Koala class Blog (YR)

Welcome to our new blog for 2024-25! We hope to share all the wonderful things we are learning about in Reception.

Our Class teachers are Mr J. Brewer and Mrs G. Hughes (alternate Wednesdays). Our teaching assistants are Ms L. Grieve/Ms A. Adlam.

YR Curriculum Overview 2024-25 YR Writing Curriculum 2024-25

School Reading Spine

Friday 16 May 2025 16th May 2025 We have had another fun week of being explorers. We have headed into space and used 'Button Moon' as an inspiration for our Drawing Club. In maths, we have been looking at shape and thinking about how three different shapes can all be an 'odd one out' and explaining why in full sentences. The children have also been rotating shapes and joining shapes together to make other larger shapes. We also had a visitor to Koala class who spent the afternoon reading and listening to hundreds of stories!
Tuesday 6 May 2025 6th May 2025 We had a fantastic time at Wookey Hole today exploring the amazing caves. We had a tour underground, learning about the local legends, seeing the crystal clear river running through the numerous chambers and lots of cheese! Once out of the cave system and after we all readjusted to the bright light, the children saw many different dinosaurs and watched a thrilling 3D dinosaur show through their fingers! We finished the day improving our agility, balance and coordination.
Friday 2 May 2025 2nd May 2025 The children have been out enjoying the fine weather and working hard. We have sadly said 'goodbye' to one of our class and wish him well as he starts a new adventure in London. Our Drawing Club book this week was 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt', in our maths sessions we have been counting to 20 and beyond, the children have also harvested the cress they grew last week to make a tasty sandwich, mixed powder paints and have learnt another poem, this time about a T-Rex!
Friday 25 April 2025 25th April 2025 The children were pleased to be back at school to discuss what they had been doing during the Easter break. Throughout Term 5 the children will be explorers! Click on the date for further information!
Friday 4 April 2025 4th April 2025 The children were very excited to see the Easter bunny during the Easter egg hunt. They also enjoyed visiting the church for our Easter service earlier in the week. Wishing you all a happy holiday and look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 22nd April, ready for Term 5!
Friday 28 March 2025 28th March 2025 This week the children have been busy learning about 3D shapes, recognising more complex patterns, how to find and observe bugs, making models, creating codes in Drawing Club, making mums a special card, singing Easter songs ready for our church service next Tuesday and looking at the progress our caterpillars have been making in their journey to a butterfly.
Friday 21 March 2025 21st March 2025 We had a fabulous day at Fairfield Animal Centre, our third coach trip of the year! Click on the date to see why we enjoyed it so much, plus our Drawing Club vocabulary and upcoming dates.
Friday 14 March 2025 14th March 2025 The children loved meeting and holding a tortoise on Friday. They sat for ages, chatting and talking about him. Also on Friday, we 'visited' Africa, looking at how varied and beautiful the continent is. The children enjoyed learning some African dance moves and had a go at drumming. They also had the chance to explore some artifacts. Throughout the week, they also spent time making a collage, overlapping different textures and designs of paper, before showing off their ever improving cutting skills to add a creature in the foreground. In Drawing Club, the children listened to the story of 'Handa's Surprise', drawing three different adventures and learning eight new words!
Friday 7 March 2025 7th March 2025 The children enjoyed dressing up for World Book Day. In class, the children described their costumes and worked together thinking of words that work with the outfits worn. In maths we have been looking at ways 9 and 10 are made and how this can be made with fingers, ten frames and on bead strings.
Friday 28 February 2025 28th February 2025 It was lovely to see everybody back and refreshed ready for the start of Term 4. The year is flying by! Our topic for this term is 'Wriggle, Crawl and Roar'. This week we have looked at the story of 'What the Ladybird Heard' and later in the term will we read other great books such as 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea'. We have also looked for the first signs of spring, made collections of 9, started new Read, Write, Inc groups and have collaborated in small groups and as a whole class!
Friday 7 February 2025 7th February 2025 The children have enjoyed the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff as part of our Drawing Club this week. They have worked hard in Maths, learning about doubles and subitising two amounts and finding the total, sometimes in different ways. Koalas have also looked at different materials and talked about why certain products are made from certain materials. The children have also started to make their own musical instruments, ready for this week.
Friday 31 January 2025 31st January 2025 Drawing Club this week was based around the story of The Three Little Pigs. The children have made houses out of bricks, sticks and straw. They have also been thinking about materials, looking at different objects in the immediate environment and describing the materials they are made from. Our Chair of Governors, Mrs House, came to watch a maths session, during which the children were working out each part of an amount. They have also continued to work on different jumps in both PE and continuous provision.
Friday 24 January 2025 24th January 2025 This week the children have investigated ice and talked about liquids and solids. They have 'visited' China, continued to work hard in Read, Write, Inc sessions, maths and Drawing Club. The children also had some time to make their own spring rolls and eat them up!
Friday 17 January 2025 17th January 2025 Another busy week was bookended with a couple of surprises! On Monday, Koala Class took part in a dance workshop which was based around our book of the week, 'The Gingerbread Man'. On Friday, after the children had prepared their own gingerbread men in the morning, saw on the class CCTV that they had escaped from our oven and had made a run for it! Traps were made and search parties were sent out. We had to extend our search around the school grounds due to some possible sightings, but thankfully by the time we returned to class, the traps had worked, the gingerbread men were caught and then quickly snapped up by some hungry children!
