Diamond Class

2nd July 2021

Today we have had a football themed day to prepare for the England v Ukraine match tomorrow in the Euros! The children have loved learning a range of football songs, creating flags and have even developed the ball skills outside! At the beginning of the day we guessed what the final scores would be - I wonder if any of the children will be correct at the end of the match!

WB 21.06.21

This week the children have shown some real artistic talents! They have drawn and painted flowers using various media. Their artwork is amazing! I think we have some budding "Van Goghs!"

WB 14.06.21

This week we have been looking at using The Write Stuff approach around the focus text "Jack and the Jellybean Stalk". The children have been writing sentences in relation to plot points. Today, they have have looked at how Jack moved up the beanstalk and considered how he felt as he climbed higher and higher. To support this, the children went on the climbing apparatus and thought about how they used their arms and legs to climb. They were fearless! Little Monkeys spring to mind!

27.05.21

This week we have been focusing on 3D shapes in maths. We have been working on recognising cones, cubes, cuboids, spheres and cylinders. The children have been working on identifying their properties and discussing the similarities and differences between them. They have particularly enjoyed playing Kim's Game to recall the names of 3D shapes! There are no cheaters in Class Diamond! 

25.05.21

WE HAVE RELEASED OUR BUTTERFLIES!

Today we released our butterflies into the outside world! We discussed the importance of setting them free and talked about what they might do. Some children suggested they might make friends with other butterflies and others even thought they might have babies! Let's hope they are happy! Keep your eyes open for them while walking around Hetton!

WB 10.05.21

We have been developing our reading skills lots recently and we are seeing lots of progress in the children's understanding of the conventions of reading. Many of the children now track accurately with their finger, reading left to right. We are working on reminding the children to look at the whole word, identifying any digraphs/trigraphs and then use their segmenting and blending skills to decode the word. You are becoming brilliant readers Reception! 

07.05.21

The Early Years Team have noticed that the children have been enjoying role-playing teachers! We therefore followed their interests and created their own 'teacher space'. The children have flashcards, registers, stickers, tens frames and part whole models for registration, workbooks and whiteboards to name a few! It has been wonderful to see them using teacher language and demonstrating their phonic and maths skills! Myself and Mrs Atkinson can hear them saying some of our own phrases!...."Well done, give yourself a shiny nose!"

05.05.21

WOW! Look at what has happened to some of our caterpillars! They have been working hard to make their chrysalis! It is now time to transfer these to their butterfly pavilion where they will emerge as butterflies... we hope! Their chrysalis' are so interesting... they appear to have turned really hard and have golden 'bumps' on them - they even look quite pretty! We had to remove all the webbing from them as if we didn't, when the butterflies emerge their wings could become tangled! We will keep you updated!

Friday 30th April 2021

Happy birthday to Captain Tom! Today we took part in the White Rose Hub 100 Maths challenge to celebrate what would have been Captain Tom's 101st birthday! The children were challenged to identify how far they could walk in 100 seconds. We counted lengths of the path as we walked and noticed we can walk between 2 and 2 and a half lengths in 100 seconds. We then discussed how an increase in our speed would change the outcome - the children quickly noticed they could travel further if they increased their space! 

WB 26.04.21

Today the children have been working really hard when using practical methods to find number bonds to 10. 

Some of the children really quickly identified the pattern that was developing when turning over 1 counter on the frame and identifying the two parts shown! Super mathematicians today! 

21.04.21

We have noticed lots of changes within our caterpillars this week! They have now grown much bigger and we have noticed their bodies move differently! We have used magnifying glasses to observe them closely - we cant decide whether they have spikes or fur! Miss Redpath thinks they're fluffy and soft but we will have to wait a little longer to decide!

16.04.21

Today we have opened our new role play area! The children recently had a flower shop, however in line with the theme of their choice and identifying their interests, we change this to a farm shop. They have been encouraged to write their own shopping lists and we have talked about some unknown foods together. 

12.04.21

WELCOME BACK!

We are kicking this term off with a bang! Our caterpillars have arrived - we are so excited to observe the changes they go through as they turn into butterflies! We first have to be patient as they can take two weeks to develop their chrysalis! 

25th March 2021

Today we were lucky enough to have our parent governor, Mrs Kars zoom in and talk to us about The Easter Story and what this means to Christians. Mrs Kars commented on how well we listened! Well done Diamond Class! 

WB 22.03.21

This week we have been using the text "Oliver's Vegetables" to a range of vegetables that the children may not be aware of such as celery, spinach, beetroot, spring onions. We have went on to develop our fine motor skills by cutting, chopping and slicing! As a final task, we have explored planting cress and looked at writing reading and writing simple instructions to support our planting knowledge! 

WB 15.03.21

This week we have been planting beans. One child's family donated a range of equipment and seeds to grow pea pods. We spent time exploring how to plant the seeds, what they might need to grow and the equipment we use to plant them. We can't wait to see them grow! 

WB 08.03.21

Welcome back to school! This week we are back with a bang and using the text "The Gigantic Turnip" to support our Literacy. We have used Grandma Fantastic to unpick exciting vocabulary this week and also recalled ingredients we used to make our own vegetable stew! Please take a look at our working wall to identify what we are working on!

08.02.21

We had super sledging fun today! The children in school showed off their strength by pulling their peers! They worked just as hard as Santa's reindeer! 

08.02.21

Today the children are preparing for their live zoom session of BINGO! This is an opportunity to practise recognition of graphemes when they hear their relating phonemes!

05.02.21

Aiyla and her big sister have worked hard creating their own video today! It was too good not to share!

