Thomas Willingale School and Nursery
Spring Term 2025
Week beginning 31st March '25
We cannot believe that we have reached the end of the Spring term already! The weather has certainly been kind to us this week and we have been able to enjoy lots of outdoor learning, including opportunities to explore the garden for suitable materials for creating an Easter garden and taking part in a very exciting Easter egg hunt!
Children have participated in lots of other Easter related activities, and we have also continued our theme of minibeasts.
Reception classes were also lucky enough to enjoy a fabulous reptile visit. Children were given lots of information about where each creature would live in the wild, what they eat and the special physical adaptations they have. Individuals were able to stroke a tortoise, leopard gecko, crested gecko, bearded dragon, chameleon, and 2 ball pythons. We also got to see an Australian tree frog. The children listened and participated really well.
We wish you all a restful and enjoyable break and we look forward to seeing children back for the summer term.
Week beginning 24th March '25
We have had a beetle-ful week in reception, focusing on all things minibeast. Children have been incredibly engaged learning more about well-known minibeasts, as well as being introduced to some more unfamiliar ones.
Children have created bug hotels and homes, both out of natural materials and construction. They have also been able to take part in a whole host of other linked activities, including creating ladybird collages, observational drawings, designing their own minibeasts and going on minibeast hunts. Each class has also created riddles for others to guess the minibeast.
In maths, we have focused on number bonds for five and ten, as well as doubles linked to spots on ladybirds.
In P.E., children have been moving like minibeasts, as well as thinking of different ways of travelling and landing using apparatus.
We have also been taking part in Mother's Day crafts.
Next week, we will continue our theme of minibeasts, as well as taking part in Easter activities, including creating an Easter Garden.
Week beginning 17th March '25
It has been a thespian start to the week with Shakespeare Day on Monday. We watched an interactive performance of 'The Tempest' by The Shaking Up Shakespeare company. We all had actions to do and noises to make being part of the story. We also watched some CBeebies clips about the life of Shakespeare when he was a child. In other activities, classes read the story 'Farmer Duck' and sequenced the story, as well as doing lots of farm related writing.
Linked to STEM week, we had a visit from ‘ Silly Science’. We watched and took part in some science experiments teaching us about energy, gravity and upthrust using rockets, hairdryers and leaf blowers. Children really enjoyed watching and taking part and sat and listened really well. We also created a Science investigation for the children. We hid lots of different coloured ‘caterpillars’ in our garden area and set the children a challenge to see how many they could find. We didn’t give them any other information and set them to investigate. They enjoyed finding all the different caterpillars and, once we couldn’t find any more, we sat together to talk about what we found. The children noticed that it was easier to find the ‘caterpillars’ that wear bright colours and less easy to find the green and brown ones. The children used some great vocabulary to explain this, like ‘blending in’ and ‘camouflage’. The children all really enjoyed the investigation and were able to give great explanations about what they had done. Great work everyone!
In P.E., we have been travelling across apparatus, thinking of different ways of travelling and particularly about our landings.
Week beginning 10th March '25
Our text of the week has been Mr Gumpy's Outing, which follows the boat adventures of Mr Gumpy and the ever increasing number of animals coming aboard. This has linked to writing and learning across the curriculum on farm animals.
In maths, we have revised lots of previous learning, as well creating 2D shape pictures of boats to link to Mr Gumpy's Outing.
On Tuesday, children took part in Forest School where they looked for and discussed signs of spring, as well as creating bug pictures.
In P.E., we have been moving in different ways, including thinking of animals and how they move.
We are looking forward to taking part in Shakespeare's Day next week. Remember to dress up!
Week beginning 3rd March '25
Our main text of the week has been 'The Zoo Vet,' which has allowed for lots of linked activities, including sequencing the story, writing linked sentences and designing a front cover for the book.
In maths, children have been using positional language, as well as linking the days of the week to parts of the story from 'The Zoo Vet.'
We have had the beautiful smells of spring in the classrooms, as children have created observational paintings of spring flowers, which are now on display in the foyer.
On Friday, we celebrated 'World Book Day' as 'Pyjamarama Day,' where children took part in lots of book related activities. These included sharing stories with year 4 classes, going on a 'door hunt' to see how other classes of the school had decorated their doors to link to World Book Day and visiting the library to see what books were on offer from the Book Fair.
Next week, our main text with be 'Mr Grumpy’s Outing.' In maths we will be subitising to 10, as well as revising vocabulary such as heavier and lighter.
Week beginning 24th February 2025
Welcome back everyone! It has been lovely sharing half-term news with the children.
At the beginning of this week, we introduced our new topic, 'Animals and Minibeasts.' Our main text has been 'Handa's Surprise.' Children have been naming their favourite characters from the story, giving reasons for why they like them.
This has also linked to our art work, where classes have been looking at and learning about animal patterns. We have talked about animal colours suiting where they live and the ability to camouflage or even change colour. Children have been creating collage animal patterns using sugar paper, card and tissue paper.
In maths, there has been lots of emphasis on adding two groups of objects and also thinking about one more than a given number.
On Friday, we also learnt about Ramadan, with the help of a beautifully illustrated non-fiction book and a lovely linked animated song called 'Ramadan Moon.' This also linked to our previous topic of Space, as we discussed the different phases of the moon and why the crescent moon was so important.
Next week, our main text will be 'The Zoo Vet' and, in maths, we will be focusing on positional language.
Week beginning 10th February '25
Wow- what a week! We started the week with the Valentine's disco, which was lots of fun.
Tuesday saw us celebrating International Women in Science day, where we learnt more about Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut in space. We watched video clips of her being interviewed and wrote our own sentences pretending that we were her and saying what it was like in Space.
