Pioneers Class

Pioneers children are Reception and Year 1, aged four to six years old. Children enjoy a range of creative and engaging play based activities, as well as formal inputs, to support their development and growth. Children in Pioneers are taught by Mrs Hann,  Mrs Gurney, Mrs McGill and Miss Greaves.

Learning begins the minute they walk through the door. The classroom is a carefully curated collection of wonderful things to allow the children to flourish. The classroom is theirs and everything in it is there for a purpose. What they chose to do may be completely different for each individual. This is when the learning happens. The resources are ready to use and accessible and the team work together to create, to communicate, to count and to grow 

Each day starts with exploration of the resources and suggestions for learning set out around the room. The Pioneers will come together for teaching. This will happen in small groups, as a whole class and often one to one. Across the day we will gather for mathematics, reading, writing and phonics sessions, to share stories and to learn about the world.

PE kits are in school all week to allow us to do PE at any time. This term, the Pioneers have dance on a Tuesday afternoon. 

Mrs Gurney teaches computing on a Thursday morning.

We are rolling with phonics and children will bring a book and their reading record home each day. Please read little and often and write a message in the reading record. All reading is good reading. This is such an exciting time.

Please look out for a text message to let you know when we will go to the forest. We will use our wonderful outdoor space as much as we can and this will not always be on the same day each week. 

Children’s progress and activities are recorded in their own Learning Journeys. These act as a summary of the journey children embark upon during their time in Reception and Year 1 and demonstrate the progress and success that has been achieved, as well as the next steps that may need to be taken.

Pioneers Suggestions for Learning for Tuesday the 12th of January

Pioneers Class, Pioneers' Home Learning

Hello all you Happy Pioneers,

Here are some suggestions for your Happy Learning:

Let’s begin with some phonics and reading.

I suggest that you revise all of the sounds on the sound mat to start off.

Then revise the digraphs ee,ai and oa. You could take a fresh look at Geraldine if you need to. You could pause the video and write the words together.

In the photographs you can see  a collection of sentences with these digraphs.  Read the sentences with a grown-up. Your Pioneer could try to write some of the words or the sentences. Keep the sound mat close to you and the Phase 2 High Frequency Words too.

Here are the digraphs to look at again ai,ao and ee. Each word has some letters missing. Can you figure out which digraph goes in each word? It is tricky. Go slowly and try them out. You can use these to write your own sentences too.

 I have included a photograph of the high frequency words. These are very useful to read and to write.

Take a look at this link for extra support. You can turn the sound down and you can read the words as they come up:

Your new sound for today is a trigraph-igh-three letter,one sound.

Here is the link to Geraldine for this sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYCR2RZ4ZYY

Take a look at the poster for words containing the -igh sound.

 

And now for some maths,

Here is a link to the website I would like you to use:

https://apps.mathlearningcenter.org/number-frames/
I would like you to use this to try out some subtraction for the song 5 Currant Buns. i hope that you all know how it goes…

If you do not want to use this maths app,you could draw out the song like a story map or play it out with your toys.

Please send me photographs and videos so I know how you are getting on.

In our book,What We’ll Build there is a beautiful illustration of a selection of useful tools. I have found a similar collection in my kitchen. Take a look at my picture and Oliver Jeffers picture. perhaps you could take a picture of a collection of tools in your house. Please share the picture with me.Ask some questions:

How does it work?

What is this for?

How does it work?

Tell me all about your interesting tools.

I  look forward to seeing what’s in your kitchen drawer or tool box!

Let me know what I can do to help.
Happy Learning

Prepare for Christmas

Pioneers Class

We began our preparations for Christmas by discussing the meaning of Advent. We went on to look closely at the foliage and got going snipping,cutting,trimming and creating our own wreaths for our Prayer Space in the classroom. The Pioneers went foraging for some scented additions to finalise our creation.

There was some left over eucalyptus and holly so  that has gone in a vase and the house is now topped with branches of fir and trailing ivy.

It smells like Christmas in our classroom.

Paint and Puddles

Latest News, Pioneers Class

Sometimes the best learning happens on the spur of the moment. The brushes were intended for painting but the puddle was too inviting to miss. The Pioneers discovered that they could make wonderful arcs of water spray when the waved the brushes around. They ran in big circles trailing the brushes behind them and of course they made the biggest waves possible in a small body of water.

The addition of powder paint was amazing and the effect was spectacular. The Pioneers were slightly concerned about the mess but they were reassured that everything would be fine when it rained.

Mr Grason agreed.

Kebabs and Mucky Pumpkins

Latest News, Pioneers Class

We had been using the chimebars in the classroom to experiment with rhythm. The beaters were repurposed and appeared in the Little Red Hen’s Kitchen in the form of Kebabs. This was a great new use for the sticks. The Pioneers were all interested in making kebabs and discussed that some may be having these at home in the holidays with marshmallow and chocolate.

We took the idea one step further and made some leaf kebabs in the forest. These allowed us to collect and compare leaves at various spots in the forest.The Pioneers spotted the difference in the shapes and the talked about the seeds that we found too.

When we brought the pumpkin in,it was clear that it needed a wash,so we washed it and scrubbed it and massaged it with bubbles and green froth.

So good.