Author: Reception team

This week in Reception, we’ve continued to think about Where we live and have even been creating our own maps!

In Maths, we’ve been comparing quantities- saying which group of objects has the most and the fewest. We’ve also been comparing capacity and exploring this in the classroom:

In phonics, we have now learnt our first six sounds; s,a,t,p,i,n. We’ve started to read words consisting of these letters, by segmenting (sounding out the individual sounds, called phonemes) and blending (reading the sounds all together)

When we are segmenting words, we put sounds onto our ‘phoneme fingers’, then swoop across them to blend. Here is Mrs Allen-Kelly with an example:

 

Can your child show you how we use phoneme fingers, when reading the words in their word book?

 We used our robot ‘metal mike’ to practice segmenting words. We’ve also started to write some simple words, by segmenting the sounds first.

Here are some more pictures of our busy week, having fun and learning with our friends:

Next week- Local Walk

Next week, the children will explore using maps as we take a short walk in the village. A letter has gone home with your child today. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your class teacher/s. Thank you.

Home-Link Challenge

Following on from our learning in class this week, have a go at comparing capacity in simple ways at home. Here are a few ideas:

 Diary Dates…

 Wednesday 13 October- School Photographer in School (Individual Photos)

Monday 18 October- Parent Teacher Meetings. Please book an appointment if you have not done so already.

Wednesday 20 October- Harvest donation collections.

Wednesday 20 October- Parent Teacher Meetings.

We are so pleased to have all of our children in full-time! They have all settled into Reception so brilliantly and we are very proud of them all. We are enjoying getting to know them and all of their unique personalities and interests.

Take a look at what we’ve been up to this week:

Did you know…

Your child has their very own named space on display in the classroom, where they can choose to display the learning that they feel most proud of!

School library visits and books for home…

Each week, your child will visit the school library with their class. When they visit the library, they will be able to choose a book to share with their adult/s at home. It’s important that alongside teaching the children the skills they need to become readers, we help to develop a love and enjoyment of reading too! Here are some fun ways that you can support your child’s reading at home:

• Have conversations about the pictures in the book- what can you see?
• Introduce the author, illustrator and blurb. Discuss whether you have read any other books together, written by the same author. Does the blurb seem similar to anything else you have read together?
• Ask your child to predict what might happen in the story? What happens after the story finishes?
• Ask your child how the character feels. How do they know? Do the pictures give us clues?
• Ask your child to retell the story in their own words.

Snacks and Water…

In class, we provide a healthy fruit or vegetable snack each day. If your child would prefer to bring in their own snack, please ensure this contains only fruit and/or vegetables and that it is in a named container, which your child can keep in their tray. We are a nut-free school, so no nut products in snack or lunch boxes please.

If your child brings grapes as part of their morning snack, please always ensure that they are cut lengthways.

Water bottles should contain plain water. Your child can choose to have milk with their morning snack, which is free until they turn five. If you would like your child to continue having milk after their fifth birthday, you can contact the school office. The cost of milk is £12 each term.

Home-link Activity- Week Commencing 20.09.21

Our current learning is All About Me! This week, we’ll focus on our families and the way that all families are different. Please send a photograph in, of your child with their family.  You could email the photo to the email address below and we’ll print it in school.

Please also feel free to use the Reception email address any time, to share achievements and learning from home. We’d love to celebrate these in class!

 

Helping Support Your Child at Home…

Thank you to everyone who has attended our recent Zoom sessions to help you support your child at home. Watch the phonics session and the Early Years introduction. (And apologies for the distracting cursor in the latter – maybe that’s a nervous habit of Mr Roundtree!)

Isolation Home Learning Emails…

This week, you will receive an Isolation/ Home Learning Email. This will be sent each week, to provide home learning activities. The activities should only be used if your child needs to isolate and cannot attend school.

Reminders…

Please ensure all of your child’s clothing and property is clearly labelled with their name. 

Diary Dates…

–Reception: Support your child’s reading– 6.00pm, Thursday 30 September 2021 (Zoom link TBC)

–Individual School Photographs– Wednesday 13 October 2021

It has been such a busy week, here in Reception…

Healthy Living Week

As part of Healthy Living Week, we have been learning about ways to keep our bodies and minds healthy.

We have been thinking about the benefits of exercise and sports. As well as our sports day races, we’ve enjoyed dancing and movement play in the classroom and outside.

We’ve also been taking part in challenges, trying to beat our best scores in long jump, speed bounce and balancing.

We’ve been discussing personal hygiene and how to look after our teeth. We conducted an experiment using white egg shells (which are a bit like the hard enamel on our teeth), to see which drink was the most healthy for our teeth. We made predictions about which drink we thought might cause the most damage/staining on the egg shells. Take a look at our results:

We looked at the Eatwell healthy balance plate and made our own healthy balance paper plates, by cutting out pictures and drawing food onto them.

We’ve also been thinking about keeping our minds healthy, taking part in mindfulness/ relaxation videos and reading stories.

A visit from the farm

We were so lucky to have a visit from the farm this week! We made lots of new, animal friends and learnt all about how to take care of them. It was wonderful to see so many faces full of joy and excitement.

