Butterfly Class
A very big welcome to the children starting school in September and the Year Ones who are returning to Butterfly Class. We are a mixed Reception and Year One class.
Your class teacher is Mrs Waters and the teaching assistants are Miss Hardiman and Mrs Smith. We are here to help support you settle into school life and teach you lots of new and exciting things!
Our Learning Environment
We have a fantastic learning environment in Butterfly Class. We love exploring our outdoor area and using it to be creative.
We have lots of resources including bricks, pebbles, sand, wooden planks, guttering and milk crates. We have an area where we can dress up and act out stories. We have a sand pit, a digging area and a huge mud kitchen.
Inside we love to build in the construction area and make things in our creative area, paint or draw. We also have a great book corner.
Please click on this document to see our Year 1 Curriculum Map and all the different subjects we will be learning this year.
We are currently following Map A.
Class Author – Term 3 and 4
Our class author is Julia Donaldson. She has an incredible range of children’s literature. She has written more than 100 plays and books for children and teenagers. She also served as a children’s laureate from 2011-2013. Her website is definitely worth a look:
https://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/
Term 4
Our theme within EYFS this term is ‘Once Upon a Time’. We began with the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ as a HUGE beanstalk appeared in our classroom after half term!
Science – Plants
We planted lots of seeds including strawberries, cress, beans and carrots. We will observe them growing and learn what a plant needs to survive.
We have been practising using tools to improve our fine motor control and co-ordination. In this activity, we used scissors to cut leaves.
This gross motor activity helped us to improve our gross motor strength, co-ordination and stability. We climbed up the beanstalk using our arms and legs in the bear crawl position.
We have been looking at different non-fiction texts about plants and identifying different plants and seeds in our classroom.
We have been learning the name of wild flowers and looking for them around the school. We enjoyed our wild flower hunt. We used lots of rich vocabulary to describe the colour and shapes of different flowers.
In Design and Technology this term, we have been learning to use a range of joining methods. We made moving pictures using mechanisms. We also made sliders and see-saw levers.
We had lots of fun making Easter nests!
FIRST HAND EXPERIENCES!
We had a fantastic visit from two dental nurses who taught us how to look after our teeth and brush them correctly. Thank-you to Mrs Lake!
We also had a first aid training from Wiltshire Air Ambulance. We now know what to do in an emergency!
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Term 3
Our theme within EYFS this term is ‘Superheroes and People Who Help Us!’
Our Class Artist
We will learn about the author and illustrator David McKee in our art sessions this term.
We read the story ‘Supertato’ and learnt the word ‘villain’ as our word of the day. The children then used tweezers to improve their fine motor skills and capture the villain Evil Pea!
We enjoyed exploring frozen ice. We discussed ‘freezing’ and ‘melting’ and thought about how we could melt the ice quicker. We experimented using water and the sunlight.
In our art sessions, we have been learning to roll and pinch clay to create an imprinted sculpture.
The children have been really excited to create story maps for their own superhero stories this term.
We have also seen lots of independent writing using our phonics skills.
FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE
History – Toys
Our model text in English is the story ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We had a visit from the Big Bad Wolf as our ‘hook’. We hot-seated the wolf to ask him questions about his awful behaviour towards the pigs! We have been testing different materials to find out which material is the best to make the little pigs houses from. We have used lots of scientific vocabulary – waterproof, absorbent, hard, soft, transparent, translucent and opaque.
Our story map of The Three Little Pigs
Retelling ‘The Three Little Pigs’ story
Inventing our own ‘Defeat the Monster’ story!
We have been learning the names of everyday materials in Science this term. We can now name objects and the materials they are made from.
We have been carrying out science experiments to test materials to find out if they are waterproof or absorbent. We used our predicting skills, then carried out our tests.
The cold weather has given us the opportunity to explore the season of Winter in Science. We have used our senses to describe the changes in our environment and carried out simple ‘freezing’ and ‘melting’ experiments.
