Monday 31st March - Friday 4th April

Our learning has included:

• more of our own 'Man on the Moon' (a day in the life of Bob) writing
• using scales to measure weight and to compare items. We used appropriate mathematical vocabulary: heavier, lighter, balanced
• our visit to the local church to further enhance our learning about the Christian Easter story
• listening to our musician of the term Mozart and discussing how the music made us feel. We also did a variety of mark making (using a choice of paints, pens and pencils) to the music as we listened
• engaged in some Spring time yoga
• talked about the signs of Spring and went on our own Spring hunt!

Have a fab weekend Merlins!

Monday 17th March - Friday 28th March 

Our learning has included:

• reading 'Man on the Moon' (a day in the life of Bob)
• writing about own our days
• exploring the appropriate mathematical vocabulary to use when carrying out addition and subtraction 
• creating rocket models 
• working on our throwing and aiming skills
• drawing our own rockets and aliens

Also, as part of French enrichment week we have:

• learnt where France is
• learnt the French words for some colours
• created our own French flags
• created models of the Eifel Tower 
• sampled French food including pain au chocolat and brie!

 
* Reminder *

Please can all parents remember to login to Tapestry to see what your children have been getting up to! :) 

Monday 10th March - Friday 14th March 

Our learning this week has included:

• 'Aliens Love Underpants' arrive in Merlins!
• designing our own underpants
• describing aliens and their features and playing guessing games!
• learning why we have day and night and how the Earth rotates
• subtracting from 7 
• creating playdough aliens and planets
• learning about the Christian Easter story 
• producing more fab independent writing

 
* Reminder *

Please can all parents remember to login to Tapestry to see what your children have been getting up to! :) 

Monday 3rd March - Friday 7th March 2025

Our 'We have lift off!' topic continues!

Our learning this week has included:

• sequencing events in chronological order and using the correct vocabulary to explain when events take place 
• ordering numbers and identifying what is 'one more' and 'one less'
• some independent story writing with our own innovated versions of Whatever Next!
• writing lists of what we would take to space
• learning more facts about the 8 planets in our solar system
• enjoying World Book Day and having some of our parents in to join us for our Reading Breakfast! 
• writing our own books and becoming authors!

 
* Reminder *

Please can all parents remember to login to Tapestry to see what your children have been getting up to! :) 

Monday 24th February - Friday 28th February 2025

Welcome back everyone! We have started our 'We have lift off!' topic which is super exciting!

Our learning this week has included:

• comparing numbers and using the correct mathematical vocabulary, eg, more, less, greater than, fewer than, the same and equal
• looking at the features of a clock, eg, clock face, long hand and short hand
• reading and retelling the story 'Whatever Next' 
• innovating the story and creating our own class version with Super Dog!
• learning songs about the 8 planets in our solar system
• making planet collages
• plenty of space rocket role play!
   

* Reminder *

Please can all parents remember to login to Tapestry to see what your children have been getting up to! :) 

Monday 10th February - Friday 14th February 2025

Our learning this week has included:

• exploring more 'taking away' number sentences
• sorting 2D shapes and becoming more familiar with their properties 
• describing 'The Naughty Bus' and writing words/captions/sentences about him
• creating our own versions of the 'Naughty Bus' and taking him on lots of various adventures! We used story language to tell our own versions with a beginning, middle and end
• experimenting with objects that float and sink
• sorting objects made of different materials and learning about the properties of different materials

* Reminder *

Please can all parents remember to login to Tapestry to see what your children have been getting up to!

Well done on a great half term Merlins - enjoy the break! :) 

Monday 3rd February - Friday 7th February 2025

Our learning this week has included:

• finding 'one less' and 'taking away one' 
• recognising 2D shapes and using the correct vocabulary to talk about shapes, eg, 'corners' and 'sides'
• engaging in airport role play
• comparing the current season of Winter to Summer and thinking about the clothes we wear during both these seasons and why
• talking about where ice comes from and carrying out our own experiment by freezing water to create ice and trapping vehicles inside! We then had to turn the 'solid' ice back into 'liquid' water by melting the ice. We knew we had to get the ice to warm up so we used warm water and pipettes and our hands to rub the ice. Eventually the vehicles were melted free!
• exploring colour mixing with paint ice cubes on a large scale 
• sharing our class text 'The Naughty Bus' and discussing new vocabulary
• a visit from SCARF to talk about how to look after our bodies and keep them healthy. We also got to meet Harold the giraffe which we loved!
• discussing how to stay safe and being able to identify potential hazards whilst at home as well as at school

* Reminder *

Please can all parents remember to login to Tapestry to see what your children have been getting up to!

See you on Monday Merlins :) 

Monday 27th - Friday 31st January 2025

It has been an extremely busy week! It would almost be easier to tell you all what we didn't do!!

Our learning this week has included:

• finding 'one more' and 'adding one' 
• using the correct vocabulary to talk about capacity, eg, 'nearly empty', 'half full' etc.
• discussing features of various emergency vehicles and who uses them and why
• engaging in lots of ambulance role play as paramedics and poorly patients
• a visit from the fire engine!! We learnt about all the features it had and even got to sit inside and try out the hose!
•  learning about Amelia Earhart and creating our own paper aeroplanes and racing them outside
• writing speech bubbles for Mr Gumpy and the other characters from our class text
• writing a Christian prayer as a class, thanking God for creating the world and all the things in it
• learning about how different vehicles have changed over time and comparing vehicles from the 'past' and the 'present'  

* Reminder *

Please can all parents remember to login to Tapestry to see what your children have been getting up to!

