Foundation - Oak
Weekly class updates and activities to support learning at home can now be found on the Class Dojo page.
Optional Strike Day Activities 16.03.23
Optional Strike Day Activities 15.03.23
Snow day Activities - Friday, 10th March 2023
Optional Remote Activities 28.02.23
Week beginning: 30.1.23
Hello!
It has been a brilliant week focussing on our story called ‘Astro Girl’. We have looked at the first women who went into space and learnt about life inside a space station. We have been using vocabulary such as gravity, asteroid, experiments, explorer and hero! We have been using the primary colours to explore which other colours we can create.
We have also been finding ways to make 9 and practicing writing numbers 7 and 8. The children are doing brilliantly at recalling all the number pairs to make 5.
We have recapped our phonemes; ar, or, air oo. The children are doing really well with writing words and simple sentences. I am impressed!
Next week, we will be reading ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’. We will be looking out for acts of kindness in class as well as designing our own scarf, socks or tie!
Have a lovely weekend, Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 23.1.23
Hello!
It has been a fantastic ‘World Week’! We began the week looking at our address and where Barwick is on the map; the city we live in and England. The children drew maps of Barwick and we made some amazing transport! We discussed old and new transport too. On Tuesday, we had a brilliant afternoon learning all about Sudan. The children loved hearing about life in Sudan. They learned about their clothes, the animals and how they cook meals. The children asked some excellent questions too. We have set up a ‘Travel Agents’ and booked many amazing holidays and made our own passports. We continued yoga in PE, learning the seating pose. We also continued having fun in Forest school, making clay creatures, painting and building transport!
We have recapped our phonemes; ow (snow), oo (zoo) and oo (book). The children are doing brilliantly sound talking and blending words with ‘special friends’ in. They have also done fantastically at recalling number facts to 5 and learning the composition of 8.
Next week, we will be reading ‘Astro Girl’.
Have a lovely weekend, Miss Hipkiss
Hello!
This week we have focused on one of my favourite books, ‘Once upon a Snowstorm’. The children discussed the story really well and loved all the characters within it. We have recapped our phonemes; ay, ee and igh. The children are doing brilliantly sound talking and blending words with ‘special friends’ in. They have also done fantastically at recalling number facts to 5 and learning the composition of 7.
We researched the artist, Jackson Pollock and had a go at painting like him! In RE, we learned about the story of Jesus healing the lame man. We have had lots of fun outside and the children have loved discovering al the ice! We had a fun time in Forest school, making clay creatures, painting and building all sorts of transport!
Next week, will be world week! We will begin by looking at maps of Barwick, Leeds and then looking at other countries, noticing the similarities and differences of families around the world.
Have a lovely weekend, Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 9.1.23
Hello!
We have had a busy and fun week! We have finished learning all our set 2 sounds. I will assess the children next week and let you know which sounds to focus on at home please. We will also recap these in school to ensure children can read them speedily and within words. We have been looking at the composition of six and they have done brilliantly; finding ways to make six using loose parts and egg boxes!
On Wednesday, we had our first yoga lesson. The children were amazing! We retold the Gruffalo’s child story and the children wrote some excellent Gruffalo pie recipes! I am really impressed with their writing.
Next week, we are going to read a beautiful book, called The Snowstorm and paint like Jackson Pollock!
Once again, I am on the lookout for more resources for Reception! If you have or know anyone who has any of the following, I would be really grateful;
- Balance bikes
- Pedal bikes
- Skateboards
- Wheelbarrows
- Woodwork bench
- Large tunnel (for outside)
- Tennis balls, ping pong balls, marbles, footballs
- Calendar 2023
Thank you for your help!
Have a lovely weekend, Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 2.1.23
Hello!
It has been fantastic to see all the children back. It sounds like you’ve had a brilliant Christmas, they’ve enjoyed telling me all about their favourite toys!
We have had a great two days. We have been busy getting back into recapping our phonemes, our number pairs to 5 with the subtraction facts, as well as reading our story, ‘Guess how much I love you in winter.’ We wrote a letter to Miss Mason asking if we could come and see Peter, the rabbit. We had fun researching about rabbits and enjoyed playing with Peter too!
Next week, we will learn three new phonemes: ir (stir), ou (out), oy (toy). Please keep going over the phonemes, especially the digraphs/special friends (sh, th, ch, qu, ng, nk, ay, ee, igh, ow, oo, oo, ar, or, ow). We will focus on the number 6, understanding the composition of 6. In RE, we will read some stories about the miracles of Jesus. Our book of the week, we will ‘Gruffalo’s child’.
