Welcome to Class 1 Squirrel!

In Squirrel class your child will be learning through the Early Years Foundations Stage (EYFS) Curriculum. Our EYFS team are Mrs Fielding, Mrs Williams, Mrs Taylor and Mrs McCully.

Our learning journey...

Please browse our learning jouney below to see what we have been up to in Squirrel class!

September...

The start of a new school year! The children made a fabulous start to the new year, including getting to know their new teachers Mrs Fielding and Miss Langley. During the summer holidays the staff had worked on the indoor and outdoor areas of provision. The children were really excited to learn about all the changes and got busy in the mud kitchen and outdoor creative area. The children settled well and we soon began our focussed learning, along side child-initiated learning. 

We developed our learning through the texts 'Rosie's Walk and 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'

October...

Saw our first school trip of the year! We had a wonderful time at RHS Harlow Carr Gardens. We met Dillon the dragon who told us about his BIG brother; he had accidentally destroyed the homes of the elves and fairies who live in the woods. Our mission was to build some new homes for the elves and fairies. We worked on groups to create some super new homes, some even included hot tubs and landscaped gardens!

Our main text was 'Jack and the Beanstalk', which we explored through all areas of learning. The Giant sent us a letter explaining that he was not scary, but he was lonely. We decided to write back to him and told him we would be his friend. He was delighted and told us he was planning his birthday party. We offered to help him and wrote lists of all the things he would need. We ended the half term with a birthday party for the Giant. Unfortunately, he could not join us as he thought the would not fit into our classroom!

November...

Began with a lot of excitement! We came back from assembly one afternoon to find feathers and footprints all over our classroom! We followed the trail outside and found an owl hiding on a shelf in a cosy nest. We took it inside and looked after it for the next few weeks. We found out about what owls need and where they live and also wrote letters to our little visitor.

Our class text was 'The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark', by Jill Tomlinson. We were able to tell the story using a story map, then wrote an alternative version of the story. Finally, we wrote our own stories that made our teachers feel very proud!

December...

Brought the excitement of Christmas! We enjoyed an Advent afternoon and a family Christmas Craft afternoon. We joined Class 2 to learn, rehearse and perform our Christmas play, 'Hey, Ewe', about a cheeky sheep that was super excited and full of expectation about the birth of Jesus. The performance was wonderful; great songs, acting and dancing. We wrote about The Nativity and wrote Christmas lists and wishes to Father Christmas.

Our term ended with lots of fun and a festive party.

We wish you a very Happy Christmas and a restful holiday.

January and February...

We wish you a very Happy 2019 and a warm welcome back to the Spring term! It was lovely to hear about all the exciting Christmas news before we began our new theme. The whole school theme is 'Global Neighbours', so in Class 1 we decided to begin with our immediate neighbours and how we can help each other. This was particularly useful when Mrs Fielding came staggering into class with bandages on her head, arm and leg. What had happened to Mrs Fielding? (She was just pretending!)

It was actually the launch of new 'Talk 4 Writing' text 'On the Way Home' by Jill Murphy. It is about a girl called Claire who hurts her knee. Whilst going home she meets lots of friends and comes up with some very imaginative stories about how it happened, such as a slithering snake, a giant,  a witch and a gorilla. 

The New Year also saw a number of new nursery children starting in Class 1. They have settled really well, especially with the help of some great role-models in Reception.

We held a successful 'Stay and Play', where parents and carers came to share in our learning. It was fun to see the adults in the mud kitchen and doctors surgery. A quote from one of our parents reflects the love of learning in Class 1. Come and see for yourself!

"We were delighted to be invited into the EYFS Reception classroom for an hour this week, to both observe and be involved with the children's learning. It was a joy to see our son so happy and revelling in a welcoming and supportive learning environment. Being able to see everyone interacting so positively was a real pleasure. Thank you for the invitation. " Peter Hargreaves

March...

Saw the start of Spring and a chance for the children to develop our garden area with the support of Mrs McCully. Not only are the flowers growing, bur also our children! Not only physically, but they are making us all very proud with the way they work, play and interact together. 

Our whole school topic of 'Inventors' saw us exploring the text 'Whatever Next!' by Jill Murphy. We have been learning about space, space travel and even have our own space centre in the classroom! The children thoroughly enjoyed the story of 'Whatever Next!' and created some wonderful stories based on the text. 

April...

We began thinking about Easter and Easter story. We went to Church to share our version of the Easter story. We used our own words to tell the story accompanied by some fabulous pictures. 

We were all ready for  the holidays after a hard-working,  fun and happy half term!

May....

Saw the launch of our next class text, 'Farmer Duck!'. The children were shocked and surprised to hear how Mrs Fielding was being bossy towards Mrs Taylor. "Do this, do that", Mrs Fielding demanded, and poor Mrs Taylor was over worked! Of course Mrs Fielding was pretending to be just like the bossy farmer in the story and apologised to Mrs Taylor! The children thought it was very funny!