We hope you all have a restful weekend after our busy week and we shall we you on Monday :) 

Monday 20th - Friday 24th January 2025

Our learning this week has included:

• exploring the composition of number 5 and more 'part-part whole' work!
• learning new vocabulary when discussing features of a car, eg, 'axle' 'chassis'
• designing our own car models and working with a partner to attach axles and wheels to the chassis
• decorating our cars and adding features such as the windscreen, wipers and the doors
• reading all about Mr Gumpy's Motor Car and how his car got stuck in the mud!
• working with our peers to build large scale 'car tracks' outside for car races
   

* Reminder *

Please can all parents remember to login to Tapestry to see what your children have been getting up to!

Enjoy your weekend Merlins :)

Monday 13th - Friday 17th January 2025

This week we have continued with lots more 'Brum brum, beep beep' fun!

Our learning this week has included:

• developing confidence with using the 'part-part-whole' model to represent the parts of a whole number
• discussing different types of 'vehicles' and their features. For example, we talked about why a car needs a boot or wipers and why wheels are round
• weaving our own wheels! 
• more recognising, continuing and creating our own patterns
• more phonics sounds and writing short simple sentences
• 'car journeys' with friends in our role play
• learning about the Christian Creation story and discussing what God created on each day
• plenty of vehicle models!

* Reminder *

Please can all parents remember to login to Tapestry to see what your children have been getting up to!

Have a wonderful weekend Merlins :)

Tuesday 7th - Friday 10th January 2025

Happy New Year!!

This week we began our new topic 'Brum brum, beep beep' and the Merlins have been absolutely loving it!

Our learning this week has included:

• making vehicle pictures using 2D shapes
• looking at the art work of Henri Matisse and his 'collages'. We talked about the way he 'overlapped' pieces in the collages and the different shapes he used.
• thinking about the composition of numbers 2,3 and 4
• our first look at the 'part-part-whole' model to represent the parts of a whole number
• discussing different types of 'vehicles' and which ones we may use for a variety of journeys 
• recognising, continuing and creating our own patterns
• more phonics sounds and writing short simple sentences

Well done on your first week back at school Merlins :)

Monday 13th December - Friday 20th December

This week we:

wrote letters to Santa and all our family and friends

enjoyed lots of Christmas crafts, including making cards, calendars and baubles! 

sang Christmas carols

explored 10 and made marks to represent the number

enjoyed a Christmas cinema treat 

Well done on your first term at school everyone!

Have the best Christmas team Merlins :)

Monday 9th December - Friday 13th December

This week we:

shared the story of The Jolly Christmas Postman.

introduced Merlins own post office and post box. 

learnt about letters, placing them in envelopes, writing the address on them and adding a stamp.

began exploring number 10

wrote our tricky words
our Christmas lunch!

performed our Christmas play to our parents/carers and gave a brilliant performance of sheep and twinkly stars!

Enjoy your weekend Merlins :)

Monday 2nd December - Friday 6th December

This week we:

• retold the story of We're going on a bear hunt
• explored maps and talked about our local area. We learnt new vocabulary 'birds eye view' and 'route'.
• we gave directions orally to each other and our teddy bears
• we planned our route to the local park
• and of course followed our maps and went on a walk to the park!
• played at the park, took turns and helped each other
• explored number 9 and did lots of counting
• learnt and wrote lots more tricky words
• lots of role play and casting spells  
• thought about the season of Winter and the signs we may see
• decorated our class Christmas tree - it is stunning!

Enjoy your weekend Merlins :)

Monday 24th - Friday 29th November 

This week we:

• listened to the story of The Little Red Hen and thought about different types of bread. We talked about pizza bases and decided to make our own pizzas!
• enjoyed lots of 'pizza play' with our own Merlins pizza restaurant
• taste tested our toppings, tried new foods and described the different tastes
• designed our pizzas
• made our pizzas
• most importantly ATE the pizzas!
• looked at the work of artist Van Gogh and created our own class version of the painting 'Starry Night' together. For this we painted on to tin foil to give it that extra shine!
• used numicon support us with our counting to 8
• engaged in talk about the various letter names and letter sounds

Enjoy your weekend Merlins :)

Monday 18th - Friday 22nd November 

This week we:

• listened to the story of The Little Red Hen which led to lots of discussion about whether it was right to not share the bread
• 'hot seated' the main character, The Little Red Hen and asked her questions
• talked about the different ways we can represent the number 8
• introduced ten-frames and used cubes to show 8 in various ways
• explored the snow and ice we found in our outdoor area. The children made a collection and watched what happened to it throughout the day, leading on to us talking about the melting process we saw taking place
• continued creating 'firework' pictures on the IWB, working on our gross and fine motor skills
• thought more about what school was in the past and had Granny Jo and Granny Diane in to visit so we could question them about their childhoods! We were able to see toys from the past and look at lots of black and white photos they bought in too!
• learnt about a Christian Baptism and some children chose to use a doll in the water tray to recreate pouring the water on the babies head and making the sign of the cross
• completed some wonderful independent writing 

Well done Merlins :)

Monday 11th November - Friday 15th November

This week we:

learnt about why people wear poppies at this time of the year

retold the story of Room on the Broom with actions we created

played '7 or not 7'

created 'firework' pictures on the IWB, working on our gross and fine motor skills

started to think about what school is like now (in the present), compared to in the past

continued and created 3-step, 4-step... and even 10-step repeating patterns!!

we used pipettes to make our own potions (and mix colours, discussing the lighter and darker shades of colours we made as we went!) 

worked as a team on making dens/houses, including all sorts of important features like a bathroom and toilet!

