Reception - The Penguins: Blog items
Lots to share!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 20th Dec 2023 @ 2:03pm
Tomorrow the penguins will be bringing home a bag of art and craft delights! They are very excited to share with you all the things they have done over recent weeks.
Your child will be bringing home two new reading books. In your reading record book you will find the two books listed. The first book will contain new sounds and words from this week in phonics. Please encourage your child to read this book several times over the Christmas holiday with you. This will help to consolidate learning of our phonics. We have worked with your child this week to spot any sounds that they may have forgotten.
The second book listed is one that your child has chosen as a 'sharing' book. This may be a trickier book which you can both share together.
I have included the Rainbow / tricky words for you to read with your child.
Happy Homework - The penguins will not be bringing home their homework bags this week. The 'All about me' book will come home for a picture, ticket or photograph added. The children are enjoying writing in the hundreds of Christmas cards that we had donated to our class post office. Perhaps they could write about a special highlight of their holiday in their 'All about me' books.
Please remember that your child will need to have a named carrier bag in school tomorrow morning. Thank you.
Penguin Patrol!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 16th Dec 2023 @ 9:42am
What a busy week! Lots of happy and excited penguins.
This week we have all been on penguin patrol. We have been looking after our friends, passing on smiles and looking after one another on the playground at lunch time. We have been working with different friends in class and everyone has enjoyed learning and sharing with each other.
In maths we have been learning about four sided shapes. We have been shape detectives and have enjoyed using some tricky maths equipment to make 2D and 3D shapes.
Our Christmas dinner was a very happy and festive occasion as well as our visit to Longton library. The children were amazing listeners to the Christmas stories and several people commented on how polite and well mannered the children were. Super stars!
We had a story time with Santa this week. Our year one friends came to join us. We even sent Santa an email and saw him on our class screen. We had to wake him up first!
We have had a very creative classroom this week with glitter and glue, Pom poms and paper being used everywhere.
Friday was an amazing drama and IT afternoon. The children blew my socks off!
Lots of art work and crafts will be coming home this week. Please send in a carrier bag with your child’s name written on it. I will send things home steadily throughout the week.
Reading books will be changed and sent home for Christmas. I will also send home the ‘All about me’ book so your child can add some extra pictures and writing to share in the new year. Some books did not come back after the October half term holiday - please check as the children thorughly enjoy sharing these books with our class and their buddies.
We are looking forward to a final week of festive fun and learning! Party time, stories and Christmas stockings! Cards, calendars and planting too! A sleigh to build, carols to sing and a stable to create! Candy cane phonics, cheeky elf writing and a beautiful nativity for you to watch!
Our week ahead., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 11th Dec 2023 @ 6:11pm
Maths - in maths this week we are looking at shapes with four sides and we will be making shapes by combining them together. We are also revisiting different ways of making four and five. (2+3=5)
Phonics - this week the children will be working with Mrs. Morrison and myself to do a phonics check up. We will look at which sounds have stuck and which sounds need a little more work. I have had my socks blown off already! The children have been working hard in class and with you at home with your sound cards. Thank you!
Stories - our traditional tales have taken us to the Jolly Christmas Postman and also The Snowman.
Adventures in the village - tomorrow afternoon we will be going to Longton library for a Christmas story session and an art and craft workshop. Please send hats, gloves and coats so that we are prepared for all weathers. The children will all wear a high visible waistcoat over their coat whilst we walk in the village. ( Library cards are not needed on our short visit tomorrow) We will be back at school and ready for home time as usual.
Christmas jumper day on Thursday.
Friendships - we are doing lots of activities and circle times where we talk about friends, talk about how to be a good friend and also sharing positive comments about our penguin family. We are practising team work and also lots of partner time with different friends.
Super Penguins!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 7th Dec 2023 @ 7:59pm
This week the penguins have shared lots and lots of proud moments and I would love to share some of them with you.
On Monday our class Christmas Post Office opened. The children have been busy wrapping and weighing parcels, writing cards and then taking them to the post office to be stamped and delivered. (If you have any unwanted old / used cards please send them in as we are getting through quite a lot each day!)
On Tuesday the children used the large climbing apparatus in the hall. We were climbing the Beanstalk. The penguins listened carefully to our safety rules and all enjoyed the apparatus. We will use it again next week and attach balance beams to it.
On Wednesday we had a bright and early start with our trip to the pantomime. The children were fantastic and had a lot of fun. They even had a Christmas sing along on the bus with Kelly! The flying man in the pantomime had everyone amazed!
