We welcomed the children back this week to a day of recounting our Easter holidays, recapping being Ready, Respectful, Safe at North Tawton and mastering our routines. It was so lovely to hear about all the things the children got up to in the holidays. They have written some beautiful Easter recounts.
 
This half term we are thinking about growing, habitats and life cycles across Reception and Year 1 and therefore, this week we have started by looking at plant life cycles. Rachel helped the children plant their own broad beans and we are excited to create a bean diary over this half term, checking on them each week and recording what we can see.
 
We are coming to the end of our literacy story ‘We are Water Protectors’. We have recapped the story this week and created campaign signs, thinking about what a peaceful protest looks like. We will begin planning our campaigns for looking after local waters next week.
 
In maths, we have looked at capacity and measuring, the children in year one really enjoyed investigating with water, cups and jugs how much liquid they would need to fill the different sized containers and jugs.
 
Reception have been consolidating their knowledge of number bonds to 5 this week in maths and will continue this next week using different manipulatives. They have also been working really hard on their handwriting throughout maths and with writing their names as neat as they can. We are focusing lots on letter and number formation this half term.
 
In history, we are looking at local history, beginning with thinking about what an ancestor is and drawing our own individual, family tress. The children were enthusiastic when talking about the members of their families and recognising that everyone’s family might look different but are unique and personal to them.
 
Have a great weekend
Miss Warwick and Team 

We have had a fantastic last week of term. It has been full of experiments, Easter crafts and fun at forest school.
 
We began the week really diving into the Easter story and recapping everything we have learnt this half term. The children are confident in retelling the events of Easter. We then went to Forest school to make our own Easter Gardens that represented the tomb where Jesus was laid to rest and a cross to symbolise Jesus dying on the cross. We were all so impressed with the hard work and the gardens turned out beautiful. Miss Penny was also impressed that she showed everyone the children’s gardens in assembly.
 
We have come to the end of our changing materials unit in science and our last lesson included looking at why we change materials, including freezing and melting and changing sand to glass. The children did some amazing work looking at ways we can change materials. We left some ice to melt and then looked at the different stages to turn sand into glass writing instructions of the stages.
 
We have made some Easter eggs and spring flower crowns this week and reception used this as an opportunity to practise their fine motor skills by using tools. They have also had an Easter themed story in drawing club, coming up with their own Easter Bunny character and a machine that collects all the Easter eggs. Rachel was surprised with some chicks waiting to be hatched in the outside area and we had some Easter themed play dough at the start of the week where the Easter shaped biscuits.
 
In Art, we have created our clay house tiles. The children rolled their clay out into a rectangle shape and used tools to mark make the designs onto the clay to form houses. They will be kept safe in school over Easter to dry and we will be painting them after the holidays.
 
We finished the week with a lovely afternoon in forest school with Beech, Sycamore and Acorn class. It was lovely to watch them all together having a great time.
 
I hope everyone has a lovely Easter break
See you all next term
 
Miss Warwick and Team 

Chestnut class have looked lots at measuring this week and we started the week by going outside where the children had to order themselves in height order. They did a fantastic job of problem solving, communicating and working out where they needed to stand. Reception have also drawn round each other to see how tall they were which has become a display in the school. Year 1 were set a challenge of measuring different objects around the classroom in cm and comparing lengths and heights.
 
We have continued to look at protecting our oceans and rivers this week in literacy with learning about the water cycle and writing non-chronological reports about turtles. The children have dived into fact finding and dissecting lots of elements across our oceans.
Reception have looked at MOG and the V.E.T in drawing club, drawing and labelling their own cat and designing hiding places for MOG to hide from the vet. Lots included special hidden compartments full of treats and games!
 
