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.
Thursday-Doubles,Alphabet Sorting and a Little Bit of Music
Here is a little game to play together with doubles.
All you need is pen and paper and two dice and a friend to play with.
Once you have played my maths game have a go at Hit the Button to build up speed.
Video on Tapestry
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emb2yvwAHtc
I have shared this but I am adding it again so you have it handy for this suggestion.
It really helps with matching letter names and capital letter.
I have written all the lowercase and capital letters on little squares of paper.
Start slowly,perhaps with 5 letters. Match the lowercase with the capital. Gradually add in more letter.
You could turn it into a game by taking turns-like a memory game.
Your Pioneer might need a copy of the alphabet to sort the letters into the correct order.
If you were feeling really ambitions,you could discuss vowels and consonants. We did this in school a while back and sang the vowels to a little tune (I won’t demonstrate!)
Look around the house and find vowels.
Have fun!
We really enjoyed this activity at home. We collected together some glasses and put in a bit of water. We discovered that we could make an orchestra and play a tune. I really hope that you like this one and that you will send me some videos.
Pop over to Tapestry to see the video.
Happy Music Making
Lovely Wednesday
Welcome to Wednesday
Here is a little timelapse video of some sunflowers growing to link up with The Tiny Seed.
I have written some sentences for you to read and to write to go along with this.
Read the sentences.
Look foe “oo” and for “ee”
Try using sound buttons on these.
Watch Geraldine the Giraffe to revise each of these sounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfMKV_9agiY oo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ci0oEO8dXE ee
You could make a list of words that Geraldine use too .
Send me pictures
Happy Writing
If you have pens and pencils or paint,I would love a picture of a flower from your garden.
A little suggestion for handwriting.
Enjoy
I have made some doubles using Numicon.
Id like you to make some doubles too.
Use stuff in your kitchen.
Set them out then write the number sentence.
Send me your Doubles Pictures
I’d like to introduce you to some of my toys. They all have names and have been played with lots and lots and lots.
I have used them to set out doubles. I thought I could even write number sentences for them.
Dandelions and Doubles
Good Morning all you happy learners!
Today’s maths is looking at doubles.
Use dice,playing cards and dominoes to find doubles and work out some totals.
Look at my photographs pf dice. How quickly can you spot the doubles?
Don’t forget to do a bit of estimation and number formation first.
Do a Maths Magic warm up:
20 claps.
20 jumps.
20 star jumps.
Do some estimations
Write your numbers 1-9
Now you are ready to watch Numberblocks and have a chat about doubling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bot83VxMLqM
Here is a link to the Numberblocks episode to suppport “Doubles”
Double means twice as many.
Take a pack of cards. Find the two cards with the same number on them.
2…find another…How many altogether?
4…find another…How many altogether?
You can record the number sentence:
2+2=4 or double 2=4 or 2×2=4
We have not introduced x-multiplication yet but if you fancy it then you can.
Get two dice.
Roll them.
Shout “Double” or ” No” depending upon whether you roll a double or not.
Find the total each time.
Increase the speed.
Enjoy.
Go on a Plant Hunt
The-Great-Plant-Hunt-Identikit (1)
Use this guide to help you with the parts of common plants on your garden.
It is great and really user friendly.
Happy Hunting.
While you are out,try to find a dandelion. If you can,get a grown up to help you dig it out so you can see the roots.
Lay it out and put labels on it like my picture or you could just copy mine.
root,shoot,stem,bud,leaf,soil,seed.
Use your sound mat to help with writing the words.
Read the poem together while you are looking at the dandelions.
Here is a link to a video of a book by the author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar,Eric Carle.
I would have read this to the children in the classroom.
Lots of excellent science to discuss.
Have a lovely day together.
Welcome to a New Week of Wonderful Learning!
Happy New Week,Pioneers!
To start our Maths week, get counting to 20.
Put the digits in order again. Grown ups could make some mistakes when counting out loud. Pioneers,can you spot them making a mistake?
Get a number sqaure ready. Ask a grown up to say a number and you need to find it on the square. You could use a timer to see how quickly you can do this.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/paint-the-squares
Watch and sing along with this episode of Numberblocks:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0006s5q/numberblocks-series-4-14-i-can-count-to-twenty
Play Race to 20. A video is on Tapestry. Here is what you need to play:
Here are some suggestions for your phonics and reading for the week.
There are documents over on Tapestry that you can dip into daily:sound button words,caption cards and the phonics posters we use in our daily lessons
I will add more words and sentence ideas about Seeds over the course of the week.
Scensational Seeds
Seeds are amazing.
Look for seeds in your food. I took some photographs of my breakfast and found lots
Look for seeds in your garden.
I found some dandelions. They are incredible. Have a look for some. They are magical.
Here is a little video of an dandelion life cycle. It is one of my favourites:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zhrb4wx
Happy Learning
Take a look at this amazing video. All this is going on in the garden .
Have a wonderful day of learning.
It’s Friday,Pioneers !
We have made it to Friday. Congratulations. Here are some suggestions for learning:
Play! Play! Play! Play! Play! Play!
Here is a little maths idea that you can adapt and extend to suit your children. Select numbers that you may have been working with when estimating and counting this week.
It can lead to some great maths chat.
Useful phrases are,”I wonder…”,””How do you know? ,”Can you check?”
Remember to continue your estimating too.
Happy Counting
Read the book together. Look for capital letters. Look for any sounds the are on the sound map. Take it slowly.
This book has the -ng sound.
Here is the link to Geraldine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQshNmncnBs
Happy Reading
My Hand Wrting suggestion in Nn and Mm
Video on Tapestry
And we have done a little song for the weekend. It is a bit crazy. I hope you have fun watching.
