Week commencing 15th December
What a week we have had. The children loved pulling their crackers during Christmas Dinner on Tuesday, they all looked fabulous in their festive wear too.
Wednesday was the day of the show, and we are all so proud of the children performing and singing so beautifully, I am sure you will all agree with us!
On Thursday, we had lots of fun with Little Movers after meeting Santa Claus before the children made their way home for Christmas.
We hope you all have a wonderful time together. Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
Week commencing 8th December
More lovely stay and play sessions happened this week. It has been a joy having lots of grown ups in with the children, getting into the festive spirit and making some beautiful crafts together.
The children have been enjoying lots of Christmas stories and they are getting very excited about a special someone who maybe visiting soon!
Week commencing 1st December
From tree decorating to Christmas crafts, we have had a busy start to December. The children are fully embracing the magic of Christmas!
We were also lucky enough to visit Crawcrook Library where we listened to a lovely story before going on a bauble hunt!!
Week commencing 24th November
In maths this week, the children have been identifying oblongs, their shape knowledge has blown me away! The children can recognise squares and rectangles, and they could all count four sides on the two shapes.
Our English text was centered around the non-fiction book, 'Mad About Dinosaurs'. The children have learnt lots of facts about dinosaurs and they have been brilliant at comparing two dinosaurs to discover similarities and differences. We absolutely loved meeting our new tiny dinosaurs that hatched out of their eggs this week!
In our Religion and Worldview lesson this week, we have been talking about different celebrations around the world. The children all shared which celebration is most special to them.
We welcomed to the School Nurses into school this week, they measured our heights and weights before reminding us about the importance of teeth brushing and oral hygiene.
The children have been practicing our Christmas performance this week too, they are so enthusiastic - we cannot wait to show you all!
Week commencing 17th November
In maths this week, the children have all been finding 'one less'. The children have all worked really hard together to support each other during our maths carousel this week.
We were very lucky to welcome Nishani Reed into school, she is an author who has written the book, 'No Cheese, Please' which is all about a litte mouse named Mo who has a dairy allergy. The children loved listening to the story and they were amazing at helping Nishani 'baking' a dairy free cake!
In English, we have been innovating the story of 'The Little Green Dinosaur', the children have created a new character that hatches to replace the Little Green Dinosaur in the original story.
In our PSHE lesson, we have been exploring different houses across the world, the children then built their own houses!
Week commencing 10th November
This week, we have been exploring the story of 'The Little Green Dinosaur' in our English lessons. On Monday we received a very special delivery, the children were very gentle with the dinosaur egg, we cannot wait to see what is inside of it! The children have been amazing at retelling the story and recalling the events during our Talk 4 Writing sessions.
Throughout our maths lessons, the children have been identifying 'one more' which is a very tricky concept. The children have worked together to identify what is one more than the number that they are looking at.
With it being 'World Kindness Day', the children have been talking lots about how we can be kind friends before we celebrated Children in Need - and HUGE thank you to you all for being so generous :-)
Week commencing 3rd November
This week has been National Poetry Week. We have been learning the poem, 'Mice'. The children have all done an amazing job learning and recalling our poem. We have been identifying alliteration too, I wonder if your children could impress you with their alliteration skills at home?
In maths this week, we have been getting more familiar with our identification of numbers up to five. Recognising that numbers can look different but still have the same totals.
The children have also been enjoying the mild November air in forest and during our PE session this week, the focus was balancing. The children became amazing circus performers and they did an amazing job following instructions to support their balancing skills.
Week commencing 20th October
This week, we have been embracing the Autumn weather bringing changes in the yard. This has led the children on to talking about the darker nights and how the owls will have more time to play.
Continuing with the 'Owl Babies', the children have identified animals that are nocturnal and diurnal before practicing their speaking and listening skills as they story tell.
In maths, the children have been subitising different amounts up to four. As the week has progressed, so has their confidence. The children were able to quickly identify how much was in front of them.
In our Religion and Worldviews lesson, the children had the opportunity to discuss 'people who help us' while thinking about how we can help each other too.
