Welcome to Butterfly Class
We are Reception children (4-5 years), and we are in a ‘pod’ with Bumblebee and Caterpillar class. There are 15 children in our class, and our teachers are Mrs Heron & Mrs Scotter. They are supported by our teaching assistants, Miss Fenwick, Miss Slater and Miss Nicholson. We like a challenge and explore, practising our problem solving to develop our thinking skills both indoors and outdoors. We are starting phonics this term and are very excited about this. Look in our phonics and reading section to see what we will be doing. Find out about our curriculum and our long term plans in the Our Curriculum section of the website.
Homework
Homework in Butterfly Class consists of sharing a story book at home with a parent/carer, listening to stories and songs or looking at books independently. Your child with receive a new story book for an adult to read to them each week. They will also receive a new reading book each week which is matched to their growing phonic knowledge. Please remember to read with your child at least 3 times per week and sign their reading record book. We have our own ‘Sound Book’ which we keep in our bookbags alongside our reading books. Each time we are taught a new sound, the letter and the action is put into the Sound Book. Please support your child to practise his/her sounds daily at home.
Spring Term
This half term, we will complete and consolidate our work on Phase 3 phonics. We will then begin Phase 4, during which we will learn how to use the sounds we know to spell and read CVCC like tent and CCVC words like clap. We will continue to learn to blend these sounds to read words and segment these sounds to spell words. We will learn more tricky words, including there, like, have, some and little.
In story mapping, we will be immersing ourselves in the stories Jack and the Jelly Beanstalk, The Lion and the Mouse, The Thirsty Crow, Super Red Riding Hood, Monkey Puzzle and No Bot Robot’.
In our Maths work, we will be exploring the composition of numbers to 10; this covers how the numbers can be made up using different amounts. We will be consolidating using subitising to match these amounts and how to count to and over 20.
Our learning about the world
In science
We have been learning about all the mammals that live on the school grounds. First, we decided to support the local wildlife by doing a litter pick; we collected all the litter learning about the dangers it poses to local wildlife and the local environment. Then we set up two footprint tunnels bating them with dog food; we found hedgehogs had visited us. We had help identifying the footprints from a local Ecologist Sammy, who is working with our school and lives in New Brancepeth. Then we set up an animal camera called a camera trap. We placed it on a tree; it triggers us to take pictures every time something moves in front of it. We managed to capture lots of birds. We will continue to check the camera weekly to see if we get any different mammals once the weather warms up. We have learned a lot about being an environmentalist, how we can help make our school green, and what many of the local animals and birds are called. We drew the footprints we found using the footprint guide to help; our findings inspired us to put a hedgehog on the front of our mothers day cards.
In History
We have been learning about our history and the different stages of life, growing from being a baby to an elderly person. We compared this to the life cycles of other animals, plants and insects. We learned that some insects have a rapid life cycle, and some animals have a much longer life cycle, but when time has passed, it is all classed as the past, and we can’t repeat it. When we looked at the story from the Bible about Easter, we also talked about it being in the past and compared some of the items we could see to the present.
In RE
We learned about Islam and how it compares and contrasts with Christianity; we learned about the Mosque, the Qur’an, Mohamed and the prayer mat. We understand that we have many people of the Muslim faith in England and Durham. We know it is a personal choice which religion you choose to follow, including if we choose to follow no religion and accept everyone. We have been learning that Christians celebrate Easter and that it is the biggest celebration in the Christian calendar. We learned about the crucifixion story, and why Christians call it good Friday, we can see how it is linked to new beginnings, but the spring also brings new life with animals and plants. We decided that it is ok to celebrate new life and Easter even if you aren’t a Christian.
In Music
We have been learning how to perform in front of others; we have been learning some new funky songs like Funky Big Bear. We have been learning how to tap out a rhythm using claves and listen and respond to different types of music by giving our opinion on how it makes us feel. We have learned that we don’t all like the same style of music and that it is ok to disagree with someone about this.
Our Visit to Hall Hill Farm
We visited the farm and learned even more about life cycles, new life, and how to care for our local environment, including the animals. We learned the importance of taking our litter home because the goats will eat anything! We held freshly hatched chicks, rabbits, and Guinea pigs and fed the lambs, goats, sheep, and cows. Thank our farm guide, Zara, for a lovely educational visit.
Autumn 2
We enjoyed our half term holiday and returned to school ready to learn!
This half term, we will complete and consolidate our work on Phase 2 phonics. We will then begin Phase 3, during which we will learn the remaining single letter sounds and begin to learn digraphs which are sounds made with 2 letters, such as sh, ch, ee and oo. We will continue to learn to blend these sounds to read words and segment these sounds to spell words. We will learn more tricky words, including he, she, we, be and me.
