Thank you!
We were blown away with the fantastic video that you made for us. A huge thank you for being absolute superstars and to your parents as well for helping to put together such a great video, it was a really lovely gesture.

Here is a little message from me:

A message from Miss Key:

To all the amazing children in Y Garth, 

You have all been fantastic this year, proper little superstars. We have had so much fun learning together. I have enjoyed hearing all about your news and listening to your wonderful stories and of course, your funny jokes, that always make me laugh : )

Keep sharing those lovely smiles! I hope you have a great summer. 
 

From Miss key.

A message from Mrs.Hargreaves:

Thank you for your lovely video message. I will miss you all very much and I'm sure you will carry on shining throughout your time in year one. For those of you who are lucky enough to stay with us I look forward to seeing you blossom in our new class family and being a part of helping you grow. Enjoy your summer holidays and stay safe. 

Sending hugs and smiles 

From Mrs Hargreaves 

I have uploaded a video in our shared file on HWB. This is just a little snapshot of our year in Reception. So many great memories : )

Alternatively, copy and paste the link below: 

https://www.j2e.com/penygawsi-primary-school/Mrs.Dollman/Reception+19+20/ 


I hope you have the best summer holiday. Have lots of fun, stay safe and we'll see you all in September.

Da boch chi ffrindiau : )

Mrs.Dollman, Miss Key, Mrs.Hargreaves, Miss Morgan & Mrs.Ross

Well, I can't quite believe this is our last week of the school year. It certainly has been a year like no other! Even though your time in Reception wasn't as long as we would have liked, we still have lots of great memories to take with us. You have learned lots of new skills and have made a great start on your learning journey in Penygawsi.

It has been very different and a bit strange learning at home, however you have done a great job and I am really proud of all of the hard work you have continued to do week after week whilst the school has been closed. 
You are all superstars!!

I'd like to say a big thank you to all of your Mums and Dads, brothers and sisters and any other special people in your family who have helped you with your learning at home. It has been challenging on times and we have all approached it in our own ways and that's ok. The children are happy and healthy and will forever hold fantastic lockdown memories of their time spent togeher with you at home. 

Thank you for all of your kind words and support this year. I have really enjoyed teaching the children and am very lucky that I will get the chance to continue with some and take their learning forward as they move into Year 1.



For the final week, I'd like you to take some time to recap and reflect on the things you have learned. Talk about what you have enjoyed and what new skills you can do now? Have you found anything tricky and still need to practise? Why? Set yourselves some targets/challenges for next year - what would you like to learn or be able to do next?

Task 1: Recap your sounds & HFW

• Recap and practise to read your letter sounds and HFW. Colour in and update the balloons and word fish in your home-learning books. If there are new sounds you have learned with Rosie from RWI, you could make a new page with sounds to colour. 

• If there are still some sounds or words you are unsure of, practise to read and write these again using some of the ideas we have already explored. The RWI videos are also still available on YouTube. 

• If you can confidently read all of the sounds, now have a look more closely at capital letters. Choose a sound - do you know what it's capital letter looks like. Talk about when we use a capital letter...

• I have shared some resources to practise your capital letters on HWB.

 Task 2: Summer

Let's recap the four seasons. What season is it now? What do you know about Summer? How is it different to the other seasons? Which season is your favourite? 

• Go for a walk and look for signs of Summer. You could even do this at the beach :  )

• I have shared some Summer themed maths resources to recap some of the skills we have been working on this year. There are two different booklets with different levels of challenge. Please choose the one most suitable for your child. We would like them to be able to complete them as independently as possible. You could dip in to both booklets, if you feel they are stronger with some skills that others.

Task 3: Photo timeline

• I'd like you to think about how much you have grown and all of the new skills you have learned and developed since you were a baby. 

•  Have a look through photos of you at different ages from newborn baby right up until now. Talk about how you have changed. What can you do now that you couldn't when you were a baby?

• Can you put the photos in order to create your own timeline? Write a sentence about each picture.

• Talk about the years to come - What would you like to learn as you grow up? What might you be able to do when you are 10? 18?

 Daily Mindful Challenge

If your child has any items left in school such as wellies or spare clothing, they will be available to collect from outside the office on Wednesday. Any items not collected will be donated to charity. 

Have a lovely week.

Diolch
Mrs.Dollman

Wythnos 6

It was lovely to see lots of you last week. We had a few tears and nervous tummies at the start of the day which quickly turned into smiles and laughter. The children were all fantastic! They loved spending time with their friends and adapted really quickly into our new routines.

We had lots of fun making fairy doors and hiding them around the school for our friends in different 'bubbles' to find. Due to the weather, some groups were unable to go out and hide/find them, so we will do it this week. 

This week we will be having a rainbow day in our bubbles. Please can you wear something with a rainbow on or something multicoloured? You could try to wear as many rainbow colours as you can or choose your favourite colour of the rainbow to wear. 


Task 1: Create your own superhero

This term we have done lots of work about superheroes and people who help us. Now, I'd like you to think of everything you have learnt and use it to help you create and design your very own superhero. You could try and link the two themes e.g. 'Super Postie' or 'Captain Doctor'.

• First, design your superhero What costume will they wear? Will they have a mask or a cape or maybe a shield? You could draw, paint or decorate your superhero with collage materials.

