Son of Beech Still Here Look He Go Again

18th May 2022

Firstly, my apologies for not being in touch sooner time seems to be slipping by rather quickly and we are fast approaching the end of another half-term!
As you are aware we had OFSTED at the beginning of the month, we won't have the report for several weeks as they take a long time to produce but in the meantime our SIAMS (the religious aspect inspection) was published which stated we were good.
Year 6 completed their SATS last week which, you may think may not have affected your children directly but it did as they had to be super quiet if they were in the classroom which I must say they were! In fact they were incredible I have never known such young children be so quiet, so well done to them and let's hope the year 6's did their very best.

This week we have started our work on King John and the Magna Carta. We are deciding if he really was a tyrant, were taxes a good thing? We are speaking about Magna Carta meaning great charter and we will consider what rules we should put in our own Magna Carta.

In maths Reception are looking at 1 more and 1 less in teen numbers and will begin bridging 10's. Bridging the decades is a method of getting them to realise that for example 9+2 is the same as 10+1 so therefore they recognise making a whole new 10 and then won't need to count that amount but count on from 10 instead of from say 9.

Nursery are ordering numbers to 10.

Phonics..reception writing and reading ccvcc words. We have spoken lots about vowels and consonants. They are also doing lots of dictated sentences, containing high frequency words and ccvc or cvcc words.
Reception also read every day through a guided read in which they all participate and it reinforces the phonics they have been learning.

Nursery...are learning phonics through their names and lots of writing practice this week with chalks and paints.

We shall be taking advantage of the lovely weather too especially their bike riding skills whether on the balance bikes or on the 2 wheeled cycles. We have cycle helmets in school but if you wish your child to wear their own then please send it in but in a named bag.

Next week sees the whole school celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubliee which we will be participating in. Amongst other things the school is doing we are singing songs from across the 7 decades of the Queen's reign, our class is doing one of their favourites from our mini disco sessions! so please feel free to practice with them at home.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ru0K8uYEZWw

They are also learning https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FElItXUgItw&list=RDFElItXUgItw&start_radio=1

More news to follow regarding the whole school celebrations.

2nd May 2022

Firstly, I must start by saying a huge thank you for attending our Royal Garden Party, we sincerely hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did.
The children looked wonderful in their finery lots of Kings, Queens, Princes' and Princesses. We were immensely proud of them when they walked out on the red carpet and stood in silence to the National Anthem, it sent a tingle down my spine and brought a lump to my throat!
This week we are continuing with our theme of Kings and Queens with our main focus on the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Knowledge of the world ....Location of Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London and The Houses of Parliament
Music..Zadok the Priest by Handel
Phonics continues with cvcc and ccvc words for reception and a/i/m/s/t for nursery.
Maths numbers to 20 and beyond for reception, nursery will focus numbers 5/10.
Story focus The Queen's Knickers and The Queen's hat.
Art..looking at the Crown Jewels and designing crowns.
Don't forget to go on Mini Mash (purple mash) and spelling shed.

24th April 2022

I trust you all had a lovely Easter break and had quality time with your families.

Nursery children/ parents will have been notified of their reception class placements for September, don't forget to let the office know if you are accepting the placement.

Well, we have already completed the first week of the Summer term and what a busy one it has been too!
I am sure that you are aware by now that our learning theme for this half term is Kings and Queens, this ties in beautifully with the nationwide or should I say commonwealth wide celebrations for The Queen's Platinum Jubilee.
I hope you have all received your invitation to our 'Royal Garden Party' this Thursday 28th. Please confirm if you are attending and nursery parents please book your child's Garden Party food at the office. You are of course welcome to bring along your own picnic too. Don't forget to get dressed up as well as the children as we are expecting a 'Royal' appearance!

Over the next few weeks we will be covering:-
Week 1 The Queen, the accession to the Crown, The commonwealth, The Union Jack
Week 2 Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, the Queen's Guard, Garden Party
Week 3 The Coronation and Westminster Abbey
Week 4 King John and the Magna Carta
Week 5 The Government, The houses of parliament and voting
Week 6 Unfinished work from the learning theme and preparation for school celebrations for the Jubliee street party and celebrations

Reception Maths- Numbers to and beyond 20
Nursery Maths- Numbers to 5/ 10
Story focus- The Queen's Knickers
Art- Royal portraits and stamps in the style of Andy Warhol
Phonics reception- cvcc/ ccvc words and 'qu'
Phonics nursery- a/m/i/s/t/p
RE- theme for the half term- What makes every single person unique and precious?
PSHE- Keeping safe...Identifying Trusted adults

If you can access Mini Mash( Purple Mash) there is a new theme called Castles.
There are new spellings on spelling shed for Reception.

Lot's of exciting things coming up this half-term, we are a very excited team.

