✏️ Kinetic Letters Intervention Session ✏️

As part of the launch of our new handwriting scheme, Kinetic Letters, some children from Years 5 and 6 attended an additional handwriting session this morning. The session focused on developing the key foundations of effective handwriting, including correct letter formation, pencil grip and posture.

The children worked hard to practise forming letters accurately and were reminded of the importance of holding their pencils correctly to support comfort, control and fluency when writing. These small adjustments can make a big difference to handwriting speed, presentation and confidence.

We are excited to introduce Kinetic Letters across the school this half term and look forward to seeing the positive impact it has on our pupils' handwriting and overall writing development.

📝✏️ Well done to all of the children who attended and showed excellent concentration and effort throughout the session!

🌈 Sensory Spelling Superstars in Redwoods! 🌈

This week in Redwoods, we have been developing our spelling knowledge and memory through a range of fun, multisensory activities.

Research shows that children learn best when they can see, say, hear and do, so we explored our spelling words using lots of different senses. The children enjoyed making their spelling words with playdough, helping them to think carefully about the order of the letters while strengthening their fine motor skills.

We also practised writing our words in glitter, making spelling a hands-on and memorable experience. To reinforce our learning further, we created rainbow spellings, writing each word several times in bright colours. This encouraged us to look closely at the patterns within words and helped the spellings stick in our memories.

The children showed fantastic enthusiasm and concentration throughout these activities. They were eager to explore different ways of learning and demonstrated great resilience when tackling challenging spellings.

By using a multisensory approach, we are building confidence, improving spelling recall and developing a deeper understanding of how words are constructed.

⭐ Well done, Redwoods, for your excellent effort and super spelling skills this week! ⭐

📰 Year 6 Begin Their News Report Writing Journey!

This week, Year 6 embarked on the first lesson of their exciting new writing unit, learning all about news articles.

To start our journey, we explored a WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) news report together. As a class, we carefully examined the text and identified the key features that make an effective news article. Using highlighters, we located and discussed important elements such as the headline, byline, orientation, photograph, and caption. We also talked about the purpose of each feature and how they help to engage the reader and communicate information clearly.

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After our shared learning, the children applied their knowledge independently. Working both on their own and with a partner, they analysed a range of different news reports, searching for and identifying the features we had discussed. It was fantastic to see the children using their teamwork skills, explaining their thinking, and confidently spotting the structural elements within each text.

This lesson provided a strong foundation for the unit ahead, and Year 6 are already developing a keen eye for what makes a successful news report. We look forward to seeing these skills put into practice as the children begin crafting their own newspaper articles over the coming weeks!

📸 Keep an eye on our Year 6 page for updates as our young journalists continue their writing journey! 🗞️✨

This week in Reading into Writing, the children have been enjoying the wonderful story Handa’s Surprise. They have loved listening to and discussing the book, as well as exploring the different characters, animals, and fruits featured throughout the story.

To begin our learning, the children sequenced the events of the story, helping them to develop their understanding of what happens first, next, and at the end. They worked hard to recall key events and put them in the correct order.

Building on this, the children had a go at retelling the story in their own words. They focused on applying their early writing skills by using capital letters at the beginning of sentences, leaving finger spaces between words, and remembering to finish their sentences with full stops.

We have been very impressed with the children's enthusiasm and growing confidence in both reading and writing. Well done, everyone! 🌟

Year 1 have been enjoying developing their handwriting skills through the Kinetic Letters handwriting scheme.

We began by recapping our knowledge from Reception, reminding ourselves of the different writing positions that help us sit comfortably and hold our pencils correctly. The children have worked hard to remember how good posture and pencil grip support neat and fluent handwriting.

More recently, we have been learning about the Jumper Family. The children have explored the family feature and practised forming a range of letters, including h, n and m. We have been focusing on starting each letter in the correct place, forming it carefully and using the family feature to help us remember the correct movements.

It has been wonderful to see the children's confidence growing as they develop their letter formation and handwriting skills. We are looking forward to continuing our Kinetic Letters journey and learning more letter families throughout the year!

Year 2 have been thoroughly enjoying reading the wonderful story The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. As part of our Reading into Writing lessons, we have been exploring the characters and settings in the story and creating a fantastic bank of descriptive language to use in our own writing. ✏️✨

We began by reading and discussing different parts of the story, thinking carefully about how the author brings characters to life through her choice of words. We used our reading skills to identify powerful adjectives and exciting descriptions. 📖🔍

The children had lots of fun describing the famous Gruffalo himself! We thought about his terrible tusks, terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws. We also described the other woodland creatures, including the sly fox, wise owl and hissing snake. 🦊🦉🐍

As a class, we worked together to create a bank of ambitious vocabulary. We generated words and phrases to describe appearance, movement and feelings, such as spiky, fearsome, gigantic, creeping, and menacing. 🌟📝

We also explored the setting of the deep, dark wood. The children used their senses to imagine what they might see, hear and feel if they were walking through the forest. This helped us create rich descriptions filled with exciting vocabulary. 🌲🍂👂

Using our ideas, we have begun preparing for our own pieces of writing inspired by The Gruffalo. The children have impressed us with their creativity and enthusiasm, and we are looking forward to seeing all of their fantastic descriptions appear in their independent work. 🐭✏️⭐

Year 2 have shown great imagination and have worked incredibly hard to build a collection of powerful words and phrases that will make their writing engaging and exciting for the reader. 👏🌈

📸 Take a look at our photos to see us exploring vocabulary and bringing the world of The Gruffalo to life! 😊📚🐭✨

This week in Blossoms, we have been revisiting some of our phonics sounds. The children worked hard to recognise different graphemes and say the correct phonemes.

