Our blogs

Wonderful Wednesday!, by Mrs Thomson

Date: 22nd Jan 2025 @ 4:45pm

Today was a busy day full of learning inside and out. Den building, outdoor maths fun, junk modelling owls and several operations performed in our vets surgery!

This morning we had a wonderful time learning about the important role of the police. The kangaroos had prepared lots of questions for Sergeant Jo and PC Kev. The kangaroos were fascinated by their kit and enjoyed exploring the van.

Happy homework - Reading books will be changed in the morning and you will find new 'Rainbow tricky' words in your record book. We would appreciate your help with these words as well as revisiting the first set of 'Rainbow' words - my, me, I, of, is, the,was and to. (You can find these stuck in your reading record book earlier in the school year). Please continue to revisit the sounds from the sheet we sent home previously. New homework will be sent our next week which links to our maths number work.

Thank you

 

 

Busy Penguins, by Mrs Pratten

Date: 17th Jan 2025 @ 4:25pm

This week the children have carried on learning about place value in maths, how many ones and how many tens in teen numbers.

In science we started learning about how animals can be grouped, we learnt all about mammals.

As geographers we found about where hot and cold countries are in relation to the equator.

Today in our scarf lesson we discussed our feelings in different situations, we worked in a small group to draw how it feels and how our body changes when we are unsure or feel unsafe.

Well done Harry our first super hero handwriter, who will it be next week?,

More learning next week, don't forget projects!

Have a lovely weekend😊

Lots of busy kangaroos!, by Mrs Thomson

Date: 17th Jan 2025 @ 3:22pm

After a busy week the kangaroos enjoyed making their friend a hot chocolate today. In our PSHE / SCARF work we are doing lots of talking and activities about keeping safe and being a good friend. We are revisiting sharing, kindness, turn taking and using kind words.

In maths this week we have been looking at one more. Please have a go - perhaps hold up three fingers and ask what would one more be. We have been doing this up to 10.

Homework - Reading books and revisiting our sounds in our phonics wallet or phonics sheet.

Next week, as part of our keeping safe topic in PSHE we are having a visit from the police. We are very excited! Next week we are going to think of some questions that we would like to ask them. If you think of any questions whilst chatting to your child please feel free to send them in the bookbag.

Congratulations to our handwriting hero!! (Please see the pictures) This superhero cape and mask is presented each Monday in assembly. The children can wear their special cape all week to celebrate. This special reward has been introduced in each class.

A winter week, by Mrs Thomson

Date: 11th Jan 2025 @ 9:05am

What an exciting first week back!

The snow came which was just perfect for our science afternoons where we looked at freezing and melting. I was very mean to our new penguin toys and froze them in containers and rubber gloves. The kangaroos were not happy!

We tested how we could free the penguins - Would the ice melt if they were left outside? In our fridge? In our classroom? With warm water? We had a lot of fun being scientists and used words such as temperature, liquid and solid.

We have worked hard in phonics. We looked at a new consanant cluster 'sl' - sleep, slug, slip and sling.

In handwriting we have been starting our sessions by warming up our fingers and have checked that we have our chairs tucked in and our feet flat on the floor so that we can do our best.

Our new topic is 'Amazing Animals' (please see our class notice board and also above in the files to download section) We have a new class 'Pets at home, complete with veterinary surgery. Our story book this week has been 'Lost and Found'. We could not believe that we had a mysterious suitcase delivered to our class from the story. The children had to guess what could be inside the case which was on its way to the South Pole.

I wonder if your kangaroo can tell you about the penguin eggs or how they huddle?

The children have had lots of opportunities to talk and share this week. They have shared news about their Christmas and New Year break. The have shared their 'All about me' books with each other and even talked about New Year Resolutions. Our class resolution is to 'keep our bodies healthy'. We talked about choosing dinners that might be new and exciting and also choosing dinners that we would enjoy. The children have amazed the kitchen staff this week!

We are constantly reminding the children during the day to drink their water to stay healthy. We have set up a stretch area inside our classroom and also outside in our home corner shed to help us work on our new year resolution.

