Dormouse Class (EYFS)

Welcome to Dormouse Class! 

Class Teacher: Mrs Bramwell

My name is Mrs Bramwell and I will be teaching in Reception. We are called Dormouse Class.  I will be with you every day except Wednesday afternoons; this is the time I use to plan all the wonderful activities we do in Dormouse class. We have two teaching assistants who help us with our learning.

I am also the Computing lead so I am responsible for ensuring the curriculum is up to date and relevant for all of our children.

Term 6- Week 6     16th July 2021

This week started with a visit to Grimsbury Farm. While it started with a wet walk up the weather dried off and we have  lovely morning learning how to care for each of the animals. The children were fantastically behaved, listening well to the adults and treating the animals with care. We definitely have a few animal whisperers in our class!

We used what we learned in this topic to write an information sheet about how to care for an animal. 

We have been recapping our skills in Maths this week.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 6- Week 5    9th July 2021

What a busy week! This week we have been focusing on animals and what about them tells us where they live. We also learned about nocturnal animals.

In maths we have been learning about halving numbers. We investigated grouping, sharing and halving - looking at whether the amounts had been shared equally or not.

We also had a visit from Mrs Hudson with the gorgeous Clark. He was incredibly well behaved and we learned a lot about caring for excitable puppies!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 6- Week 4    02/07/2021

Another actioned packed week in Dormouse class!

 This week we have been learning about doubles in Maths. We talked about how there has to be the same number added together and worked with a partner to do this.

In English we became authors and changed a part of our story "walking Through the Jungle." The children edited the story map and then wrote the new section of the story. Their ideas were amazing! We also had a visit from Oslo the Border Collie puppy. He came with his owner to help us learn abut how to care for a dog as part of our topic.

We also had sports day this week and while we were sad that our families couldn't be with us we had a brilliant time doing all the activities and eating the delicious ice lollies supplied by the PTA!

I hope you enjoy the photos - have a fantastic weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 6 - Week 3   25th June 2021

This week we have been using the story "Walking in the Jungle" to support our learning. We have used a story map to remember what happens through the story.

In Maths we have been working on subtraction. The children have used first, then, now stories to help them understand how subtraction works. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 6 - Week 2     18th June 2021

This week in English we worked extremely hard to draw our own story map for our class book "Dear Zoo." The children all used their story map to retell the tale.

In Maths we have been looking at addition using first, then, now stories to help understand the steps to success. We had a go at recording them and even tried some missing number challenges!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 6- Week 1   11th June 2021

We started our new topic this week "All Creatures Great and Small." The class are thrilled having a Vets as our role play area for the term.  In English we are using the book "Dear Zoo" to begin our learning. We are learning the story with a story map and actions and have used it to help us sequence the story.

In Maths we have been using first, then, now stories to help use recall addition facts within 10. We have bee using all sorts of manipulatives to support this.

We had an amazing time learning the basics or archery and lacrosse on Friday- some of us were incredible at archery scoring bullseyes! 

It's been lovely to be back!

Mrs Bramwell

Term 5 - Week 6    28th May 2021

This week we have been writing our favourite part of the class story "Traction Man is Here." The children have worked so hard writing independently in the Superhero writing books they have really made us all extremely proud!

In Maths we have been looking at repeating patterns and using different sizes, 2D and 3D shapes and colours.

Have a wonderful half term break.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 5- Week 5     21st May 2021

This week in English we have been using the story Traction Man is here to support our learning. We have created a story map and are using actions to help us remember it. We used kitchen utensils to create our own side kick for Traction Man; making up names and deciding how they would help him in an emergency.

In Maths we have continued to work on our teen numbers creating numberlines, finding missing numbers and working out 1 more and 1 less.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 5 - Week 4  14th May 

This week we had a special visitor from the fire brigade We listened carefully as he told us fire fighters do not just put out fires they also rescue people from high places, water and cars! He told us a story about a firefly who played with matches and accidentally started a fire, showed us all the special protective clothing and taught us what to do if our clothes catch on fire. 

In English we continued using Superworm to support our learning. We drew a part of the story as a story map and wrote some of it out.

In Maths we focused on numbers up to 20. We are feeling confident counting and recognising the numbers.

Enjoy the weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 5 - Week 3 7th May

In English this week we are using the story "Superworm" to support our learning. We are learning sections of the story and describing the characters.

In Maths we continue to learn about the teen numbers- making, counting and recording them.

We took part in the sponsored run to raise money for the "Connie's Corner" project in school. The children we fantastic and tried incredibly hard to complete as many laps as possible.

Well done  Dormouse Class!

Mrs Bramwell

Term 5 - Week 2 30th April

This week has been action packed! We continued using the Supertato book to support our English learning by creating wanted posters to describe the Evil Pea.