We have learnt all about raw and synthetic materials in science this week. We started by understanding the difference and then sorting objects and materials into groups of raw materials and synthetic.
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We had a go at drawing  a map of North Tawton this week in geography using satellite images to support our drawings. We compared satellite images and maps of North Tawton to a village in Uganda. The children picked out the key things that were needed on their map such as the roads, the school and the park.
With Miss Brooking, chestnut looked at the last supper in RE, the importance of the day, relevance and significance and then discussing what they think is their favourite meal.
 
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Warwick and Team.  

This week in chestnut class we have begun exploring our new story in literacy and learnt lots about the importance of looking after our world. The children have been passionate about showing ways we need to protect our waters, whether that be the seas or rivers as well as the life that lives in them. We have made posters and written poems to express how important it is to take care of our environment including putting litter in the bins and not taking shells from the beach.
 
Drawing club this week has been the story Farmer Duck and the children have drawn their own farmer duck, designed a new tractor for the farm and considered a way for the animals to chase away the lazy farmer.
 
In science, year 1 conducted an experiment looking at absorbent materials. We made a prediction and then tested different materials to see which was the most and least absorbent when placed in water.
 
Both reception and year 1 have been looking at measuring this week. We started the week comparing lengths thinking about shorter and longer and sorting objects by length. We have also measured using objects such as cubes before using a ruler to measure in CM. 
 
On Thursday we had a lovely afternoon, starting with painting our pinch pots that the children began making last week with Miss Brooking and then enjoyed the sunshine out in forest school with Acorn and Sycamore class. It was lovely seeing our youngest children spending time with our eldest children in school everyone helping Karen with the pond.
 
Have a great weekend
Miss Warwick and Team 

This week in Chestnut Class we had a special visitor come in and talk to us about being a nurse. Amanda talked to the children about what her job means and the children asked lots of questions about what happens when you are poorly or injured. Reception used Amanda’s visit as inspiration to create their own nursers using 2D shapes.
 
Reception have also had a fabulous drawing club week, looking at a story called You Can’t Call an Elephant in an Emergency. The children discovered how animals aren’t always the best helpers in an emergency! They created a suit for a porcupine and a new bed for a sloth.
 
Year 1 have finished their fantasy stories and have started their new book We Are Water Protectors this week, starting with a prediction lesson. The children had to write sentences about what they thought the story might be about just from looking at the cover.
 
In Maths this week, we have been looking at Odd and Even numbers as well as one more and one less. The children loved the alien odd and even tuff tray, using playdough to make their own monsters and aliens with odd and even number body parts.
 
We have looked at the Holy Week in RE and are beginning to think about why Easter is important to Christians. We ordered the timeline of the Holy Week and are starting to retell the story.
 
We conducted an experiment in science this week, with year 1 looking at how we can change the shape of solid objects, we twisted, squeezed and bent some solid objects including socks, elastic bands and sponges, recording our results.
 
Miss Brooking has made clay pots in DT this week, the children have looked at manipulating and using the clay to make different shapes in preparation to make clay houses.
 
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Warwick and Team 

We celebrated Shrove Tuesday at the beginning of the week, with a pancake and baking inspired tuff tray and designing our dream pancakes. During RE and class assembly we talked all about the meaning of Shrove Tuesday and its significance to Christians as well as a very important discussion of what toppings we would be having with our pancakes Tuesday night!
 
In literacy this week, Year 1 have started writing their own fantasy story, starting with the opening, setting the scene and introducing their characters. We will be concluding Toys in Space and finishing our stories next week. The children have worked incredibly hard on planning and thinking about their stories over the last week and I am looking forward to reading their completed stories.
 
Reception have looked at Doctorsaurus this week in Drawing Club and wondered what a Doctorsaurus might have in their drs bag, how Dino World might look as well as creating their own new Doctorsaurus to work with Doctorsaurus from the story.
 
In Maths this week, Year 1 have been looking at making groups of tens and one more, one less using manipulatives while Reception have worked hard spotting and making double numbers within 10.
 