28th March 2022

I know I have sent this out previously but I thought I would send it out again, as it may interest some of you. This is a free online course that explains the phonics programme we are following in school. There is also a video by the Sounds-Write team modelling supporting with reading with younger children.
We follow something called sounds write which is accredited by the department of education. This programme ultimately aims at building reading fluency and enjoyment for reading.
This first course focuses upon the early stages which we look at in Early Years and Key Stage 1.
I do hope some of you find it of interest, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

https://www.udemy.com/course/help-your-child-to-read-and-write/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cXoNZoKWQu4&feature=youtu.be

Mrs. S. Belcher

Week beginning 21st March 2022

We have had a very busy couple of weeks, from observing caterpillars, to frog spawn, to a little 'Irish' dancing, number work and lots of writing!
This coming week involves our visit to the working farm on Thursday 24th March. I have decided against visiting Church Farm because of the huge financial implication and also the working farm is going to provide us with most of the areas I wanted the children to discover.
The farm is located at Stoke Ferry so not a particularly long bus journey but I must emphasise that if your child suffers with travel sickness please let me know in advance and NOT on the day! I have had that before and the implications are huge!
The forecast is looking good, however, the wind will be easterly so please ensure that they are dressed appropriately. We can take our school wellies but if your child has small feet please provide them with their own. If you are an accompanying nursery parent please wear wellies too. If you haven't booked a packed lunch for your child please ensure that you provide a lunch, there are no facilities to buy food or drinks.
If you haven't returned your trip slip then please do so.
The farm is beautiful, they will see cows and calves, sheep but he doubts there will be lambs yet. We are having a 'wild' walk looking for animal tracks, listening for birds and other sounds.
There will be an opportunity to look at the chickens and stroking one. There are bee hives to observe from a distance. Farmer Nick has an old and new tractor to compare which will link nicely back to our work on transport and journeys before Christmas.
When I did my pre-visit last week it was so lovely to see the farm again, it is so peaceful and calm, the sun shone beautifully and it was like a mini holiday albeit only an hour! I do hope you enjoy it as much as Mrs. Hayes and I do.
In class this week will talk about farm animals and their young so we can talk about how they grow and change.
The caterpillars are getting very big and when I was in school this morning they were looking ready for their pupa stage.
We will also be talking about Mother's day and making cards.

Week beginning 28th February

We certainly had a very interesting start to this half term! Thank you for your support, I know several of you had no electricity at times over last week too, I hope you managed to get by.
We have a very busy week coming up too!
You may be aware that we have started our Growing and Changing learning theme, the children made a great start with the photographs they took on their signs of Spring walk. We shall do this little walk around the school grounds each week leading up to the Easter break and look for further changes.
If you have make any signs of Spring booklets or take photos with your child please don't forget to either upload them to Tapestry or send them in. We would love to see them, it is a great talking point for the children and gives them confidence to talk in front of the class.
This week we will look at plants need water and light to grow and also how living things such plants, grow and change throughout the year. We have already touched on this during our walk when we spoke about botanists, evergreen and deciduous.
As Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday we shall also look at the meaning of this as well as make pancakes. If you do not wish for your child to try a pancake please let me know in advance.
Tuesday is also St. David's day and as the daffodil is a Welsh emblem we will look closely at daffodils as well as talk about St. David.

Thursday as you know is world book day. Please send your child in the most colourful clothes they have, there is no need to buy anything special. We will make butterfly wings with them so we can look at the story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Reception phonics- new sounds this week x (saying k/s), y, ff, ll, ss,zz. New high frequency word - all.
Nursery phonics- talking about the sounds in their name as they write it and then main focus a,i,m,s,t.

Reception maths- composition of 9 and 10.
Nursery- counting to 5

Music - Vivaldi - The Four Seasons
Art- Making season pictures with hand and finger printing. Sketching daffodils. Looking at paintings by Van Gogh.

PE is Thursday not Monday this week...they are going to try indoor curling.

11th February 2022

Wow! What a busy and exciting half term we have had, I can't believe how fast it has gone nor can I believe that we are now half way through the academic year; to think that in a few months reception will be moving to year one and nursery will become reception...time is certainly flying by!
All the children have worked incredibly hard this and have really enjoyed our work on space. Their knowledge and understanding has been extended, their vocabulary use has widened and their enthusiasm has been second to none!
There have been many highlights for all the staff over the half term. I think teaching is one of the few reciprocal careers, in other words you teach the children and they learn, then they teach us and we learn! This is what makes each day so different and so exciting.
I think that the highlight of the half term was the stargazing event, thank you so much for attending; for those unable to attend we did a daytime version the next morning.

I hope that the next half term will be equally as enjoyable as we look at our new learning theme of growing and changing. We will be visiting a working farm and I hope to organise a trip to Church Farm too.
If you have any spare seeds (or even a bag of compost) etc...please send those in so we can try and grow them.
I will attach the knowledge organiser for this.
Week 1...The Seasons
At home maybe you could look out for signs of Spring together and get them to take photos which you could upload to their Tapestry account.
Week 2... Growing seeds and looking at how trees change across the year. We will talk about evergreen and deciduous.
Also introduce the story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar in readiness for World Book Day. Caterpillars will arrive! So the children can watch them grow and change into butterflies.
Week 3...How animals grow and change
Week4...Growing food to eat and farms (this will help prep for our visit to a working farm next week..24th March)
Week 5...How people grow and change...Please send in baby photos, we shall be bringing ours in to. See if you can identify us too!

