24.10.25

First of all can I say thank you for the support you have shown this week .You have baked cakes and bought cakes for our guide dog appeal. You have turned out to support us on the great tech trek and have given generously and raised sponsorship from your family and friends. Then supported our PTA at the Halloween disco. It is fabulous to see everyone working together to support our children and the wider community. We are very grateful to have your support so thank you.

The children were superstars when the whole school took part in our sponsored walk and everyone made it even the smallest legs.

In phonics this week we have been revising our level 2 sounds with a big emphasis on writing both the lower case and capital letters.  We are still working hard on blending the sounds into words.

Nursery children have continued to identify sounds, copy rhythms and find objects and pictures that begin with a given sound.

Our language focus this week has been talking in full sentences and extending them. The children have been using on, under, in and behind to describe where Tizzy is. We have discussed any possessions which are precious to us and why we like them so much.

Maths.- This week’s activities have focussed on further developing the skills of comparing quantities. The children have been encouraged to compare the number of objects in 2 sets by matching them 1:1. Seeing that objects in some sets can be matched without any being left drew the children’s attention to instances when the quantities of objects are equal.

Language has been a key focus we have reinforced the language of ‘more than’, ‘fewer than’ and ‘an equal number’ to describe how many objects there are in each set. As the focus this week is on countable things, ‘fewer than’ is used rather than ‘less than’ and ‘more than’ is used rather than ‘greater than’.

We have been reading the story “Where’s my Teddy?” and introduced measuring with a non standard unit to compare the height of toys.

Guide dogs – The children learnt all about the training a guide dog needs before it can work. They were able to see the harness and know how a guide dog can take it’s owner to an empty seat, guide them to the stairs and how they guide their owners around obstacles. They were also able to meet Jacob the ambassador dog.

We have had lots of fun making spiders, painting monsters, fishing spider’s out of jelly, and using our cutting skills to decorate a pumpkin. We have worked our fine motor skills hammering pegs into a pumpkin and then used it to practice using a knife and fork.

Have a lovely week together and we look forward to seeing you all back on the 3^rd November.

Follow this link to see more of our activities this half term. https://www.crosscanonby.cumbria.sch.uk/photo-galleries

 

Thanks

Mrs Mogford

 

17.10.25

Didn’t they do well in our Harvest assembly. I hope you enjoyed the video on do jo. We are so proud of them.

In phonics our Reception children have learnt another 4 sounds. ss, ll, ff, s saying z at the end of words, and are learning the tricky words the, to, I, no and go. They are working extremely hard and are practising blending the sounds they know into words. We are also working on segmenting words into their individual sounds and then writing them down using the handwriting rhymes to help us.

Nursery children have been listening to instrumental sounds and identifying which instrument, playing fast and slow and loud and soft.

The focus in early talk boost was action words e g running, hopping, eating, brushing etc. The children put them into a sentence and some children extended their sentences.

This week we made flapjack and put a bit of grated apple in it to make it a little healthier. They had a treat on Tuesday when Miss Turnbull did an activity chopping and tasting lots of different fruit and I heard one child saying “ we need to use the bridge method” and lots of the children were brave enough to try new fruits.

In PSHE we have talked about being responsible and discussed the things that they might be able to take responsibility for.

Maths - This week, the children have continue to engage with activities that underline the purpose of counting – to find out ‘how many’ objects there are altogether. They have reinforced their understanding of cardinality – that the last number in the count tells us ‘how many’ things there are altogether in a set of objects – and they will further practise their 1:1 correspondence skill, by counting numbers at the same time as moving or tagging objects.

A key focus this week is deepening their understanding of 5 as a quantity by linking the number itself to the 5 fingers on one hand. The children will also begin to explore ways to represent numbers to 5 using both their fingers and the Hungarian number pattern ( the pattern on a dice. These key representations will help to underline the ‘fiveness’ of 5 and provide structures that will support later exploration of its composition and its relationships with other numbers. Some children were able to explore groups of five to find how many altogether.