On Thursday, Mrs. Pratten came to visit our classroom. We were busy in drawing club thinking of where Goldilocks could take Baby bear to say sorry for demolishing his chair and guzzling down his porridge. Mrs. Pratten was amazed by the children’s amazing imaginations and also their drawing and writing. Super stars!! Lots of genius gems were awarded.
We also made Gruffalo crumble today. It was a huge hit and everyone said that the smell of it cooking was amazing. Super, brave penguins! Almost everyone tried it and almost everyone had a second helping!
A wonderful week!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 30th Nov 2023 @ 8:36pm
What a busy week! Christmas performances, stomping on the crunchy frosty grass, being scientists for the day and even creating some amazing caves for the Gruffalo.
Our traditional Tales topic took us on a journey looking at the different settings of stories. We had a class quiz and really showed that we knew our stories very well! We also looked at a local Author, Nick Park and had a go at creating Gromit the dog.
We talked about stories we read at home and decided that Julia Donaldson was a firm favourite author. We read The Gruffalo and also The Gruffalos Child. We also watched the final clip of the mouse creating the shadow of the big, bad mouse.
This lead us nicely into our super science lesson. We learnt about light and how shadows are made. We then experimented all day. Indoors and outdoors we drew around shadows, created shadow puppets and made our own shadow puppet theatre. Our super scientists discovered that their shadows had changed places later in the day and also that they could make them bigger and smaller depending on how far or close they are from the light source.
It was lovely of Mrs.Watkinson to join us this morning. Mrs. Watkinson is one of our school governors and the children thoroughly enjoyed her visit today.
We hope you enjoyed the Christmas Play. The children enjoyed learning the songs, the actions and the story. They really did want to get on that stage and use the microphone! Thank you for your help organising costumes.
Our homework this week is to focus on our tricky words, phonics and our reading books. Please feel free to cut up the rainbow words and use them as you like. Some ideas from last year were to have them going up the stairs or on kitchen cupboards. Please share any great ideas with us and we will pass them on.
Moving house!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 22nd Nov 2023 @ 8:11pm
What a busy week!
Although we have been singing Christmas songs for a few weeks now our rehearsals have started with year one for our production next week. We are busy creating props, learning songs and dances. The penguins are enjoying themselves and are already asking if they can use the microphone on stage and be narrators like year one.
We have had a little change around in class and now have a breakfast area for our toast and milk. This has already been a success! The children can eat when they are ready, chat to friends, wear the Christmas oven gloves (which seems to be the favourite thing!) and tidy up after themselves.
The penguins have also decided that they would like a post office in the classroom. They decided they would like a wrapping area, weighing parcels area, a post box and lots of cards and papers to stamp. Please save us any old cards or wrapping paper and if you get a tall box delivered please keep it if you think we could work our penguin magic and create a post box. The children also want bikes ready for delivering the mail.
Therefore we have had to move our classroom house! It was a huge team effort but we managed to relocate to one of our large outdoor sheds. We are looking forward to decorating this for Christmas and putting up a tree that can be decorated each day.
Thank you for your help with reading. The children are really shining.
Some picturs to share!
I will huff and I will puff!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 16th Nov 2023 @ 9:19pm
This week the penguins have been creating a new home for the three little pigs in their DT work. They had a variety of resources to choose from. When the homes were finished the children took it in turns to talk about their design and explain what they had ‘joined’ and also what they had ‘connected’.
We had upside down houses, dens and even homes that had added sparkle! We then put the homes to the test! We didn’t have a wolf so the next best thing was a hairdryer to huff and puff the houses down.
The homes won! A few wobbled and a few almost took off but they were so well made the three pigs were safe and sound!
The penguins have done amazing phonics work this week as they have had some very tricky sounds. Please continue to read each day to help the children become confident with these sounds.
Already the children are counting down the sleeps until their buddies walk them to church next week for our celebration assembly.
The penguins have chosen their own parts for the year one / reception Christmas play. A letter will come out next week to ask for you to send in any items needed for their costume.
Thank you
Pictures to follow shortly.
Our special remembrance service., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 12th Nov 2023 @ 10:37am
The penguins have embraced their learning this week.
We have been working hard on our ‘Traditional Tales’ topic. We have looked at how some stories change over time, pictures and books from the past and how many of the traditional tales begin - long, long ago and once upon a time. We enjoyed looking at Evies special non fiction book.
We will be baking next week and the penguins are looking forward to this.
We have enjoyed our shape work in maths this week which took us on a journey at looking at the art work produced by Kandinsky. We have recreated his work which has been admired by many children and teachers in school already.
The children are enjoying their writing activities in class. Did they tell you we covered the carpet with wallpaper for them to practise their name writing?
