Fact Families

In Maths, we have been using 3 related numbers to create a fact family. Please could the children have a go at the game below. Start with numbers up to 10 and if they are feeling confident they can move onto 20, 50 or 100.
Google – ‘Topmarks number fact families game’

Thank you

Forest School/Spellings

I hope that you all had a lovely Easter.

Forest School

As you know, Mrs Rollings retired at the end of last term and so Mrs Godfrey has taken over leading Forest School. This means that Forest School for Grasshoppers will now be on a Tuesday afternoon. The children will not be split into two groups so all the children will have a Forest School session every week. Sessions will begin next week, on Tuesday 21st April.

We do have some wellies, coats and waterproof trousers but if your child prefers to wear their own clothing and footwear then please send this each Tuesday.

Spellings

The children had a break from spellings, over Easter and so they will be given their new spelling lists on Thursday. Their next spelling test will be on Thursday 23rd April.

Many thanks

World Book Day

We all had a wonderful day, last Thursday, for World Book Day!
The children enjoyed doing different activities, in mixed classes.

The Animal Family

Grasshoppers and Fireflies had a wonderful afternoon, as we had a visit from ‘The Animal Family’. They brought with them so many different animals for the children to learn about and hold. Lisa, Stuart, Tom and Cassie adapted the 2 hour session to support the topics of the two classes, ‘Australia’ and ‘Minibeasts’.

The children were fearless with so many of the children very happy to touch and hold millipedes, a cane toad, tarantulas, bearded dragons, a Komodo dragon, geckos and snakes, as well as many other animals.

PE

I hope you all had a good half-term.

For the second half of the term, the children will be taking part in orienteering, for their Tuesday PE session.

Most of the sessions will be outdoors, weather permitting. Therefore, please could the children have an extra layer and their coats available so they aren’t cold.

Many thanks

Nativity – Evening Performance Wednesday 10th December

Please could all children in Fireflies & Grasshoppers return to school on Wednesday 10th December at 5.30pm, so that they have time to get changed ready for their performance at 6pm.

Please do not arrive before 5.30pm.

Many thanks,

Mrs Morris

Nativity lines and Costumes

                            

If your child has brought home lines to learn for their part in the nativity, please can you support them at home to learn their lines and deliver them with lots of volume and expression!

Your child will have a slip in their school bag to let you know what they will need for their costume. We have tried to provide as many costumes as possible, with those we have in school.

 

Please bring costumes into school when you have them, in a named bag.

The children will be having their photograph taken in their costumes on Wednesday 3rd December so please bring them into school no later than this.

Many thanks for your support.

Mrs Morris & Mrs Fox

Pop Art

Grasshoppers have been exploring ‘Pop Art’, this term. We have been looking at the art work of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Taking inspiration from their style of art, we have created pop art portraits, inspired by Andy Warhol and pop art words, inspired by Roy Lichtenstein. We have used his ‘Ben Day’ dot technique on our backgrounds.

1 Minute Maths Free app

1 Minute Maths

To support your child and help them build greater number confidence and fluency, a free app is available to download via the White Rose Maths Hub website. It is an excellent resource that we would encourage you to download and use with your child.

Click the link below and follow the instructions.

https://whiteroseeducation.com/1-minute-maths#download

Surgery Planting

Last year, Grasshoppers were joined by Ade Robinson (part of the Brown Clee Patient Participation Group at Ditton Priors Medical Practice) – where they planted a range of different plants.

 

This week, the children headed over the road to join Ade at the medical practice tto transplant these now-grown plants (and some others) between the practice and the shop as part of an on-going outdoor regeneration project.

 

Spelling test

The spelling test for this week will be on Monday as I was out of class, on a course, this morning. The children can use ‘Spelling Shed’ to learn their spellings or use their spelling books to do ‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’.

Many thanks

Spellings/Phonics/Reading books

Spelling test

As I am out on a course tomorrow, the spelling test for this week will be on Monday instead. It gives the children some extra time to learn their spellings. Their spelling list is on Spelling Shed in ‘Assignments’, if the children would like to use ‘Spelling Shed’ to learn their words.

 

Phonics

Some children have a little plastic bag in their reading wallet which contains the phonic sounds that they don’t yet know. Please could you support your child to learn these sounds.

Google ‘Sound Sayer’ for a brilliant game, which says the sound and gives a virtual pack of words to read containing the chosen sound.