Thank you for your support to raise money for our new I pads .We are looking forward to our tech trek on Wednesday and hope some of you can join us .Please let us know if you are able to walk with your nursery or Reception child so that we know who will be with a parent or carer.Thanks.

 

10.10.25

In phonics our Reception children have learnt another 4 sounds. h, b, f, l, and are learning the tricky words the, to, I, no and go. They are working extremely hard and are practising blending the sounds they know into words. We are also working on segmenting words into their individual sounds and then writing them down using the handwriting rhymes to help us.

Nursery children have been listening to the sounds they can make around school and with musical instruments. They have been making loud and soft noises and fast and slow.

They have been listening to the initial sounds in words.

The children are enjoying the Early Talk Boost programme. This week the vocabulary has been based around big and little. The children have continued to orally retell the story of the Little Red Hen and are trying to write the names of some of the characters.

We made our own bread just like the Little Red Hen and enjoyed eating it at snack time. We measured the ingredients, mixed the dough and strengthened our hands and fingers as we kneaded the bread.

In Maths our focus has been the comparing of quantities using the language of comparison to describe sets of objects that they can see. We have used the language more than and fewer than to compare sets of objects. Fewer than is used rather than less than because the focus has been on countable things.

We have begun to look at capacity identifying what we can fit into different sized boxes.

Our music lesson allowed the children to have a go on xylophones and they could experience playing loud, soft, fast and slow and playing high notes and low notes.

Our Autumn theme has continued and we have enjoyed exploring and sorting leaves and conkers. They had the opportunity to make clay tiles and made imprints into them with leaves and fir cones.

In PSHE we thought about all the positive things we can use our hands for. The children came up with lots of ideas and made the link with the idea that hands should be kind.

In RE we tasted lots of different sorts of bread. We talked about how bread is eaten all over the world and helps people not to be hungry. We then talked about thankfulness and said what we were thankful for related to food.

Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our Harvest Assembly next Thursday.

 

 

3.10.25

This week in phonics the nursery children have been trying really hard to distinguish rhymes and have been listening for the first sound in a word.

Reception children have learnt the sounds ck, e, r u  so they are now practising reading three letter words with all the sounds that they have been taught. Oral segmenting continues – splitting words into separate sounds and we are having a go at writing these down. Letter formation is practised every day. I will be putting a twinkl log in on dojo soon which will enable the children to practise their phonics skills at home.

 We have continued the Early Talk Boost programme. This week we have learnt vocabulary that enables us to describe food and have talked about our favourite food .

The children have continued to work on the story of The Little Red Hen and have been able to sequence the story and re tell it in their own words speaking in longer sentences.

Maths continued practising our subitising and making arrangements of numbers three and four .Then using positional language to describe the patterns. They have been noticing if objects have been moved, added to or taken away.

We have learnt the vocabulary lighter and heavier and made human balance scales. We then used balance scales to weigh two items and say which was heavier and lighter.

Cooking vanilla biscuits was a big hit this week and the children enjoyed eating them. Some children showed real skill and told me that they cooked with relatives at home.

In PSHE we have spent some time thinking about how our actions affect others and particularly focused on sharing.

We read stories with scenarios about anger and discussed strategies which will help us calm down ,whilst reinforcing that we need kind hands and feet and use kind words even if we are angry.

We enjoyed a walk around the field and picked up leaves and looked at flowers and trees looking for signs of Autumn. The leaves have been used to make some impressive hedgehogs.

In music we had the chance to play guitars which everyone enjoyed and we played instruments loudly, quietly, fast and slow.

A very busy and successful week.

 

29.9.25

This week in phonics the nursery children have been exploring the sounds different objects make. Listening to sounds in the environment and trying to distinguish the first sound in a word.

