4th July 2021

Dear Parents,

I hope you are having a restful weekend. Last week we had a busy week learning information about Africa and some of the animals that live there through fun activities. Please check out our photographs on our Class Pages, I’m sure you will love to see some of the activities your children have taken part in. 
We are nearing the end of our travels around the world and this week will be landing in the 🌊 Ocean. We will meet all kinds of sea creatures such as 🐳dolphins 🦈, whales 🐳 and octopuses  🐙. We will be learning facts and information about different sea creatures through a range of tasks. Our book of the week is by the brilliant author Marcus Pfister entitled,

 ‘The Rainbow 🌈Fish 🐠 ’.
 

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Mrs Badhan 

21st June 2021

Dear Parents,

I hope you have are having a restful weekend. Last week children worked hard and had fun finding out about jungle animals. Next week we will be travelling to the ❄️ ⛄️ Antarctic 🧊 🦭 🐻‍❄️  to find information about polar bears 🐻‍❄️ and penguins 🐧. Our activities will be geared around the story book,  ‘Lost and Found’. 
 

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Mrs Badhan 

13th June 2021

Dear Parents,

We have had a fantastic start to our new topic of ‘Around the World’ and children have worked extremely hard. This coming week, we will be travelling to the jungle using the wonderful story called; ‘Waking in the Jungle’. We will be finding out similarities and differences between jungle animals and engage in lots of fun writing activities. Our maths activities will to be around measuring by length and subtraction work. Please help at home to support children’s mathematical skills. This could be as simple as giving them a ruler, toys, cubes etc to measure items around the home. Practise subtracting from an amount using small objects or writing simple subtraction sums. Practise one less from twenty and reinforce doubling numbers. Just a few minutes a day will make such a difference. 

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Mrs Badhan 

Dear Parents,

I hope you have had a restful half term. 

Our topic this half term is finding out about different places around the world such as the Antarctic, Deserts and Oceans. We will be learning lots of interesting information such as the types of animals that live there and their environments. We will have a ‘Travel Agents’ to support our learning and make our own ‘passports’ which we will add to each week as we learn about different places. We will look at maps and globes to find out where we are in the world and search for other destinations. Through this, children will learn about a range of transport. We would also like to create a class display of places our children have visited, so if you have photographs to share, please send in with your child. 
 

Children are continuing to working hard to achieve their maths and literacy targets. Please support by listening to your child read daily. Just a few minutes a day will make so much difference. Help your child with practising phase 3 sounds to help with their reading and writing. Support your child with practising one more and one less to 20. They can use a number line or ruler to help.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Mrs Badhan 

                                               23rd May 2021

Dear Parents,

What an amazing week 1 with Living Eggs in our classroom, children are filled with awe and wonder observing the chicks 🐣 with their friends 🌟. We are all excited and looking forward to week two of Living Eggs in our classroom 😀.

Homework

Please continue to help your child with their reading and phonics. Just a little bit every day at home makes a huge difference whether it’s reading a page daily from their school book or practising tricky words. Equally, playing number games such as counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s or addition and subtraction sums helps their mathematical development. Children need lots of practise such as recording all the different ways to make ten, doubling and practising one more or one less than a given number to 10/20.
 

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Badhan 

Dear Parents,

We have had a fantastic week learning about the life cycle of a butterfly! Children created fantastic pieces of rock paintings of minibeasts, paper chain caterpillars and other insects as well as producing wonderful writing and maths work. On our class photographs; you will be able to see a selection of fantastic work from this week.
Next week  we will be continuing in this vein by exploring the life cycle of a frog 🐸 through a range of practical activities. 
 

Please continue to support at home by reading daily and practising tricky words.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Badhan 
 

The Hungry Caterpillar 🐛 

Dear Parents,

I hope you all had a restful extended weekend break.

We have a busy week ahead focusing our activities around the wonderful story book by Eric Carl called The Hungry Caterpillar. We will be finding out about different types of insects and going on a hunt for minibeasts in our school field. We will also learn about the life cycle of a butterfly and create rock paintings of minibeasts.
 

Please continue to help your child with reading and practising the words list sent home.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Badhan 

 

Dear Parents,

I hope you are having a restful Easter break.