All the children looked brilliant in their World Book Day outfits and we had a fantastic day overall. Thank you to those who came in and read some stories in the morning, it was nice to see everyone. The children also had Sycamore class come and read stories in the morning with Miss Penny. It was lovely to watch our oldest children support and chat with Chestnut class. They all really enjoyed this.
We also drew ourselves in our book character costumes and had a great session in the afternoon from the Bookery in Crediton via Zoom where we were introduced to some great new stories from the Top Titles collection and waved to children in schools across the country including the Isles of Scilly!
We are really focusing on reading as a whole school with World Book Day being a great way show children’s interest in stories and reading for pleasure. Can I remind parents and carers to please encourage reading at home in any capacity as it greatly supports their learning through understanding the world, inspiring imagination, growing language as well as building confidence in individuals.  
 
Parent Consultation Evenings will be the penultimate week of this term. I will be available 3:45 - 5:30 on Monday 24th March and 3:45 - 6:30 on Wednesday 26th March. From Monday morning there will be signup sheets at the door. 
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Have a lovely weekend
Miss Warwick 

What a great start to Spring 2 we have had this week. We have begun our next topics of where I live in the UK, changing materials and real life superheroes this week, beginning to look at our local area and the people who work in our community. The children will be thinking about this further throughout the term.
 
Reception have focused on firefighters and their role this week through drawing club as well as in continuous provision. Drawing club looked at Fireman Sam and we have made our own fire engines by cutting and sticking 2d shapes.
 
All of chestnut have looked after each other and the teddies in our new doctors surgery roleplay area, made Shepherds Pie in the mud kitchen and built a house with a water slide.
 
Year 1 have planned their fantasy stories in literacy tree this week and have come up with some fantastic ideas, including an angel that takes the toys to catch a shooting star, a unicorn toy that rescues Anna and Elsa and a Minecraft person who meets a toy dog to go on an adventure!
 
Within Maths, Reception have been focusing on one less and one more and counting backwards. They made some fabulous number books counting to 10 with drawings of the appropriate number.
 
Year 1 have been counting to 50 and looking at groups of 10, they have been working really hard on their number formation, something we are focusing on across this half term.
 
Science this half term is changing materials and we had a brilliant lesson where the children explored some different materials and discussed which materials would be best used for making different things, an example ‘we definitely do not need a t-shirt made of wood, that would be too tricky to run in at playtime’
 
We will be looking at our local area and the UK in Geography, learning how to read and create our own maps. We started looking at maps of the UK, Devon, North Tawton as well as a map of the School on Monday. We will then be comparing what it is like to live in the UK with Uganda. 
 
In RE, we thought about spring time and what an exciting time of the year it is, representing new beginnings. The children decided it was the best time of the year because it means sunshine, chocolate at Easter and new baby chicks, lambs and flowers!
 
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Warwick and Team 

We have had a very busy final week, with dancing, party planning, a spy hotel, an obstacle course and a talent show to finish off this half term.

We have come to the end of our unit on space and I am incredibly impressed with all their hard work across the different subjects to learn about all things space related. In science this week, we looked at different jobs within space in addition to being an astronaut, including spacesuit designer and space scientist. The children enjoyed getting to draw a picture of the space job they would want and write why they have chosen this job. Reception have been learning a little bit about constellations with Abbie and Rachel, creating some beautiful paintings of the stars. Reception also spend a few short afternoon sessions a week in Acorn class, seeing Karen, Kath and friends and this week had fun at the playdough table and in the mark making area. It is great to see and continue to support the relationships across all of EYFS, the children really enjoy this.

Drawing club this week has been Superworm and we have drawn some new evil sidekicks for the Wizard Lizard and helped Superworm with some ideas of how to rescue the insects.

Our Toys in Space work in literacy will carry on into Spring 2 where the children have been beginning to plan a fantasy story of their own, thinking about how to connect ideas and using adjective to describe. We also got creative this week, planning a party to cheer up the toys in the story.

