My body
We have finished our topic ‘Life on Earth’ by exploring human bodies.
Using Non Fiction books, we were able to share our known facts as well as learn new ones.
In writing, we wrote our facts.
Science
This week, we have explored how to keep our teeth healthy by using eggs and different liquids we might drink.
We started by putting toothpaste on half of each egg and then putting them in milk, water, cola, and fresh orange juice. When looking at the sugar content, the children were able to make sensible predictions as to which drink might be the healthiest for our teeth.
It’s stained. (cola) Jack
On one side it’s dark and one side it’s light. (cola) Alyzah
It had too much sugar. (orange juice) Zachary
We also discussed the benefits of some of these drink for our whole body.
Milk is good for your bones and teeth. Ellie
Milk has calcium. Keira
Maths
We have continued to develop our subitising skills using familiar images and objects while introducing a new piece of equipment (Rekenrek) that allows us to explore the structure of small numbers and deepen our number sense.
Butterflies
Everyone was very excited to see the newly hatched butterflies on Monday morning. Throughout the week, the children have observed them closely and looked at the details on their wings and bodies.
On Thursday, it was time to release them outside. It was wonderful to watch them fly around our garden and even on one of the children!
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 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.
PE; Foot-Tech Academy
A big thank you to Food-Tech Academy for the donation of new balls. We can’t wait to use them to develop our skills next half term!
Click here to see Rainbow class enjoying using the new balls.
Reminders
Sun cream – Now that it’s hot, please remember to bring in a labelled sun cream. As your child will need to independently apply their sunscreen, please practise this at home.
Swimming
Rainbow -7 June, 21 June, 5 July, 19 July
Sunshine – 14 June, 28 June, 12 July
Farmyard Hullabaloo!
Our ‘Life on Earth’ explorations have taken us to the farm this week!
Farmyard Hullabaloo
We’ve been reading Farmyard Hullabaloo– our second collection of animal poems by Giles Andreae.
We’ve continued to identify rhyme by predicting missing words and continuing rhyming strings.
In our writing, we’ve been writing facts about farm animals.
Herd is our ‘word of the week’- we learnt that ‘herd’ is used to describe a group of hooved animals.
Help at home- Ask your child if they can remember some of the rhyming words to finish these word strings or they could even create their own rhyming word string.
Maths; comparsion, number order and identifying missing numbers
In Maths, we’ve been using the staircase pattern and number tracks to compare numbers and describe how we know where to place each number in a sequence:
I know that 7 goes next, because 7 is one more than 6.
I’ve already got 10 on the track, so I know that 9 is missing. There is a space next to 10 and 9 is one less than 10.
In provision, we’ve continued to tell and create our own number stories.
PE; Foot-Tech Academy
On Monday’s training day, the early years and KS1 teaching staff had a fantastic training session with Foot-Tech Academy, where we learnt some new approaches and games that we can apply to our current PE teaching.
The children continue to thrive in their Foot-Tech sessions, through games that allow them to explore a range of movement skills and encourage them to be active and enjoy exercise. Most of all, they have so much fun and can’t wait to share what they’ve been doing.
A mini bug ball!
We’ve had some creepy crawling crazy fun, at our mini bug ball today! We enjoyed singing and dancing along to minibeast themed songs in the hall and played ‘collect the pollen’ during our outdoor PE session.
The children loved dressing up and talking about their costumes. Thank you for your support at home, getting the children ready for our bug-tastic day!
Phonics
Summer 1 week 5 has focused on root words ending in:
–ing, –ed /t/, –ed /id/ /ed/ –est. We’ve learnt the tricky words; out, today
We’ve now learnt all of the phase 4 tricky words and completed the tricky words we will learn in Reception! For the rest of the Summer term, we will review all of the tricky words we have learnt.
In provision, we’ve been reading ‘facts’ and sorting them into ‘yes’ or ‘no’ depending on whether the statements were true or false.
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.
Click below to watch Rainbow Class recite this week’s poem!
More pictures of our learning this week…
Reminders and Dates
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1 and Summer 2
Rainbow Class- 24 May, 14 June, 28 June, 12 July
Sunshine Class- 7 June, 21 June, 5 July, 19 July
Rumble in the Jungle
This week our focus book has been Rumble in the Jungle.
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.
The letters are slithering like a snake.