On Friday the penguins joined the whole school for a very special remembrance assembly. The children listened to our very special guest Mr. Turner.
We have started learning our Christmas songs in class! How exciting!
Engineers and photographers!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 3rd Nov 2023 @ 7:02am
Welcome back Penguins!
It is lovely to have everyone back with lots of stories to share and of course our ‘All about me’ books to talk about. We have had a lovely first week back.
The penguins would love to tell you about their Jack and the Beanstalk PE, the firework pictures they have made using their own paint ‘swisslers’, the parcel that was delivered to our class, the baby hedgehog on our playground and our work on the gingerbread man! Yesterday the penguins spent the day as engineers. They had to plan and build escape routes for the gingerbread man! Bridges and boats were made, tested, rebuilt, made stronger, then longer and when they finally thought they had the great escape they got to test our class gingerbread man on it. He did get quite soggy!
The penguins have been helping to take a picture of their number work this week using the iPad. They had a lot of fun and enjoyed the task. However 751 pictures has taken Mrs. Thomson a long time to work through!
The children have enjoyed their new sounds this week. They have learnt the name of our new two letter sounds - digraph (two letters that make only one sound). New sounds have been put in your book bag for you to add to your sound wallet.
Homework this week is letter formation. All of the letters on the sheet start with the curly c. Once the children have mastered this letter the rest will seem a little less tricky. I always remind the children that my pencil shoots up like a rocket to start each curly c.
Thank you for your support over the holidays with reading. Please continue to read each night to help embed the new sounds that are taught each week. A big thank you from Mrs. Morrison for signing your record books or adding a comment to let us know your child has read at home. This is a great help.
Pip Penguin will be coming home each weekend with a child who has made a wonderful effort in their reading. He will be bringing a book to share with you over the weekend and a hot chocilate treat for your penguin to enjoy.
Eco Halloween, by Mrs Pratten
Date: 2nd Nov 2023 @ 8:19am
A big thank you to some of the Eco team who helped Kelly create some funky Halloween decorations out of milk cartons They looked fab..and the team enjoyed helping out!
Autumn Week, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 17th Oct 2023 @ 10:16pm
This week the Penguins have been enjoying Autumn Week. They all helped to plan this week and so far we have been collecting Autumn leaves to make an Autumn reef and we have had a lovely afternoon with our buddies. We enjoyed hot chocolate as we have definitely felt the weather a little colder this week. The penguins created a pumpkin soup using Autumn colours and lots of scooping! The smell of the pumpkin certainly split the group! Some loved it whilst others really didn’ t like it at all.
Our phonics work has introduced j and v so far.
The children have enjoyed their maths work this week. They have been looking at number patterns and learning to recognise the patterns without counting. Please ask about the ladder game the children played and drew out on the playground.
In our Jigsaw (PSED) lesson this week we are focusing on ‘Gentle Hands’. We will be talking about the wonderful, kind and useful things that we do with our hands.
KS1 event, by Mrs Pratten
Date: 12th Oct 2023 @ 3:58pm
Well done to Kit, Issac, Molly P and Lydia in Year 2 who went to Priory and took part in a multi sport event with other local schools. Theye were amazing and loved all the different activities!
Time to catch up!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 10th Oct 2023 @ 9:20pm
Last week we enjoyed a class walk to the library. We have borrowed some books for our classroom which we are enjoying. The penguins carried out a craft activity and the lady at the library said we were welcome anytime! The penguins really shone! We will visit again before Christmas for a story and Christmas craft session.
Today the children met PC Dave. He visited school and talked to us all about being safe on our bikes especially as winter time is coming. He told the children to always wear a helmet and wear bright colours when the days start getting darker.
This week is ‘Our body’ week in our topic ‘Marvellous Me’. We are learning facts about our bodies and talking about keeping healthy and safe. We have read the story of ‘Funny bones’ which helped us to talk about our bones and even look at x ray pictures.
Our mathematicians have been working hard! We have been looking at patterns. We have been copying and making patterns. The children will be able to talk about AB patterns and may show you how to do an ABC pattern. Please try and spot patterns at home or even when you are out and about.
Projects will be displayed on Monday. Please send them into school as soon as they are ready as we will share them in class together.
Thank you for your help and support with reading. The children are super proud of themselves and so are we. Everyday we look at new words in phonics and the children are delighted when they blend the sounds to create new words.
Wellie Walk Wednesday!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 4th Oct 2023 @ 9:30pm
This week the children welcomed a new penguin into their class. They have been friendly and kind and have enjoyed helping our new penguin feel part of the family!