Our topic for Summer 1 is entitled Eco Warriors and we began week one with activities geared around the theme of Jack and the Beanstalk. We will be planting beans in pots and have a Garden Centre role play shop set up for children to use coins to buy items. There are also some fun and interactive money games on www.top marks.co.uk to help children with counting, ordering and sorting coins. Please choose the most suitable game that your child can complete with a little help.

Dear Parents,

Following on from Parents' meetings; I have listed a number of ideas on how to support your child at their level at home. I have also attached some documents to support. I hope you find them useful.

Children on Phase 2

If your child is on Phase 2 phonics; Please help them to practise the sounds on the Phase 2 mat attached.

•Select a few sounds your child finds difficult and practise them regularly throughout the week.

•Listen to your child read their school book daily.

•Make CVC words using those sounds/Look for objects beginning with those sounds.

•Practise writing the letter shapes and use them in CVC words. Practise writing simple sentences.

•Watch Mr Thorne Does Phonics/Geraldine Giraffe to help.

•Practise new sounds/consolidate previous sounds through playing the interactive game Phonics Play on YouTube. 

Maths

•Sing number rhymes and songs.

• Play number games such as snakes and ladders. Consolidate number recognition to 5/10 and play games 1 more than... to 5 and extend to 10.

•Use some of the ideas posted on Home Learning.

Children on Phase 3

If your child is on Phase 3 phonics, here are some ideas to support; Please help them to practise the sounds on the Phase 3 mat attached.

•Practise Phase 3 tricky words.

•Practise correct formation of letters.

•Listen to your child read their school book daily.

•Practise reading the high frequency sight words on the sheet attached.

•Play Phase 3 games on Phonics Play to consolidate learning.

•Practise sentence writing, capital letter at the start of a sentence, finger spaces and full stops.

Maths

•Consolidate 2D shapes and revise/name 3D shapes such as cube, cylinder, sphere and cone and describe some of the properties of 2D/3D shapes.

• Play number games such as snakes and ladders. Consolidate number recognition to 20 and practise 1 more and 1 less.

•Practise addition and subtraction sums

I hope you find this information useful. Remember, there's lots of ideas and information on the Reception Support Materials page so do have a look.

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me through my contacts page.

Mrs Badhan

Spring Term Week 3

Dear Parents,

Activities this week are geared around the story book called Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson.

  Children had a brilliant first week back at school. It was fantastic to see children playing, learning and having fun with their friends. This week is also Parent's Evening week. Thank you to all the parent for booking their appointments. I had to adjust a few time slots so if you find you are not available on the times given; please let me know so I can rearrange to a more convenient time. I look forward to sharing your child's achievements with you. Next week, I will also be adding ideas and suggestions on supporting your child at home with their targets. Please remember to check our Class Photographs to see all the fabulous learning that your child is engaging in both indoors and outdoors everyday. Our P.E sessions are now every Tuesday and Thursday. Thank you for your continued support. 
 

Very best wishes

Mrs Badhan 

Spring Term Week 2

Dear Parents,

Our book of the week is called

THE SMARTEST GIANT IN TOWN.

 It’s a fantastic book and we have got a week packed full of exciting activities planned. We also have World Book Day on Thursday to look forward to!
I am so excited and looking forward to children returning to school next Monday. I will be updating this page weekly with an overview of activities etc for the week ahead so please check regularly. Please remember to check our Class Photographs to see all the fabulous learning that your child is engaging in both indoors and outdoors everyday. Our P.E sessions are now every Tuesday and Thursday so please make sure your child brings their PE kit preferably on the first day back at school. 
 

very best wishes

Mrs Badhan 

Spring 2 Week 1

The Gruffalo 

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Spring 2. I hope you have had a restful half term. Once again I want to say a big thank you to all the parents for all the wonderful work sent in through Tapestry during Home Learning. Remember, if your child is in school; you can still send in photographs of learning taking place at weekends, holidays etc by posting onto Tapestry as they will all form part of your child’s Learning Journal building precious memories in years to come of both home and school. (You will be able to print this off at the end of the school year). Children at home and in school have continued to do their very best and I am so very proud of everyone.