On Wednesday (3.15-4pm) please feel free to drop in and ask questions about reading, listen to your child read or let your child read to a member of staff. We are checking books constantly but your feedback is very much appreciated to help us address concerns with their reading books or phonics work.

I hope you enjoy sharing the pictures with your kangaroo.

Happy New Year!, by Mrs Pratten

Date: 10th Jan 2025 @ 3:41pm

Welcome back and a Happy New Year! Hope you all had a fun family time over the break and a big thank you from Mrs Regan and myself for our lovely gifts. Not expected at all but most appreciated.

The Penguins have settled well this week and have especially enjoyed the snowy weather.  

We have also enjoyed our new story in English, Prince Cinders, we loved using adjectives to describe the characters and it was funny! In Maths we have been starting to explore numbers to twenty, thinking about how many tens and how many ones.

We loved being Geographers where we explored the globes and started to find out about the 7 continents. We even had a postcard from Asia!

Have a lovely weekend, Mrs P

Snow fun, by Mr Pearson

Date: 9th Jan 2025 @ 11:14am

Excellent time in the snow this morning 

Happy New Year!, by Mrs Thomson

Date: 5th Jan 2025 @ 11:07am

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has had a well deserved rest over the Christmas and New Year break!

I have added our Spring 1 Subject Organiser (above on files to download) so that you can see what exciting things we will be doing over the next half term.

Mrs. Morrison and I are looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow. We would  like to say a huge 'Thank you' for all of the lovely cards, kind words and gifts that we received. They were a lovely surprise!

Voting time., by Mrs Thomson

Date: 18th Dec 2024 @ 8:10pm

The kangaroos are feeling very proud of themselves this week. They have achieved all of their stars to receive a class compliment. We had an afternoon of sharing ideas. The kangaroos suggested a pyjama day, a trip to the park, a cinema morning, a scooter and bike afternoon, a disco and even a camping trip!

Everyone had thinking time and then we had a class vote. The cinema morning won! Tomorrow morning the kangaroos will have a variety of activities available in the classroom but we will also set the classroom up like a cinema. They have chosen to have popcorn and hot chocolate also.

In the afternoon we will be walking to the library for Christmas stories and a craft session. (Please send hats and gloves)

This week in science we looked at light and dark. We found lots of different sources of light and talked about the shadows we made on our school field. We created our own shadow puppets in the classroom. We even tried to make animal shadows with our hands.

In phonics this week we have revisited some of our tricky sounds - er, ur, ure, igh and oi. Please continue to look at these in your wallets.

We had lots of fun dancing at our party with year one and year two yesterday. The year six DJ's did a great job!

This morning we had a lovely surprise visit from Mr. Brown. He brought everyone a drink and lovely biscuit which Father Christmas had asked him to pass on to us. Mr. Brown was told that Father Christmas was super proud of the kangaroos!  

This afternoon we enjoyed our teddy bears christmas picnic. The children all set the tables beautifully with table clothes, bowls, plates and name cards for their bears. They all made a sandwich and enjoyed fruit and a golden chocolate coin. 

 

A fun , busy week!, by Mrs Pratten

Date: 13th Dec 2024 @ 3:04pm

A lovely week this week, the panto was fab on Monday, Christmas lunch delicious and breakfast with Santa amazing , all very festive!

We have also still enjoyed some normal learning, enjoying sketching features of Longton and sorting into human and physical features and trying to find them on a map. In maths learning all about 2D  and 3D shapes and in English writing an information text all about Captain Scott who tried to be the first to reach the South Pole.

Next week we have a visit to the library on Tuesday morning for a Christmas story session and in the afternoon our party. On Thursday afternoon we will have our well earnt class compliment more details about this when the children have decided what they want!

Have a lovely weekend 🎄

Hot Chocolate Wednesday!, by Mrs Thomson

Date: 13th Dec 2024 @ 11:15am

Another busy week for the kangaroos!

The children have worked very hard in their maths. They have been detectives spotting circles, triangles, squares and rectangles. They know how to recognise the shapes and identify how they are different or how they are similiar.

