Welly Wednesday- We found a baby hedgehog, a hoglet, in the Reception outdoor area last week. Many of the children were fascinated by this so we have been updating the children on what has happened to the hedgehog. He’s now at the rescue centre being well looked after. At the weekend, a couple of walkers found another hoglet and left a note to make the school aware. We therefore went on a hedgehog hunt around the forest school area and read a poem called Spiky about a little hedgehog. We are yet to find the other hoglet but we are keeping our eyes peeled. The children have been learning the forest school rules this week; walking only, drag sticks behind you, no licking and no picking and no walking through the fire circle. The children enjoyed digging, stick collecting, swinging on our homemade swing, hiding in dens and exploring the new environment.

PE- The children loved their first session with Mr Cooper. They played a traffic light game, a runner beans game and sleeping lions!

Phonics- We have been learning the phonemes for the graphemes; i, m, n and d. For more information view the presentation posted on DoJo.

This week the children have enjoyed reading the story The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas. We were so impressed with the children’s discussion around feelings and emotions. The children talked about what feelings they associated with colours and why. For example, yellow is happy because of sunflowers.

We have also been reading the story ‘Wow’ said the owl by Tim Hopgood and some of the children decided to paint the different colours that owl could see in the painting area. There were some wonderful rainbows.

Have a super weekend Reception!

British Science Week
Each day this week the children have engaged in some exciting Science investigations and activities to celebrate ‘Our Diverse Planet’, this year’s British Science week theme.

Monday- The children created paper chains to show just how diverse people are on our planet. We celebrated this by discussing each other’s amazing skills and qualities referring to our class talent show on Friday.
In the afternoon the children used the microscopes, which we currently have on loan in school, to explore different items such as coins, newspaper clippings, herbs, salt, sugar etc. We then observed different fingerprints and talked about each finger print being different and unique.

Tuesday- Mrs Stephens took the children on a ‘rainbow collectors’ walk in which they gathered different items of a range of colours and stuck these to their sheet to show the varying and diverse colours in nature.
In the afternoon the children enjoyed investigating different materials for the teddy bear’s house. We were very fortunate to have this session delivered to us by three scientists from Birmingham University.

Wednesday- The Reception children engaged in a range of Science investigations across all of the classrooms throughout the whole day!! Thank you to those of you who were able to visit the classrooms at the end of the day to engage in a few of these Science experiments. All of the Science enquiries were physics based and inspired the children to explore and investigate. The children also enjoyed visiting other classrooms and teachers!

Thursday- We really enjoyed learning about native British animals and creating animal flip flap storybooks in which we talked about the similarities and differences between animals and discussed how diverse the animal kingdom is. We also enjoyed creating our own funny mixed animals using our flip flap books.

Friday- The children created posters for 'our diverse planet' British Science week. 

What a fantastic Science week we have had!!

Have a brilliant weekend Reception and see you on Monday.

Firstly, thank you to you all for attending parents evening on Tuesday. As always, we appreciate your continued support. 

World book day- Wow, we were blown away by the children’s amazing costumes! The children were inspired by the Beano and Dandy stories we read and created their own comic trip. We also watched a ‘how to draw Dennis’ video tutorial and attempted to draw the cartoon character. Mrs Cutler shared a thriller story called One Fox with us which kept us in suspense! 

Phonics- We have been practising reading the tricky words little, like, one and reading and writing 2 syllable words such as lunchbox, sandpit, desktop etc. 

Science- The children made dinosaur fossil eggs using baking soda and baked the ‘fossils’. We then used vinegar in pipettes to encourage the eggs to ‘hatch’ and we observed the effects! 

PE- We engaged in our first ball skills session this week in PE. The children practised rolling the ball with control using their hands. 

Maths- We have been solving subtraction calculation problems this week and using the apparatus to prove our answers and represent the calculation in different ways. 

A reminder that on Monday it is class photograph day. It is also British Science week so we will be engaging in Science investigations and activities throughout the week! 

Have a lovely weekend Reception! 

Welcome back! We hope you had a restful and fun week last week. It has been lovely catching up with the children and getting back into the swing of things for the second part of the Spring term.

Phonics- We have been reading the high frequency words; have, like, some, come and practising reading CCVC words.

