Westonzoyland Primary School ‘Achieving, Learning and Growing Together’
Merlin – Miss Stockford (Reception & Year 1)
Spring 2
Welcome to our new term of learning, an exciting time for children to explore and learn as Spring (hopefully) brings forth some sunshine to accompany our love of the outdoors! We continue our Book & Biscuit sessions on Tuesdays which the children love to share with their families and gives an informal opportunity for parents to share their experiences or gain ideas to inspire reading at home.
Our Reception children will be celebrating half a year at school - doesn't time fly? They are making super progress, and as they near the end of learning all of the Level 3 sounds, we come to an exciting stage where they really begin to apply their knowledge in their reading and writing. So many are bringing in little notes and pictures accompanied by their own writing and it's a joy to see their enthusiasm for learning. Our maths inputs explore numbers to 10, learning key facts such as number bonds and 1 more/less than a number. We will also be exploring 3D shapes.
Reception children will be developing skills in different tools, including hammers, saws, peelers and needles within their provision, and I am sure we will some unique works of art proudly displayed. We will be learning about Passover and Easter, including a trip to the church. Our interests of animals sees a trip to a local farm in the near future, with baby lambs never failing to thrill us all.
Our Year Ones will be developing their knowledge of instructions and explanations, using some rather humorous texts, and I am sure they will enjoy trying out bossy commands to their peers! They will then be looking at texts with repetitive patterns, set in different cultures. These will then be linked to writing postcards.
Maths topics involve using known facts to solve addition and subtraction facts, as well as exploring number patterns, multiplication and simple fractions. Our Science topic will be exploring everyday materials with lots of practical investigation to develop vocabulary and understanding. Our new History topic involves looking at toys from the past, a topic we enjoyed introducing last year.
Spring 1
Happy New Year. Welcome to a new term with lots of exciting things planned! This term is always exciting because children start to link all the new skills and knowledge to their learning, and reading and writing really take off! We will be introducing some new activities to encourage a love of reading so watch this space! We are also planning a trip or two to link with our rainforests and animals topics!
Reception children will be introduced to a new Journeys topic, where we explore the polar regions as well as different countries around the world within the context of different class books.
Year One will be continuing with their whole school Rainforest topic, finding out about different rainforest animals, conducting research and using maps to find information.
Please remember to always have warm coats and hats as well as wellies in school in this cooler time of year as we will need to wrap up warm whilst learning outside.
Autumn 2
We really hope you all had a great half term! Autumn has really commenced, with blustery weather and lots of puddles so a great opportunity to remind you to ensure children have warm waterproof coats and wellies in school every day. A spare pair of socks can also be useful if children become a little enthusiastic jumping in the puddles.
We complete our Carnival topic with a sneak preview of WZCC carnival cart over at the shed, and we can't wait to hear everyone's experiences of the carnival!
Our new whole school topic is Rainforests. We will be finding out about and comparing animals, exploring different books and photos to find out about areas of rainforest across the world.
Nearing the end of the term we will excitedly be practising for our long awaited Nativity, to be performed to parents in the last week of term.
Reception children will be finding out about their bodies, exploring their senses and continue to celebrate how different we all are. We will be continuing to explore our environment, observing how it changes as we lead into winter. We will be finding out about how different cultures celebrate important events, and explore how we celebrate traditions differently.
We are very excited to be introducing Drawing Club this term, with a focus on developing language and confidence within the context of drawing and literacy. Our class book becomes the focus for our drawing and imagination, developing over a week.
Our phonics sees us establishing Level 2 phonics within our reading and writing, developing skills of segmenting and blending of words before moving on to Level 3 phonics, when digraphs are introduced.
Maths explores numbers to 10, including composition, recognition and representation in different ways.
Year One will be finding out about classification of animals, comparing rainforest and common animals of the UK within Geography and Science. We will be developing our skills of using maps to gain information about the rainforests.
Art sessions focus on drawing, exploring and experimenting with different mediums to create line for effect.
PE: moving like rainforest animals within gymnastics whilst using the apparatus - lots of opportunities to develop strength, balance and movement.
Music: we will be learning new songs in readiness for our Nativity, accompanied by non tuned instruments.
Computing develops our skills of using a laptop independently, learning how to change text as well as being safe. We will be developing our understanding of programming in a range of ways.
RE: We will be developing our knowledge of the Jewish faith, in particular about the importance of the Torah.
Our RSHE explores positive relationships and how to stay safe within different contexts.
Phonics introduces the split digraphs, extending knowledge of representing vowel sounds, as well as introducing further common exception words.
Maths focuses on addition and subtraction this term, using different strategies, including the use of number lines.
Within English sessions we will be developing our independence in composing and writing a sentence with correct punctuation, and really trying to nail correct formation, with clear ascenders. We will be extending our vocabulary and using this to add description to our writing.
Autumn 1 2023
A huge welcome to our new parents of Reception as well as our Year One parents! This half term we are excited to learn all about Carnival as part of our whole school topic. It's going to be the best ever! We hope everyone makes it to Bridgwater Carnival at the end! We may see you there!!
