R.E. 
This half term we are learning about special places. We have been visited by Reverend Alison this week who has helped us to explore the features of a church and what her role in the church is and how churches have a special meaning to Christians as a place of worship.

Our Ducklings! 

Hello from Waddle, Quackers, Bluey and Paddle! The children are having so much fun taking care of them. They love to watch them run around when in the water... they go so quickly! They have all had a little hold and were very gentle recognising that they are very delicate. 

Rockstar Day

Today we came to school dressed as Rockstars to rock out with Rock Kidz who were teaching us the importance of antibullying. We had such a fantastic day singing and dancing!

Design and Technology

This week in DT Year 1 have been perfecting their food preparation skills. Their task was to create a healthy portable snack. Together they looked at a range of portable snacks and what their key features were. They decided they were going to make their own wraps! They needed to use skills such as grating, peeling, spreading, folding, bridge hold and fork secure. Each child LOVED their wrap and struggled to think about something they didn't like about it when evaluating it. Well done Year 1, I am really proud of you all for trying something new!

Welcome back 

Welcome back to the Summer term! I hope you have all had a lovely Easter holiday despite the rainy weather. This half term our overarching topic is All Things Spring. We are starting off our week with some very special creatures... ducklings! We hope to see them hatch over the next few days so we can begin to care for them in their cage... how exciting! Year 1 are going to be learning about plants in Science and weather and climate in Geography. This half term one of our History lessons is going to be all about the moon landing... how exciting! I hope you are all feeling refreshed and are looking forward to the next few weeks!

RE

Reception are learning all about Holy Week this half term. This week we have been learning about Good Friday by exploring hot cross buns thinking about why many Christians eat and enjoy them at this time of year and enjoyed tasting them for ourselves! We’ve also enjoyed being creative finger painting crosses, creating our own hot cross buns out of play dough and creating Jesus’ tomb using different objects.

Greek Culture Day

Today we have been celebrating Greek Culture. We had a talk from 2 children in our school who told us all about their family traditions and taught us lots of new things. When back in class, we decided to continue our learning by making sculptures of Greek Gods.

Rochdale Fireground Museum Trip

What a fantastic trip we had to the fireground! We learnt all about the history of the fire service and looked at the different machinery that was invented to put out a fires many years ago. We learnt about the Great Fire of London and had lots of fun sliding down the fire pole! We also took it in turns to drive an interactive fire engine, dress up as a fire fighter and explore a modern day fire engine. We all had so much fun! 

Lunar New Year

This week in Reception we have been learning all about the Lunar New Year. We were lucky enough to be joined by Loretta from Manchester Diocese who was able to teach us all about the Lunar New Year as she was born in Hong Kong. She told us that this year is the year of the dragon 🐉 and we listened to the story of The Great Race. We then painted pictures of mandarins as a sign of good luck and created our own dragon masks. In the afternoon we tasted some sweets and treats and ended the day with a dragon dance!

Art

In Year 1 we have been learning about sculpture in Art. We have been looking at the sculptures by Jaume Plensa and have explored the techniques he used. We created our own 2D sculptures where we used a range of resources for printing into salt dough. 

RE

Year 1 have been enjoying learning about Judaism this half term, they have been understanding the importance of Shabbat linking this day to the Jewish belief that God created the world in 7 days and is a time for rest, giving thanks, remembrance and praise. This week we experienced some of the rituals at the start and end of Shabbat thinking about what a Jewish child might think and feel during this time. They enjoyed lighting candles to show the start of Shabbat, tasting grape juice and challah bread as well as recreating the end of Shabbat by lighting a havdalah candle and smelling sweet spices. 

Design and Technology

This week we have been exploring how to improve the strength of a structure. For a structure to be strong it needs to be rigid. We explored that some materials like paper are not very rigid however, it is possible to make it more rigid by folding, rolling or joining it together. We folded strips of paper into triangles and then built a tower with them, rolled sheets of paper into tubes and joined them together and we also glued sheets of paper together. We found that the paper was much more difficult to rip, bend and twist.

Homework

Wow I am so impressed with the homework I have received already this half-term! Reception have been making rockets for our Ticket to Ride topic as one of their homework challenges and Year 1 have been representing 10s and 1s in 2 digit numbers for their Maths challenge and choosing a human or physical feature from a UK capital city to research. Keep it up Explorers! 

RE

In R.E. This half term reception children are exploring why the ‘God’ is so important to Christians, we have been exploring the story of creation in lots of different ways. 
Year 1 have shown lots of interest in learning who is Jewish and how do they live. We have been exploring different Jewish artefacts, why they are important and what they reveal about Jewish belief.

Kapla Clubs UK

This week we had a fantastic workshop in school called Kapla Clubs! Jennifer from Kapla came to show us how to build some brilliant structures and each class did their own part each. In Explorers, we build houses and a river. Have a look at the photos below of us hard at work! 

Floating and sinking in EYFS 

Today we were exploring floating and sinking. We discussed what it meant when something might float or sink and the children told me something is floating when it sits on the top of the water and it sinks when it drops to the bottom. We made predictions of what would float or sink and picked what we thought would make the best boat to carry our toy princess over the water. The children chose the tin foil boat to carry Ariel and said it was the biggest but lightest item that would be able to hold her.

Welcome back Explorers! I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and you are looking forward to the term ahead. This half-term, our EYFS topic is 'Ticket To Ride'. Can you guess what we are going to be learning about? 

In Year 1 we will be learning about Materials in Science, UK Capital Cities in Geography, well known events in History such as The Great Fire of London and the Gunpowder Plot, Georgia O'Keeffe in Art and so much more! Keep an eye out for what we get up to on our blog 

Science 

This week in Science we have been learning about our sense of smell. We had food items in pots and had to smell them to guess what was inside. We worked together to describe what we could smell and then at the end we were shown photographs of what was inside. We then had to match the photo to the pot… We all have a brilliant sense of smell as our predictions were all correct! 

Oral Health Talk 

This week we had a visit from our school nurses who came to teach us all about how to take care of our teeth. We learnt that we need to brush our teeth twice a day (after breakfast and before we go to bed) and that we must brush for 2 minutes in circular motions from back to front. We also sorted foods into baskets that are good and bad for our teeth.

