In the Long Ago project your child will learn about their history and how they have changed from when they were babies. They will learn about their family history and heritage and find out what life was like in the past. They will learn about what it was like to go to school in the past and how everyday objects, such as clothes, toys and vehicles have changed.

We will be sharing stories that have been passed down and told for hundreds of years (Fairy tales), and looking at castles, finding out how long ago they were built and talking about how they are different from the homes that we live in.

We will also be finding out about dangerous dinosaurs! Your child will find out about prehistoric animals that lived on Earth. They will learn facts about dinosaurs and discover how big some of these giant creatures were. They will learn about the difference between carnivores and herbivores and find out what the word 'extinct' means. 

Supporting your child at home

• Look at photographs of the children as babies and discuss how they have grown and changed.
• Look at family photographs so the children can see family members when they were children.
• Talk about what your life was like when you were a child/Grandparents were a child.
• Go onto the Natural History Museum website and look at interesting facts about dinosaurs together.
• Go to the CBeebies Dinosaurs website and explore the games and videos together.
• Look up interesting dinosaur facts to share them with the class.
• Visit a local castle or historic building (remember to share your photos with us on Tapestry!)
• Share traditional tales and see if your children can re-tell the key parts from the story (Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel etc).
• Share and discuss the ‘Big Ideas’ resource – sharing ideas about the enquiry questions and talking about the vocabulary.

Here is our Big Ideas poster (please see clearer copy as PDF attached below)

We couldn't be any prouder of how well the children have settled into Little Dreamers life this half-term- they have been utterly amazing!

We hope you all have a lovely break, having lots of fun and some well deserved rest! 

We would LOVE to hear what you get up to over half-term... This could be having a film night, sharing a favourite book, exploring on an autumnal walk, dressing up for Halloween, baking a delicious treat... It can be absolutely anything the children would like to show us. 

If you could upload these photos in one post on tapestry that would be great.  We will print these and use them for a talking/sharing activity with the children once they are back in school. 

We have to note that tapestry is quite expensive and if it is not being accessed regularly, we unfortunately might have to lose it. 

This week our big ideas questions are:

What does a robot do?

What does an engineer do? 

We will be looking at different robots and machines and the incredible jobs they do... Including hoover robots, robots that can build cars and machines in factories that make things that we use every day! 

We will be sharing this brilliant story:

Along with the sequel... No Bot-The Robot's New Bottom!

We will be moving and grooving to these vintage Barney tunes:

 

Along with making our own 2D shape robots and of course doing lots of improvised robot dancing!

 

  

We are SO PROUD of how brilliantly the children are doing with their phonics. We are starting to be extra speedy with our sounds and trying really hard to form them correctly. We are also starting to blend sounds together to read simple words! Keep up the super work Little Dreamers! 

The sounds we will be learning to read and write this week are: 

We will be learning our first special friends 'sh' - these are two letters that make one sound. We will spend two days rather than one day learning 'sh'. Here is a video of teaching the children to read the sound 'sh'.

In maths, we are continuing our White Rose topic 'just like me'. We will be looking at comparing sizes, weights and capacities as well as exploring simple patterns. Here are some activity ideas of how you could support this learning at home:

We are continuing our 'Marvellous Machines' topic and looking at transport that travels in the air and on water. We will be looking at aeroplanes, creating our own role play plane (passports included) and finding out who Amelia Earhart is (ask us at home!). We will be looking at the wonderful underwater machine that is a submarine as well as making our own boats and testing out if they float or sink in our water tray. 

We will be sharing this fabulous story all about Emma Jane's Aeroplane and how she travels around thew world 🌎✈️ have a listen at home: 

We will also be singing and practising some jazzy yoga moves to this song with lots of different modes of transport: 

Check out this Cbeebies episode to have a look at lots of marvellous flying machines!

Can you complete the transport sorting activity attached to this page? You could print it or just say whether you think the vehicle travels on land, sea or the air!

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(F2) This week we will be learning to read and write these sounds...

We are so incredibly clever and have started reading simple words in our phonics lessons. Have a look at this video to see the way we teach blending in school... You could have a go at reading some words using your speed sound cards! Show your grown-ups how amazing you are! Remember to sign those diaries- it's wonderful to see how much reading you are doing at home. 

This week we will be starting our White Rose Topic- '1,2,3 Just like me'. Here is an overview of the skills we will be covering:

• Remember school is closed for the Queen's funeral on Monday 19th September. School will also be closed to children on Friday 23rd September as it is an inset day. 
• (F2) Remember to keep being whizzy and staying in that green zone on doodle maths- Mrs King says little and often is perfect (5 minutes a day to collect those stars!). Let us know if you have any issues with your login. 
• Next Thursday (22nd) there will be a phonics meeting straight after school in the hall - find out all things RWI and how you can help support your child at home. 

 

Our first full week in school Little Dreamers! How exciting!

We will be kicking off the week sharing the story 'The Colour Monster', we will be talking about emotions and feelings and how these can change throughout the day. Have a listen to the story below:

Sometimes, the colour monster turns all different colours when his feelings are all mixed up. We will be making our very own colour monsters using various creative resources and experimenting mixing colours to see what new colours we can make! 

Our weekly song will be 'If you're happy, and you know it'

We will also be sharing books linked to our 'Marvellous Machines' topic. Have a look at our blog post and big ideas poster here. You could also check out one of these Cbeebies episodes... All about lots of different amazing machines!  

🤖🚀👩‍🏭 🚓🚐🚜🚦🤖🚀👩‍🏭 🚓🚐🚜🚦🤖🚀👩‍🏭 🚓🚐🚜🚦🤖🚀👩‍🏭 🚓🚐🚜🚦🤖🚀

Firstly, we just want to say how brilliantly the children have settled back into school life today. They have absolutely blown us away!!

The F2's have been like ducks in water in their new classroom, they have followed the routines impeccably, enthusiastically joined in with activities and just been all round superstars. Mrs Gerrard and Miss Inglis have been pinching themselves over how smoothly the day has run! A huge well done to all the children from both of us! 

Our new wonderful class name for both F1 & F2 is 'Little Dreamers'... As well as talking about our own dreams (check out tapestry for F2's dreams), throughout the year we will be finding out about some amazing people that followed their dreams such as David Peterborough, Tim Peake and Emilia Earhart!

Keep your eyes peeled for our first blog introducing this half-term topic of 'Marvellous Machines'.