Maths- This week the children have been identifying and describing 2D and 3D shapes. We have also been developing our number bonds to 5 fluency. This is our KIRF this half term so use our top tips sheet to help you support your child’s learning in this area at home.

http://www.conkermaths.org/cmweb.nsf/products/conkerkirfs.html

The children enjoyed playing a number bonds game on the website link above.

HeartSmart- In PSHE this week the children made a special box and filled it with special items around the classroom e.g. a yellow pencil because my favourite colour is yellow, scissors and gluestick because I love creating! The children shared these items with the rest of the class and they were excited to take their special boxes (without the classroom items!) home. 

IT and Computing- We really enjoyed doing exercises in IT and Computing this week! The children used stopwatches to time 30 second intervals. We then checked our pulse to see if it had got quicker, slower or stayed the same. 

Trip to ‘thebarn’ church- What a fantastic morning we had at the church. The children’s minister taught us an action song and read us a story about Jesus just before his crucifixion. We also played games and went on a tour of the building, exploring each of the rooms for children of different ages. The children’s brilliant behaviour was noted by the staff at the church. They represented the school so well and enjoyed themselves too! We discussed the similarities and differences between this church and our church St Bartholomew’s. E.g. Pews and no pews, stained glass windows and no stained glass windows, an old building and a new building etc. A huge thank you to Steve and Claire who made us feel so welcome at the church and delivered a brilliant session.

The children loved making and eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Thank you for sending in donations to raise money for Primrose Hospice.

A reminder that it is parents evening on Tuesday and also it is a Beano or Dandy comic dress up day for World Book Day on Thursday. We look forward to seeing your costumes!

Have a super weekend Reception!

Phonics- We have started Phase 4 phonics this week. The children have been practising reading and writing consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant (CVCC) words. We have also been learning to write the tricky words the, into, to, go, no.

Literacy- This week the children have been writing about riddles for Arctic animals. For example, I am white. I am fluffy. I eat fish. I am a polar bear.

Science- We have been learning facts about different Arctic animals. The children have been locating the Arctic on a globe too.

Maths- The children have been practising showing number bonds to 10 using ten frames, part, part, whole diagram, counting objects.

PE- The children enjoyed creating a circle dance. They had to remember different actions and put them together to create a dance routine.

Thank you for your donations today. The children loved wearing ‘what they love’.

We hope you have a wonderful week Reception. Relax and enjoy!

Phonics- We have been revising the phase 3 graphemes. The children have been practising reading and writing words including phase 3 graphemes. 

Maths- The children were introduced to the number 10 and practised creating 10 using a range of maths apparatus such as ten frames, numicon and counting objects. Next week the children we will be showing number bonds to 10 in a range of ways. 

Science- The children have been building boats using a variety of resources. They then tested them for size and strength in the water tray. Their boats had to be strong enough and big enough to hold the toy boy and toy penguin (linked to the story Lost and Found).

RE- The children took off their socks and shoes, washed their hands and listened for the call to prayer. We then entered the ‘mosque’ and explored inside (a virtual tour of a mosque). We discussed the similarities and differences between the mosque and St Bartholomews church. For example they both have stained glass windows. The children talked about what they could see in the mosque such as a shoe rack, prayer mats, Qur’an stand and Qur’an. 

Dance- The children were practising dancing to the beat and using alternative dance moves to heads, shoulders, knees and toes.

Have a wonderful weekend Reception! 

NEXT WEEK WE ARE SORTING OUR SCHOOL BOOKS. PLEASE SEND IN ANY SCHOOL BOOKS YOU HAVE AT HOME. Thank you.

On Monday we visited China for the morning. The children created a passport and were given a boarding pass to get onto the plane. When we arrived the children saw dragon and lion dances, cooked and tasted a vegetable stir fry, created a Chinese dragon and practised writing Chinese words. The children were so excited to learn about another culture. The class particularly enjoyed the ‘night flight’ home when the sky was dark and we could see the lights on the ground as we landed! Thank you to those who were able to come and watch our dragon dance on the playground. The children were excited to perform this.

On Tuesday we went for a very adventurous Winter walk. We were on a hunt for rabbit holes and badger sets. The children loved clambering up the hill over rocks and across bumpy terrain.

