Welcome to Foxglove Class

Staff

Mr Daniel Williams-Jones (Class Teacher)

Mrs Maria Bryon (Learning Support Assistant)(Tues-Fri)

Ms Bethany Woods (Learning Support Assistant)

Miss Samantha Pearce (Learning Support Assistant)

Mrs Esther Harry (Learning Support Assistant) (Mon)

Why not follow us on our Meadowbank School Twitter account #MbFoxgloveclass

Summer 2 2022

To infinity… and beyond!

Who knows where this topic will take us!

In Math's, we will soar back in time and recap what we have learnt over this year. We will look back at 3D shape as we design our own planets and rockets and use 2D shapes to make patterns. We will also refresh our work on temperature and weight and solidify our learning on number. 

In Literacy, we will continue our rotation activities with more of a focus on writing, and then hope to begin constructing space poems about the things we learn, using our knowledge of similar sounding phonics to introduce rhyme. 

This topic is all about exploration, and we will take a child led approach to this topic, finding out what the children already know and what they want to learn more about.

In Science and Technology, we will ask questions and look at how rockets fly and begin to look at the effects of forces at work. This will allows us to design and test our own rockets and suggest ways to improve our designs. 

In humanities, we will look at the history of space and it’s exploration as well as how space has had an impact on peoples lives throughout history including the planets and how they got their names. 

In Health and Well-Being, we will prepare to be astronauts, learning about the different aspects of life from nutrition to physical abilities. We will undergo “Astronaut Training”, attempting small assault courses and developing coordination skills, collaborating to get better and encourage our peers.

We will also continue work in our Edible Playground, looking after our plants and learning how growing sustainable food could be useful in the future, investigating if food could be grown in space!

“My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets” so let’s see if at the end of the topic we’ll be able to name them all in order!                                                        

Summer 1 2022

Foxglove are Going Green!

"We don't inherit the land from our ancestors, we rent it from our children"

In Foxglove Class this term, we are thinking about ways to look after our planet:

As our maths focus is time, we have decided to label each day with a theme to help us remember the days:
Minibeast Monday teaches us about the animals we share the land with, and all about life cycles. We will look at our pond area, and the progression of our tadpoles into frogs as well as caterpillars and butterflies and birds and bees around our school.

Trash Tuesday will see us focus on rubbish and waste. We hope to explore how we can Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, and use rubbish to create artwork and in creative projects to ensure we recycle and reuse as much "rubbish" as we can.

Water Wednesday is all about saving water, Our earth is around 3/4 water and it is key to all life, both animals and plants. We will explore the world and its oceans through Geography this term, and how we can save water to help the planet, using leftover water from our (reusable) bottles to water our Edible Playground

Thoughtful Thursday is our Health and Well-Being day and a time for us to work in our Edible Playground. We will think about all the produce we are planting and how we can sustain this for others to enjoy. We will look at the importance of being outdoors in Nature, and why we should look after our plants.

Fresh-air Friday is our day to continue working outdoors in different areas of the school. Not only will we work in the Edible Playground with the plants or the pond area, but we will incorporate other lessons in these spaces such as maths to look at measurement, or literacy to write diaries of our achievements while in the area. We will also explore our local community by litter picking along the Taff Trail to look after our local area.

Spring 2 2022

"Once upon a time... Foxglove class decided to read some stories! Aesop's Fables to be more accurate!"

Each week, we will choose a fable to study and as we delve into the world of stories this topic, we will focus on not just the characters and key parts of the stories using a Colourful Semantics approach, but the morals of the stories and how they can be applied to our lives, to make us more Ethical Informed Citizens of Wales and the World!

We will explore new ways to retell these stories, through Science and Technology on the iPads with green screens and stop motion, in Creative ways looking at Welsh artists and their work and trying to replicate some, and in Literary ways using puppets and having a go at writing our own versions of the stories.

We will also begin to explore our Edible Playground, spending time being outdoors and beginning to sow seeds ready to look after and harvest as the year goes on.

Spring 1 2022

In our topic Post Office Panic, our learning will have a mathematical theme to our learning

In Languages, Literacy and Communication, we will continue looking at Percy the Park Keeper and write letters to the characters, as well as retell the story of The Jolly Postman with different characters.

We will also look at Postman Pat and use colour coding as we follow Pat on his journeys around Ingledale. 

Throughout our Maths and Numeracy sessions, we will look at the numbers a postman may see on his journey, and sort out Odd and Even numbers. We will recap shape, looking at 3D parcels and then adventure into weight and capacity, as well as the length of the parcels.
Every day, we will try to recognise days of the week and months of the year, as well as start some work on time and timetables, all things useful to a postman!

But most important to a postman is their sense of direction and positional language, and we can explore this through coding, such as moving a Beebot postman around streets to post letters and visit houses.

This ties nicely with some of our digital competence and Science and Technology skills in coding and computational thinking, but we will also explore communication, and how postmen deliver letters but we now often communicate digitally in different ways. We will take part in online TEAMs meetings and send emails to our peers, as well as posting real letters and seeing which is easier or quicker! We will also look at designing wrapping paper, and how to collaborate online and print off our work to display.

In Humanities we will explore the role of the post person and other people who help us, learn about maps, the four compass points and reinforce directional language as well as being virtual postmen and women to find our home addresses on Google Maps.

Expressive Arts sees the continuation of Welsh National Opera weekly visits but also virtual sessions with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. 

In Art, we will explore stamps from around the world and create our own, looking at silhouette profiles similar to stamp profiles, and using tracing to draw in different ways.

We will talk about road safety and the rules we have to obey both as pedestrians and on our bikes in Health and Well-being, as well as thinking about different activities to stay active.

Autumn 2 2021

This term our topic is Sparkle, Jolly, Twinkle.

During our Sparkle Jolly Twinkle topic, we will be focusing on different things associated with this time of year

In Humanities we will look at celebrations of sparkling light such as the Diwali, Bonfire night and Christmas. These festivals allow us to focus mostly on Expressive Arts, by singing songs and making music based on these celebrations, painting and designing Rangoli patterns, making firework pictures through different mediums and Christmas decorations and cards.

This topic also links nicely with Science and Technology where we will look at light from big exploding fireworks to small twinkling candles in Diva lamps and at Remembrance. We will also explore temperature - in particular the cold, and frosty sparkling snowflakes.

In Maths and Numeracy we will look at 2D and 3D shapes, and with the help of snowflakes and colourful Rangoli patterns, some basic symmetry. We will also explore repeating patterns, the temperature and continue work on numbers 1-20.

Languages, Literacy and Communication will be a continuation of the basics of our literacy skills such as phonics and handwriting, but our story for the topic will be "One Snowy Night" from the Percy the Park Keeper set of stories.

In Health and Wellbeing, we are looking forward to welcoming Cardiff Rugby to our school to do some sessions with us based on rugby skills.

AUTUMN  1 2021

Our topic this term is “Our Favourite Things”.

Each week, we have been focusing on different things we have favourites of. So far, we have discussed our favourite holidays, and took a trip to Barry Island. While we were there, we did a vote on what our favourite things to do on the beach were including swimming, building sandcastles and eating ice-cream! 

We also talked about our favourite hobbies and had a go at some in school including riding bikes and gardening.

Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at our favourite foods, tasting and sampling them and then voting to see our ultimate favourite food! We will also be bringing in our favourite books to share with each other and talk about why we like them.