Pedrevan
Welcome to Pedrevan Class!
Our EYFS team are Mrs Clare Hayes and Miss Catherine Humpage.
In the Foundation Stage we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. We cater for both Nursery and Reception children, taking children from their 3rd birthday all the way through to the end of their Reception Year. It is a happy, vibrant room where children can access learning at all levels and develop independence and social skills in a supportive and happy environment.
Growing together in God's love...
Living, Loving, Learning
Characteristics of Effective Learning
In Pedrevan, the children are encouraged to grow as effective, independent learners with the help of some very special characters called 'Learnosaurs'. Each loveable character has its own special learning power, for example, the 'Tryatops' never gives up and bounces back after difficulties. The 'Explorerapter' uses its senses to explore the world and have a go at new things. These Learnosaurs are actually a child-friendly version of the 'Characteristics of Effective Learning' which form an integral part of the Early Year's Foundation Stage Curriculum. For more information on the EYFS Curriculum please click here 
Phonics
Children are taught to read and write using the systematic phonics scheme 'Read, Write Inc'. From the very beginning of the year, children are introduced to letter sounds, which they will quickly learn to blend together to read and use to write simple words and sentences. For more information about RWI (including video clips of how to pronounce the letter sounds) please click here
We love outdoor learning!
Class Blog 2019-2020
Autumn Term 2019 (2nd Half)
'Why do we have bones?'
On Thursday 21st November, we went to visit the vet to experience taking a cat for a vaccination! The vet weighed the cat and then showed us how he checks the heart, teeth, eyes and tummy. We even had a go at using the stethoscope to hear the cat's heart! We then watched as the vet gave the cat his vaccination and talked about how it will prevent him getting flu just like the children had received their vaccination from the nurse. This experience will help to support the children's role play next week when we set up our own vet practice in the classroom!
During the first week back, we learned all about the Hindu festival of Diwali: "the festival of light". We learned the story of Rama and Sita and re-told it using stick puppets. We also made our own Rangoli patterns, designed Mendi patterns for our hands. We made and decorated clay Diva lamps, used glitter to make firework pictures and finished the week by making and eating some delicious coconut sweets - yum!
Autumn Term 2019 (1st Half)
'Oh help, oh no, it's a...'
On Thursday 17th October, we completed our Gruffalo topic, with a visit to Feadon Farm Park in Portreath. We were excited to meet the animals from the story in real life! What a fantastic experience! We hand-fed the goats and chickens, stroked the reindeer, held the barn owl and even got a kiss on the nose from the foxes! We also got up close and personal with a toad, ferret and a corn snake. We learned lots of facts about different British wildlife and about the importance of conservation. We were sad to learn that hedgehogs are nearly extinct but pleased to hear the centre were looking after a mother hedgehog and her 3 newborns!
We have been celebrating our very own bumper harvest of giant pumpkins and carrots from the school garden! We have also been exploring nature's harvest around the grounds and building up an impressive display on our Autumn table! We have found; conkers, beech nuts, acorns, chestnuts and many different types of seeds, which has inspired us to find out about lifecycles of different native trees.
We dressed up as characters from the Gruffalo story and played in role. We even had a Gruffalo cave!
We read the story of the Little Red Hen and then followed the visual instructions in a Paul Hollywood recipe book to make our own loaves!
This half term, we are learning the skills of collage and sculpture. We have made lots of topic-based art work, as well as applying our skills when choosing to make creations of our own!
As part of our Gruffalo topic, we enjoyed making a Gruffalo crumble! We carefully peeled and chopped some pears and then made a crumble topping. We added chopped up fruit for a face and finally enjoyed eating it - clean bowls all round!!
Class Blog 2018-2019
Summer Term 2019 (2nd Half)
'Off we Go...!'
On Tuesday 23rd July, we spent a lovely, sunny day at Lappa Valley Park in Newquay. We caught the steam train into the park, where we enjoyed; playing in the park, having a go at crazy golf, exploring the soft play area, bouncing on the trampolines and even riding on the pedalos! We then had a picnic lunch before catching the return train. What a wonderful way to finish the year :)
This half term, we have enjoyed making hot air balloons using paper mache! Our mini-me's are nearly ready to take flight from Reception and move onto adventures new; up, up and away....
On Friday 19th July, we had a bike and scooter day, where we brought in our bikes and scooters from home and enjoyed showing off our skills on the big play ground!
We have enjoyed designing and making moving vehicles for our stick people to travel in! We have learned how to attach moving axels and wheels!
