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Chilthorne Domer Church School
Together we Love, we Aim High and we Celebrate!
Ash Class
Welcome to Ash Class!
Our Class Teachers are Mrs Stradling and Mrs Carter.
Miss Dare supports our class throughout the week.
Ash Class is where our EYFS (Reception) children learn all about school life and enjoy exploring and playing. Mrs Carter teaches the beginning of the week and Mrs Stradling teaches the end of the week. We are very lucky to have the support of Miss Dare every day of the week!
During the Spring term, we will be focusing on learning our Phase 3 digraphs and trigraphs e.g. ch, sh, air and ear. This will help the learn to read and write new and exciting words like rain, cow and chair. The children will then be able to use their knowledge to write simple sentences. This year, we have been focusing on using key stem sentences that enable the children to build confidence in their writing. So far we have learnt to write 'It is a...', 'It has a...', 'He has...'. During the Spring term we will be able to increase the number of these and include stem sentences like 'I can see...' and 'They are at the...'.
During our English sessions, we will continue to immerse ourselves in a range of stories and use the VIPERS characters to help us with our reading skills including; developing vocabulary, predicting what will help next and sequencing the story. We will begin by reading the story 'Grandma Bird' by Benji Davies. As we move throughout the term, we will also look at non-fiction texts and writing, inspired by real life experiences of hatching chicks in the classroom and visiting newly born lambs. In addition to this, we will explore poetry and perform during the Poetry Podium during celebration collective worship on a Friday.
In Maths, we will consolidate our learning of numbers 0 - 5 and develop our knowledge of number bonds for each of those numbers. We will also begin our journey with understanding and deepening our knowledge with numbers 6 - 10, and how they can be represented in a range of ways. This will also look at the 2D shapes and coins that are linked to the quantities e.g. hexagon for number 6, and how we will need a 5p and a 1p coin to make 6p.
During our Understanding the World sessions, we will be thinking about where we live and what a place is, on a local and global scale.
We are going to have a magical term together.
Our PE day is on Tuesday during Spring 1 and Wednesday during Spring 2 as we will have yoga with the lovely Paula.
Our Christian Values for this term are:
Spring 1: Courage
Spring 2: Forgiveness
Best wishes,
The Ash Class Team
Spring Term Newsletter and Curriculum Map
Online Safety: Sharing Photographs
10th January 2025
Today we learnt all about how when you take a photograph and share it online, the photograph will be able to be seen by many people.
We took this photograph in school today and the children have had the challenge to see if they can spot it at home. This will help them understand that an image taken in one place can be seen in a number of settings if it is shared on the internet.
Well done to our families who took the time to find this photo!
If you would like to find out further information about online safety, you can follow the link below. Episode 2 focuses on sharing photographs.
Autumn Term Curriculum Newsletter and Map
Ash Class Nativity
We loved learning all of the nativity songs during December with all of our friends. It was magical to perform as stars and sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star!'
Learning About Nocturnal Animals
15th November 2024
Today the children watched a little video about animals that come out at night, when we are asleep. We found out that these animals are called nocturnal and this is where they live and sleep:
Bats live in trees or a cave
Badgers live underground in a sett
Foxes live underground in a den
Owls live in the hollow of a tree
Hedgehogs live in bushes, hedges, shrub and leaves
Afterwards, the children had the opportunity to do one of the following activities:
Make repeating patterns.
Play owl bingo.
Make a cone shaped badger.
Cut and stick a fox together.
Trace owl pictures.
Make owls by cutting and sticking.
Drawing a mole.
Learning how to draw an owl step by step.
Children in Need
15th November 2024
Today we dressed up in our home clothes to raise money for those who are less fortunate than us or have a heavier load at home.
Thinking About Remembrance Day
8th November 2024
Today we looked at the special book ‘Why?’ by Nikolai Popov, which focused on how a frog and a mouse both wanted a flower, looking at conflict in an appropriate way for the children. As we read the story, we talked about what we could see in the pictures and answered these questions:
Why are they fighting?
Why can’t they share?
Why aren’t they friends?
We then talked about how on Monday 11th November everywhere in the country will be taking part in Remembrance Day, alternatively known as Poppy Day. This is why we wear poppies. Afterwards, we watched the CBeebies animation: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02qvbd9 and talked about how we are very lucky that we live in a special and safe part of the world but there are still soldiers in wars in different parts of the world.
During exploring time, the children were able to do:
Potato printing of poppies.
Colouring poppies.
Ordering poppies of different sizes.
Using loose parts to make poppies.
Decorating poppies with buttons.
Looking at people and poppies in Remembrance photographs.
Online Safety Lesson with Smartie the Penguin
Wednesday 6th November 2024
During an Online Safety lesson today, Ash Class learnt all about Smartie the Penguin who has to make decisions about when he is connected to the internet.
Smartie had to think about what to do when he saw a pop up, found inaccurate information and what to do when people asked for personal information.
To help Smartie make the right decision, Ash Class learnt this special song. You might find it useful to learn at home as well!
This song is credit to Child Net who provide all of the Online Safety Smartie stories.