Have a lovely weekend, Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 12.12.22
Hello!
We have had a really fun Christmas week! Amongst all the activities, we have still learned three new sounds, which have been ar, or and air. If you would like your child to watch the review lesson, please use the link here:
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/i2YuWYAQ/79ezpFwQ
We had a brilliant Monday with our ‘Christmas carousel’, it was hard to not eat those edible snowmen! Tuesday’s Elf day was fantastic outside and we got to warm up with hot chocolate after! I was impressed with all the talent at 'Barwick's Got Talent'! The children who performed were amazing and so confident! We had fun when Messy Church came to visit and we all made a Christingle and a clay pot. Thank you so much for your generosity with contributing to the party food. We had an excellent time dancing and enjoyed the treats after!
I have had a brilliant first term teaching here and I am really thrilled with all the progress every child has made. Thank you for all your support and hard work at home. Thank you so much for our lovely cards and gifts, it is really kind of you and we’re very grateful.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all! Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 5.12.22
Hello!
We have had a fantastic reading about the Christmas story and filming the final parts of our Nativity! We have learned three new sounds this week which have been ow (snow), oo (zoo) and oo (book). If you would like your child to watch the review lesson, please click on the link here:
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/4CrNLvfl/8lBMgtY2
We have been practicing recalling number bonds to 5 and beginning to know the subtraction facts too. We have continued our ‘word of the day’ and learned new vocabulary like pursuit, gasped and starlit.
We are very excited for all our Christmas activities next week, including our ‘Christmas carousel’ where the children will enjoy going to each classroom to complete an activity, Tuesday’s Elf day, Wednesday will be 'Barwick's Got Talent'! I have asked the children if anyone would like to take part and given them examples (i.e. singing, dancing, telling jokes, gymnastics etc.). They are very keen! If your child would like to perform, would you mind helping them put something together? It doesn't have to be long! Also it's fine if they don't want to! We will also make Christingles and of course our class party on Thursday afternoon!
Have a lovely weekend, Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 28.11.22
Hello!
His week started with decorating the classroom! The children were really excited to get the tinsel out and put our tree up! We have made our home corner cosy and shared hot chocolate around the ‘fireplace’. This week, our focus has been on our advent recipe book. We’ve shared about what a recipe book is and the layout then followed a recipe to make salt dough which we turned into Christmas tree decorations. We’ve also been learning about weight and the number bonds to 10. We have started our ‘word of the day’ and learned new vocabulary like gazed, unusual and dozed. We have had fun learning about the artic. We did a skittles experiment when leaning about the last part of our Noah’s Ark story when God sent a rainbow.
Just a reminder to keep hearing your child read and writing in the diary once you have heard them read. If you would like to review the sounds taught this week, your child can watch this video:
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/XNLFB8uS/CgA7ewdg
Next week, our digraphs will be; ow (snow), oo (zoo), oo (look). We will also focus on knowing number facts to 5, the aim being the children will be able to recall number facts to 5 and the subtraction facts, e.g., 3+2=5 and 5-2=3. If you can, please play any games with 5 objects and finding ways to split them in two groups. Another game could be hiding 5 objects under a cloth then taking 2 away and asking how many would be left. This would really help them learn these facts. Thank you.
Have a lovely weekend, Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 21.11.22
Hello!
This week has flown by! We have enjoyed looking out for signs of winter which has been linked to our book of the week, ‘Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter.’ We have learned new vocabulary like muffle and shiver. We have had fun finding ice outside now the weather is much colder. We have also persevered playing outside games with quoits and beanbags! We have been learning the composition of 9, knowing which two numbers make 9. Amazing arks have been built for Noah and his animals! We have had a lovely morning drinking hot chocolate in Forest school to warm us up before going on a hunt for pine needles, holy and berries ready for Advent next week!
The children are making amazing progress with their reading! Thank you for hearing them read. Books will be changed every Monday. On Monday, we will start Set 2 sounds. These are digraphs (Special Friends). We will learn 3 sounds a week. Next week’s will be, ay (play), ee (green), igh (light).
We are also preparing for our Nativity! The children have been told their parts today and we are excited to get filming in the next couple of weeks!
Thank you so much for all the donations you have given in, I really appreciate it!
Have a lovely weekend, Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 14.11.22
Hello!