Friday 10 January 2025 10th January 2025 We welcomed everyone back to school to start the new year refreshed and ready to learn. The children have enjoyed exploring the ice and frost. They have also started 'Drawing Club' in class, this week, it was based on the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Friday 13 December 2024 13th December 2024 The children have been rehearsing for our performance of 'I Spy Christmas' which they will perform on Tuesday and Thursday next week. We hope you will enjoy it! They have also been busy making their Christmas crafts which will be available at the Christmas Fayre, after the Thursday performance.
Friday 6 December 2024 6th December 2024 We had a very enjoyable week, especially on Tuesday when we visited the Salisbury Playhouse to watch Sleeping Beauty. It was great to see so many smiles and the reactions of the children as the performance unfolded. The children have also been working hard on stage getting ready for our own Christmas performance.
Friday 29 November 2024 29th November 2024 Term 2 is speeding by, with the school beginning to look festive! The week has again been busy. The children have celebrated the Gruffalo's birthday and discussed birthday traditions within their own families. In maths, we have been looking at one more and one fewer, comparing amounts and improving our subitising skills. The children have been re-assessed in Read, Write, Inc and I am very pleased with the progress being made. We are targeting all children to have cracked 'Fred Talk' and the single Set 1 sounds by Christmas. Koala Class have also spent a long time talking about friendships, teamwork and kindness...skills that will be very useful in the coming weeks!
Tuesday 19 November 2024 19th November 2024 We had a fabulous time visiting Moors Valley today. The children overcame many challenges and were excellently behaved throughout the day. Click on the date to see us having fun! Many thanks to our Wallaby parent who helped us out for this trip.
Friday 15 November 2024 15th November 2024 This week the children have been working hard at the 'Message Centre', learning all about four, Remembrance Day, Autumn and finishing the week dressed in PJs to help raise money for Children in Need. We finished our PE session with a teamwork challenge with many transporting the hoop across the hall without using their hands.
Friday 8 November 2024 8th November 2024 Back with a bang! The children have had a busy first week of Term 2. We have talked about 5th November, making firework toast and artwork. The children also had a flight to India in our second 'Far Away Friday', and particularly enjoyed eating a variety of Indian food, dancing and learning about Diwali.
Friday 18 October 2024 18th October 2024 This week the children went over to the WCP to have a look around 'Little City'. They had great fun role playing different jobs and characters. We finished the week with our first 'Far Away Friday' where we compared Poland with the UK, noting similarities and differences. The children enjoyed (mostly!) sampling a variety of Polish food.
Friday 11 October 2024 11th October 2024 It has been a pleasure observing the children working together both in and out of class, playing games they already know and making up some new ones. The children have also made great progress with learning all about repeating patterns and particularly enjoyed joining in with the story 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'.
Friday 4 October 2024 4th October 2024 The children continue to work hard every day. It is a joy to see how well they are progressing with their learning. In our maths sessions we have looked at size, mass and capacity. In Read, Write, Inc the five new sounds we now know are c, k, u, b and f.
Friday 27 September 2024 27th September 2024 This week we have been learning all about our five senses. The children have enjoyed our smell pots and have enjoyed tasting some different foods, with the odd exception! The discothon was great fun, our role play continues to be a big hit and we even squeezed in two visits to the library, one for our photoshoot and another to explore the wide selection of books on offer..
Friday 20 September 2024 20th September 2024 This week the children have started to learn our first five 'Set 1' sounds, m, a, s, d and t. They have also continued to improve their 'Fred Talk' skills. The Read, Write, Inc blog has some videos you can share with your child, so you can see how great they are! We went to our sensory garden to complete some sorting activities and also look for different colours in the natural environment. The children have also discussed their families and how they are all different. At the end of the week, we had a surprise visitor who startled us all when s/he climbed through the window!
Friday 13 September 2024 13th September 2024 Our first full week and the children have been very busy. They have been learning the pictures of our single letter sounds in Read, Write, Inc along with 'Fred Talk', showing off counting skills, thinking about emotions with the Colour Monster, completing jigsaws and enjoying a variety of stories. The children were also very sensible when the fire alarm went off!
Friday 6 September 2024 6th September 2024 It has been wonderful welcoming the children into school and I have been amazed at how well they have made themselves at home. Despite the very wet weather the children have been happy working inside and getting to know everyone along with our everyday routines. The calm atmosphere has made the last couple of days very enjoyable. If you click on the date, you will be able to see some photos of the children looking so grown up!
Friday 19 July 2024 19th July 2024 We had great fun at the end of the week with our disco music, lolly and water play. There are just a few photos from this as I tended to be under attack for most of the afternoon! The children have also enjoyed reading the story 'The Pirates Next Door' and learning about pirates. Next week sees the final three days of their time in Reception. It has been lovely seeing the progress every child has made throughout the year, the smiles and laughter, along with the fun had on each school trip. Thank you for the support you have given.
Friday 12 July 2024 12th July 2024 A funny old week with so many off. Hopefully everybody is feeling better now and that we can have a full house again for our final full week of the year. For those that missed the New Orleans Band, I have added a couple of videos. For all those that were present, it was a great experience and enjoyed by all.
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