Week beginning 11th May 2026 

This week we have consolidated our learning of dinosaurs and made links to our tricky words. We are continuing to develop our confidence with our phase three letter sounds and the children have really impressed us with their independent writing this week.

 

We have also been sharing the story Dinosaurs Love Underpants. The children enjoyed telling us all about their favourite parts of the story and drawing beautiful pictures in their Literacy books.  

In maths this week, we have used cubes to measure the height of our dinosaurs, and plastic dinosaur bones to measure length.  Making estimates and then accurately measuring using our multi-link cubes.  

 

During our creative lessons, the children loved creating colourful dinosaurs wearing underpants. The children have had lots of fun! 

 

On Thursday next week, both reception classes will be taking part in their first sports day, and we will be learning all about the life cycle of a sunflower and writing all about dinosaurs for one final time. 

 

Week beginning 4th May 2026

This week, we have continued our learning on dinosaurs, reading linked non-fiction books.  Children have been writing information sentences about dinosaurs, as well as writing sentences to show their understanding of what carnivores, omnivores and herbivores are.

                                                               

Our maths has been linked to 2D shape. We have been looking at properties of shapes, how shapes are arranged, how they rotate and we have been using lots of linked positional language. Linked to manipulating shapes, we have been moving and turning shapes in different directions so that they fit the purpose or picture we want to make, including for a 2D dinosaur.

                                                   

 

We have also created oil pastel dinosaurs that we are very proud of!

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On Tuesday, we had another fantastic session with Mrs Lovell for Forest School.  Children had the opportunity to build a small house for an animal or creature of their choice using all of the natural resources within Forest School. They could work together or build their house individually. What fantastic places they built!

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We have also enjoyed tending to our sunflower plants and watching them grow!

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To end the week, we were lucky enough to have a digital author visit from Rashmi Sirdeshpande and illustrator Nakul P.  They shared their new story, 'Super Uma.'  It was really exciting to have a real author talking to the children about the story and reading it to them.

       

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Next week, we will be reading the story 'Dinosaurs love Underpants' and continuing our learning on shape, also including 3D shape.

Week beginning 27th April 2026 

This week in maths, the children have been busy learning how to sort objects into different groups. They have also been introduced to a Ven diagram and have been practising their takeaway skills practically and number writing from 0 to 20. 

   

 

During our phonics lessons, the children have really impressed us with their blending and understanding of our phase three sounds. This is also shown in their writing. This week the children have been writing facts about dinosaurs and labelling a T. Rex. 

On Thursday, both classes enjoyed a sunny P.E. session on the school field learning how to throw a foam javelin safely from a fixed point. 

 

Finally, on Friday, we loved wearing yellow to raise money for St Claires Hospice and the children loved looking at our Thomas Willingale Lion which will be proudly displayed around Essex once he is finished. 

Next week we will be practising our addition skills and creating a class book containing different dinosaur facts.      

Week beginning 20th April 2026

The highlight of this week has been our trip to Hertfordshire Zoo on Tuesday. We were so lucky to see almost all of the animals at the zoo; lots of them were sunbathing! Our favourites were the tigers, leopards, snow leopards and sun bears. The bird show was very popular too with the owl flying right over our heads. Children also got to see lots of their favourite dinosaurs and managed to avoid getting sprayed with water by the last dinosaur. The children were all a pleasure to take out.

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Following along from our School trip to Hertfordshire Zoo, children were encouraged to paint their favourite animal/dinosaur that they saw during our walk around. They had a selection of paint to use and were encouraged to use the correct colours for each animal. We also read lots of non fiction animal books and read dinosaur stories.

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Reception classes were also given the opportunity to see, and hold if wanted, the chicks from nursery. They learnt about the incubator and how it keeps the chicks warm. What a lovely experience for everyone!

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For our maths focus, we practised addition of two numbers using the small dinosaurs, and we also focused on more and less, comparing two numbers in pairs. 

                                                                                

This week, children also each took a turn to plant their own sunflower seeds. First they added soil to their flower pots, then they counted out seeds and placed them in the soil. Finally, they covered the seeds. They are now outside and have been watered. We are looking forward to seeing them grow in the coming weeks!

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Week beginning 13th April 2026 

Wow! We have had a busy first week back! Welcome to the summer term. This half-term the children will be learning all about dinosaurs. To introduce the topic, we have asked the children what they already know about dinosaurs and what they would like to find out. This is displayed in the classroom.  

   

During our Literacy lessons this week, the children were challenged to write short sentences linked to a dinosaur picture. The children impressed us with their understanding and ability to write independently. During our twice-daily phonics lessons, we have reinforced our phase three letter sounds to ensure these are embedded in their understanding. 

Handwriting daily has given the children the opportunity to practice their letter formation and consolidate their understanding of how each individual letter is written. 

Our maths focus this week has been about numbers beyond 10 and how they are represented. We have also explored the language shorter and taller to extend our mathematical vocabulary.

  

Dinosaur paintings and pictures have been our main focus during our creative lessons and making our new Dinosaur role-play corner. The children have been so excited about playing in it. 

Next week we will continue our learning about dinosaurs, and we are all looking forward to our school trip to Hertfordshire zoo on Tuesday 21st April.