Mrs. Morrison has started an art and craft project with the class. They are creating a class christmas tree using junk materials. The class will have to build it, starting with the largest boxes next week and decorate it using their wonderful imaginations.

On Wednesday everyone enjoyed their Christmas lunch together. It was a very festive occasion.

We have been talking about the past and the present this week. We have linked this to Christmas traditions. Please talk about the traditions you have in your family and any traditions you had when you were very young.

Next week we will send home a lot of art and craft - please send a carrier bag in so we can get this all home to you.

Christmas Homework - Rest, Relax and Reading (please). We are sending your green 'All about me' book home. One or two pictures drawn by the children or a new photograph added would be fantastic! Thank you.

Tuesday 17th December - Christmas Party afternoon.

Wednesday 18th December - Kangaroos Afternoon Christmas Picnic (Please send a small soft toy / teddy - it must fit in the book bag) Thank you.

 

Homework., by Mrs Thomson

Date: 5th Dec 2024 @ 8:44pm

A huge apology!

The homework sheet has not gone home with the kangaroos! It was put in a very safe place!

It will be sent home tomorrow.

Thank you for your patience.

Fabulous Penguins, by Mrs Pratten

Date: 29th Nov 2024 @ 2:25pm

A big well done from very proud teachers for an amazing nativity that has definitely got us all excited about Christmas !

The Penguins were so confident to speak, act and sing in front of everybody it was wonderful! 


What an amazing week!, by Mrs Thomson

Date: 29th Nov 2024 @ 9:58am

Wow what a fun and fantastic week!

Our 'Traditional Tales' took us on lots of adventures. The kangaroos created a 'kind friends' beanstalk and also a huge castle made from junk materials. It is something very special! It has a floating kitchen, keypad on the door, spy lookout and a telescope to see the stars! Next week we will cotinue to decorate our castle. We will keep you posted with pictures!

Yesterday the kangaroos enjoyed a baking / maths morning with Mrs. Morrison. The children went in small groups to our fantastic kitchen and made gingerbread men. The smell around school was wonderful!

In the afternoon the children decorated their biscuit and some children ate them for their afternoon snack. Which part of a gingerbread man do you eat first? This was a great discussion!

We have been planting this week, learning new sounds in our phonics and looking at larger numbers in maths.

We hope you enjoyed 'Higgledy Piggledy Nativity'. The children have enjoyed learning the songs and actions. Thank you for helping with costumes.

Learning fun, by Mrs Pratten

Date: 22nd Nov 2024 @ 2:32pm

We are busy rehearsing our Nativity Play, thank you for sending all the costumes in.

We are enjoying our new English story, the boy who sailed the world and learning about places in Geography, where we live.

In maths we have been adding, we enjoyed a chilly walk this morning collecting objects to add with and then making a number sentence with our friend . Eg I found 4 sticks , you have 3 leaves 4+3=7

Have a lovely weekend 😄

We had our fingers crossed for snow!, by Mrs Thomson

Date: 22nd Nov 2024 @ 12:57pm

Although we didn't get enough snow to go out having fun building snowmen, the kangaroos still managed to run and play on the crispy, crunchy and frosty field. We even started to look at our shadows. We tried to join them up without  holding hands.

Very shortly we will be exploring and looking at 'light and dark'. We will create shadow puppets.

This week we have continued with our topic 'Traditional tales'. We have looked at how many of these stories start and end. We have also identified good and bad characters. We have been sequencing our stories and this week after we received a letter from the giant we helped him by writing 'Wanted' poster to help him find Jack. The kangaroos 'wowed' us with their writing! They were using their amazing sounds to write - naughty, sneaky, fast, short, bad and cheeky!

We have started to create a class beanstalk. Do you like our troll masks?

Thank you for sending in items for the Christmas costumes. If you did not receive a letter this is because we have everything needed in school. 

Thank you for your continuous support with reading. This week we have enjoyed your children reading new and tricky words to us. They have been very proud of themselves!

Remembrance Day, by Mrs Thomson

Date: 13th Nov 2024 @ 2:28pm

On Monday we had a very special 'Remembrance Day' assembly in school. All of the classes met in the hall and took part in a very special service. Children in school shared medals and memories with everyone. Mr. Turner came to visit us and we listened to his story about his dad leaving him to go off to war when he was a little boy.