• Then, write about it. Can you include: their name, a simple description of what they look like,  a list of their superpowers? 

Task 2: Moving in given directions

This week, we are focussing on moving in different directions. Practise to follow simple instructions to move in given directions e.g. skip forward, turn to the door, jump backwards. 

Talk about things that turn; wheels, clocks, cogs etc.

**If you fancy a challenge, you could practise to make whole and half turns. 

Some ideas to explore: 

• Create an obstacle course outside and work with your family to give/follow directions as you move around it.
• Use a remote control or programmable toy. Can you describe the movements/directions?  Maybe you could be a robot who has to follow your controller's instructions.

•  If you have an ipad or iphone, you can download the 'bee bot' app for free.

• Login to HWB -> j2e -> jit5 ->turtle. There are lots of different scenes and objects/characters to guide around.  

• 

Task 3: Parts of the body  
Let's learn more about the parts of our body.

• Sing heads, shoulders, knees and toes. Make up your own song by changing the words e.g. cheeks, elbows, hands and feet.

• Play 'Simon says' to practise the different body parts.
  

• Using a giant piece of paper, or card and lie down on it. Ask somone to draw around you. Can you draw in the different parts of your body and label them?  You could go into more detail and include parts such as eyebrows and tongue.

• Body balancing - You will need a small toy, then someone asks you to balance the toy on part of your body, for example your elbow. This can be lots of fun to play as a family.

 Daily Mindful Challenge

I look forward to seeing you again this week on your 'bubble days'. Have a lovely week.

Diolch
Mrs.Dollman

Wythnos 5

Well after a long 3 months, we are finally able to return to school for a few days before the end of term. I am really looking forward to seeing you and hearing all about your lockdown adventures. If you haven't already, have a look at the video tour of our class that I have shared on HWB. It looks a bit different to what we are used to and some of the areas have been changed for now but we have lots of lovely activities planned and will still have lots of fun!

We understand that returning to school has been a difficult decision for many families and we continue to support you whether you choose to return or not.  

Online learning will continue until the end of term and I will post some tasks every Monday for you to complete on the days you are at home. Please continue to upload your photos and share what you have been doing through your HWB account. I love to see them! As I will be in school most days now, the only day I will be able to look at the work will be on a Wednesday.


Task 1: When I grow up...

Listen to the story 'When I Grow Up'.
Talk about what you would like to be when you grow up. Why? Can you do some research  to find out a bit more about that job? Draw a picture and write some simple words and sentences to tell me: 

• What you would like to be
• Why
• What you will do in that job e.g. a vet would make sick animals better

Task 2: Let's learn about number facts/bonds

Start with number bonds to 5*, then move on to 10** once confident. 

• Use toys/lego bricks to help you find different ways to make 5/10. Parents: The video below shows a great practical way to explore number bonds together.

• Can you write the number bonds?Can you spot a pattern with the numbers?
• I have shared some number bond activities in our HWB file for you to have a go at.
  

Task 3: Exploring my senses

 

• Talk about your senses - How many do we have? What are they? What parts of our body do we use for each sense?

• Play a game of eye-spy. This is a great way to practise using your sense of sight and also your letter sounds too! Alternatively, you could play 'I hear with my little ear' focussing on what you can hear instead of see.

• I have shared some senses activities on HWB.

 Daily Mindful Challenge

A new one to try this week:

Well-being Challenge

Can you learn a clapping rhyme with someone in your family? Here is a video of one of my favourites, but there are lots of others too. Start with a simple clap and pat with a partner, then if you can try and clap, then swap and alternate your hands. I have shared some familiar clapping rhymes on HWB. I would love to see your clapping rhymes. Maybe you could teach me a new one in a short video?

 

As always, please don't hesitate to contact me via email if you have any questions.

 

Diolch

Mrs.Dollman

Guess who...the big reveal!

The moment you've all been waiting for. Who were behind the disguises?

1. 
 

2. 

                            

                                3.   
 

                                 4.   

5.  

 6.

 7.

8.

9. 

10.

11.

12.

13.

  

14.

15.

16. 

17.

 

Did you guess who they were? Thank you again for your lovely photos, I hope you enjoyed our game of Guess Who : )

Return to school 
Those who wish to return to school over the next 3 weeks have been given a day on which they will attend each week.  

Our drop off time is 8.45am and pick up time is 3pm. I will be waiting for the children when you arrive and will take them around to enter our class door. If you are coming with an older sibling, then please follow the times given for them and a member of staff will accompany the younger sibling to their class when you arrive.

Please see the main blog for further, detailed information about returning to school.

They do not need to wear school uniform, just comfy clothes and shoes that can be easily washed and any other appropriate clothing for the weather that day e.g. coat, sun hat. They will need to bring a drink, snack and lunchbox. For the rest of this term, please place their snack inside their lunchbox and let your child know what they have for their snack that day, or even label it 'snack'. 


Understandably, there are going to be lots of mixed emotions coming back and we are all here to support the children and make their return to school as comfortable as possible. Here are some lovely resources to share together to help your child get ready.
 

I can't wait to see you all next week. Enjoy the rest of the sunshine : )

Diolch
Mrs.Dollman