Welcome to Robins Class!

Every day in Robins class is a new, exciting adventure! Our children learn that they are part of a new, wonderful team, not only as a member of Robins class but also as a part of our whole school and the wider community. By learning through play, we help our Robins to become independent, confident learners. They have some structured, adult-directed sessions, but we also let the children decide how they want to learn, with access to a wide range of resources and an emphasis on 'having a go.'

We are are so lucky that our school is in such a wonderful rural environment and we like to have the flexibility to get out and about and make the most of this. So that we are able to do this, please could the children have a pair of named wellies that we can keep in school so that we are ready to take our learning outside.

Our Robins class team are Mrs. Rhoades (Monday, Wednesday and Friday), Mrs. Stacey (Wednesday and Thursday), Mrs. Waters (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) and Mrs. Christmas (Thursday and Friday).

Term 4 - What Do We Know About The Past? Once Upon a Time.

This term we will be using traditional tales to think about what things were like in the past. We will be developing as historians by looking carefully at illustrations in our focus texts and talking about what is different about the clothes people wear and the houses they live in. We will also be thinking carefully about the vocabulary of these tales and how they are structured. Our key texts are Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs and Jack and the Beanstalk. We will also look at non-fiction books about the past. 

Term 3- What Changes in winter? Hot and cold places.

  Welcome back to our third term in Robins and a whole new year! This term, we will be geographers!

We will be investigating hot and cold regions of the world and comparing life there to our own experiences in and around Winterslow. We will focus on Africa and the Polar Regions thinking about where they are on the globe, what the weather is like and why and what kinds of animals live in these places. Please take a look at our curriculum grid for more details about all our subjects areas.

Our key texts this term are Winter Sleep- a hibernation story, Handa's Surprise and Lost and Found.

Following on from our Phonics information talk, here is the presentation for those who could not make it or if you would like to access any of the information.

 We started the term by going outside to look at what Winterslow is like in winter. The children investigated the ice and snow, listened to the sound of it crunching under their feet, saw how low the sun is in winter and how it shines through the branches of the bare trees. We listened and noticed that there were not many birds singing and one of the children commented that the breeze 'feels icy on my face!' We read about how animals behave in winter and learnt about hibernation and migration. We were very lucky that the world was actually 'sparkling' for us!

  We have also been learning about the importance of zero and noticing the patterns of 'one more' and 'one less' using a variety of resources and images. We continue to learn new phonic sounds and are practicsing recognising and writing new digraphs. As we investigate hot places and compare them with where we live, out role play area has become Handa's house and we have looked at and made pictures of African animals. We have used Google Earth to zoom in and notice what Africa looks like and where it is on the globe and used non-fiction books to learn more about where Handa lives.

As we come to the end of this term, we have been looking at what it is like in the coldest places on Earth! We have learnt that penguins only live in the Antarctic and polar bears in the Arctic. We have used our key text, Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers, to explore the characters and have even used the B-bots to navigate across the oceans just like in the story. The children have continued to practise their phonics and letter formation both in their books and using water and brushes outside and we have learnt about 6, 7 and 8 and the different ways that they can be made using smaller numbers. We have looked at the different types of penguins that exist and how different they are in size- the emperor penguin is as big as some of our Robins! On our welly walks we have built dens for African animals and explored the windy days using floaty fabrics. We have also created some wonderful art work around African and polar animals and explored African drumming.

Here are some useful websites to use with your child at home...