SUMMER READING CHALLENGE 2021

Calling all children and adults too!

Summer is a wonderful time to pick up a book and read for enjoyment - I know I will be doing just that with my early morning cup of tea!

Below are some reading challenges for over the summer holidays - choose a level of challenge and try to complete the different reading challenges.  Please either upload your completed form to Google Classroom or print it out and return it to school when you come back in September.  All entries will go into  a prize draw and winners will be picked out in our first Gold Book assembly.

Our online libraries which we have been using since our Lockdown learning will also be available all through the summer - please enjoy.

Our very first Sports Day - Class R 2021

Wow!  A brilliant Sports Day!  Well done children, you worked so hard, tried your very best and had lots of fun!  Thank you for cheering on your friends.

Class R’s Stars of the Week

A big well done to James and Henry for being our stars this week. James is always such a lovely friend and has showed great determination with learning about our Sports Day events - good boy. Super star Henry has been a counting and doubling expert this week in our maths work - well done Henry! 
Here are the boys looking proud and a bit warm after a hot day in Class R today…

Well done boys - have a super weekend in the sunshine! 

Wowed and proud!

This week, we have been catching up with the growth in our garden.  The pumpkin plant has flowers, the peas have flowers and a few pea pods, the beans are flowering, the sunflowers are getting taller, the carrots are growing but are not ready yet and something slimy has been eating the strawberries! We even spotted some ladybird larvae!  Children thank you for checking on them and watering them each day - they are certainly growing good!

Class R's Stars of the Week

A special well done to Lily-Rose and Edward who are our super star readers this week. 

Lily-Rose is really enjoying her reading and loves to ask questions about the story - she has become more fluent when she is reading sentences and can remember her digraphs and blends well. Good girl.

Edward has made super progress with remembering all of his phase 3 digraphs and tricky words and is working really hard with spotting the digraphs and trigraphs in words when he is reading his books - well done Edward - great work and super attitude!

Class R’s Star of the Week

A very special well done to Edith this week. Edith is really listening in group time and practising her reading lots and lots. Edith really enjoys learning about numbers and has worked really hard with finding one more and one less.

Edith you are really believing in yourself and giving everything a try - good girl. I’ve really noticed you encouraging your friends during explore time too - thank you. 

Yoga was fun!

Class R enjoyed taking part in another Yoga session today.  This time the children played lots of games 'Yoga style'!  They enjoyed spinning the wheel and trying the different Yoga poses.

Well done children - excited, relaxed and engaged.

Class R's Stars of the Week

A very special well done to my trio of stars this week!

Noah has been working really hard on his handwriting and spellings and really trying to remember the different digraphs when he is writing - good boy.

Jenson has been writing about everything this week - he wrote a lovely letter to his class friends, a to do list, a set of instructions about a robot and his super owl facts - well done Jenson!

Connie had a super WOW moment today, she opened up the book 'Owl Babies' and started to read it - the realisation that she could read it all by herself was magical!  Her smile and pride shone around the room.  She also read it out loud in our Zoom assembly today.  Good girl - you love your reading!

Happy Father's Day!

Thank you to all our Daddies, Grandpas, Uncles and Carers for all you do. 

A very Happy Father's Day!

Love from Class R

Class R's Stars of the Week

I'm so proud of this TRIO of STARS!

Hugo inspired other children's learning this week  by having a super idea, inspired by a paint roller, about decorating the pirate ship with magical paint - his exciting ideas encouraged others to join in to complete his project with him, they went on a magical journey to get the job completed!  This morning he did some super duper writing  especially for his Daddy for Father's Day (shhhhh it's a surprise for Sunday!), the concentration and the pride he had in himself was a pleasure to see.

Alanna also encouraged other children to play together.  Whilst playing shape dominoes, Alanna invited other children to join in and then had a super idea to make her own shape dominoes to extend the game, which everyone thought was a great idea.  Alanna carefully measured and cut out her rectangular dominoes and carefully drew her shapes.

Charlie is our third Star of the Week - Charlie has tried lots of new things this week even though at first they worried him - well done for overcoming your worries and trying new things with your friends.  You have also been so thoughtful looking after your friends when they hurt themselves - thank you Charlie.

Well done all three of you - keep shining brightly.

Class R's Stars of the Week

A special well done and thank you to Callie and Ivy this week - our Stars of the Week.  These two girls have supported one another all week to learn how to use the foot bikes, showing how friendship, support, practise and encouragement are key factors when learning brand new skills.  On Tuesday, because the foot bikes were new, the girls were very wobbly and a little bit nervous, so held one another's hands to get the pedals to go round; little by little, day by day the girls improved and gained confidence in themselves and by Friday, the girls can now go from one side of the room/playground to the other without stopping or holding hands - what a super improvement and an amazing demonstration of what learning is all about!  The girls are so proud of themselves and of one another - great job, great learning!

And relax!

A big thank you to Mrs Bates for leading our Gingerbread Man yoga session today.  The children listened so beautifully and participated so well as they retold the story using yoga moves and poses.

We're so looking forward to your next visit Mrs Bates - thank you.