We will also find out about Easter and start this by making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday 1st March and Lent. They will make Mother's day cards ready for the 27th March. Other things we will consider are St. David's day and St. Patrick's day. We will make Easter hats which will link with our theme of growing and changing.

Nursery will start small phonics sessions. They will also work on counting to 5 and collecting correct amounts.
Reception will consolidate their phonic knowledge and apply it to writing short dictated sentences and some emergent writing through their own learning.
In Maths reception will be consolidating their knowledge of numbers to 10 and number bonds.

All children now have a purple mash account passwords have been sent home. If you access the mini mash section there is a tabbed theme with activities for the children to complete and they can save them in their trays. They have been practicing this in class. I have just changed the theme to seasons so it links with the first week back. I will change it so it links each week.

Also at home could the children read regularly or hear you read a story please. Reception have access to spelling shed (passwords were sent home sometime ago...if you can't find it let me know) the spellings are in game form and reflect what we are learning in class.
PE will remain on a Monday afternoon for Reception. Astronaut training (Fizzy club) will continue Monday -Thursday at 9.
From looking at all of this I think they are going to have yet another very busy half term!

Oh and don't forget parents evening on 14th March.

Thank you for your continued support.

30th January 2022

Phew! What an incredibly busy couple of weeks we have had just like our learning theme it has been 'out of this world!'

Nursery are doing tremendously well writing their names and joining in the space work. We are amazed by how much these young children learn and their eagerness. They have also made rockets from 3D shapes and made a rocket outside with the chairs and tyres.

Reception, are doing really well with phonics and are now using this knowledge to apply to their writing. They have been writing sentences about the bear in whatever next. They are remembering finger spaces and full stops, we now need to practice capital letters.
In Maths they have been practicing addition to 5, using 2 or 3 numbers to make 5. They are also practicing number formation.

Astronaut training (Fizzy our movement work each morning) shows great improvement in their gross motor skills and their confidence. They can balance and walk across an up turned beam, hold a balance on one leg, jump from a PE stool and land with bended knees. These are great accomplishments for young children, we take movement for granted but for these little people they are skills they need to acquire and improve. This helps with their fine motor skills.

Our space work is amazing, the children have covered a variety of areas and are retaining a lot of information. We have listened to and spoke at length about Holst Planet Suite, talking about how it makes us feel and the order of each piece. They noticed that the music wasn't in order of the planets in the solar system, they also commented how there wasn't one called Earth. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Isic2Z2e2xs  This is what we listened to, they listened to it in short sections and reception had it playing in class during their lunch. We could hear the children saying oh that is Mars, or that is Venus. We have also revisited the order of the planets and made solar system hats. They love this song too;- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mQrlgH97v94  They have also spoken at length about astronauts and cosmonauts, explaining which they think is the best and why. We also looked at the story of Belka and Strelka the space dogs. It was also a huge learning opportunity for myself too, as I knew very little about them. When we finished we spoke about whether it was right or not to send dogs into space. Surprisingly, the answers were very mixed and each child justified their answers. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bSNw1s_240M

This week we will be looking at constellations and the stars. I am rather excited by this too, as I love looking at the stars. I hope the children also enjoy this.
I am planning an exciting (well hopefully exciting!) event for our children and yourselves to participate in next week (Monday 7th February), news to follow tomorrow.

Other areas, this week will see us learn about Chinese New Year. I will set more spellings on spelling shed for Reception. Please look on purple mash for space themed things to do at home. I hope to add Nursery to purple mash this week.

Once again thank you for all your support.
Sue and the team

15th January 2022

We have had a very busy week in Beech class.
The children have loved finding out about space. They told us lots of things they knew already;-
Leo said " space is up in the sky".
Wren said " there is even a moon, like the harvest moon."
Hattie said " there is a crescent moon."
Elias said " there are lots of planets"
Richie said " we live on earth."
Henry said "our solar system is in the Milky Way galaxy."
I could go on, the children already have so much knowledge.
We looked at our school and some of the children's homes on google maps and gradually zoomed out to show what it would look like from space. They soon became aware that we as individuals are very small on planet earth. They looked at geographical features of seas and oceans, land, desert, ice caps, rivers, fields.
We spoke about Galileo and that he is the 'father of astronomy' they found out he invented the telescope. We named the planets and put them in order and spoke about how they orbit the sun. They found out that the earth takes a year to go around the sun but that it also spins which gives us day and night depending upon if it is facing the sun.
Next week we will find out more about gravity, astronauts and the international space station.
Nursery are also busy practising writing their names and doing lots of counting.
Reception have been busy reading and writing simple dictated sentences. Next week they will learn the sounds k/l/r/u many are already aware of these sounds so the focus will be spelling words with them.
All the children will be working on the story 'Whatever Next' by Jill Murphy, it is the story of a bear imagining he has gone into space.
We will be making rockets this week so please don't throw those tubes etc.. in the recycling send them into us instead.
In RE they will be continuing to think about people who help us.
Don't forget that although we do Fizzy each day (we will now call it astronaut training for the rest of this half term) that reception do PE on a Monday afternoon, so please send them in appropriate PE kit.
Thanks again for your continued support.

