Beckers Green School Blogs

Good afternoon,

I hope you all had a relaxing break and enjoyed the Easter holidays. Thank you to everyone who uploaded pictures on Tapestry of what you got up to and the lovely Spring walks that you went on over the two weeks.

This week we have settled back into school really well and I have introduced our new topic which is Growing and the World. Our story focus this week has been 'Jasper's Beanstalk' which was a real hit. This book is good for days of the week as well! We spoke about what we need for a plant to grow and the children realised that Jasper's beanstalk wouldn't grow if he kept digging at it, or mowing it! We have planted cress and it is starting to really grow which is great- the children are great at watering them every day after lunch!

In literacy this week we have recapped phase 3 words, been writing cvc word sentences and have written sentences about what happens in the Jasper's Beanstalk story. In maths this week we have looked at time and especially 'o clock'.

We had a great weaving workshop ran by two ladies from Braintree museum on Thursday which was great and thank you to the parents that attended our phonic session- we loved having you!

Next week our story focus will be The Enormous Turnip and we will be doing some more planting!

Please remember hats, sunglasses and sun cream next week if it is as warm!

Have a great sunny weekend Antelopes

Miss Forman

Good afternoon! This week in the Antelopes class we read our last story of this terms topic which was Alien's love underpants! Oscar also had a version of this book with sound clips so we read that too and very much enjoyed it! This story had some rhyming words in too so it linked nicely to what we were doing in literacy.

We got to grips with rhyming words and noticed the pattern of the same letters being at the end. The children had an activity where they had to match the pictures that rhymed and then they had a go at writing them independently.

In maths we have been recognising numbers and doing addition, subtraction and doubling. I introduced halving yesterday and we had two fun activities to complete.

We have also been enjoying our space station role play area, slime in the tuft spot and painting patterns on underpants!

Thank you to everyone who attended parents evening this week- it is always lovely to talk to you all about your child's learning.

Next week is the last week of term 2- scary! We have our outcome afternoon on Thursday from 2:15pm and we have year 3s production of the Lion King to watch on Tuesday morning.

Have a great weekend Antelopes- See you on Monday!

Miss Forman

Hello! Week 4 was science week in school and based on the affects of plastic in the ocean. The children were very engaged in this and they asked to watch a video clip I had shown them each day. We started by looking at what animals lived in the ocean and compared this to animals that live in woodland. The children did some great writing for our whole school write based on science week- these are on display in the classroom so you are more than welcome to look at these during parents evening or at our open afternoon.

In maths we were continuing with money and counting coins, and we did a lovely art activity making Elmer's out of milk cartons!

Tuesday 20th, Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd are parents evenings and I am looking forward to meeting with you to talk about your child's progress and their targets for the rest of the year. On Friday 23rd March it is non uniform and we have a book fair where you are welcome to come and look around after school.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend- this week we are starting 'Alien's love underpants'!

Miss Forman

Good afternoon! This week we have been looking at the story Elmer- one of my favourites! We spoke about the book and how Elmer might be feeling throughout different points in the story. Our favourite bit was when all the Elephants had a parade at the end.

On the writing table this week we have been practising to write our HFW and the children were into creating registers. I saw some brilliant letter formation and they loved writing each others names-some teachers in the making too I think!

In maths we have continued to look at money. We refreshed our brains in recognising the different coins and then we were adding coins together to find the total.

We have had lots of paint out this week painting Elmer's and rainbows and we made a special something for Sunday.

Our open teach morning has been changed from Monday 12th March to Thursday 19th April now so more details will follow nearer the time. Next week is science week and we are having a Geography morning on Friday. Please could your child bring in a piece of plastic rubbish on Monday if they have not already. Also on Thursday we have our class photo in the morning so get your smiles ready Antelopes!

Sorry for the delay in Tapestry updates this week- our school dropbox hasn't been working but luckily it has just been fixed.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend- only daddies allowed in book bags until Sunday!

Miss Forman

What a snowy afternoon! This week we continued our work based on the Rainbow Fish. The small world area was set out like the story and the children loved this- especially the dark cave where the Octopus lives!