Have a wonderful weekend and dont forget…
Play! Play! Play! Play!
Happy Stuff for Pioneers-Thursday
Welcome to Thursday.
Have a wonderful day and play,play,play. Here are some suggestions for things to do today:
Ooops! Mrs Hann Got It Wrong
Take a look at the photographs. Each one has an error,a mistake. Maybe I counted without checking. Take a close look. Can you spot what is wrong?
Make up some sums with a grown up. Get them to check them. Can they spot any errors?
Get a grown up to make some for you too. Send some to your granny.Can she spot mistakes?
Send me your pictures and I will see if I can spot the mistakes.
Happy Counting
Remember to check
Handwriting
I have done a little video to support you with capitals and lower case letter formation. Today I have done s,e,and t.
All writing is good writing.
Story Time
I had a special request from Miley to read Supertato so the video is there for you all. If you have any requests for story time please,please,please let me know. I love reading stories for you all.
Here is the next exciting part of our story Jack and the Beanstalk. I love drawing story maps and telling stories.
Here is an idea…tell me what you think…Don’t do any writing….Tell the story
Get a grown up to watch while you use my storymap to tell the story.
How does that sound?
Or just watch our silliiness and enjoy the drama
Happy Stories Y’all
It’s Wednesday Pioneers
These are my suggestions for learning today,if you need them and some useful links that the Pioneers will recognise from school. They may help to fill a few moments in your day. Videos are available on Tapestry too.
Don’t forget to play . Play is the highest form of learning as someone very wise said.
Play. Play. Play. Play . Play.
Here is your new reading book and some ideas to use when you are reading.
Have your sound mat out to help you.
Watch Geraldine Giraffe to recap sh,ch and th. You might want to do this over a couple of days.
Here are some link to Geraldine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U354eD-hgQ th
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx2Tf9TE1bc sh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyrYDitif1o ch
Find all the sh words. Read. Copy . Write. Can you think of any others.
Repeat this with the other sounds..
Here is a very useful link to use everyday alongside your lists in the pack from school.
It is Mr Thorne doing all the High Frequency words that are useful.
Happy Reading
Jack and the Bean Stalk
Here is my story map for the start of Jack and the Beanstalk. I had a lot of fun drawing it. A man in a giant top hat helped by holding the paper and Nick composed a piece of music to help to tell the story. Video on Tapestry.
I hope you like the music and the stories.
Draw your own story map.
I will add more tomorrow.
What do you think will happen to the beans?
Do you think that Jack will meet the owner of the boots?
Happy Stories
Here is some number stuff:
I hope that the estimating is going well.
Here is a link to one of our favourite counting songs:
Have a look at the next Numberblocks episode:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0005y9m/numberblocks-series-4-3-tens-place
Counting on is a great way to get going with addition.
Have a numberline or a number square to look at.
You can count anything:shoes,pasta,teddies,stones or magic beans like me.
You can write down your number sentences if you fancy using + and =. You might even end up doing take away or subtraction.
If you are using playing cards the adding can get quite difficult so select your number to suit your needs. You could also try adding 3 numbers or even 4. once you’ve got the hang of it you can just count the symbols on the cards and miss out the magic beans.
Grown-ups – The Pioneers love to spot mistakes. It always good to make the odd error for them to identify and say why it is wrong.
Don’t forget to make your numbers nice and neat. I have added a little video to remind you.
Have a wonderful day and enjoy the sunshine with your families.
Play. Play. Play . Play. Play.
Look What I Found In My Garden…
I hope that you had a go at some estimation and counting. Over on Tapestry is a suggestion to turn this into a competition. Have a go with the family.
Keep reading and writing he,she,me ,we,and be. Stick them on the fridge!
There is a new set of handwriting with capitals and lower case letters and the link to one of our favourite videos-Boom Shake the Alphabet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emb2yvwAHtc
Its great for revision and for capital letters. We usually dance to this before lunchtime.
A funny thing happened when I went out in the garden. I found a pot of magic beans and some other very interesting items.
Take a look on Tapestry for a video of what I found.
Let me know who you think left the shoes.
I’ve written a little story starter for you and set out some Jenga words. Use your phonics and you can read it by yourself. You might fancy a bit of writing too.
Welcome to a New Week of Happy Learning
Welcome to you all.
Over on Tapestry are a selection of suggestions for short focussed tasks. There is a new reading book,some words to master and a little bit of handwriting to help you along.
There is a maths suggestion around estimating and counting with magic beans. The beans will feature in the story this week. I will share this later. I have included some weblinks we have used before and a suggest of an episode of Numberblocks,
Sumdog has been updated and their should be a new challenge for those of you who enjoy this type of learning.
I would love to hear some fun ideas or questions for estimating.
Please please let me know if you need anything to support anything you are currently interested in at home.
Happy learning Pioneers.
Caterpillar Shoes and Funny Feet
Friday’s ideas are all about feet and they are fantastic.
Feet are great for counting in 1’s,2’s 5’s and 10’s.
Hop and Jump.
Feet are great for measuring
Compare your feet with your family.
Find something longer than your foot. Find something shorter than your foot. Can yu find something the same length as your foot?
Get some paper and draw around your foot. Cut it out and use it to measure things.
Take a look at this beautiful little film.
https://www.literacyshed.com/caterpillar-shoes.html
Ask some foot questions:
How many shoes does a woodlouse need? What about a spider? Does a snail need shoes? What kind of shoes would a beetle like?
Take a look at this website for some wonderful animal feet.
https://www.earthrangers.com/top-10/top-ten-coolest-animal-feet/comment-page-10/#comments
Go outside with a basin of water. Get your feet wet and make patterns with your prints.
Pop over to Tapestry to see my videos for today.
Happy Learning
Team Sleights