We have been busy with our phonics this week. A huge thank you for your support. The penguins are enjoying spotting their new sound each day and they are very proud in class of the new words we read each day. Please continue to read and revisit the phonics wallet each day.
We have been working on taller, shorter, bigger, smaller, heavy and light this week. The children have been human balances, have experimented with different scales and had to work out what size of paper they needed to wrap the gifts at the wrapping station. I have been very impressed with their wrapping up skills, however we have gone through a lot of sticky tape!
Tomorrow is our library visit. We are very excited. As the weather is quite unpredictable at the moment please send your child to school with a coat. If it is very wet the penguins can wear their wellies on the walk.
Baking day!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 28th Sep 2023 @ 9:59pm
This week seems to have flown by!
The penguins have carried on exploring their senses this week. They have been weaving with pine cones, making their own class dough (with no help! Things got a little sticky!) and today they have been kneading and baking their own bread! The smell from school was amazing!
Baking the bread was very exciting and helped us to learn more about Harvest. We hope you enjoyed the Harvest Celebration in church. The penguins enjoyed their afternoon in church, especially the walk there and back with the year five buddies.
Reading - please remember to add a little comment in the white record book each time your child reads their school reading book at home. Please aim for 10/15mins reading each night. The reading pack should come to school each day in the blue book bag.
Phonics - please return your plastic wallet to school on a Thursday when new sounds will always be added each week. Please send this wallet in the blue book back. The children are really enjoying their phonics - please practice these sounds with their reading books each night. They are looking forward to teaching you the new actions!
Homework - this will come home on a Thursday and should be returned on the following Tuesday. Homework is the only thing sent home in the red book bag. Homework is always linked to our class work.
Next week we will be walking to Longton Library. I have sent a form home in your book bag from the library. Please complete it and return it to school (at the latest Tuesday morning) in the blue book bag. The librarians will check that your child is enrolled in the village library. If you are not yet members of the library, your child will be issued a ticket.
The books chosen next week will be for our classroom only. We will have a story session, followed by an art and craft session. We will return to school in time for hometime.
Get ready for Autumn., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 22nd Sep 2023 @ 1:17pm
The penguins are really starting to blossom. They are sharing funny stories, playing with new friends and confidently walking around school speaking to staff and children from other classes.
The penguins were excited to take their new reading books home this week. They have enjoyed teaching you our new sounds. I hope you are also learning the actions!
We are looking forward to celebrating Harvest next week in church and walking down School Lane holding hands with our buddies.
We have enjoyed exploring with our senses this week with spicy writing, exploring lemons and limes and reading in our classroom den with torches. The children really enjoyed making sandwiches with their friends this week so we have planned to have a baking day soon.
Class list, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 19th Sep 2023 @ 9:53pm
Class list -
Henry, Oliver, India, Rudy, Molly, Izzy, Phoebe, Robin, Sophia-Rose, Rose F, Edward, Tobias, Spencer, Hugo, Jessica, Isaac J, Rose M, Daisy, Isaac P, Rupert, Louie, Iylah, William, Sophie, Lewis, Isobel, Lois, Evie, Millie.
Wet welly Tuesday!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 19th Sep 2023 @ 9:39pm
What a wet and soggy day! However this didn’t stop the super penguins from having a great day.
I have lots to share and it’s only Tuesday! This week we continue with our topic Marvellous Me.
In maths we have been playing lots of matching games, match and memory, snap and dominoes. The penguins have been brilliant at spotting when Mrs. Thomson makes a mistake with her matching. We have had a class washing line for matching the clean - not stinky socks! We have played matching exercise games and we even had a huge follow my leader in the rain around the playground where the children had to match each action.
We are exploring our senses this week. We have some class herbs that we are looking after. Please ask the children which senses they use to smell the herbs (touch to rub the leaves and smell) Also please ask them which they like the best. Chocolate mint and lemon are strong favourites!
Yesterday the children made a sandwich friend. The children took a patterned piece of a heart. They then had to find who had the matching piece. The children buttered their bread and chose a filling of jam or ham. They made a heart shaped sandwich each and then went outside to sit with their new friend to enjoy an afternoon treat. The children enjoyed using their sense of taste.
This afternoon I visited our shoe shop. I was looked after and fortunately the shop sold slippers in adults sizes. What a treat! The children are enjoying being the shop assistants and the customers. My favourite comment that I heard today was from one busy shop assistant who was measuring feet. He stood up, took a deep breath and said “it’s a long day selling shoes”.
I hope you enjoy these pictures. Most of them have been taken by the children!