Well done team Merlins - have the best weekend! :)

Monday 4th November - Friday 8th November

This week we :

read and discussed the story of The Room on the Broom

engaged in lots of Room on the Broom role play using props

learnt about the Hindu festival of lights 'Diwali' and made Diwali cards, Rangoli patterns and firework paintings!

looked at Louis' family photos of their Diwali celebrations

listened to the story of Rama and Sita and learnt that the lights guided them home

listened to instructions and joined in a 'firework dance' 

continued and created repeating patterns

used the chalks on the playground to create 'pattern-land' 

We have made a brilliant start to this half term - well done team Merlins :)

Monday 21st October - Friday 25th October

This week we :

• retold the story of Funnybones
• drew around our friends on large paper and labelled their body parts
• made 'moving' skeleton characters
• began thinking about Van Gogh and discussing what a 'self-portrait' is
• went on a 'six hunt'!
• represented number 6 with objects of all shapes and sizes, in various positions
• wrote some new 'tricky words' 
• discussed what we can do now that we could not do when we were a babies
• followed instructions and did some yoga together

 
Well done for making a fantastic start at school this term Merlins! Have a lovely break and see you after half term :)

Monday 14th October - Friday 18th October

This week we enjoyed:

• listening to Funnybones and learning about a 'title' and 'author'
• learning about our body parts and lots of new vocabulary, eg, collar bone, ankles, ribs, skull
• making playdough skeletons and skulls
• hospital role play with lots of plasters, bandages and face masks!
• junk modelling some houses for our own 'dark dark street'
• looking at baby photos of us all and thinking about the similarities and differences between then and now
• thinking lots about the number 6 and 'showing 6' in different ways
• learning some new 'tricky words' and writing them down
• discussing what makes a good friend 
   

See you on Monday team Merlins :) 

Monday 7th October - Friday 11th October 

This week we enjoyed:

• having even more surprises with some very 'indestructible', 'odd' and magical balloons!!
• representing number 5 in a variety of ways using dots, lines and other marks
• learning even more new sounds in phonics and listening out for sounds we can hear in words
• writing our names
• talking about harvest and the foods that need harvesting
• colour mixing in the water tray
• learning about Autumn and going on an 'Autumn Hunt' in our big playground
• discussing what we can do if someone wants to play with the same things and we need to take turns 
   

See you after the weekend Merlins :) 

Monday 30th September - Friday 4th October 

This week we enjoyed:

• retelling the story of The Blue Balloon
• talking about lots of new vocabulary, such as 'indestructible' and 'odd' 
• finding the blue balloon from the story IN OUR CLASSROOM!!
• counting not only objects we can touch but also sounds that we can hear and actions we see happening 
• recording how many jumps our friends did by making marks
• learning new sounds in phonics and listening out for initial sounds in words
• learning about WHY it is our birthday on our birthday
• talking about balloons and birthday celebrations
• discussing who are the people who can help us if we have a problem

See you on Monday lovely Merlins :) 

Monday 23rd September - Friday 27th September 

This week we enjoyed:

• retelling the story of Elmer
• talking about how we are each 'unique'
• thinking all about the number 5 and 'showing 5' in different ways
• writing our new phonic sounds in the colourful sand 
• junk modelling different types of homes, eg, castles, flats and caravans
• using stickers to decorate our own elephants like Elmer!

Have a lovely weekend Merlins :) 

Monday 16th September - Friday 20th September 

This week was the children's first full week at school! We have all been settling into our new classroom and learning our new routines. We have been enjoying playing with all the resources at school and meeting new friends too!

Well done to all the children making a brilliant start at school - we are super proud of you! :) 

Goodbye Merlins 2023-2024!

It has been BLOOMING MARVELLOUS watching you all grow! 

Enjoy your holidays! We will all miss you!

Love Mrs McCaughey and the rest of the EYFS team :) 

Monday 8th July - Friday 11th July

This week we loved celebrating our 'Come dine with me' enrichment week!

Our learning this week has included:

• learning about the origins of some of the foods we like to eat
• we sampled new foods and a variety of cuisines, including; Japanese, Korean and Mexican
• discussing the tastes and our likes and dislikes
• setting up own our 'Pippins cafe' in Merlins for lots of role play! We had chefs, customers and waiters and waitresses on hand!
• we looked at food magazines and created our own food collages

One week to go!! See you on Monday!! :)

Monday 24th June - Friday 5th July

This crazily busy term shows no signs of slowing down!!

Our learning this week has included:

• reading and learning new vocabulary from Handa's Surprise
• finding out about African animals
• discussing the features of different animals and why they have them
• comparing an African village to Stroud
• observing the growing cress hair!
• observing our class butterflies emerge and watching them fly away for new adventures!
• number bonds to 5 and to 10
• OUR TRIP TO COTSWOLD WILDLIFE PARK!! We met the meerkats, penguins, giraffes, zebras, otters and much more! We also met the 'Lion expert' to learn more about these incredible creatures!

Have a wonderful weekend everybody :)

Monday 10th June - Friday 21st June

We have been SUPER busy!