7th January 2022

Welcome back everyone, I trust you all had a Happy Christmas and wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2022!

Thank you so much for your support last term, adapting to the changes we had to make to support other classes in school during that difficult period, let's hope that 2022 blesses us with a more settled period.

So here we start 2022 and thinking about the rest of the school year ahead. For example I hope that those of you who have nursery aged children have applied for a school place, this has to be completed by the 15th January 2022, the results are then published in April.

This half term we will be looking at space as our learning theme. We will find out about earth, astronomers, astronauts, the solar system, stars and the galaxy.
I am sure the children will find this very interesting and exciting. If you have a spare roll of tin foil it would come in really handy please. Also could you send in pringle tubes, kitchen roll cardboard inners and washing up liquid bottles and maybe if you have any plain white paper plates that would be great too. We are also happy to collect your old Christmas cards as they are great for the children to practice cutting.
In maths Nursery will be developing their knowledge of numbers up to 3. Reception will work on their knowledge of numbers to 8. I will give you more information weekly.
Nursery will continue mark making and the early stages of writing their names.
Reception are now enhancing their phonic knowledge and writing simple sentences.
There is daily reading in class and if the children could continue to practice reading at home.
We shall also learn about the Chinese New Year and Valentines day.
In RE they will be considering the question 'how can we help others when they need it?'
In PSHE they will be looking at valuing difference between themselves and others.

21st November 2021

 hope you all had a lovely weekend and it has felt very Autumnal.
I had promised last week information for you about Christmas, I will send that tomorrow as I just need to check a couple of things.
Well your children are working so hard whether they are in Nursery or Reception and amaze us each day with new things they try, say or do. This week was no exception.
All of the children discussed the invention of the aeroplane and the steam train. We looked at old footage of Orville and Wilbur Wright with their first aeroplane. I will attach the link showing what they watched ( I hope it works).

https://app.discoveryeducation.co.uk/learn/videos/a37f6754-1948-4dff-85e3-5fb991bc6f2b/?embed=false&embed_origin=false

I hasten to add they were not impressed with the safety of the aircraft and spoke about there being no 'walls', seats, seat belts, big engines, steps to get in...the list was endless. However, they did conclude that they were very clever and they learnt the word inventor.
They also looked at images of 'The Rocket' by George Stephenson. They once again used the term inventor and spoke about steam to make it work. They were very concerned about safety once more and made comparisons between the rocket and the first plane stating that too had no 'walls', windows, seats, seat belts.
This week we will continue to look at old and new transport and they will make transport models in technology from recycled materials. They will be encouraged to design their model and then make. They will use key vocabulary such as wheels, axels, turn, plan and design.
In maths Reception children are continuing with the consolidation of number facts to five. We will also be looking at shape this week. They will learn that a 4 sided shape with 4 right angles and 4 sides is a rectangle, they will learn that a square is a rectangle with 4 equal length sides. I explain this further by using the example of a family and family name, the family name being rectangle and their 'first' name is square or 'oblong' in the case of one with two long and 2 short sides. They will be encouraged to use the correct vocabulary.
Nursery will continue wit 1to 1 correspondence and also learn about 2D shapes. The work on shape will support their learning on making models in transport.
Nursery are enjoying their small group time with 'Ginger Bear' time to talk programme which gives them time to explore language.
We will continue to learn nursery rhymes which will feed into our 'Christmas' work...shhhh! they have an activity to finish from last week for Incy Wincy Spider too!
In phonics Reception will have the new sounds d/v/e/f.
Thank you for your continued support.

Sue Belcher PS..I forgot to say please use Purple mash/ mini mash there is a transport folder in the mini mash section for your children. GO you purple mash then click on the EYFS tab. https://www.purplemash.com/#tab/home

Please do the spellings on spelling shed. https://www.edshed.com/

14th November 2021

Yet again another very busy week has whizzed by, I find it hard to believe we are half way through November and the children are entering the third week of this half term; dare I say it but it's only 6 weeks until Christmas! We are already thinking about Christmas celebrations in school and I will get back to you with those next week.