Class R's Stars of the Week

Our Stars of the Week are Noah and Bradley; Noah always tries his very best in class especially with his reading and number skills; he especially loves sporting activities and is a super fast runner! He has listened carefully to our sports coach and enjoyed learning some new football skills - well done Noah. 

I've also chosen Bradley this week as he has been such a kind friend; recognising when his friends needed some company and making his friends feel happy and cared for - you've shown such kindness Bradley - thank you. 

Class R's Star of the Week!

A special well done to Lillian - Class R's Star of the Week!

Look at Lillian's beautiful castle that she has painted this week. We have been getting our paintings ready for our class display and decided to do some writing to tell others what we had painted.  Lillian loves to write and she has been working so very hard to learn her tricky and key words.  Lillian has been learning how to carefully write the letter shapes and is thinking about how to write a sentence too.  We are so proud of you - well done!

Class R’s Star of the Week

Well done Connie, you are our Star of the Week. You concentrate so well during carpet time, listen so well, always put up your hand and try so very hard during our activity times. You are so helpful and always so kind. A real super star!

Class R's Star of the Week

A very special well done to Ivy-Rose - our Star of the Week! You are so keen to learn and find out more and are making some real progress with your reading - you're remembering your tricky words as well as your digraphs - good girl.  You are always so keen to help the teachers and children in our class - thank you Ivy-Rose - I know you were so proud - Super Star!

Class R’s Star of the Week

Theo, we are so very proud of you. You have grown up so very much and are making such lovely choices. You are so kind, thoughtful and always try so very hard. You really try to organise yourself in the morning and are always so busy. Please continue enjoying your learning and exploring - you really deserve our star of the week. What a great start to our brand new term. 

We're going on an egg hunt!

Children loved the teamwork and excitement of finding the 23 eggs hidden in the trim trail this week and have had fun 'eggsploring' the Easter activities. 'Eggcellent' work children!

Wishing all our children and their families, a very happy Easter!

Learning together

Our learning journey this week...

Class R's Stars of the Week

Always hard to choose one! Each little star shining in their own way each and every day!

Here are our 5 shining author stars - these children showed super commitment and stickability to their book writing today - listened so carefully about how to count the words in a sentence and then how to sound each word out.  Well done children!

Smalley's Spring has sprung!

Smalley School's Red Nose Day 2021!

Thank you everyone for sharing your smiles all through school today!

All in a day's work!

Today we have stomped, stopped, aimed at a target, looked closely at badgers, used googly eyes (and giggled lots!), practised our curly caterpillar letters, curled up in a den and matched all the ladybirds to their homes...and that was just for starters!

Thank you for a lovely day children.

The Litter Patrol!

Introducing...

Class R's Litter Patrol!  Pete the Badger loved everything to be 'TIDY' - today we talked about what litter is and how important it is to put our litter in the bin or take our litter home with us.  We then did our own litter pick of the community field using gloves, litter pickers and a sack!  We hoped we wouldn't find any litter but we did and we were pleased to have made a difference by tidying it up.

Thank you children for being thoughtful citizens.

The and the, leaf soup, boosters, badger labels and alphabets!

Sharing just a snippet of Tuesday's highlights, including reading and writing 'the', labelling our badger photographs, building vehicles with boosters that make them go faster and talking about accelerating and adding shields, . leaf soup with baked conkers and toasted leaves (thank you James), alphabet bingo and predicting what Pete the badger was going to do next...

Children, thank you for a super day full of exploring!

Monday - Into the woods...

Today we dived into our new book 'Tidy' and created our own woodland!  We learnt about the badger and then were surprised that as we peeled the bark from the tree-stumps, we found woodlice, spiders, ants and a centipede!  What a great day discovering!

Happy Mummy's Day from Class R

Mummy, I love you because...

Dedicated to all our wonderful Mummies and all of the special ladies in our lives, enjoy your special day!

Thursday's talking...

"It has been so good to talk to our friends again!" - Class R March 2021

Lots of wonderful talking during our play today - in and out of the showers and sunshine!

Lots of great chatter about superheroes , cheetahs and creating a concoction in our

mud kitchen whilst carefully pouring...

Ladybird counting

Welly Wednesday - wet, windy and puddletastic!

Thank you for all of the wellies and puddle suits - they came in very handy today!

We delivered the bird feeders to the birds in our local community and talked about why birds are not mammals.

We also SPLASHED.....alot!

It's a beautiful day - Tuesday!

What a beautiful day!

Welcome back together children!

The Embark Award.

We have relaunched this post from October, as the Embark Award is a unique, special award for our academy of schools and whilst we are at home, we could still be working towards achieving the goals.  There are activities and experiences that we can't or must not do at the moment, but there are many that we can -  We think that many of us could do number 25 on 'Family' after last weekend's snow!  Please contact your class teacher children with a photograph/video of you achieving your goals and we will be able to award the stickers into your folders for when you return into school.

Good luck!

The Embark Award is part of the Trust’s wider offer to our children here at Richardson Endowed. 

Your child has been given a folder in school with 100 activities in to enable them to access a number of experiences before they leave us at age 11. 