Story Dough 

This half-term Reception started their story dough journey. Story dough is all about strengthening fine motor muscles, imagination and connection. The children have been learning lots of new vocabulary and using their imagination to create their own characters ⭐️ Have a look below at their brilliant creations! 

Balance Ability 

Reception are really improving their balance on the balance bikes! They are growing in confidence with free gliding and are beginning to manoeuvre with speed and control.

PE

Over the next few weeks, Year 1 will be learning circus skills in PE with Mrs King-Wilson. Watch this space!

Autumn Walk

Reception have been on an Autumn walk around our school grounds. They used their senses to think about what they could hear, feel and see.

Design and Technology 

During this weeks lesson, Year 1 were learning about the design process and put this into practice. They had think about their ideas of how to build a castle, make it, break it to improve it and repeat the process again just like designers do! 

Maths 
 

Reception children have been learning about repeated patterns. Look at our gorgeous patterns using Autumnal objects 🍁

Understanding the world 

This week we have been learning all about bonfire night and the traditions that we follow. We talked about watching colourful, noisy fireworks and safety around bonfires. The children discussed the foods we like to eat on bonfire night, particularly toffee apples, warm stew and hot chocolate. We also talked about the smells of a fire and why it is important to not stand too close. The children then made their own firework pictures by drizzling pva glue on black paper and then sprinkling glitter.

Computing 

This week in Computing Year 1 have been developing their mouse skills to draw and edit shapes.

Science 

Over the past few weeks we have been exploring our senses. For this lesson, we were exploring our sense of taste. The children tasted 5 different foods that were described as sweet, sour, salty, savoury and bitter and then ordered the foods from their favourite to least favourite. 

RE

Reception are exploring the theme of belonging this half term, this week we have explored belonging within our families, friends, clubs and religious groups. Each week Tom brings a special chatterbox for us to explore, this week he brought some items special to him as a Christian and how wearing a cross helps him to feel belonging as a Christian. He brought some other symbols for us to explore that are important to Muslims and Hindus and we enjoyed being creative with these symbols.

Maths

This week in Maths Reception have been matching, sorting and comparing. They have been creating sets within the provision and worked with a partner to create matching sets of buttons 

Maths 

Year 1 have been practicing to count backwards from any number with 10. They worked in pairs to race each other to count backwards on a number track making either 1,2 or 3 jumps. 

Continuous Provision 

During provision Reception have been working hard to develop their fine motor skills. Have a look at some of the activities we have been doing!

History 

This week in Year 1 we have been learning about William Shakespeare. We learnt about who he is and what he is known for. We used the internet to look at a 3D virtual tour of The Globe Theatre and watched some clips on YouTube to show us some snippets of some of his plays. We worked together to create a model of The Globe with the blocks.   

Geography

Year 1 have been learning all about the world in Geography. They learnt the different ways the world can be viewed for example atlases, satellite images, maps and a globe. They then learnt about the directions North, East, South, West and labelled the Earths axis, poles and hemispheres 

PE

Reception have completed their first week of balance ability! They practiced how to control their bikes using 2 hands and lifting it safely from the floor to be able to ride it.

Colour mixing

Reception children have been learning all about colour. They explored mixing primary colours together using coloured water and pipettes. They had lots of fun observing the colours they had made 🎨

Science

Over the next few weeks Year 1 are going to be learning all about the Human body! In this lesson, they were looking at naming and identifying basic body parts. After a game of ‘Miss. Callaghan says…’ (which they were extremely good at!) they used labels and stuck them on to their partner and then swapped over. It as lots of fun! 

Welcome Explorers!

Welcome to Reception to our new children and welcome back to school to our new Year 1 children! It has been wonderful to see some new faces and get to know you all and also to see how much some of you have grown! We have had a busy week getting to know each other and exploring our new classroom. We have enjoyed playing with our buddies and learning the classroom rules and routines. I am hopeful that we are going to have lots of fun this year and I look forward to teaching you lots of new things 

Thank you to our secret readers who have been in to read us a story. The children love the surprise to see who it will be! ⭐️

R.E. 

Reception have been exploring Islamic artefacts; special clothing, the Qur’an, rehal which is a special stand for the Holy Book, a Mecca compass, prayer mat and prayer beads. We have enjoyed looking at pictures of different Muslims, how they dress and exploring why they may choose to dress this way. We have shown lots of respect towards these special items and created our own prayer mats to remind us of how they worship. 
Year one have been learning about where and who founded Islam, the belief in one God and the special name used; Allah. We have looked at maps and completed a jigsaw to identify Saudi Arabia, learnt about the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who is seen as the founder of Islam and some other special messengers sent by Allah. 

Reception R.E.

We have been investigating why Easter time is so special for Christians, this week Tom brought his chatterbox for us to investigate hot cross buns and a picture of a tomb. We were able to talk about why The cross is an important symbol and how Jesus sacrificed himself but then 3 days later he had risen! We created our own hot cross buns with play dough, used story sequencing props to explain the story then created our own storyboards of this important story. 

This week when we returned to school the children noticed some strange things had happened outside! There were scratch marks, fires and footprints! We stayed close together and went out to investigate. Then on our stage we found some very strange looking eggs. The children wondered where they may have come from… lots of them thought they were dragon eggs! Watch this space to find out what happens…

Receptions topic this half term is Fire, Turrets and Crowns. To begin our topic we looked at different types of castles and thought about who might live there. The children then worked together to build their own castle and put the people inside talking about the important jobs they do.

This half-term in Art one of our topics is The Beauty of Flowers. This week year 1 have been focusing on textile skills. They were practicing how to weave with paper remembering to go in and out, over and under and the name with a needle and thread. They showed great perseverance! 

R.E. - Year 1

We are investigating the key question ‘Why does Easter matter to Christians?’. To help us understand the Easter story we have acted out the events of Holy Week and thought about how each of the different parts of the story made us feel and why they are important to Christians.

Music - Year 1

This half term we are learning all about musical genre of Latin Bossa Nova. We have begun to learn a song ‘Round and round’, we have worked together to create actions to the lyrics to help us remember them and to help us create an exciting performance. We have been using musical vocabulary to appraise music so please ask us to show you actions to help us remember and describe tempo and dynamics when listening to music at home.

