🔢Marvellous Maths🔢

10th June 2026Chloe Smith

This week in maths, Class 1 have been using number lines to complete addition and subtraction number sentences ➕➖🟰
We discussed how we go forwards when adding – as the number is getting bigger – and back when subtracting – as the number is getting smaller.

Some of us even decided to complete our own number sentences during choosing time!!🌟

ICT in Schools Visit Reception 💻✨

22nd May 2026Grace Gibson

Yesterday, Reception had a fantastic visit from the ICT in Schools team! 💻

The children were introduced to the animation app ChatterPix Kids, where they learned how to take sensible photographs using the iPads, including keeping the iPad still and making sure their toy or character was in the centre of the picture. They then animated their photos by drawing a mouth onto the picture, recording their voices and making their characters talk! 🎤🧸

The children worked brilliantly in pairs, creating talking teddies, toys and even characters from books. They loved hearing their creations come to life and were fantastic at helping each other navigate the app, record their voices and solve little problems together. They also enjoyed adding filters and stickers to their animations!

The team then introduced Reception to the app Puppet Pals, where they were able to choose cartoon characters and backgrounds before creating their own short stories and conversations. They were able to move the characters whilst recording their voices at the same time, which led to lots of imaginative storylines! 🎭

Throughout the afternoon, the children developed their creativity, storytelling and teamwork skills, as well as growing in confidence when using technology. We were so impressed with how quickly they picked up the apps and how enthusiastic they were to share their ideas and creations with others!

Reception Saves the Sea🌊

15th May 2026Chloe Smith
This week, class 1 were left a message in a bottle from the captain of the Black Boomer, who told us he couldn’t find his treasure because of all the pollution in the sea! He left us a special story to help us understand how bad the situation was and after reading it, we knew we had to do something! Using tweezers, we sorted through all the litter, taking out what doesn’t belong in the sea and sorting it into the correct bin – paper or plastic. We talked about how important it is to look after the sea and the creatures that live there and promised we would do our best to make sure we put our litter in the bin!🗑♻️🐙🌊🐠🐳
 

🔎A Mysterious Crime🔍

6th May 2026Chloe Smith

Class 1 came back from our dinner to find a crime scene in our classroom!!
We found our classroom trashed and our pirate ship stolen – with only sandy footprints left behind! We were completely shocked and spent some time trying to work out who it could have been. We had some wonderful ideas from pirates to monsters to sharks!!

To help us catch the criminal that committed the terrible crime in our classroom, we created wanted posters. We made sure to write what the pirate looks like so that we could make sure he was caught!

…and they worked!! We received a video from the pirate himself admitting he had stolen our treasure and was going to sail away on his ship before we caught him! He left us some clues to find our treasure and after reading them we finally found our treasure in the mud kitchen in the garden!!🏴‍☠️⚓️

 

 

From Caterpillar to Butterfly…🐛🦋

27th April 2026Chloe Smith

As part of our spring topic ‘Growing’, we had some extra additions to Class 1 – of the small and hairy variety!
We started with 5 tiny and very hairy caterpillars and we studied the lifecycle very carefully so we knew exactly which stage of the lifecycle they were at, what happened in that stage and what would happen next. Our caterpillars grow through each stage, from caterpillars, to chrysalis and finally beautiful butterflies!!

Once they were ready, we released them to enjoy the fresh air and beautiful flowers🦋🌻🌷🌹

Bean Planting🫘

31st March 2026Chloe Smith

After reading ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ this week, we were so excited when we came into our classroom to find the giant had left us a present – our very own beans to plant! We looked at how we plant seeds and what they need to grow. We learned they need;
🫘Light
🫘Water
🫘Soil
We then planned our own seeds and we are so excited to see them grow!!🌱

Phenomenal Phonics✨

29th January 2026Chloe Smith

In Class 1 we have been working super hard to learn new sounds and new tricky words! We have been learning how to spell some of our new words using our spelling rules;

🌟Say the word
🌟Sound talk the word
🌟Sound talk using segmenting fingers
🌟Talk about how many sounds are in the word
🌟Write it

The Dinosaur that Pooped at Monkton!

19th January 2026Chloe Smith

After reading “The Dinosaur that Pooped the Past” we went outside to find that something had been left in our garden. We took a closer look and couldn’t believe what we saw… it was dinosaur poo!!! We talked about how this must mean a dinosaur had been in our garden! We looked at it very closely (some of us even knew the dinosaur must be a herbivore because we could see lots of leaves and twigs!) and created a list of adjectives to describe it, including;
🦖smelly
🦖squishy
🦖soft
🦖lumpy

We then wrote some fantastic sentences to describe the poo using some AMAZING adjectives!!