They match the shape of a snake.
That’s how a snake moves.
Maths
In maths this week, we have 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 and 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
Our poem this week was A Little Shell.
Other learning
Reminders and Dates
Monday 15 May- School Closed: Training Day
Friday 19 May – Mini Bug Ball: 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 enough to be worn all day.
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Swimming in cancelled on Wednesday 17 May. Therefore, Rainbow will swim on the final week of the half-term Wednesday 24 May.
Walking through the jungle
This week we’ve gone WILD exploring animals! We’ve been constructing animal habitats, making animal artwork and sorting images of deserts and rainforests.
Walking through the jungle
We’ve been reading Walking Through the Jungle by Julie Lacome.
This repeating story was great for retelling from start to finish, as we recalled the ‘action words’ used throughout the story: walking, running, leaping, swinging, creeping and wading.
In our writing, we’ve been re-writing parts of the story in our own words.
Design and Technology; using a tool
Last week, we shared pictures of our ‘bug hotel’ project. This week, we’ve been adding to our construction by filling the structure with lots of hiding places for our minibeast friends. We looked closely at designs of existing minibeast homes and noticed that we needed to add holes to our pieces of wood. We’ve been carefully using the hand drills to create holes, holding the tool firmly in place and using our strength to wind the handle.
Maths; composing 5
In Maths, we’ve been composing 5 and using the song ‘5 little monkeys’ to explore the parts that make the whole number.
We’ve been using full sentences to explain what we can see on our fingers, as we move through the song:
“There are three monkeys on the bed, there are two monkeys that have bumped their head, there are five monkeys altogether”
We’ve represented our parts on a Hungarian frame (or ‘die frame’):
Help at home- Use 5 toys or teddies at home, to sing and act out your own version of ‘5 little monkeys’ (ie. ‘5 little teddies jumping on the bed…’) Pause after each object is removed (fallen off the bed) and encourage your child to describe the parts of 5 they see, using the full sentences described above.
Market stall maths!
Over the past two weeks, Rainbow and Sunshine class have enjoyed ‘paying’ for snack at the ‘market’ The children had to choose the correct coin (1p or 2p) depending on whether they wanted snack or snack and milk. The shop keeper had to collect the coins and give change if needed and then we counted the coins together- we even did a fantastic job of counting in 2’s, adding the 2p coins first! We recorded how much the market stall had taken each day.
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
In provision, we’ve been playing the game ‘Please Mr. Crocodile’ to revisit the phase 4 tricky words that we’ve learnt so far.
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
More pictures of our learning this week…
Reminders and Dates
Monday 8 May- Bank Holiday for The Coronation of King Charles III
Monday 15 May- School Closed: Training Day
Friday 19 May – Mini Bug Ball: 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 enough to be worn all day.
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Rainbow Class- 17 May
Sunshine Class- 10 May, 24 May
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
This week, we have been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Using story props and sequencing cards, we have been able to retell the story.![The Very Hungry Caterpillar [Board Book]: Eric Carle : Carle, Eric, Carle, Eric: Amazon.co.uk: Books](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81seu48cujS.jpg)
In our writing, we have been composing sentences to retell main events of the story.
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.
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.
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 Under a Stone.
Other learning areas
The children have loved creating their own bug houses in the model area as well as building a bug hotel outside for real minibeasts.
The children have been amazed at the rapid growth of the caterpillars. Each day, we have observed how they have changed and recorded what we noticed.
They have got bigger!
One has a white stripe now.
They look spiky.
Reminders and Dates
Friday 5 May – Non-uniform day with everyone invited to dress in red, white and blue to mark the coronation of King Charles.
Friday 19 May – Mini Bug Ball
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 enough to be worn all day.
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Rainbow Class- 19 Apr, 3 May, 17 May
Sunshine Class- 26 Apr, 10 May, 24 May
We know that Rainbow class missed a swimming session in Spring 2 due to the pool closure. This should be made up in Summer 2, which is a 7 week term.
Summer 1- The fun has begun!
The sun is shining and so are we! 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 been wondering what went wrong in the ladybird’s week, to make it behave so badly!
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 mold, pull, press and shape. We’ve also been making ladybirds out of dough.
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.
