Year R blog

In Year R, we have completed our first term in school. We have spent time building relationships together to ensure that our time at school allows us to flourish from caterpillars into butterflies. We have been learning the key school rules of 'Ready, Respectful and Safe' as well as our Catholic Ethos - God in our hearts, love in our words and family in our actions. Our Mr Men for Characteristics of Effective Learning have helped us to make the correct choices and thinking fully about our decisions in school. We are using these as reflection stems everyday. 

Writing & Phonics: 

We have begun to learn to read and write! Currently, we are working on our Pip and Pap Orange Phase. We are learning a sound for every letter of the alphabet. Each day, we have learnt a new sound. We learn to recognise, write and apply this sound to our reading. We absolutely love the Pip and Pap characters. These characters have allowed us to blend words as soon as we have learnt enough sounds. 

In Writing, we are embedding our rules for writing. We have learnt to keep our bottoms on our chairs, our feet on the floor and our pinchy fingers to hold our pencil. Now, we are making marks and beginning to mirror the letter shapes we are learning in Phonics. We have already covered topics such as All About Me, speech bubbles and superheroes. We even came to school as our favourite superhero! 

Maths:

During Maths, we have been focusing on understanding a single number. We began with 0 and are working our way to 10! Each week, we are learning to look, say and write the number. Then, we move onto making and counting the number. Once we have mastered these skills, we move onto representing the number in a number story. This means that we learn to represent ways of making this number with a part-part whole, bar model, number sentence and tens frame! Each week we embed this skill with the next number. 

Our Outdoor Learning: 

In Year R, we are blessed with a huge outdoor space. This has allowed us to be out and learn in an active way. No matter the weather, we are outside in our coats, hats and welly boots. Through our outdoor learning, we have explored our bug hotel. We have spotted snails, slugs and ladybirds! We have spent time learning how to explore the sand area. We know now what we need to wear as well as which tools we will need to be successful. We look forward to spending more time outside as we begin to garden and plant our own foods. 

Our first term in Year R has been wonderful. Our teachers are incredibly proud of the progress we have already made.