Old MacDonald had a farm ee igh, ee igh oa!…
and on that farm he had some pigs…
and on that farm he had some cows…
and on that farm he had some sheep…
and on that farm he had some cats…
and on that farm he had a donkey, dog, chicken, owl, fox and rabbits!…
Old MacDonald had a farm, ee igh ee igh oa!
Thank you for the fabulous costumes. We’ve had a fantastic farmyard festival!
Have a lovely week and we’ll see you on 3 June, for our last half term of the school year.
The sun is shining and it has been just wonderful to feel like it’s finally Spring time! Here’s what we’ve been doing in our ‘Life on Earth’ topic this week…
Rumble in the Jungle
This week, our focus book has been Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz.
The book is a collection of fun animal poems. Whilst reading, the children enjoyed listening for rhyming words and noticing the patterns made with the words.
Our word of the week is Rainforest. We’ve been learning all about geographical features of rainforests and about some of the animals who live there.
In our writing, we’ve been remembering facts about rainforests. Lots of children are challenging themselves to write more- check out these amazing double-sided writing examples!
Maths
In maths this week, we’ve continued to develop our understanding of the composition of numbers to 10. Using the rhyme ’10 Fat Sausages’, we have found different ways to represent 10.
We have also used 10 frames and dice patterns to show ‘5 and a bit’ numbers to 10.
Help at home
Use the language – First, then and now to create a number story to match the picture.
Phonics
This week we have continued to read longer words as well as compound words such as windmill, handstand and lunchbox.
We’ve learnt the tricky words; there, when, what, one.
Help at home- Please continue to work through the weekly learn at home phonics sheets. We’ll continue to send these home each Friday.
Living and Learning- I know the importance of ‘five a day‘
Following on from our discussions about healthy balanced diets, we’ve been talking about the importance of getting your ‘five a day’.
The children spoke about why we should eat fruit and vegetables and what that might look like.
It keeps us healthy- Heidi
It makes us strong- Rupert
You should eat a rainbow- Albie S
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called A Little Shell.
More learning from this week…
Getting ready for year one
We are now over half way through Summer 1 and starting to think about transition into year one. To get the children prepared, we’d like parents/carers to encourage children to come into school through their classroom door independently and wave them off at the waving window. We know there are a few children already doing this, which is great for developing that independence.
We will be asking that after the May half term break, all children come in independently.
Having said this, please know that our door will continue to be open to you for chats and if your child wants to show you their learning.
Thank you for your support.
Reminders and Dates
Thursday 23 May – Farmyard Festival: (Letter sent home) Please don’t go to the expense of buying anything new – creative adaptations of something you’ve already got will be fantastic. Outfits need to be suitable for school, safe and warm/cool enough to be worn all day.
Friday 24 May- School Closed: Training Day
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Rainbow- 15 May
Sunshine– 22 May
We’re excited to be back together for a happy and healthy Summer term!
This half term is called Life on Earth. We’ll be exploring minibeasts, wild animals, farm animals and the human body.
The Bad-Tempered Ladybird
This week, we’ve been reading The Bad-Tempered Ladybird by Eric Carle.
There was lots to explore in this story; feelings and appropriate behaviours, clocks/time and the comparative sizes of animals.
Frustrated is our ‘word of the week’.
In our writing, we’ve written things that make us feel happy and things that might make us feel sad or angry, like that bad-tempered ladybird!
Art; clay modelling
We’ve been using clay to make minibeasts. We looked at pictures and photos of minibeasts, before making our models. We had spiky caterpillars, wiggly worms and crawly spiders to name just a few! Clay is great for our fine motor skills. We have to work hard to mould, pull, press and shape. We’ll be continuing with our clay creations into next week.
Maths
In Maths, we’ve been counting beyond ten- to twenty. We’ve been suggesting ways to make counting easier, when we are faced with a lot of objects to count.
We’ve also been counting things that cannot be moved, or things that cannot be seen (such as sounds/actions)
In provision, we explored doubles through doubling ladybirds and recorded our findings.
Help at home- Challenge your child to count more than ten objects. Can they count the pegs on the washing line? Can they count toys in their toy box? Can they count books on a book shelf? Don’t forget to send in photos of counting at home!
Caterpillars
We’ve got some new additions to the classroom, as this week some very tiny caterpillar friends arrived! We’ve been observing them and have been writing about the caterpillar life cycle. Some of us also wrote down how we will keep them safe. We can’t wait to see them change and grow over the next few weeks.
Phonics
Summer 1 week 1 has been an introduction to reading phase 4 words. We’ve also learnt our first phase 4 tricky words; said, so, have, like
Help at home- Please continue to work through the weekly learn at home phonics sheets, throughout the Summer term. We’ll continue to send these home each Friday.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Pitter Patter
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm.
click below to watch us recite this week’s poem!
