Week Ending Friday 27th March 2026
This week we have continued to complete activities linked to the story called Supertato.
Mrs Richter drew a story map that we can look at when retelling the story.
Last week the children created their own fruit or vegetable Super Hero. This week, inspired by the character in the story called Evil Pea, the children made up their own villainous fruit or vegetable. They drew their character and made up a name for them.
We have also played a game called Fortunately / Unfortunately. One person thinks of something bad that could happen and their partner has to think of a way to solve the problem.
For example: Unfortunately, it started to rain. Fortunately, I had an umbrella with me.
Week Ending Friday 20th March 2026
We celebrated World Down Syndrome Day a day early in school on the 20th of March by wearing odd socks, the brighter the better! World Down Syndrome Day is usually celebrated on the 21st day of the 3rd month to symbolize the uniqueness of the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome, which causes Down syndrome.
One of our Friday fun jobs was also all about 'the same but different too.' The children listened to a story and then thought of all of the wonderful things that are different about each other. We reinforced that it is, of course, ok to be different, to like different things, to look different and to be good at different things.
The children then all drew an 'I am amazing!' portrait celebrating their individual, different talents.
Week Ending Friday 13th March 2026
As we are now in the season of Spring, we have been looking for signs of new life in our outdoor space. We have also been planting seeds and learning about how to look after them whilst we patiently wait for them to grow!
We have joined in with DSUK's Sunflower Challenge for World Down Syndrome Day 2026, to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day with their annual sunflower challenge.
We planted sunflower seeds that we will be sending home next week. Whose sunflower will be the tallest? Whose sunflower will bloom first?
Just like sunflowers, every child grows and blooms uniquely. This challenge serves as a beautiful metaphor for the diversity and individuality that makes each child special.
Week Ending Friday 6th March 2026
We had a great time celebrating World Book Day this week!
Week Ending Friday 6th February 2026
This week we were invited by Gateshead Library to Crawcrook Library to help them celebrate 100 years of library services in Gateshead.
The children were all gifted a special edition Library card and were eager to choose their first book to use it.
As ever, Kyle provided a fun and active story time session for the children before we returned back to school armed with our new library cards and books.
Our visit also supported our commitment to The National Literacy Trust's campaign - The National Year of Reading. We hope that the children will continue to use their new library cards to read lots more (free!) lovely books with their families.
Week Ending Friday 30th January 2026
This week in English we started a new text; The Three Billy Goats Gruff. This is already proving to be really popular and the children are really motivated to retell the story using props and masks.
In Maths, we have looked at pairs using practical objects such as wellies, socks and matching pairs games.
Week Ending Friday 23rd January 2026
Our school is part of a National Programme with the charity, Voice 21.
Voice 21 supports schools in their Oracy journey.
The Importance of Oracy in Early Years:
Oracy, defined as the ability to articulate ideas and engage in effective communication, is crucial for children's development in the early years. It supports their ability to express themselves, build relationships, and make sense of the world around them. Research indicates that strong oracy skills in early childhood can lead to better academic and social outcomes later in life.
In Reception, we use age appropriate activities to build Oracy skills such as:
To speak audibly so they can be heard and understood.
To use talk in play to practise new vocabulary.
To join phrases with words such as ‘if’, ‘because’ ‘so’ ‘could’ ‘but’.
To ask questions. To wonder about ideas.
To describe events that have happened to them in detail.
To listen attentively in a pair or small group.
To take turns to speak with a partner independently.
Our Oracy activity on Thursday used mouth and ear props to support the children in their effective partner talk. The children were tasked with agreeing or disagreeing with statements about the The Three Little Pigs story, proving their point by using 'because' in the sentence.
Week Ending Friday 16th January 2026
This week in maths we have explored capacity - the amount a container can hold.
Using practical resources, we have explored the language of ‘full’, ‘half full’, ‘empty’, ‘nearly full’ and ‘nearly empty’.
We have also used the language of tall, thin, narrow, wide and shallow when comparing containers. We have encouraged the children to make direct comparisons by pouring from one container into another or count how many small pots fills a larger one.
Week Ending Friday 9th January 2026
On Friday we re-capped our knowledge of the Zones of Regulation and the different feelings that the four colours can represent.
We talked about what each feeling can look like and how it was useful to be able to be able to identify how people around us are feeling.
We played a game whereby the children had to identify how each of the characters were feeling and sort them into the correct colour 'Zone'.
We finished by making our own breathing stars which the children can as one of their own tools if they are ever feeling blue, red or yellow.