Life on Earth
Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs
We have been reading the funny story ‘Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs’ this week in Literacy. It does make us laugh.
Doubling
We looked at the doubles within 10 during our maths lessons last week and the children have been exploring it in their challenges.
Spring Walk
We have been on a walk around school looking out for signs of spring. We spotted daffodils, buds, blossom on the trees and bees.
“Look I spotted flowers on the trees, they weren’t there before.” Millie.
“There’s a bee flying round in there, come look!” Korbin
“It’s bud growing on the trees.” Henry
Help at Home
Go on a spring walk and see what signs of spring you can spot. Record what you find!
Easter Fun!
We had lots of fun with our egg rolling competition and Easter activities.
Have a happy and healthy Easter break and we will see you on Monday 20th April.
Jack and the Beanstalk
This week, we continued re-telling the traditional story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.
Children have loved orally rehearsing the story and have become more confident at using the story map to help re-tell all the key events.
Help at home: Ask your child to use the story map and to re-tell the story for you at home. We’re sure you’ll be impressed with their story telling skills!
Our word of the week was miniscule, which means something extremely small. We linked it to ‘mini’ and talked about minuscule objects like seeds and grains of sand.
Maths
In Maths, we’ve been doubling with the help of our Numberblock friends – Double Trouble!
Children developed their visualising skills by looking carefully at dot patterns and describing what they could ‘see’ in their minds. They used their subitising skills to recognise amounts without counting and explored the idea of equal groups.
Through practical resources, pictures and familiar patterns like dice and fingers, the children learned about doubling numbers up to 10.
In this week’s maths Rainbow Challenge, children demonstrated their knowledge of the composition of number 7. They investigated the numbers within 7 e.g. seeing that 7 can be made of 5 and 2.
Phonics
This week, we’ve reviewed the phase 3 sounds and we’ve practised reading:
- longer words (lightning, mammoth and earring)
- words with s in the middle /z/ (visit, poison)
- words ending –s (cheeps, cooks and boots)
- words with –es at end /z/ (foxes, fizzes)
Poetry Basket
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, helping us to become better readers. This week’s poem is called Hungry Birdies.
Gardening
Reception made the most of the lovely spring weather by helping to weed and prepare some of our garden area. They worked together to clear spaces, making them ready for planting after the Easter holidays. Children were really keen to get involved and showed great care and enthusiasm. Watch this space for how you can help us next term…
Egg reminder!
It’s our annual Egg Rolling competition on Thursday 02 April (see email for further details). We would be grateful if your child could bring to school a decorated, hardboiled egg on that day, if they would like to take part in the competition. Thank you!
Learning Journey Drop-in
Thank you to all the parents and carers who were able to join us this week to look at your child’s learning journey book. We’ll be inviting you back to view these again on specific dates in the summer term, but they are also available at any time in the classroom if you would like to take a peek.
A few parents and carers asked about the written observations and the numbers that were written next to them. Our Early Years Curriculum Guide describes our curriculum and explains the age-related expectations for children in Reception. Please ask if you have any questions.
Jack and The Beanstalk
It’s been another busy week in reception!
Jack and the Beanstalk
This week, we’ve been reading the traditional story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.
We discussed how this story has been re-told many times and some versions of the story are different. Just by looking at the front covers, we could spot similarities and differences. We’ve been orally rehearsing the story and we’ve begun to use a story map to help us.
This week, our word of the week was gigantic. We discussed other new and interesting vocabulary from our story too: poor, crumbling, clutched, furious.
Writing sentences based on the story:
“Jack is coming up.”
Building a beanstalk and reading the tricky words:
Tricky words can be just that-tricky! We’ve previously introduced a few fun games you can play at home to practice tricky words. Here’s another you could try.
Tricky Word Jigsaw
A game to help the spelling of tricky words
- Write 5 tricky words on paper.
- Chop the words into individual graphemes.
- Ask your child to reconstruct the tricky words, by calling them out one at a time.
It doesn’t need to be as fancy as the picture above, a plain piece of paper and hand-writing the words will work just as well!
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 Spring Wind.
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.
Maths
One of our Rainbow Challenges this week was to create a pattern and represent it in our own way. The children have been very creative in thinking up their own patterns.
Outdoor play
The sun has finally decided to share it’s rays with us. We’ve enjoyed some time outdoors this week looking at and enjoying the Spring weather.
We’ve also been using amazing team work to create and adapt our own obstacle courses. We listened to each other’s ideas and negotiated where we could place the resources within the obstacle course.
Help at home: Look for the signs of Spring when you are out and about. Think of new or interesting words to label and describe your surroundings eg warm, sunny, sun-drenched, breezy, colourful, tulip, daffodil, blooming, sprouting, blossom, floral etc
Dates for your diary:
This coming week we have two learning journey drop ins where you can come and look at your child’s learning journey book. The dates are Tuesday 24th and Thursday 26th.
Red nose day
We’ve had a fantastic day today for Red Nose Day! Thank you to all parents and carers for sending children in with non-uniform and a donation to the Comic Relief charity.
