Sharing a Shell
We’ve continued our learning on coastal habitats this week, by taking a closer look at rockpools and some of the sea creatures you may find in them.
Sharing a Shell
We enjoyed reading Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson.
We looked at the characters, events and settings and matched them with real images and text in a non-fiction book. In our writing, we wrote about what you might find in a rockpool.
The book also had some great messages about sharing and how to treat others. Linked to this, our word of the week was thoughtful.
Maths; counting and recognising the pattern of the counting system
This week, we’ve revisited our some of our key counting skills. Here are some of the skills that we have practised:
- tagging each object in a group of up to 10 objects (1-to-1 correspondence)
- knowing number names to 10 and their order (stable order principle)
- knowing that the last number counted gives the total in the set (cardinal principle)
- counting up to 10 things that can’t be seen or tagged, such as jumps, hops, sounds, etc. (abstraction principle)
- understanding that the quantity remains the same when (up to 10) objects are counted in a different order (order irrelevance principle)
- developing strategies to keep track of what has and has not been counted (e.g. rearranging objects into a line, moving objects as they’re counted.
Holidays in the past
We’ve been looking at the way people enjoyed a seaside holiday in the past, specifically in Victorian times. We’ve talked about the similarities and differences with seaside holidays in the present day.
Home Learning – Ask your child what they can remember about seaside holidays in the past.
Phonics
Summer 2 week 3 has focused on:
Phase 4 words ending –s /s/
Phase 4 words ending –s /z/
Phase 4 words ending –es
Longer words
Please continue to use the Little Wandle sheets, sent home with your child each week.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we learn a new poem and 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 the traditional rhyming song- The Big Ship Sails.
The big ship sails on the ally ally oh,
The alley ally oh,
The alley ally oh.
The big ship sails on the ally ally oh,
On the last day of September.
The captain said, ‘It will never, never do,
Never, never do,
Never, never do.’
The captain said, ‘It will never, never do,’
On the last day of September.
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea,
The bottom of the sea,
The bottom of the sea.
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea,
On the last day of September.
More of our learning this week…
Reminders and Dates
Wednesday 2 July, 10.00-11.30am- Meet your new teacher. Your child will visit their new teacher this morning.
Thursday 03 July- Class trip to Nell Bank.
Friday 04 July, 3.15-4.15pm- Rec/KS1 FOSP summer disco.
Tuesday 08 and Thursday 10 July – 8.35am or 3.15pm – Learning journey drop-in.
Friday 11 July, 9.15-10.30am- Sports Day.
Swimming
Rainbow- 25 June, 09 July
Sunshine- 02 July
Seaside Poems
This week, we’ve explored differences and similarities between cities and the seaside.
Literacy
We’ve been reading Seaside Poems– collected by Jill Bennett. We used the poems to explore features of coastal environments- the seaside.
Later in the week, we were introduced to our word of the week: city.
We sorted pictures of cities and the seaside.
We revisited the name of the city we live in and some features that Leeds has, that makes it a city.
In our writing, we also compared the environments of the city and seaside. We wrote about what we would see in each.
Maths
We have deepened our understanding of numbers up to ten by engaging in various activities:
- Combining two parts to form a whole number
- Dividing numbers into two equal groups
- Exploring doubles and non-doubles to understand odd and even numbers
Phonics
This week, we’ve continued to focus on phase 4 words with long vowel sounds.
In provision, we’ve been reading words on boats and matching them to the correct picture.
Art; Watercolour landscapes
We’ve been painting coastal landscapes, using famous existing paintings as our inspiration!
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 Thunderstorm.
Science
We tested whether foil boats float by constructing them and setting them gently on water. Then we loaded them with counters or toy cars to see how much weight they could support before sinking.
Check out our other learning…
Reminders and Dates
Monday 16 June, 6.00-6.30pm- Zoom: Reception to Year 1 information meeting. This remote meeting is an opportunity for you to meet the Year 1 teachers and to find out a little more about Key Stage 1.
Wednesday 18 June- Class photos.
Wednesday 2 July, 10.00-11.30am- Meet your new teacher. Your child will visit their new teacher this morning.
Thursday 3 July- Class trip to Nell Bank.
Friday 4 July, 3.15-4.15pm- Rec/KS1 FOSP summer disco.
Tues 8/ Thurs 10 July, 8.35am or 3.15pm- Learning journey drop-in.
Friday 11 July, 9.15-10.30am- Sports Day.
Swimming
Rainbow- 25 June, 9 July
Sunshine- 18 June, 2 July
Reception to Year 1 information meeting
As the weather becomes brighter and we near the end of the academic year you may be thinking about your child’s next steps as they journey into Year 1. Moving to Year 1 is perhaps a less significant change for children, and that’s because we’re a happy and healthy place to learn where we all know each other.