We had some unexpected occurrences in class as well. Somebody has been playing tricks on us, they turned the carpet round, stuck googly eyes on the fruit, swapped the fruit to play food and stuck the remote to the ceiling. We made traps to catch the culprit but they kept getting broken. Luckily we had some CCTV to review and by looking for clues we worked out a suspect list. We narrowed down the list by questioning the suspects and this left us with only 1 person. I had invited the local Police to come and talk to us about their job as real life heroes so fortunately they were on hand to arrest Mrs. Harris after she confirmed she did indeed steal our dinosaur toys! The Dormouse children were extremely kind and showed Mrs. Harris compassion- as long as she promised never to take our things without asking again!

Phew!

Mrs Bramwell

Term 5 - Week 1 23rd April

What a first week back! We have started a new topic this term called "What makes a Superhero?" In the first few days the children have spent some time considering what makes a hero and whether we could think of any real jobs that could make you a hero. We are using the book Supertato to help us start our learning looking at heroes and villains.

There was an emergency in Dormouse class this week! Somebody has stolen the dinosaur toys and we're not sure who! We have started collecting clues and made some traps so hopefully we will have caught the culprit soon.

Enjoy you're weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 4 - Week 6 1st April 

This week we have been learning about the season of Spring. We remembered what the seasons of Autumn and Winter were like and then discussed the differences in Spring. We looked for the signs of Spring in our school grounds and sketched some flowers.

We also began to look at the Christian celebration of Easter. We read the Easter story linking some of the key times to the days and talked about the feelings of people within the story. We discussed what we knew about Easter and how we celebrate it with our families. We baked Easter nest cakes and made Easter cards.

A fabulous end to a strange term!

Have a wonderful Easter break.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 4 - Week 5  26th March

The week we have used the story "The Emperor's New Clothes" to support our English learning. We found this story hilarious especially the part when the Emperor is silly enough to go outside with no clothes on! We talked about characters, the setting and designed him new clothes for different times of the year or activities he might do.

We have been consolidating our learning in Maths. We explored doubles and practised one more and one less.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 4 - Week 4 19th March

This week in English we continued our Traditional Tales topic by looking at the story "Rumplestiltskin".We have revisited our learning about characters and how to describe them. The children particularly enjoyed playing a "Guess Who!" style game, describing the characters and seeing if their classmates could work out who it was.

In Maths we have been exploring number bonds to 10. We have used different resources to support us.

Friday was Red Nose Day and we had a go at a red nose challenge. We tried to balance the red noses on a bat and race with them. This was really hard but showed our resilience and kept going!

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 4 - Week 3 12th March 

What a fantastic week! We have had a wonderful time in Dormouse class- Arts Week has given us lots of opportunities to be creative.

We used the story "The Little Mermaid" to support our activities this week. We talked about the setting of the story and how the pictures support the words.

We made jelly fish using paper mache, painting and adding some sparkles and finally some tentacles. The look amazing on display in the corridor as part of our whole school arts project.

We have also been weaving which we have found very challenging but we kept on going like the resilient rhino and some are nearly finished!

We planted some seeds and made cards as part of a secret mission to be revealed on Sunday (Mothers Day). 

Have a fantastic weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 4 - Week 2     5th March 2021

This week we used the Traditional Tale "The Elves and the Shoemaker" to support our English learning. The children were very excited to receive a letter from the elves it was so small we had to use a magnifying glass to read it! They eagerly wrote replies and left them in an envelope which disappeared overnight- those elves really did have magical powers. We looked at different shoes and tried to work out who they belonged to.

In Maths we learned about number bonds to 10. We will keep practicing these to learn them by heart.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 4 - Week 1 26th February

We have had a wonderful first week back in school!

We used the story "Sleeping Beauty" this week to hep our English learning. The children talked about the characters, how they look, how the act and what happened to them in the story. Then we compared them. The children used this learning to describe the characters in a "Guess Who" style game.

In Maths we learnt about the numbers 9 and 10; thinking about counting, ordering and different ways to make them.

Have a fabulous weekend everybdy!
Mrs Bramwell

Term 3 - Week 6  12th February

This week we began by investigating the season of Winter. We remembered what we had learnt about Autumn and used that to help us learn what the signs of winter are. We explored the school grounds to collect some evergreen leaves, berries and pine cones then we added water. We left them overnight to see what would happen. The children found there collections had frozen! As we checked on them through the day the ice gradually melted the children realised this was because was warmer outside.

Towards the end of the week we looked at Chinese New Year. We learnt some of the things that happen during this celebration, created lanterns, painted dragons and tried to use chop sticks. We also heard the story of The Great Race and used this to help us with our Maths learning. Lots of the children we very please to hear they were born in the year of the monkey! 

I hope you have a restful half term.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 3 - Week 5 1st February

This week we used the book "The Little Red Hen" to support our English learning. We investigated wheat and flour using them to mark make. The children worked incredibly hard to use their phonics skills to write the animals speech and a sorry letter to the hen.