Year 1 are learning about Materials in Science this half-term. They have been recognising the materials objects around our classroom are made of. Have a look at what they have said on the photographs below!

In Maths, Reception have been learning all about numbers 1-5. This week they have been learning what 5 is made of. They used the aliens in space to help them to work it out 

Our topic in Reception this half term is ticket to ride. We are learning all about different types of transport. We read the story You Choose and looked at the transport page. We took it in turns to choose our favourite type of transport and discussed whether it travelled in the sky, sea, on the road or on a track. We then went into provision to build our favourite transport type and label the key features 

This week in Art Year 1 have been learning about Dreams and Nightmares. Together we looked at the dream sculpture which was created by Jaume Plensa and discussed what we could see. We talked about the features and how they had been created. The children then worked in pairs to create a replica of the Dream Sculpture using clay. They worked really hard with their creations and I think they are fantastic! Great job Year 1!

Reception children will be learning about our school values this half term in RE. This week we have looked at resilience. We read a story about a young inventor ‘Rosie Revere Engineer’, this story helped us to understand that resilience means to keep trying even when it can be difficult. We practiced showing resilience whilst making our own inventions, trying to solve any problems and not giving up.

Year 1 have been learning about the parable ‘the prodigal son’, to help us really understand the story we have sequenced the story, used stick puppets to act out the story, thought about the feelings experienced by the characters as well as investigating the theme of forgiveness by thinking about the importance of saying sorry and forgiving those who say sorry to us. We created sorry cards and compassion hearts thinking about how we can show love to others.

To begin our new Science topic for the Spring term, Year 1 have been learning all about materials. Today we went on a hunt around our school grounds to see what different materials we could find.

Look at the beautiful poppies Reception have been making in provision ready for Remembrance Day 

This week in Reception we have been learning all about Diwali ⭐️ We read the story of Rama and Sita and made our own diyas. We asked the children what they could remember about the story. 
Corey: They showed them the way home with diwa lamps

Betsy: The bad man got the man arms and the girl couldn’t get away from. They were so happy when she came back they made diya lamps

Estelle: They have the lights on because of the dark. 
Sophia: The man stole the girl the boy hurt him and he got her back. He had help from his brother

In Reception we have been learning all about road safety. We learnt the rules of Stop, Look, Listen, Think and talked about why this is important. We went in the hall and made our own roads and some of us pretended to be driving cars and buses. We put our rules into practice and made sure we stopped, looked, listened and thought before we crossed over. 

Year 1 have been using collage techniques to create their own jungles! They are fantastic! 

As we have been learning about patterns in Reception, we decided to make our very own fruit kebab AB patterns! They tasted just as good as they looked. 🍓🍌🍏

Reception have been very busy this half term in R.E. trying to understand our key question; why is the word God so important to Christians? We have a very special visitor called Tom who is a Christian and comes to visit us each week with his special chatterbox filled with exciting objects for us to explore. We have seen how Christians believe God made the world in 7 days, Tom told us he loves jelly fish and jelly and challenged us to see if we could make jellyfish out of jelly like God! We had lots of fun with this activity and creating our own jellyfish collage pictures. We have been busy thinking about why Harvest time is special for Christians and why we need to say thank you to God for all he provides, we have listened to a lovely story all about harvest called a wet and windy harvest for Puddles. We thought about our own preparations in school for harvest and explored all the nature God provides in school to create a harvest wreath and practiced a special song to celebrate and say thank you to God. 

Reception have been learning about more, fewer and same in Maths. They all had a bowl of objects and had to place the objects on to their 5 frames trying to say one number for each object. The children then compared their 5 frame to their partners and said who had the more or fewer objects. 

Reception have been looking at photographs of themselves as babies. First they began by trying to identify who was who. Together we talked about how we have changed and what we can do now that we couldn’t as babies. We created a timeline with our baby pictures in the past and us now. We then thought about what things can’t we do now that we might be able to do in the future ⭐️☺️

Year 1 have been learning about William Shakespeare in History! They worked together to build a model of his theatre ‘The Globe’. We talked about it being called the globe because if it’s shape and what plays you might watch here! 

In Science, Year 1 have wondering who has the biggest feet! They worked with a partner and made observations and predictions of who they thought had the bigger feet. They suggested the tallest person would have the biggest feet or the person who is older. We then drew around our feet and measured them with the cubes to see who’s were bigger! 

We have been reading The Day The Crayons Quit. Year 1 chose their favourite crayon from the story and wrote from the perspective of them thinking about how they are feeling.

This week in Music Reception have been learning the Nursery Rhyme ‘One Finger, One Thumb’. They worked hard to remember the actions to sing along too! 

This week Reception have been learning about themselves and their families. We looked at pictures and identified which ones belonged to us! The children then shared with their friends which members of their family were on the photographs. We then had a circle time for all the children to share and listen together about how all our families are different 

We love to play and explore!

This week in Maths Reception are learning all about matching and sorting. We read the story Monkey Puzzle and discussed why each of the mummy’s couldn’t have been Monkeys mum. We then looked at the compare bears and found a matching pair making sure everything was the same from their size and colour! We then looked if there was anything the same about ourselves and our partners. Here we are pointing to things we have that are the same

During Geography this week we were learning about the United Kingdom. We learnt there are 4 countries in the United Kingdom and located them on the map 

This week in Maths year 1 have been learning to count on from any number within 10. They had to roll the dice to get their starting number and then continue the counting sequence 

On Friday Reception took part in their very first bikeability session! They learnt how to stay safe when manoeuvring their bikes and listened carefully to the instructions  

Year 1 had their very first Geography lesson this week! Together we talked about the things we might learn whilst we’re being Geographers this year. We started off with looking at the different ways we can look at Earth. We found out we can use maps, a globe, atlas and even satellite images! We then talked about the different directions we could go in to travel around the Earth. The children remembered the directions by remembering the mnemonic ‘Naughty Elephants Spray Water.’ They then created their own compasses and labelled them correctly. Finally we looked at the globe learnt that Earth has an axis which helps it to spin around and that’s how we have night and day! We also learnt about the equator and the closer the country the hotter it is! 
 

Reception have been enjoying exploring their new classroom over the past few days! Have a look at what they have been up too ☺️

Hello Explorers! 