Reception will be developing confidence with Merlin routines whilst sharing their interests and talking about themselves in the topic 'All about Me.' Communication and language will be at the forefront of all their learning, discussing, innovating and role-playing familiar stories. We will also be exploring the theme of Carnival within the whole school topic.
Year One's will be following the National Curriculum, developing skills and knowledge in the following areas:
Science - We are studying Seasonal Changes, celebrating the colourful changes of Autumn into Winter, as well as comparing with the warmth of Summer.
History - We will be studying a significant individual, and linked to Bridgwater Carnival, notably Guy Fawkes.
Geography - We will be using aerial images as well as fieldwork to study our immediate local area.
DT - We are very excited to be inviting parents and friends in this term to help us make our carnival carts in DT. (week of 9.10.23). We are hoping for some special visitors linked to Carnival.
Art - We will be learning all about colour, using skills of painting whilst exploring notable artists of Abstract Art.
RSHE - We will start with understanding our mental wellbeing and managing our emotions and then will be moving onto how to stay safe online.
Music- We will be studying rhythm this term and are really excited to learn some drumming skills linking with Rio Carnival!
In English this half term, we will be reinforcing our writing skills from last year, composing our own sentences whilst using our phonic knowledge. Initially writing labels and captions, we will then be innovating stories with repetitive patterns with the use of story maps.
In Maths this half term, we will start by practising our place value knowledge and partitioning of teens numbers before moving onto our addition and subtraction work.
Our P.E days this year are Wednesdays and Fridays. Please could children ensure they come in wearing their P.E kits. This half term our unit is attacking and defending.
Outdoor Learning takes place on a Tuesday afternoon. Please ensure children have suitable coats and trainers/wellies to change into.
Reader diaries will be monitored daily. Children are now expected to read at least 5 times a week.
Merlin's contact details
Please leave a message and Miss Stockford will be in touch.
September 2022
A very big welcome to our Merlin class page, where we keep you up to date with our learning, and where you can find useful information specific to our class. Weekly updates of our learning in specific subjects are uploaded to your Tapestry accounts.
The teaching team
Miss Stockford, Miss Crowe and Miss Baker
Outdoor learning is on Wednesdays though we do try to book an additional slot sometime within the week, where we spend time in the garden or forest school area. We do, however, need wellies in school every day now the weather is wetter in order to access our learning both indoors and out! Our PE this term is on Thursdays so please ensure children are wearing correct kit into school.
Our learning is centred around mini topics, usually based on class books that we are sharing within class as well as enveloping the interests of our children.
We are very passionate about the sharing of books and learning how to read here at Westonzoyland. When your child is ready, we will issue them with a reading book (suited to their ability) and do ask parents or guardians help nurture the love and enjoyment of reading by listening to your child read at least 3 times over a week, though we do recommend 5 times a week. We monitor reading at home using Go Read APP, with new books issued on Tuesdays. Children love receiving a certificate when they have read five or more times at home!
The children love the new Rhino Readers scheme we have invested in, and we find children are choosing these to read in their free reading times more than story books. This is fabulous to see and undoubtedly will encourage a long term love of reading.
If you need any support or ideas, please do not hesitate to ask either Miss Stockford, Miss Crowe or Miss Baker 😃
Spring Term, February 2023
We embark on our Growing Topic this half term, embracing Spring and hopefully sunshine and warmer days. Our choice of class books will reflect this, with learning evolving around Jack and the Beanstalk and Oliver's Vegetables. We are also excited to be joining the rest of the school in their Fossils Topic, where we will be following children's interests in dinosaurs and fossils. Watch out for any mystery footprints or eggs in the undergrowth!
Our phonics continues with Twinkl Level 3 sounds, exploring digraphs and trigraphs in both our reading and writing. We will be working hard on correct letter formation when writing, as well as remembering clear finger spaces when writing captions and short sentences. We will be learning to use capital letters and full stops when writing a sentence.
Our maths sessions build on our number knowledge to explore 9 and 10, recognising them in different ways as well as learning number facts, such as number bonds of 9 and 10. We will also be extending our knowledge of 3D shapes as well as more complex repeating patterns.
Bunny Run
Thank you to the PTFA who got bunny ears for all the children for their sponsored run. The children absolutely loved doing their laps hopping like little bunnies!
We spent the afternoon making some lovely Easter pictures to take home to parents. The children really concentrated to do this and loved the activity.
Spring Term 1 January 2023
Our topic this half term is very chilly, exploring the Polar regions within our theme of Journeys. We will be reading some of our favourite books as well as some new ones, such as Stickman, Lost and Found and Poles Apart. We will be comparing the South Pole with our own environment, and researching different animals that live at the North and South Pole. This will inspire writing, investigations as well as art work.
Our phonics introduces Twinkl Level 3, exploring digraphs, where two letters partner up to make one sound. This knowledge will really widen children's reading and ability to write, and is a really exciting time!