The Embark Award is designed such that the children can carry out the activities at home or in school . They are linked to our core beliefs of Family, Integrity, Teamwork and Success! 
If you feel your child has achieved one of the activities please send evidence, such as a photograph, to Google Classroom where they will be given the appropriate sticker to mark off their achievement in their luxury folder. 

We hope that in the future folders will be able to come back and forth between home and school but at this time it is not possible. Therefore, please refer to all the information below, which is from the folder in school.

The EMBARK Award (Please click on this link below to access the full details of the award.)

The children are so excited about this new project so please encourage and enjoy some new experiences together. 

Saving our Environment - Spring term learning

Welcome back to the Spring Term and our brand new whole school and Embark theme of 'Saving the Environment'.

Each class has a special book(s) to inspire this term's learning  - we can't wait to see this term's work blossom, hopefully just like the beautiful tree on our school driveway.

Please dive into your class book and explore the potential that it holds - please comment below with thoughts, feelings, facts and ideas about your book so far - at the end of the term - all comments will go into a prize pot and a prize winner will be picked at random - good luck!

Here are the front covers of all of the class books - aren't they beautiful?  Front covers are so exciting, but wait until you get inside!

Exploring the magical snow!

SHARING REMOTE TEACHING, LEARNING, EXPLORING & ADVENTURES!

Being together when we can't be together, together!

How lucky to be able to play and explore in the magical white snow - much fun was had by many!

Thank you for the beautiful photographs!

Rainbows of Hope!

SHARING REMOTE TEACHING, LEARNING, EXPLORING & ADVENTURES!

Being together when we can't be together, together!

Thank you children for the beautiful rainbows that you've drawn, painted and made. 

The rainbow continues to be the symbol of hope for our future.

Well done to our Smalley Richardson Community!

We just wanted to send our thanks to all those parents who have embraced home learning over the past 8 days! Yes we know this is only day 8 and it probably feels like a month! 

We understand that you are coping with so many different pressures at the moment. Even ensuring you have food in your cupboards is a task. Many of you are working from home, trying to do your own jobs and teach your children, often with no support from your wider families due to current restrictions. 

The Government have instructed all schools to make sure online learning provision is much more rigid and challenging which we at Smalley have done, but we also know that this puts extra pressure on you! Please know that we understand that you are doing your best! Your efforts will be rewarded by the progress your children make and you are doing a good job! 

Below is a song recorded by children in America to thank all the adults who are keeping people safe and well such as our NHS workers, teachers who educate, and parents who are doing a ‘good job’ in keeping their children safe and trying their very best to facilitate home learning.

Remember, there’s no job more important than being a parent! You are doing something quite extraordinary and we want to tell you so! 

Thank you for all your efforts with home learning-they truly are appreciated by all of us at Richardson Endowed. Enjoy the song below:

Take care and stay safe!

Mrs Mason

Good Afternoon Children!

Dear Children,

I am sending this message to say how sorry we are that our school has once again been forced to close to so many of you! As the Prime Minister, Mr Boris Johnson, only spoke to the whole country at 8pm last night it didn't even give your teachers chance to explain to you how you are going to be learning for the next few weeks!

I am therefore writing this to say that from tomorrow your teachers will be contacting you each day on Google Classroom Meet. Later this afternoon I will send an email to your parents to let them know what time your live check-in is. We know that some of you will have brothers or sisters who will need to check in at the same time and we will try to avoid as many clashes where possible. Please do not worry if this happens; you may have to take it in turns! You will still be able to access all the work via Google Classrooms and contact your teachers during the school day.

Please try your best to work hard at home just like you do at school ! I hope to see you all soon !

Stay safe

Mrs Mason.

Bingo!

Today in Class R we played Alphabet Bingo. The children remembered their sounds and names of the letters very well. We had joint winners! 
What a fun way to start our new term.

The Richardson Endowed Christmas Special

Christmas performances are a big part of any school year. Although we have not been able to invite you in to see our regular shows, each class has prepared their very own Christmas message. We hope our digital performances add a little festive cheer to your day.

Class R’s Star of the Week ⭐️

We’re very proud of Josh and are so proud to announce that he is our Star of the Week. Joshua is so kind  and always helps his friends in a gentle and caring manner. He has grown in confidence so much since September and loves to talk to us - he has a lovely sense of humour.  He has made some lovely friends who really appreciate his thoughtfulness. Good boy Joshua! 

We WISHED for snow - and it SNOWED!

Gorgeous smiles and excited laughs!  Merry Christmas children!

Pantomine fun and ice cream heaven!

Thank you so very much to EMBARK and Mrs Mason for our online pantomime of

Jack and the Beanstalk and a trip to the pink ice cream van.  Our children and staff adored it!

A lovely Christmas party lunch!

Yummy! 

Thank you to our wonderful kitchen staff for our Christmas party lunch!

Glow in the Dark Dodgeball!

What brilliant fun Class R had yesterday with Glow in the Dark dodgeball!  It was the very first time that our children had played a team game involving a ball and they were just super!  The children listened carefully to Isaac and Mr Smith and played together really well.  We were so proud!  Well done children and thank you to our wonderful PTFA for the experience.