Transition Morning

The children spent some time with their new classes and teachers on Wednesday. Although there were a few nervous faces before the visit, all children came back happy and excited for year one!

Cooling down with some sensory ice exploration

Sports Afternoon

Thursday… the sun was shining, water bottles were filled and athletes were  ready for Reception Sports Day 2021! 

Running, egg and spoon, hurdles, sack race, plus many smiles and memories made.

Home Link Challenge

And just like that, we find ourselves preparing for the last week of the school year!

Such a bittersweet time for the adults in Reception. We are going to miss our amazing children so much but we couldn’t be prouder of how much they have achieved this year, the resilience they have shown and how ready they are for new adventures in year one.

This week’s home link challenge is a transition talk-time. Talk to your child about their happiest memory of their time in Sunshine/ Rainbow class this year. What are they most proud of achieving? What are they most looking forward to in year one?

Please send us an email with their responses, so we can share their thoughts and memories in class.

Reminders and Requests

-We will be sending lots of things home this week. Please send your child into school with a named carrier bag as soon as possible. Thank you.

-A reminder that on Friday 23 July (the last day) Reception may come to school in brightly coloured clothes for our Sunshine and Rainbow party. Your child may also bring in a party snack on this day.

 

This week, the children’s photos from home have inspired us to look at extracts from the story At the Beach by Roland Harvey. In the book are a series of postcards written by the main characters, who are visiting the seaside.

The children had a go at writing their own postcards, from a place they’ve visited before. We had trips to the museum, beaches, parks and more! The children were really confident coming up with their own ideas for their postcards.

In maths, we’ve been exploring the focus number 19. We’ve also revisited creating and counting groups of objects for early multiplication. The children worked so hard on their maths challenges!

We’ve been harvesting our potatoes this week, grown in our outdoor garden area. We counted how many had grown and explored weighing them using the bucket scales.

Here are some photos of our super-busy learning this week …

 

Home-Link Challenge

This week we will come to our final focus number- 20!

Inspired by England’s victory on Tuesday evening, we thought we’d set a football themed number challenge.

Ask your child to fill in the missing numbers to 20. It’s a bit tricky, as the numbers do not follow in a straight line, as they do in our usual number lines.

If your child is working on numbers within 10, you could have a try just using the top row.

You can click here to download the sheet, or draw out your own footballs.

If your child is working on recognising numbers within ten and/or teen numbers, you could download football number cards here and have a practise.

Reminders

Week Commencing 12 July is ‘Being Healthy’ Week. Please remember to send your child to school in their PE kit each day.

We’ve been feeling as sunny, bright and full of energy as the weather this week!

Following on from last week’s learning about our past; ‘When I was a baby’, this week we have looked at the present and the skills we have now that we are four or five.

Can you guess what we will be thinking about next week?

We are so lucky to have amazing outdoor spaces here at Scholes. The fabulous weather has enabled the children to enjoy more much-loved time in nature. We have been finding and looking closely at minibeasts and our plants in Foundation’s garden have been growing rapidly. We have taken learning outside as much as possible and kept safe by choosing shaded areas.

Here are some snapshots of our learning this week, in Reception:

 

Home Link Challenges

1. This weekend is The Big Wild Weekend. The Wildlife Trust’s #30dayswild campaign is running across the month of June and encourages people to explore nature. We have sent home a nature sheet to continue wild explorations with your family, at home.
2. You may have guessed at the top of the post, that next week we will looking at the future. We will be taking a fun look at the jobs people do and what the children might like to be when they grow up! Interest in jobs, occupations and the lives of others is an important part of ‘Understanding the World’. In preparation for the week, we are asking parents/carers to talk to your child about your own job. Discuss what you do at work or at home.

Finally, you may have noticed your child has taken home a special top-secret creation! 🤫 To all of the daddies, grandads, uncles and others you are choosing to celebrate this Sunday, Reception would like to wish you a very happy Father’s Day.

Good Afternoon!

This week in class, we are talking about caring for babies and how we have changed since we were babies ourselves. To support our learning and classroom discussions, please email or send in a photograph of your child as a baby.

Sun Protection

Please ensure your child comes to school wearing sun lotion, ready for the day. They may also bring additional lotion to school, but must re-apply it independently. Please also send your child with a sun hat and make sure they have their water bottle in school.

Thank You.

There have been some popular activities in the classrooms this week…

Rainbow class have become fascinated with creating their own books in the writing area. We know some children have been creating them at home too. We’ve had stories about family, princesses, a grumpy fork and “Dad and Jim getting wet in the rain”, to name just a few! How amazing it is, that the children are independently exploring their writing for fun. It is so exciting for the teachers to see the huge confidence they have in their writing skills and we very much enjoy seeing them stand proudly at the front of the class, as they read their stories to their friends.

There was much excitement surrounding Tuesday night’s storm. Children came in excited to talk about it. It was a perfect opportunity to take their interest and explore the natural world. Mrs Myers took the children outside to look for clues that there had been a storm:

Rudy- “I see a clue-ice”

Felicity- “The blossom fell off the tree”

TH-S- “There was lightning at night”

The children collected some of the natural objects they had found, including some hail stones which they left in the sunlight. They observed the ice melting throughout the day.