I hope you have all had an amazing Summer holiday and have been excited about starting/returning to school. I am looking forward to getting to know our new Reception children and seeing how much the Year 1 children have grown! I have been busy over the past few days getting our classroom ready for you all and planning many exciting activities for our first few days back. I can’t wait to see your brains grow throughout the year and show me how amazing you all are. This year I want you to work hard on your growth mind-set! Some things might be challenging but I want you to remember to never give up; the more you practise, the better you will become! 

Have a look at the video and pictures below for a preview of our classroom! 
I am really looking forward to the year ahead.

Miss. Callaghan

EYFS & KS1 had a fantastic beach day. We had lots of fun playing in the pool and enjoyed eating our fruit ice lollies we made yesterday!

In Art Year 1 were looking at the Dreams Sculpture by James Plensa. They then thought about what their dreams were for the future and created their own sculptures with the clay to represent their dreams. 

Reception love getting busy with their friends in provision. Have a look below at what we have been up too!

Welcome back to another new term Explorers! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families. We are going to be busy growing our brains again this half term and learning lots of new and wonderful things. Our school value this half term is Perseverance. Can you try to persevere with things you may find tricky? Remember we say I can’t do it… yet! You will find your homework grids and weekly spellings (Year 1) on Tapestry. Remember to keep reading your books and commenting on GoRead… it would be great to see some book reviews this half term too! Keep checking back to see what we are up to in class over the next few weeks ☺️

Year 1 have been creating Jungle Art inspired by Henri Rousseau 

Look at the gorgeous poppies Reception have been creating using loose parts on the light box this week for Remembrance Day ❤️

In RE Miss. Ireland taught us all about Diwali. We learnt who it is celebrated by, when and why. Here are some photographs of Year 1 creating their own henna designs.⭐️

In Design and Technology this week Year 1 were learning about different structures; Shell, Frame and Solid. They were set a challenge to go and look around the classroom for different objects which would fit into the categories. Look at all the things that they found! ⭐️

This week Reception are reading the story Owl Babies and have been learning how to recognise and compare numbers 1, 2 and 3 ⭐️

Welcome back to another fun-filled half term! I hope you all enjoyed a well deserved break. We are going to be very busy over the next few weeks preparing for our Nativity and taking part in lots of Christmas activities around school. Keep checking back to see what we are up to in class ☺️ 

In Computing Year 1 have been learning to name the different parts of a computer and laptop. They played a game to practice using the trackpad

Reception are really enjoying the brand new climbing wall in our outdoor area ☺️

In Science we have been learning all about our bodies. Today we were exploring our five senses. We went on a senses walk around our school to discover what we could see, touch, smell, taste and hear.

In Geography Year 1 have been looking at maps and direction. One of their challenges in provision was to go and make a compass and label it with the correct directions. How amazing are the ones they have made! Well done Year 1 ⭐️

Reception are settling in well into school life. They are really enjoying exploring all the toys and getting used to playing with their new friends

Reception really enjoyed their first PE lesson on Friday. We played lots of games to practice our listening skills and to keep our bodies active. 

This week year 1 have been recapping numbers within 10. Here they are completing the missing numbers in the sequence. They were practising to count on from any number within 10 instead of starting from 0.

Hello Explorers! ☺️ 

I hope you have all had a fantastic Summer holiday and have had a well deserved break. I can’t wait to hear all about what you have been up too! I am really looking forward to welcoming our new Reception children - I hope you are all excited to explore your new classroom! I have put some pictures on below as all the teachers have been busy in school to make sure it is ready for you on Monday. I can’t wait to see all your beautiful smiling faces at the front gate on Monday morning! 
Enjoy your weekend!

Love Miss Callaghan x

Reception really enjoy growing their brains during continuous provision time.

Year 1 have been exploring fractions in Maths! Here they are working together to find one quarter of different amounts.

Explorers children really enjoyed the activities through Sports Week! We competed in our school teams in events such as the bean bag throw, standing jump and lots of different races. Have a look at the photographs to see how much fun we had!

Year 1 have been predicting what might happen next in the story of Supertato! They worked together or by themselves to create a new scene introducing some new characters. They performed their scenes to their peers at the Puppet Show. We hope you enjoy watching too!

In Forest School Year 1 have been reading the story ‘The Lorax’. They have been making journey sticks using natural materials. They have been thinking about how we can take care of and look after our Plant Earth. 

🐣 HAPPY EASTER  EXPLORERS🐣 

I am so proud of how well you have all settled back into school life over the past 3 weeks. You have shown fantastic resilience and have produced some fantastic pieces of work. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter holiday and hopefully we will have lots of sun so you can play out in the garden or even take a trip to the park. Remember to keep me up to date with your sunflowers as I’d love to see how well they are growing! 
I will see you on Monday 19th April when we return to school for our new term.

Miss. Callaghan 

xxx

This half-term Year 1 have been designing and creating their own windmills in DT. We used the TASC wheel to help us to work through each process. Here are the children using their designs to make their windmills. They are super neat and I am very proud! Well done Year 1 ⭐️

Here are Explorers learning our school dance to the Sea Shanty song! They absolutely loved learning it and singing along too. Remember to keep practicing at home if you can so that you know the dance ready for when we can hopefully perform it as a whole school ⭐️😊

Today Year 1 have been designing their own windmills in Design and Technology. As it was such beautiful weather, we put our sheets on to clipboards and lay on the grass outside in the sun whilst we thought carefully about the patterns and colours we would use

The Reception children are trying hard with their independent writing and I couldn’t be more proud. Have a look at the writing on the pictures below of the children who have been writing about the things they have made during busy time ⭐️

In Maths Year 1 have been learning about measurement. This week we have been using standard units to measure and record different heights and lengths. The children were very good at remembering we start from 0 in order to get an accurate measurement. Well done Year 1! ⭐️

Reception have been learning all about Spring and have been looking at different pictures which represent Springtime. This week we incorporated some ICT using the code-a-pillars. The children placed their chosen Spring picture on the floor and they then had to program the code-a-pillar correctly until it reached the picture. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t but the children worked together in their pair using their gross mindset and didn’t give up. Well done Reception ⭐️

Welcome back Explorers! I am so happy to see all of your beautiful smiling faces at my door again. This term is only a short one but we have lots of fun things to do and learn  
You should now have your new homework grids in your homework books but I have also uploaded these on to Tapestry therefore if you make anything at home, you can evidence it through the app. I also love to see what else you are up to so if you have done anything exciting please share this with me too! For the rest of the half-term Year 1 are going to be learning about plants, continents and oceans, Tim Berners-Lee and Queen Victoria and we will be reading We're Going On A Beart Hunt by Michael Rosen and Whatever Next! By Jill Murphy. 
Reception will be learning all about Spring. Im looking forward to planting our own sunflowers and vetegables this half-term - watch this space! 