More pictures of our learning this week…
Reminders and Dates
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Rainbow Class- 1 May, 15 May
Sunshine Class- 24 Apr, 8 May, 22 May
It’s been another busy week in reception!
Jack and the Beanstalk
This week, we’ve been reading the traditional story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.
We discussed how this story has been re-told many times and some versions of the story are different. Just by looking at the front covers, we could spot similarities and differences.
This week, our word of the week was gigantic.
Planting a (magic) bean
After listening to the story, the children all agreed that we should plant our own bean.
We then wrote instructions to explain to others how they could plant a bean too!
Music
Each week in music, the children listen to a piece of music and respond to it; what it reminds them of, or what they notice. This week’s piece was non-vocal music, Frog’s legs and dragon’s teeth by Bellowhead:
“it’s faster” (than last week’s music)- Finlay
“It goes fast, then slow, then fast”- Harry
“I like sandstorm…that has no voices in too. It’s on my playlist”- Oliver Gr
The children then watched a video of the band performing and named the instruments.
Maths
In Maths, we’ve been exploring the composition of number 7.
We’ve also used our magic bean machine to combine two numbers.
Class Assembly
Thank you to parents and carers who were able to join us for our class assembly on Thursday. We hope you enjoyed the journey through our day in Reception! If you’d like to see the slideshow of photos shown in the assembly, please click here
Comic Relief; Red Nose Day
Thank you to everyone for participating in our non-uniform day for Comic Relief and for your kind donations.
Phonics
Spring 2 week 4 has focused on longer phase 3 words, words ending in –ing and compound words (words made of two words i.e. rooftop/farmyard) We review tricky words daily.
In provision, we’ve been making beanstalks by reading tricky words!
Tricky words can be just that-tricky! We’ve previously introduced a few fun games you can play at home to practice tricky words. Here’s another you could try.
Tricky Word Jigsaw
A game to help the spelling of tricky words
It doesn’t need to be as fancy as the picture above, a plain piece of paper and hand-writing the words will work just as well!
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is Spring Wind.
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm.
click here to watch Reception recite this week’s poem
Reminders and Dates
Easter Disco 22.03.24 – 3.15 -4.15
The Friends of Scholes have arranged the Easter Disco after school. If you would like your child to attend the disco, payment should be made on the Gateway app. Collection as usual from the classroom door.
Thank you for your participation whether it was dressing up (everyone looked amazing!) sharing books at our stay and read or reading books with your child at home.
We’ve sprung into Spring 2 with great excitement for the term ahead! We are very impressed with how both Sunshine and Rainbow class have shown a readiness to learn. The children have been really excited to share with their friends all the adventures they have been up to during half term. Outside, it’s been pretty rainy and drizzly but we’re looking forward to spotting signs of the new Season.
The Train Ride
This half term is called Let’s Go! We’re starting with a focus on transport. This week, we’ve been reading The Train Ride by June Crebbin.
This story is about things that are seen out of the window, on a train journey. We noticed that the rhythm of the book’s repeated/rhyming lines start fast and repetitive (much like the sound of a train chugging along a track) and then as the train approaches the station, the lines become longer and the pace slows down until the train reaches is destination. Destination is our ‘word of the week’.
We’ve been discussing journeys that we have been on, either on trains or other modes of transport and what destinations we were going to. We’ve been writing about what we might see out of the train window.
The children wrote some fantastic sentences about what they can see out of their window. Lots of children remembered to add in finger spaces too – well done!
Historical links
We looked at pictures of the early steam locomotive- Robert Stephenson’s Rocket. We compared it to the trains we use today.
In the discovery area, we’ve been ordering images of trains from oldest to newest.
Maths: Comparison
We’ve been comparing groups of objects and toys, saying which has more and which has fewer. We’ve been using our mathematical reasoning to explain why size, colour and other factors do not matter when comparing ‘how many’.
No, Mrs Flynn, Sam still has more aeroplanes than Pat. It doesn’t matter about the size or colour. What matters is the amount you count!
In the classroom, children have been making 6 using Numicon frames.
ICT- Programming a BeeBot
We’ve been learning how to programme a BeeBot. This week we’ve been ‘having a go’ at pressing the buttons and making them move. We’ll be continuing our learning over the next few weeks, learning about algorithms and programming. We will learn to use sequences of instructions, to programme the BeeBot to reach a destination.
Phonics
Spring 2 week 1 has been a review of phase 3 sounds: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, oo, ow, oi, ear, in words and sentences. We review tricky words daily.
Tricky words can be just that-tricky! We’ve previously introduced a few fun games you can play at home to practice tricky words. Here’s another you could try.
Roll and Read
You will need a die for this game. You may wish to print the boards or display them on a screen.
Who will be the first to complete a row?
PE
We are excited to continue having both swimming and Foot-Tech this half term.
