Beech

Welcome to Beech Class!

Muddy Monday                     13th March 2017 

Beech class heard the story of the 3 little pigs and talked about the different materials the pigs used to build their houses. The children were then challenged to build a house for a little pig and then test it to see if the house was waterproof using watering cans. We then thought about which materials were the best for our little pigs.

We have also continued to observe the changing frog spawn which has now begun to turn into tadpoles. We will be keeping a close eye on them to watch their progress. 

Storm Doris, holes in the ground and frogspawn!                    27th February 2017

When Beech class went outside on Muddy Monday this week they discovered that Storm Doris had been naughty in our nature area too! We found a blown over kitchen and fence and then discovered a hole in the ground. Some children thought that Storm Doris might have made this hole too, but we found out that it might have been made by a rabbit. 

When Willow class came out to join us we made fairy potions together, wrote a list of ingredients , named our potions and decided what magical powers they might have. Then we looked at the broken fence again and saw frogspawn which Mrs Mindham collected for us so we could have a really close look at it. It felt just like jelly and much lighter than we thought it would be. 

Our VIP guest...                   23rd February 2017 

We were busy practicing our new Talk for Writing story, the Gingerbread Man when we heard a voice asking if we had seen the fox...we turned around and saw we had a special visitor...The Gingerbread Man himself! We chased him around the playground pretending we were the fox, tried to eat him (although he didn't taste very good!) and then helped him to hide in our classroom until we had an urgent phone call from the office to say the real fox was on his way, so the gingerbread man had to run, run as fast as he could to escape! 

Muddy Monday                                           20th February 2017

Beech class noticed the changes happening with the change of season as soon as we walked into our Forest School area. They saw how the shoots from the flowers had grown whilst they had been away over half term and were very excited to see the snowdrops in bloom too!

We then turned story detectives and tried to find the clues to the story. We could work out what the traditional tale was...can you? 

Parents 'Road to Writing' Workshop.           8th February 2016

Beech class parents and grandparents visited the class today to find out more about how children learn to write and how they can be supported in a fun way at home. The children helped their parents and grandparents to fill a special writing pack to take home and use to help develop their child's opportunities for writing at home. 

Thank you so much to all who attended and for those who were unable to make it this time the information shown to parents is also on this page. 

Papa, please get the moon for me...    3rd February 2017

Beech class heard the story of how the little girl loved the moon so much she asked her Papa to get it for her. He used a ladder to try and reach the moon and so Beech class had a go at making ladders to reach the moon too! Lots of brilliant problem solving and mathematical language was used by all...

Muddy Monday                                30th January 2017 

This week Beech class found the toys had escaped from the classroom and had climbed the trees but got stuck! They needed our help to make ladders to help them get down again. The children showed that they could think of their own ideas of how to attach the string and sticks together as well as learning how to tie and lash the string to hold their creations together. 

Then later on Willow class joined us , we learnt lots of names of British Birds and found out about the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch. We thought about how we could attract birds to our gardens and made simple bird feeders. 

Muddy Monday Animal Faces                    23rd January 2016 

The children were creative today by making their own animal faces using clay and natural resources to make the features. 

The story of creation story maps.             23rd January 2016

 Today the children have continued their learning and understanding of the story of creation from the Bible by creating story maps showing the sequence of the story. 

Busy week in Beech class ...                         20th January 2016 

This week in Beech class we have been very busy doing lots of learning in different ways. We have been wrapping winter sticks, making space shapes using sparkly doh, making space maps , writing space words, adding and designing and building dreamworlds and all this happened by Wednesday! 

More fabulous work took place on Thursday when we drew our dreams or bedrooms and talked about our pictures, and then on Friday we told out story Whatever Next , which you can see by clicking the VCR tab on the home page and finding Beech classes videos, practiced writing our tricky words, practiced our writing in lots of areas including outdoors and learnt about the story of creation through discovering Tom and Tessa's love for Jelly and Jellyfish! 

Time for a rest this weekend... more learning next week! 

Muddy Monday                    16th January 2017

Today Beech class looked closely at pictures of the Moon's surface. The children thought of words to describe what they could see and thought about what it would be like to walk on the moon like an astronaut. The children were then challenged to see if they could use mud to create their own 'moon sand', making craters and bumps using natural materials and resources. It was very interesting to watch the children explore the mud and create the different textures they had seen.

The children then spent some time exploring the Forest School area, especially enjoying the mud slide again, trying very hard to stay on their feet as they slipped, slid and slithered down the slide!

Beech class Slumber Party !                                              6th January 2017

To provide Beech class with a memorable experience to begin their topic 'What happens when you fall asleep?', the children were invited to a slumber party and came to school ready for bed with their favourite toy and cosy pyjamas!

We played some fun slumber party games, ate popcorn, watched the sky at night through a VLT (Very Large Telescope) and then snuggled on our cushions for a space themed bed time story.

What a super slumber party !