So this last week we spent quite sometime thinking and talking about remembrance and poppies. All the children watched the cbeebies poppies video, which sparked a lot of discussion. They observed how the video went from light to darkness and were able to recognise that was to symbolize the fighting, they also said that the music changed from happy music to sad and back to happy. They said the rabbit was a good friend to others and helped to keep them safe under the soldiers helmet.
We also watched a recording on 'espresso' learning platform which explained why we wear poppies, it showed pictures of the armed forces and how poppies are made. I also showed them photos of the Queen, the late Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles laying wreaths at the Cenotaph. I explained how there is a Remembrance day parade in London on the Sunday and that if they watch they watch television on Sunday morning they may see it and possibly the Queen.
They made poppies in class and we made our own wreath for a school service on Thursday. On the Thursday morning we held our own little remembrance service in class, I chose two children to represent our class to join with the rest of the school in the hall and lay our wreaths. The main school service was much longer than our Early Years one, that is why they didn't join the rest of the school. However, in our class we watched the poppies video again and discussed it. We then listened to and watched an orchestra play Nimrod by Elgar they were enthralled by the orchestra and the music and it was rather emotional to watch them listen to such a beautiful piece of music. They then listened to the chimes of Big Ben strike 11 o'clock and stood for the 2 minutes silence, which they did so with such great respect and dignity. I then played them 'the Last Post and Reveille'. We were so moved by their understanding and respect, we are incredibly proud of them.

Also this week we spoke about different forms of transport with the main focus on trains. This will be continued this week. They have loved playing on the 'bus' outside, they have mostly been to the park or the beach...some of them make rather 'fierce' bus drivers, those poor people who lost their ticket for the return journey will certainly never lose a ticket again! 🤣🤣
We shall continue the story/ poem the Train ride too.

In phonics they have been consolidating their knowledge of a/i/m/s/t/n/o/p and the new sounds b/c/g/h. Nursery have been doing lots of mark making and name writing practice too.
In maths this coming week we will be looking at the composition of 5, finding ways to make 5. I will make a little video this week and add to Tapestry about how we do this. At this point we DO NOT launch directly into formal recording e.g.4 + 1= 5 but rather practically with posing questioning and problem solving so that they have a solid understanding of composition, as that underpins the understanding of addition and subtraction as inverse operations.
Nursery are looking at amounts through playing with the numicon pieces and 1:1 correspondence e.g. 1 cup for 1 teddy.

This week is also World Nursery Rhyme week. Nursery rhymes may seem old fashioned but they form a vital part of language acquisition, early literacy, phonics, discussion, number and fun. We love them in our class and sing them daily, we often change the words so the children's names are incorporated i.e. Five little monkeys jumping on the bed, 'Bobby' fell off and bumped their head...etc...They love to hear their name. Do you have any favourite rhymes that you would like us to teach then children? If so let us know and we will do it.

Also this week is Children in Need and we will be doing lots of physical activities on Friday to celebrate so please don't forget to send them in their kit that day.

Don't forget daily reading will help your child enormously whether they read their book to you or you to them. Also please access the mini mash on purple mash and the spelling shed game (Reception) as these too are fantastic support for your children.

On another note, Mrs. Hayes, Miss. Williams and myself are completing a course called NELI. This is the Nuffield Early Language Intervention. It has been a government funded language intervention course with the focus on supporting the language development of the younger children. Yes, we are a very experienced team but as we say to the children it is always good to learn new things.
So we will be sending out letter to you that explain in a little more detail, we are able to assess all the children via a fun ipad app without any pressure on the children. It will then give us information and ideas how to support those who need a little extra input. I do hope that you will support us with this.

Sorry, I feel like I have bombarded you with lots this week! We are so proud of these little people and we are sure that you are too.
Thanks for your continued support.
Sue Belcher

7th November 2021

I trust that you all had a lovely and safe weekend celebrating bonfire night. Last week we spoke with the children about bonfire night and firework safety. I was really impressed with their knowledge of the firework code and in particular about keeping their pets and animals safe. When we looked at Diwali they were able to recall that it is a festival of light and a celebration that lasts for five days, they could see also how it too is celebrated with fireworks. This week we will look at 'Remembrance and poppies'. I will show them this video which, you may be familiar with. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pv_ub7Be7oA  It is a very powerful video and I have used it several years now but it really helps the children to understand. We often have some very thoughtful discussions and I have no doubt that your children will continue this. We shall make poppies and have our own remembrance ceremony on the 11th at 11o'clock. Don't forget that you can said in poppy money for your child if you wish to do so. We are continuing with our work on journeys and transport. Thank you to those who have sent in pictures, it has been wonderful for those children to share their experiences. If you wish to send in photos please upload on here under observations. This week we will continue to talk about their journey to school and make maps. We shall paint/draw pictures of transport and look at transport in the past. We are encouraging them to play with the transport toys we have provided trains, aeroplanes and cars. Outside I have made a 'bus', so if your child has been on public transport could you talk to them about buying a ticket and where they might go. We hope to look at different types of public transport around the world such as the bullet train in Japan and the Tuk Tuk in Thailand. Our main story will be 'The Train Ride'. On purple mash/mini mash I have changed the main theme to Transport. Please don't forget to have a look on there and if they do any work put it in their tray. On edshed/spelling shed I have set a new set of spelling words that include the new sounds we have looked at this week, which are b/c/g/h. We will continue to reinforce these this week in phonics and reading. In maths we are continuing with numbers to 5.