We have had a fun week this week with our book of the week, ‘Leaf Man’. We have learned new vocabulary like gliding and drifting. The children have made our own leaf man pictures. In RE, the children made a raft and tested it out in the water! They have loved making their own ark for Noah and the animals! We have also been leaning the composition of 8, knowing which two numbers make 8. In PE, we have been practicing finding a space and played Duck, duck, goose, which the children loved! Please keep helping your child to get dressed themselves as this is part of our Early Learning Goals. This not only builds independence but perseverance which enables them to tackle things they find difficult in all areas. Next week, we will be reading the story, ‘Goodbye Autumn, hello winter’. We will be reading fact books about winter, the artic and creating some of own science experiments!
As mentioned before, your child will receive a new book which will either come in a black and white booklet or a laminated card. These contain sentences. These books now need to be read at least 4 times to gain fluency (i.e., eventually they don’t need to sound out each letter). We will now only change reading books on a Monday. Please continue to hear your child read their book and sign the diary each day. Thank you.
Thank you to everyone for supporting us in raising money for our Forest school activities. You will receive your order on Monday!
Have a lovely weekend, Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 7.11.22
Hello!
We have had a really enjoyable week learning all about Diwali! The children have loved making Diya lamps, having mehndi patterns with henna on their hands, creating rangoli patterns outside with powder paint and learning all about this celebration! We have talked a lot about how Hindu’s celebrate this festival and the food that is eaten. If you are able to go to an Indian sweet shop or eat any Indian food and discuss this celebration that would be wonderful. Thank you. We have also been leaning the composition of 7, knowing which two numbers make 7. In PE, we have been practicing our hopping, skipping and jumping skills! We have been creating a human 3 step repeating pattern! Next week, we will be reading the story, ‘Leaf Man’.
We will change reading books on a Monday and Friday each week (if they have read 4 times). Please continue to hear your child read their book and sign the diary each day. Thank you.
Just a reminder, we will be holding a bake sale to raise some money for all Forest School activities we do. Please do fill out the form and return by next Friday. Thank you.
Have a lovely weekend, Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 31.10.22
Hello!
We have had a great first week back after half term! Thank you for all the boxes and egg boxes! We have been learning all about Bonfire night and why we celebrate it. We have been creating firework pictures, a poster about firework safety and we have spoken to the children in Nursery to help keep them safe on Bonfire night. We have also been leaning the composition of 6, knowing which two numbers make 6. We have also lit our own fire to toast marshmallows!
This half term, we are learning about the story of Noah’s Ark in RE. Next week, we will be learning all about Diwali, including having our hands decorated with Henna. If you do not want your child to take part then please let me know. Thank you.
We will change reading books on a Monday and Friday each week (if they have read 4 times). Please continue to hear your child read their book and sign the diary each day. Thank you.
We will be holding a bake sale- please check your child’s book bag on Monday for a letter with the details. Thank you!
Have a lovely weekend, Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 17.10.22
Hello!
We have had a fabulous final week of our first half term! Thank you for all you have been doing at home with your children; hearing them read, encouraging them to write their letters and helping them to become more independent through learning to zip up their coat!
We have been focusing on Harvest this week and learning what Harvest is. We have been drawing some unusual looking pumpkins, developing our fine motor skills and progressing really well with catching and throwing a beanbag in PE!
Please continue to hear your child read their sound blending book and practice letter formation.
If you have any egg boxes or large cardboard boxes, then would you mind collecting them and bringing them in on the first day back? Thank you!
I hope you have wonderful half term, whatever you are doing and I look forward to seeing you back on 31st!
Take care, Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 10.10.22
Hello!
We have had a brilliant week this week. Our huge thanks to PC Silkstone for coming to talk to us! The children absolutely loved having a visit from two police officers. They asked some great questions, they got to understand what Police officers have to wear and had a turn at sitting in the back of a police van. I loved it too!
We have been focusing on the story, ‘Pumpkin Soup.’ We have been learning to make our own ‘soup’ and write a recipe. We have been learning our 2D shapes and making them using the geoboard. We have been learning the next phonemes. Thank you for hearing them read each evening. It has been wonderful to see their progress in being able to sound talk and blend the words. They are doing fantastically! We have also been learning the composition of number five, knowing that 3+2=5 but also 5-1=4. We had a great PE lesson and the children’s throwing and catching skills using a beanbag have really impressed me!
Our class target is to be able to zip our coats up independently. Many children are doing well and building up their fine motor skills and perseverance! Please continue to help your child at home to zip up their own coat if they cannot already. Thank you.
Next week, we will be reviewing some of our phonemes, focusing on making words independently either by writing or using magnetic letters. We will also focus on making a repeating a pattern and creating a more complex pattern independently (I.e. ABABABA and then ABCABCABC). We will also focus on Harvest next week as well as visiting church for our harvest festival.
Have a lovely weekend! Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 3.10.22
Hello!