Our topic this half term is called’Julia Donaldson’s Delights’ and we will be focusing on rhyming books starting Week 1 with the wonderful story of ‘The Gruffalo’. All the activities will be geared around this story book which I know children will have fun learning from! 
 
if you have any questions or queries; please message me through the contacts page.

Best wishes

Mrs Badhan 

January 3rd 2021

Dear Parents,

 Welcome back to the start of a new term

I hope you all had a good Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our themes this half term will focus on Superheroes beginning week 1 with Firefighters. Children will learn lots of information about the job of a firefighter through a range of fantastic and fun filled activities planned for them. I will be posting photographs of activities throughout the week on our Class Pages so please do have a look. If you have any questions, please email me through the contacts page or send a message via Tapestry.

I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow morning!

Mrs Badhan

December 22nd 2020

We have had a fantastic busy term with so many fun activities and learning taking place. Children looked incredibly smart in their Christmas jumpers and had a delicious Christmas dinner on the same day with their friends. Please check out our Class photographs, I'm sure they will put a smile on your face!

Homework

Please help your child to practise reading tricky words which can be found in their reading books. Thank you.

Steps Challenge

Please check out Step Challenge page on our PE section of our school website

As a school we are trying to walk and achieve 5,000000 steps (equivalent to walking from Belper to the North Pole). If you have time, it would be great if you could get involved over the Christmas break. This could be going for walks, exercising to Joe Wicks or any physical activity. Please email me the steps achieved either through Tapestry or via my contacts page so that I can add them on to our list. Many thanks for your support.

January 2021

As you will be aware; I will be teaching Castleton class for the remaining of this academic year. I am excited and looking forward to teaching your child in achieving their potential. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

I wish you all a safe Christmas and Happy New Year.

Mrs Badhan

November 21st 2020

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all having a restful weekend. We have a great week of learning planned for the week ahead! Our book is 'The Mixed Chameleon' and the colour of the week is Blue. 

Reading

Children are doing so well reading daily and most children are on target to get a treat in the coming weeks. Well done everyone!

Tapestry

Keep checking your child's learning on Tapestry to see the amazing work your children are doing in school. Remember you can post pictures onto Tapestry too! 

Phonics

Our sounds this week are x, y, z. Maybe you could play games by looking for things beginning with these sounds.

Handwriting

Your child took some handwriting sheets in their book bags a few weeks ago. Please help your child practise letter shapes. You could focus on a letter shape a day or perhaps practise the sounds of the week?

Maths

We are revising 2D shapes and starting work on 3D shapes. Why not go on a 3D shapes hunt around the house?

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Badhan

November 14th 2020

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all having a restful weekend. Our theme for the coming week is based around the book We're going on a Lion Hunt! by the author David Axtell. We will continue our Talk for Writing using this book. Children will find their class Bear Cave had turned into a dark lion cave!

Anti-Bullying Week

Monday is Odd Socks Day to mark the first day of Anti-Bullying Week. We look forward to seeing  children join in with the national campaign and wearing odd socks on Monday! During the week, children will be taking part in various activities and discussions to raise awareness as well as given strategies to deal with any issues that arise.

Maths

In maths, children will be revising 2D shapes and introduced to 3D shapes and their properties.

Tricky words to learn this week are:

he

she

be

me

he

Please help your child to revise these words. They could incorporate these words into their daily reading slot.

Thank you

Mrs Badhan

November 6th 2020
 

Celebrations 

What a wonderful week of learning to start Autumn 🍂2! We found out about Bonfire Night and Diwali and children had fun creating firework pictures using a range of media. They also made clay divas and explored Asian clothes! On Friday we went on an Autumn 🍂 walk to search for signs of autumn. We had a brilliant time In the open space and hope to go again (weather permitting). Thank you to everyone for sending in wellies. I have posted photographs on our Class Photographs of all the wonderful work children engaged in on our first week back, please do have a look.
 

Phonics

Our Talk for Writing is based around the book ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ by the brilliant author Michael Rosen. Children are loving our Bear Cave role play in our classroom and acting out the story with their friends! 

Reading

Please make sure your child reads their reading and phonics books at home at least four times a week. As a reward they will get a treat at the end of each month/half term. Please don’t forget to sign their reading records to help us keep a checklist.

