of different professionals who help people. William R suggested that we use Google to find pictures of real-life heroes.

The Number Plate Challenge

This week we all did the number plate challenge. The children had to look at the numeral on each plate and find objects from around the classroom. The rules were that there could be more than one type of object on each plate, but the number of each object had to match the plate. The task involved recognising numerals, counting and teamwork. Some groups also showed excellent problem-solving skills when they checked their plates and had to adjust the number of objects. 

Autumn

We've been very interested in Autumn! The children have painted some beautiful pictures inspired by looking at the trees and talking about the changing colours. We have collected leaves, conkers and acorns for our Autumn Tray in the classroom.

Superhero Me!

Our theme this half-term is Superheroes. We have a Superhero Rescue Centre operating from our Role-Play Area and the children are kept very busy manning the phones and responding to emergencies!

We are also thinking about what makes us super. Here are some of our ideas:

A fantastic first week!

It has been a wonderful week in Oak Class! All our new children have delighted us with their happy and enthusiastic start at "big school". It has been lovely to see new friendships blossoming and to see how quickly the children are picking up our daily routines. The highlight of the week was making our debut appearance in the Achievement Assembly on Friday morning: I was the proudest teacher in the whole school, if not the world!