WARMING UP, LISTENING TO INSTRUCTIONS AND LEARNING TO PUT ON A SPORTS BIB:

WE'RE GLOWING UP IN THE DARK! WELL DONE CHILDREN - GREAT TEAM WORK

I spy a special someone beginning with S!

Look who we saw walking across our school field yesterday!  Yes Santa!  He looked a bit lost as he was looking at a map!  He gave us the biggest wave!  Take care Santa! 

Welly Tuesday!

What a lovely morning we had!

Today we thought about the animals that live on our school field and also Santa's reindeer who will hopefully be visiting soon.  We made some bird food/reindeer food mixture and used our parachute to deliver it onto the field!  What fun!

We then made footprints in the flour - we thought it looked like snow - we then wished really hard for snow - we crossed all our toes and fingers!

Phase 3 tricky words

I'm a big believer in the power of song - not only for enjoyment and enrichment but to help to learn facts and new words.

Here are two songs which sing the Phase 3 tricky words.

We have been listening to them in Class R to help us to learn the tricky words. 

They're not going to trick us are they children?

Christmas is a coming...!

Over the last few weeks, we've been very busy getting ready for Christmas in Class R:

Wonderful Welly Wednesdays

This term - I think it is safe to say that Welly Wednesday has certainly made a splash and been a huge hit!  The children have been brilliant and they have enjoyed putting their puddle suits and wellies on and going out to explore our wonderful environment.  We have learnt so much about the environment and about one another.  We've explored how the seasons have changed from late Summer to early Autumn and then into late Autumn and observed how our environment has changed over that time.  Next year will bring Winter, Spring and early Summer - we can't wait to explore more and more and see what delights Mother Nature offers us.

Thank you children for your enthusiasm, enjoyment and energy - just brilliant!

Reading, reading, reading

The class with the most comments about the books that they are reading will be announced shortly....

AND the winners with 19 comments are Class 2! 

Well done children.  Please keep reading and enjoying your books and enjoy using your special bookmarks.

A BIG well done and thank you to all of the children and staff that commented.. There are some beautiful books being read and it's a great list to look at for some recommendations.

Keeeeeeeeeeeeep reading!

Class R's Star of the Week

A very big well done for Sam today as he became our Star of the Week.  Sam is always the person who is tidying up right until the very end in Class R - he always makes sure things go back where they belong and cares a lot about our resources that we use.  Sam also impressed us this week when he was reading the dinner menu and noticed the 'or' digraph in the word 'pork' and then read the word - good boy for spotting the phonics we are learning and sharing it with your friends.

MICE ON TOUR

Our gorgeous mice have come to school dressed as gingerbread men, in tinsel, woolly hats and scarves, wellington boots, elf costumes and as superheroes and have been the giver of hugs and confidence in school.  Thank you mighty mice and thank you children for caring about your mice so beautifully.

Our mice adventures continue...

Christmas preparations with Rupert:

An Elf Hunt with Cheese and Oliver:

A rescue mission and tree decorating with Squeak:

Class R's Star of the Week

A huge WELL DONE to Jenson for being our Star of the Week!  Jenson has read 66 times so far this year and he is making super progress with his reading - he also did some wonderful writing when he thought about what he would like for Christmas.  We're so proud of you!

Reading, reading, reading - at least 3 times a week please

WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED TODAY!

REMINDER

In our Zoom assembly on Friday, Mrs Mason shared with the children some information about the super reading training that some of the teachers had attended.  One of the key messages from the course was all about the importance of reading regularly.  We read all the time at school and that regular practise at home makes all the difference.  Remember children, you signed your school agreement in September saying that you would read 3 times a week - go explore the exciting world of literature - go to places that you can only imagine.  Even in Lockdown we can explore places we never knew were possible.  Please share below in the comments the books you are enjoying at the moment - let's try to get every one to comment - tell your friends - share the good news of books and the power of being able to read.

Here is one to start us off - James in Class R enjoying his book - James, just like your top says, you are totally 'ROARSOME'! (original message 22/11/20 relaunched 2/12/20)

The class with the most reading comments in the box below will receive a class prize (closing date 8.30 am Friday, 11th December 2020)

Class R Superstars!

So this week, our exploring and learning has included 5th birthday celebrations, our favourite activities which make us happy and feel calm, constructing a Mouse house, digraphs and counting galore, a journey to the moon, garden exploration and much more besides - all done OUR WAY!  Class R children and their families have made me so very proud - I am truly a very blessed teacher!  I can't wait to see all of your smiles in the flesh next week children.  Mrs Evans and I can't wait to see you again on Tuesday morning.

Here are Class R's Superstars - see you on Tuesday! #proud

PROUD!

Good morning children, in our Zoom assembly today, we celebrated our Stars of the Week - we felt very proud of our classmates and of ourselves. 

Everyone has the right to feel pride in themselves and in the work that they do. 

Ask yourself every day - "What have I done today to make myself feel proud?"

