Reception Class - Story Time - Whatever Next!
Today during story time the children acted out the different parts of our story Whatever Next! baby Bear and Owl met up and flew to the moon on a fantastic adventure! The children had remembered lots of vocabulary from the story and they were able to sequence the different events.
Year One - Guided Reading
In Guided Reading, we have been using our pointers to help us track our reading. We also used them to point to tricky words or graphemes too.
Year 6 - English - Persuasive Writing
Today in our English lesson we have planning our persuasive writing all about climate change, Greta Thunberg and how we can reduce Carbon emissions.
Year 3 and Year 4 Guided Reading Group
This week the year 3 reading group has been reading The Queen's Plan. They have enjoyed reading and talking about the characters and story as well as adding expression. They have been breaking down new words and identifying the sounds ai, ee, igh, oa.
Reception - Literacy - Plot Point 4
Today in literacy we have been looking at plot point 4 of our story Pig's Might Fly. In the story, Wilbur pressed the big red button to activate the rocket booster! We were finding things that are red and we had a go at writing a sentence "Wilbur pressed the shiny red button". Some of the children had a go at changing the word shiny to other words, such as ruby and bright.
Year 1 - Phonics - Popcorn Pop!
In phonics this morning, we played 'Popcorn Pop', reading words with the 'ea / e-e' digraph.
Year 1 - English - Ordering a Poem
In English this morning, the children thought about the shape of the poem and worked in pairs to put the poem in order.
Year 1 - World Book Day
Year 1 have had a great Book Day afternoon. We read Sloth in The Slow Lane and learned some key facts about sloths. Later, we made a sloth mask and some children did a collage.
Year 2 - World Book Day
Year 2 has had a fantastic World Book Day! They shared stories with Year 6, talked about their teddies and explored the story or Mula and the Unsure Elephant.
Nursery - World Book Day
Nursery have had a wonderful day today celebrating World Book Day. They have dressed up, brought in teddies and shared stories!
Year 1 - English - When I am by Myself
We started our new unit in English today, a poem called 'When I am by Myself'. The children have been learning the shapes for the poem which will help them with the sequence when they are writing their own. We played a game called 'Show me'. After learning the names of the shapes, the children worked with a partner and matched them to the different parts of the poem.
Year 3 - World Book Day
Today for World Book Day Year 3 read Handa's Chicken and learned about Africa. They looked at its different countries and also the different flags. They also enjoyed a visit to nursery, to listen to the story of The Gruffalo read by Miss Lawson.
Reception Class - World Book Day
World book day 2024! Today we have listened to many stories via different methods. First the children shared their guided reading books with their favourite teddies, our reading pals love having stories read to them! Then we enjoyed an exciting dinosaur book together as a class. This afternoon the children gathered on the carpet and we listened to a calming ebook which was a different experience for us, reception class listened very carefully, and were able to recall the characters and retell parts of the story. Then to end the day we were joined by some parents and we partnered up with Year 4. Mr Twist read two books for us all which included actions and the children's participation to help tell the stories. The children have all had a great day!
Year 6 - World Book Day
Year 6 enjoying World Book Day! Reading for pleasure after lunch, and reading with Year 2 children later in the afternoon.
Two’s Room - On the Farm
We have had lots of fun today looking at our new story all about the farm. We enjoyed playing with the farm and the animals. We created pigs today using paper plates and pink paint.
Two’s Room - Minibeasts
We have had a fantastic week in nursery this week. We have been learning all about minibeasts and creating our own bees. We had lots of fun during rhyme time with our family members. We had fun playing in the water with the ducks. We looked at the word sitting and what it means to us. We all practiced doing this and we also showed this with other objects. We enjoyed playing a colour matching game where we had to match the different colours to the different coloured objects. We have spent time exploring the outdoors and we even found some worms.
Year 1 - Little Red Riding Hood
Year 1 have been collecting vocabulary to use in their writing about Little Red Riding Hood. They focused on the characters and the woods. The children worked in pairs completing a 'Role on the wall' activity. For this, they had to think about how the wolf felt and what he looked like.
Supporting your Bilingual Child
Speaking two languages is an amazing skill to have! So if you're raising a bilingual child here are a few ways to support them
Two’s Room - Rhyme Time
The parents and children in the Two’s room had a fantastic time during our rhyme time today. Thank you to all of the parents who could make it. Please don't worry if you couldn't make it this week as it will be running it every week.
Nursery - Story and Rhyme Time
We are pleased to announce our new story and rhyme time sessions in nursery. Tuesday for the Two's class children Thursday for Pre School children Parents are welcome to come to the session from 11.00 am for morning children. 2.30 pm for afternoon children. In this time we will have a lovely story/ rhyme session and before we finish you will be able to change your child's reading book with them before you go. We will now be changing books on Tuesday for Two's class children and Thursday for Pre School.
Darwen Library Events in March
Saturdays in March at Darwen Library.
Reception Class - Group Reading
Reception have been working hard to apply their phonics knowledge to their reading. They have been working on ‘speedy reading’ breaking down the word into sounds and blending together to read the words.