Our main text has been "Aliens love underpants.' We have taken part in lots of linked activities, including sequencing the story and creating our own designs for underpants. Our sounds in phonics have been 'air,' 'ure' and 'ur.'
In maths, we have continued the measurement theme, but this time measuring how heavy and light objects are, comparing different objects and estimating how many cubes will weigh the same as them.
On Friday, we celebrated Valentine's Day, making cards and Valentine's biscuits.
We can't believe that is the end of another half-term and that children are halfway through their year in reception! We hope that you all have a wonderful half-term!
Week beginning 3rd February '25
It has been a very busy week with 'Mental Health Week,' 'Walk to school week,' Forest School and of course 'NSPCC Number Day' on Friday.
In Mental Health week, we have been thinking about our emotions and have created mood monsters, as well as thinking about how the alien in our story felt. Linked to 'Walk to school week,' we have been tracking who travels to school each day, marking it on a special sticker chart. We have also created posters to encourage people to walk to school.
Friday's Number day was a great success. Everyone had lots of fun celebrating. We sang an abundance of number songs, read number stories and played all sorts of class games, including matching alien pairs and number games on the IWB. We also set out both the indoor and outdoor areas with lots of fun number related activities and games. We even linked our fitness to numbers, counting numbers of star jumps, hops, turns etc....
In other maths, we focused on capacity and compared and ordered the size of cups for an alien tea, as well as estimating and testing how many measuring cups would fit inside each one.
In phonics, we learnt the new sound 'ear,' as in 'dear' and also recapped tricky words and previous phase 3 sounds. Our main text of the week has been 'Alien Tea on Planet Zum-Zee.' Children have created space passports, writing their name, age and drawing their portrait. We have also created play dough aliens.
Next week, we will continue our theme of aliens and link the idea of an alien tea to our maths focus on mass. Our sounds will be 'air' and 'ure.' We will also be celebrating 'Women in science day' on Tuesday.
Week beginning 27th January '25
It's been all about the planets this week, with children learning more in detail about the eight planets and taking part in lots of linked activities.
In phonics, we have learnt the new sound 'oi' and consolidated previous learning, including lots of linked writing. We have continued with linked learning to our story 'Whatever Next' as well as studying non-fiction books telling us more about the planets.
Children have created some amazing pictures of planets, using balloons, as well as wax crayons. They have become very confident naming and talking about each of the different planets.
One of our maths foci this week has been combining two groups and working out how many objects there are altogether. We have also linked our learning to Chinese New Year and ordering numbers.
Our canopy area has seen a bit of a revamp too, with the addition of a stage as well as lots of other exciting additions.
Next week, we will have an alien focused week, as well as learning the new sound 'ear' and exploring capacity in maths. Classes will also do activities linked to Mental Health Week and Walk to School Week.
Week beginning 20th January '25
We rocked into the week, singing and dancing with the Rock Steady team. We learnt dance moves and actions to music and really enjoyed ourselves.
Our main text of the week has been 'Whatever Next, ' by Jill Murphy, where we followed Baby Bear's adventures as he made friends with an owl and had a picnic on the moon. Children created a class story map and did linked work in their books. They also thought about what they would take to the moon. Our sounds of the week have been 'ur' and 'ow.'
In maths, classes made shape rocket pictures. We also practised number formation, as well as making 6,7 and 8 in different ways.
Children had the opportunity to take part in lots of creative activities, including making collage astronauts.
Next week, we will focus more on the eight planets, sharing non-fiction books to learn more about them. We will learn the new sound 'oi,' as well as revising previous sounds and tricky words.
Week beginning 13th January '25
This week, we have continued our space theme. We have had a Space small world tray to explore, as well as reading lots of fiction and non-fiction texts linked to space. The children have been saying what they would take to the moon, as well as asking lots of their own questions too. We have been learning about what astronauts are and what their job entails and finding out more about the eight planets.
Our phonics has included our new sounds 'ar' and 'or' and we have incorporated these, as well as our tricky words, into our writing this week, speaking about what the astronaut in our story, 'Man on the Moon' does, as well as writing about stars and moons.
In maths, the classes have been practising number formation and matching numbers of objects to their numeral. We have also been subitising: looking at a small set of objects and instantly know how many there are without counting them.
Children have enjoyed taking part in lots of creative activities linked to our topic, such as printing, making a Modroc moon and making spacecraft.
On Thursday, we were very excited to watch a real rocket launch- that of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.' which successfully launched into orbit.
Next week, we will be learning more about astronauts. Our sounds, in phonics, will be 'ur' and 'ow.' Reception classes will also be enjoying all the lunchtime play opportunities that are available in the big school playground, including the sand pit, mud kitchen, digging area, bikes and scooter area and slide.
Week beginning 6th January '25
Happy New Year! Welcome back everyone! It has been lovely hearing and seeing, on Tapestry, all the lovely things that children have been up to over the holidays.
Our topic this half-term is 'Space' and children have been very enthusiastic sharing previous knowledge. They have been keen to learn more about our topic, thinking about what they would like to to find out, as well as learning about the moon.
We have even managed to link our phonics to the moon, learning the digraph 'oo,' which makes two different sounds, the first one in 'moon' and the second in 'look.' We have continued to revise and learn new tricky words, incorporating these into our reading and writing.
In maths, we have been looking at one less, as well as practising our number formation and also comparing weights and sizes of different moon rocks.
On Thursday, we were delighted to welcome the pantomime to our school. We enjoyed a fabulous interactive performance, alongside other year groups in the school.
We have also been making the most of the cold weather to study the changes taking place outside. Children have been keen to use their senses to describe these and have enjoyed touching the ice that has formed in our garden, using fabulous language to describe it.
Hope that you all have a lovely weekend and looking forward to seeing you back on Monday for another action-packed week.
