Reception Class News

Day and Night

Posted on Monday 27 November 2023 by Reception team

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!!!

 

Children in Need

Posted on Wednesday 22 November 2023 by Mrs Hogarth

A huge thank you to everyone that donated money last Friday for Children in Need. The Junior Leadership Team were out in the playground with collection buckets before and after school – they did a great job! We managed to raise a whopping £436.98 in total. Thank you so much!

Each Peach Pear Plum

Posted on Friday 17 November 2023 by Miss Hague

Nursery Rhyme Week

In literacy, we read the story Each Peach Pear Plum.

It was a very engaging book and the children loved spotting the different characters on each page.

Check out our super writing!

 

We also explored household objects from the past. Asking questions to learn about objects we had never seen before. We were then able to compare these to objects we might have at home.

Home Link

What objects from the past can you spot in the picture?

Compare these objects with the ones in your home.

Odd Socks

On Monday, we all wore our odd socks. This was to celebrate our differences and share the message that we are all different in some way.

Stay and Learn

On Wednesday, we had a wonderful morning exploring maths with our adults.

Thank you to all the adults that were able to join us and join in with lots of maths activities.

It was great to receive your valuable feedback.

Very helpful to know how to help at home.

Wonderful to come to school and get involved in the learning with my child.

Great learning how we can help with their maths.

It was very informative and helpful.

 

Music

This week in music, the children listened and danced to Boogie Wonderland.

After, they were asked…

How did you feel?

Happy!

It feels like a disco.

I was proud.

I felt like I was in the song.

Excited!

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 Basket of Apples.

Other learning

This week we have explored lots of nursery rhyme themed activities in our classroom.

Dates for your diary

Swimming

Penny Trail – Cancer Research collection

Posted on Friday 17 November 2023 by Mrs Wadsworth

Thank you to everyone who donated to

last week’s penny trail in aid of Cancer Research.

In total, we raised 

£99.32!

An amazing amount made from mainly 1p and 2p coins.

Thank you!

Maths stay and learn- 15.11.23

Posted on Tuesday 14 November 2023 by Reception team

Who’s ready for our second stay and learn session? We are!

Join us at 9am tomorrow morning (going through the school office after drop-off)

You will be watching a short lesson, enjoying some maths activities with your child and finishing with a short presentation by the class teachers.

See you there!

 

 

Festivals of light

Posted on Friday 10 November 2023 by Reception team

Welcome to Autumn 2! This half term, our theme is light and dark.

We’ve covered lots of important events and topics this week…

Bonfire Night

We’ve been learning about why we celebrate Bonfire Night, with an introduction to The Gunpowder Plot.  The children enjoyed sharing their experiences of Bonfire Night and how they celebrated at home or out and about.

In the construction area, we’ve been building replicas of The Houses of Parliament. We explored casting shadows of our models with torches and used colour paddles to make the shadows look like fire!

Diwali

We found out about the Hindu festival of lights, that will be celebrated this weekend- Diwali.

Our focus book was Binny’s Diwali by Thrity Umrigar

We also found out about the festival through sharing non-fiction texts and watching cbeebies- My first festivals

Take a look at some of the activities we explored, when learning about Diwali.

Our word of the week is: festival

Remembrance Day 

We discussed when and why we have Remembrance Day. We learnt about the meaning behind different coloured poppies. Lots of children wore a poppy to school and could speak about its meaning. We made poppies in class and poppy art using small parts outside.

Me and my money week 

For Me and my money week, Reception were introduced to coins by paying for snack at the market stall! Each item cost 1p and the children had to decide whether they needed 1p or 2p. They could also decide to pay for 2 items using a 2p coin or 2x 1p coins. We counted the amount each day to say how many ‘pence’ the market stall had made.

On Friday, we used all of your kind donations (thank you!) to create our charity penny trail. Can you see what we made using the coins?

During philosphy Friday, we asked the children What would you do with your last £1? 

Keep it, otherwise I’d have no money!- Reggie

Take it to charity- Liezah

Get it on an amazing toy- Finlay

Keep my money because I want £20. Then I can buy things for Mummy, Ellie and me!- Albie T

Get a real duck!- Ryan

Maths; identifying and composing 5

In Maths, we’ve been using our fingers to identify 5. We ‘grew our fingers’ using the peas in a pod song-

Five little peas in a pea pod pressed,

One grew, two grew, so did all the rest,

They grew and they grew and they did not stop,

Until one day the pod went pop!

Later in the week, we used 5 frames and 5-die frames to explore the different ways to compose 5.

Phonics

Autumn 2 week 1  has focused on the new digraphs ff, ll, ss and the single letter phoneme j

We’ve also learnt the tricky word; as

Tricky words are words that should be read by sight. We start by identifying which part of the word is ‘tricky’. In as, the ‘s’ is tricky because it makes the /z/ sound.