What a busy week you have all had this week Explorers!
Reception have been learning all about weight and capacity in Maths. They have been comparing different objects and predicting with their hands to feel which one is object is the heaviest and which is the lightest.
Well done to all those children who made their own balance scales- they were fantastic!
When learning about capacity, Reception have been filling different cups and showing what full, nearly full, half full, nearly empty and empty looks like. 
They have also been baking, creating their own small world, drawing and writing about their favourite animals and developing fine motor skills by threading cheerios on to spaghetti!
Year 1 have been learning all about the Great Fire of London this week in History, investigating everyday materials in Science to see which ones are waterproof and windproof and they have been planning and designing their own houses in Design and Technology. In Maths they have been busy using numberlines to support them with subtraction.

Well done everybody!

This week Reception have been learning all about height and length in Maths. They have been comparing different objects and exploring the vocabulary of shortest, longest, tallest, taller etc. I also set them the challenge to learn a new Nursery Rhyme that they don't already know! They have also been challenging their physical development skills by den building and growing their self-esteem by talking about what they like about themselves.
Year 1 have been learning all about the capital city Edinburgh in Geography, comparing and grouping everyday materials in Science and they have been printing like William Blake in Art!

Well done Explorers, you are working really hard and I am so impressed with the daily Maths and Phonics activities you are engaging with. Some of the activities can be a little challenging but you show great perseverance. I am very proud to be your teacher! 

Another fantastic week for remote learning Explorers! This week Reception have been exploring 3D shape, junk modelling, practising their coding skills around the house and developing their skills to take turns and learn that is okay if we don't win when playing a game.

Year 1 have been learning about Florence Nightingale in History, researching different house types from around the world in Design and Technology, continuing to explore materials by describing the properties and so much more! 
Well done everybody I am so proud of you all 

Hello Explorers I hope you're all safe and well. Thank you for your engagement on Showbie this week I am so proud of you all!

Below are your working timetables for next week. Each day you will have Phonics, Maths and then a foundation subject (Year 1) or an activity (Reception) to complete. 

Try to make sure you complete all 3 activities in a day. 

Good luck and I hope to be back in the classroom with you all very soon!

Miss. Callaghan xx

Good Morning.  I hope you are all well.  I will be touch tomorrow about the procedures for the next few weeks.  In the meantime please can you download the Showbie app if you have not already done so and then Sign up to showbie using the instructions below.  Some of the remote learning will be put on this platform for your child to access..

Sign Up with a Username

Tap on the button that says Sign Up for Free and you’re on your way to creating your own Showbie account.

1. I’m a Student
2. Sign Up with a Username; Signing Up with Google and Other Sign-up Options are a bit different (see below)
3. Type in your account information and then tap Sign Up when you’re done. If your teacher gave you a class code already, type it in now and then tap Join Class. Don’t have a code yet? Just tap Skip and join a class later instead

Note: Remember that student accounts don’t need an email address. You can leave the Email field empty and still create an account.

Merry Christmas!

Well done Explorers, we have made it to the end of the first term! I am so proud of how much progress you have all made since September. You have all worked exceptionally hard and I am very lucky to have such wonderful children in my class. Well done again for your fantastic acting to retell the Christmas story in your nativity. 

I hope you and your families have a wonderful break and I will look forward to seeing you all again on the 4th January!

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

xxx

Happy half-term Explorers!

Well done for completing the first half-term of the year. It has been lovely getting to know all of the Reception children and seeing all the year 1 children again!

I hope you have a well deserved break this week and I look forward to the next half-term where we will begin preparations for our Nativity. 

See you on Monday 2nd November! 

Miss. Callaghan x

Home Learning 7th September - 18th September

In school we are focusing on developing healthy minds through lots of wonderful picture books. Our assemblies and lessons for the first two weeks will focus on these books which will help us to think about our thoughts, our busy minds, our feelings and how to deal with our emotions when we are feeling worried, sad, cross or anxious! As you do not have the books at home we have shared the links on the grids so you can listen as someone reads it to you. Listen carefully to the words in the book and enjoy the lovely illustrations. When you do come back to school you will be able to see all the books on the display in the school hall with lots of things to help you to think about the messages the books are giving us!

Welcome back Explorers! It has been wonderful seeing all your smiling faces today - I cannot believe how tall the year 1 children have got and how many teeth they are missing! The tooth fairy has definitely been busy over the Summer! I have loved welcoming our new Reception children today and I can't wait for a funfilled year with you all. There are lots of new toys to play with and new routines to ensure we are safe in school. I am really looking forward to being your teacher this year!

Below I have attached a booklet containing lots of different ideas for things to get up to over the Summer holidays! Explorers, I am so proud of each and every one of you! This year has been very different for us all and I think you have all taken it in your stride and adapted so well! Some of you I will teach again in September whilst some of you will move up into Mrs. Howarth's class in Year 2! I have loved being your teacher this year and you all continue to amaze me with everything you do. I hope you all have a fantastic Summer and I look forward to seeing your smiling faces in September.

Love Miss Callaghan xx

I am really enjoying looking at the photographs of your home learning! Keep sending in your photographs to office@thornhamce.rochdale.sch.uk or alternatively tweet them @StJohnsThornham 

All photographs will be added onto this slideshow so keep checking regularly for updates! 
It is wonderful to see so many of you are being so resilient and adaptive to learning at home.

Hello Explorers!

It has been lovely to see some of your smiling faces returning to school over the past 2 weeks and those who haven't, I have enjoyed seeing your photographs of your home learning! We are almost near to the Summer holidays we have just 3 weeks left so please keep sending things in for me to see. I am missing you all very much and enjoyed speaking to a couple of you on the phone on Wednesday... those who I didn't get to speak to I will try to phone again this week whilst I am in school. 

