Reception - The Giraffes: Blog items
A great day out!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 24th May 2023 @ 6:32am
The giraffes ad a great day out at the Leyland Transport museum yesterday. We knew it was going to be a perfect day when the double decker bus arrived to pick us up! What a treat! A very noisy treat! Lots of singing excited children!
The giraffes did amazing listening all day and got to see horse drawn vehicles, army vehicles, old buses, a car which belonged to King George and they even got to wave like the pope. We also saw lots of new trucks which were enormous!
We all enjoyed our packed lunch before doing a quiz, a treasure hunt and even had a spot of driving! Can you see from the pictures where we went?
The helpers were very knowledgeable and praised the giraffes on their behaviour and listening at the end of the day. Super star giraffes!
Make friends, make friends!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 20th May 2023 @ 7:20am
Our lovely week ended with talking about our friends. We wrote a recipe for a special friend and then payed some games showing that we could play fair, take turns and even lose at games sometimes.
We are looking forward to our trip on Tuesday and have our fingers crossed that the sun will shine for sports day on Thursday afternoon.
Next week is Art Week!
Monday - King Charles theme.
Tuesday - Class Trip.
Wednesday - Transport theme.
Thursday - Summer theme (Am) / Sports Day (Pm)
Friday - Summer theme (Am) Drama and Music (Pm)
We have art shirts in school but you are welcome to send an old adult sized T-shirt for your child to wear over their uniform whilst they are painting if you prefer.
I have lots of boxes but if you have an old shoe box or box that would be suitable for making a vehicle please send it in.
The children will also need a stick. Please don’t worry if you are busy this weekend and can’t collect one. I will have spares. We don’t need a huge branch but also we don’t want a tiny twig. Anything inbetween that they can stick lots of things on would be great.
Thank you.
Giraffes in action!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 17th May 2023 @ 8:10pm
Lots to share from the last few days!
Tomorrow we will be holding our class enterprise shop! We are very excited! The giraffes have made posters which are all around school and they have made over 150 fruit smoothie ice pops. The giraffes voted for ice pops from lots of ideas and they also chose the fruits to use. The giraffes are great at making decisions and holding class votes.
As you can see from the pictures they had fun preparing the smoothies. The shop will be open just before the end of school. We will leave from our class door as usual, at the usual time when the shop has closed.
I have included pictures from the last few days for you to share and talk about.
On Monday we had a visitor from the HSBC. She read us a story about money and then did some money activities in class. Homework this week will be linked to money as the children really enjoyed learning about saving, spending wisely and looking at bank cards.
In RE we read a story called ‘The swirling hijab’.
Miss. Darby and Miss. Lynch released the butterflies with the children. I think they had enjoyed their short time with us as they were reluctant to leave!
Mad Science Assembly, by Mrs Catterall
Date: 13th May 2023 @ 1:32pm
We enjoyed a visit from Mad Science. The assembly was full of excitement, fascinating facts and lots of wow moments.
Lots of news to share already!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 10th May 2023 @ 10:23pm
Although this is a short week the giraffes have lots of news already!
On Tuesday Penwortham fire and rescue came to visit us for the afternoon. Before they arrived we created a list of questions to ask. The giraffes did amazing listening and embraced their task of remembering three new things that they learned from the fire fighters.
Next time you walk to school and see the lamp post across from the car park please ask the children what the H means?
In maths we are looking at doubles. We have been counting doubles and also learning how to play dominoes. We have some champions already!
The children have asked Miss. Lynch to create a boat in the role play shed. She will be creating it with the children. Miss. Lynch has asked me to ask if anyone has a large (very large) cardboard box, a handbell and an old house phone (not a small mobile phone) for our role play.
The excitement continued this afternoon when we spotted a butterfly had emerged from the chrysalis. The wings were very soft and wet. We will release it into the orchard when the wings are dry and it can fly.
Homework will be sent home tomorrow. This week it is a talking and writing task. Tell me what you did to celebrate the coronation of King Charles or write down two questions that you would like to ask the king.
We are trying hard to remember finger spaces between our words, starting a sentence with a capital letter and using our phonics to help us sound out tricky words.