In writing this week we have been practising our handwriting and writing about the story. I had some lovely sentences with describing words in them, such as glittery, sparkly, pretty, colourful and shiny.

In maths this week we have continued with repeating patterns using cheerios and strawberry laces, and I have introduced money. We will continue with money next week.

In PE we have started dance- the children were great! I am looking forward to our next dance lesson on Monday.

On Thursday we had a lovely World Book Day and some great costumes so thank you! The children have taken home a sticker and their book token today.

Next week we will move onto the story of 'Elmer' and hopefully this snow will not get in the way!

Have a lovely weekend Antelopes- stay warm!

Miss Forman

Good afternoon,

Welcome back to Spring term 2! It was lovely to see the children after half term and hear all about what they got up to when we did our news writing on Monday. I hope you all had a lovely weeks break.

This half term our topic will be 'Colour and Pattern'. This week we have looked at the book 'Rainbow Fish' and we will be continuing with this next week.

On the writing table we have been writing in the tuft spot with chalk and water. In maths we have been practising more addition, subtraction and doubling. In the small world area we have had water play with glitter, fish and bubbles. Our role play area is now a clothes shop, and we have been making repeating patterns in the construction area using unifix cubes. Snack this week has been lemon slices and fruit loaf.

Next week it is World Book Day on Thursday- children are welcome to dress up as a book character and we will be off timetable for the morning so that we can complete some fun activities!

As always there is lots going on over this term so some important dates are listed below:

Monday 12th March- Open teach for parents to come in and do a literacy lesson with your child- 9:15am-10am. (A letter will be with you nearer the time).

Thursday 15th March- Class photos

Tuesday 20th, Wednesday 21st, Thursday 22nd March- Parents evenings. (These can now be booked online).

Friday 23rd March- Non Uniform Day

Thursday 29th March- End of term and Parent outcome afternoon from 2pm.

Have a lovely weekend Antelopes

Miss Forman x

Good Evening!

This week our final story was The Gingerbread Man. In the writing area we have been mark making on our tummies, in the maths area we were doubling using counters and ladybirds, the role play area was a bakers, and we have been using different art materials and resources to decorate gingerbread men. Also, we wrote about our favourite traditional tale- this writing was superb from everyone and it is displayed on our writing wall in the classroom.

Thank you to everyone who came to our outcome afternoon yesterday. It is always wonderful to see parents looking through books, and it is clear the children love to show you their classroom and the activities we have available as part of our continuous provision.

Again, a big thank you for all the support today- the costumes were great and everybody had two cakes each which was a treat! I think we have raised lots of money for a great cause!

The Antelopes have worked extremely hard over the last six weeks, and I will look forward to our next topic of 'Colour and Pattern'.

Have a fantastic half term, and I will see you on Monday 19th February.

Miss Forman x

Hello everyone!

This week our theme was The Three Billy Goats Gruff and as always we read the story and spoke about our favourite parts, what the author does and what an illustrator does. Our small world area was set up as the scene with the river and the bridge that the troll was sitting under! All of the children worked really well in small groups to retell the story- it was lovely to listen to them. They also enjoyed making their own story scenes on the art table and creating it using construction on the carpet area. The literacy area had High Frequency Word bingo on it and it was great to see so much determination from the children to fill their boards up! In maths this week we have been working on doubling- the children knew that we always add the same number and we will continue with this next week. For snack this week the children have had a selection of cereal and chicken wraps which were a huge hit!

The school nurse team have been in this week completing weight, height and eye checks on the children- you should have had a letter giving you the details on the outcomes of this. I have also sent out the first home learning challenge which the children were very excited about! It is to build a den of some kind, big, small, inside or outside for your child and their favourite toy. I can't wait to see these uploaded to Tapestry!

There is a lot going on next week, but we are really looking forward to welcoming you all on Wednesday at 2pm to come and see the children's work and join in with the activities with your children. The Antelopes are able to come into school wearing a traditional tale costume if they would like to and as always I will try and make sure I get round to speak to you all. On Thursday it is another fancy dress day (superheroes) with all donations going to Children with Cancer. A cake sale will also be on during the day. Friday is a non pupil day so we will finish school for half term at 3:10pm on Thursday too.