Our learning this week has also included:

• learning all about different minibeasts
• observing our class caterpillar pets growing bigger and bigger
• adding and subtracting using concrete objects and dots
• innovating our class text and changing the caterpillar character to a tadpole in our own version of 'The very hungry tadpole'
• our first sports day!!
• designing and creating our own minibeast with clay
• looking at the art work of Egon Schiele and painting our own flowers
• learning about observational drawings and drawing what we can see
• learning about the frog life cycle and creating our own slimy pond
• naming different parts of a flower, eg, petals, stem, leaves and exploring them... with scissors!! 

Have a wonderful weekend everybody :)

Friday 14th June

Good Morning everyone,

Below are the online lessons that the children should complete today please. 

Click the links below and watch the videos.

I look forward to seeing/hearing about the work you complete on Monday.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs McCaughey :)

Literacy

Maths

Phonics (tricky words) song

Monday 3rd June - Friday 7th June

Our topic of 'Our Wild World' has taken a new direction this week, as we started to think about different animals and their life cycles! 

Our learning this week has also included:

retelling 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' story during continuous provision and putting on lots of 'puppet shows' for us all!

more doubling numbers, using the cubes

completing addition number sentences, using a variety of objects 

'relay races' in PE 
reading and writing longer cvcc/ccvc/ccvcc words and revisiting previous sounds and tricky (high frequency) words!
a visit from the police to tell us all about how to keep ourselves safe online 
 

Have a wonderful weekend everybody :)

Monday 13th May - Friday 17th May

Our learning has included:

• odd and even numbers and recognising patterns in numbers
• beginning to think about doubling numbers and printing 'doubles' with the numicon and paint!
• thinking about the key 'ingredients' of a story and creating our own recipes and stories
• following recipes in the mud kitchen
• learning even more Tricky Words (high frequency words)!
• engaging in role play with our babies as we keep them healthy by washing them, feeding them, putting them to sleep, etc

Have a wonderful weekend from Mrs McCaughey and the rest of the EYFS team :) 

Tuesday 7th May - Friday 10th May

Our learning has included:

• odd and even numbers and sorting numicon into 'odd' and 'even' teams!
• listening to our class book 'Recipe for a story' and thinking about the key 'ingredients' of a story
• creating and telling our own stories 
• plenty of small world dinosaur, collaborative den-building and 'schools' role-play!
• continuing to explore further ways of keeping our minds healthy
• rotating and manipulating shapes as we completed our own tangram puzzles! 

Enjoy the sunshine everyone :) 

Monday 29th April - Friday 3rd May

Another full-on week in the wonderful world of Merlins!

Our learning has included:

• exploring the composition of number 10 and number bonds songs 
• retelling the story of 'Dinosaurs Love Socks' and writing parts of the story for ourselves
• plenty of turn-taking and sharing
• discussions about keeping your mind healthy and mindfulness 
• designing and creating our own dinosaur sock puppets!
• lots of throwing and aiming games in PE 

Enjoy the bank holiday weekend everybody!

Monday 22nd April - Friday 26th April

What a busy busy week!

Our learning has included:

• exploring the composition of number 9
• retelling the story of 'Dinosaurs Love Underpants' and discussing series and collections of books by the same author 
• innovating the story as a class and creating the new version, 'Dinosaurs Love Socks' 
• discussions about healthy eating and the importance of a 'varied diet'. We talked about the ways that different food can help our bodies.
• role playing in the 'healthy food shop' 
• learning about printing with the paint and some healthy vegetables! This led to lots of fabulous conversations about colour mixing and creating new colours.

Enjoy your weekend everybody!

Monday 15th April - Friday 19th April

The dinosaur madness continues this week as part of our topic 'Our Wild World'.

Our learning has included:

• what fossils are and becoming paleontologists ourselves!
• talking about the features of a church where Christians go to worship
• problem solving and using our knowledge of number 8 to find the 'hiding numbers'
• a visit from SCARF and our giraffe friend Harold. We talked all about looking after our bodies and taught Harold to brush his hair and his teeth and how to help when he feels sad and lonely 
• we made our own dens and obstacle courses and completed mazes and talked about resilience and the importance of not giving up, even if things get tricky!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love Mrs McCaughey and the EYFS team :) 

Monday 8th April - Friday 12th April 

Welcome back everybody!

We have started our topic 'Our Wild World' and are beginning with learning about dinosaurs!

Our learning has included:

• comparing dinosaurs and discussing their similarities and differences 
• learning about silhouettes and making our own dinosaur silhouette art work
• we did both addition and subtraction within 7
• we wrote about our favourite dinosaurs
• we sorted fiction from non-fiction books
• talked about resilience and the importance of not giving up!

Love Mrs McCaughey and the EYFS team :) 

*** A HUGE THANK YOU ***

To all the parents/carers of Merlins,

Thank you so very much for my surprise wedding video, gifts and vouchers! I feel so very spoilt! I had the most magical wedding day and am still on cloud nine!

Love Mrs McCaughey :) 

Monday 11th March - Friday 22nd March

 'We have lift off!' has ended with a (big) BANG this week! 

Our learning has included:

• continuing to find which group has more and less and using new vocabulary 'fewer than' and 'greater than' 
• we visited the local church to speak to the Vicar all about our Easter learning 
• we spoke about looking after our environment and the importance of putting our rubbish into the bins!
• we learnt about money and looked at some coins. Some of us enjoyed some coin rubbing too!
• we tried fencing with a new sports coach
• we have been working on our formation and short sentence writing 
• we rounded off the term with a big Easter egg hunt!