Sunshine class came to the rescue of a poorly-looking bee. They gave it some sugar and water, keeping their fingers crossed for a recovery. The event sparked lots of discussion about the importance of bees for our environment.

In Maths, we looked at the focus number 13 and explored sharing/ which numbers can be shared fairly. Here are some of the ways we made 13:

In Literacy, our focus story was The Bad Tempered Ladybird. We wrote about the ways we can show we are kind and polite, just like the kind ladybird in the story.

We have also been….

Enjoying the new superhero small world area:

Learning how to use a skipping rope in PE:

Enjoying our outdoor area:

Developing our ideas in the construction and creative areas, building and creating with purpose:

Home-Link Challenges

1. This week we have sent your child home with a phase 3 sound mat, as we have now learnt all of the sounds within this phase. Please use this with your child, whenever suits you. There are some challenging diagraphs (two letters that make one sound) and trigraphs (three letters that make one sound) and we will be recapping these in school during our phonics sessions over the next few weeks. If your child is interested in writing at home, they can also use the mat to support the recall of the graphemes (the letters that make the sound)
2. This week we have sharing in Maths. Explore sharing with your child at home. Here are a couple of ideas:

-Choose three teddies and share out fifteen blocks/pieces of lego between them. How many do they have each? Is it a fair share? (you can choose a smaller number if needed)

-Ask your child to share out one item of food onto the dinner plates, so that there is a fair share between the members of your family. How many pieces of food are there to begin with? How many people are eating? How many pieces of food do they have each, when it is shared out? Is it a fair share?

Reminder

Tomorrow (14 May 2021) is a staff training day. School will be closed to pupils. Have a lovely long weekend together and we will see you bright and early, Monday morning.

It is the last full term of the school year and the children are showing us every day, just how much their confidence has grown since September.

They are coming up with even more of their own ideas, having the confidence to explore them and show them, inviting others to get involved and extending their own learning whilst doing so.

This confidence can be seen in their writing and maths too, as they jump straight into challenges with amazing ‘can do’ attitudes and increasingly bring their creations to the adults, proud of their achievements.

Take a look at some of the things our Reception superstars have been up to this week…

Home-Link Challenge

The children have been closely observing the classroom caterpillars this week and they can talk about the different stages of the butterfly life cycle. Next week, our story is Look Out Ladybird! and we would like you to help your child research the life cycle of a ladybird.

Is it the same as the butterfly cycle?

What are the differences?

Are there the same number of stages/ transformations?

Also, let us know how you researched. Did you use a search engine on the internet? Did you read it in a book or magazine?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reminders

-Monday 3 May is a Bank Holiday and school is closed. We will see you all bright and early next Tuesday! Enjoy your longer weekend together 🙂

-Please ensure bookbags are in school on Tuesdays and Fridays.

-Please send your child to school in their PE kits on Wednesdays and Fridays.

-Please ensure your child has a pair of wellies and a change of clothes in school every day.

Thank you.

 

 

Welcome Back!

What an absolute JOY it has been to have everyone back together this week in Reception. The children have been amazing and have really enjoyed being back in the classroom with their friends. Here are some pictures of what we have been up to:

We’ve spoken lots this week about our feelings and how it is normal to miss people at home after being with them for such a long time. We also introduced our new ‘Mood Monsters’ areas, where the children can sit, talk or bring a picture fan to an adult to express how they are feeling. At the start of the week, Rainbow class made ‘Hands of Positivity’ to display in the window. We focused on why we are happy to be back at school. Here are what some of the children said:

“I can play with everyone”- Charlie

“I’m looking forward to stories”- Alice

“It feels like a party!”- Max

“I like the writing area”- Archie

“Cause it’s great here!”- Toby

“I missed school”- Bella

“There is more people to play with”-Abby

British Science Week

We’re celebrating British Science Week 2021 ! We have been so lucky in Reception, as Professor Myers has visited us with an experiment every day this week! We’ve observed:

-The ingredients needed to make an egg bounce!

-How plants (daffodils in this case) absorb water; using food colouring to see the slow process of it dying the stem and petals from the inside as water is transported around the flower.

-The density of water, oil and honey; how they separate when combined together.

-How to get a skewer through a balloon without it popping!

We know lots of you have enjoyed taking part in Professor Myers’ experiments during lockdown. For this week’s Home-Link Challenge we’d like you to re-create one of the experiments we have done in class this week or choose one of your own from the British Science Week website.

Mother’s Day

Rainbow Class have recorded a song to wish you all a lovely Mothering Sunday.

click here 

(Tune: Jingle Bells)

Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day, Happy Mother’s Day,

Here’s a gift, just for you, On this Mother’s Day,

I’ll clean my room, I’ll make my bed, I’ll pick up all my toys,

I’ll be good, just for you, on this Mother’s Day!

Reminders

Red Nose Day- Friday 19 March 2021

For Red Nose Day we will be having a non-uniform day. Children are invited to wear something red. There will be buckets to collect voluntary donations as you enter school.