We have had a great week this week. It seems to have flown by! We have been focusing on the story, ‘A squash and a squeeze.’ We have been learning to match up rhyming objects, we have made autumn faces and we have had races to see how many pasta shells we can thread onto the string! We have been learning the next phonemes. Thank you again for helping them with their writing each evening. We are sending a reading book home today. Please have a read of the letter which will be in their book bag. Any questions, please do speak to me. We have also been learning the composition of number four, knowing that 3+1=4 but also 4-1=3. The children loved going to Messy Church. They learnt about Harvest and had a wonderful time with all the crafts!
Our class target is to be able to zip our coats up independently. Many children are doing well and building up their fine motor skills and perseverance! Please continue to help your child at home to zip up their own coat if they cannot already. Thank you.
Next week, we will be focusing on the composition of five, knowing what two numbers can make five as well as subtraction. We will also look at how we can represent five (dots on a dice, tally etc.). We will be hearing the children read in the week, so please bring their reading books back each day and please sign and date once you’ve heard your child read. Many thanks!
Have a lovely weekend! Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 26.9.22
Hello!
We have had a fantastic week this week! We have been focusing on our Autumn fact book, learning about what a non-fiction book is. We have been digging in jelly to find all the autumnal objects and making our own Autumn Fact book! We have been learning the next phonemes. Thank you for all your support with their writing each evening. We have been learning the composition of number three, knowing that 2+1=3 but also 3-1=2. In RE, we have been leaning about God’s creation and the story of Creation. We have been playing in green water and making star pictures! We have had a great time in Forest School, doing den building, large art and a woodland walk.
Our class target is to be able to zip our coats up independently. Many children are doing well and building up their fine motor skills and perseverance! Please continue to help your child at home to zip up their own coat if they cannot already. Thank you.
Next week, we are excited to learn the next set of phonemes. We will be focusing on the composition of four, knowing what two numbers can make four as well as subtraction. We will also look at how we can represent four (dots on a dice, tally etc.). We will also be creating some repeating patterns and encouraging the children to create their own.
We have Messy church on Tuesday and school photographs on Thursday. Thank you for all your support, the children are doing brilliantly!
Have a lovely weekend! Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 19.9.22
Hello!
We have had a wonderful week retelling ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ story. We had the grass, river, mud and snowstorm in ice! The children have drawn the different parts of the story too. We had our first PE lesson and loved playing games and developing our ball skills. We have also been learning how to make playdough. We had a brilliant forest school session, collecting sticks ready for our fire in a few weeks’ time, as well as the mud kitchen and den building!
We have been learning our sounds: t, i and n. Thank you for the brilliant letter formation in their green books. This is fantastic!
Next week, we will be focussing on Autumn and looking for signs of Autumn. If you would like to bring anything in which you have collected on any walks, we would be really grateful. We will be seeing what we can find in our Autumn jelly and creating a non-fiction book all about Autumn.
Have a lovely weekend! Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning 12.9.22
Hello!
We have had a brilliant first full week in Reception! It has been lovely to see how well the children have settled in.
We have started our Phonics lessons this week. We have been learning m, a, s and d. We’ve been practicing writing those letters using the correct pencil grip (nip, flip and grip!) and correct formation.
We had great start to the week, with our Roald Dahl day, making chocolate crispy buns! We have been outside in our Mud Kitchen, planting bulbs and making a fire pit in Forest School. We’ve really enjoyed painting and mixing colours, as well as making and designing marble runs!
Next week, we will focus on the story, ‘We are going on a Bear Hunt’. We will retell the story using props and drawing or writing the story. We will also begin learning how to make playdough. We will look at our Artist of the Week, Andy Goldsworthy and see if we can recreate some of his artwork.
I hope you have a lovely weekend and I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!
Miss Hipkiss
Week beginning: 5.9.22
Hello!
We have had a fantastic first week in Reception! I have been really impressed with how quickly the children have settled into school life.
This week, we have enjoyed having lunch in the dining hall with our friends. We have enjoyed exploring the activities in the classroom. The children have loved playing in the sand and water trays as well as in the home corner washing up and making amazing meals!
Next week, I am excited to start our phonics lessons. I will be emailing you information, which I hope you find useful, over the next few weeks.
Next week, we will be reading some Autumn poems and beginning to learn about our next season, Autumn. If you would like to, then please do bring in any interesting autumnal leaves, conkers etc. that you find in the woods or on any walks.
If you can bring in a pair of wellies which can be left at school, that would be brilliant. Thank you.
Have a lovely weekend and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday! Miss Hipkiss
