Merlins Blog

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