Croeso i Dosbarth Wiwer!
In Dosbarth Wiwer our teacher is Mrs Brophy.
Miss Scandariato also works in our classroom.
We share our class information as well as lots of the things that our class have been learning about using Seesaw. Should you need a link to your child’s Seesaw account please contact the school office or speak to Mrs Brophy at the end of the school day.
Teaching and learning in our school changes each year according to the needs of the children in our classes however we would still like to give you an insight into what a year in Dosbarth Gwennol looks like!
To help us to do this, we would like to share some of their adventures from last year….
A Year in Dosbarth Wiwer
It’s hard to believe that our Reception adventure started all the way back in September. It only seems like yesterday. They are a super class and we have had a truly wonderful year. Time really does fly when you are having fun.
On that first day, the children waited eagerly to start their next journey. We opened the gate and smiling faces greeted us. They waved goodbye to Mums and Dads and they became Reception children, eager and ready to learn. That eagerness and love of learning, continued all year. I say it all the time about this class ‘They really do love learning’ and they take everything in and show enthusiasm is everything we do.
The children settled well into their new class and soon picked up the new routines and rules. We started the year with our ‘No Outsiders’ topic. Through this we learnt that everyone is welcome in our school and we all have our similarities and differences. We made our faces with loose parts and made a family picture using stones. We started our new phonics and reading scheme ‘Monster Phonics’. We have really enjoyed learning our sounds with the monsters and the colour codes have really helped us with our reading.
We also started ‘Drawing Club’. We do this 3 times a week and we all love it. Our drawing skills and imagination have developed so much through these sessions. We especially love the video clips of the old tv programmes- showing Mrs Brophy and Mrs Gartery’s age.
As half term was drawing in, we enjoyed stories about witches and enjoyed writing and making potions. We discussed Bonfire Night safety and used adjectives to describe fireworks. We enjoyed Fireman Sam in our small world area. To finish off the half term we were all excited to go on our first Reception trip to Erddig to have fun in the Wolfs Den. Well, this didn’t go to plan, as when we arrived Erddig was closed. I don’t think the children minded too much. They enjoyed the bus trip and a walk through the woods. They were excited to find a swamp and we wondered who lived in it. Back in class we had our packed lunch in class as a treat.
After our half term break, we were quickly into practicing the Christmas Concert. We spent lots of time learning the songs and the lines. The children did a fantastic job with their lines and their singing and I was beaming with pride. We had a wonderful few weeks leading up to Christmas. We had a special visit to the Reindeer farm where we fed the reindeer and enjoyed the pantomime ‘Snow White’. We had a wonderful Christmas party with lots of dancing and party food and then enjoyed a 2 week break.
The children came back after Christmas all excited to tell us their Christmas news and we loved hearing about the presents they had had. We started our topic ‘Lost and Found’. We enjoyed finding out all about penguins and the South Pole. We developed lots of scientific skills when we investigated melting, floating and sinking and waterproof materials. We enjoyed designing and making our own boat to carry the penguin to the South Pole. We realised we needed to use materials that floated and were waterproof.
We enjoyed celebrating Santes Dwynwen Day. We listened to the famous Welsh story, rescued Maelon from the frozen ice block, made cards and a class video.
After half term our topic was ‘Wales’. We celebrated St David’s Day and enjoyed learning about Welsh castles. We drew castles and learnt all about the parts of a castle. We had a wonderful trip to Chirk Castle, where we played on the park, went for a woodland walk, enjoyed looking at the rooms inside and exploring the beautiful gardens.
Before we finished for Easter break (it was a very short term !) we held a Show and Share afternoon to show our family members our fantastic books. The children have made so much progress this year and it was lovely for you to look back to the beginning of the year and see that progress. We sang some Easter songs and shared our Monster Phonics books.
We kick started the Summer Term with our inquiry about dragons, which led to us finding out about all sorts of eggs. We shared some wonderful books about dragons and learnt some descriptive vocabulary. We used adjectives and similes to describe the dragons in the books and this helped us describe our own dragons. We drew and painted our dragons and then made a video using Adobe Spark. We took a picture of our artwork, inserted it into the video and then recorded our voice over it. We created dragon eggs with a marbling technique using shaving foam and food colouring. The weather started to improve and enjoyed lots of time outside.
We finished the half term off with a wonderful trip to the canal. We had a lovely walk down and then we had a tour of the ‘Saturn’ boat that was visiting for a few weeks. It was a very old cargo boat that carried cheese and vegetables. We built the Aqueduct with blocks and had a walk around Trevor Basin. We stood underneath the Aqueduct and looked closely at how it was built. We enjoyed a trip on the ‘Seren Fach’ over the Aqueduct.
We had a busy but lovely end to the year. We had some lovely weather so spent lots of time in the sunshine. We enjoyed a visit to Erddig. We explored the Wolf’s Den and engaged in lots of adventurous play- climbing and balancing. We all loved the big rope swing and were all braver than Mrs Brophy. The children were mesmerised by inside the house and we had lots of discussions about all the old things that we could see. The children’s nursery was our favourite.
We took part in Sports Day. All children were amazing and tried hard and enjoyed it. We learnt about plants and living things and enjoyed learning about minibeasts. We had a morning in our new class and all children were very excited about this. They came back all smiles after a lovely morning.
This year has flown by and I can’t believe the year has come to an end. It has been a really enjoyable year and they are a wonderful class. This year they have become readers, writers, scientists, artists, mathematicians and explorers. They have made new friends and, old friendships have grown stronger. I am so proud of the progress every single one of them has made and I really will miss them. I know they will carry on working hard and flourish in Year 1, as they continue on their Ysgol Acrefair journey. Keep smiling and working hard my little super stars.