Donaldson Class
Welcome to Donaldson Class!
Teacher
Miss Nicola Booth
Teaching Assistants
Mrs Emma Foley
Miss Bethany Hamilton
Miss Amy McMillan
Miss Jessica Penzer
Donaldson class is made up of 11 fabulous children from Reception and Year 1. We follow the EYFS curriculum focusing on learning through play and exploring the world around us using sensory experiences.
We focus on the 7 key areas:
- Literacy
- Numeracy
- Understanding the World
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
- Communication and Language
- Expressive Arts and Design
We will also be focusing on areas such as Independent Living Skills, Wellie Walks, Swimming and regular Attention Autism sessions.
Our Class Timetable
Our last topic of the year is 'Off we go...'. We will be reading 'We all go travelling by....' Click on the link below to share the story with your child.
Our Core story for our topic, Ready, steady, grow is Jasper's Beanstalk....watch it here with your child.
2nd June 2025
Our first week back after our half term break has seen us start our final topic of the year!
We have read our new story, 'We all go travelling by' and all the children seem to really like to song to the story and have enjoyed making 'the yellow school bus' this week.
In phonics some of us have been singing beautiful nursery rhymes, some have been recognising the sounds we each make and some are trying hard with our letter sounds and tricky words.
In maths some of us have been on a number hunt to help make our class number book. Some of us have been matching numeral to quantity and some of us have been singing number rhymes.
We have been doing some excellent climbing and balancing and having a go at wearing helmets before riding bikes. Some of us were brave enough to try the two wheeled bikes with help.
Pupil of the week - Eliza for her beautiful singing in phonics
19th May 2025
Our last week before the end of our half term was short but fun non the less!
We have been busy recognising and working with shape in maths. We have continued our phonics work in our groups, listening for different sounds and beginning to read and write words.
We made pizzas in cooking and in forest school we made our own BBQ sausages. They were delicious!
We are excited to enjoy our final half term together after our break. Check out the class page for our next focus story.
12th May 2025
This week we have been busy hunting for minibeasts in Forest school after reading our story again. We took some magnifying glasses down to help us look carefully!
We have been doing some super counting in maths and listening for different sounds in phonics. We have made some wonderful snails out of playdough and painted them too. What wonderful artists we are.
We have lots of time playing outside again in the water and on the field and playground. We have also enjoyed mark making on a large scale and the children have taken their learning of snails into this activity too and drawn some lovely minibeasts.
Pupil of the week - Parker - for trying hard with his phonics this week
5th May 2025
This week we have been thinking about pattern in maths and using two different objects to make patterns. In phonics some children are getting super good at listening to different sounds, and some are trying hard with blending words they hear.
For PSHE we are continuing to think about healthy foods and those we should only eat as a treat! In topic we labelled the parts of a flower. We have enjoyed more wonderful weather and playing outside in forest school and the playground. We continue to explore our classroom and find things we like to play with. The small world and construction areas of a firm favourite and there are some fantastic train tracks and towers being built by all.
28th April 2025
Another busy week in Donaldson class. With the weather being so wonderful we have done lots of playing outside, we even enjoyed an ice lolly. We have been working hard in maths with numicon. In phonics we are busy in our own groups guessing sounds, sounding out simple words and having a go at writing them.
We have been learning about the parts of a flower, we looked at real flowers and have painted pictures and made collage flowers too. We continue to practice our physical skills in different areas of school, we love to visit forest school and play on the bikes and trikes on the playground.
Pupil of the week - Ewan for trying hard in all he does.
Summer 1
21st April 2025
We have all been so proud of the children this week and how they have managed with the changes to their classroom. Well done everyone!
I have had a wonderful week getting to know all the amazing children in Donaldson class. What superstars we have in our class.
We started our week by reading our new story, 'Jasper's Beanstalk' which starts our new topic, 'Ready, Steady, Grow!' We have planted some beans and are doing a great job of looking after them by giving them plenty of water.
We have sang number songs and ordered numbers in maths, matching numeral to quantity too.
In phonics each group is working super hard with their teachers. Some children are learning new letter sounds, some children are listening carefully for sounds around them and some children are engaging with their adults.
We have done lots of physical activity this week including working on developing our fine motor skills.
Pupil of the Week - All the children in Donaldson for coping so well with the changes to their classroom.
Autumn 1
Welcome to Donaldson Class 24-25. This term, our topic is based around "Who am I?" We will be reading the story "What makes me a me?"
As part of this topic, we will be learning about ourselves, different body parts, our likes and dislikes and how to use our senses. This will help us focus on new smells, new tastes and new experiences as we start the school year. We will also be learning about different types of families, and why we need special people around us to love us and keep us safe.
We will be doing lots of exciting things as we settle into class, including swimming, wellie walks and hopefully getting out and about in the community!
School Term 2024 -2025