Here is another reminder of the swimming dates:
These dates are also stuck to your child’s classroom door or window to view whenever needed.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is Pancakes by Christina Rossetti
Click below to watch Reception recite this week’s poem!
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm. Can your child re-tell this week’s poem to you?
Reminders and Messages
Monday 04 March- Class Trip to The National Railway Museum.
World Book Day 2024- Thursday 07 March Please join us in the classroom (9.00-10.00) where you can relax and read books with your child. We’d also like your child to share their favourite book with their friends. Please send your child into school with their favourite book and please ensure the book is named. As stated on the school calendar, this is a dressing up year. Dressing up is optional. Thank you.
Sponsored maths challenge: Please see the Sponsored Tens Frame Challenge letter, which has come home with your child this week.
Spring 1 week 4 saw another week of Supertato studies, as we tried to capture the Evil Pea!…
Literacy
We’ve been making Wanted posters to warn everyone who to look out for and describing his features. Lots of children used last week’s word of the week- mischievous, to describe The Evil Pea.
Our new word of the week is: villain. We know that a villain is the bad character, important to a story or plot.
In the reading area, we’ve been digraph/trigraph detectives.
Design and technology
We’ve been designing and then making our own traps to capture that pesky Evil Pea! Take a look…
Art; Observational drawing
We’ve been using charcoal to draw real fruit and vegetables, looking carefully at the details we need to add.
Later in the week, we did some observational drawings of our faces! It’s fantastic to see how our self-portrait art has developed since September.
Shop- using our imaginations and exploring money
Supertato takes place, ‘at night-time, in the supermarket’
We added our own supermarket to the role-play area and is has been a huge hit. Children have loved role playing their own experiences of visiting shops and having a go at paying for items with 1p/2p coins.
Maths; 5 ‘and a bit’
In Maths, we’ve been using the song ‘five little aliens’ to explore one less within 5. We’ve been using Hungarian 5 frames (or ‘die’ frames) to represent and subitise numbers.
Later in the week, we used the aliens and frames to explore ‘5 and a bit’ We started with 6, then 7 aliens and noticed what each are ‘made of’ by subitising what we could see across the frames, for example:
7 is made of 3 and 4
Did you know?…
We’ve recently had some new flooring added to our outdoor area, giving us even more space to use our gross motor skills and play safely together. Check out how much fun we’ve been having…
Phonics
Spring 1 week 2 has focused on our final sounds of phase 3: air, er
We’ve learnt the tricky words; are, sure, pure
Tricky words are words that should be read by sight.
In provision, we’ve been playing tricky word BOO- an updated version of a game we played earlier in the year, to include our newest words.
Each week, we’d like to give you an idea of a game you could play at home to make reading even more exciting.
This week’s games are from the website: Phonics Bloom
You can play many of the games for free. Try out Tricky Trucks to practise tricky words and Alien Escape to make words. Stick to your child’s current level. If they are confident with all of their sounds, you should use Phase 3.
Please note these are games to be played alongside an adult, who can support and correct any misconceptions where needed.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called A Little House
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm.
Click below to watch Reception recite this week’s poem!
Diary Dates
Mon 5 Feb/Wed 7 Feb 2024- Parent Teacher Conferences (pre-booked appointments)
Tues 6 Feb 2024- Fine Motor Control, Stay and Learn Coffee Morning This session is all about Fine Motor Control and Writing. It’s followed by a chance to meet up with other parents/carers and your child’s class teacher.
Spring 1 is our Fire and Ice theme, we’ve been using nature to explore freezing and melting- what a perfectly cold week it has been to do so!
Lost and Found
We’ve continued to focus on the book Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers.
We’ve been linking the story to topic work. We looked at a world map to see how the boy and penguin would travel from where we live (The United Kingdom), to The South Pole in Antarctica. We recalled what we know about the world map from our previous learning:
“The blue bit is the sea”- Isobel
“The coloured bits is land”- Finlay
“I see The South Pole at the bottom”- Norah
We’ve also been comparing our weather to that in the continent of Antarctica. Our word of the week is: climate.
We’ve been writing ‘Missing’ posters, describing the penguin from our story. In provision, we’ve been writing a list of things we might pack to take on an Antarctic adventure.
Penguin observations
We’ve been zoologists this week- observing the livestream ‘penguin-cam’, from San Diego Zoo
We’ve been making notes on how the penguins move and interact with each other. We were even lucky enough to catch feeding time during one livestream!
The children have loved this activity and it has inspired some wonderful child-led learning…
An amazing small world model was carefully created whilst watching the livestream and reading non-fiction books on penguins- “They need rocks here because that’s what they have in there”
The children were keen to find out about different types of penguins and their different sizes. The tallest penguin (Emperor) and shortest penguin (Little Blue) were marked on the height chart in Sunshine room and children compared them with their own height!