Thank you for you continued support.

Mrs Badhan  

October 31st 2020

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all having a restful break. Our themes for Autumn 2 will be around the topic of COLOURS

We have got a busy week ahead next week with lots of fun activities planned! We will be learning about Bonfire Night and Diwali and our colour focus of the week is 'Autumn Colours'.

Talk for Writing

We will be starting our Talk For Writing around the story book; 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. I can't wait to see children's faces on Monday as they enter the class to find our role play area has turned into a 'Dark, Gloomy Cave' complete with mini lollipop stick puppets of everyone in our class to encourage imaginative story telling.

Phonics

This week we will be learning the sounds b, f, ff

We will revise sounds taught so far:

s, a, t, p, I, n, m, d, o, g, c, k, ck. e, u, r, h, l, ll

Tricky words to revise:

1, no, go, to, the, into, of

Reading

As an incentive to encourage reading at home and further develop a love for books; from Monday 2nd November children who read a minimum of four times a week will be able to choose a reward at the end of each month/half term. Please make sure you sign and date the Reading Log each time your child reads at home. Reading is so much fun and a great way to spend time together. There are so many proven benefits to reading such as:
📖Reading exercises our brain
📖Reading improves concentration
📖Through reading children learn about the world around them
📖Reading improves vocabulary and language skills
📖Reading develops a child’s imagination
📖Reading helps children develop empathy
📖Helps children’s writing skills
📖Most of all, reading is fun

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Badhan

October 18th 2020

Thank you to all our parents who booked virtual/telephone appointments for Parent's Evening. Most of the meetings went smoothly with a few having to be rearranged due to technical difficulties. Thank you for your patience.

Many parents asked how they can support their child.

There are lots of ideas and information on our Reception website in the Support Materials page that will help you support your child in their learning. Please do have a look.

After speaking with our parents; I have listed some ideas and tips below that are specific to our children's needs:

P.E

Some children require a lot of help when changing for P.E. Please help your child develop independence skills by encouraging them to dress/undress themselves. Some children are already doing this. Thank you.

Fine motor

Please help your child develop fine motor skills:

This could be using tools for mark making/writing or using their fingers to make letter shapes/patterns and numbers in sand/glitter/flour etc.

Help your child practise using a pair of scissors. Draw lines for them to cut in a straight/wavy/zig zag line.

Help your child practise writing their name. (Children will be bringing home a laminated name card to help them practise at home)

If your child is already doing the above then please refer to the Support Materials for further guidance.

Reading:

Children learn a sound every day. We use letter-sound pictures to help your child learn these sounds.

Please help your child practise these sounds at home.

•Make flash cards of the sounds we have taught so far to help your child memorise them.

•Pick a card and play I Spy games

•Make CVC words using some of these sounds and help your child blend them to read such as;

c  a  t,  cat

d  I  g,  dig

m  o  p  mop

To help us remember the letter we have learnt, we also sing Jolly Phonics songs which can be found on YouTube. 

I hope this is useful. Please message me through the contacts page if you have any questions.

Many thanks

Mrs Badhan

October 12th 2020

We have had a great week of learning this week😊. Thank you to all our parents for sending in Family photographs for our display. 

Parent’s Evening

Thank you for booking a telephone/virtual appointment to take place this Tuesday and Wednesday with one appointment taking place on Thursday. I look forward to sharing your child’s learning journey with you.

Harvest

Our theme for the next two weeks is focused around Harvest. We will be planning a number of fun activities based around the popular book Oliver’s Vegetables 🍅 🌽  🌶 .
 

Tapestry

Please keep checking Tapestry to find out all the super work your child is doing in class. I also post weekly photographs on our Class Photographs 2020-2021 page of all the brilliant work and activities children engage in throughout the week which I’m sure you will enjoy 😊.  
 

Best wishes 

Mrs Badhan 

October 2nd 2020

What a busy week we have had. Children created artwork inspired by Andy Warhol and engaged in all areas of learning with some fabulous literacy and maths work produced. Children also had their first indoor and outdoor P.E. lessons which were superb!