Our maths sessions embrace numbers 6,7 and 8, investigating composition of each number as well as exploring different ways to represent them. We will be comparing mass, capacity, length and height within adult focused play.
Thursday 8th December
Winter Walk
Today we went for a lovely walk around the school to see the frost. The children absolutely loved listening to the sounds the frost made in the grass and the leaves and feeling the ice. They talked about how the ice melts and why and some of them looked at the shadows they made in the lovely sunny weather!
Look at our creative collages using natural materials having looked and listened to The Leafman.
Autumn 2022
Welcome to a brand new year, and the start of your child’s school journey. There are so many exciting times ahead! Initially, we will be using the topic 'All about me' so that children can develop confidence in sharing what is most familiar, their families, and talk about themselves and their interests, celebrating themselves and others' in a reassuring environment as well as exploring feelings and emotions, differences and similarities.
We will be focusing on friendships and respect, and establishing the boundaries which keep us safe and ready for learning throughout the day. Listening and developing attention within a larger group is also a big focus, with lots of games to encourage this.
2021-2022
22.6.22 We have been writing postcards as if we were the snail from The Snail and the Whale. We were awesome at applying our known graphemes to spell challenging words!
8.6.22 We loved using sea themed loose parts to create our own smallworlds, taking the time to add detail with different materials. We really enjoyed talking about our creations.
25.5.22 We used our knowledge of pattern and symmetry to design these amazing butterflies.
18.5.22 We drew maps of our route to the church, representing the features we passed.
13.5.22 Linked to our RE topic of Special Places, we looked at photos of Westonzoyland Church, sharing our experiences before carefully drawing the building, describing the features using our new vocabulary.
29.4.22 We have continued to develop our observational painting by mixing our own palette to paint bluebells and tulips. It’s super to see all the children’s unique interpretations and styles.
29.3.22. We really focused on our observational painting today, carefully mixing shades of yellow and green to paint our daffodils.
Week of 21.3.22 This week we have been super writers; writing the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. We are very proud of the improvement in our handwriting!
17.3.22 It’s all about castles today as the children have continued to be inspired by the castle at the top of the beanstalk in their learning! Today we learnt the names of some of their features.
15.3.22 We are thoroughly enjoying the large apparatus this half term, gaining in confidence to climb and stretch safely.
14.3.22 We have been inspired by our story telling in our painting, as well as drawing flowers after a walk to find spring flowers. We discovered that there are different kinds of daffodil.
Look at our amazing writing! We have been thinking of our own super powers as well as those of Supertato!
28.2.22 Superheroes! We started our new topic with a bang, exploring our super powers!
17.2.22 We have written our own acrostic poems about worms!
14.2.2022 We were inspired by Miss Baker’s bunch of tulips for our painting today.
11.2.22 We have been inspired by Superworm in our writing; writing facts about worms as well as describing the evil Wizard Lizard!
10.2.2022. We loved the challenge of drilling with the battery operated drill before threading wool through the holes! We thought carefully about how to keep safe, and listened really carefully before picking up the drill!
9.2.2022 We love using big paper and pens to draw and write! Look at our amazing work achieved independently in our free writing sessions.
8.2.2022 We have been challenging ourselves to making our very own addition stories, and have begun writing them as number sentences! We all think we were amazing!
11.1.22 We are so proud of our writing progress that children wanted to share their postcards. We pretended we went to the South Pole, roleplaying with props before writing our postcards.
6.1.22 children loved finding out about penguins so much that they wanted to have a go at painting them today! Their efforts are awesome!
5.1.22 We have been drawing different types of penguin. We are very proud of our efforts!
We were really proud of our Christmas collection for Bridgwater Foodbank. It encouraged us to think of those who struggle to buy food for their families.
Week of 13.12.21. It’s getting a little bit like Christmas as we practise our skills in a variety of activities alongside Merlin the Elf.
We have been loving our PE in the hall, whether using the gym apparatus, yoga or developing our throwing skills!
Week of 22.11.21. Look at our super writing this week! We are putting lots of effort into our handwriting.
People who help us - we thought about different people who help us!
Our Remembrance Day poppies
We have been thinking about what Remembrance Day means to us.
8.11.21 We have been reading Owl Babies this week. Here are some of our drawings of the owlets.
Thursday 4th November 2021 Diwali - creating Rangoli patterns using numicon.
October 2021 - we just love our outdoor Ed sessions, whether toasting on a fire, climbing, balancing, exploring, creating in a safe, challenging environment, with lots and lots of FUN!
Google Classroom
Google classroom, as explained in last week's school letter (sent via email), will be our base for setting work if children are home learning (whether self-isolating or if the bubble is closed). For further help here is a link to support you, kindly organised by Mrs Meyers. Merlins will not be expected to access Google classroom without support - it is really for parents to access the resources for their child, and then for practical work to be photographed and uploaded to Tapestry.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PFoiBC5d-nglqHpYiPMtbJmRrWybMXmuBwDs1rLEWlQ/edit?usp=sharing