The Very Hungry Caterpillar and World Book Day 2022!
Welcome Back!
We were so excited to welcome Reception back this week, after a very wet and windy half term break. Our outdoor area definitely felt the effects of storm Eunice but was soon back in action!
Let’s Go! is the name of our theme this term. We’ll be looking at the season of Spring and growing. We’ll also be looking at different journeys and the vehicles we might use to make them. At the end of the term, we will be learning about Easter.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
This week, our focus story was The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We hope you enjoyed seeing the story come to life through the Reception Team’s World Book Day costumes!
This book has so many great learning aspects; we discussed days of the week, the life cycle of a butterfly, the ‘one more’ aspect of what the caterpillar eats at the start of the story and of course, we enjoyed re-telling the story.
Each morning the children wrote down their breakfast, to create a food diary.
We’ve also enjoyed creating symmetrical butterflies, sorting fruit and vegetables into where they grow, exploring our sensory tray, making dough characters from the story and more!
Maths
This week was all about meeting number eight and comparing numbers, especially identifying ‘more’ and using ‘one more’ to re-visit the ‘staircase pattern’
Can your child tell you how we make a staircase pattern?
World Book Day 2022
Wowee! What amazing costumes we saw on Thursday. Thank you for participating and for sharing your favourite books from home. Both the children and staff had a great day. World Book Day is one of our absolute favourite days in the school year, because reading and encouraging a love of books is so very important.
Home-link challenges
Next week, as part of our Let’s Go! theme, we will be reading a story about a journey into space. Please help your child find a fact about space that they can share in class. This could be specific to the vehicle used to travel to space or a general fact about astronauts/ space.
We’d really like to display some pictures of the first signs of Spring. If you go on a day out or a walk outside, please send in photos of anything you spy that is beginning to grow!
Reminders and messages
-Wellies: If your child does not currently have wellies in school, please bring them in. Due to the weather, our outdoor areas continue to be super soggy and muddy!
-PE: This half term, PE days will continue to be on a Wednesday and a Friday. Swimming for your class will be on the following dates:
Sunshine: 2 March, 16 March
Rainbow: 9 March, 23 March
-Shoe boxes: To support with our learning next week, please send in an empty shoe box.
-Potting and planting: At this time of year, we really appreciate any donations of spare compost, plastic pots and seeds. If you have any you would like to donate to our Early Years classes, please hand them to your class teacher. Thank you.
A Super-Comic, Super Final Week!
This week, Reception have been learning about the features of a comic book and having a go at creating a comic page of their own. They have also enjoyed using technology to create their own Superheroes!
Click here to have a go at home too!
We gave our Superheroes a name and wrote labels or sentences describing them:
We have also been continuing to learn about people who help us:
In maths this week, we have been learning about “five and a bit” when composing numbers to eight: “five and two more makes seven”, for example. We have also been creating a “staircase pattern” when exploring one more. We made staircase patterns using multilink cubes.
In phonics, we have learnt the phonemes; ur, ow, oi, ear and tricky words; my, by, all
We have been exploring floating and sinking in the water tray, Numicon and number composition in the sand tray, practising our turn taking skills through multi-player board games, balancing in PE and much more! Take a look:
Parent-Teacher Consultations
Thank you to all of our parents/ carers who attended our parent-teacher consultations this week. We’ve loved having the opportunity to share your children’s successes and next steps with you. We are so proud of all the progress each and every child has made since September and that we know they will continue to make. Spring 1 term has seen such a boost in their confidence and we look forward to seeing what the next few months will bring, as they continue their learning journey with us.
Home-link challenges
It’s the half term break! We want you to relax, recharge and enjoy family time together.
If you do wish to keep practising skills at home next week, here are some suggestions:
-Write a list of fruit and vegetables (this links to our book that we will be reading on our first week back!)
-Explore ways to make the number eight.
-Practise letter formation, using the Little Wandle phrases.
-If you go out for a walk, see if you can spot some first signs of Spring.
Don’t forget to enjoy your library and eBook reading together!