Ice painting
We made ice paintings by freezing paint mixed with water and creating art tools with them.
First, we collected them from the freezer
“it’s so cold in the freezer…it has to be in there a long time”- Charlotte
Then, we needed to get them out of the ice cube tray
“Our hands are warm, so we can get the ice out if we hold the ice”- Jake
We noticed the difference in how well the tools painted, as the ice began to melt.
“you have to wait for it to melt a bit, then it paints… it works!”- Heidi
We looked at the weather outside throughout the week and had a discussion about whether we needed to use the freezer. We experimented to see if we could make ice by leaving water trays outside, as the weather has been below freezing. The children were amazed to discover ice canvases we could paint on!
d:side
This week’s Living and Learning statement is: I know that some drugs can be harmful
d:side visited Reception and discussed different ways to keep our minds and bodies healthy:
The children shared some great ideas and existing knowledge during the activities.
Phonics Phase 3 Stay and Learn
Thank you to the parents and carers who were able to join us for another Stay and Learn session this week.
We hope you enjoyed watching a lesson, getting to spend time in the classroom and hopefully getting some more ideas and information for the next steps in our phonics journey.
Maths; the staircase pattern
In Maths, we’ve been looking at counting and ordinality- specifically, the ‘one more’ relationship that creates ‘the staircase pattern’.
We were introduced to the concept by the Numberblocks, before moving on to create our own staircase patterns in small groups.
In provision, we’ve been using Frayer models to explore numbers- counting the corresponding amount of cubes/teddies, finding the Numicon and representing it on a tens frame.
Phonics
Spring 1 week 2 has focused on the digraphs oo, oo, ar, or
We’ve learnt the tricky words; was, you, they
Tricky words are words that should be read by sight.
In provision, we’ve been playing roll and read.
Each week, we’d like to give you an idea of a game you could play at home to make reading even more exciting.
This week’s game is: Tricky Word Bingo
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called I can build a snowman
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm.
Click below to watch Reception recite this week’s poem!
Help at home; Superheroes
Next week, our focus story is about a very special veggie superhero (can you guess what it is?)
We would love for your child to draw and write about their favourite superhero. It could be their favourite character or a real-life person who is a superhero to them- perhaps they know someone who helps others in their job, raises money for charity or is generally just super!
Please send them into class to be shown or email photos over to the usual email address:
scholesreception@spherefederation.org
Cancelled swim session
There will be no swimming (for Rainbow Class) on Wednesday 31.01.24.
This week, we’ve been learning about the story of the first Christmas- The Nativity. We know that this story is why Christians celebrate Christmas.
We re-told the story with actions. This helped us to remember key people and events.
Christmas around the world
We’ve been exploring the different ways that people celebrate Christmas around the world. We looked at the difference between Santa in the UK and Santa in Australia.
Did you know that when Santa gets to Australia, the reindeer are given a rest whilst the six white boomers (kangaroos) take over pulling Santa’s sleigh?!
We made Chinese paper lanterns for decorations.
We read about the good witch, La Befana, who brings presents to children in Italy.
Ask your child if they remember the story of La Befana and who she helped that were on their way to see the baby Jesus.
We made observational drawings of Poinsettia- a popular Christmas plant here, in Mexico and in India.
We went hunting for the lucky almond (in picture form). In Denmark, it’s a Christmas tradition to hide an almond in rice pudding. The finder has good luck for the year!
On Friday, we drew presents and sweets onto a picture of shoes. In the Netherlands, Sinterklaas leaves gifts in children’s shoes, that the children fill with straw and sugar for his horse.
Our shoes were magic and turned into real treats at party time!
Christmas performance
Wow! How amazing were our performers this week?! Well done to all of the children who have been working so hard and who were so brave up on that big stage. Thank you to the parents and carers who joined us and provided such fabulous costumes. We hope you enjoyed our Christmas production!
A very special visitor
On Wednesday, we received a very special video… Santa had been to visit our school. We were AMAZED that he had managed to hide our presents in the classroom. What a special treat!
Professor Myers and The Candy Cane Experiment
On Thursday, we were visited for the first time by Mrs Myers twin, Professor Myers! Professor Myers is a science expert and often shares amazing experiments with us in Reception. We tested the strength of a candy cane, experimenting with objects of different weights to see how much the candy cane could hold before snapping (the box of rocks was the heaviest!)
A Christmas inflatable wonderland and Christmas dinner
Thank you to Mrs Pennock, who treated us to her inflatable Christmas Wonderland on Thursday!
Afterwards, we enjoyed our yummy Christmas dinner. Thank you to all of the dinner staff (and Miss Hague and Mr Catherall) for cooking and serving our special lunch.
We had so much fun at our Christmas party…
Take a look at our classroom activities this week
A Christmas message from Reception
