This week in our light and dark topic, we’ve been learning about day and night.
Night Monkey, Day Monkey
We’ve been reading Night Monkey, Day Monkey by Julia Donaldson.
The story follows two monkeys who find themselves awake at their opposite times of day. They are very confused by what they see and need help understanding everything! Our word of the week is: nocturnal. We know that nocturnal means “active at night”
We’ve been writing about nocturnal animals and features of day/night.
Science: shadows
We’ve been making further investigations into shadows, by spotting them outside and by using our dark tent. We know that to make a shadow, we need a source of light. When that source of light is blocked, it casts a shadow. We explored using mirrors to reflect lights differently and used colour paddles to change the colour being projected onto the tent wall.
Outside, the sun is light- Albie S
The shadow is made ’cause I put my hand there- Reggie
When the torch is closer to my hand it’s bigger (the shadow) … it’s smaller far away- Dawson
Look- yellow (colour paddle) makes it look like the sun!- Heidi
Maths; part-whole
In Maths, we’ve been looking at the ‘parts’ that make the whole of something. For example, the parts of us that make our whole body. Our head, eyes, legs etc. are the parts, our body is the whole.
This leads on to understanding the composition of number; the parts that can be added together to make a whole number.
The children were introduced to a part-part-whole model and how objects can be used with it, to explore the parts of a number.
PE; Gymnastics
This half term, Friday PE sessions are gymnastics. We are exploring movement and balance, developing fundamental skills and learning how to demonstrate our skills to others.
Living and learning; e-safety
This week’s living and learning statement is: I know how important it is to make careful choices when online
The key message in Reception is to tell a trusted adult when something happens online that feels unsafe or unusual. Also, that internet use should be monitored by an adult. We also spoke about why we should limit screen time, for our health.
We watched and listened to the story of Smartie the Penguin
The story gives examples of different scenarios that could happen online and has a song that runs throughout, that reminds children what to do:
Before you tap and click,
You need to stop and think,
and TELL SOMEONE!
Phonics
Autumn 2 week 3 has focused on the single letter phoneme z and digraphs zz, qu, ch
We’ve learnt the tricky words; go, no, to, into
Tricky words are words that should be read by sight.
In provision, we’ve been playing what’s in the box and writing the words to match pictures we find.
In the reading area, we’ve been tricky word detectives. We’ve been finding a ‘tricky word of the day’ in books and taking a picture of them with an iPad.
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 Shoes
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!
Shoes
Help at home; Stars
Next week, we’ll be looking to the skies again! We are learning about the night sky and stars.
We know this is a topic of interest for many children in Reception. If you have any books or resources to share that are linked to this topic, we would love to see them.
Christmas production
We’ve had a few questions about our upcoming Christmas production. The dates of which can be found on the school calendar (homepage).
This week, the children have chosen the part they would like to play. There are some speaking and some non-speaking roles. Children had the option to choose from either of these.
We will shortly be sending home the parts they have chosen, costume suggestions and lines to learn (for those who have them)
Let the festivities begin!!!