Next week our last story to finish traditional tales will be The Gingerbread Man. The role play is all set up as a bakers and we have lots of exciting activities planned- one on Wednesday that I think the children (and adults!) will particularly enjoy!

See you in the morning Antelopes

Miss Forman x

Good Afternoon!

This week on the literacy table we have been matching the lower case letter to the upper case letter- this has really helped with our capital letters in sentence writing. We also have written captions for what the Big Bad Wolf says in the story "I will huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down". And speech bubbles for the three pigs "not by the hairs on my chinny chin chin!"

In maths we have been looking at more shape and number- we have had the numicon boards out which all of the children have loved.

We did some fun bubble painting at the art table, huffing and puffing into a straw and our role play has been a builders site building houses with bricks- there has been some amazing narrative through play in this area!

Next week our story focus will be The Three Billy Goats Gruff and the children are already excited about acting out the troll!

I will look forward to lots of fun learning next week Antelopes!

Miss Forman x

Good afternoon! I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. At school this week our theme has been Little Red Riding Hood. Again, the children loved listening to the story and joining in with the repeated refrains, and there has been lots of great role play happening in our Grandma's cottage. The children love our role play area which is changing weekly. Last week we had the bears cottage with teddy bears and the different sized bowls of real porridge. This week we had dressing up clothes and masks of each character with real treats in Little Red Riding Hood's basket.

In addition, in maths we have been doing some more subtraction and 2D shape work- this time looking at how many sides a square, triangle, rectangle and circle has. In literacy we have been making WANTED posters to warn the other children at Beckers Green that a Big Bad Wolf is on the loose!

On Wednesday afternoon we practised our tricky words with paint pouches which was a real hit! I am really pleased with all the segmenting and blending too. On Thursday afternoon we practise our handwriting and our letter this week was f. I was really pleased with all of the children during this as it is one of the more difficult letters to form.

At the snack table this week we have had our daily fruit and on Tuesday we had cereal to choose from and on Thursday we had scones or dairy free jam tarts- All of the children are extremely independent at this area now which is great to see and some even like to do their own washing up!

In phonics this week our tricky word of the week was 'was' and our new sounds were or, ow, ur and oi.

Next week our theme will be 'The Three Little Pigs' and it is one of my favourites so I can't wait!

See you all tomorrow morning Antelopes

Miss Forman x

Good afternoon,

This week our theme has been Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We started by reading the story and the children loved getting into character with me!

In maths this week we have been on a 2D shape hunt looking for a circle, square, triangle, star, pentagon, hexagon and a rhombus! We have also been continuing with subtraction and have played the subtraction smash game with play dough.

In literacy we have been pretending to be Goldilocks and wrote the three bears a letter of apology. We are practising so hard in handwriting sessions on a Thursday too!

Our new phonic sounds were oa, oo and ar. Can your child show you the action and rhyme that goes with each of these? Our tricky word of the week is 'my' if you would like to practise at home.

I have put some more WOW moments in bags today and hopefully on Friday we will see some great things to celebrate from home!

Next week our traditional tale focus is Little Red Riding Hood- Have a great weekend Antelopes!

Miss Forman

This week we have introduced our topic of Traditional Tales. We have read some stories such as The Frog Prince, Puss in Boots and The Ugly Ducking, and we have noticed that traditional tales usually begin with 'Once Upon a Time' and sometimes they end with 'and they lived happily ever after'. Next week we focus on one story which will be Goldilocks and the Three Bears- our role play area is set up as the bears cottage so I bet lots of fun will be had in there!

In phonics this week we have revisited previous sounds and tricky words, but next week we will be moving onto four new sounds from phase 3 and a new tricky word from phase 3. Please do not worry if your child does not know all of the words in the back of the reading books as we have only just started this. I would hope that everyone is confident with them by Easter.

Thank you for all of the snack money that I have received so far, the children loved making their own sandwiches at our snack area this week!

