Welcome to the Hedgehogs class! The children have settled in beautifully into the class. We have spent a lot of the week learning new routines and getting familiar with our classroom. Look below to find out what we have done this week.

Maths

In our Maths learning, we have been learning about how we can sort and count objects. We realised that we can sort objects into groups based on their properties (e.g. shape, size, colour, type). We then practised counting objects and counting a specific amount of objects from a large group. 

Challenge

Mr Armishaw wants to know how many different ways can you sort these houses into two groups, or even three groups? If you can write your answers on a piece of paper and bring them in, you can get 10 house points!

There are also Maths Shed games for the lessons that we have done this week that you an find here;  https://play.edshed.com/en-gb

English

In our English learning this week, we have been learning a story based on emotions called "A Rainbow of Emotions". It is a story about a chameleon who feels all sorts of emotions throughout the day. We learned that it's OK to feel a variety of emotions. We have learned the story and we have generated some great words from the story such as jealous, shy, embarrassed, jealous, happy, sad, anger, upset. The children have then used this vocabulary to write sentences using finger spaces. Here is the story below. Can you tell a grown up why Cam the chameleon felt jealous, shy, embarrassed, jealous, happy, sad, anger and upset?

Zones of Regulation

We have been learning about the Zones of Regulation, a framework that helps children understand and manage their emotions. The Zones of Regulation teaches children to recognise how they are feeling, understand that all feelings are normal, and learn strategies to regulate those emotions in a healthy way. 

We have introduced four "Zones," each linked to a colour and some character to make them easier for the children to remember:

• Blue Zone – when we might feel tired, sad, or shy.

• Green Zone – when we feel calm, happy, and ready to learn.

• Yellow Zone – when we might feel over-excited, silly, worried, or frustrated.

• Red Zone – when we feel very angry, scared, or out of control.

Each day, we have shared a story focused on one of the Zones. These stories have helped the children see that everyone feels these emotions at different times, and that it is OK to feel them. This has given us lots of opportunities to talk about emotions together.

We have also been practising strategies to help us move back into a zone where we feel ready to learn — for example, taking deep breaths, using calming corners, counting to ten, or asking for help.

By learning about the Zones in this way, the children are developing their emotional vocabulary, recognising their feelings, and are gaining confidence in managing them.

Here are the characters and the zones that the children are familiar with. 

From left to right, we have Sunny (Happy), Breezy (Calm), Sprocket (Ready to Learn), Bluebell (Sad), Yawno (Tired), Shyloo (Slow/Shy), Zippy (Excited/Silly), Fidget (Worried), Whirlo (Frustrated), Blaze (Anger), Roary (Yelling), Scurry (Terrified).

If your child comes home and says they are feeling a certain colour or feeling like a certain character, this might explain why. Feel free to open discussions with your child on how they are feeling and what we can do to make them feel better.

Phonics

In our Phonics this week, we have been looking at the ff, ss, ll, zz, ck and nk graphemes.

Spellings

These are the first set of spellings that the children have been allocated. Spellings will normally be based on the phonics that we have learned this week, but this may not always be the case. The spellings are also available on Spelling Shed as well, alongside other practice games as well. The paper copy of these spellings can be found in your child's Spelling Record Book.

Reminders

• Just a reminder that the Meet the Teacher Presentation is on Monday 15th, straight after school in the Hedgehogs classroom. I look forward to seeing many of you then.
• We will change books on Mondays. Please email me if you wish for your child to have two books per week please. Children will be given 1 'spike' to put on their Hedgehog on a Monday if they have read their books.

Have a lovely weekend and well done on a fantastic first week Hedgehogs!

Mr Armishaw