A zoom meeting for parent’s starts our transition process, here you will meet the Key Stage 1 staff and find out about the Year 1 curriculum.
The zoom meeting is on Monday 16 June at 6pm please follow the link that will be emailed to you.
The next step is for your child to spend some time in the Year 1 classrooms. They’ll meet the teachers and join in with the learning, they’ll get a taste of what it’s like to be in Year 1. The whole-school transition, later in July, completes the process, by spending a morning with their new class teacher.
This is a really exciting time of year, moving on and taking those next steps whilst continuing to strengthen the effective learning behaviours they have established in Reception.
Cities and Seasides
Ahoy there!
We’ve ‘sailed’ into our last half-term of Reception and are ‘diving’ into our new topic- Cities and seasides.
Think maps, coastal environments and trips to the seaside. Of course, where there’s the sea, there’s pirate fun to be had!…
The Night Pirates
We’ve been reading The Night Pirates by Peter Harris.
(Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.)
This is a story about a group of ‘Rough, tough little girl pirates‘ who take a little boy called Tom, on an adventure.
We looked at some repeated phrases in the story and how the author had chosen to end the story exactly as it had begun.
We had a go at imagining what different characters in the story were thinking, based on their pictures and the events that had occurred in the story.
In our writing, we transcribed our rehearsed sentence (He is looking at the moon.) and then had a go at writing either a repeated phrase from the story or something we could see in an illustration from the book.
Understanding the world; Identifying land and sea on a map
Our ‘Word of the week’ is country. We know that we live in the country of England.
We’ve been looking closely at maps and atlases, both of the United Kingdom and across the world. We’ve been discussing how we can identify which parts are the land and which is the sea.
Maths; Rekenreks
We’ve been subitising, using a special maths resource this week- the Rekenrek.
We learnt to “pause, place, push” the amount we need to represent, moving the full amount in one go (that’s where our subitising skills were put into action!)
We replicated some pictoral representations of number onto the Rekenreks.
In provision, we’ve been practising our maths skills by playing a pirate-y track game.
Music; Being conductors and responding to music
Our music lesson this week saw us responding to music using our bodies- waving our arms like a conductor’s baton, in time to what we heard.
We then had an opportunity to respond to what we heard through art and drawing.
Art; Making maps and observational drawing
We’ve been making our own ‘treasure maps’ in the art area, using some real symbols you might find on a map.
In the discovery area, we’ve been looking closely at some special shells and making some observational drawings, using charcoal.
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 The Fox
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.
We always look at two words in the poem and share the definition. This week, we looked at the following words.
sly – having or showing a cunning and sneaky nature
trunk – the main woody stem of a tree
Click here to watch Reception recite this week’s poem!
Rainy day play
The weather has been out to trick us this week. We haven’t let those summer showers dampen our mood! We play and explore in all weathers. Take a look at our rainy day fun!…
Help at home; Seaside photos
(sent in a text message earlier in the week)
Next week, we’re learning about the seaside. If you’d like to email or send in a photo of your child at the coast, they’ll be able to use it for their writing challenge. Thank you.
Dates and Reminders
Monday 16 June, 6.00-6.30pm- Zoom: Reception to Year 1 information meeting. This remote meeting is an opportunity for you to meet the Year 1 teachers and to find out a little more about Key Stage 1.
Wednesday 18 June- Class photos.
Wednesday 2 July, 10.00-11.30am- Meet your new teacher. Your child will visit their new teacher this morning.
Thursday 3 July- Class trip to Nell Bank.
Friday 4 July, 3.15-4.15pm- Rec/KS1 FOSP summer disco.
Tues 8/ Thurs 10 July, 8.35am or 3.15pm- Learning journey drop-in.
Friday 11 July, 9.15-10.30am- Sports Day.
My Body is amazing!
This week, we wrapped up our topic ‘Life on Earth’ by diving into the fascinating world of the human body.
Using a range of non-fiction books, we shared what we already knew and discovered even more amazing facts about how our bodies work. The children were especially engaged as they explored the many ways our bodies help us live, grow and stay healthy.
In Music, the children listened to a fun skeleton song and enjoyed working as a team to put together a life-size skeleton. (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip).
Science
We had a very special visitor on Monday – Professor Myers! The children were excited to take part in a fun experiment all about dental health. Using eggs to represent tooth enamel, we explored how different drinks affect our teeth.
We began by applying toothpaste to one half of each egg before placing them in different liquids: milk, water, cola and fresh orange juice. We talked about the sugar content of each drink and made predictions about which ones would be the most or least harmful to our teeth. It was a great way to see how everyday choices can impact our dental health.