We hope you all have the best Easter break and look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks!

Love Mrs McCaughey, Mrs Clements, Miss Pinto, Mrs Parry, Mrs Giles and Mrs Knight :) 

Monday 4th March - Friday 8th March

 'We have lift off!' continued with lots of 'Aliens love underpants' fun this week! 

Our learning has included:

• finding which group has more and less and using new vocabulary 'fewer than' and 'greater than' 
• Obb and Bob arrive in Merlins with real and nonsense words! 
• exploring the use of clocks and the long and short hands
• playing lots of describing aliens
• thinking about how we can all work as a team to look after our classroom
• decorating pants for our own class washing line!
• exploring why we have day and night and learning about how the Earth orbits the sun
• torch and shadow making play! 

See you next week! 

Monday 26th February - Friday 1st March

This week we have been fully immersed in our topic 'We have lift off!' 

Our learning has included:

• finding one more and one less in a variety of ways
• continuing to practice our subitising to 5 
• playing lots of partner games and working on being a good listener
• innovating our class text 'Whatever Next' by changing the main character to Baby Dog instead
• making props for Baby Dog including a helmet, picnic blanket and teddy bear
• comparing the 8 planets in space and singing about them!
• learning about the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong

See you all next week for even more 'out of this world' fun!

Monday 19th February - Friday 23rd February

This week we started our new topic 'We have lift off!' 

Our learning has included:

• exploring the composition of number 6 and looking at the 'part-part whole' model
• finding one more and one less
• retelling our class text 'Whatever Next', dressing up as Baby Bear and writing lists of items we would like to take to space with us!
• learning about the 8 planets in space
• using our funky fingers to weave our own planets!
• organising the Spaceship folder by hole punching the paperwork so we can keep it all safe

It's been a blast! 

Monday 5th February - Friday 9th February

This week has been as busy as ever and we have really enjoyed our learning!

Our learning has included:

• continuing to explore the composition of number 5
• creating our own versions of The Naughty Bus story and using plenty of 'story language'
• finding out about what happens to water when it gets too cold (freezes)
• finding out about what happens to ice when we heat it up (melts)
• exploring floating and sinking objects in the water tray
• discussing the different seasons and what clothes we can wear to look after ourselves in different seasons!

And that's a wrap!

Happy half term everybody! 

Monday 29th January - Friday 2nd February

This week has been so busy and we have been learning so much!

Our learning has included:

• learning about the composition of number 5
• reading about the adventures of the Naughty Bus and exploring other versions
• controlling the remote control cars and driving to reach the targets!
• sorting different materials and discussing why we use certain materials for certain jobs 
• Idris' story telling!

See you next week!

Monday 22nd January - Friday 26th January

This week was enrichment week and full of Music, Art, Drama and Dance fun!!

Our learning so far has included:

• an urban dance class with a professional dance instructor 
• listening to brass instruments 
• engaging in drumming workshops
• a drama session with a drama teacher 
• finding one more in all sorts of ways!
• designing and making our own cars!

Roll on next week!

Tuesday 9th January - Friday 19th January

We have had a fabulous beginning to term 3!

We kicked it off with a big Christmas catch-up and then got gong with our new topic 'Brum Brum, Beep Beep!'

Our learning so far has included:

• lots of train role play and selling tickets at 'Uplands train station'
• reading our current class text 'The Magic Train Ride' and discussing new vocabulary, eg, 'aboard' and 'destination' 
• lots of construction and building our own vehicles
• small world play relating to the 'lands' in our class text 
• discussing different types of 'vehicles' and 'modes of transport'
• subitising numbers to 4 in a variety of ways, through a number of different activities
• creating and continuing 2, 3, 4 step patterns and beyond!

We are also saying a big welcome to Mrs Parry this term :) 

Happy New Year to you all!

Monday 18th December - Thursday 21st December

We have had another super busy Christmas-crazy week!

We have:

• done our Christmas performance and enjoyed taking part in our first Nativity!
• making Christmas cards
• learning about the months of the year and making calendars  
• more post office role play
• more decorating the classroom Christmas tree
• a 'Christmas cinema' treat!

We are also saying goodbye to Mr Brown today :( We wish him lots of luck in his new role! 

Merry Christmas to all the Merlins and their families! We will see you in the new year!! :) 

Monday 4th December - Friday 15th December

We have been learning lots as well as getting ready for our upcoming Christmas performance!

Our learning has included:

• using our maps of the local area to plan a route and go on our very own 'Winter Walk' together - featuring a snack and story and a play in the park!
• retelling the story of We're going on a bear hunt
• number 9 and number 10 counting and comparison 
• comparing different objects and using vocabulary: heavier, longer, heaviest, longest
• learning about the Christian Christmas story! 
• post office role play!
• printing Christmas trees and stars!

Well done Merlins!!  

Monday 27th November - Friday 1st December

What a busy week!

Our learning has included:

• retelling the story of The Little Red Hen
• 'hot seating' characters
• comparing different objects and using vocabulary: longer, longest, shorter, shortest, taller, tallest, etc
• learning about welcoming a new baby to the Muslim community with an Aqiqah 
• pizza restaurant role play 
• looking at 'Starry Night' by Van Gogh and creating a large scale collaborative Starry Night artwork of our own 

Well done Merlins!!  

Monday 20th November - Friday 24th November

What a busy week!