A weekend fit for a King!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 8th May 2023 @ 9:40pm
I hope you have all had a lovely weekend! The giraffe team can’t wait to hear about how you celebrated the coronation of King Charles.
Last week we looked at the royal family and have started planning a royal day full of art and craft very soon.
This week we are looking forward to a special visit from the Penwortham fire and rescue service. We have planned questions to ask and are excited to learn about the fire engine.
Last week in dance we focused on the country, Spain. We had to use very intricate arms and very fast feet for the flamenco.
We are excited to learn a new dance his week. I wonder what country we will be.
This week we will be looking at doubles in maths and in phonics the naughtifier will be giving us a new sound. We will be using sketching pencils to draw ourselves. In our outdoor area we have our bike wash and repair shop. The bike wash costs 10p. The children will be encouraged to find different ways of making 10p using the 1,2 and 5p. Please encourage your child to try this at home.
Super Powers!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 1st May 2023 @ 9:37am
This week the giraffes have been busy using their very special super powers! They have been kind friends, super mathematicians and super readers!
We enjoyed taking lots of our learning outside and enjoyed our parents coming to stay for the afternoon.
Next week we are looking at trains and aeroplanes. If you have any family photographs of either journey please feel free to send them in for your child to share.
The children reminded me that we haven’t done story massage for a while so it is planned for next week! We are also taking our fairy garden outside and using our bikes in our bike wash and garage as requested. Great ideas giraffles!
Chaos in the classroom!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 20th Apr 2023 @ 10:28am
We have started our new topic ‘Ticket to ride’ This week we have been looking at a story called - The Naughy Bus.
After a lovely PE lesson we returned to our classroom for a relaxing drink and piece of toast only to find our classroom taped off like a crime scene. The naughty bus had paid us a visit and left chaos in our classroom.
The giraffes became police investigators and had to look for clues. They completed a police report before finding him hiding in the grass after following the clues.
At the end of our story we discovered that the bus had been pushed by the little boy. Please ask the children who had been creating mischief with our London bus in our class!
Easter fun!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 30th Mar 2023 @ 9:15pm
Such a busy week!
Some wonderful work in PE this week with great throwing and catching, pencil rolls, egg rolls and weaving in and out of obstacles.
We went on a spring hunt around the school grounds with our year five buddies. We had a list of things we had to find - buds, bugs, daffodils, a nest, seedlings, birds and blossom. The children investigated the field, the orchard, the bog garden and forest school.
The children had great fun at the Easter Bonnet Parade. They even got an extra special visit from the Easter Bunny in class.
We have been working hard in maths. We have been using cards which turn over and try to find pairs that make ten. A great game for over the holidays!
We have enjoyed the story of the very hungry caterpillar this half term. The children had fun building cosy dark dens. Just like the cocoon the caterpillar made. Even in the rain the giraffes wanted to keep on den building! They even suggested having a quick snooze in their cosy den!
Bring yer wellies!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 22nd Mar 2023 @ 9:20pm
What a fantastic day! Fresh air, nature and adventures!
Nigel and Melissa took us to the greenhouse to plant some lavender and chives. The children listened to lots of advice on how to care for their plants which should live on a window sill until the weather is warmer. The children have all agreed to try and look after their plants just like the plants and trees help to look after us. They can be planted in the garden when they grow bigger and as they are perennials they will come back each year.
We then had a picnic outside before playing in the sand. Our next activity was learning about worms, soil and worm poo! The children were very interested and loved looking at the hundreds of worms in the wormery.
We then split into teams to watch our boats race in the brook followed by den building in the woodland.
The children were fantastic listeners and had great team spirit throughout the day.
Trip day tomorrow!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 21st Mar 2023 @ 9:16pm
Bring Yer Wellies Trip!
We are all very excited about our trip tomorrow. We will leave school tomorrow morning with our school packed lunches and our wellies on. Home time is as normal.
Things to remember -
warm coat
hat / gloves
warm trousers
thick socks for our wellies
school polo shirt and school jumper / cardigan
named water bottle ( which can be disposed of)
We are looking forward to a day of planting, den building, boat making and learning about mini beasts. I will post pictures tomorrow so the children can share their day with you.
Thank you for your help and support.