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 Cup of Tea

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!

Cup of tea

Help at home; World Nursery Rhyme Week

Next week, we’ll be celebrating World Nursery Rhyme Week

If your child would like to, we’d love to share a recording of them telling their favourite nursery rhyme in class. Please send your videos to the email address below.

Dates for your diary

Odd Socks Day- 13.11.23 To support anti-bullying week, please send your child to school wearing a pair of odd socks (Monday only)

Maths Stay and Learn – 15.11.23 – 09.00 – 10.00 Please join us in the classroom to watch a short maths session and enjoy some maths activities with your child.

Swimming

 

THANK YOU – charity collection coin trail

Posted on Friday 10 November 2023 by Mrs Latham

Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 created this amazing coin trail with all the coins you kindly donated. Counting is still in progress and we’ll let you know how much we raise for Cancer Research when we have finished counting all the coins.

THANK YOU!

 

Living and learning : coin trail

Posted on Wednesday 08 November 2023 by Mrs Latham

We’re going to make a ‘coin trail’ on Friday using 1p and 2p coins. If you can send any into school to help with this, donations will be counted and sent to Cancer Research (our current school charity).

We’re hoping to spell out SCHOLES in coins!

 

Potion Commotion

Posted on Friday 27 October 2023 by Reception team

Potion Commotion

We’ve been reading Potion Commotion by Peter Bently and Sernur Isik.

We’ve been writing our own potion recipes and making potions in the water tray. We even thought of some magic words we could use.

“Potion commotion, make this bubble!”- Rupert

“abracadabra!”- Harry

We’ve enjoyed themed activities, with a focus on developing important skills.

-Exploring autumn colour, texture and scent (cinnamon sticks) in the sensory area. -Tweezing spiders out of a web and hammering golf tees into a pumpkin to strengthen our fine motor skills. -Printing pumpkins, using apples from our garden, to explore an artistic technique. -Tweezing pompoms into cauldrons for fine motor and number recognition.

Maths; number stories

In Maths, we’ve been learning to use number to describe what we see.

We progressed this skill further by telling number stories.

“First there were 2 ghosts in front of the house, then 1 more flew in, now there are 3 ghosts altogether”

Ask your child to tell you the number story below.

In provision, we’ve been representing numbers on ten frames.

Halloween disco and special lunch

Everyone had lots of fun at the Halloween disco last week.

Yesterday, the lunchtime staff treated the children to spooky decorations and a special dessert.

Phonics

Autumn 1 week 8 has been a revision week.

In provision, we’ve been playing ‘tricky word BOO’ to revise the tricky words we know.

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 Pointy Hat

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!

Pointy Hat

Help at home; light and dark

If you go to any light shows, see any illuminations or go to a firework display over the half term break, we’d love to share your photos in class. We’ll use the pictures to support our topic on light and dark.

Dates for your diary

Maths Stay and Learn – 15.11.23 – 09.00 – 10.00 Please join us in the classroom to watch a short maths session and enjoy some maths activities with your child.

Swimming

Have a lovely half-term break. We look forward to welcoming you back to class on Monday 6 November!

Leaf Man

Posted on Friday 20 October 2023 by Miss Hague

This week, we have explored all things autumn!

Science

We began by taking an autumn walk around the school field to spot changes in the natural environment.

We collected items to add to our autumn tray in the classroom. We looked closely at the objects and created some observational drawings.

 

Literacy

We read the book Leaf Man and thoroughly enjoyed looking at the different pictures made using leaves.

Art 

Inspired by the book, we made our own leaf pictures. We used a variety of different objects, such as leaves, conkers and sticks.

Maths

Our focus in maths this week has been comparing quantities. We have developed our skills to look carefully and use the language  ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’ to describe sets of objects.

We varied the objects ensuring they had different attributes such as, colour or size to draw attention to the number.

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 Five Little Pumpkins.

Watch us recite the poem here.

 

Dates for your diary

We have changed the timing of some our stay and learn session to incorporate an opportunity for you to meet with your child’s teacher and other parents at a coffee morning.

Stay and learn sessions
This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about the Early Years Curriculum and watch your child learning in school.
Maths – 15.11.23 – 09.00 – 10.00
Phonics Phase 3 – 16.01.24 – 09.00 – 10.00 (with coffee morning)
Fine Motor Control and Writing –06.02.24 – 09.00 – 10.00 (with coffee morning)
World Book Day- 07.03.24 – 8.50- 9.20

Learning Journey Drop In’s
An opportunity to “drop into” school and share your child’s learning journal with them.
Times – 8.45 am-9.15am and 3.15pm-3.45pm (Tuesday and Thursday)
Week beginning 11.12.23
Week beginning 25.03.24
Week beginning 08.07.24

 

 

 

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