31st October 2021

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a lovely half-term break and are ready for the return to school tomorrow.
This coming half-term like the previous one will be seven weeks long and a very busy one too! We shall continue with maths , phonics, reading and writing as usual but also focus our new curriculum focus of journeys and transport, as well as looking at special events.
Special events to be covered include Diwali, bonfire night, remembrance day, children in need and Christmas.
As we are thinking about journeys please send in any photos you may have of your child going on a journey, whether it be by foot, bike, car or aeroplane. Talk to them about their journey to school and what they pass.
Don't forget that Monday is PE day for reception, so please send your child in their PE kit.
I will set more spellings on spelling shed which supplement the phonics we cover in class. Don't forget to read regularly with your child as it makes a huge difference to their confidence.
Reception will focus on 2D shape this week and numerals 4 and 5. Nursery will focus on 2D shape and counting through the process of their play.

17th October 2021

Yet another week has rushed by and your children are about to start the last week of their first half term in either Reception or Nursery, it is quite remarkable how quickly the time is going.
We have noticed how well they are all coming in and settling to morning activities, then registration and our morning songs. They are all much more independent and beginning to organise their things, well done as they are so young.
This week we have been doing 'sticky kids' as part of our morning exercise rather than fizzy club. Sticky kids is a dance based activity moving to lots of familiar songs and rhymes...I suggest you ask about the song 'stand up sit down', this has certainly proved a challenge for the adults and not the children! However, it is most enjoyable for all.
We will continue our work on 1/2/3 and play some calculation games to support this such as throwing bean bags in a hoop and scoring points.
Nursery are continuing to work on colour and pattern but will join in our counting games.
We hope you enjoyed the 'five little apples' song they learnt for harvest. This reinforced counting and early subtraction skills, it developed memory skills through the repetition and the use of Makaton signs to help support inclusion for all our children.
Thank you too for the wonderful contributions you gave for our harvest.
We will continue our work on phonics and listening skills.
Reception parents please don't forget to access the learning platforms of spelling shed and purple mash, these supplement the learning the children access in class. Thank you to those who have accessed them with their children, I have seen some lovely work.
Also thank you if you have sent in photos of family and the children as babies this has stimulated a lot of discussion.
Don't forget it is photograph day tomorrow, as well as parents meetings for reception children. Nursery parents I will meet with you after half term to help give your children a little longer to settle, but please do not hesitate to raise any questions you might have before then.
So on to a busy four day week from tomorrow, don't forget there is no school on Friday as we have a staff training day school will then return on Monday 1st of November.
Thank you again for your wonderful support.

Sue Belcher

10th October 2021

What a beautiful weekend, I hope you have had a lovely time with your families the sun certainly makes you feel refreshed and energetic.
Well I hope that energy continues this week into the classroom for both myself and the children as we begin week six.
In Maths we will continue to investigate 1/2/3 and ensuring subitising (the ability to look at a small amount and know how many is there without the need to count.)
For our nursery children we will focus on sort by colour. We will continue looking at pattern for both nursery and reception, using seasonal vegetables and fruit to print with so linking in the harvest theme.
We shall talk about harvest and learn a song for harvest which I shall post on here. We will also talk about Autumn and link that into pattern and colour too.
We are also continuing with our work on the children as babies and their families, so if you haven't sent a picture in then please do. You can send one via tapestry as an observation.
The children are working hard in phonics and very eager to read. I hope you saw the reading video.
Nursery will now bring books home but please use these as discussion points, this will really help their vocabulary development and raise their interest in reading.
We will also send home 'library' books for each child for you to share with them. We will take them in small groups to the library and encourage them to choose a book to bring home.
Please don't forget to return their library books and reading scheme books.
As Autumn is a time of change we will discuss how the leaves change colour and drop, we can link this into investigations into colour mixing, so we will give them red and yellow to make orange.
We are so proud of how the children are doing and I hope you are too!
Don't forget PE tomorrow for Reception children so please send them in their PE kit.