I hope you are all keeping safe and well with your families and I hope to see you all as soon!

Love Miss Callaghan x

Hello Explorers! I am still really missing you very much but I hope you are still keeping super safe with your families. I love being updated with all the wonderful things you are doing and seeing your smiley faces. I have loved looking at your Science experiments this week and your dough disco routines... I might have to steal some of those ideas myself!! Hopefully it won't be much longer before I get to see some more of you and I can't wait! I have been at home most days playing swing ball in the garden with my little brother or in the hot tub! Maybe this week you could ask your grown ups to help you to write me an email to let me know what you have been getting up too, I would love to be able to send you some replies! 

Hope you see you all very soon.

Love Miss Callaghan x

Read Write Inc Phonics Information
Children can practise writing the Read Write Inc. Phonics Speed Sounds they are learning with 62 free Speed Sounds practice sheets now available on Oxford Owl for Home. They have also added the My Set 1 and My Sets 2 and 3 books as free eBooks, which contain helpful visual prompts. Access them and more free resources here: https://bit.ly/39mjfeG

Please find below a calendar for May sent by Edstart with a PE exercise that you can do everyday to keep fit.  You could involve the whole family!

Anyone who has given the exercises a go can get a certificate at the end of the month.  Happy exercising!

A MESSAGE FROM MISS CALLAGHAN

To my lovely class. I just want to write you a little note to tell you all how much I am going to miss you and how proud I am of each of you. At this very surreal moment in time it is hard enough being an adult trying to understand what is happening in the world right now let alone for young children but I am so proud of how sensible you are all being. For some of you I will still see your smiling faces each day but for most, our learning journey together will need to be on pause for a while to keep us all safe and healthy. I will be thinking of you and your families every day - please do tweet or email any learning you are doing as I would love to see what you are getting up too whilst you are at home! 

I will see you all very soon. 

Lots of love Miss Callaghan xx

PHONICS INFORMATION

Fantastic news!  The phonics scheme we follow at St. John's are going to do daily phonics sessions LIVE. I reccommend Reception children to do the Set 2 sessions and Year 1 do the Set 3. Follow this link and it will take you to the YouTube channel. More information about times are given on the link below.

Ruth Miskin have also uploaded some of our home reading books onto the Oxford Owl. There is more information about how to access these through the link below also.

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/coronavirus-covid-19-update/

HOME LEARNING

In the unfortunate cases where children are not able to attend school but are still well in themselves please help them to continue on their learning journey by completing the activities in the grid below. The activities in blue should be completed daily and those in orange are one off activities. We have also set a whole school 'Dippy' challenge too. You will also find below the Dippy Enquiry walk booklets for each Key Stage to support your child in completing their project.  A new class specific grid will be uploaded each week by the class teacher in the event that children may have further time off school. 

In Science this half-term we have been learning about materials. Our Science question is 'Which material would be best for the 3 little pigs to build a house?' We decided to investigate which materials would be waterproof and windproof. First we made our predictions and then tested the materials to give us our results. We found that rock and metal were the best materials as both were waterproof and windproof. 

28th October 2019

Welcome back! I hope you have all had a lovely break and are ready for another exciting half-term! Our topic this half-term is Secrets in the Garden. I can't wait to see the wonderful homework challenges you come up with this half-term. Nativity season is upon us... keep a look out in your reading records for parts and lines !

9th October 2019

The festival of Sukkot is a Jewish celebration. It occurs between September and October.

Jewish families build a shelter in their garden that they will have their meals and pray in for the week of Sukkot. It helps them remember the time when Jews were slaves in Egypt and Moses led them to freedom. A sukkah is a three sided shelter with an open roof to see heaven.

Look at our  models of our sukkots.

9th October 2019

Explorers have been having fun playing musical instruments.Our favourite song at the moment is pat a cake, pat a cake

10th October 2019

Today children in Year 1 have been practising ordinal numbers. They worked together to place them in the correct order and we then chose objects to put in that order. We pretended they had had a race and talked about the position they came in. Miss. Callaghan asked us questions that we had to think carefully about and answer in our pairs. 

9th October 2019 

We LOVE doing dough disco each morning! Ask your children if they can show you their favourite disco moves - a class favourite is the 'Hulk Smash'! 

8th October 2019

This week in HeartSmart we had the challenge to create our own Boris the robot! We used the resources in provision to come up with our own ideas! Some of us used the blocks, junk modelling and even playdough to make our Boris 

23rd September 2019

Today in PE we were learning about different ways we can balance a beanbag on our bodies! We then looked at 2 different kind of throws; over-arm and under-arm! Here he are using our skills trying to throw the beanbags into the hoops! 

20th September 2019

Today in Geography we were looking at where in the world dinosaurs lived. We learnt to sing some songs to help us remember the names of the continents and oceans. Miss. Callaghan then told us which continent the dinosaur lived and we matched the dinosaur to that continent. We didn't find any dinosaurs that lived in Africa, South America and Australia! Could you find some at home ready to share with us in class?

18th September 2019

Our Reception children loved their first Forest School session today! 

18th September 2019

We could not believe what had happened when we arrived in school today! Our eggs has disappeared! Miss. Callaghan checked the cameras and we could not believe what we saw... there had been a dinosaur in our classroom! We think she had lost her eggs and came back to get them! We looked at the pictures and discussed the features of the dinosaur that we decided was a T-Rex. We came up with some fantastic adjectives such as white, pointy, sharp teeth, scaley skin and we even tried to use our word of the week 'ferocious' to describe how the dinosaur looked. 

16th September 2019

This morning when we arrived in school some eggs had appeared! Where have they come from? Who might they belong too? The children discusses these questions and decided they thought they were from a dinosaur! We then used adjectives to describe how the eggs looked, felt and smelt! We did some fantastic pieces of writing about them! 

4th September 2019

Hi everyone! I hope you have all had a fantastic, fun filled Summer holiday! I am so excited to see all of your smiling faces and hear about what you have been up to! This year in Explorers the teachers will be Miss. Callaghan, Mrs. Wales and Mrs. Witts. We are here to help you learn and keep you safe . 

