We have had another busy week in Cherry Class. We began our week by visiting the pond to collect frogspawn to keep in our classroom. We have been watching as some have begun to grow into tadpoles and hatch. Some children have been writing words and captions to describe what they can see and what they have found. 

On Wednesday we had our sponsored bounce - this was lots of fun! We also raised money for charity on Thursday for homeless veterans. The children came to school dressed in their PJs which was very cosy! Some children asked if they could come in these every day!

Following some the children's interest around transport and vehicles, we created a class role play area of a train station. The children have been going on train journeys and taking on the role as train driver, ticket officer, traveller and more. We have also been learning about London, the king and have been beginning to name landmarks in London. 

In Maths, we have been learning all about number bonds to and within 10. Why not ask the children what a number bond means. We have been exploring number bonds with the use of concrete resources, including Numicon and multi-link. 

In phonics, we have been reading longer words containing the -er digraph at the end. For example- digger, better and butter. We have been continuing to revise the tricky words - full, sure, pure, are, all. 

We look forward to another exciting week at school next week- Don't forget that World Book Day is on Thursday! We can't wait to see the children's costumes and have lots of fun reading and exploring our favourite texts and stories. 

We have had a brilliant week in Cherry Class! We have continued our learning about space this week. We have been learning about the different planets, the moon and stars. We have labelled astronauts, written captions about space pictures and have made lists of what astronauts might need in space. 

We were given a huge cardboard box from the junior school. The children designed, painted and created a space rocket. They then used this to role play space adventures. 

In phonics we have been reviewing the sounds we have been taught and we have had an assessment week. 

In Maths we have been finding one less than numbers within 10. 

We had a very exciting visit from the Wonder Dome - the children loved this experience and were in awe of the space images all around them. We learnt all about how astronauts travel to space and what it is like on the moon and Mars. 

We finished our week by learning about lent and pancake day. The children made and tried their own pancakes with different toppings. They talked about what they liked and didn't like. Some children wrote instructions about how to make a pancake and others made faces out of pancake toppings. In the role play area, we made a pancake restaurant. 

I hope everyone has a lovely and relaxing half term and we look forward to welcoming everyone back to school. 

This week in Cherry Class we have been learning all about the change of season in winter time. We visited our woodland area last week and took looks of pictures of signs of winter and some children wrote sentences about these pictures we took. 

Cherry Class noticed that there weren't as many birds around. We made bird feeders to help the birds to have some food in the winter. We enjoyed learning about the steps to make a bird feeder and some children drew pictures and wrote steps about how to make a bird feeder. 

In maths, the children have been finding one more than numbers within 10. They have used concrete resources to make numbers and have added one more on to find the answer. 

In phonics, we learnt the sounds 'ear' and 'er'. We read words containing these sounds. We also learnt the tricky words 'pure' and 'sure'. 

We listened to winter music and created our own winter sound scapes, using instruments that we thought sounded most like winter. 

We had another busy week in Cherry Class! We look forward to the last two weeks of the half term! 

This week in Cherry Class we had a special delivery- a lost penguin called Flipper, with a letter and the story "Lost and Found" by Oliver Jeffers. The children were very worried about the little lost penguin which had turned up in our classroom. They have done a fantastic job at looking after him. Some children have made it a bed, others have wanted to find out information about the penguin, such as what penguins eat and where they live. We went on to read the story and the children have been using role play to retell the story through small world characters. Some children have written a description about the penguin, including adjectives about how he felt in the story. 

We have also been learning about cold places, including Antarctica, where penguins are from. As if by magic, it also snowed! We were very excited to play in the snow during our lunch break on Tuesday. Cherry Class were a bit disappointed that the snow didn't last long but we learnt a lot about how snow melts into water. We have also been freezing toys in our outdoor areas for children to explore ice. 

In Maths, we have been learning about the number and place value of numbers 0-10. The children have been ordering, making using resources and drawing amounts to represent the numbers. 

In phonics, Cherry Class have learnt the sounds "oa, oo, oo, ar, or". 

See if the children can read words containing these sounds. 

They have also learnt the tricky words "you, they, was".

We were very excited to have the author Christine Chambers visit us and read to us her book, "Red fox does what? Surely Not!". Cherry Class's favourite part of the story was when the fox made chocolate cake and shared it with his friends. 

We have had a magical two weeks of Christmas fun in Cherry Class. We learnt all about the Christmas story and performed this to our grown ups at our Christmas worship. I was so proud of each and every one of the children for their fantastic performance. 

We have baked Christmas biscuits, written letters to Father Christmas, ordered Christmas numbers 1-10, created Christmas cards and decorations. We have been very busy! 

In phonics, we revisited the sounds previously taught, with a focus on the digraphs (ch, sh, th, nk, ng, qu). Please read with your children over the Christmas break and practise the sounds using the phonics mats which we have sent home.