All of Chestnut class have made huge improvements with their phonics and as a team we are incredibly proud of their progress this half term. Year 1 have been working particularly hard with extra speed sound lessons and their spellings. Please continue to support them with this at home as it is an essential part of their learning.

We have had a short unit of addition and subtraction in Maths at the end of this half term and this week we have been looking at subtracting within 20 and finding the difference. We have used lots of manipulatives to support understanding. Reception have also been looking at taking away within 5 as well as greater and less than within 10.
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The children did an amazing job finishing their Ferris Wheels this week, they built a stand (with a little help from Rachel and I) and went to town on decorating to make them bright and colourful. They have really enjoyed DT this half term and getting to finally put all the pieces together and seeing their deigns fully functioning was a joy to watch.
 
It has been a pleasure teaching this half term, stepping into my new role, finding our feet with all the changes and I am looking forward to next half term.

I hope everyone has a lovely half term and break.  
Miss Warwick and Team 

This week has been full of Maths, space and practising for the talent show.
 
Both Reception and Year 1 have worked incredibly hard in Maths thinking about counting on and using part whole models to understand number bonds of 5, 10 and 20. We have also been working on our number formation and using as many different mediums including sand, chalk and our adventure codes in drawing club to practise.
 
In Drawing club this week, we have read The Magic Porridge Pot and created some brilliant new ideas including The Magic Jelly and Broccoli Buckets, The Magic Porridge Water Bottles, The Magic Butter Volcano and many more.
 
We have been to space this week, listening to music and imagining what it would be like to walk on the moon and discover a new planet, the children used their voices to create space sounds as well as learning all about Neil Armstrong in history, discovering why his story was significant and retelling his life.
 
We have started a new book this week in Literacy Tree after being sent a mysterious box filled with ‘Toys from Space’ arrived in Chestnut Class. The children have created lost and found posters, describing the toys inside and made freeze frame images based on parts of the story in role, thinking about how the toys might be feeling when they end up in space. We will begin to develop ideas for our own fantasy story over the next few weeks.
 
A small group of Chestnut class have decided to take part in our talent show next week and have spent the end of the week practising, they will be doing a dance that is well-loved by all of Chestnut Class. Rachel and I enjoyed watching them rehearse Thursday afternoon. We are wishing them luck in their audition and performance.
 
Miss Brooking is with Chestnut on a Friday and this week they will be making and decorating the wheel and pods of their Ferris Wheels. The children have been very excited about this and I cannot wait to see them on Monday, ready to put them together.  
 
Have a great weekend.
Miss Warwick and the team 

We have had quite a week this week in Chestnut Class, with Chinese New Year celebrations, extra hand washing and a visit from a small green vegetable villain!
 
At the start of the week, we celebrated Chinese New Year where the children learnt all about what preparations take place before and the celebrations in the days after the Lunar New Year. Miss Penny led a brilliant assembly telling us all about how the years came to have their animal names. This year being the Year of the Snake. We had an afternoon of making lanterns and had a go at Chinese calligraphy.
 
Year 1 worked incredibly hard at the start of the week finishing their Astro Girl booklets and we are starting our new story of Toys in Space. They also did some fantastic work in Maths across the week looking at greater than, less than and equal to. Within science this week, we have learnt all about the planets and came up with our own way to remember the order.
 
Drawing club has been all things Supertato and everyone has enjoyed creating a new villainous vegetable and ways they can help save Supertato from the Evil Pea!
 
Reception took advantage of the sunny afternoon on Thursday and went onto the playground to draw around their shadows, Miss Warwick and each other. They also all had a go at writing their names next to their shadow drawings. In Maths, reception have looked at odd and evens numbers, counting to 10 and using 3 to make 6 and 9.
 
I hope everyone has a healthy weekend, keep hand washing and enjoy the small amount of winter sunshine.
Miss Warwick and the team