Diary Dates…
Monday 28 February- Training Day; School closed to pupils
Thursday 3 March- World Book Day; Dress up as your favourite book character. You can also bring in your favourite book. Please ensure this is named. Thank you.
Safety Week
We have had a very special week talking and learning about people that help us. There are so many highlights! We know that your child/ren will have been filling you in on their most memorable parts.
A fire engine and fire fighters came to the school playground to educate us on their important role of helping people in the community. Fire fighters took the time to show us their vast equipment on the fire engine itself and gave different scenarios when they might be used. We learnt about what fire fighters wear when facing a fire. Some children were able to wear a protective helmet.
The children even followed a tutorial on how to draw a fire fighter. We were really impressed with the results:
Our Police Headquarters role play was extremely popular outside this week. There have been many ‘bad guys’ caught and arrests made. Our bikes are well used and its great to see the children taking turns and involved in such great physical play. We have also been writing up police reports and parking tickets.
On Internet Safety Day we spoke about what the internet is, how we use it and what to do when we’re unsure (STOP and ask a grown-up).
We asked the children:
‘What is the internet?
It’s electric-Netflix. Poppy A
It’s Wifi-Ronnie
It works on screens at home-Stanley
Do you have a limit on how much time you use a screen?
Half an hour-Charlie
Why is it not a good idea to spend lots of time on screens?
You could get a headache-Jack
To help support our focus this week we set up many areas of provision to aid our understanding of those that help us. We had dentists, vets, road workers, doctors/nurses, rescue vehicles, a supermarket etc. We did speak about Superheroes and real life heroes. So many children said their parents were their real life super heroes.
Take a look at some of the incredible learning that took place this week:
Next Week
On Tuesday, the NHS school nurses team will be in to carry out routine checks on your child’s height, weight, hearing and vision. They will send a little report home.
Reminder
Please ensure that you send your child’s library book back to school each Thursday. If you have any outstanding at home, please return them.
Reading
We have received some very positive feedback about our new ebooks. Please continue to instill a love of reading with your children.
Home-link
Can you draw and label a picture of the heroes that you are thankful for?
Chinese New Year
It was been a wonderful week of fun and learning in reception.
We have explored celebrations from other cultures – Chinese New Year.
We started by reading The Magic Paintbrush.
Here are things we would like to draw if we had a magic paintbrush…
I would paint a cat for my mummy. Penny
A rainbow because they have all my favourite colours in. Poppy
A tiger. Clara
A puppy. Leo
I would paint loads of food to share with the people who can’t afford food. Norah
I want to paint lots of money so people can afford food. Stanley
Using our knowledge of the story, we were able to sort true or false statements and retell main events.
The children enjoyed creating their own Chinese lanterns. After following instructions, the children were then able to help and teach others.
Using tissue paper and paper chains, we created a class Chinese dragon.
In maths, we have continued to develop our number knowledge. We have explored the composition of numbers six and seven.
Take a look at our other learning around the classroom…
We also had a Superhero photoshoot.
Home Link
What celebrations/traditions do you celebrate?
You may choose to discuss
- the meaning of the celebration/tradition
- food
- decorations
- clothes
Superhero Headquarters
Our construction area has been turned into Superhero Headquarters. It is complete with masks and capes to hide identities. The area has inspired different creations of vehicles, role play, phone conversations (because you should call for help) and of course writing. There has been such a buzz about this area that we are having to take turns to play there.
The week has been based on the popular book ‘Supertato.’
The children have been taking turns to build a hideout for Supertato and they have even been making their own Supertato too.
We have had other vegetables in the classroom to help us with our Maths. We used different coloured onions to explore which numbers 5 is ‘made of.’
We apologise for the lack of photos this week, there have been a few technical difficulties.
Inspiring Arctic Expeditions
This week we have learned so much about the polar regions. Looking at the habitat for animals and how they are suited for life in their natural environment has lead to interesting conversations. We have looked at explorers who were the first to reach the South Pole and imagined that we were going on an expedition too.