Please enjoy our special assembly song - maybe you would like to sing along with the words at home:

Friday's learning and exploring with ODD SOCKS on!

Class R's Stars of the Week!

On Friday morning, I went to the Zoom whole school assembly to represent our class.  I told everyone how proud of you I was and how brilliant you had been carrying on your learning journey at home.  Everyone was pleased to hear that you were all safe at home and said hello.

So here are some photographs of Class R's STAR OF THE WEEK..... every single one of you!  We've all come a long way since our very first day together (which has only been just over two months) - you've settled beautifully into your very own BIG school and  grown in so many brilliant way and Mrs Evans, Mrs Straw and myself are incredibly proud of our team!  Thank you for adapting and taking this different way of learning in your stride - thank you too to Mummies and Daddies who have supported our learning journey at home - you've been amazing and I look forward to seeing what the week ahead brings.  Go Team R - I am so proud - learning can be fun, exciting and bring a challenge wherever we are.

Keeeeeeep exploring!

Class R - Thursday, 19th November 2020

Class R - our way!

Being together, when we can't be together together - learning, exploring and having fun.  Thank you children.

Good morning Class R from 2 special friends!

Monday brought Diwali, football and friends!

Phase 2 words to practise please

Dear Parents

Following on from our termly letter, please find attached a powerpoint with the phase 2 high frequency words and the tricky words (words which cannot be segmented and need to be recognised by sight) for your child to use at home to help them to recognise and read these words. Please use it as part of, or additional to,  your three times a week reading practise.

Children in Need 2020 with Class R

The children in Class R started to understand what Children in Need was all about today.  We learnt about Pudsey Bear and he helped us to count backwards and think of lots of things which start with 'p'.  In our explore and learn time, the children created a Pudsey gallery and loved exploring all of the learning zones which were based on Pudsey.

We talked about this year being the 40th year of the BBC's Children in Need and how the event raises lots and lots of money to help children all over the United Kingdom.  Over the last two days we have talked about Joe Wicks and his 24 hour exercise challenge to raise money for Children in Need - we even joined in with him in our P.E. lesson and today!

Pumpkin Mouse, Puzzle and Pudsey!

Just to let you know children that I've left a very happy Pumpkin Mouse with his friends, Puzzle and Pudsey!  All 3 of them enjoyed watching the fish get cleaned out and are now very happy watching Goldilocks and Rainbow fish and making sure they get fed over the weekend.

Class R's Star of the Week

A very BIG well done to Mya, who is Class R's Star of the Week.  We are so proud of Mya and her love of reading.  She holds her book beautifully, turns each page without prompting and she enjoys every page. Mya always practises her reading at home and loves to read different stories too.  Well done Mya - Keeeeeeeep reading!

Pudsey is proud of you too!

Mice on Tour

The children were brilliant at taking their mice for their flu immunisation yesterday - remember to give them a treat this weekend children for being super brave this week.

Thank you for all of the gorgeous photographs from this week's adventures:

Our Remembrance Service 11th November 2020

Today we held our annual Remembrance service in school, but this year of course things had to be different; instead of a hall full of children, parents and the wider community, our Year 6 pupils led the service from our school car park by the war memorial. 

Our year 5 children were able to join us outside and Mr Reckless came to play 'The Last Post' and other war song favourites alongside Mr Mason on the drums.  Mr Bower, from the Parish Council, came to lay a wreath along with Mr Wilton and Mr Aldred from the Smalley Old Boys. We also welcomed Mr Barham our local representative from the Royal British Legion. Our visitors stayed on the pavement at a safe social distance from our children. 

Today was, of course, so different to our usual community event and yet, in other ways it wasn’t different at all. The reason being that our Year 6 led the service with confidence and such respect for the boys who came to their school, who played in their playground, who went off to war and never returned. What an honour and a privilege to see the children show such respect in the way they spoke, behaved and carried out their duties to remember our Smalley soldiers and the sacrifice they made for us. 

Every child and adult in school took part in a minute’s silence, safe within their own class bubbles, they listened to the Last Post from the playground. Later in the day all the classes sowed poppy seeds to mark the occasion. 

Thank you for your empty pop bottles -we hope you agree that they now look wonderful as recycled poppies to decorate our 'Rainbow Tree of Hope and Remembrance'. 

We are so sad that we couldn’t invite you all to share in this special day in our school calendar but we hope you enjoy the photographs and feel proud of all of our children, as we do. 

Class R and the tank!

I-spy with my little eye, something beginning with 't'...

Wow! Today we went on a Wednesday Welly Walk and look what we found on the school drive!

The 11th November 2020: Class R remembers

Class R have been looking at how and why we remember the 11th of November:

Children can you share with Mummy and Daddy how we remembered all of the brave people who went to war?

Class R's Star of the Week

A very special well done to Jude for being our Star of the Week.  Jude was awarded this today because of his actions during last week's half term.  When he was out and about walking, he noticed that some of our learning resources were on the school field and he said that he must help to look after them and posted them back through the fence onto our playground.  I'm so proud of you for taking care of our resources Jude - so responsible - wonderful!

