Welcome to Penguin Class
Academic year 2024-2025
The class teacher is Mrs Bevan, and the teaching assistants based in Ladybird Class are Mrs Gardiner and Mrs Venn.
We have PE on Wednesday and Thursday.
Please use this page to find out about our learning each term and to keep up to date with homework and other useful information.
Term 6 - Let's explore our country!
From Banwell to Bristol and beyond in Penguin Class reception children will be learning about our local community, including people who help us at school and in the wider community. We will consider where we live, where we have visited and where we might be going in the summer holidays. Year 1 will take their learning further and will find out about the countries that make up the United Kingdom and what makes them special. They will learn about flags and capital cities. Our work in the garden will continue; we have sown lots of vegetable seeds so will be curious to observe them grow and will use our knowledge of what plants need to look after them. A highlight of the term will undoubtedly be our trip to Bristol Zoo project where we can put our map reading skills into practice, as well as recalling all we have learned in science this year, by naming the different animals we will see and observing their habitats.
Term 5 - How does your garden grow?
Term 5 will start by learning a traditional tale about a boy and some magic beans. This will inspire our art, science and writing activities. We will continue our learning about different plants and flowers and will plant some seeds so that we can look after them and watch them grow. Our garden looked fantastic will all the spring flowers so the children will now be busy replanting for the summer.
Through our story times and the books in our classroom we will find out about giants, castles, dragons and kings and queens. There will be some fantastic drawings I am sure sure!
Term 4 - Where in the world?
This term we will be been learning about maps from looking at a globe to see the whole world to drawing detailed maps of our classrooms. We will listen to stories about travelling to different parts of the world. We have also asked our friends and families to send us postcards from their travels and are excited to find out what the postman might deliver to us!
We have started by exploring google maps and the children were able to spot our school by noticing our playing field and playgrounds. Great observational skills!
As part of our science learning we went on a spring walk to see for ourselves what has changes on our school grounds since the winter. Using the photos from our spring walk the children have made a huge map of our school grounds, some children have added to this by making the buildings out of Lego.
Spring term would not be complete without some Easter baking and a visit from a very special bunny!
Term 3 - Who lives here?
Our learning this term will start with a story about three little pigs. We will learn the story so that we can retell it in different ways using puppets, small world toys and by acting the story our ourselves.
We will explore the environment both inside and out and will think about what objects are made of. We will be scientists and test out our ideas so help us think about and why objects are made from particular materials. We will be learning new vocabulary to help us describe objects and the materials they are made from.
To develop our DT skills we will be design a house and build it out of junk. We will learn different ways of joining materials together and will experiment with which techniques work best.
Our learning about celebrations will continue this term as we will find out about Lunar New Year through stories, art and dance.
Term 2 - Let's Celebrate!
There is lots to celebrate this term! We will start by thinking about how and what we celebrate in our our own families. We will notice similarities and differences and will learn about some festivals and celebrations from around the world, including Diwali.
Our English curriculum this term is all about traditional tales and we will be retelling The Little Red Hen and The Gingerbread Man. Our story telling will inspire our Drawing Club themes and art activities from making stick puppets to drawing our favourite characters.
Term 2 would not be complete without a very special performance. This year, we look forward to performing The Wriggly Nativity and we will be busy learning songs and dances to share with you.
Term 1 - Under the Sea!
The children in Penguin Class have had a great start to school. The Year 1 children are fantastic role models for our new learners and they are settling confidently into the daily routine.
We started the year with our whole school project 'Under the Sea'. Based on the story 'Hooray For Fish!' the children got stuck into a whole variety of art activities to represent characters from the story.
The children love playing and exploring in our fabulous garden. We have discovered lots of tomatoes growing in a veg patch and have enjoyed using the green ones in the mud kitchen.
We have been listening to lots of stories and have enjoyed getting to know each other. We play lots of games to help us remember each others names.
Well done Penguin Class! Please enjoy looking at some photos...
Useful information...
Homework
Supporting your child with reading at home will make a huge difference to their progress at school. We celebrate in class how many times children read at home each week. The expectation is that your child reads 5 times a week and we ask that you make a quick note in your child’s reading record book (initials and the date is fine, or a little note if you want to comment).
Children in Reception have a sound book which is updated every week with the sounds they have been taught. Please encourage your child to practise these every day until they are confident and can recall the sounds instantly. As we learn sight words (words that can not be sounded out), they will also be stuck into sound books for you to help your child with a home.
Show and tell
We love to celebrate home learning in school and show and tell at the end of the day is the perfect opportunity for this. When your child has continued their learning at home, perhaps they might get creative and make something linked to our project, they might draw a picture linked to our learning, write a sentence or even a story or practised their maths skills please encourage them to bring it in (or email me a photo) and they can proudly share their learning with the class.
Does your child like to drink milk?
Milk is given to reception class children free up until their 5th birthday.
If you would like them to continue to receive milk at breaktimes it needs to be ordered from School Milk Services. The link to order milk can be found here - School Milk Services
Phonics
Thank you for attending the Phonics Workshop at the end of Term 1. If you are unable to come and have any questions about how to support your child with reading at home please do not hesitate to ask. As mentioned at the meeting it is really important that your child learns to say the sounds correctly. Please see below a link to the video I shared at the meeting where the child confidently says each sound as it it should be.
I have also shared some websites with games that your children might like to play at home. Remember, little and often is best to keep your child engaged and motivated.