Living and Learning – Healthy Me!
Throughout this half term, we’ve been learning about what it means to be healthy – not just physically, but mentally too. During Circle Time, we explored real-life scenarios, such as why someone might feel very tired at school. The children shared thoughtful ideas, including going to bed too late, not eating well, not drinking enough water and spending too much time on screens.
We’ve played fun circle time games focused on healthy eating and the importance of getting our ‘five a day’. We also discussed the different ways we stay physically active and how this helps both our minds and bodies.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we learn a new poem and recite it every 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 Monkey Babies.
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.
Home Link
We hope that you have a wonderful holiday and if you go on any adventures, please share them with us using our email.
Rumble in the Jungle
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 writing facts about rainforests. Lots of children are challenging themselves to write more and use finger spaces!
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.
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.
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…
Reminders and Dates
Friday 23 May- School Closed: Training Day
Walking Through The Jungle
This week our focus book has been Walking through the jungle by Julie Lacome.
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.This repeating story has been great for re-telling and exploring different ‘action words’: walking, running, leaping, swinging, creeping and wading.
In our writing, we’ve been re-telling parts of the story in our own words.
This week, our ‘word of the week’ is leaping – to jump quickly or suddenly a long way.
Did you know?…
We have a new morning activity. After we’ve put our things away, found our names and chosen our dinner, we are writing about an interesting picture. We have been showing some spectacular independent writing. We are getting so confident to write on our own. Check out some of our writing below!
Design and Technology; using a tool
We’ve continued working on the parts we are going to use for our ‘bug hotel’. We’ve been carefully using hand drills to create holes in wood, holding the tool firmly in place and using our strength to wind the handle.
We kept safe by wearing our safety goggles.
Maths; composing 5
In Maths, we’ve been composing 5 and using the song ‘5 little kittens’ to explore the parts that make the whole number. These are also called number bonds.
We’ve been using full sentences to explain what we can see on our fingers, as we move through the song:
“There are three kittens on the bed, there are two kittens under the bed, there are five kittens altogether”
In our partner work, the children had 5 counters. Taking turns, they hid some of the counters behind their back and their partner had to guess how many it was by looking at how many they could see!
Help at home– Can you play this game at home?
Encourage your child to repeat the below phrases.
5 is made of ____ and ____.
____ and ____ make 5.
Please email us a quote from your child or a photo when playing the game.
Phonics
Summer 1 week 3 has focused on phase 4 words with short vowels and longer words. We’ve learnt the tricky words; were, here, little, says
Help at home- Please continue to work through the weekly learn at home phonics sheets. We’ll continue to send these home each Friday.
Poetry Picnic
One week in every half term, we focus on a traditional nursery rhyme. This week we’ve been reciting Sing a song of sixpence.
Watch us sing the nursery rhyme here!
Art; using and representing nature
We’ve worked on collaborative and independent art pieces this week.
We used large leaves to print a large-scale jungle scene, before adding our jungle animal drawings.
We used fine paintbrushes and watercolours to create some observational paintings of plants.
Reminders and Dates
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Literacy
This week, we enjoyed reading a story that many of the children already know and love — The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Because the story is so familiar, it allowed children to join in with re-telling it, using the language and repeated refrains from the book. It was great to hear them confidently recalling key events and phrases, building their storytelling and early literacy skills along the way.
As a class, we then explored how we could change the story to create our own versions. Together, we came up with new character ideas — including The Very Hungry Bee! The children had great fun thinking of alternative foods that their character might eat, from strawberries and cake to honey and flower petals.
Maths
This week, we have continued to develop our subitising skills (see the quantity without counting) in complex arrangements.
We have explored creating arrangements of 6. The children explained how they could see 6.
I can see 3 and 3. I know that double 3 is 6.
There are 4 spots there and 2 there. 4 and 2 make 6.
That’s not six because there are 6 counters here and I can see one more.
Phonics
This week, we have continued to learn phase 4 words such as frog, shift, chimp and drum.
We’ve also learnt more phase 4 tricky words; some, come, love and do
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.
Remember, there are lots of ‘tricky word games’ that we’ve shared in the past (see previous Class News posts) to help your child learn and remember these words. Thank you for your continued support — regular short practice sessions really help children consolidate their learning.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we learn a new poem and we recite this poem every 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 Under a Stone. Watch here.
Creative
Children have also enjoyed being creative with clay as part of their Expressive Arts and Design (EAD) learning. Inspired by our ongoing topic on minibeasts, they explored the shapes and features of tiny creatures like ladybirds, caterpillars and spiders. They rolled, pinched and shaped the clay to create their very own minibeast models.