Autumn 2 - Mice on Tour

Our mice have had spooky fun, been to Splash Landings, made  cakes, helped to write, met a new family pet, made huge jumps and climbed high, visited the seaside and been on a special mouse hole adventure over the last 2 weeks.  Thank you as always for your super photographs, we love to share them in Class R.  Our Buddies can also see the adventures that we have been on.

10 little fireworks standing in a row!

In Class R this week, we are learning a firework rhyme.  

Here we are acting out the rhyme, we thought about the noises that fireworks can make:

Here we are writing numbers from the rhyme in the shaving foam:

Here we are counting, making crafty fireworks, colouring our firework pictures and playing a flying target game in the beautiful Autumn sunshine:

W, W, W - Welly W, W, W Wednesday!

What a beautiful exploring time in the Autumn sunshine today!

Poppies

This is an idea being shared through social media.

During the first lockdown, we all put rainbows in our windows. Due to the Remembrance Services being cancelled, why don't we all colour a poppy picture and display them in our windows?  Lest We Forget.

Please click on the link below to find some poppy colouring pages. It would be lovely to see our Smalley windows decorated.

Welcome back children!

Happy Tuesday children, it was lovely to have us all back together today. We did lots of remembering as we came back to school and we are very proud of you for remembering how to play kindly and fairly, keep safe and treat our resources with respect, as well as organise yourselves ready for learning and exploring.

We spoke about the long word 'remember' and what it means to us, we also thought about how we remember.  This term we will be exploring a whole school topic theme called 'Peace & Conflict'.

Remembering the original Fireman Sam!

Months of the year

Can you clap and stamp out the syllables in the months of the year?

Smalley School's online Pumpkin Parade 2020

Thank you for all of the gorgeous pumpkin photographs - please enjoy the slideshow!  

Can you spot Mrs Reckless' pumpkin?!

Our Online Pumpkin Parade

The Smalley School tradition, for the last few years, has been that on the last day of half term children have excitedly brought in their amazingly carved pumpkin for a Pumpkin Parade.  Our wonderful PTFA have served hot chocolate, marshmallows and cookies and kindly given prizes for the winning pumpkins; parents and children have wandered around looking at the gorgeous designs and enjoyed chatting and wishing one another well for the holiday ahead.  Unfortunately this could not take place today, but just for now, let's capture the tradition in a different way. 

If you're carving a pumpkin this week, ready for the 31st of October, then please send us a photograph to receptionhomelearning@richardson.derbyshire.sch.uk

We will then create an online pumpkin display - celebrating our pumpkins.  

We can't wait to see them children.

Wishing you and your families a very happy half term.  Keep safe and enjoy your time together.

Class R's Star of the Week

A very special well done to Ivy for being our Star of the Week.  Ivy has settled brilliantly into school; she is so very kind, so very gentle and quietly confident; Ivy is working so hard with her reading at home.  Ivy loves to draw and write and is often found with a pen, pencil or piece of chalk in her hand.  She includes such lovely detail in her drawings - which you can see below. Well done Ivy - we are so proud of you.

Zooming with our buddies!

We had a lovely time today, zooming and finding out a little bit more about our buddies! 😊👍

After meeting their Buddies online, Class R started to draw some pictures for their Buddies too:

What a busy last few weeks!

Looking through these photographs, I can see that through our play we've learned so much, explored so much and

become a Class R Team together - thank you children for a wonderful first half term.  

You really have done so well to settle into your new BIG school - well done!

Take care, stay safe and we'll see you after the holidays!

Mice on Tour!

The mice have loved their first term at school with you children and I am so impressed with how you have looked after them and shown them how to behave at school.  Here are some of their newest adventures to share, including a very kind doctor mouse:

Squeak went with Noah to take cute little Darcie on her very first walk to a Tractor and Pumpkin Farm Adventure Park - what fun!  Noah also received a letter and card from his buddy and can't wait to write back!  Look at how he has practised his phonics and writing - wonderful!

Grey Mouse has been helping Ralph to settle in his new fish into their tank - well done - I love how proud you look!

Dino Mouse sent me this beautiful montage of photographs from his adventures with Charlie at Hardwick Hall - such a lovely place to visit with your family.

Hugo and his mouse enjoyed six Halloween themed parties over the weekend - Hugo you look amazing and I love your decorations and spooky food!

Here is Freddie Mouse looking after his patient whilst he has been poorly - I think I'm going to call him Doctor Freddie Mouse from now on - get better soon Noah, we miss you.

Thank you as always for the beautiful photographs.  Please send me any half term photos from your half term adventures - Puzzle will be joining me for some rest and relaxation over the holidays and H will be joining Mrs Straw! I wonder what they'll get up to?

See you next half term for more really 'mice' adventures!

MUD GLORIOUS MUD!

The children enjoyed their muddy welly stomp this afternoon and creating their muddy handprints - they even found some puddles to splash in (hurray)!  

The children finished off their Welly Wednesday with a gorgeous story all about keeping clean - what fun!

The children wondered what a nail brush was and could see why they might need one after all that muddy fun!

Puzzle makes lunch!