We are running quite low on newspapers to cover our art table when paint and messy activities are out, therefore, if you do have any spare at home we would love them!

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend, and I shall see you bright and early in the morning!

Miss Forman

Hello,

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and I wish you all a very Happy New Year! Thank you for all of your support last term, it was a very busy one with lots going on, especially throughout December so we do appreciate it.

The children have settled brilliantly back into school life today, and it was lovely hearing about everything they got up to and all of the presents that they got- very lucky by the sounds of it!

This half term we will be learning about Traditional Tales so expect lots of retelling of the stories, role play and our maths and writing will be related to this topic as well. We will be focussing on a different story each week; some of these will be Goldilocks, The Three Little Pigs, The Gingerbread Man, and Little Red Riding Hood. It certainly is another fun theme and I have lots of fun activities planned. We will have another open afternoon at 2pm for you to come and see your child's work and join in the fun on Wednesday 7th February- more information will be given to you nearer the time.

Please remember all PE kits need to be back in for Monday and outdoor learning will be continuing next Tuesday.

In phonics we are moving onto phase 3 tricky words and carrying on with learning some new sounds in phase 3. Please practise the tricky words key ring that all children have on their bags as much as you can, and if you can read with your child at least three times a week it does help with their phonics and reading skills. I will stick the phase 3 tricky words in the back of their reading books this week.

As always if you have any questions about the forthcoming term please come and see me!

Miss Forman

Hello! 

I hope the children all had fun in the snow this week, they came back full of beans about it and it was a great hook for writing! I think you will all agree with me that the children were amazing performing Born in a Barn, and I hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you very much for all of your support with this and the amazing costumes! They really made it all come together. The DVD recording on Thursday turned out brilliantly so we will be selling this for £2.50. Please let us know if you would like a copy. 

We also did some addition this week and the children are now working imdepently to achieve their number sentences. 

There is lots going on over the last few days of term...

Monday 18th December: Christmas card making, Christmas activities 

Tuesday 19th December: Christmas dinner day, carol concert at 2:45pm 

Wednesday 20th December: We will be having our Christmas party in the morning full of games and fun! 

See you in the morning Antelopes! 

Miss Forman 

Good evening!

We have had a very busy week rehearsing for our nativity. Thank you for all of the costumes that the children have to wear- they all look absolutely fantastic so thank you for your support with this. I hope you will enjoy our performance of Born in a Barn at 9:30am on Wednesday 13th December. Please take advantage of a crèche we will have available for pre school children and babies.

Also this week we wrote letters to Father Christmas. It was very exciting and the children loved posting their letters to the North Pole!

We made some reindeer food for Rudolph and his friends which was sold at the Christmas Fayre. It was lovely to hear how the children were talking about how the food is magical, and how the reindeers will stop at their door if they sprinkle it out on Christmas Eve.

Next week is all about the nativity, but we will also be making Christmas biscuits and we have a Christmas pantomime to look forward to on Thursday!

Have a great weekend,

Miss Forman x

Good evening! 

This week the Antelopes have been learning about carnivals! We have been practising segmenting and blending CVC words in literacy, and in maths we used addition machines to help us to add two single digit numbers together. We have also been acting out in the role play carnival themed area, and making maracas! 

In phonics this week we have learnt the qu, ch, sh and th sounds. I wonder if your child can remember the rhymes to go with them? 

Thank you for all of the nativity costumes that we have had in so far... The deadline for these is Monday, as we will be rehearsing in the hall on stage next week ready for the 12th and 13th! 

The children loved non uniform day today and I loved some of the Christmas outfits... very festive! Thank you for all of the biscuits that we had in ready for our Christmas Fayre next week. 

Next week we will start our final topic of Festivals and Celebrations which of course will be CHRISTMAS!!! I can’t quite believe we have 2.5 weeks left of the term. Marcel opened our first window on our class advent calendar today- who will it be next week? 

Have a lovely weekend everybody, and I will look forward to seeing you on Monday. 

Miss Forman 

Good afternoon!