We are going to spend our first week by settling into routine and understanding how to use the different areas of provision and then we are going to begin learning about dinosaurs as our topic this half-term is called Dinosaur Planet! I can't wait to learn lots of new things with you! 

19th June 2019

Year 1 children have been practising naming and labelling the 5 oceans. All Explorers have enjoyed learning their names using this song on youtube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6BE4VcYngQ

12th June 2019

Today we went on a hunt around the classroom to collect clues about what our Science topic is this half-term. We collected body parts, food and exercise equipment! Can you guess what our topic is? 

7th June 2019

Explorers children really enjoyed Pyjamarama day! They loved being in their pyjamas and getting nice and cosy in the dome sharing their books with their friends. Thank you for making the effort!

24th May 2019

Our Science topic this half-term has been focused around plants. Today we went on a walk around our school grounds to look for different types of trees. We collected some of the leaves from these trees and then brought them back to class. Miss. Callaghan then set us the task to identify if the leaf had come from an evergreen or deciduous tree. 

23rd May 2019

Wow! There has been some fantastic homework tasks this half-term. Look at these amazing toys from the past that we have made! 

22nd May 2019

To continue our learning around our topic Memory Box, today we had a visit from a baby called Cohen! He came into school as we have been learning about how things change from being a baby to growing old. We asked his mum lots of questions about how she cares for him. We sang him some nursery rhymes that is mum said he likes and gave him a cuddle.

16th May 2019

The children in Reception have been learning about sharing equally. They have been practising to take one object one at a time, taking turns. The children have also learnt that to share equally each group needs to have the same amount. If there are any left that will make the groups unfair, the children have learnt that we leave it out as it cannot be shared. 

9th May 2019

To continue our learning about toys from the past, we worked together in groups to create a fact sheet to share with the rest of the class about the name of the toy, how it is used and what it is made from. 

26th April 2019

Our Science topic this half-term is 'What came first the flower or the leaf?' Today we thought about the question 'what is a plant?' We discussed this with our partners and Miss. Callaghan wrote our suggestions on the board! We then talked about the difference between living and non-living things. We learnt that to live you need air, food, water and light. With our partners we worked together to sort pictures into the correct group; living, non-living or never lived. 

25th April 2019

Today Miss. Callaghan introduced us to our new topic 'Memory Box'. Together we discussed about what we thought a memory was and what kind of things we might find inside of a memory box. Miss. Callaghan brought in her memory box and talked to us about some of her items. We loved looking (and laughing) at pictures of Miss. Callaghan when she was a little girl! We were very interested in why Miss. Callaghan didn't have the same hair anymore or looked the same so we talked about how we change when we grow up from being a baby to an adult. 

24th April 2019

Year 1 have been practising multiplication by doing repeated addition and creating equal groups. Today we had a go at creating our own equal groups. We wrote the sums all by our selves! 

23rd April 2019 

Welcome back Explorers!. We hope you have all had a wonderful break and we cannot wait to hear about what you have been up too! I hope you are ready for a short but fun and busy half-term! This half-term our topic is 'Memory Box'. We are going to be learning all about toys from the past and present, looking at how toys have changed over time. We will be getting the opportunity to play with some toys from the Victorian times, how exciting! For English we will be reading text focused around memory. The 2 books we will be working around are called 'Elfa and the Box Of Memories' and 'Wilfred Gordon Mcdonald Partridge'. In Science our topic question this half-term is 'What came first the leaf or the flower?' We are going to be planting some of our own seeds and observing the changes over the next coming weeks, hopefully they will grow! 

5th April 2019

How lucky are we! Whilst we were having our lunch the Easter bunny had been and left us all an egg. Thank you Easter bunny! Happy Easter!

Miss. Callaghan, Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Wales wish you all a wonderful Easter. We cannot wait to hear all about your Easter holidays when you return to school. Enjoy your 2 weeks off! 

5th April 2019

This week is Science Week! In Explorers class we chose to do some wonderful science around colour! We did an experiment with skittles and with some coloured water. The children were so enthused! If you take a look on our twitter page, we also made some lava lamps! Well done Explorers, you are super Scientists! 

2nd April 2019

Today we went on holiday to Kenya! We got onto the areoplane and watched the health and safety video to make sure we knew what to do if there was to be an emergency. We looked out of our plane windows to see what we could see. Some of the children said they could see their house and when we were coming close to landing in Kenya they could see lots of African animals! Once we had landed we explored around the country taking pictures of what we could see. Miss. Callaghan printed our pictures but she got them mixed up with some of pictures of the UK! Silly Miss. Callaghan! Together we took a picture with our partners and helped to sort the pictures as to whether it was of the UK or Kenya. 

The children in Year 1 then compared similarities and differences that they could see from the pictures between the UK and Kenya. They worked together in a group and wrote what they could see on poster paper. 

1st April 2019

We love getting busy in continuous provision time and completing our challenges. This week one of our challenges is to make an Easter chick in the malleable area. How amazing are the ones some of the children have made!? Well done Explorers, keep it up!

27th March 2019

We have been learning about events which occur at differents times of the day. Here are some photographs of the children in Reception sorting the pictures betweeen day and night.

19th March 2019

On Monday we recieved some exciting news... our school chicks have started to hatch! Today we got the opportunity to hold the chick which hatched first. As a school we have named it 'Lucky'. Here we are being very careful and gentle with the chick. 

18th March 2019

Wow! Keep up the fantastic homework challenges Explorers. The habitats you have made for African animals are amazing! Brilliant effort!

15th March 2019

This week through topic we have been learning where in the world Africa is. The children have learnt that Africa is a contient, not a country. They really enjoy singing the contient song to help them remember the 7 contients and to identify which is the biggest and smallest! The children then did some map work around the continent identifying some of the different countries. 

Here is the link to the continent song: https://youtu.be/K6DSMZ8b3LE

5th March 2019

Today we were really brave Explorers! We decided that as no one had seen the lion yet we would go on a Lion Hunt! We learnt a song together which we sang whilst hunting for the lion which helped us to stay brave. We walked through the long tall grass, splashed in the deep cold river and walked through the muddy leaves and into the cave very, very quietly. In the cave we felt one wet nose, 2 big ears and 2 sharp teeth... uh oh!... It was a lion!!!! 
We have now adopted the lion into our safari role play area where we can now keep a close eye on him!

https://youtu.be/03i5v1PS7P4

26th February 2019

Today we entered the classroom to quite a mess! Chairs had been knocked over, equipment was on the floor and we also found some orange and yellow fluff and some footprints! But who did they belong too? Miss. Callaghan checked the CCTV cameras and this is what we saw.... Together we decided the animals must have been being chased by something! What African animal might be chasing all those other animals and have yellow and orange fluff with those footprints?... AH! There's a lion on the loose somewhere around our school!!! Together we decided to write a newspaper report to let everyone in school know and to keep safe if they see it!