We have been thinking about our ‘Dreams and Goals’ for the future in our PSHE sessions. We discussed how we all have successes. We thought about the things we find challenging and how we overcome a challenge. The children were set a challenge to build a tower in pairs, using encouraging words to help their friend. They all worked together as a team to complete their challenge. We thought about our dreams for future careers. There were lot of ideas – doctor, vet, builder, fire fighter, policeman, teacher, ballerina and mad scientist were a few that were mentioned!
First Hand Experience!
Butterfly Class were really lucky to have a visit from PC Ferguson and Sargeant Goldring today. They brought in a police vehicle and showed us how the blue flashing light and siren worked. The siren was very loud and we had to cover our ears! The children found out all about the role of a police officer and confidently asked lots of questions. They enjoyed learning about the objects the police officers carry on their vests.
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Class Author – Term 1 and 2
Our class author is Smriti Halls. She is an award-winning children’s author who explores relationships and identity through a range of fun and mischievous characters!
She has great stories recorded on her website:
Term 2
Our theme within EYFS this term is 'Festivals and Celebrations'
Non-Fiction Instructions
Our model text 'How to Make Maracas'
We innovated our instructions and acted out 'How to catch a goblin'
In English this term, we have been learning Non-Fiction Instructions. We used the model text ‘How to Make Maracas’ and followed the instructions to make the maracas as our ‘hook’ lesson.
We had a visit from the Bridge Project who told us about the ‘Colours of Christmas’ and shared the Christmas story with the children.
In D.T, we will explore a range of skills including: spreading, joining, mechanisms, junk modelling and making pop up cards.
These are the jam sandwiches we made to take to the moon, following reading the story ‘Whatever Next’. We enjoyed learning to use a knife to spread jam and butter.
In History, we are learning about Remembrance Day. We sequenced simple historical events to learn when WW1 started. We used photographs to find out why we have Remembrance Day. We discussed why the poppy is a symbol of Remembrance. Finally, We visited St Lawrence church to see the war graves. This was a FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE!
We really enjoyed being historians and finding out about the past.
Our model text 'Topsy Turvy' by Pie Corbett
Our innovated ideas!
For our second English unit, we will be learning narrative poetry. Our model text is a brilliant poem called ‘Topsy Turvy’ by Pie Corbett, which the children loved to perform. We also learnt many nursery rhymes and enjoyed acting them out on our outdoor stage!
We had a Topic Day for British Values and Remembrance Day.
In computing, we are learning about digital photography. We used an ipad and learnt how to take a good picture. We practised using ‘landscape’ and ‘portrait’ settings.
Butterfly Class and Owl Class performed our school nativity 'Hey Ewe' to the school and their parents. They were fantastic!
AWE AND WONDER!
We went to explore St Lawrence Church and appreciate it. We saw many different features in the church and the children were excited and enthused to ask many questions.
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Term 1
Our theme within EYFS this term was 'Marvellous Me!'
Butterfly Class have been learning the story ‘The Little Red Hen’ for their Talk for Writing text. We have been retelling the story on our stage in the outside area and hot-seating the characters.
We made bread in a bag as our ‘hook’ for the Little Red Hen story. Then we baked the bread and enjoyed eating it!
In Geography we are learning about ‘Our Village – Stratford-sub-Castle’. We went on a welly walk around the village. We followed a map and looked out for local features including the church, school, houses and river. We found out that our school is in a valley, at the bottom of a hill which leads to Old Sarum.
We are excited to be geographers and explore our local environment!
In History this term, we are learning about the history of ‘Our School’. We found out when our school was built and what life was like during this time. We looked at photographs of the school and discussed the similarities and differences over time.
We are improving our computing skills!
In Computing, the Year Ones are learning the basic features of a computer – keyboard, monitor, mouse, base unit and screen.
They are using a simple art program to discover how to select tools to draw a picture. They will then be learning to use the keyboard to type a sentence and save their work.
We are exploring print, collage, sculpture, paint mixing, drawing and textiles in our art sessions this term. This is our class display.
We have been learning the name of wild flowers and looking for them around the school. We enjoyed our wild flower hunt. We used lots of rich vocabulary to describe the colour and shapes of different flowers.