Reception children have learnt the sounds g, o, c, k, so they are now practising reading three letter words with all the twelve sounds that they have been taught. Oral segmenting continues – splitting words into separate sounds and we are having a go at writing these down. Letter formation is practised every day.

We have continued the Early Talk Boost programme. This week we have continued to practise our listening skills and reinforced good listening behaviours. Another book will come home today for you to share together.

We have continued to develop our speaking in sentences based around the story Avocado baby and have begun to learn the story of the Little Red Hen off by heart.

This week in Maths, the children have explored how numbers can be composed of 1s and, from this, begin to investigate the composition of 3 and 4. Composing and de-composing numbers involves children investigating part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2. The children will learn from practical experience that a ‘whole’ is made up of smaller parts and is, therefore, bigger than its parts.

The children have experienced subitising small quantities and will use their skills to identify the numbers within 3 and 4.

They have begun to recognise that 3 and 4 can be made by combining sets in different ways. When children are able to compose and flexibly de-compose numbers mentally, they will become more fluent in their knowledge of number bonds, and be able to use these efficiently when calculating in KS1 and KS2. Reception children are beginning to try to write the numbers as well.

The children collected groups of 3 objects and some of them made several groups and then calculated how many altogether.

In their play some of the children gave the dolls a tea party and made sure they all had the same amount.

We made banana cake for our snack this week and everyone at least had a little taste.

In RE we celebrated the variety of food God gives us and made a fruit salad.

We spent some time naming different emotions and the children were able to tell me from their own experience what might make them angry, sad, excited or happy.

It’s been a real joy this week hearing children singing to themselves as they play.

 

19.9.25

It’s lovely to see the new nursery children happily leaving their parents and becoming more confident in the environment.

In phonics the nursery children are playing games to help them distinguish between different sounds.

Reception have learnt another 4 sounds i, n, m, and d .With a lot of support we are practising blending words with the 8 letters already taught and at the same time segmenting words  – really listening to the component parts. I have sent some more words to continue practising blending at home.

We have begun sessions following the Early talk Boost programme and it starts with practising our listening skills and behaviours for listening to each other. The children will bring home a book today to read together. It introduces the characters in the scheme.

We have done lots of talking about stories and about our own experiences and are getting braver at speaking aloud. We have discussed our favourite foods and tried to write them with the sounds that we know.

In Maths the emphasis has been counting accurately and the strategies we can use to help us. Counting is needed for larger numbers that cannot be subitised. They have been learning that the last number in the count tells you how many things there are altogether. They are working on recognising numerals and matching numbers to sets.

We made marks to represent our favourite colours and put them into a graph.

As they move through Reception, children will begin to develop their counting skills, organising and counting larger sets of a wide range of objects. They will become secure enough with their counting skills to be able to count out a set of objects from a larger set, remembering the ‘stopping number’ and knowing that this means they have selected the correct number in total. They will be able to use counting skills in a range of contexts, including counting things that cannot be seen (for example, the number of times a ball is heard bouncing) or using counting to measure time (for example, when playing ‘hide and seek’).

Moving objects to count is a skill that can be used across the curriculum – for example, counting out objects to help make patterns or counting objects that are used as non-standard measures.

We have also explored different ways to sort objects by colour, size, shape, number of holes in a button etc.

In PE they followed instructions and waited for turns on the indoor equipment. Balancing on benches and jumping hurdles and ladders and bouncing on the trampoline.

In RE we have looked at maps and where fruit and vegetables grow. We talked about fruits that grow only in warm countries and found out where our favourite fruit and vegetables grow.

Lots of fun has been had in the craft and painting area – exploring Autumn colours and printing and making silhouettes of leaves.

Well done everyone – we have had a brilliant week.

 

 

Class blog 12.9.25

Our first full week has been completed and we have achieved so much learning.

Most of the Reception baselines have been completed and we have begun to get into a regular routine.