We were very surprised this morning to find that Puzzle had left us a magnetic letter note and had made me lunch...

Thank you so much for trying Puzzle and what a lovely surprise!

Puzzle needed a little bit of help with what made a healthy lunch didn't he children?

Can you tell Mummy or Daddy what you would pack in your healthy lunch?

Keeping healthy

What a lovely start to our 'What keeps us healthy?' week - thank you children.

Class R’s Star of the Week

A very special well done to Ralph for being our Star of the Week. Ralph has grown in confidence and is a super star learner. He knows what he has to do to learn well; he listens so carefully, puts his hand up to answer questions, tries his very best and loves a challenge. Ralph is always ready to learn, he is so kind, gentle and lots of fun, as well as being a super duper tidier. We’re proud of you Ralph - well done! 

Reading Rewards

Well done children for achieving your 10 reads rainbow:

Well done Jenson and Lily-Rose for achieving your 20 reads rainbow:

We're so proud of you.

Buddies!

There was much excitement this morning as Class 6 and Class R buddies met for the first time today! They had the opportunity to introduce themselves to each other and have a lovely little chat! 😊

Mice on tour!

Thank you for the gorgeous photographs of your mouse adventures! We will enjoy sharing these in class this afternoon.

Class R's beautiful pets!

This week in Class R, we have been looking at pets and how to care for them.  Please take a look at the children's pets that they care for at home...

Welcome Class R pets!

This week, we welcomed our very own pets into Class R.

We had to get the tank ready before they arrived - we guessed how any bottles it would take to fill up the tank:

We were so excited to meet them:

Now to name them...

Our art galleries

Our young artists in Class R have been working really hard on their self portraits and family drawings - well done children they look beautiful!

Sliding into the weekend!

Whilst tidying up, I found these little guys at the top of the slide!  Oh what fun they were having - they're all tucked up now in the bed that Bradley made for his mouse!

Have a gorgeous weekend everyone - thank you for a fun week of learning!

10 children with 10 reads or more!

We have lots of children in Class R who LOVE to read stories and find out new facts.  Lots of children are enjoying bed time stories and using 'Teach your Monster to Read' and 'Reading Eggs' to help them to learn their phonic sounds. Well done children!

Today we celebrated our first group of children who have achieved their first 10 reads of their school reading book - well done to you!  Your names will go onto the '10 reads rainbow' on our Class R display.

Please look out for your certificate children, which we will email to you over the weekend.

A very BIG well done - keep enjoying your reading and working so hard.

Class R's Star of the Week!

Scarlett was awarded our Star of the Week in today's Zoom assembly.  We are so proud of you Scarlett - you are working so hard to learn and apply the phonics that you know and you kindly share your knowledge with your friends too.

Good girl, keep enjoying your reading - a very BIG well done!

Mice on Tour!

Yay - it's time to catch up with the mice's weekly adventures...

This week, Superhero Mouse has been exploring Baslow Edge - look at the beautiful countryside - that view!

Grey Mouse has been helping Ralph to walk his dog, Brian - what a proud smile:

Dino-Mouse has been on an Autumn walk and found some beautiful autumnal treasure!

And Poppy Mouse has been to Eureka! Look at those smiles!

Thank you so much for sharing your adventures.  

Next week's theme in Class R is all about PETS - I have popped Mouse a special job to do in your child's reading diaries - thank you so much in advance.

Happy adventures - keep safe xx

Squirrel Treasure!

On Welly Wednesday this week, we met Puzzle, our red squirrel.  He had started to collect acorns but because his paws were so small he asked the children to help to collect the abundance of acorns from under our Oak tree on the school driveway.  The children LOVED collecting the 'squirrel treasure' and estimated how many acorns they had collected in their pot. They discovered what Oak tree leaves look like and what was inside the acorn shell that the squirrel loves to eat. Such gorgeous Autumnal fun and learning in the October sunshine and our wellies!

GOOD MORNING PUZZLE!

Our beautiful, extremely tall Oak tree!

Our wonderful children searching for 'squirrel treasure'!

Shortest to tallest and tallest to shortest!

We have been looking at ourselves and thinking about things which are the same and things which are different and how special and unique we all are!  Yesterday we lined up in height order from the tallest to the smallest and from the smallest to the tallest - we thought about who else was a similar size to us.  Well done children!

Please have a look at this interactive programme which helps your child to practise some useful comparing vocabulary:

Being together, sharing success

Each Friday, we 'meet up' with the rest of the school on Zoom.  Mrs Mason leads our assembly and shares with us a weekly message.  

Here is Class R sitting beautifully and listening carefully as each class shares their Star of the Week.  

Well done everyone!

Mice Gone fishing!

Look what I found these cheeky mice doing!  That will keep them busy all weekend I think and they'll look forward to telling their owners all about their adventure on Monday!

Class R's Star of the Week

Harry is Class R's star of the week; he was given a

big clap in our Zoom assembly this morning. 

A very BIG well done to Harry for always being ready to learn, always listening and always being a kind, caring and fair friend. 

We're proud of you.

Mice on Tour!