Using pictures to support our learning, we explored words linked to each sound. The children practised segmenting words into individual sounds and then blending the sounds together to read the whole word.

The visual resources and hands-on activities supported the children.

Well done!

This week, Year 1 enjoyed reading The Mega Magic Teacher Swap. We had lots of fun following the exciting story and talking about our favourite parts. The children shared their ideas, made predictions, and discussed the characters and events together.

After reading the book, we completed a special writing activity and wrote letters to our new teachers for next year. In our letters, we introduced ourselves, shared our interests, and wrote about some of the things we enjoy at school. This was a wonderful opportunity for the children to practise their writing skills while helping their new teachers get to know them. 🌟✏️📚

🌟 Year 5 Take Over Day – A Brilliant Morning! 🌟

We had a wonderful experience during Take Over Day, when two fantastic Year 5 pupils took on the roles of teacher and teaching assistant in our Reading into Writing lesson.

Our Year 5 teacher confidently introduced a WAGOLL for a balanced argument, guiding the children to identify key features within the text. The class were fully engaged and showed great understanding as they picked out important elements together.

With great teamwork, the Year 5 teaching assistant supported throughout, helping the lesson run smoothly and ensuring everyone stayed on track.

The lesson continued with an engaging guided reading session focusing on prosody, using “Devon Cream Tea”. The “I say, you say” approach encouraged expressive reading, and the classroom was filled with enthusiastic voices.

It was a fabulous morning, and the children thoroughly enjoyed having them lead the class.

A huge thank you to our Year 5 teacher and teaching assistant—you were brilliant! 👏

Year 4 Reading into Writing: Exploring Formal Letters

This week in our Reading into Writing journey, Year 4 pupils began learning about how to write a formal letter. This was our immersion lesson, where children explored a range of example texts to understand the key features of this writing genre.

Pupils carefully read different formal letters and worked with partners to identify what makes them effective. They discussed important features such as a clear structure, polite and formal language, addresses, and the use of paragraphs. Children also compared examples, talking about both effective and less effective elements, which helped deepen their understanding of purpose and audience.

Through these discussions, pupils developed their ability to explain their ideas clearly and learn from one another in a supportive way. This collaborative approach encouraged thoughtful conversation and helped build confidence in recognising what successful writing looks like.

Over the coming lessons, pupils will use this knowledge to plan, draft, and write their own formal letters, applying the features they have identified. We are looking forward to seeing their writing develop as they take on the role of a formal writer!

Our Year 1 children had a wonderful time welcoming some very special visitors this week—our fantastic Year 5 pupils! The older children “took over” the classroom and led some brilliant learning activities.

They helped us practise when to use capital letters and full stops, and supported us in correcting sentences that had mistakes in them. The Year 5s were kind, patient, and great teachers!

We also loved having their help during our continuous provision time, and they did a fantastic job supporting us with our phonics learning too.

It was a fun and inspiring experience for everyone involved—well done to both Year 1 and Year 5!

This week, the children explored the story The Three Little Pigs. We read the story together and focused on developing oracy skills by learning and using new vocabulary from the text. The children practised saying sentences using these new words, showing growing confidence in speaking.

At the storytelling table, the children used puppets to retell the story, demonstrating their understanding of the sequence of events and characters.

In the creative area, the children painted a pig and created their own paper plate pigs using collage techniques. They independently selected and attached different materials, building on their fine motor skills and creativity.

In writing, the children wrote simple sentences about the story, using their phonics knowledge and showed increasing confidence in applying their phonetic skills in meaningful contexts.

Year 4 Art & Design: Storytelling Through Drawing – Final Artwork

To complete our Storytelling Through Drawing art journey, Year 4 pupils created a thoughtful and imaginative final piece inspired by poetry. Pupils began by experimenting with soft sketching pencils in their sketchbooks, practising how to use light and dark tones to create atmosphere, detail, and expression.

The children then listened carefully to readings of the poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, discussing the vivid language and unusual imagery used by the poet. Pupils shared their interpretations of the poem and talked about how words can inspire powerful visual ideas, even when meanings are unclear or open to imagination.

Using this inspiration, pupils selected their favourite part of the poem and created a detailed pencil illustration to show the story they imagined. They focused on line, shading, and composition to communicate mood and narrative, drawing on techniques explored earlier in the unit and inspired by artists such as Shaun Tan and Laura Carlin.

The final artworks show fantastic creativity and individuality, with each drawing telling its own story. Year 4 should be incredibly proud of how they used drawing as a tool for storytelling.

Year 4 Reading into Writing: Exploring Narratives with a Dilemma

In our Reading into Writing lessons this half term, Year 4 pupils have been on an exciting learning journey exploring narratives with a dilemma. The children have read and discussed a range of carefully chosen texts, identifying key genre features such as build‑up, tension, character choices, and moments of decision. These discussions have helped pupils understand how authors engage readers and develop meaningful storylines.

To inspire our own writing, pupils watched the Disney short film Paperman, using it as a rich visual stimulus. They explored how the film creates emotion, tension, and a clear dilemma without dialogue, and discussed how these techniques could be translated into written storytelling.

Pupils then observed the class teacher model the opening of the story, focusing on setting, character introduction, and mood. Working collaboratively, the children wrote the middle section together, developing the dilemma and building suspense. This shared approach supported confidence and encouraged thoughtful discussion about vocabulary and sentence choices.

Next, pupils will independently plan, draft, and write a polished version of the story’s climax, applying everything they have learned to create a powerful and engaging ending. We are looking forward to seeing their ideas come to life!