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Tuesday 30th September.
Daffodils are learning about friendship and how Jesus taught about friendship in the Bible. 
We read the story of Zacchaeus and found out how Jesus told him to stop sinning and change his ways. Zacchaeus gave back four times what he gave. 
The greatest commandments are to love God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind, and to love your neighbour as yourself

Our first session was a bit soggy, but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. We thought about Autumn and how the Forest Schools area begins to change. Our challenge was to find as many different natural colours as we could. You can see that we collected many treasures - mainly greens, yellows and orange/browns. It will be interesting to see how the colours change over the next few weeks. 
We found evidence of animal and bird life - hazel nut shells and egg shells/feathers. 
We'd like to learn about the kinds of trees we have in the woods and be able to identify which leaf type belongs to which tree. 
Perhaps you'll learn with us - watch this space!

Daffodils Class: Into the Woods Tuesdays
Dear Parents and Carers,
We are all very excited about our “Into the Woods Tuesdays” when we shall be going out every other Tuesday afternoon to our fabulous Forest School area at the end of the field for various outdoor explorations, adventures, activities, science and art. Our first trip will be on Tuesday 28th September.
The children must bring their Forest School clothes to change into.  These should be layers of old clothes – long sleeve tops, long trousers and a jumper.  Gloves, fleeces and hats will be needed as the weather gets colder.  They will also need  a waterproof coat and waterproof trousers, all named and all inside a named carrier bag which we shall keep on their peg in the cloakroom. We are keeping our class wellies on a trolley in our outside area.  If the children get wet and muddy (which we hope they do!) they won’t change in school but will come home in their wet weather gear.  Please dry it out and send it all back in the next day as we may need coats and wellies for play times on any day.  
The rules for our Into the Woods activities are:

• Don’t go in or out of the area without permission from a grown up.
• Keep out of the log circle area.
• Don’t climb the gates or fences.
• Respect the plants and animals that live in our Woods.
• Don’t pick up a stick longer than your arm.
• Look after each other.
• Have fun!

It would be great if you could talk to your child about the importance of these rules for our safety and enjoyment.
Regards
Mrs J Kavanagh and Mrs C Humphreys

As part of our literacy this half term, we have been learning a story called 'How the world began'. We created actions to help us learn the sequence of the story and some of us drew a story map outside and acted out the story!
We then innovated the story to make it our own and to fit in with our topic about the Antarctic. So it became 'How the Antarctic was made'

We have been looking at different paintings of the Antarctic. We discussed how it made us feel, what colours we could see and what sounds we might hear if we were there.
We experimented with pencil, and how we could make an effect using pencil to create lines that were similar to those in the painting. 

In Daffodils class we have been reading books about being kind and growth mind set. We talked about what our super power is! 

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We have worry box in class, so that if we are worried about anything, we can write it down and a grown up will help us. 

Daffodils had a visit from Ray who came to talk to us about road safety. We watched a video which told us to 'STOP LOOK and LISTEN'.

We have started our history topic all about Ernest Shackleton and the Antarctic. Here are some of the Daffodils learning independently.

Welcome back! Welcome to the new daffodils class, where we will be just like a daffodil  and  shine bright in everything that we do! We hope that you have all had a really lovely summer break. It has been lovely to hear the children's stories from their holidays. 
 
Mrs Kavanagh is going to be teaching the daffodils all day on a Monday and a Tuesday and  Mrs Humphreys will be teaching all day on a Wednesday, Thursday and a Friday. Also, in Daffodils, we will have Mrs McTweed to help us every day and Mrs Ryan will be helping us every morning.
 
PSHE
When we arrived on our first day back in our new class, we had time to catch up with our friends and began some growth mind set work. This work on growth mind set helps in preparing your child to have the best attitude for learning this year, so that they can shine bright like a daffodil in everything that they do! We will continue to work on our growth mind set over the next couple of weeks in our PSHE lessons.

History
For our history Mantle this half term we will become a team of expert explorers commissioned to explore the world's highest, driest, windiest, coldest, and iciest continent, the Antarctic. We will be learning all about the famous explorer Ernest Shackleton and his voyage to the Antarctic. Through our mantle story, we will find out what it is like to plan and take part in an expedition to the Antarctic.
 
Literacy and Reading
We will cover a range of fiction and non-fiction reading and various writing genres which will be inspired by our Mantle of the Expert commission.
To begin our literacy this term, we will be learning a story called ‘How the world was made’ by using actions and repetition. We will then innovate the story to make it our own. This will help us in learning the structure of a story and using different sentence types.
 
We will be reading everyday in lots of different ways and will be reading our own books with an adult in school at least twice a week. Please remember to fill in your reading diaries to let us know about how well you are reading at home!

Art
Our artwork this term will be creating images of the Antarctic using collage. We will be exploring the work of different artists, such as Tony Cragg. Tony Cragg is a British sculptor who is known for creating colourful collages from ordinary construction materials and household objects that had been thrown away. We will be looking at various other art work of the Antarctic.
 
Science
Mrs Kavanagh will be teaching science this term.  We will be exploring the question ‘what is sound?’ during the first half term.  We will be exploring how sources of sound vibrate and creating sound. We will also investigate how sound is made using a musical instrument.
 
Forest school
We will be using the forest school area with Mrs Kavanagh every other Tuesday afternoon. We will send a reminder each week. Please ensure your child brings to school waterproof trousers, waterproof coat, wellies, warm jumper and socks. Please bring suitable trousers that are easy to put on and take off (please no denim) Please make sure everything is labelled clearly in a labelled bag.
 
Homework in Daffodils
 
Reading at home
Regular reading at home and discussions about their book is essential to enable your child to improve their reading fluency and comprehension.
We would like your child to be reading at home most evenings. Please ensure you sign your child’s book to show that they have read at home and talked about their book with you at least once a week. Reading record books will be checked in our reading session.
 
TT Rocks
Your child should be regularly practising their times tables at home by doing the TT Rocks games online. TTRocks gets to know your child and pitches the questions so that they are practising the right tables for them.  GARAGE is the easiest game and the game that issues the most coins, which they can then spend in the virtual shop. 
 
Mrs Kavanagh and Mrs Humphreys will check each week that your child has been online to play the games. They will be sent home their login details this week and shown how to use TT Rocks in class. 

PE
Our timetabled PE sessions will be on alternate Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Occasionally we may have extra sessions at other times. Please ensure that your child has a full PE kit in school (shorts, t-shirt, trainers, jogging bottoms) every week. PE kits should be brought in on Mondays and taken home for washing on Fridays.
 
We are extremely excited about what we are going to be learning this term. If you have any questions or worries, please let us know.
 
Mrs Kavanagh and Mrs Humphreys