Badger Class
Badger Class 2024 - 2025
Welcome to Badger Class!
Badger Class is our mixed Reception and Year 1 class. Mr Waddington is the class teacher and he is assisted by two wonderful Teaching Assistants, Mrs. Dyer and Mrs Sloanes.
This class page will be regularly updated with news and photos of the exciting learning we have been doing at school.
Please check your child's book bag on a daily basis, as information is often sent home in this.
Our PE days are Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesdays we will be doing our indoor PE learning, and will change at school. Please send children to school in their PE kits on Wednesdays, for our outdoor PE learning.
Daily Check List:
Book bag (YR: with reading book, reading record and Phonics book / Y1: with reading book and reading record)
Coat
Water bottle
Lunch box (If not receiving school dinners)
Reading Records and Reading Books
We will put a phonetically decodable reading book into your child's book bag, which we would like you to share with your child at home*. Please get your child to read their phonetically decodable book at least five times a week and record it in their reading record. Please only record school books in the reading record. These phonetically decodable reading books will be changed weekly on a Friday. The children are great at recalling the stories from memory, so we would ask that you use the word lists in the front of the reading books to practice sounding out and blending the words out of sequence.
Your child will also be choosing a reading for pleasure book each week. This is for you to share with your child at home. When you share this book with your child you can, if you wish to, record it in your child's reading record. Please note: Your child is not expected to read this book, but may be able to sound out and decode some of the words. These books will be changed weekly on a Friday.
(*Please note that at the beginning of the year the reception children will be given picture books without words. They should be encouraged to tell you a story using the pictures. They will be moved onto phonetically decodable books once they have learnt their initial phonics sounds.)
YR Red Phonics Books
Each week we will be learning new Phonics GPCs. Copies of these GPCs will be put in a red phonics book in your child's book bag. Please don't write in or stick anything into these books, they are a record of the GPCs that we learn each week and are for reference so that your children can practice at home with you.
Y1 Red Home Learning Books
Home Learning is set each Friday and is due-in the following Thursday for checking. Home learning is checked but is not formally marked and no grades or scores will be given. Home Learning is an opportunity for the children to practice learning from the previous week, thereby helping them to embed it in their longer term memory. It is also the perfect way to assist us with practising the reading lists and spelling lists.
Our Classroom and Garden
We are very lucky to have a large and wonderful classroom, a sheltered decking area and a large, beautiful garden to play and learn in. If we have any green-fingered family members out there, we would love for you to grow us some 'safe' plants and flowers for our garden.
Our Curriculum:
Please click on the links below to check out the learning that the children will be doing this term.
Badger Class English Medium Term Plan YR
Badger Class English Medium Term Plan Y1
Badger Class Math Medium Term Plan YR
Badger Class Math Medium Term Plan Y1
Badger Class Long Term Plan 2024-2025
Our Phonics Learning:
We follow the FFT Success for all Phonics scheme. Please use the link below to access the parent portal. You will find lots of useful information and resources to help you support your child with their phonics learning and development.
https://parents.fft.org.uk/tips-for-home-reading/
Baseline Assessments
Please find a PDF about the Reception Baseline Assessments below:-
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Our Learning Journey
Week 3
Reception children have begun their Phonics learning this week and have been learning the letter names and letter sounds for s, a, t, p. With this they have also been learning how to form and write these letters. It is something that they have really enjoyed and often choose to do when given choosing time. In maths we looked at spotting arrangements of one, two and three around us and within collections of objects. In PE Year 1 and Year R went out and learnt some football skills which is really good for gross motor skill development, they also spent some time in the shade cooling down which is important for their self-care. The construction area was really popular this week and we had all sorts of wonderful and wacky constructions going on. I love that fact that they are so aware of health and safety in the workplace and cone off areas where hard hats must be worn. The year 1 Badger children do get to go out and enjoy the garden with the reception children. It is an important time for the Year 1 children because they get to show the younger children how to play safely in the different areas and be role models for them. It is also an equally important time for the reception children as they are exposed to higher levels of oracy and some great ideas for play.
We also had a lovely visit from Fin the school dog. All of the children were eager to meet him, and it was a lovely way to end the week.
Week 2
We had a wonderful second week at school. We continued with our daily fine motor skills activities, we explored pine cones and sunflowers and we printed and painted some very expressive masterpieces. The Year 1s also began their formal learning in all subjects this week. They have been re-learning the story of the Little Red Hen, a familiar story from last year, to ease them back into writing. The reception children have been practicing mark making and writing their names. The reception children completed some maths sorting activities, and the Year 1s recapped some of their maths learning from last year, including doubles to 10 (and for some children, doubles to 20!). We are looking forward to having the reception children in full-time next week. I hope they are looking forward to it as much as we are!
Week 1
We had a fantastic first week at school. The children have had lots of time playing together and getting to know each other. We have completed our first piece of learning in our English books. The reception children did some lovely mark making and the Year 1s wrote some lovely sentences about their summer holidays. Each morning the reception children have been completing fine motor skill activities so that we strengthen their crocodile fingers and improve their pencil grip. The Year 1 children have begun learning their pre-cursive letter formation. The Year 1s have also started both their Phonics and Shared Reading sessions. Reception children will start their phonics learning in week 3, one they are fully settled in. We also had a visit from Year 6 this week. It was a chance for the Badgers to meet the Year 6s before we match them all up as 'Badger Buddies'.