More pictures of our learning this week…
The Bug Collector
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 and the human body.
This week, we’ve been reading The Bug Collector by Alex Griffiths.
This book follows George as he visits a wildlife museum and discovers the fascinating world of bugs. After his visit, he collects all the minibeasts from his garden and puts them in jars, but they don’t seem very happy.
After reading the book, the children enjoyed being minibeast explorers in our own garden. However, they made sure to return the creatures safely to their natural habitat.
In our writing, we shared the key message from the story and explored different ways we can care for bugs.
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.
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.
PE
This half term, we are focusing on developing netball skills such as throwing and catching. The children especially enjoyed challenging themselves to throw the ball, tap their heads, and then catch it again.
More pictures of our learning this week…
Reminders and Dates
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Rainbow Class- 7 May, 21 May
Sunshine Class- 30 Apr, 14 May
Rabbits don’t lay eggs
We’ve been building up to the Easter half-term break with some egg-streamly egg-citing activities!
Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs
We’ve been reading Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs by Paula Metcalf.
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
The story begins on a farm, with a rabbit named Rupert. All he wants is to be useful but unfortunately, he struggles to find anything he’s good at. Luckily, he soon finds an unexpected job on the farm!
Our ‘word of the week’ is creation – something that is made or created.
We also spotted some other adventurous words in the story:
Giggled to laugh lightly and repeatedly (a lot) in a silly way.
Glumly to look unhappy and disappointed.
In our writing, we transcribed the sentence Chicks are born on a farm. We also had a go at creating our own sentences, with spring pictures to inspire us!
Understanding the World; Easter
Through our literacy and RE learning, we’ve been discussing how we celebrate Easter and where our traditions come from.
We learnt that Easter is a Christian celebration and listened to the Easter story.
In provision, we’ve been exploring lots of Easter themed activities- we’ve loved going on egg hunts in the garden!
Maths
In Maths, we’ve been identifying the same and different attributes of various objects – e.g. colour, size, shape. We’ve been choosing ways to sort the objects.
We have also re-visited ways to identify ‘odd’ and ‘even’ numbers- we noticed that all of our even numbers are doubles!
In provision, we’ve been exploring doubles by putting the same number of eggs into 2 baskets and finding the total amount, we’ve been making repeating patterns using Easter objects and we’ve been playing a subtising/counting game! What a lot of maths skills!
Farmer Luke
On Thursday, we caught up with Farmer Luke via Zoom.
He started by showing us the tractor he uses to plant seeds and showed the children that these special tractors have tracks, not wheels, to protect the soil.
Luke showed us the different parts of the cultivator that work together to plant the grass seeds.
He asked the children to guess one of the plants- well done to Jenson, who knew it was a blackberry bush! Luke sends blackberries off in June/July to be turned into Ribena- yum!
Luke then answered some of our questions. We learnt lots, such as how long it takes for the grass to grow, where the tractors are kept and which jobs happened on the farm over winter.
We found out that winter is “less busy”. Lots of small jobs happen, such as pruning, farming the chickens, trimming edges and chopping up wood from fallen trees. Luke said “now it’s spring and things are growing, there’s lots more jobs to do!”
Bean Plants
Before we sent our bean plants home this week, we looked closely at the changes and how they had started to grow. If you decide to plant your bean at home, we’d love to see!
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 Seed.
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.
We always look at two words in the poem and share the definition. This week, we looked at the following words.
sow – plant (seed) by scattering or putting in soil
shower – a short period (time) of rain
click here to watch Reception recite this week’s poem!
Egg rolling competition!
We finished the week with our egg rolling competition. We saw super- creative decorated eggs- thank you for your amazing efforts. Well done to our winners, whose eggs rolled their way to victory!
Home learning
Can you write a diary about your half term? A sentence a day would be fantastic! Please bring your diary in to share when we return to school.
Writing reminder…
Remember, it is okay for things to be spelt phonetically. It is important your child grows into an independent learner. Encouraging your child to write the words as they sound rather than always spelling correctly is important. It encourages your child to use their own skills – rather than copy from an adult.
It is important you do not let your child simply copy your writing. They need to use their phonics skills to write. Here is an example of a child’s writing in Reception.
Final message and getting ready for year one!
On your return to school on the 22 April, we’ll be entering the final full term of Reception. The first step of the transition towards year one, is getting the children ready to come into school independently.
To support us with this, we are asking that children enter the classroom/cloakroom on their own from 22 April. We know a few children have started to do this already, which is great to see!
We encourage you to wave goodbye at the waving window and our door is always open for you to continue to pop in for a chat, if needed.
Thank you for your support.
We wish you all a lovely half-term break- see you in 2 weeks!
Reminders and Dates
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1