Today, we spent the morning outside making houses for our stick people. We cut 3 sticks to similar lengths, tied the tops together and then opened them out into a tri-pod. We then covered them in leaves to make a dry shelter for our stick people. We also had a go at identifying different leaves!
Pedrevan car wash! A fun way to cool down on a sunny afternoon :)
Decorating biscuits to sell at the Summer Fair!
On Wednesday 19th June, We spent a lovely morning collecting sticks and turning them into stick characters! We learnt how to whittle a flat edge to create a face and how to use string to bind the 'arms' on. We then decorated them with pens to make a face and fabric, pipe cleaners and wool as clothes and hair! The next day we planned and wrote adventure stories about the characters. Next, we are looking forward to designing and making vehicles for our stick characters to travel in.
Summer Term 2019 (1st Half)
'Let it Grow!'
The children have really enjoyed learning through first-hand experience what plants need to help them grow, the different parts of a plant and about the life-cycle of different plants. They have had great fun sowing different seeds and watering them every day!
Spring Term 2019 (2nd Half)
'Amazing Animals!'
On Wednesday 3rd April, we enjoyed a trip to Newquay Zoo to meet the animals. We started the day with an 'Animal Encounter' where Pippa the keeper, introduced us to some of the zoo's smaller animals and told us some interesting facts about them. These included: a stick insect, a leaf insect and even a hissing cockroach! Later, we enjoyed helping to feed the Meerkats as learning facts about them too. What a lovely end to the term!
On Monday 2nd April, Tamsin from Perennial Harvest Gardening Club came to help us prepare our entries for the Spring Flower Show at the Royal Cornwall Show Ground on 5th and 6th April. She helped us to plant up a story box which the children added props to - can you guess the story?! She also gave the children a choice of vegetables to dress up! These will be entered in the 'best dressed vegetable' category. We had great fun and look forward to maybe winning a prize!
Spring Term 2019 (1st Half)
'Perfect pets!'
PE days this half-term are Tuesdays and Fridays. Please make sure your child has their full kit in school on these days, including a pair of trainers.
On Wednesday 13th February, we walked to Donna's house to visit all her pets! We met her: cats, rabbit, dog, duck and 2 geese! A big thanks to Donna for having us and telling us all about how she looks after the different animals!
On Monday 28th January, we spent a lovely morning at the Pets at Home store in Truro. We met Lisa who kindly introduced us to some of the rabbits, Guinea pigs and rats and told us how to care for them. She then showed us the fish and explained the difference between the tropical and cold water fish, letting us feel how warm the tropical tanks were! We then chose 2 cold water goldfish to take back to school. The children named them Nemo and Dory. They also chose some lovely ornaments to go in the fish tank and we made sure we got plenty of food and some plants for them too. We couldn't wait to get them back to school and put them in the tank!
The children are enjoying having visits from different pets!
Autumn Term 2018 (2nd Half)
'Let's Celebrate!'
On Monday 10th December, we went on a trip to the Rogue Theatre at Tehidy Woods. We had a magical time! We met different fairies around the wood. One was dancing with fire, another blew bubbles and another gave us wishes (ribbons) to tie to the trees. We then went into Old Man Winter's grotto and he gave us some sweets and told us a story about why the days are shorter in winter. We then made our way to the theatre, where we sat on cushions to sing Christmas songs and enjoy hot chocolate with marshmallows! We then watched a play about a school for magical children.
On Wednesday 21st November, the children were delighted to discover that Jack Frost had visited the school in the night! They observed the frost carefully, noticing how "spiky" it was. They explored how it melted when they put their hand on it, predicting that it must be because their hands were warm. What a great opportunity for some real life science! Later in class we listened to a story about Jack Frost and talked about the different seasons of the year.
5th-9th November was Diwali week! As part of our topic "Let's Celebrate", we learnt all about the Hindu festival of Light called Diwali. We listened to the story of Rama and Sita, which explored the significance of light. We made our own Diva lamps and Rangoli patterns. We also looked at India on Google Earth and tasted some Indian food.
Autumn Term 2018 (1st Half)
'All About Me!'
The children have enjoyed learning about Autumn. We went for a walk and collected signs of Autumn to create a display. The children were excited to finally harvest a pumpkin from the school garden. We looked closely at what was inside the pumpkin and made observational drawings and labelled them. We also listened to the story of the Little Red Hen and then had a look at some real wheat. We shook the wheat to make corn come out, it was hard work to crush it into flour! We also enjoyed having a go at making our own bread - yum!