In story mapping, we will be immersing ourselves in the stories ‘A Chair for Baby Bear’, ‘The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs’, ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’ and ‘The Jolly Postman’.
In our Maths work, we will be exploring the unit ‘It’s Me, 1, 2, 3!’ which focusses on comparing and representing the numbers 1,2 and 3, circles and triangles and positional language. We will then complete the unit, ‘Light and Dark’ which covers representing numbers to 5, one more and one less, shapes with 4 sides and time.
In the afternoons we will be taught by Mrs Scotter.
In our learning about the world
In science, we aim to discuss all four seasons and the weather and changes in nature relating to that season. So far, we know we are currently in Autumn and have been learning about all the changes outside. We have begun discussing and recording the weather every day. We have already learned some new words like bright instead of just sunny and overcast as opposed to cloudy. We also know that we too have to talk about temperature to discuss the weather. We have learned a new weather song alongside many new weather-related nursery rhymes. We will continue to map the weather for the rest of the school year. We will soon be sorting the weather and suitable clothing for the season.
In history, we have been learning about Guy Fawkes and the Gun Powder plot. We know this happened in the past; we discussed what it was like living in the past. We then organised pictures of items from the past to those we have now. For example, a horse and cart compared to a car. We understand that we celebrate Guy Fawkes being caught and the king being safe. We use bonfires and fireworks to celebrate. We made some firework pictures using paint and marbles.
In RE, we have begun learning about the Nativity story; this links to our historical understanding of the past. We could understand why Mary and Joseph travelled by donkey, knowing there were no cars that far into the past. We are learning about the sequence of this story and its importance to Christians. We have learned that it is ok for people to either believe or not believe in God and that this is a personal choice. We accept that people who don’t consider themselves Christians still celebrate Christmas. We know Christmas is a celebration of Jesus birth (Birthday).
In our learning in Expressive Arts
We have been planning and making a range of Christmas related crafts. We will be designing and evaluating all of our work, learning to critique work and accepting the critique from others. We are giving nothing else away about this as it will spoil the surprise.
We have been combining materials and techniques using ICT and paint to create remembrance pictures. We took a picture of our hands using a tablet, then learned that we could print these pictures in black and white. We then used paint to print a poppy onto the image. We studied remembrance day and the importance of remembering the soldiers on the 11th of November every year.
In music, we have been learning a range of Christmas songs which we will be performing near Christmas time. We will record the children’s performance for parents to view from home. (We are so excited).
Our School Visit to the Centre for Life
We really enjoyed the trip out to Newcastle. We found out a lot about animals homes from around the world. We looked at some fantastic Lego sculptures, and we were challenged to make our own when we returned to school. We explored a tremendous tree house discussing the local wildlife and sat in a planetarium, understanding that groups of stars had names with a lovely story about a little bear looking for himself in the night sky.
Mrs Scotter was very proud of our behaviour, especially when a teacher from another school visit commented that we were the best-behaved reception class she had ever seen. We look forward to more educational visits later in the year.
Autumn 1
We have all settled in well to our new class and we have been getting to know some new staff members and new children. In the mornings, we will be taught by Mrs Heron.
This term we will begin Phase 2 phonics, where we will begin to learn single letter sounds. We will learn to blend the sounds to read simple words such as sat, dog, pen and cup. We will also learn to read the tricky words the, I, to, no and go. We will learn and practise the correct letter formation for each letter.
In Story Mapping we are going to be looking at the stories, ‘The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig’ and ‘Room on the Broom’.
In our Maths work we are going to be looking at the White Rose Maths unit ‘Getting to Know You’, which focusses on key times of the day, class routines, exploring the provision indoors and outdoors, and positional language. We will then complete the unit ‘Just like me’ which focusses on matching and sorting, comparing amounts, comparing size, mass and capacity and exploring pattern.
In the afternoons, we will be taught by Mrs Gregory. We will be exploring the topic ‘Who am I!’ alongside the theme of Harvest. Our activities will be based around the curriculum areas, ‘Understanding the World’, ‘Physical Development’, ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ and ‘Personal, Social and Emotional Development’.
Along with Nursery, we enjoyed a visit to Broom House Farm. We had lots of fun exploring the woodland area and then we got to meet some of the animals.
As part of our work on Harvest, we enjoyed making and sharing our own vegetable soup. Lots of children brought in vegetables from home to add to the pot!
At the end of Autumn Term 1, we had a Phonics Stay and Play session and invited our parents to come into school to see how we learn phonics. It was great to see so many parents in school. I think our parents were impressed with how many letter sounds we had already learnt!