This week the Antelopes have been learning about weddings. We started the week off by reading the story 'The Scarecrows Wedding' by Julia Donaldson. The children really enjoyed this story and have remembered all of the characters and main events well which I saw through their writing this week.

The children enjoyed listening to each others experiences of weddings and had fun with our continuous provision activities for the week based on the topic.

In phonics we have been recapping our sounds and HFW- I am really impressed with everyone segmenting and blending words well done! Next week we will be learning new phase 3 sounds and new digraphs.

Thank you for the nativity costumes that I have got so far- we will need these in for Monday 4th December so that we can have a photo taken for it to be in the newspaper! Our nativity practise is in full swing and we have been practising our lines and songs/actions after lunch each day.

Next week our topic will be Carnivals and Fayres and on Friday 1st December we have a non uniform day to collect items for our Christmas Fayre- if your child could bring in some biscuits we would be very grateful. The Christmas Fayre at Beckers Green is always a wonderful event run by the PTA, so we will look forward to seeing you there on Friday 8th December after school.

Christmas dinner menu choices have also gone out this week- please get them in ASAP.

Have a lovely weekend Antelopes and I will see you on Monday morning.

Miss Forman x

Hello! This week our focus was on birthdays! We started the week by spending some time in the role play area, which had been turned into a tea party! We also were wrapping presents up, writing invites out, and printing with paint to design our own wrapping paper. In literacy we have been working on initial sounds and segmenting and blending. In maths we have been working on addition and continuing with adding one more than a given number.

Thank you to everyone for wearing non uniform/something spotty to raise money for Children In Need! On Thursday we also said goodbye to our lovely Mrs Fenn who left us to go and have her baby! We will welcome Mrs Charles to our class who will be helping us in our learning in the mornings.

You should have received a letter about the nativity with details of the date and time and what costume your child will need. If you have any queries about this please see me.

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend- Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday Antelopes where we will look at weddings!

Miss Forman x

Hello! We have had a fun week learning about Diwali. The children did some fantastic writing about Diwali on Wednesday- some wrote about Ravana and how he had 10 heads and 20 arms, some chose to write about Princess Sita leaving a trail of jewellery for Rama to find her, and some chose to write about mendhi patterns. In maths we have been continuing to work on one more than a given number and we also made Diva lamps out of clay. For snack this week we have had cereal and Indian bread that the children really enjoyed. In addition, we have been making Diwali cards, and creating rangoli patterns using beads.

In phonics this week we learnt the new sounds j, v, w, x and the new words 'into' and 'he'. These will be added to the key ring over the next few weeks. If you get a chance at home see if your child can tell you the sounds on the sound mat that the children took home this week, practise the key ring and see if your child can blend some CVC words such as cat, mat, dog, log etc. Next week we will be learning new sounds and words with a big focus and lots of activities based on segmenting and blending.

Next week there is a non pupil day on Friday 17th November, and therefore on Thursday 16th November we will be raising money for Children In Need where children are welcome to wear something spotty!

Our theme next week is birthdays- I think we will have lots of fun with that!

Have a great weekend Antelopes,

Miss Forman x

Good evening,

It was good to see the children back on Monday I hope you all had a lovely half term. This week we started our new topic of Festivals and Celebrations where we focussed on Bonfire Night. We were practising letter formation in glitter, using play dough to make fireworks with sequins and pipe cleaners and we were painting fireworks using salad spinners.

In literacy this week we were talking about safety awareness and had a great story called Sparks in the Sky. The children used our small world area to retell the story and remembered the key points really well. We also did some writing about what a firework looks like and what they sound like.

In maths this week we were focussing on the concept of one more than a given number. The children were picking this up well and once this is cracked we will move onto adding two single digit numbers together.

Today we made some edible sparklers with bread sticks, chocolate and hundreds and thousands- a yummy treat!

Thank you to everyone for attending parents evening this week- it was great to be able to talk about how your child is progressing in their first year at Beckers Green.

Next week we will be looking at Diwali- the Festival of Lights. Please remember all of the safety points about sparklers, bonfires and fireworks this weekend Antelopes!

Have lots of fun if you're going to any displays this weekend!

Miss Forman