In Maths we practiced our addition within 10 using dominos and found pairs when we were out and about.

We have also carried out activities linked to Mental Health Awareness Week. The children have completed activities to connect, be active, take notice, try something new and giving.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs Bramwell

Term 3 - Week 4 25th January 

This week has been a interesting one! I have been really impressed with all your home learning this week.

In English we used the book "We're going on a Bear Hunt" to support our learning. The children have been drawing story maps to help us tell the story, we became authors and changed the story a little and learnt some facts about bears.

In Maths we have focused on the numbers 6, 7 & 8. We have counted objects, found different ways to make the numbers and played matching games.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 3 - Week 3 18th January

What an interesting week! We used the book "Three Billy Goats Gruff" to support our learning this week.  We had a wonderful time remembering the key phrases from the story, who the characters are and what they get up to.  We built bridges using large and small construction materials to retell the story- some of our home learners used dinosaurs instead of goats! We made masks and designed new trolls.

In Maths we learnt about different measures this week. We learned about full, empty and some measures in between using liquids. We also looked at finding things to fit inside small place.

I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Bramwell

Term 3 - Week 2 11th January

This week we used Little Red Riding Hood to support our learning both at home and at school. We used the story map to retell the tale, listened to character descriptions to figure out who was hiding and spotted differences between different versions.

In Maths we have been practicing our addition and subtraction within 5 trying to remember the number facts. Our home learners have been amazing this week using all sorts of objects to carry out their work- well done!

It has been wonderful to see you all in our online chats.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 3 - Week 1 4th January

This week was definitely not the one I had planned! We welcomed the key worker children back into school on Tuesday and it took us a little while to get used to not having all of our friends with us.

We have carried on with our topic "Traditional Tales" using the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The children have absolutely loved this week and have acted out the story using our story map and in the role play area with porridge oats.  We even tasted porridge at the end of the week with mixed results!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 2 - Week 7 14th December

What a fun filled week we have had! The children have been very excited about the upcoming Christmas holidays. We have been looking at the Christmas story this week to try and answer the question - Why do we celebrate Christmas?

We have made our own Christmas cards, practiced wrapping presents and writing the name tags. I can safely say I have been very lucky this year and have opened over 50 Christmas gift from the children; unfortunately all my gifts were their favourite toys from our classroom!

We watched our school nativity and enjoyed our party.

We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 2 - Week 6 11th December

What a fabulous week we have had! We started with our Christmas dinner which the children were extremely excited for.  Mrs Harris came to visit us and we had a dance around before going out to play!

In English we used the book "Dear Father Christmas" to support our learning. The children wrote their own letter to Father Christmas using what we have learnt in phonics to help them. On Thursday we walked to the post box and sent them off to Santa.

We have spent a lot of time this week practising our song for the Cadbury Heath Nativity. We hope you enjoy it!

Have a fabulous weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 2 - Week 5 5th December

This week we have been recapping the phonics sounds we have learnt so far practising reading and writing them as well as playing reading games.

In English we looked at "The Gingerbread Man" and retold the story through games in the outdoor area.  We also followed instructions to bake our own gingerbread man...luckily it didn't run away and we were able to decorate and eat it!

In Maths we focused on addition and subtraction within 5. The children are showing great number sense and are able to spot patterns in the learning they have been doing.

Have a fabulous weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 2 - Week 4 27th November

This week in Dormouse Class we have been recapping the phonics sounds we have learnt so far. We are using them to read and write words.

We have been using the story "The Three Little Pigs" in English. We have learnt the story by heart using a story map and actions. We have looked at the characters and the speech they use.

In Maths we focused on number 5 this week. We have been counting, adding and subtracting numbers within 5.

Another busy week!

Mrs Bramwell

Term 2 - Week 3 20th November

We began the week in Dormouse Class learning about the festival Diwali. We heard the story of Rama and Sita and how they followed the diva lamps to get back home. This is why Diwali is known as "The Festival of Light." We made our own diva lamps. We also learned how children often make and decorate footprints to show the Goddess Lakshmi the way to their homes as she can bring them good luck; so we had a go at making those too!

We are continuing our topic "Traditional Tales" by using the story "The Three Little Pigs". We have been making a class story map and are trying to learn the story with actions.

In Maths we focused on the number 4. We counted, added, subtracted and even learned about 4 sided shapes. Ask the children if they can remember the REALLY long word we learned (quadrilaterals) to describe any shape with 4 sides.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 2 - Week 2 13th November

This week we used the book "Where the Poppies now Grow" to help us think about Remembrance.

We learnt that lots of people died in the war and we use the poppy to help us remember them. We know that the day the fighting stopped is the day we remember about the war.  We painted poppies onto pebbles for a whole school art project, we sketched poppies into our art books and collaged poppies for window decorations.