A week of really 'mice' adventures to share, a new family member and a story of bravery amongst us - thank you for all of the gorgeous photographs that you have emailed into our class email - it is wonderful to see such kind and caring mice, bringing smiles and being there to support our children when they're needed: receptionhomelearning@richardson.derbyshire.sch.uk

Look who has joined Noah's family...

Too cute!

Where will our mice explore next week?  What will they get up to? Who will they meet? We can't wait to find out!

Welly Wednesday!

It rained! A little bit!  We nearly found a puddle!

We had fun searching for sounds and exploring our BIG playground.  Well done children. Please enjoy our photos...

We're loving learning!

Let's go fly a kite!

Yesterday we embraced the windy day and made kites to play with - we watched them fly and talked about how to make them fly higher. What fun!

It’s mice to see you!

Just to let you know I’m safe here on the rainbow 🌈. I’ll enjoy playing with my classroom friends - Ted and Snake  - see you on Monday!

Mice on tour!

Thank you for looking after your mice children.  Some have been on some super fun adventures over the weekend - look at these fantastic photographs:

Poppy Mouse has been to visit the monkeys at Trentham:

Cheese Mouse has been to Cleethorpes:

Rainbow Squeaky went to the seaside and had fun on the rides, the beach and even found some beautiful shells.

Superhero Mouse visited beautiful Stanton Moor in the Peaks and baked a yummy cake!

and Grey builder Mouse helped Sam to play games whilst his mummy was poorly - what a caring mouse!

Thank you for sharing - we enjoy looking at them in class.

Have another lovely weekend mice - let us know what you get up to.

Welly Wednesday - with a 'Ss' theme!

This week, we all wore our wellies and puddlesuits (thank you rain) and explored our outdoor area. We compared a sunflower that had grown in my garden over Lockdown to the same sunflower now and spotted lots of differences.  The children were fascinated by the seeds and enjoyed getting them out and counting them.  We can't wait to plant them in the spring time.  

Please enjoy our Welly Wednesday slideshow:

Trying a radish or two!

Our fruit and vegetable company delivered radishes for a change today. Some of us enjoyed trying them, the rest of us enjoyed crunchy carrots and sweet pears. This week we should have a delivery or bananas, oranges and apples. Remember your child is welcome to bring their own fruity or vegetable snack as well as their water. 

What’s in the special suitcase?

Today in Class R we learnt the ‘s’ sound - what can you see in the special suitcase that starts with ‘sssssss’?

Letters and Sounds - information for grown ups

Today, the children and I looked at the characters in the Oxford Reading Tree books, we will meet them lots in our reading books:

Please look below for the videos that I mentioned in your child's reading diary today. I have also attached a downloadable booklet informing you about the progression in Letters and Sounds - usually in Class R children work on phase 2, 3 and 4 as the year progresses.  Letters and Sounds is the programme we use to teach your child synthetic phonics which helps your child to read and spell. Please, if you have any questions, contact us through the agreed channels - thank you.

EXTENSION IDEAS

Our very first week at BIG school

BUSY,BUSY,BUSY!

Making friends, making precious memories, learning lots...

We can't wait for next week!  

See you soon!

Our investigation

Will our boats FLOAT or SINK?

Our Tree (well bush) of Hope

In our Reception outdoor zone we have a beautiful bush which grows throughout the different seasons.  We have decorated it with our rainbow handprints.  This is our Tree of Hope.  Each class in school has a Tree of Hope in their classroom as part of our reconnection programme.  We will enjoy looking at ours each day.

Whilst children are away, mice will play!

Children look what I have found these cheeky mice doing!  

Just to let you know that they are all safe with me for the weekend - they are all tucked up in bed now after a very busy first week!

See you on Monday!

Our first Welly Wednesday together!

Oh what fun! Thank you children.

Your first full day at BIG school!

Mrs Evans and I will be waiting for you at the YELLOW entrance at 9.15 this morning - we can't wait to see you all again as you start your first full day at BIG school!  

Remember to bring your mouse as I bet they can't wait to meet everyone too!

Welcome to our new children starting in Class R!

What a gorgeous week in Class R!  

This week we welcomed our brand new starters to come and look at their brand new learning space and have chance to meet some of the special adults at our school.  A small group came each day to meet Mrs Evans and myself, they also met Mrs Mason (Our Headteacher), Mrs Straw (our teaching assistant), Mrs Hull (our teaching assistant) and Mrs Harrison (our mid-day supervisor).  All of the children made us so proud as they could not wait to come and find out more about their school; we chose our own very special school mouse who will join each child on their Reception journey. We made mouse hats, shared nursery rhymes, counted, drew and explored our learning zones, as well as ate our dinner in the hall and enjoyed our fruit and milk together! Phew!  

Please have a look at our slide show to see some of the fun that we had during our new adventure together at Smalley School!

We can't wait to see you next week children.

Have a lovely weekend in the sunshine!

Tuesday Noah's ark

Circle games

All ready to EMBARK!

This week we warmly welcome our new Class R children to EMBARK on their Smalley learning journey.

It's time for BIG school children, how exciting!  

We can't wait to see you and your lovely families.