At 11am we stood very still and you could hear a pin drop in our assembly hall as we took part in two minutes of silence.

Sam brought a very special picture into class to share of his great grandfather. It was very interesting and we looked for clues of how we could tell it was a picture from the past.

At lunch time we enjoyed sausage and mash or corned beef hot pot. We all sat in big long rows, just like in the pictures we see from the past.

That day we talked more about Remembrance day, why we wear poppies and we saw a picture of King Charles laying a reef in London.

We have continued talking about 'Respect' this week as it is 'Anti-bullying' week. We have also been talking about 'Respect' in our RE work. 

A huge apology!, by Mrs Thomson

Date: 12th Nov 2024 @ 10:16pm

A huge apology! We cannot hold our 'Bookworm Bistro' tomorrow after school. It will swap over to next Wednesday. However if you need any support with reading or have any questions about our phonics or reading books please do not wait until next Wednesday. 

Please pop and see us one morning or afternoon (apart from Wednesday afternoon this week and we will gladly help).

Thank you 

Festival of Light., by Mrs Thomson

Date: 8th Nov 2024 @ 7:08pm

This week the kangaroos have been learning about Diwali. They have carried out a variety of activities to celebrate this festival of light. Our playground was decorated with Rangoli patterns to bring good luck, good fortune and good health. The kangaroos made 'divas', cards and mehndi designs. They enjoyed traditional dancing with Mrs. Morrison outside.

We have enjoyed role play, phonics, finding different ways of making the number five, practising our letter formation and being scientists. The kangaroos had to create a bridge strong enough to hold out 'Billy goat Gruff'. They had to test it to check it was long enough and strong enough to hold the billy goat over our large trays of water. Our kangaroos showed great resilience and didn't give up!

Earlier in the week we enjoyed a special visit by Miss. Sally the dance teacher. She was fantastic and every single kangaroo had fun learning two routines.

A huge thank you for coming into class this week. The kangaroos were very excited to have you all in our learning environment. 

On Wednesday a lot of classes went on a trip to the cinema. We decided to be a little cheeky! We did our phonics lesson in the year six classroom and we also did our maths in our buddies, year five classroom. We left a secret note for them to find!

Phonics - In your wallet this week you will notice that you have two sound cards for 'th'. The moth card is for the sound 'th' as in Beth and moth. This 'th' sound doesn't use the voice.

The second card has a moth and moon on it. This 'th' sound is used in 'this and that'. The 'th' sound uses the voice 'th-a-t'. I hope this helps.

Please pop in on Wednesday afternoon after school if you need any help with these sounds or any others. If you have any questions about your childs reading or reading book please do come in for a coffee on Wednesday after school! You are most welcome.

Great week in the Penguins, by Mrs Pratten

Date: 1st Nov 2024 @ 5:11pm

Lovely to see all the fabulous penguins back after half term, hope you all had a lovely break. Don't forget to tell me what you got up to in your holiday passports.

We have had an exciting week with a Halloween story session at the library, a Halloween disco and lots of fun learning!

We loved our new story, Not a stick, we used our imaginations to think how we could use different shaped sticks, like in the story.

In Maths we have been adding using the part whole model.

We loved our RE lesson  where we were artists painting how we thought the world began, our last lesson on this unit. Some great ideas and lovely pictures.

Have a great weekend :)

Wonderful week One!, by Mrs Thomson

Date: 1st Nov 2024 @ 10:52am

Welcome back!

This week we have finished off our topic 'Marvellous Me'. We have talked about our amazing bodies and how we have changed since being a baby and a toddler. 

We have looked at our bones and produced a skeleton piece of art, linked to the story 'Funnybones'.

We were invitied to watch the year six assembly this week. It was amazing to hear about their school holiday and everything they have been learning in class since September. Mr. Pearson was so proud of our listening skills that he awarded our class with a class compliment!