Pre School - Katie’s Sunflowers
In literacy this week we have started a new story called Katie and the sunflowers. Katie goes to a gallery and sees a beautiful picture of some sunflowers. We discussed what we would see in a gallery and learnt some new words from Grandma Fantastic. We decided to create our very own sunflowers.
Two’s Room - Dear Zoo
We have had a good week so far in nursery. We have been looking at our story, Dear Zoo. We dressed up like the different animals and moved our bodies and made noises like the animals. We made animal footprints using the different coloured paints. We also made elephants which have long trunks and big ears! In our physical development room we have been practising our crawling and climbing skills. More fun to come!
Pre School - Little Red Riding Hood
This week the children have been learning about the fairy tale Little Red riding hood. We have developed our fine motor skills using the tweezers to get the pom poms out of the forest. We developed our skills for maths with Grandma's cakes, giving a plate to Red riding hood, Grandma and wood cutter, even though we gave out the cakes the total remained the same. We played a game of hide and seek with Grandma and revisited a lesson on our senses.
Year 1 Guided Reading
Year 1 have enjoyed reading this week! They have worked hard looking at new vocabulary, sounding out, blending and talking about what is happening in the story.
Year One - English
Year 1 have been learning about Toys of the Past in English this term and thoroughly enjoyed our Experience day last week. We made party hats and enjoyed a teddy bears picnic (in class because it was raining) but we didn't let that spoil our fun! We also thought of different adjectives and alliterative words to describe teddy bears. E.g Tiny Teddy, Terrific Teddy, Brown Bear, Beautiful Bear and use these ideas in our writing the following day.
Year 6 - English
Over the last two days in our English lesson we have been learning about Mount Everest. We have learned a lot of interesting facts and discussed what we need to take in our rucksack.
Reception Class - English - Writing about Penguins
Reception class have been learning all about penguins this half term. During our English lesson the children wrote the sentence ‘the daddy penguin hugs his baby.’ The children applied their phonetic knowledge, identifying tricky words and using their segmenting skills. Great effort everyone!
Reception Class - Phonics and Early Reading
Reception Class have been settling into their new routine of guided reading and phonics. We are developing our blending, segmenting and writing skills.
Two’s Room - Kitchen Disco
We have started looking at our new book, Kitchen disco! It has lots of fruits and vegetables inside the book and so we have been exploring the different kinds of fruits and vegetables today. We touched and smelt the fruits and vegetables and talked about what they were called. We also played with the carrots and the lettuce in the water. We have lots of fun activities planned for this week. Here are some photos of what we have been up to today.
Year 1 - The Queen’s Hat
In the story, The Queen's Hat, the wind blows her hat off. For today's experience day, the children have been experiencing the impact of a windy day. We watched some windy day clips and thought of some key vocabulary. We then used a hair dryer (wind) to blow their hats off. This was very tricky to catch on camera but the children thoroughly enjoyed it! We then used a tissue paper and explored different ways to make wind (blowing, throwing, dropping...) and watched the affects it had.
Reception Class - Phonics - Popcorn Pop
During our phonics lesson today the children were introduced to our phonics game 'popcorn pop'. Inside our popcorn box we have some graphemes, tricky words and some CVC words to help the children with their blending. We really enjoyed this game and we will definitely be playing it again to help us with our phonics knowledge.
Year 6 Drama Techniques
In English we used drama techniques to 'freeze frame' what our reactions would be if we were told that we were going on a trip around the world, like the main character Michael, in our book Kensuke's Kingdom.
Pre School - Literacy - Where The Wild Things Are
In Literacy this week we have started our new story,' Where the Wild Things Are.' The children went out in the garden to find wild things using our imagination like Max from our story. The children found bears, witches and owls in the forest and loved running away from them and hiding in different places. The children moved their bodies to the action words we have been learning, skipping and marching. We even made some magic wands.
Reception Class -Acting out a Story
In Reception Class we have been acting out the story of Owl Babies. The children took on the role of different characters, repeating familiar phrases from the story.
Reception Class - Phonics
Today in phonics the children have been practising their blending skills by playing Dragon's Den. The children had to read the words on the egg and decide if they thought the word was real or fake. They voted on this using our coloured fans.
Reception Class Name Writing
Reception Class have been working hard on identifying and writing their names. Some of our children are self correcting their pen grip too which is great!
Pre School - Bear Hunt
In literacy this week we have continued exploring our story of We're Going on a Bear Hunt. We have now reached the dark forest and explored the different sounds we would hear in the forest, selecting pictures of the animals we would find. We used the sensory box to find hidden bugs and twigs. We created forest pictures, painting with twigs and leaves. We then went outside to make a bear cave, collecting twigs, leaves and recalling the story as we worked together to make the cave. I think the bear would be very happy.
Y1 English - Experience Day
For our Experience Day today, the children explored a busy and beautiful forest. In small groups they thought about the birds movements and actions and created a list of verbs including pecking, flying, twirling, gliding... The children then moved like the birds.
Handwriting in Reception
Reception Class have been busy practicing their handwriting this afternoon. We are working on following a simple pattern on our boards, moving from left to right and holding our pen correctly.