Our learning has included:

• learning all about The Little Red Hen and comparing different versions of the story!
• learning about 'characters'
• having a visit from Ted's grandad to tell us all about the 'past' and what school was like for him as a young boy, long ago
• representing the number 8 in a variety of ways
• comparing the size of different objects and using the appropriate vocabulary 
• learning about welcoming a new baby to the Christian church with a Baptism - we even baptised our dolls in the water tray!
• lots junk modelling 
• firework pictures using new painting 'techniques'

Fab work team Merlins!!  

Monday 13th November - Friday 10th November

What a wonderful, wet, windy week it has been!

Our learning has included:

• plenty of story telling and actions!
• making 7 in a variety of ways, using a variety of resources
• ordering number rockets
• continuing with our learning about Diwali and creating diva lamps to 'light the way home' for Rama and Sita
• playing dodgeball for the first time with our buddies!
• lots of games and turn-taking 
• learning about changes over time and writing with 'quills' and 'ink', just like they did in the past

Well done Merlins!!  

Monday 6th November - Friday 10th November

What a fabulous start it has been to term 2!

Our learning has included:

• reading Read on the Broom and enjoying lots of role play on our broomsticks
• mixing colours and making potions
• learning about Diwali and creating Rangoli patterns 
• learning about healthy and unhealthy foods
• lots of work around the number 7

Well done for all your hard work and efforts this week Merlins!!  

Term 1

It has been a very busy term here in Merlins class! We have all transitioned into school amazingly well and have become familiar with the rules and routines. We have developed brilliant friendships and have learnt so much already! Most importantly, we have had a LOT of fun too! Well done team Merlins for a brilliant start to school! 

We look forward to next half term already!

Miss Allen, Mrs Giles, Mrs Clements, Mr Brown and Miss Pinto :) 

Monday 3rd July - Friday 14th July

I am not even sure where to start - it has been a busy busy busy couple of weeks! 

Our learning has included:

• lots of counting, discussing patterns in numbers and problem solving
• comparing where we live to a village in Kenya, Africa
• recapping lots of phonemes and tricky words and growing hugely in confidence with these!
• visiting The Wild Place Project and seeing lots of African animals close up!
• using various construction resources to build animal homes
• And of course, ART WEEK!! - weaving, painting, sticking, etc!

Well done for all your hard work and efforts Merlins!!  

Monday 26th June - Friday 30th June

Our learning this week included:

• the arrival of the butterflies! 
• discussing 'Superworm' and his talents and sharing what talents we have. We then celebrated our friends talents and made certificates, badges and rosettes for our peers!
• growing our own cress 'hair'!
• more subtraction and subitising 
• introducing new tricky words
• discussing special stories for Hindus and recapping the celebration of Diwali 
• joining in with the whole school Danceathon!

Happy July!! :) 

Monday 19th June - Friday 23rd June

What a super busy week that was - it has flown by!!

Our learning this week included:

• our first ever sports day! 
• reading 'Superworm', learning new vocabulary and making up nonsense rhymes!
• threading pasta and pipe cleaner 'Superworms' of our own!
• our pet caterpillars are remaining safely in their cocoons... watch this space!!
• addition and finding the missing number in the sum 
• discussing that some religions also share some special stories

See you on Monday for the final week of June everybody :) 

Monday 12th June - Friday 16th June

Merlins have had a very super and very sunny week! 

Our learning this week included:

• our pet caterpillars spinning their cocoons... watch this space!!
• minibeast hunts
• subtraction using concreate objects and pictorial representations too
• the staff at the healthy eating cafe continued serving delicious food and drinks to their customers
• more playdough and loose part butterfly and caterpillar models, which led on to creating more detailed, clay models of butterflies!
• comparing stories that are special to Muslims and stories that are special to Christians
• retelling the story of Noah's Ark in the water tray
• engaging in Pyjamarama Day and spending the day in our PJs, listening to stories, drawing and doodling - all for a good charitable cause!  

Enjoy the sunny weekend Merlins team! :) 

Monday 5th June - Friday 9th June

Merlins have had a fabulous first week of term 6! We are so excited about our learning this week and have had so much fun!

Our learning this week included:

• learning all about the butterfly life cycle and OUR VERY OWN CATERPILLARS ARRIVED!
• writing suggested names and then voting for our 5 favourite caterpillar names
• writing and making signs to remind people of how to take care of our caterpillar friends
• adding numbers and finding one more and one less
• the healthy eating cafe opened 
• playdough and loose part butterfly and caterpillar models
• learning about features of a mosque where Muslims go to pray
• butterfly symmetry paintings 

Brilliant beginning to your final half term in Merlins team! :) 

Monday 22nd May - Friday 26th May

Merlins have certainly ended this term in style (and sunshine!)

Our learning this week included:

• doubling numbers
• more distributing equally and sharing fairly in maths
• more story writing and telling 
• lots of 'Who Am I?' games
• bedtime routine discussions and role play 
• the importance of brushing our teeth
• beginning to look at the parts of a flower

Well done to everyone for working so hard right up until the final day this term - you are all stars! 

See you for after half term team! 

Miss Allen :) 

Monday 15th May - Friday 19th May

What a wonderful week it has been. Merlins have been very much enjoying the sunshine we've been having!

Our learning this week included:

• distributing equally and sharing fairly in maths
• cooking up a storm in the mud kitchen!
• story telling and writing our own stories 
• puppet shows!
• learning about Mosques 
• tangrams/creating shape pictures

Roll on the last week of this half term! :)

Monday 1st May - Friday 12th May

It has been a odd couple of weeks with bank holidays and lots going on in Merlins! Our dinosaur interest is continuing to grow and develop. 