In our activity time we have painted some poppies in the fields like the ones in our book.

We have a building site in our outdoor area where we have built houses, kitchens, roads and garages.

We have a castle inside with dressing up clothes linked to our Traditional Tales topic.

As usual a busy week in Dormouse Class!

Mrs Bramwell

Term 2 - Week 1 6th November 

We were very pleased to welcome all of our Dormouse friends back into school this week!

We began our new topic this week "Traditional Tales" by using the story Jack and the Beanstalk. The children devised games using the giant from the story and tried to take his gold coins like Jack does. They used some of the language for the story saying "Fee fi fo fum" when the giant looked for his coins.

In maths we looked at the number 2- counting objects, looking a 2 step patterns and counting 1 more and one less.

We have learnt some tricky words in Phonics this week. The children have tried extremely hard with reading and writing them.

We were given a Remembrance wreath to share with the children before it was placed at the Cenotaph. We will be learning more about Armistice Day next week.

See you next week.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 1 - Week 8 19th October

This week in Dormouse class we have been learning about Autumn. We have noticed that the weather feels colder, it's getting darker sooner, the leaves are changing colour and falling from the trees. We have been exploring our grounds to find the signs of Autumn and collected lots of leaves which we have used in some art work. We also looked at why some animals might need to hibernate.

The week has ended with lots of Halloween activities which looked amazing! Thank you to Mrs Dillon and Mrs McDonough for sorting those out for us.

Enjoy your half term break and we'll see you again on Tuesday 3rd November.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 1 - Week 7 12th October

This week the children have been using hula hoops in the outdoor area. They have tried to hula, used them as horse reigns and been amazed by Mrs Parsons magic trick! 

We worked really hard to use the junk modelling resources to create something, although it was tricky to join the pieces together we kept going like the Resilient Rhino.

Following the children's interest we also had some builders tools available. So far the outdoor house, mud kitchen and the welly rack has been mended!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 1 - Week 6 5th October

This week we have used the book "Titch" to start conversations about our family. We shared family photos and talked to each other about who lives in our house, the children thoroughly enjoyed sharing their photos with friends.

We started learning our phonic sounds which will help us to be successful readers and writers. All the adults are very proud of how well the children have taken to this so give yourself a pat on the back! 

We ended the week by talking about Mental Health Day. The children thought about what makes them happy or sad and the ways they can help each other.

Another action packed week in Dormouse class!

Enjoy your weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 1 - Week 5 28th September

This week in Dormouse Class we have been thinking about our body. We drew round our special helper and labelled all the different parts of the body. Then we thought about what was inside us. We learnt:

1. the heart pumps the blood,
2. the lungs help us breathe,
3. the liver cleans the blood,
4. the brain controls the body,
5. the skeleton support the body.

Ask me what I can remember!

We also talked about the senses and had a smell and taste challenge.

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 1 - Week 4 21st September

I would just like to start this week by saying how incredibly proud I am of all the children in Dormouse Class. You have just completed your first full week in school and although you were tired you tried your best right until the end. We have also had glowing reports from the lunchbreak supervisors about the fabulous manners and kindness you show to each other. Well done to each of you!

This week we started our new topic "Marvellous Me!" We have used the book "My World Your World" to help us notice similarities and differences between our lives and the lives of others.

 We used mirrors to paint a self portrait.

In Maths we have been matching items and hunted for pairs of socks around the classroom.

We have enjoyed being outside again this week, it is definitely our favourite place to be! 

Enjoy a rest this weekend.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 1 - Week 3 14th September 

This week we chose the pictures we wanted to share with you.  Dormouse class wanted you to see their favourite things to do.

During our carpet time we have been learning the "Days of the Week" song and using the visual timetable to see what is coming up next in the day. We have also been playing some listening games which we found very funny!

In our activities time we have the choice between learning inside or outside. Inside this week a lovely house, big enough for 3 children, was built with a roof that made an excellent car ramp. We took part in activities, such as peg boards, which work on our fine motor skills. Dormouse class are a very creative bunch, we enjoy painting and gluing to make our artwork unique. The class art gallery is filling up fast.

Outside this week we have built a campfire with lots of sticks. We tried rubbing them together to make fire but it took too long so instead we had to pretend to roast our marshmallows. 

Have a lovely weekend everybody.

Mrs Bramwell

Term 1 - Week 2 7th September 

What a week!

We have been busy in Dormouse class this week getting to know our new friends and the reception class environment a bit better. Mrs Bramwell, Mrs McDonough and Mrs Dillon have been so pleased to see how well everyone has settled in.

We have learnt the Cadbury Heath School Rules: Be Ready, Be Respectful and Be Safe and talked about how we can show that we are following them.

I have added some of our highlights from the week for you to see.

Enjoy your weekend!

Mrs Bramwell