Phonics link

This is a link to a free course explaining how we teach phonics. The approach we follow is called sounds write devised by John Walker and it is very good. This link takes you to the 'course' for parents devised by John Walker. https://www.udemy.com/course/help-your-child-to-read-and-write/

3rd October 2021

Another week has raced by and the children are most certainly getting into the routine of school and nursery. They are making good relationships with one another and this is now reflecting in their play.
They were busy last week making faces on paper plates, we spoke about about those body parts and how they help us. We have done work on repeating patterns for example red/blue/red/blue. You could reinforce pattern work at home, not to be confused with making something look pretty which some thought it was. Encourage pattern making by using two items or colours which repeat for example spoon/ fork/spoon/fork, it doesn't have to be colours it could be any item...even play a game using body parts clap/ touch nose/clap/ touch nose.
For the reception children this week we are moving onto number. Many of the children can count to 10 or 20 etc..but what we will focus on as well as recognition is subitising (the ability to look at a small amount and know how many is there without the need to count.) This week's focus is 1/2/3.
Nursery often join me for our formal teaching sessions but their main focus will still be on pattern.
Reception are so excited about reading, many were choosing to read their books to one another during their continuous provision time. They also like to write and were attempting to write the letters in our writing area, some were writing the words from the phonics lesson.
This week phonics will focus on a/i/m/s/t/n/o/p. There are no new sounds this week as we need to embed these and develop their blending skills( joining the sounds together to make a word).
There are many words that those few letters can make so it really helps to embed them for the children.
(it/is/at/am/sat/sit/mat/Sam/Tim/Tam/map/nap/pot/pan/sip/not/Tom/tin/pat/pin/man/pit/tan/mop/top/tap/tip/sip). The children are very good at hearing the sounds so showing segmenting skills.
Nursery will be listening out for environmental sounds both inside and out through a little listening work around our school.
We will also be thinking this week about our families. If you would like to send in a photo (or upload it onto Tapestry) of your child's family, that would be great. We can then talk about their families and the people who care for them. The children recognise some people are at different ages and stages in their life. Children are beginning to understand chronology and the passing of time.
If you have a baby photo of them that would be great to share with us as we can talk about how they have changed.
Our story focus this week will be Owl Babies, so again we can talk about relationships and change.
Don't forget reception have PE on Monday, so they need to come dressed in PE kit.
Also don't forget that all reception children are entitled to free school meals, our school provide good lunches so they are worth a try.

Reading with your child

Just a little video to support you when reading with your child. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sue Belcher

26th September 2021

Hello everyone, I can't believe that as of tomorrow we are about to start week 4, where has the time gone?
Your children have been amazing and although there have been a few tears, they have settled very well and have been very busy.
These last few weeks have been incredibly important in building relationships with their peers and with staff. We are certainly beginning to see their personalities shining through and friendships building. We often look at this cohort of children and think how for between a third and half of their lives they have been affected by the pandemic, so many not being able to see relatives, not mixing in pre-school groups or clubs and growing up seeing many adults wearing masks; how bizarre this must have been for them and now they are being left with relative strangers, despite all that they have done so well.
Over the next few weeks the children will be building upon their relationships and through our curriculum work on All about me they will be finding out about the senses, naming body parts, exploring what our bodies can do in PE and outdoor play.
Each morning we all do a little movement session we call 'Fizzy'. This is for approximately 20 minutes and we focus on balance, body awareness and coordination. They are really enjoying it and for nursery especially they are able to use the hall which is normally for the older children.
Reception have started phonics and reading we follow the sounds write programme, we have currently taught the children aimst and on Monday will introduce nop as well. I shall arrange a phonics meeting shortly to explain the process. In the mean time I will post a video on Tapestry this week to explain it.
Nursery are in the process of working on  listening and language development games that help form the basis of phonics.
In maths we follow the White Rose maths mastery approach. I find it to be very thorough it starts by looking at sorting/ matching/ pattern and builds to number work. It is very comprehensive and gives the children a great concept of mathematical vocabulary and skills.
In RE we are following the Emmanuel Project and this half term we will be asking  'Why is the word 'God' so important.'
PE is on Monday afternoons for reception please send your child in their PE kit.
I hope this overview gives you a little insight into Beech class. I will keep you posted with any information I have.

Thank you
Sue Belcher

p.s. I shall send passwords out for both Purple Mash and Spelling shed this week for reception, they are learning platforms for computing and spelling.

13th June

This week we will be continuing our work on growing plants. We had an interesting discussion last week about food and where it comes from, most could name a fruit or a vegetable that grows so if you could reinforce this it would be great thank you. They were not so sure where meat products come from so we had a chat about that too, many disbelieving that meat products come from animals. So even a casual chat about meat would help too. They will have the farm and farm animals out this week as well to support.
We will be growing beans and talking about Jack and the beanstalk. I think there may even be some giant footprints appear!
In phonics we are reinforcing our work on sh/ch/th/wh/qu/tch/ng (these are two letter making one sound). The children are working incredibly hard with their reading and spelling. The sounds write programme is very effective don't forget that there is free training available on this, I have sent out the link previously but if you can't find it but would like it just let me know.
In writing they will initially write about Jack and the Beanstalk but lead up to writing their own version.
In maths we will be looking at sharing by two, last week we covered work on doubles so this will follow on very nicely. Last week the children also investigated counting to 20 in 2's, 5's, 10's and then they posed the question whether they could count to it in 4's which then led onto looking at 6's and 7's .This was all initiated by the children, they were quite simply amazing!
PE will be Monday afternoon but we shall be very cautious about the weather conditions.