Our learning this week included:

• discovering different types of dinosaur fossils
• discovering dinosaur bones in the sand and working on our fine motor skills whilst pouring and transporting the sand with accuracy 
• story telling and writing 
• learning about odd and even numbers and the patterns in numbers
• number formation practise
• designing and creating dinosaur sock puppets!

We wonder what's in store for next week... :)

Monday 24th April - Friday 28th April 

What a week for Merlins! Our 'Our Wild World' topic is in full swing and the children are loving their learning! 

Our learning this week included:

• learning more about dinosaur fossils
• reading to our dinosaur cuddly toys!
• reading and writing our own non-fiction dinosaur books!
• exploring the composition of number 10 and learning about number bonds to 10
• learning about silhouettes and incorporating them into our own artwork
• the importance of persevering on a task and to keep going even when something is hard!

Roll on next week team! :)

Monday 17th April - Friday 21st April 

What a brilliant week back it has been for Merlins! We are already so engrossed in our new topic 'Our Wild World' and the learning taking place this week has been amazing!

Our learning this week included:

• opening our new 'Dinosaur Museum' in the classroom
• discovering dinosaur fossils
• reading non-fiction dinosaur books and learning new facts
• constructing with a purpose and building dinosaur homes
• exploring the composition of number 9 
• wax resist paintings
• measuring our heights and comparing them to how tall we were in the Autumn term - we have grown SO MUCH!
• relay races in PE 

A fantastic start has been made to this term and I look forward to seeing what fascinating conversations and learning will take place next week!

Miss Allen :)

It has been a wonderful final week of term in Merlins!

Our learning this week included:

• exploring the composition of number 8 
• visiting the local church to enhance our RE learning about the Christian celebration of 'Easter'
• making Easter bunny cones and party hats
• an Easter Egg hunt with the children from Uplands Playgroup
• an Easter story with our Year 6 buddies

Well done for all your hard work this term - you really are a bunch of super stars!

Miss Allen, Mrs Langdon and Mrs Giles are super proud of you all and we look forward to welcoming you back after the Easter holidays!

Also, keep checking on Tapestry to see your child's latest learning - thank you :) 

Monday 20th March - Friday 24th March 

What a week it has been in Merlins!

Our learning this week included:

• addition and subtraction within 7 and making links and connections
• learning facts about Neil Armstrong
• junk modelling Neil Armstrong's space rocket 'Apollo'
• a visit from SCARF and giraffe friends, Henry and Harold. They taught us all about our bodies and how to look after them.

Well done team!

Also, just to remind all parents to login to Tapestry and check on their child's learning - thank you :) 

Monday 13th March - Friday 17th March 

Merlins have enjoyed lots of fun learning again this week!

Our learning this week included:

• 'describing' characters and objects
• learning about why we have day and night
• thinking about different emotions and facial expressions
• exploring the composition of the number 7
• a visit from local Community Police Officers who came to talk to us about 'Internet Safety' 

Merlins, you are all super stars!! 

Also, just to remind all parents to login to Tapestry and check on their child's learning - thank you :) 

Monday 6th March - Friday 10th March 

Merlins have had another fantastic week of 'We Have Lift Off' learning!

It has been a super busy week and we have done so much, including:

• innovating (changing aspects of) our class text 'Whatever Next'
• learning more facts about space and the planets in our solar system
• looking at the measurement of time and using clocks to tell the time 'to the hour' 
• ordering numbers and discussing more and less numbers
• junk modelling and creating our own space rockets!

Well done Merlins team! 

Also, just to remind all parents to login to Tapestry and check on their child's learning - thank you :) 

Monday 27th February - Friday 3rd March 

Merlins have had a wonderful first week back and are absolutely loving our new 'We Have Lift Off' topic already!

It has been a super busy week and we have done so much, including:

• lots of space ship role play as astronauts!
• looking at the 8 planets in our solar system and ordering them by their distance to the sun
• comparing numbers and stating when the amount in a group was 'more 'less' 'fewer than' 'greater than' 'same' or 'equal' to another group 
• sorting 'Obb' and 'Bob' words
• doing a 'space dance' as part of our PE!

Roll on next week Merlins team!

Also, I just wanted to remind all parents to login to Tapestry and check on their child's learning - thank you :) 

This week we enjoyed:

• reading The Naughty Bus and creating our own versions of the stories - plenty of story telling and writing!
• experimenting with changing water into ice and then melting it again!
• taking away numbers using the cubes
• more writing challenges and some beautiful captions and sentences
• new rolls in gymnastics during our PE 

As always, we are super proud of the Merlins team!

This week included:

• exploring number 6
• finding 'one more' and 'one less'
• learning about what 'prayer' means for Christians and writing one together 
• discussing the beginning, middle and end of stories
• reading and writing using the new sounds and tricky words we have been learning 

Roll on next week Merlins team!! :) 

This week the Merlins...

• enjoyed a visit from a paramedic and explored the back on an ambulance - the sirens and flashing lights were definitely the highlight for us!
• engaged in ambulance role play - our paramedics have been on board ready to help poorly patients!
• explored the ice and asked questions? eg, "Why is it here?" "Where did it come from?" "Why is it cold?"
• built their own vehicles and learnt lots of new vocabulary when discussing the features, eg, chassis, axles and wheels
• competed as they raced their cars down our outside track
• answered more addition number sentences
• continued to use recently learnt vocabulary when discussing capacity, whilst playing in the sand pit
• produced some fantastic independent writing during continuous provision

A big well done on another fabulous week Merlins!