(Remember children, if you struggled to dress/undress yourselves for P.E. and needed help, keep practising these skills at home). Really proud of everyone, well done Castleton Class!

Tapestry

Everyone should have a log in now. Please check out all the great work your children are doing on Tapestry! You can also post your child's home learning onto Tapestry too.

Next week we start our theme on Families as part of our I am Special topic. Thank you for all the family photographs sent in or emailed. If you haven't already done so, please send a family picture in for Monday. We will be using a number of books to teach about families.

I look forward to seeing you all on Monday!

Mrs Badhan

September 26th 2020

We have had a wonderful week learning all about our sense of hearing. Children made Listening Ears and went for a walk around school listening carefully to the different sounds they could hear. If you haven't already done so; please check out Tapestry where you will be able to see what your child is doing in school. 

PE:

The children will be getting changed for PE starting from next week. Please make sure your child has their PE kit in school. Reception children will be keeping their PE bags in school and not taking them home at the end of the day.

Part of the Early Year’s Curriculum is for children to become independent and to be able to dress and undress themselves. It would be really helpful if you could help your child learn to dress and undress themselves.    

Our PE days are Tuesday and Friday.

Reading:

On Monday your child will bring home a phonics book with words in, using some of the sounds we have learnt so far. Please help your child sound out the words and have a go at reading them. If they don’t recognize the sounds then you can sound them out and see if they can hear the word. This is called oral blending. They still need to practice book conventions e.g. turning the pages, talking about the pictures, telling the story, predicting what might happen next.

On Friday your child will have a ‘choosing book’. These books are not phonic based so you will be sharing these books with your child, reading it to them and seeing if they can join in. They often have a repetitive structure so your child should be able to join in with the pattern of the words. They can look out for any letters they recognize and also practice book conventions.

It is  such a special time of the day sharing a book with your child.

 Please don’t forget to sign their reading record book when you have read with them.

Thank you for your support.

Mrs Badhan and Mrs Christie

September 18th 2020

We have had a very busy week with lots of learning happening! Thank you for returning all the permission slips for Tapestry. Please remember to keep checking Tapestry to see the wonderful work your child is doing in school:) I am also posting photographs onto our Class Pages of all the different activities children are engaging in throughout the week. If your child is absent and is/or member of the family is isolating; please click on the Home Learning link on the Reception page to access Literacy and Maths activities to do at home to avoid missed learning.

I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday.

Best wishes

Mrs Badhan

September 12th 2020

I am so proud of all the children in Castleton Class. They are becoming familiar with the daily routines and it's fantastic to see how quickly they have adjusted after such an extended absence! On Wednesday they had their first full day in school and had a delicious hot school dinner which they all enjoyed! All children were seated and their lunch trays were brought to them. When they had finished, children were shown where to line up to clear away their trays before going out to play. It was wonderful to see children developing new friendships as well as meeting their old friends from nursery. This week children have worked hard at lots of different activities throughout the week linked to the story of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

Next week we are continuing our topic of I am Special and the focus will be on our sense of hearing. The book we will be using is by the popular author Jill Murphy and is titled  Peace at Last. The story is all about Mr Bear who goes to bed but no matter how hard he tries he cannot get to sleep because of all the different sounds he can hear. We will be doing lots of different activities focussing on our sense of hearing. 

Have a lovely weekend and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday.

Best wishes

Mrs Badhan

September 5th 2020

It has been lovely to see how children are settling and getting used to their new classroom! They have enjoyed both the indoor and outdoor environment and loved listening to a story called Calm Down Boris!

Please remember to check your child's book bag daily for letters and other information.  As soon as we receive the Tapestry permission slips back; we will begin to share all the wonderful learning children are doing in school building up a record of your child's experiences during their time with us.

Please remember that Monday and Tuesday will still be part time with full days beginning on Wednesday.

As we are learning about our senses as part of our I am Special topic; on Monday we will begin activities based around sight using the book Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you see? We look forward to seeing you all on Monday!

Mrs Badhan

August 31st 2020

Welcome to Castleton Class

We look forward to welcoming you to the transition sessions tomorrow. There will be lots of lovely activities for you to do! Please scroll down to have a look at your new class.

Mrs Badhan