Phonics- We have been revising the phonemes for the graphemes ai, ee, igh oa and reading and writing the tricky words I, go, no, to, the.

Spelling Shed- For this week’s phonics home learning I have sent home a Spelling Shed letter and each child has their log in stuck into the front of their diary. We hope your child enjoys practising spelling words using their phonics or tricky word knowledge. I will be updating the word list each Friday so from next week the children will have a phonics home learning sheet and Spelling Shed activities to complete. If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to ask.

PE- The children were practising their dragon dance moves this week as part of our Chinese New Year celebrations.

RE- As part of our ‘what places are special and why?’ unit, the children visited St Bartholomew’s church to find and discuss some of the key features such as the altar, lectern, font, organ and stained glass windows. Next week we will be visiting a virtual mosque in the classroom to compare the place of worship.

Have a super weekend Reception and see you on Monday!

Science morning
We had such a wonderful morning on Wednesday. Children from 5 other Reception settings came to visit us to engage in Science activities focused on the topic of ‘Space’. The children listened to two Oliver Jeffers stories, How to Catch a Star and The Way Back Home to inspire their learning. The children explored the following Science activities:
-building a straw rocket
-building a catapult to make the cow jump over the moon
-exploring magnetic materials in the space rice
-creating constellations using cocktail sticks and marshmallows
-using paint and magnets to create shooting star
-making playdough planets
-creating planets using tissue paper
-making craters using flour and cocoa powder.

Literacy- The children are enjoying telling their own stories and acting them out during whole class storytelling time. We call this ‘helicopter stories’. We are scribing the majority of the story with the children writing tricky words and/or CVC words.

Maths- The children have been solving calculations using apparatus and showing number bonds to 9 using counting objects and ten frames.

Phonics- We have been revising the graphemes air, ure, ear, ow and reading the tricky word you. We hope you are enjoying reading the penguin tricky word sliders.

RE- We have been learning about special people in different religions. This week we were learning about the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and why he is so important to Muslims.

Have a super weekend Reception!

Phonics- We have been revising the graphemes oo, ar, ur and or. For this week’s phonics home learning we have sent home a tricky word penguin slider. Practise reading these tricky words little and often.

Literacy- The children enjoyed watching a clip from the Lost and Found film after reading the story. A penguin knocked on our classroom door and wants our help to return home. The children researched where penguins live and have since been building a boat in the workshop.

Maths- The children have been practising counting 9 objects and showing 9 in different ways. We have also been showing number bonds to 9 using ten frames, part part whole diagrams and counting objects.

Science- We observed the affect of adding drops of water to insta snow. We were surprised to see the insta snow expand. The children described how the snow felt and predicted what would happen as they added more water.

PE- The children were playing ‘bop it!’ with their bodies (bend it- bend your knees, twist it- twist your body, shake it- shake your body, bop it- jump up and down). We then added music and practised moving our bodies to the count of 8 beats.

Have a brilliant weekend.

Welcome back Reception! We hope you have had a super Christmas holiday. We have had such an exciting first week back at school. The children are already enjoying our new topic ‘Living in a land so cold’. 

On Tuesday the children made melting snowmen after reading a story about Olaf and discussing what would happen to Olaf in the Summer.

Then on Wednesday we carried out an investigation to find out what would happen to Olaf in warm weather by observing an ice ‘snowman’ for the day. The children made some excellent predictions and developed their observational skills. Ask your child about what happened! 

Phonics- We have been revising the graphemes th, sh, ch, ng. This weeks phonics home learning involves the children segmenting and blending words including these graphemes. 

Literacy- The children have been reading the Oliver Jeffers story, ‘Lost and Found’ this week in whole class reading and will be engaging in some visual literacy (watching clips of film from the story and discussing the characters thoughts and feelings) next week. 

The children have been drawing pictures and writing about their Christmas holiday. We have loved hearing about your adventures. 

Maths- We have been developing our subitising skills (recognising a number of objects without counting) as well as our number bond fluency and double knowledge. 

PE- The children engaged in their first dance session this week. We were practising moving in different ways in and around our hoops. 

We have been learning about yew trees, oak trees, horse chestnut trees and holly trees this week. We have been discussing the similarities and differences between the trees. 

Have a super weekend!