​Today the children have been finding out more about Mince Pies. We found out that originally they were shaped like a manger and instead of a pastry lid Christians would place a pastry baby Jesus on the top to celebrate the birth of God's special son at Christmas time. We had lots of floury fun , learning how to rub the flour and butter using our fingers, kneading and rolling the pastry and making baby Jesus for our mince pie mangers!

This week in Beech class...                           30th November 2016

​...the children have begun learning about the story of the Nativity, learning about the birth of Jesus through a variety of experiences and discovery opportunities.

​More photographs available on the children-religious education page too!

​Tyre-tastic Muddy Monday!                   28th November 2016

​Today the children discovered the tyres in the nature area and enjoyed lots of different activities including swinging, building, rolling and imaginary play.

Tyres are a highly versatile, open-ended resource for children , providing opportunities for climbing, balancing and the extra challenge of moving the tyres around, and importantly they make a positive difference on our environment by re-using them.

​Beech and Willow class couldn't wait to explore the murky puddles and became scientists as they tried lots of tests on their puddles to see the different effects caused by their movements. Piaget referred to this as sensorimotor - the earliest stage of intelligence- where children use their senses and motor actions to build a store of knowledge about our physical, natural world. The children's natural joy that comes with learning was hugely apparent and well worth our soggy socks and wet wellies!

​Muddy Monday                  21st November 2016

​Beech class have been reading Bear Snores On and learning the actions to support their oral storytelling. Today we met lots more bears who had trouble sleeping and needed beds for the winter. The children worked together to collect resources for their bear beds and designed and built their beds. They used lots of mathematical language to describe the beds they had made. Well done Beech class!

Armistice Day -                           11th November 2016

​To help the children understand Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday Beech Class watched a short animation about the effect World War I and II had on woodland animals. We talked about the importance of remembering and wearing the poppy.

​You can watch the clip again by clicking on the link below.

Where do squirrels hide their nuts?                        4th November 2016

Beech class have begun their new term with a new topic. For our 'engage' experience we visited   Rosliston Forestry Centre and was met by Ruth who took us to the classroom where we could look at lots and lots of objects. She had a chat to us about staying safe at Rosliston then introduced our experience 'All about Autumn'. We learnt poems about Autumn, met some furry woodland friends, pretended to be squirrels hiding our nuts, explored the woods, made hedgehog nests, visited the bird hide, saw an unexpected owl, and then had to try and remember where we had hidden our nuts and go and find them again! What a lot of learning we did , all in just the morning! Phew!

Room on a broom day - 31st October 2016

​​Today the children listened to the story 'Room on a Broom' as part of their 'Muddy Monday'. Then they had lots of fun making broomsticks, magic potions and wizardly witchy wands! The children used their wands to turn Mrs Ganley and Mrs Handley into lots of different things including spiders, frogs and... a camel!

Supertato needed Beech Classes help !                              14th October 2016

This week we read Supertato and learnt that he has to defeat the evil peas! We looked around our class and discovered the evil peas had been at it again!!! We found frozen carrots in the water tray which we helped to escape by smashing, lifting and dropping and stamping on the frozen blocks, we found vegetables tied up in toilet roll and trapped in a shopping basket and tied up veggies with parcel ribbon too! The children got to work straight away making posters, writing letters to the evil peas , making pea traps and making their own Supertato's to help keep watch for those evil peas.

Today Beech class learnt about the S grapheme and the phoneme sound it makes 'sss'. The children learnt the ditty 'slither down the snake' to help them remember how it looks. They had a go at writing lots of slithery snakes together.

Then we learnt all about the number 2 and rode our bikes with two wheels along with Rodd.

Super work Beech class !

Muddy Monday                          3rd October 2016

Today the children were thinking about the types of animals, birds and insects they thought might live in and around our nature area. We investigated the nature area and school field and found mole holes, a digger wasp's nest, complete with eggs in their hexagonal paper colonies and a very interesting looking caterpillar! We then made our own animals from clay and had a go at making them a home.

What a lot of fun we had today outdoors in the rain ! We played 123 where are you? finding great places

to hide, discovered a fairy house and fairy breath which we made into friendship bracelets , then built our own fairy houses and dens.

Later we read 'Superworm' and discovered that worms love the rain as much as we do. We even had time to explore the mud kitchen , making super soup and mud mixed cakes and pies !

All of our learning outdoors today has helped to stimulate our curiosity and provided lots of social experiences in order to help us learn to work together and listen to each others ideas.

Georgie the class mascot has had a busy week this week...not only did he meet his mascot hero but he has also transformed into 'Super Georgie' ! He liked the mask but was complaining his cape was too big and he kept tripping over it. He challenged the children to create their own capes for him to try and to then fly him around to see which material would make the best cape.

Can you spot which you thought Super Georgie liked best?