 

Reading books

Just a reminder that the storybooks the children are bringing home are books that they may not be able to read themselves. These are just books to share for pleasure, with an adult if need be. You do not need to write these into their reading record.

The Twinkl phonics books are their main reading book and are closely matched to the phonic sounds that they know. Please record in their yellow reading records when they have read and which page they are up to or if they have completed the book. Reading books are checked daily.

Thank you very much for your support with spellings, reading and phonics. The input from home has a huge impact.

Please do get in touch if you have any questions. Our class email is: grasshoppers@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk

 

 

 

Geography – Oceans

In Geography, the children have been learning about the five oceans of the world.

Can they remember the names of the five oceans? Listen to the song and have a go at the games below.

Pirate Bunny Game – Label the oceans by clicking on the ship’s wheel (Helm)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6vyf4j

Label the oceans of the world

https://world-geography-games.com/en/world_oceans.html

Spellings – Grasshoppers

Please click on the link below to access a letter with information regarding weekly spelling tests, for children in Grasshoppers.

Just for this week, the children will bring home a blue spelling on Monday (15.9.25), with their first list of spellings.

They will be tested on these words on Thursday (18.9.25) as we focused on these words in class last week so the children have already had lots of opportunity to learn them.

Grasshoppers Spellings Information

Many thanks

 

Nature Hunt – Mr Smith’s Garden

Last Thursday morning, Grasshoppers went on a Nature Walk through the village to Mr Smith’s beautiful garden.

The children had two sheets with photographs of a variety of different plants, flowers and trees. The children had to find each one and tick them off their sheet. They then had some time sketching their favourite ones.

Thank you very much to Mr Smith for inviting us to spend time enjoying his garden.

Last Forest School Session

On Monday afternoon, Grasshoppers had their last Forest School session together.

They had a lovely time playing in the mud kitchen, making dens and pushing each other on the tractor. They also used elder to make beads by hollowing out the middle. They then threaded the pieces onto string to make bracelets and necklaces.

Mrs Rollings and Trish got the campfire going and the children toasted marshmallows to make S’mores.

Grasshoppers would like to thank Mrs Rollings and Trish for the wonderful sessions they have provided for them, throughout the year.

 

Stained glass windows

In RE, the children have made stained glass windows, using coloured tissue paper. They were exploring how the images on stained glass windows are used to tell stories or give a message, in places of worship.

 

Science – Trees, Plants & Flowers

Grasshoppers have finished their science work for this year. We very much enjoyed learning about trees, plants and flowers.

They are also doing some lovely printing work, in art, of plants and flowers inspired by the textile designers, Orla Kiely and Mary White.

The children have planted bean seeds and made cress seed heads of the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk, which we explored in our English work.

Stan’s bean plant is in the lead at the moment!

 

 

Nature name!

Poppy has created a beautiful collage of her name using items that she collected on a walk to the park, with her nan.
Well done Poppy!

Forest School – Planting, Printing & Playing

Grasshoppers had a lovely afternoon at Forest School yesterday. The children planted bean seeds and had a go at printing, using ferns and other leaves and plants.

They also enjoyed playing on the mini tractor, making dens and building nests for mini-beasts.

 

 

Pioneer Centre Visit – December 2025

We are very excited for our next stay at The Pioneer Centre, which will take place from Wednesday 3rd – Friday 5th December 2025! Children who are currently in Y2 and Y3 (who will be in Y3 and Y4 next academic year), will be bringing a letter home today about this exciting residential trip. You can also see a copy of this below. Please get in touch with me at dragonflies@brownclee.shropshire.sch.uk if you need any further information.

Many thanks,

Mrs Heath

Pioneer letter 1 – 2025

FOBCS Easter Egg Photo Challenge

On the last of term, the whole school took part in a photo search challenge. 30 different images of animals were hidden around the school grounds.

 

Children were put into mixed groups of 5s and given an initial starting number and had to find which animal was located there. Once they’d found it, they wrote it and down, had it checked and were given another. The challenge was to find 10 animals in the allocated time to win an Easter egg.

 

All the teams worked fantastically well together – and it was a wonderful way for us to all round off a brilliant Spring term .

 

Congratulations to Lexi – who correctly guessed the name of the Easter bunny: “Piglet”.

 

A big thank you to FOBCS for donating all of the Easter eggs and the Easter Hamper.