Welcome to Team Donaldson
Visit from Paralympian Stephen Miller
Team Donaldson have had a fantastic afternoon with Paralympian Stephen Miller. Stephen gave the children a very motivational assembly where he discussed his journey to the Paralympics and how he overcame his disability to win six Paralympic medals. The children then enjoyed taking part in a circuit of different exercises supported by Stephen. 🏅 🥇
E-Safety
This afternoon the children listened to the story ‘The Pop-Up Gremlins’ which is a Twinkl original book all about how to stay safe online.
The Year 1s then created some excellent E-Safety posters featuring the pop up gremlins & explaining the rules about how to keep themselves safe when using the internet –
1. Stop what you are doing.
2. Close the iPad/tablet or electronic device.
3. Tell a grown up!
Independent Writing
Wow Team Donaldson! After phonics this morning lots of the children chose to head into learning zones and find as many ‘or’ words as they could. The children then wrote the words and drew a picture to show their understanding. We then challenged some of the children to write sentences containing one or more of the words they had written. You are all superstars.
Number Recognition
Children in reception have been working really hard on their number recognition, yesterday in learning zones they used numicon to build numbers to 10 and for an extra challenge lots of children worked on their numbers to 20.
Phonics Writing
After our phonics lesson this morning, the children went into learning zones to independently write some words containing the sound taught today. We were super proud of their phonics knowledge and letter formation.
Learning Zones
We have had lots of busy bees in learning zones this morning – some of the children have been drawing pictures to accompany their models in the construction area; writing shopping lists in the home corner; practising their writing skills in the writing area and enjoying a quiet book in the reading area.
Stanley Crook does Strictly Come Dancing!
Strictly rehearsals are well underway in Team Donaldson! The children have been working super hard in rehearsals to perfect their dance moves and create an excellent team dance.
Emily Brown and the Thing
The children are really enjoying our new core text, Emily Brown and the Thing. Before we started reading the story the children made predictions about what they thought the Thing would look like. Year 1 wrote some excellent descriptions of their monsters, working hard to include exciting adjectives and join their clauses using and. Reception worked hard to use their phonics knowledge when writing words to describe their monsters.
Fantastic Phonics
This morning in phonics the children showed off their fantastic letter formation and knowledge of sounds by writing words containing the phonemes we have learnt so far!
Merry Christmas
We have had a really special visit from Santa this afternoon, the children were all super excited!
We enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner!
Make A Noise!
This morning Team Donaldson enjoyed an anti bullying workshop with BigFoot Arts Education. We created our own music video all about ‘making a noise’ when you spot bullying.
Anti Bullying Week!
The children have created some fantastic posters about kindness. They have shown and explained what it means to be kind, how to help each other and what it means to be a good friend!
‘3 is the magic number’
As part of maths week England, Team Donaldson have enjoyed a number 3 scavenger hunt! The children grouped up to find different ways to make the number 3 using resources in the classroom. They found a lot of resources which make the number 3, including dinosaurs, cars and Numberblocks. The children then recorded all the different ways they could make the number 3 using different objects.
Great work, Team Donaldson!
Lest We Forget
Today in Team Donaldson we began our day by watching a short video explaining the reasons & importance of why we mark Remembrance Day each year!
We were also very lucky, as one of our Year 1s then proudly showed & talked to the class about some special medals which his Dad had received, when serving in the Armed Forces!
To further mark Remembrance Day the children have created their own poppy wreaths. Which look fantastic!
Well done Team Donaldson!
Billy’s Bucket
Team Donaldson are really enjoying our new core text Billy’s Bucket. After reading the story and finding out about all the sea creatures that live in Billy’s bucket, the children created some lovely drawings of what they think his bucket will look like.
Year 1
Year 1 then wrote some outstanding poems about Billy’s bucket, swipe for some examples of our brilliant writing. They worked really hard to come up with their own ideas and worked super hard on their handwriting and presentation.
Reception
Reception children worked really hard to independently write the initial sounds for the sea creatures in the bucket and with support lots of them wrote the whole word.
Throwing and Catching
Today in P.E we have played lots of team games to improve our throwing and catching skills. We have showed great sportsmanship & excellent teamwork!
Wheels & Axles
Year 1 have been working super hard on their Design and Technology projects. They loved designing and building their race cars, making sure they properly connected the wheels and axles and ensuring their products can carry toys across the classroom. Today, they have written some brilliant instructions on how they made their products and completed an evaluation to make sure their cars met the design criteria.
Forest Schools
In forest schools the children have been practising their number recognition by finding natural Autumn materials to match the number they were given. They then completed an Autumn scavenger hunt, searching for conkers, colourful leaves, bare trees and even a squirrel!
Fantastic Phonics
We have been on a sound hunt in phonics this morning, travelling around the classroom reception were finding pictures of things that start with our sounds from the week (o,g,m,d) and year 1’s sounds were ee, igh and oa. After we found the pictures we drew them and wrote the words focusing on the key sounds. Finally, we shared our work with the team and identified the key sounds, well done everyone!
Forest Schools
This afternoon in forest school we searched for leaves, sticks and other items we could use for print making, we are really looking forward to using them in our artwork next lesson. Year 1 spent some time completing some observational drawing of the trees in the forest school garden and worked really hard to include lots of detail. After that we worked in pairs to really explore the area and look for seasonal changes that show us autumn is on its way, we then had a fantastic group discussion. To finish the day we visited the well-being garden and listened to a story about an autumn storm.