Phonics has begun daily . Reception have learnt their first 4 sounds and have had a go at blending them into words .We have also continued lots of games to practise our oral blending and segmenting skills. We are learning to form each letter correctly as we go and we are trying extremely hard. I have put in their book bags some words to have a try at if you would like to over the next week and a mini reading book that you can look at together and talk about.

In English we have drawn our family and begun to read our new text Avacado baby. We had a look at an avocado and those that were brave enough had a taste. We talked about their experience of babies and what they thought a baby needed and what they are able to do.

In maths this week, the children will be encouraged to quantify sets of objects by subitising, rather than counting. When subitising, children can say how many there are in a small group of objects by ‘just seeing’ and knowing straightaway without needing to count.

Subitising can be categorised as ‘perceptual’ or ‘conceptual’. Perceptual subitising is used for very small sets of objects (initially up to about 3) and conceptual subitising is used when sub-groups can be perceived within a larger set and the whole is recognised, e.g. if 6 dots are arranged in a dice pattern, children may recognise this as ‘two 3s’ and know this is 6. Some arrangements are easier to subitise than others, e.g. a set of 3 dots arranged in a triangular pattern may be easier to recognise than a random arrangement, and children need to be exposed to many different arrangements.

The focus for this week has been perceptual subitising. It is important that adults working with children are aware that the aim is to support children in moving away from counting for sets that can be subitised, so avoid counting ‘to check’ unless necessary. If a child names an incorrect quantity, an adult might make a suggestion such as, I think when your friend looked, they saw 3; let’s have another look, before counting if the child is still unsure.

The activities this week provide opportunities for children to:

• represent the number in a given set using different objects – e.g. showing the same number on their fingers
• name quantities with number words, (e.g. “I can see 3.”)
• match sets to numerals
• make their own arrangements that can be subitised.

Some activities are aimed at supporting children in identifying small groups of 2 or 3 within a larger set, without needing to quantify the whole set. This will support them in identifying 2s and 3s in different arrangements and will help them when they begin to move towards conceptual subitising.

Subitising is an essential feature of developing number sense. It can support children’s understanding of cardinality when counting (where the last number in a count identifies the number in the set) as they link a known quantity such as 3 with the counting sequence ‘1, 2, 3’. Subitising will also help children to identify groups and units in a repeating pattern.

We have compared groups of objects saying the language – more than,fewer than and recognising when they are the same.

White rose maths has an app called 1 minute maths which reception children have had a go with to practise their subitising skills. It's free to download.

This week we made cheese scones and ate them for our snack. They learnt a new skill -rubbing the butter into the flour and were brave enough to have a taste.

We have mixed some paint colours and printed with apples.

In RE we looked at pictures of the natural world and the animals and plants, fish and birds that God has created. We talked about their favourite thing that God has created.

Everyone was looking very tired today so have a good weekend with lots of rest.

 

Class blog 5.9.25

 

This week we have spent three days getting to know our new children and settling the other children back in. The children are very tired but have been amazing and happy to be back among their friends.

We have been exploring our new areas in the classroom and practising how to put things back when we have finished and have been learning how to play together and to sometimes have to wait for a turn.

We have had a big focus on saying please and thank you – thankfulness is our Christian value for this half term.

The children have had opportunities to talk about their holidays and to tell us all about the special people in their lives and have enjoyed lots of stories and singing.

The new children have coped brilliantly with dinner time, PE and music with Andy and Mr Clarke. We are encouraging the children to try the vegetables and to use a knife and fork. It would be lovely if you could reinforce this message at home.

They enjoyed baking apple muffins and everybody tried one.

I have been impressed the children’s independence skills. Please allow them to keep practising putting on shoes, coats jumpers etc on their own.

Reminder- Please can every child bring a full change of clothes and a book bag for letters ,paintings and books so that the books aren’t damaged in rucksacks.

Enjoy a lovely weekend together and we'll see you all next week.

Thank you

The Early Years Team.