Meeting our year five buddies!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 14th Sep 2023 @ 9:24pm
This week the Penguins met their year five buddies. They had lots of fun together. The penguins taught their buddies the penguin dance and our favourite dance - Banana Meatballs! We all enjoyed some outdoor play as well as showing year five around our class room.
Today was thoughtful Thursday which involved story massage. The massage today was baking a birthday cake. Mrs. Morrison and I have enjoyed working and playing with the children. They have lots of stories to share and even beat Mrs. Morrison today in our phonics game! Well done Penguins!
We have sent home a red folder today for homework. Please send this back on Tuesday. The task is to have a treasure hunt around your home to find objects which start with our four sounds. There is also an extra task on the back if your child would like to practise their letter formation. If you have any problems or questions please feel free to ask Mrs.Morrison or I at the start of the day.
I have also sent home a small wallet with our sounds in. Please keep this in your child’s blue book bag so that we can add new sounds to it each week.
Thank you for your help and support.
Team work Tuesday, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 12th Sep 2023 @ 10:07pm
The Penguins have had a busy day today. We started with Squiggle and a wriggle. I am sure your child will show you what we do if you have a spare silky scarf, paper, crayons and some good music. Today we danced to Mama Mia. Lots of the penguins seemed very familiar with this music today. Next week we will be using a song by Queen.
Today I have been working with the children for short periods of time on a one to one basis. The children have been carrying out puzzles and practical tasks which they have enjoyed. This time has helped me get to know the children a little better and we have all realised that we enjoy a good chat!
The children went into the hall at the end of the day today for assembly. Our first whole school assembly! We were very proud of the penguins!
Tomorrow we have an exciting morning as we will be meeting our year five buddies. They will come into our class and spend time reading stories and sharing our 'All about me' books with us. We will plan special afternoons where we will see our buddies and we will walk to church with our buddies when we have celebration assemblies. A special friendship will develop over time - our year five pupils are so excitied!
First week super stars!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 8th Sep 2023 @ 5:18pm
The Penguins have been amazing this week! They have enjoyed working and playing with their friends. They have been chatty, friendly and super kind to each other.
Today we did some number games and the children were given ‘genius gems’ for their awesome work.
This afternoon the children had drama with Mr. Sumner followed by music and singing with Miss. Derby.
I hope you have spotted the special certificate in your child’s book bag. Mrs. Morrison and I have had a lovely week and we will be looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday.
Well done Super Penguins!
Thoughtful Thursday., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 7th Sep 2023 @ 4:08pm
Thoughtful Thursday started with the children going in their team colours on a guided tour of school with Mrs. Morrison. The children explored the school and also visited the orchard and forest school and our outdoor areas. Some groups got to see a guitar lesson in the music room and even a science experiment in the year five classroom. They explored the kitchen, library, visited Nicola and Linda in the office and even had a peep in the art studio.
We all did Dough Disco to warm up our hands and fingers before we all had a go at writing our name. Mrs.Thomson was very proud!
Our shoe shop is almost ready in our outdoor shed so we had a sort out of the dressing up clothes we want to use in this area. As you can see in the pictures the children enjoyed sorting them out and trying them on!
Thoughtful Thursday ended with us doing story massage. Please ask your child to show you! You may get a little relaxing massage to Twinkle Twinkle. A perfect way to end the day!
Mrs.Thomson
Welcome Penguins!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 4th Sep 2023 @ 7:54pm
What a special day we have had today! It was wonderful to welcome the penguins into school on such a lovely sunny morning.
The penguins have had a lovely start to their school journey by exploring their classroom and the outside environment. As it was very warm the children only played out for short bursts and made time for lots of water bottle stops. (If this weather continues please feel free to send a cap into school - I did get the hat box out today to help keep the children cool).
Today we have done some rainbow writing, painted a picture of ourselves and have also split into two groups for key worker time. During this time the children introduced themselves and all had the opportunity to tell the group something special about themselves. It has been lovely learning about the children.
Tomorrow morning starts with a great fun exercise session in the hall called squiggle and wriggle (all children in school uniform please). We will also be sharing our ‘All about me’ books. Thank you for all the books sent in so far.
Wednesday morning is PE. Each week on a Wednesday please send your child into school in their PE kit and black pumps.
Please can you send in your child’s final report from nursery. I would appreciate a copy of this. Please add a note if you would like me to copy it and return the original home to you.
Also if you have a photograph of your child ( this could be on holiday, with family or with a pet for example) please could we have it for our home corner. The children like to see and share a photograph of themselves which I will put in a frame - just like you have in your home.
Thank you, Mrs. Thomson.