In phonics this week we have been introduced to 'digraphs'. Two letters that make only one sound - ch, qu. The kangaroos have embraced their learning and they have been sounding out new words and also writing them. I hope you enjoy the new actions.

Thank you for listening to your child read everyday. Mrs. Morrison has listened to all of the kangaroos read this week. She has been amazed!

Our 'super star readers' will continue next week - children will receive a certificate in assembly and a badge that they can keep. The reward will always be for effort in reading. Your feedback and signature in the record books is very much appreciated.

Next week we will start our new topic 'Traditional Tales'. We will be learning about Diwali - can you see our dancing for Diwali photograph?

 

Dates for your diary., by Mrs Thomson

Date: 28th Oct 2024 @ 9:33pm

Wednesday 30th October 6pm - 7pm Halloween Disco. Parents are welcome to stay for this event. 

Tuesday 5th November - 2pm. Parents in Class. You are very welcome to come and spend some time in class with your child / the kangaroos. Have fun being involved in our learning! Home time as normal.

Monday 11th November - Remembrance Day in school. Your child can wear red for a poppy, dress up as a nurse, doctor, soldier or evacuee. (Come into school wearing these clothes - no uniform needed)

 

Smiley Friday!, by Mrs Thomson

Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 2:06pm

This morning we decided to rename our 'Fun Friday' to 'Smiley Friday' as everyone came into school with the biggest of smiles on their faces!

The children started their day by having a phonics competition with Mrs.Thomson. The kangaroos won! Fantastic team work!

This week we have revisited our work senses and Autumn. We have also been talking about how we have changed since being a baby and what we dream to be when we are older.

Happy homework -

Homework for the half term break is to please continue reading and practicing the phonics and words in your wallet. Also we have sent home the 'All about me' books for you to add one or two pages. (Bus ticket, map, picture, writing)

Please save any old washing up squeezy bottles with lids for next half term, thank you.

Comparing toys, by Mrs Pratten

Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 8:07am

Thank you so much for sending in the lovely toys for us to look at. It really did bring our learning alive as we were really able to compare old with new.

We loved using our last sense, the sense of touch, our skin, in our science  lesson.

Thank you too for all the wonderful projects that came in, the children loved sharing them and we loved looking at them.

Have a fabulous break, enjoy time with your fabulous children, 

Mrs Pratten and Mrs Regan

Fabulous learning, by Mrs Pratten

Date: 11th Oct 2024 @ 4:06pm

This week we have been comparing numbers using signs and  language eg greater than, less than and equal to. 
We have been doing lots of writing about our robots and in the style of Knuffle bunny.

In science we had fun on a listening walk and quiz.

We loved looking at Mrs Pratten's old toys and comparing old teddies with new ones in History.

Please bring in old toys on Thursday that you played with or grandparents. We would love to see them and we will be careful with them!

In RE we were thinking about the qualities needed to create the world, choosing the ones we thought best.

 We are off to the Brickcroft on Tuesday looking for signs of Autumn, 🫰for good weather

Have a great weekend :)

Using our senses., by Mrs Thomson

Date: 11th Oct 2024 @ 1:54pm

This week the kangaroos have had fun using their senss to explore. They went on a sensory walk around the inside and outside of our school, they made scented and prickly play dough, listened to a sounds story, used their senses on our class herbs and also explored our feely boxes and scented pots. They used their super power listening ears in the library when Helen read stories to the children and followed her instructions on hot to make a giant peach.

The librarian from Longton library has invited us back for a Christmas story and craft session later in the year. She was very impressed at how all the children listened and behaved in the library.

Thank you for your amazing support with reading and phonics. It is a delight to see the kangaroos feeling so proud of themselves when they sound and blend the new words I give them in phonics each day. Mrs. Morrison and I really do appreciate the daily reading that you are doing at home as the children are beaming with confidence in phonics each morning. I hope you spot their excitement at seeing a new sound each morning on the washing line!

Don't forget that you are more than welcome to call into our 'Bookworm Bistro' after school on a Wednesday if you have any reading or phonics questions! 

Next week I would be very grateful if you could send one baby photograph into school with your child. We will be sharing our memories, looking at how we have chnaged and talking about our amazing bodies.