Trip to the ‘Seaquarium’ - Monday July 6th

Just a few details about the trip on Monday…

• School uniform polo tops to be worn and any shorts if the weather is hot. Wear sensible shoes and a sun hat please. Bring a raincoat if the forecast is rain!
• Please apply sun cream before school and we will reapply. No need to bring any – we have plenty of sensitive skin sun cream
• Bring a packed lunch with plenty of drinks.
• Your child is welcome to bring something quiet to do on the bus but please don’t send any electronics or valuables.
• If your child gets travel sick please give staff any medication and make sure your child has had their tablet before school

See you Monday morning!

Re-scheduled Sports day for Reception will be July 8th @ 1:30 pm. See you there!

Sports Day - this will be held on June 26th @ 1:30. Please make sure your child has trainers, sun hat and a water bottle in school every day as we prepare for this fun day! 

. 

For these last weeks of Reception we will be finding out about life “Under the Sea.” The children will explore using stories such as ‘The Storm Whale’, ‘The Sea Dragon’ and a favourite “Commotion in the Ocean” as well as using non-fiction texts to find out about sea creatures.

In Language and Literacy we will continue to learn to write sentences using capital letters and full stops. We will work as groups to write a poem about a sea creature. Reading and spelling will continued to be taught, building on single letters already taught and introduction of  two letter sounds ch, sh, th, ng and ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar.

To help with our topic, the pupils will look for pictures and simple information using ipads. In Knowledge and Understanding, the children will find out what it’s like under the sea, discover whether all seas are the same and find out what seaside life was like a long time ago. This topic lends itself to lots of creative activities inspired by the sea.

How can you help?

The children will help set up a role play beach shop to help with money work and general number activities. Please can you send in anything you think might be useful that you may have finished with? E.g. beach towels, buckets, spades, inflatables, swimwear, fishing nets.

Activities you can do to help support your child’s learning:

• Find out about sea creatures, make drawings and write short pieces of information
• Count shells and sort shells for different criteria.
• Visit the beach and explore rock pools
• Add totals of beach items for amounts up to 20p. Work out change from 10p
• Make a magnetic fishing game to fish for letter sounds and words your child is learning
• Use travel brochures to talk about places you like or don’t like and how they are similar to/differ from Bridgend.
• Use pebbles to add and subtract
• Explore fabrics to find out those that are waterproof

I have been asked for any Apps suitable for Reception age children. I firmly believe that the use of technology needs to be limited and our young children should be playing and enjoying first hand experiences indoors and outdoors. That said I also understand our children live in a highly technological world and many have access to iPads, tablets and computers. This short list is a few apps that may be suitable ( I think they're all free too!)

Hairy Phonics

Addimals

Quick math jr

Hungry Fish

Don't forget www.oxfordowl.co.uk 

Marbles in the jar...what's it all about?

You might have heard your child say they have put a marble in the jar at school. It is a method to positively recognise and reward positive behaviour within the classroom.  The whole class works towards filling the jar through agreed good and appropriate behaviour and when the jar is full, the whole class have a reward from a limited choice. The children are recognised for good sitting, listening, sharing, walking round the school quietly, helping each other, speaking kindly and good manners. We have been working to fill the jar over the last few weeks and enjoyed the 'plunk' every time someone puts a marble in. The jar is nearly full and the choice is either a visit to the park or an Easter party. We' ll keep you posted! 

Follow us on Twitter  @BracklaPrimary

World Book Day

We brought our favourite book to school to share with the class. Take a look at a few of our photos. You might not recognise us as we came in disguise! 

Next half term....

Next half term our topic is 'Scrumptious', we will be learning about:

• Different types of food 
• Foods we like and dislike
• The senses of smell and taste 
• Keeping healthy by eating a balanced diet 
• Measures and money through play based contexts 
• Foods from different countries 
• The processes of cooking, melting, freezing and mixing 
• Expressing ourselves creatively using a range of different media 
• The Welsh language by using words and phrases across a range of experiences both in the indoor and outdoor environment

All the staff are looking forward to this topic!!! 

Next term our topic will be 'Pitter Patter Puddles'. We will be learning to...

• Read and explore lots of stories about Water;

• Look how water is used in the home;

• Talk about being safe near water;
• Dress and play in the rain;
• Find out about animals that live in ponds and streams;
• Fill containers and carry water;
• Record our ideas, feelings and experiences through drawing, mark making and
emergent writing;
• Find out how water is important for seeds and plants;
• Respond to water music and songs with our bodies;
• Use learn and use new Welsh words about our topic.

Please make sure you have your Wellies in school to keep dry as we get out and about in those Puddles!! 

Next half term our topic is 'Glow and Glitter'. It enables the children to explore things that sparkle, glow, glitter,reflect,shine and twinkle. We will be talking about Bonfire night and making firework pictures as well as discussing how to keep safe on bonfire night. Our topic will help us explore the festivals and Diwali and then our big run up to CHRISTMAS!!! Everyone is getting excited already!! Look out for some glowing pictures of our work...

Let's Get Reading!

This week there has been great excitement in Reception class as we have all taken our first reading books home. We have been learning the names of the characters we will meet in our books and beginning to use the pictures to see what's happening in the story. Our families met Mrs Pettey this week to find out about reading at Brackla Primary School. To help us learn to read we have been learning the sounds the following letters make:

                          s     a    t    p    i    n  

We have been learning to write words using these letters e.g. at, pat, sat, in, pin, tin, sip, tip, it. 

See how many words you can write blending these letter sounds together! Remember to bring your book to school every day!

Our class page...

This term we will be exploring the topic of Holes, Spaces and Hiding Places. During the topic we hope to help the children become more confident in and out of the classroom.  We will be studying different animals that hibernate during the autumn and winter and exploring lots of stories about hiding.  The children will be using large and small boxes, tubes, construction toys and modelling materials to plan, design and have fun playing in Dens and hiding places.  We will begin those all important steps towards learning to read, write and early maths skills. So many exciting things are happening!

First week in...

The children settled really well, adapting to being grown up and hardly a tear from anyone! They have all got used to the new classroom and have been enjoying finding all the exciting things to explore. Check out our first self portraits in the photo at the top. Keep checking out our class page for more exciting news, updates and photos. 

Hibernation... Finley Joseph’s Nan brought in her tortoise for us to observe.  As part of our topic we have been learning about animals that hibernate. Margaret, the tortoise stayed a while and we asked Finley’s Nan questions about her.  We had lots of fun learning about tortoises; we painted and drew pictures and talked about how to care for her before she goes into hibernation for the winter months.  We want to say Thank you to Mrs Bennetta for letting us borrow Margaret and for helping us in our learning.