21.01.21

This week we have been using the text "Look Up" to explore meteor showers! The children carried out an experiment; they used glass beads, flour and hot chocolate. Flour was placed in a deep dish and sprinkled with hot chocolate. We then dropped a glass bead from a height into the dish and the result was an observational understanding of how craters were made when they crash into Earth. 

14.1.21

Today the children in school and the children at home joined in with the Foundation of Light zoom Lockdown PE lessons.  It was super fun!

12.01.21

This week the children have been learning about Space! Linked to this, we decided to create our own rockets carrying out our own scientific experiment. We gathered pop bottles, added straws to make a launch pad and then poured vinegar inside the plastic bottle. We had to quickly go outside to add the bicarbonate of soda to the vinegar, pushed a cork into the neck of the bottle, turned it upside down and we had to run!! 

06.01.21

Happy New Year! We are so disappointed that all the children aren't back with us to celebrate the new year and share the wonderful time they have had over Christmas with us! Meanwhile, stay home and stay safe until we can see your smiles again!

Today we were lucky enough to have some snow; the children who are in school with us enjoyed making marks and drawing in the snow using wood. Hopefully there will  be enough to go sledging soon!

Festive Forest Fun!

What fun we had! Today we toasted marshmallows on the fire which we enjoyed with hot chocolate. We then created jingle bells which we will use for Christmas Eve to spread Christmas magic! 

Well done Diamond Class. 

It is Christmas Party day! 

We had such fun! Lots of games, dancing and of course yummy food!

CHRISTMAS DINNER TIME!

This year our Christmas Dinner was a little different as we spent it within our bubbles in the classroom. We still enjoyed it; we had crackers, party hats, and of course had the most delicious Christmas dinner with all the trimmings!

10.12.2020

Today the children have been using the text "Lost and Found" by Oliver Jeffers to think about what the characters might be saying within the story. They then added their own captions for their ideas! Their writing is really beginning to show progress!

09.12.2020

The children took part in their Santa Dash today to raise fitness levels! Such stamina! 

01.12.20

We are looking closely at the number 5 within our maths this week. We have been exploring the numbers that we see to make 5 when we make arrangements and have explored using five frames to help us count up to 5 objects! 

26.11.2020

We have been looking at the Christmas Story within our RE group time. We have talked about key characters and discussed the role of the angel in telling the shepherds the good news. Next week, we will look at the three kings and think about the gifts they gave to Baby Jesus - I wonder what Reception would give Baby Jesus as a gift!

WB 16.11.20

In order to support our maths learning, we used the text "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" to support our understanding of positional language. We decided to use the forest to enhance this! 

Winnie visited Diamond Class!

Today Miss Redpath brought her dog Winnie into school. This was linked to the children's interests of animals and our focus for this term. We went outside and threw the ball for Winnie and watched how she always returned it to us as she wanted to play more. Winnie needs to go to the vet as her teeth have decay so she needs to have some removed! We then returned to the classroom to draw portraits of Winnie. 

Children in Need 2020

The children were asked to wear their brightest clothes so that we can then create our own class rainbow! 

3rd November 2020

Welcome back to school! We hope you had a fantastic half term!

This week we have been looking at Bonfire Night and how this is celebrated! We cooked orange sponge cake on the fire; we hollowed out oranges, added sponge mix and wrapped them in foil. Some of us didn't like them but we all had a try! 

15th October 2020

We have noticed that the children have been interested in the seasonal changes of Autumn so we decided to go on an Autumn walk to add to our experience. The children noticed many things; bare trees, leaves changing colour, leaves on the ground, berries and most importantly we found BLACKBERRIES! I wonder what we could make! 

13th October 2020

Today we have been in the forest and looked closely at the features of trees. We discussed their changes during the Autumn season and discussed the vocabulary that is mentioned in our focus text "Owl Babies"; trunk, branch, twig. The children looked closely at the patterns on a tree and explored making rubbings with crayon. 

WB 12th October 2020

This week we are focusing upon looking at quantities 1, 2 and 3 and the different ways they can be represented. It would be fantastic if your child could use cards (they could make their own) to play a game of snap! 

To continue our rhyming week we made a bus outside using boxes. We used this to role play "Wheels on the Bus" and considered what the bus would need; windscreen, bell, tyres etc. 

WB 28.09.2020

Please remember to download Class Dojo as this will be the platform we use to set work and keep in touch with you while we are self-isolating. This is a free app that can be used on ipads/tablets/phones and laptops. 

Thank you for your support. 

Miss Redpath and the Hetton Primary Team :) 

We toasted marshmallows!

I think Monday's might be the children's favourite day of the week - and ours! These photos were too fantastic not to share! The children really enjoy spending time in the forest so much and are becoming pros at being safe around the fire. Ask your child to show your their 'fire-stance'! 

22nd September 2020

Today we have begun to show our amazing writing and mark making skills. We explored the sentence "I am happy", and considered other words that could be used instead of 'happy' (synonyms) e.g. jolly/cheerful. 

I am sure you would agree that their writing skills were fantastic!

14th September 2020

Today we talked about the impact the outdoors can have on how we feel. We went outside and made a fire in the forest; we talked about fire safety, the changes the fire goes through as well as the sounds we can hear. 

I think toasting marshmallows might be next on our list!

9th September 2020

What a wonderful world...

The children have been listening and talking about the song 'What a wonderful world' by Louis Armstrong. 

Today, the children explored changing the lyrics of the song and explored our own environment within the school grounds to support their ideas. I think their new version is better than the original! Well done Reception!

We can't wait to meet you!

Welcome to your class page! Staff have been working hard over the last few weeks to get everything ready for you to join Team Hetton Primary tomorrow! Please make sure you have a warm coat (we never know what the weather will bring!) and don't forget your smiles and happy faces!

Miss Redpath :)