Pre School - Literacy
In literacy the children in pre-school have been exploring our story; We're Going on a Bear Hunt. We experienced warm and cold water, damp and dripping wet clothes and listened to different sounds of dripping water and splashing. We learnt new words from Grandma Fantastic's basket.
Y2 English - Following Instructions
In English this week, Year 2 are learning about instructions. This morning, they followed a set of instructions to make a jam sandwich ... which most of them thoroughly enjoyed eating at the end!
Year 6 - SPAG Afternoon
Year 6 are having a 'SPAG games' afternoon today, where we are revising our knowledge in alternative ways. These photos show us having fun and working collaboratively to complete a 10 minute SPAG treasure hunt!
Pre-School - Jasper’s Beanstalk
We have had a very busy week in Pre-School exploring and learning. We have been reading Jasper's Beanstalk and have been taking part in lots of different activities. We even created our very own beanstalk and made our own Jasper the cat masks.
Pre School - Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
This week in Pre School we have been looking at Fairy tales, the story we chose was Goldilocks and the three bears. The children came into a crime scene on Monday and had to investigate what had happened. As the week has gone on we have been learning about size and developing our cutting skills.
Reception Class - English Experience Day
This afternoon Reception watched a video of the Red Arrows as part of our experience day for Pigs Might Fly. We then explored flight by making our own paper aeroplanes and testing how well they flew.
Year 2 - English ‘Shape Days’
Year 2 will be completing a non-fiction piece of writing over the next few weeks based on the story ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’. To begin this unit we have completed 2 ‘shape days’ where we have been looking at our new shape vocabulary that will help us with our writing; see if your child can remember any of the shapes we have learned.
Year 5 - Timeline
We have had a very busy week, starting our new topic in English, we also created timelines of significant Kings and Queens in English. The children found this tricky but really tried hard to apply their growth mindsets.
Y2 English Experience Day
As part of our English unit, the children enjoyed their campfire experience day. We sang songs, listened to stories and even enjoyed smores and hot chocolate.
Y6 - Collaborative Poem
This morning Year 6 wrote a collaborative poem all about a boat on a stormy sea. I think you’ll agree with me that they have used some wonderful vocabulary!
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Year 4 - National Poetry Day
Today for National Poetry Day, we read and performed a poem called The Lifecycle of a Flower. We enjoyed using actions and liked the rhyming words too!
Pre School - Letters to the Bear
Pre-School have been reading We’re Going on a Bear Hunt this week. Some of the children created some invitations to give to the bear because he is lonely and the children asked him to come and play at nursery. The children left the invitations in the garden and this morning we had a reply, the bear had left a note and some biscuits to share with the children.
Y1 and Y2 Literature Festival
Year 1 and 2 had a great time at Darwen Library this morning. We met a real author called Christina Gabittas and listened to her stories. Your child will bring a voucher home today that you can swap for a free book in Darwen library from 10 am to 12 noon on Saturday.
Y2 - Visit to Darwen Library
Y2 had a wonderful time exploring Darwen library this morning. The children thought of some fantastic vocabulary that will help them with their writing this week.
Reception - Phonics
This afternoon in phonics Reception have been practising writing their graphemes and names, this is something they will do every day. They will be talking about print going from left to right, using the dot on our board to help them. They will also be looking at holding their pens properly.
Reception Class Phonics
This week in Reception the children have been introduced to Phonics Bug. We have started learning about different phonemes, so far we have worked on 's' and 'a' sounds.
Y2 English
Year 2 started their new unit in English today ‘Little Red Reading Hood’. The first lesson was an experience day. They went for a walk around school looking for different places they would like to read.
Y5 - Reading Wish List
This afternoon we have been transported to a cafe whereby we are tasting a selection of different books. We are exploring lots of different genres and making a reading wish list for the year!
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Year 2 - English
In English, we have been sorting facts about Neil Armstrong. The children enjoyed learning about him and over the next few weeks they will write a non-chronological report about his life and the when he landed on the moon.
Y3 - Adventure Stories.
Year 3 have been writing their own adventure stories and sharing them with thier classmates.
Year 2 - Re-Telling a Story.
The children began the week re-telling the story ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ to a partner. They then planned their own story on a story map, changing the name of the main character (e.g Little Pink Riding Hood), who she met in the woods (e.g a bear) and then thought about what the new character said to her (e.g ‘Oh Granny, what big paws you have’. The children will use this plan to help them write their own story. We look forward to reading them next week.
Year 6 - Writing a New Chapter for the Wizard of Oz.
We have had a lot of fun this morning making a new chapter for the Wizard of Oz story come to life with role plays and freeze frames in Year 6!
Reception Class - Name Writing
Reception Class have been working hard to write their names, including forming their letters correctly.
Library Visit - Y4
We loved our visit to Darwen Library today! We learned all about how a library works and enjoyed looking at all the different books. We all borrowed a book to keep at school. Those who brought back their form to become members will get their library cards by the end of the week so you can go back and choose a book to enjoy at home.
Blending CVC Words
Today the children in Reception have been working hard with their blending skills in phonics. Great job everyone!
Year 3's Library Visit.
Year 3 have been selecting books from our school library to take home.
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