The story so far in dosbarth eliffant!

We have had such a busy half term! The children thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Bristol Zoo, which immediately engaged them with our topic of 'Jaws, Paws and Claws'. They then went on to design and make their own zoo for our model animals...then it was time for some real animals for our classroom!

We invited Chris, who works at 'Petwise', to visit our classroom and the children asked him questions about suitable pets. A snake and a monkey were quickly dismissed and the class, along with Chris' decided that pet mice would be the perfect pets for Dosbarth Eliffant!

Thank you to all the Mums and Dads who discussed suitable names for our mice with your children. We had some superb suggestions! We always encourage the children to use their 'voice' within class so the children voted for their favourite name. The most popular names were 'Hickory and Dickory!'.

The children drew a shopping list and the names of every child were put into a hat and Mr Worth pulled out...Ryan, Mia and Martha. They were the lucky children who came to the pet shop to buy everything needed for our mice! You will be glad to hear that the children are fascinated with the mice, gentle when handling and generous when feeding!

From mice to Pandas! The children were aware that some animals are endangered from our visit to Bristol Zoo. They received a message from SuLee, a giant panda, who was distressed because her bamboo forest was being destroyed. She asked the children if they could build her a suitable habitat for her family to live in safely. The children researched books and searched the web about giant panda habitats. They drew pictures to design the perfect habitat. In groups they then made the habitat from natural materials found in the school grounds. We extended the research into tiger, rhino and boa constrictor habitats too!

This week the children are fund raising for the giant pandas. They decided to make badges, masks, key rings and panda biscuits to raise money (again listening to pupil voice!). We also made posters to tell everybody about endangered animals...the teachers were so impressed by the children's drawing skills and some evidence of word building was seen in their writing!

In Physical Development we have been warming up to the music 'Kung Fu Fighting' (theme from Kung Fu Panda) before moving like a panda in the bamboo forest! Sleeping, walking, scratching, rolling and climbing...what a busy day a panda has!

We have also been lucky enough to have an iPad in our class. I recently attended some training and was amazed how engaging it can be for the children's learning....in fact some are teaching me! We have made numerous books using 'My Story' app.

I apologise for the lack of photographs in this blog but I am using my new toy (iPad) and am still learning! When I have found out how to do it lots will follow!

A huge congratulations to Mrs O'Connell for completing the Cardiff Half Marathon...all her fellow elephants are massively proud of her!

Changes to Reading Homework

1.               Practise ‘speed sounds’ (these are the letters e.g. a,b,c etc). A table with all these on can be found stuck onto the front cover of your child’s RWI homework book. Randomly point to each sound for your child to read. We want them to be able to recognise and say these sounds at a good pace and to retain the letters that they have already learned.

2.               Practise your child’s letter formation in their RWI homework book. We now want a little more care with the formation. Repeat the ‘rhyme’ that accompanies each letter and encourage correct formation, consistency of size and letters sitting on the line (this one is a little trickier to achieve) Please return RWI books every Wednesday and I will return them every Friday with new handwriting homework.

3.               Continue with reading the picture books with your child to develop story telling, comprehension and predicting skills. Continue with the ’Fred Talk’ words. Don’t forget to review previous words. Please note: if your child can recognise previous words without building them it is perfectly alright for them to say the work e.g. cat rather than ’c a t’.  We Fred Talk a word to work out what it says, if we can recognise it on sight then that is perfectly acceptable. (Bring on your child’s designated reading day, Tuesday or Wednesday.

4.               Reading homework will be given every Friday. Please return one week later on a Friday and a new piece of work will be given.

Any questions please do not hesitate to come and see me! Happy reading!

We met a new friend today!

We received clues from a visitor from another planet. The children were really excited to follow the trail which led to our new friend, Oberly Onkers! We can't wait to teach him all about our world and to learn some exciting space facts from him!

Welcome back to school!

We trust that you all had a happy christmas and may I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy new year from all the staff from ddosbarth ellifant!

A new term and a new topic. Our topic for the spring term is called 'A Spaceman Came Travelling'. The children will meet an alien (the soft, stuffed, cuddly type!) who wants to learn all about life on planet earth aswell as teaching us some space facts. As the topic progresses we will be looking at 'The Gruffalo's Child', one of the children's favourite books that will help teach the alien all about the season of Winter. We will be building rockets, completing 'alien' experiments, learning about the moon landing, designing and creating aliens as well as teaching our visitor all about life and the culture of Wales...and maybe more depending on where the children wish to take the the topic. Can't wait for the children to meet the alien tomorrow!

A few reminders to bring in PE kits (clearly labelled with children's names), sensible winter/rain proof coats and wellies, £5 snack money for this half term.

As always if you have any questions. queries or concerns please do not hesitate to come and see me.

PS Talk homework will be posted on Friday.

whoops-a-daisy angel

Christmas is coming and ddosbarth teigr and ellifant are rehearsing for our christmas concert"whoops-a-dasiy angel".DONT FORGET

TO BUY YOUR TICKETS!

Christmas comes early to Dosbarth Eliffant

We have been working really hard to design our Chnstmas cards and we are so proud of the results! We  hope that lots of mummys and daddys will buy them to give to our family and friends. We are also excited about our trip to go and see Santa at the Rhondda Heritage Park. Ho Ho Ho... Christmas comes earlier every year!

Elephants settle in

Welcome to Dosbarth Eliffant! We have all settled into our new class and written our new class chant.
'The Happy elephants have come to stay
At Ffynnon Taf to work and play
We care and share all through the day
Helping each other in every way!'
When we are together, we remember to care and share. to be happy and kind and to work together. Most importantly, elephants never forget to try their best! Elephant promise!