2nd June 2021

During the next half term we will be looking at how plants grow and finishing our work on minibeasts. Please have a look at the knowledge organiser which will reflect the areas we are going to cover.

5th November 2020

Hello all,
Hope you are all well. I have a little learning opportunity for you all that I would like to signpost you to, should you wish to try it.
I have recently finished a 40 hour course on phonics called Sounds Write. I have been teaching phonics , reading and writing for many years but the academy trust invested in this training for all of their schools, as they wanted a universal approach to the teaching of phonics.
I must say that I did actually enjoy the course and it reaffirmed what I had been teaching all these years. I have been implementing some of the ideas the last few weeks and the children are as always very eager to learn. We also have more new reading books arriving soon that will closely follow the Sounds-Write approach.
Normally I would do a phonics and reading meeting for parents to explain our approach but as you will appreciate that is not possible at this moment in time. Luckily Sounds-Write have came to the rescue and produced a free online course for parents so that you will become familiar with the approach...the added bonus is that you won't have me on video explaining it!
So if you click on the link below or copy and paste it into your browser it should take you to it.

https://www.udemy.com/course/help-your-child-to-read-and-write/

I hope this helps you to understand the approach and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you
Susan Belcher

22nd October 2020

Good morning everyone, hope you are well.

During half term could you please look out for a pebble or large stone to send into school with your child after half term. We would like to paint them with poppies for Remembrance and display them around the school.

Thank you so much for your support, we really do appreciate it. We have had a really enjoyable half term and we hope that your children have too. They certainly have been a credit to you all.

Have a good and restful break.

Susan Belcher

21st October 2020

After a little bit of sorting out I believe I have mastered spelling shed and have assigned the children a spelling assignment to try over half term.
At this point this is experimental and I would so appreciate your feedback on it. Firstly to know if it has been set up correctly for you and your child to access at home and secondly to see if they enjoy it.
I will send home tomorrow their passwords, there is also a QR code too so you can access it that way if you prefer. I personally went via this link and put in the username and password:-

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb/login  You can access it via phones, i pads, tablets and laptops. Happy spelling!

18th October 2020

Another week has gone by, I can't believe that we are about to start week 7. It certainly has flown by and the children have been tremendous, I am immensely proud of them.
During the week the children were very busy from building structures with the cardboard boxes, to hammering golf tees into pumpkins to develop their fine motor skills, writing their names, exploring the numerals 1,2,3, spelling, reading and writing, making patterns, painting pictures, making playdough cakes...I could go on!
They also love to listen to stories which is so important in developing their love of reading and developing vocabulary.

This coming week we shall be discussing harvest, reading the story of The Little Red Hen, continue exploring 1/2/3 and the sounds /a/i/m/s/t/n/o/p/c/h/g/b.

Thank you for your continued support and don't forget the children are not in school on Friday 23rd October but will return Monday 2nd November.

11th October 2020

WOW! Another week over where does the time go?

The children have once again been very busy and seem very well settled, as I have said before they are very eager to learn and try new things.

We have continued with phonics and making words from /a/ /i/ /m/ /s/ /t/ /n/ /o/ /p/. They have played a search game and found them on individual boards, practiced writing them and saying them. Some of the children were even playing 'schools' and being myself teaching their friends! Quite amusing to watch I must say.

We have reinforced with them how we learn to read and write by moving left to right and top to bottom so if you can reinforce this too that would be great. Thank you.

In maths we have been looking at repeating patterns and this too has reinforced the concept of left to right as they 'read' their pattern.

Some of the children wanted to create a camp fire and pretend they were cooking. Next week they will pretend they are cooking marshmallows so they can have a little taste of those!

We will be doing PE on Monday (not nursery) so please send them in suitably dressed i.e. jogging bottoms/ fleeces/ trainers. Normally we would get the children changed for PE and develop that skill but with the current situation this isn't possible.

We will continue with the phonics and introduce /b//c//g//h/. We are reinforcing reading and writing skills in each session.

In Maths we will be looking at numbers and counting to 3. This doesn't sound very high but we are looking at a mastery approach, this means that they will be developing the skill of subitising. This means that they know instantly an amount without having to count 1 to 1. This is often a skill we assume children have as we do as adults but it is really important that it is taught effectively to 5, as beyond this they begin to bring in other skills. I will post some examples of their work as the week progresses.

Friday 2nd October 2020

Thank you for your continued support this term I really appreciate it. A newsletter will be coming out next week with some further information.

The children are enjoying phonics and reading. So far we have focused on  'a, i, m, s, t'. They have been segmenting and blending sat, mat, am, it, is.

I will be adding a post on tapestry about how to pronounce the sounds, I will also try to upload a video on here too.

Susan Belcher

Welcome to Beech class, we have had a wonderful start to the term.

gunterretul1992.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.marshlandprimary.norfolk.sch.uk/beech-class/

Share this post