You can put them in another pile after you’ve counted them- Grace
You can line them up so it’s easier to count- Alfie
We’ve also been counting things that cannot be moved, or things that cannot be seen (such as sounds/actions)
In provision, we re-visited the doubling ladybirds and recorded our doubles.
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!
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- 19 Apr, 3 May, 17 May
Sunshine Class- 26 Apr, 10 May, 24 May
We know that Rainbow class missed a swimming session in Spring 2 due to the pool closure. This should be made up in Summer 2, which is a 7 week term.
FOSP Easter competition
Miss Hague came to our assembly and awarded the prizes to the Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 winners of the Easter competition. Well done to everyone who entered.
Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs
Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs
This week, we’ve been reading Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs by Paula Metcalf.
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.
Creation is our ‘word of the week’. We’ve been learning the definition – something that is made or created.
Come look at my creation!
The creation of new life, like lambs.
Maths
In Maths, we have been sorting objects by attributes.
They are sorted by colour.
They’re big and they’re small.
Those bears have scarves and they don’t.
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 Tiny 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.
National Railway Museum
We had a wonderful time on our first school trip. The day began with toast and milk to set us up for an action packed train adventure.
In the museum…
It looks really posh in here!
I liked going under the train.
Look at those wheels! They’re gigantic.
The wheels are enormous.
Check out our amazing observational drawings.
We finished the week with lots of Easter themed activities. The egg rolling competition was a real highlight of the day!
Reminders and Dates
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Rainbow Class- 19 Apr, 3 May, 17 May
Sunshine Class- 26 Apr, 10 May, 24 May
We know that Rainbow class missed a swimming session in Spring 2 due to the pool closure. This should be made up in Summer 2, which is a 7 week term.
The Tiny Seed
The Tiny Seed
This week, we’ve been reading The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.
Some of the children recognised the illustrations, knowing that the author also wrote The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The story follows the journey of a tiny seed, tracking its journey through the four seasons. It details the life cycle of a flowering plant. In our writing, we wrote what happened to the seed in each Season.
Our story linked to our discovery area and other non-fiction texts about planting and growing.
Miniscule is our ‘word of the week’. We’ve been learning that miniscule is even smaller than tiny!
Art; Printing
We’ve been using natural objects to print impressions into clay. Next week we’ll be using our clay stamps to print repeating patterns.
Maths
In Maths, we’ve been doubling! Ask your child explain how we find doubles.
When talking about doubles, we use the following sentence structure:
“4 is made of 2 and 2; Double 2 is 4”
***Home Challenge*** Ask your child to draw out and complete these doubling ladybirds. Can they use the above sentence structure to describe what they have shown?
Phonics
Spring 2 week 5 has been a review of phase 3 sounds. We’ve been reading longer words, words with s in the middle /z/ (like ‘visit’), words ending –s and words with –es at end /z/ (like ‘foxes’)
In the reading areas, we’ve challenged ourselves to be ‘tricky word detectives’ finding tricky words of the day in books and taking a photo of them on the iPad.
Challenge your child to be a tricky word detective at home too! How many different tricky words can they find in one book? Perhaps they could write them in a list.
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 Hungry Birdies.
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 us recite this week’s poem!
More pictures of our learning this week…
Class Assembly
Thank you to everyone who came to watch our Reception assembly. The children have been working hard to learn their lines, song and poem. It takes a lot of bravery to stand up in front of so many grown-ups and we are very proud of them all. We hope you enjoyed learning about our school day!
Reminders and Dates
Reception trip to The Railway Museum, York- 30.03.23 Please drop-off and collect your child at the usual times. You should now have replied to say whether your child needs a school packed lunch. Please remember that every child will need a suitable backpack that they are able to carry themselves throughout the day. Thank you.
Egg rolling competition- 31.03.23 We are going to do an egg rolling competition as part of our Easter celebrations next week. Please could your child bring a decorated, hard boiled egg on Friday 31st March. Thank you.
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Rainbow Class- 19 Apr, 3 May, 17 May
Sunshine Class- 26 Apr, 10 May, 24 May
We know that Rainbow class missed a swimming session in Spring 2 due to the pool closure. This should be made up in Summer 2, which is a 7 week term.
Red Nose Day
A huge thank you to everyone that donated money last Friday for Comic Relief. The Junior Leadership Team stood at the gate and shook their buckets and collected any donations. You are such a generous bunch of people and we managed to raise £337.97. Thank you again for your support.