Elephant Class 2025-2026

Our Class Teachers are Mrs Simpson and Mrs Beard, and our LSP is Miss Dosanjh

On this page you will find key information about our class. 

We will be using Class Dojo this year to share some of the activities and photographs that we take part in. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask a member of staff. Alternatively, you can drop a message on Class Dojo, and we will get back to you when possible. 

 

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Summer

In the summer term, we cover two more topics.

In summer 1, our topic is 'Amazing Animals'.

The children had a sensational start to the topic as we visited Dudley Zoo. If you take a look at our Class Dojo page, you will be able to find photographs from our wonderful trip!

The children will learn all about different animals, from British birds to nocturnal and diurnal animals, to the life cycles of a butterfly and a frog. During this topic, the children will have the opportunity to watch the life cycle of a butterfly as we have our own caterpillars that we will release when they have emerged from their chrysalis. 

In summer 2, our topic is 'Nurturing Nature'. In this topic, the children will explore a range of vegetables and learn about how they grow. The children will be planting their very own seeds in our provision outside and will observe the changes over the term. We will discover what plants need to grow as well as learn about the life cycle of a bean.

Our fantastic finish to this topic will be providing children with the opportunity to visit Haden Hill park to observe the nature and plants growing within our local area. 

Spring

In the spring term, we cover two different topics.

In spring 1, our topic is 'A ticket to ride'. In this topic, the children will look at and learn about maps, identify key features of the local area, look at transport in the past and the present and begin to learn about a number of countries.

During this topic we will take part in a walk around the local area, Old Hill.

In spring 2, our topic is 'Earth Explorers'. In this topic, the children will begin to name and describe different materials, learn about how to care for the environment before looking at different scientific concepts. During this topic, the children will have the opportunity to construct their own junk-modelled rocket. We will end our topic by looking at melting. Therefore, the children will be making their own 'Gruffalo Crumble' cakes.

 

Autumn

In the autumn term, our topic is 'Marvellous Me'.

We have explored and built on our knowledge of body parts, identifying our features and those of others. We have also compared our similarities and differences. We really enjoyed a visit from a mum and baby, which gave us the opportunity to ask our own questions and compare this to when we were little. 

In Autumn 2, we will now continue our topic of 'Marvellous Me', learning about the importance of exercise, a balanced diet and other ways that we can keep ourselves healthy. In our Personal, Social and Emotional development (PSED) lessons we will begin to celebrate our differences. During maths, we will cover many different topics, including addition, subtraction, pattern, length and shape. 

Finally, we will begin to learn our lines, songs and actions whilst we practise our amazing Christmas production!

 

 

Important Information

Uniform

We know how expensive they can be, so we kindly ask you to label all of your child's uniform to eliminate the risk of any items being lost.

Children can also bring in a named water bottle for use throughout the day. Please make sure this only contains water.  

P.E

Children in Reception have P.E. every Friday.

Please bring the appropriate P.E kit into school in their school P.E. bag.  This will stay in school and be sent home each half-term to be washed. The children should wear a plain white/blue T-shirt, black jogging bottoms or leggings or black shorts in appropriate weather and black P.E pumps or plain black trainers.

Please ensure that your child does not wear earrings on Friday, as this will prevent them from participating in P.E Also, can you ensure that hair is tied up out of the way.

Homework

Children will be sent home with a homework folder that will contain a piece of maths homework and phonics homework for your child to have a go at. These do not need to be handed in, your child can keep them at home or in their book bags.

Phonics homework will contain words for the children to orally blend. Please say these sounds aloud and allow your child to listen and repeat back. There are also words for your child to practise reading. Your child may just start by identifying the graphemes (written sounds) first before having a go at blending the word. 

Homework Menu

In addition to this, a homework menu will be sent out each half-term with a variety of learning activities for your child to choose from.  The activities aim to compliment and consolidate learning that has taken place across the half-term.  

Please share any completed homework as an attachment in a message on the Class Dojo application to allow us to showcase their learning.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask the Reception staff.

Thank you for your support with this.

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Reading at Home:

Reading at home with your child is so important, giving them access to a range of texts to enable them to develop skills such as their spoken language and communication skills is vital in their early stages of development. Please share the books provided by school with your children at home as often as you can.  You can comment on the book and ask your children questions about what is happening or what might happen next.  Please record any comments in your child's reading record.

Remember! 

The more your child reads at home, the closer they will be to achieving their bronze, silver or gold reading awards, and it will be displayed on our trophy wall in class!

Bronze - 45 reads (45 comments in your child's reading record)

Silver – 90 reads (45 additional comments in your child's reading record)

Gold – 135 reads (45 additional comments in your child's reading record)

Platinum – 50 additional reads (50 separate books)

 

 

Little Wandle reading books

Please can we ask that these books are taken care of and are returned. If books are returned damaged or have been lost, unfortunately, a cost may occur. 

If your child has a wordless book, please encourage them to say what they can see in the images, ask your child simple questions e.g., where is the cat?, or support their oral blending by asking, e.g., can you find the d-o-g?, sounding out each phoneme (single letter) within the word. 

If your child has a book with words, please encourage your child to sound out the words before blending together and reading the words and sentences within their book. You may also like to ask your child questions about the book as this will help their comprehension skills. 

If you have any questions regarding your child's Little Wandle reading book, do not hesitate to ask.