25th February 2019

Welcome back Explorers! We hope you have had a lovely half-term and are ready for our new topic 'Africa'! Throughout our topic we will be learning about what animals live there, where in the world is Africa, learning some of the names of the countries in Africa and comparing an African country to the UK! In English we will be focusing on the book Meerkat Mail and will be doing lots of different genres of writing such as postcards, letters, recounts and poems. In Maths this half-term we will continue to practise our place value skills and look at sequencing events. We hope you are ready for a busy and fun filled term! 

23rd January 2019 

We have been busy in Forest School making clay faces and habitats for bugs!

16th January 2019

Today we went to the Enchanted Woods and went on a hunt for fairies! We were so lucky to find some and some fairy items such as a wand, dress and a shoe! I wonder which fairy they might belong too? We also saw a squirrel who climbed up the trees as we listened to a story. As we have been learning about Andy Goldsworthy, we decided to use clay to practise making some tree boggarts. We used natural resources that we could find in the woods such as twigs, leaves and pine cones.  

11th January 2019

This half-term we are going to be researching the work of Andy Goldsworthy. He is an artist who sculpts and makes art using natural resources. Yesterday we had a walk around our school grounds to see what natural resources we could find. We then used the natural resources to create our own piece of art! We are super artists!

7th January 2019

Welcome back Explorers! We hope you have had a fantastic Christmas and a Happy New Year and are looking forward to our new school term. This half term our topic is 'The Enchanted Woods'. We are going to be learning about who and what we might find in a wood. Can you guess?  

14th November 2018

Do you know how much sugar there is in these popular drinks? We didn't either! The children had to match the drink to the bag of sugar to identify how much sugar is in it. Before we found out, the children predicted that coke would contain the most sugar and gave the reason "Because it goes fizzy in your mouth and when you shake it in the bottle". They predicted water would have the least sugar. Well done Explorers! Your predictions were correct! 

14th November 2018

Reception children have been trying hard in writing to identify all the sounds in cvc words using magnetic letters. Fantastic work Reception, keep it up!

2nd November 2018

To begin our topic 'On the Move' we started with matching types of transport up to their name. We worked together as a team to read the label and match it correctly. We then discussed some of the transport and whether they travel in the air, on the land or in the sea. 

31st October 2018

In Science we have been learning about healthy and unhealthy foods. Together we discussed some of our favourite foods and filled the body with them! We then discussed together if it would be healthy to eat all of these foods every day and nothing else. The children decided this would be really unhealthy as too much of these foods isn't good as they contain lots of sugar and salt. The children suggested we give the body some fruit and vegetables and take some of the unhealthy foods away. We decided a balance of both kinds of food is what is best. 

29th October 2018

Welcome back after half-term Explorers! We hope you had a rest like we did! This half-term our topic is 'On The Move'. We are going to be learning all about different types of transport and road safety. In Science our question this half-term is 'Why Can't We Eat Sweets for Breakfast?' We're going to be looking at identifying healthy and unhealthy foods and how we can keep our bodies healthy... especially our teeth!

11th October 2018

In Reception class we have been practicing addition! Look at the photos of us using the objects to find the total! 

4th/5th October 2018 

This week we went on an Autumn walk to see what landmarks we could find in our local area. We then looked at the pictures we had taken on our walk in order to create a simple map. Together we discussed what needed to be included. Here are some pictures of us working as a team to create our map ensuring the landmarks were in the correct place. We finished our map by labelling it. 

27th September 2018

During our topic lessons we have been learning about where in the world we might find a bear. We have learnt brown bears live in Canada and Polar bears live in the Arctic! We used a world map to find these countries and our own. We then looked at different kind of maps and discussed what maps tell us. Here we are exploring different kinds of maps such as world, Europe, United Kingdom and even a map of our school!

​​​​27th September 2018 

This week Year 1 children have been practicing to place numbers on a number track correctly and recalling one more and one less than a given number. The children chose 3 number cards each and completed the activity you can see in the pictures. Throughout the week we practiced recognising one more and one less using objects and pictures so here we are applying what we have learnt 

20th September 2018

In Maths we have been practicing 1-1 correspondence. Year One children were also practicing to write the number they had made in words on whiteboards. We have been singing lots of songs to help us remember the order for numbers. Keep up the super Maths explorers.

Friday 21st September 2018

The homework challenges that have been brought into school have exceeded expectations! They are amazing. Keep up the hard work Explorers! 

Wednesday 19th September 2018

Today we found a paw print on our board with a message, it was a clue! We followed the clues around our school grounds and we found the bear! 

Monday 17th September 2018

Today we received a special message... it was from a BEAR! The message read:
 

Friday 14th September 2018 

Today we discovered something very strange in our outdoor area... footprints! Who are they from? What has been in our outdoor area? 
The children in Explorers came up with ideas such as a bear, a Gruffalo or a dinosaur. I wonder what it could be... 

Welcome back Explorers!

Miss. Callaghan, Mrs. Wales and Mrs. Adams hope you all had a fun filled summer. It has been lovely to see all of your smiley faces in the last couple of days and we are so pleased at how well you have settled. We are all looking forward to the fun things we have planned for you this year - there are lots of new things to learn!

Our first topic this half term will be 'Paws, Claws and a Snout’. We will be learning all about bears and a special fantasy fiction character who has sharp claws... can you guess who? Some examples of texts we are reading this half-term are 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' by Michael Rosen and 'Whatever Next' by Jill Murphy. We will be using the texts to support us with writing labels and sentences containing adjectives! We are also going to be learning about our local community, therefore, we will be going on an Autumn Walk to see what local landmarks are around us. 

Make sure you keep checking our page regularly as we will be keeping you up to date about what we are up to in school