Red Nose Day, by Mrs Catterall
Date: 21st Mar 2023 @ 6:39pm
Congratulations to our Red Nose Day competition winners.
Their positive character trait Mr Men/Little Miss characters were put on a t.shirt for them to wear with pride.
Thank you to everyone who entered. Certificates are on there way to each of you.
Friendly Friday!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 17th Mar 2023 @ 6:54pm
How fast has the week gone! Lots of learning about Spring! New growth, life cycles and signs of Spring.
The children have class caterpillars to look after and we have been getting our outdoor planters ready for some new plants for us to care for.
We are going to create some miniature gardens next week so if you have any small pebbles, twigs or anything we could use I would be very grateful if you could send them in.
Wednesday will be an exciting day as we will be going on our class trip. We will have wellies ready on the morning but please remember that warm trousers or joggers will be needed (with the school uniform polo shirt and jumper / cardigan) and a warm coat and hat. We will be outside all day.
School packed lunches have been ordered by the children for our trip. Please send a water bottle which can be left for recycling when it is finished with your child’s name on it.
Have a lovely weekend.
Spring is nearly here!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 14th Mar 2023 @ 11:08pm
Today was started by talking about Spring. Over the next few weeks we will be looking at the signs of spring as well as animals, mini beasts, planting and growing.
The children followed instructions to draw baby chicks this morning.
We had an amazing afternoon when Holly came to visit with two baby lambs. We all loved them and we were quite sad when they had to go back to their farm. Please ask the children if they can remember how the lambs were feeding, where the lambs sleep and how old they were.
Class Assembly slideshows., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 4:02pm
Please find the slides that were shown at the class assembly.
Thank you.
Friendly Friday., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 10th Mar 2023 @ 3:49pm
The morning started with us snow hunting! Luckily we found just a little bit left! It was a good job we had our wellies on as the field was quite muddy. We had a good run and some snow fun!
When we arrived back at school we were given a super special treat from Mr. Brown. He had enjoyed our assembly and was very proud of the giraffes. They all got a home made cookie as a treat!
This afternoon the children had lots of fun with Mr. sumner in drama, they continued programming in IT with the cats and dogs and then did some fruit tasting with Mrs. Morrison.
Next week we have a super week ahead! We will start our story ‘ The very hungry caterpillar’. Our herbs are starting to grow and we will be planing more next week.
Have a lovely weekend.
Tuesday news., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 7th Mar 2023 @ 4:57pm
We have had some lovely news news today. A letter from Tiboo the triceratops! We are all happy to hear he has settled in his new home and we are going to write to him this week.
We have enjoyed the sunshine today by practicing our throwing and catching, skipping, balancing and bike skills.
We have been reading stories that have fruit and vegetables in them. We have been creating fruit faces and bowls of fruit with play dough.
A wonderful week!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 3rd Mar 2023 @ 3:05pm
What a great week!
World book day, IT with the Beebots, a visit to the library and making sandwiches with the cress we grew in class.
A big thank you for your help and support. The children all looked fantastic on world book day and enjoyed themselves at the library in the afternoon. We have some amazing new books in our classroom.
The children are doing great with their reading and we will continue to send Dash bear home every weekend if the children are able to read each day for 10mins.
We are busy getting ready for our class assembly next week. I will send a note home on Monday if an items of clothing are required. (This only applies to several of the children and it will clothing linked to their hobbies)
Have a lovely weekend.
Pancakes for our brain break!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 22nd Feb 2023 @ 7:29pm
It has been lovely to have the giraffes back! They have had lots of news to tell us along with their wonderful ‘All about me’ books to share with their friends. Thank you for helping with these books. The children are very proud of these very special books.
Please send your book back if it has not already come back this week.
We are working hard with our cursive writing and everyday we are practising different letters to ensure they all ‘swoosh up and have a flick at the end’.
Our number work has been great fun. We have been adding, counting in 2’s and counting in 10’ s this week. We have also been using our clocks to show o clock. The giraffes are experts at spotting 12 o clock - lunch time!
On Tuesday after our number work we decided to have a brain break and make pancakes.
Thank you for your support with reading. We are doing lots of reading in class, talking about the story, predicting the ending and talking about the characters and also the setting. Please continue to do this at home to ensure the children are understanding their stories as well as reading the words.