International Dot Day Celebrations        19th September 2016

Today the children have been busy celebrating International Dot Day by completing a range of dotty activities. They have been dotting paint , creating transient dotty patterns and pictures using glass beads, bottle tops and counters of different shapes and sizes and blowing huge dotty bubbles!

What a lot of places a dot can take us!

Well done to all the new children who have joined Beech class this year. You have all been fantastic at coming into school and getting to know the daily morning routines. It has been lovely to see so many smiley faces coming into school each morning.

Keep it up!

Dragon hunt detectives...                      26th July 2016

Georgie the dragon was reported missing by Mrs Ganley at approx. 3.15pm yesterday afternoon. After a very restless nights sleep the Beech class detectives were called in to hunt for clues. The main suspects were all watched carefully and their rooms searched thoroughly by the children. Georgie was eventually found after a tip off by Mrs Naughty( the accessory to the crime). We then interrogated the main suspect who eventually, after some difficult searching questions from the police, confessed. She was given a suitable punishment. Georgie is now safe and well under the care of Mrs Ganley. It is reported they are going away for a few weeks to recover from this ordeal!

CONGRATULATIONS!              21st July 2016

All the children received their 'Outdoor Learning' certificates today for their great attitudes, eagerness and enjoyment through our Wet and Wild Wednesday sessions.

Well done Beech class!

For our final Wet and Wild Wednesday of the school year, Beech class have been classifying, counting, recording and adding to find out how many items they could fit inside their footprint. The children measured natural objects they found on the school field and then compared how many they found with those in the nature area. When we talked about the children's findings the children had a variety of ideas when asked which footprint they thought held the most.

It's good to keep on trying...                             13th July 2016

Beech class have been thinking about their first year at school , looking back at their learning journeys and talking about all the learning they have done this year. They listened to the story of Jericho's wall and talked about how God told the people to keep on marching around the wall and as they persevered the wall eventually fell down just as God had told them.

The children then thought of what they wanted to persevere at doing to help them get better. What a lot of great ideas they had ...

Following a trail...                       22nd June 2016

Today Beech class discovered a trail of arrows through the nature area. We followed the paper arrows and then discovered more made from twigs which led us onto the school field and into a bush!

On the bush we found a letter from Georgie who set us a challenge to find as many phonemes as we could hidden around the nature area. We went off with our clipboards and found lots of digraphs and trigraphs and then had a go at thinking of words using those sounds.

We had a competition too to see who could think of and write the most words correctly.

Well done Tom L!

It's not a stick its a ...               15th June 2016

After our sticky maths we played a game, its not a stick its a...

We had some fantastic, imaginative ideas, here are a few ...

Ellie - ...flowers.

Chloe - ...dinosaur.

Owen - ...tree

Mason - ...microphone.

Marat- ...crocodile.

Ezme-...magic wand.

Zane -...house.

LJ-...daisy

Tom L-... wand.

Mrs Ganley -... telephone

Today's very Wet and Wild Wednesday was a challenge as we waded through the water in the nature area in the search for sticks for our 'sticky maths'. We began by ordering our sticks together by size, then counted how many beats Mrs Ganley had tapped on her sticks and copied them. We collected more sticks and made shapes and then we were challenged to make as many triangles together as we could.

25th May 2016 - A very busy day in Beech class.

Today we built our very own Bug Hotel, we found lots of bug friendly hay, soil, grass, sticks, branches and pine cones and added them to our pallets in the nature area. We will be keeping a close eye on the hotel for it's first guests to check in!

Then we had a special visitor...Mrs Lakin came to see us with her baby boy Finley, we asked her lots of questions about him and told her all we had been learning about.   

We then ended our day with our class worship, thank you to all of our parents, relatives and grandparents who came and watched us talk about our learning this term.  

23rd May 2016 - Pitta bread pizza

Luigi came back to Beech class today to ask the children to help him with making a herby pizza. He showed the children all the ingredients he had got in his bag but said he had no idea what to do. Luigi asked the children to write him some instructions so he could follow them...

Beech class decided to have a go at making them themselves first and then wrote their own recipes using the ingredients they had used.

This week we are finding out lots about Bees, we have learnt the Sleepy Bumblebee story , found out how bees collect pollen using cheesy Wotsits (other brands of cheesy snacks are available!) and investigated our nature area to find out if it is bee friendly...the children gave it a thumbs up for having lots of different colours of flowers, lots of bee friendly flowers and we counted around 14 different types of bee friendly flowers too ! ​ ​

We have been looking at the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, learning about seeds and naming the parts of a plant. In our writing we have been imagining what other seeds Jack might have found and what they could have grown into. We listened to music and imagined what we would find if we climbed the beanstalk instead of Jack!

On 'Wet and Wild Wednesday' we firstly went on a seed hunt, discovering how why seeds are important.Then we thought about the places a giant might live instead of a castle and had a go at building dens in the nature area... 

We also had fun being scientists and dissecting plants and flowers to discover and name the different parts. We then had a go at putting them back together again!