Duckling

We are Quackers about school!

I’m Mrs Cross and I am so lucky to teach the fabulous children that make up Duckling class. The children are all 4 and 5 years old, full of energy and always busy. I work alongside Mrs Burton my very talented Teaching Assistant. Together we deliver the new Early Years Curriculum. Our days are filled with lots of exciting activities that help encourage independence through play and exploration. We love to be creative and get our hands dirty; this helps us to be critical thinkers and to explore the world around us. The classroom is divided into areas that encourage all aspects of learning and development.

Every year we work through a selection of topics and this year we are basing our learning on the topics, ‘All about me’, this is a chance for the children to learn how unique and special they are as well as share information about their families and different events in their lives as they have grown up. We will then be learning about and sharing ‘Traditional stories and tales’, a chance to explore language and to have some fun with vocabulary and characters. Finally we will spend our Summer term, ‘down at the animal fair’, this topic helps us to explore the wider world and begin to think about how things grow and change, looking at life cycles, under the sea and even dinosaurs. The children help to guide their learning and we plan to encourage their interests and to answer those burning questions you need answering when you are 5!

It is very hard to believe that there is less than a term to go; this year’s children have developed into independent, hardworking learners. Every day they make me proud and are an enormous asset to the school.

Ducklings are strong believers in the Values that we teach across the school. Each month our bus stops at a different values stop. Ducklings are extremely caring and understand the importance of respecting and appreciating the people and world around them.

This term we have already explored life cycles of butterflies and frogs, Mrs Burton has released the froglets into her pond; we hope to have some frogs by the end of this term. We have been creative and made frogs with springy legs and we have been fine artists by observing our tadpoles and carefully drawing what we see.

We thought about pets we would like at home and decided it wasn’t a good idea to keep an elephant or a crocodile as a pet, we didn’t know where to buy elephant food or how to take it for a walk! We did share the best ways to look after and care for animals such as cats or hamsters at home.

We are all starting to read lots more now – this makes us feel very excited we are blending and segmenting 3 and 4 letter words, this means lots of us can write them to. We have also started using hundred squares to look at smaller and bigger numbers. It is also fun looking at symmetry and repeating patterns, it has been very exciting using the computers to represent patterns and sequence. 

The tadpoles took a long time to grow their legs	Addition using objects found from around the room.
Busy building and mixing cement	Bubbles, bubbles everywhere!

PE days for Ducklings are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, however PE kits can be kept in school on your child’s peg all week.

Your child’s reading book will be changed once a week formally so please store their book and reading record in their book-bag. Alongside this there will be a yellow phonics book. This book is for your reference and we will add new sounds as we cover them in school. Please help your child to practice the sound at home. There is also a selection of key words that are sent home over the course of the year, these are perfect for keeping in a little tin or pencil case and using lots to develop reading.

Homework will be collected on Thursday and new homework will be sent home on the Friday. Children really love working with their families at home and will really be proud of the work they bring in and share.

We hope to make your child's first year at Roecroft fun, action packed, full of learning and memories.