Week Commencing 13th October
Throughout the week, the children have been enjoying some great collaborative play, using those amazing imaginations!
In the children's maths lessons, we have been exploring and comparing the different properties of shapes. The children LOVED listening to the books, 'Triangle' and 'Circle' by Mac Barnett before we observed some of Kandinsky's artwork which involves lots of different shapes. The children then created their own masterpieces!
We have been focusing on 'Owl Babies' during our English lessons. The children have been able to sequence the story while considering the different feelings of the different characters in the story. We will continue with the Owl Babies next week.
Within our Religion and Worldview sessions, we have been sharing our special people with each other. The children have enjoyed showing their family and friends to Gateshead class.
Week Commencing 6th October
This week we have been learning about the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in our maths lessons. The children were amazing at identifying the numbers in different forms.
Our English lessons have been focused on Julia Donaldson's, 'The Gruffalo' and the children have been amazing at creating their own creatures using adjectives as well as becoming story-tellers with their Puppets.
During our PSHE lesson, we have introduced the PANTS rule to the children with some help from Pantosaurus.
During these discussions, we taught the children the following important safety skills without giving explicit information or telling scary stories. We looked at the NSPCC’s Underwear Rule, using the ‘PANTS’ acrostic, which is like a green cross code.
PANTS stands for:
• Privates are private
• Always remember your body belongs to you
• No means no
• Talk about secrets that upset you
• Speak up, someone can help
The session introduced a range of ideas, all delivered in a fully age-appropriate way. If you would like to know more about the NSPCC’s campaign and see how you can help keep your children safe in partnership with school, more information can be found at: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule/
Week commencing 29th September
As Autumn sneaks upon us, we are noticing lots of changes. The children have been using the leaves to support their play outdoors, and we have been spotting lots of different insects, there has been lots of ladybirds and spiders in our garden too that we have loved observing.
In our maths sessions this week, the children have been identifying a making simple patterns. They have used a range of different materials to build their patterns; we have been seeing lots of pattern making in their play too which has been lovely!
During our English lessons, we have been learning and reciting 'My Magic Telescope' by Sean Taylor. The children have been using their brilliant imaginations to create their own verses of poems before performing the poem on Friday. We were so proud!
Week commencing 22nd September
This week has seen the children identifying 'more' or 'fewer' in their maths sessions. They all did a brilliant job working in pairs to identify who had more, who had less and who had the same.
In English, our focus book has been 'Holey Moley' which has made us all giggle. There were lots of rhyming words throughout the story and we have been practicing spotting rhyming words around us. We had a great game of 'Silly Soup' with Mrs Priestley, maybe you could play this at home too!
The children have been focusing on how to be a kind friend in our PSHE lessons, and when Miss Common wouldn't share her baby with Mrs Rushton, the children all shared their ideas on how we could play better - there were some fantastic ideas!
Week commencing 15th September
The fun has continued in Gateshead this week. Our English text has been focused on 'Whatever Next', the children have all enjoyed the story and have been creating spaceships and picnics into their play this week. The children have all been amazing at talking about the characters in the story and they have all been able to sequence the story in the correct order.
During maths, we have continued with our sorting and we even had to help Mrs Priestley correctly match her wellies so they were in the correct pairs!
Our phonics journey has also taken off... We have been blown away with how well Gateshead are recognising their letters. Little games at home will support their reading further. Can your children find items beginning with the m, a, s, t, d sounds?
Week commencing 8th September
Our first official week as Gateshead!
We have had a great start all together. The children have begun to share their Chatterboxes, supporting their confidence. The children have listened to each other and asked some good questions to support their curiosity!
In maths, we have been doing lots of sorting, which was lovely to see the children bringing into their play. Maybe you could see how good your children's sorting skills are?
We also had our first PE lessons; the children were practicing their gross motor skills and learning how to navigate obstacles.
Week commencing 1st September
What an amazing first week we have had. The children have been making lots of new friends and rekindling old friendships too! Everyone has had a lovely time exploring their new classroom and playing with the new toys. We have seen some great sharing and some fabulous arty creations. The sunshine has definitely helped everyone's smiling faces :-)