Winter walks., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 20th Jan 2023 @ 2:41pm
A busy Week where we have enjoyed several morning winter walks.
A picture below shows the children couldn’t wait to get started on one of their challenges and got busy before they had taken their coats off!
We have enjoyed learning about the Chinese New Year celebrations and traditions. We had a lovely lunch to help celebrate. We have practised writing our numbers in Chinese and had good fun making our own class dragon to use in our dancing.
The giraffes have made kites this week after one of our giraffes made one at home to show everyone.
We are learning about different people who help us and we had a visit from PC Paul and Sergeant Joanne who came with their police van. The children asked super questions, enjoyed using the equipment and dressed up whilst being outside in the snow! A great morning with lots of learning.
Next Friday morning we will be watching the short film and interactive game called ‘Pantosaurus’ which is on the NSPCC website. This will be part of our PSED learning. On the website there is more information and guidance for parents. If you have any questions please feel free to come and speak to Mrs. Morrison or myself next week.
Lots of splashing in puddles!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 15th Jan 2023 @ 9:28pm
We have had a wet week but this hasn’t stopped us from bike riding, creating boats to hold our penguins, doing our number work in the outdoor shed and having a great time at forest school with Mrs.Jackson on Friday.
At our creation station we have been making winter colours and experimenting using white and black paint to make our colours lighter and darker.
We have started new morning challenges in our teams. The children have embraced these new activities and some pictures below show the giraffes being busy. On Friday morning we didn’t have a challenge but did dancing to start our day. We did a penguin dance, the morning wake up shake up and our favourite banana meatball dance. A great way to start a Friday!
The children looked at the South Pole on the map during the week and we talked about animals, the weather and explorers. The giraffes had a go at building their own sled using the bricks and crates in the outdoor building area.
Trait of the week, by Mr Pearson
Date: 13th Jan 2023 @ 11:28am
Each week the pupil's of Longton Primary School will discuss a positive quality or characteristic trait.
Please share as a family.
Week beginning 16th Jan
Trait 1: Be honest. Don’t lie. Be a person people can depend upon. Think of the people we admire in books, movies and real life. Don’t they act with honesty and integrity? Aren’t they generous with others? Doesn’t everyone look up to them?
Happy new year!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 8th Jan 2023 @ 10:23pm
Happy new year!
It has been lovely to see all the children back together and Mrs. Morrison and I both commented that they have all grown so much over the break.
The giraffes have had lots of talking and listening time this week as they had a lot of news they wanted to share. We have celebrated our first birthday this year.
Our new class topic is ‘Amazing Animals’. We listened to a story about a lonely penguin and then looked on maps at where many penguins live. We did an experiment with water and talked about their habitats.
We have used paint, charcoal, chalks and pastels this week to create penguins. Next week we will be mixing paints and colours to create cold, winter colours.
The children have been revisiting their phonics this week. I would be very grateful if you could also do the same at home. Your wallets should have all of the sounds in to do this.
Thank you for your ongoing support with reading.
Please send in any small cardboard or plastic containers that you have finished with. We will be using them in our water play.
Thank you
Christmas Week., by Mrs Thomson
Date: 22nd Dec 2022 @ 6:13pm
A great final week in school! Christmas parties, visits from Santa, Christmas story massage, the carol service in church and even a visit from the Grinch.
The giraffes still managed to fit in time to learn new sounds, make a huge paper chain decorated with reasons why they are all special and unique as well as unpacking our home corner when it ‘moved house’.
I wish all the giraffes and their families a very happy Christmas. See you all in 2023!
One last message - a huge thank you for all the beautiful cards and gifts which were sent to Mrs. Morrison and I. They were a lovely surprise.
Party Time!, by Mrs Thomson
Date: 13th Dec 2022 @ 9:47pm
The giraffes had a great time at the Christmas party this afternoon and they were delighted to see Father Christmas.
They all got to play games, sing and dance. The giraffes seem to be enjoying singing and dancing - have you been told about our class disco corner? The children requested music to dance to and a microphone so that they can sing their favourite songs.
Our home corner has been up for sale and the children are getting ready to move house this week in our classroom.
All busy busy!