Miss Allen, Mrs Langdon and Mrs Giles and SUPER PROUD of you all :) 

Merlins have had another wonderful wintery week!

We have enjoyed:

• more work on the composition of numbers
• bunny hopping in our PE lessons
• using our remote controlled cars, directions and positional language 
• more train riding fun!

Roll on next week for even more 'Brum Brum Beep Beep' fun!

All aboard another week in Merlins!

Our topic 'Brum Brum Beep Beep' is now in full swing!

This week's highlights included:

• Train station role play
• More patterns - we love them!
• Gymnastics and careful balancing
• Adding and new vocabulary 'add' and 'equals'

Great work all :)

Happy new year and welcome to term 3!

We are back and Merlins have already been working super hard!

This week we have:

• completed and created patterns
• discovered the part-part whole model and explored the composition of numbers
• enjoyed puzzles and problem solving

Well done Merlins team!

And that's a wrap!!

We are off for Christmas now but I need to say a massive well done to the Merlins class for all their hard working during their first full term at 'big school'! 

We have learnt so much already and cannot wait to learn so much more in 2023! See you then :) 

PS. Look how much fun we have had in the build-up to Christmas! Our first Nativity, a Christmas cinema treat and Christmas party too! 

This week the Merlins team enjoyed:

• exploring the number 10 further
• measuring weight and using appropriate vocabulary to discuss and compare weight
• painting 'Starry Night' inspired pictures by Vincent Van Gogh
• reading books to each other and sharing Christmas stories too!

This week the Merlins team:

• continued measuring and discussing length 
• made pizzas!
• enjoyed role play in our very own class 'restaurant'
• explored maps of our 'local area' 
• began to think about creating our own maps

Watch the video below for some brilliant directions being given using teddy's map! 

Just a few highlights from another busy week in Merlins!

This week we:

• learnt about baptism and had a go at baptising our dolls in the water tray!
• measured our feet with cubes
• interviewed some of our grandparents about their childhood's in the past
• practiced our new sounds and writing them
• did a taste test with pizza toppings! Yum! 

Welcome back for term 2 Merlins!

It has been a busy and fabulous week with the Merlins team. We have covered A LOT, including: making spooky potions and colour mixing, saving the conkers and berries from the spooky spider web, making 'fireworks' using a new painting technique, learning about the festival of light called Diwali and creating our own Rangoli Patterns.

Look how much fun we have had...

As our 'This is Me' topic continues, we learnt more about our bodies this week. We read Funnybones and talked lots about our skeletons and various other body parts this week!

We learnt new vocabulary for parts of our body, eg, skull, ribs, jaw, ankle, spine, etc.

We used cotton buds to create our own skeleton artwork, we looked at X-ray images and discussed what we look like beneath our skin, muscles and fat, etc.

We drew around Ellis on large paper and began to label his body as a group. The children directed me to where they wanted me to write to make our ‘labels’. Some children decided to draw more details on afterwards, giving Ellis eyes and a smile! Some children used their phonic knowledge to begin to label with a little support, eg ‘ribs’ and ‘hr’ (hair) and ‘maf’ (mouth).

We also learnt about the ‘human life cycle’ and how changes happen to people over time, eg, developing from a baby, to toddler, to child, etc. We had a huge giggle looking at each others baby photos and some great comparisons about our similarities and differences were made!

And that concludes our first half term Merlins! Have a wonderful half term and Mrs Day-Lewis and I will see you ready for term 2! 

Merlins have enjoyed learning about the season 'Autumn' this week! We have explored some of the autumnal  changes and signs we may see in the world around us. We have discussed 'harvest' and learnt about the journey of how some fruit and vegetables go from being a seed to ending up in the shops ready for us to buy! 

We have painted with water colours, learnt even more sounds in phonics and have been learning to retell the story of Elmer! 

We even managed to get hold of some of Elmer's magical, growing berries too! The berries arrived to us very small and over time grew bigger and bigger until... 

As part of our 'This is Me' topic, this week we have been discussing birthdays! We have explored when each of our birthdays are and why we celebrate our birthdays on the days that we do! We have talked about the ways we celebrate and people we spend our special days with. We've engaged in; birthday party role play, making 'cakes' with playdough, writing shopping lists for our parties and birthday cards, designed our own cakes, created party decorations too and continued with our colour mixing exploration and used watercolours to paint our own balloons!

We have also worked hard on creating our own self-portraits and looked closely at each of our unique facial features. 

We have also been enjoying lots of stories and our cosy reading area too.

Well done Merlins - keep up all the great work :)

We have had our first 5 day week in Merlins and it has been a blast!

Our first reading books have started going home! We are also sending home 'sound cards' showing the sounds we have been working on so far in our phonics sessions - please practise these with your children too!

This week has featured lots of: rhyming, careful and accurate counting, discussing similarities and differences between ourselves and others, listening games, colour mixing and so much more... 

Keep up all the fab work Merlins team!! 

What a week - four full days!!

In Merlins we are continuing to explore our learning environment and all the wonderful resources we have. We are becoming more familiar with the routines and expectations at school and having lots of fun as we go along!

This week was super exciting because we started our phonics sessions. We have been learning to recognise, pronounce and form the sounds... Can you spot which sounds we have learnt about this week?