Help at home by discussing what Comic Relief is all about an how the money raised supports those living in poverty.
When is Red Nose Day in 2026 and how did it start? – BBC Bitesize
Celebrating your child’s reading: eBooks
We hope that you’re enjoying listening to your child read their eBook at home and that your child is enjoying celebrating their super reading skills!
At school, your child reads a physical book four times a week – with a focus on teaching phonics skills. This is then sent home as an eBook. The purpose of the eBook at home is to celebrate your child’s success (in phonics skills). Your child should be able to read most of this book confidently and really feel like a reader.
We’ve chosen to use eBooks at home for many benefits. Allocating eBooks frees up about two hours of teacher or TA time changing books – now spent teaching reading!
Here’s some information on how to access eBooks but if you’re having any problems please speak to your child’s class teacher.
Happy reading!
The Hundred Decker Rocket
We have been reading the book The Hundred Decker Rocket.
This story is about a girl called Ivy who sets off on a mission to space. On the way, she meets some very messy aliens. When her rocket breaks down, all the aliens help to fix it and make their own deck.
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.
We have designed our own ‘Hundred Decker Rockets’ with a deck each.
“Mine needs a swimming pool so we can all go swimming!”
“I’m going to have unicorns and yummy food!”
PE
We were lucky enough to get outside in the sunshine at the beginning of the week for our PE. We’ve been working on our ball skills with early games of ‘Mouse Trap’
Phonics
We’ve been recapping the digraphs we’ve learnt previously, looking at longer words we may have to chunk such as ‘farm/yard’ or ‘sun/set’. Chunking mean breaking the word into smaller parts (chunks) to help children read it more easily.
Maths
We found lots of different ways to represent number 7 and number 8 this week. We even explored the different parts to 7 and 8.
Help at home
Ask you child to find a way to represent 7 or 8 at home. They might count out 8 Lego pieces.
Reminder: Reception parent/carer survey
If you haven’t already and you’re a parent of a child in Reception, please complete this short survey. Thank you to those of you who have already completed the survey.
At Scholes (Elmet) Primary, we’re always trying to keep getting better and better. Your views help us to do that. The survey will only take a few minutes to complete and you’ve got until Wednesday 18 March to complete. (If you’d like us to follow-up any of your responses with you, we can only do this if you leave your name.)
We can’t guarantee to meet the needs and wants of every parent / carer, but we do assure you that we consider all the points raised and aim to act on specific points that are raised by many, or a useful idea raised by just a few.
Previously, based on your feedback, for example, we alternated the days Stay and Learns were held – to give all parents an opportunity to attend.
Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. We’re looking forward to reading your views.
The Hundred Decker Bus
The Hundred Decker Bus
This week, we enjoyed reading ‘The Hundred Decker Bus‘ by Mike Smith. In the story, a bus driver who is bored of his everyday routine decides to take his passengers on an unexpected adventure. As more and more passengers hop on board, extra decks have to be built onto the bus, creating a very tall and unusual ride!
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.
Linked to the story, we’ve been learning about the differences and similarities between cities/towns and the countryside. The children have shared their ideas about what life might be like in each place and discussed what they might see, hear and do there.
Our Word of the Week is countryside. We’ve explored what this word means and how it compares to living in a busy town or city.
Phonics
This week in phonics, we’ve been reviewing our Phase 3 sounds and practising reading words that contain two or more digraphs (two letters that make one sound). We also review tricky words every day. Tricky words are words that cannot easily be sounded out, so children need to recognise and remember them.
Help at home: We’ve previously introduced a few fun games you can play at home to practice tricky words. Here’s another you could try…
Tricky word stick person (a modified version of the ‘hangman’ game)
Write the correct number of dashes for your chosen tricky word and let your child make guesses. Encourage your child to use letter names rather than sounds for spelling tricky words. Draw a part of the stick man for each incorrect guess- you can give extra chances by adding a hat, shoes, gloves etc. to the stick person!
Focus Artist – Michael Craig-Martin
This week, we also learned about a new artist, Michael Craig-Martin. He is a contemporary artist known for his bold, colourful artworks and simple line drawings of everyday objects. His work often features bright colours with strong outlines, turning ordinary items into striking pieces of art. Inspired by his style, we created our own artwork based on a transport theme, using bright colours and clear outlines to design our pictures.
PE – Multi-skills
Rainbow and Sunshine Class loved joining together for PE outside on Tuesday in the spring sunshine. The children worked in pairs to practise their ball control skills, rolling the ball – or “mouse” – backwards and forwards to each other. As their control improved, they challenged themselves to roll the mouse through a “mouse hole”, which they created using cones. The children showed great teamwork and concentration while developing their coordination skills. We’re looking forward to developing this game over the next few weeks.
Reminders
Reception Class assembly – Thursday 12 March at 2.45-3.15pm
This is an opportunity to come into school to find out what your child has been learning about and to see some photos from our visit to This Green Moon.