Making Soup
24th October 2024
Ash class have been busy learning all about different fruits and vegetables this week. They discussed the names of each item and used their investigative skills to identify if it was a fruit or a vegetable. They then learnt how to create a claw shape to hold vegetables before using their other hand to chop them. All their super efforts then came together to make their very own soup! Some thought it was delicious and others not so much!
The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark
14th October 2024
Ash Class have been listening to lots of wonderful texts as part of reading for pleasure. Last week, they focused on 'The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark' by Jill Tomlinson. As part of this they have been thinking about questions asked by the reading detectives Rex Retriever, Sequencing Suki, Predicting Pip, Vocabulary Victor and Inference Iggy.
After engaging with the story some of the children were inspired to create their own owls at the creative area.
Art: Creating Meadows
12th July 2024
This week we used Brusho ink to make a sky and greenery scene. We then learnt how to print using bits of card and thicker paint to create a grass scene.
The next day, we used our observation skills whilst watching a video about meadows. We then used pencils and colouring pencils to enhance the pictures and make them come alive!
Spirals in Ash Class
Thursday 18th April 2024
Ash Class have been exploring spirals today in their Expressive Arts and Design session. They began by making a tiny dot on their paper and then used their hands and arms to make the spiral move outwards, whilst listening to calming classical music.
At the end of our session, the children walked around their art work in their own art gallery
Chicks Arrive in Ash Class
Saturday 30th March 2024
Ash Class have had another wonderful experience this week. They have been lucky enough to watch eggs in an incubator hatch into chicks, right in front of their very own eyes.
The excitement that this created was wonderful. A huge thank you to our Chair of Governors and his wife for creating this opportunity for the children. The chicks are now safely back in the countryside ready to grow.
Ash Class learning about now and in the past
Ash class children have been learning about significant people in our lifetime. To begin with they learnt all about King Charles III who is our monarch now. Coincidently, we received this framed picture of King Charles (along with every school in the country) to hang in our school which helped us see how important he is.
Afterwards, the children learnt about Queen Elizabeth II and how she is a monarch from our past. (In the Early Years, everything that has happened before now is thought about as the past.)
It was interesting to compare both of their coronations and identify how life has changed over time.
Visiting Lambs
Ash Class were extremely lucky to venture out on a welly walk to visit some ewes and their lambs this morning. Our Chair of Governors always provides this first hand experience for our children and we are so very grateful.
Planting
This week the children have begun to look at the different parts of a plant e.g. roots, stem, leaves, petals and seeds. They also had the chance to plant some sunflowers!
Building Houses for the Three Little Pigs
The children in Ash Class have been learning about the traditional tale 'The Three Little Pigs.' As part of their learning, they had the challenge to visit the forest area and try to build a house for the pigs to live in. They had so much fun!
Activities to help your child:
Useful Websites to Support Your Child's Learning at Home
Below are some of our favourite games in Ash Class. Please visit the sites to support your child's learning at home.
Topmarks: www.topmarks.co.uk
We use this website to support our learning with maths. It has lots of wonderful games and can direct you to lots of other websites within it as well.
Our favourite games to play are listed below.
Reception Children:
Underwater Counting
Children count the number of items in the ocean and select the matching numeral.
Caterpillar Ordering
Children can order numbers to 10, then 20 and work up to 100, through the different levels.
Place Value Basketball
This is where the children need to think about which number is being represented e.g. how many tend and how many ones. The children can start at the first level with numbers to 20 and then move up to numbers to 100 if they so wish.
Shape Pattern Train:
Children can complete repeating patterns - adding on the next shape.
Toy Shop Money:
Children should make amounts, counting in 1p coins.
Year 1 Children:
Place Value Basketball
This is where the children need to think about which number is being represented e.g. how many tens and how many ones. The children can start at the first level working to numbers to 20 and move up to numbers to 100.
Caterpillar Ordering:
The children can order their numbers to 100, placing the tiles in order. They can also sequence the numbers in 2s.
Shape Pattern Train:
Children should complete the repeating pattern, changing 1, 2 or 3 components at one time.
Toy Shop Money:
Children should make amounts using 1p coins, 2p coins, 5p coins and 10p coins.
Mental Maths Train:
Children can find the answer, following an addition and subtraction calculation.
Phonics Play: www.phonicsplay.co.uk
Reception Children: In class, we have been focusing on Phase 2,3 and 4 in our phonics sessions. We have also begun to look into split digraphs and alternative ways of writing a sound in Phase 5.
Year 1 Children: In class, we still revisit Phase 3 and 4 to help us consolidate our phonic knowledge, as well as playing the games for Phase 5 where our main learning takes place.
We use the free games in school and these are our favourite ones to help us develop our learning:
Buried Treasure
Picnic on Pluto
Dragon's Den
Pick a Picture
You will notice that some words are 'alien' (pseudo) words. These encourage the children to practise their phonic skills and ensure they have a secure understanding of them, rather than recognising them through sight. It is important that children are immersed with 'real' and 'pseudo' words.