You have to wear warm clothes so you don’t freeze.-Charlie
You might get to meet a penguin. It might have a baby egg.- Lewi
You will need to pack lots of food and a camera-Eti
We have also watched a video and read news articles about ‘Polar Preet’ (Captain Preet Chandi) the first woman of colour to travel solo to the South Pole. Her inspiring mission finished this January! Follow the link to her website to find out more about her:
We wrote a list of ten things we might see on our expedition. The children’s phonic knowledge is increasing all of the time. The process of hearing sounds in words and writing the correct corresponding grapheme is strengthening and speeding up. Every child is a writer in Reception!
Rainbow Class swam for the first time. We are so proud of our swimmers. They were so confident to get into the pool. We will continue to swim on our rotation every Wednesday.
Identity Day.
Today we have spoken about our choice of outfit, our hobbies, talents, families, likes and dislikes. Mrs Kopiczko is from Poland and she educated us on what Poland is famous for. The children were utterly intrigued.
Have a look at what else we have been up to this week.
Home-link
Can you use your phonic knowledge to write a list of 5 items? Perhaps a shopping list? Take a photograph of your list and send it to our email address.
Say Hello to the Snowy Animals!
We’ve continued our learning on the polar regions this week, by looking at animals you might find in The Arctic. We were introduced to some of these animals through our focus story, Say Hello to the Snowy Animals by Ian Whybrow and Ed Eaves.
We looked at where we would find the Arctic on a map and globe and saw that it was the opposite side of the globe to the Antarctic. We looked at Antarctica and the South Pole last week, as it featured in our story Lost and Found.
Animal observations…
We’ve been observing penguins and polar bears on zoo webcams and pre-recorded videos. We discussed how the zoo environment is different to their environment in the wild. We observed what they look like, how they move and what they like to do in their enclosures.
Swimming…
Sunshine class loved their first swimming session on Wednesday. Rainbow are really looking forward to their lesson next week! Don’t forget, PE days have changed to Wednesdays and Fridays. Children need to wear PE kits on both days and remember to bring your swimming kit on your days:
Sunshine – 12 Jan, 26 Jan, 9 Feb
Rainbow – 19 Jan, 2 Feb, 16 Feb
Dancing…
In PE on Wednesday, Rainbow class watched a short piece of ballet- Waltz of the Snowflakes from The Nutcracker. Afterwards, they were asked to name features of the dance/scene/music. We spoke about the movements and what story we thought the dancers were telling:
“I saw running on their tiptoes”- Ella F
“I saw twirling”- Sofia
“They were jumping back”- Poppy D
“They grow bigger and bigger”- Max
“Bells jingling”- Jack
“They had flowers I think”- Vinnie
“I think they are dancing about snowing ‘cause there’s snow falling”- Charlie
“It like Lost and Found- the penguin is lonely!”- Lewi
In the hall, we practiced movements we had seen. We walked around on our tip-toes (great for our balance and core strength) and made sure that when we moved our arms up and down, they were “floaty” and “graceful”, just like the ballerinas! We moved quicker, to tell the story of the snow falling heavier and twirled to show the snowflakes drifting down from the sky. We combined a few of the moves to create a short dance together.
Can your child show you some of the graceful movements from our snowflake dance?
And more…
Take a look at some more fantastic learning from this week:
eBooks…
Thank you to those that managed to get online this week and read your child’s eBook with them. A new book is issued each Friday. This will be a book your child is familiar with, from their reading in class.
There is a ‘collinsebooks’ app that is available to download on Apple and Android devices.
Please let us know if you are having trouble accessing your book at home.
Home-link challenge…
This week, we have completed our phase 2 sounds in phonics. As well as your eBook, we have sent home a number of additional word book sheets. Please practice these at home as usual. If your child is struggling to concentrate on reading at home, try turning it into a game! Here are some ideas:
- Hide and seek- Take 5 or 6 word book words, write them on a piece of paper and hide them around the room for your child to find. They need to read the word as they find it!
- Tricky word detective- How many times can you find a tricky word on the page/in the book?
- Hear it, find it- ‘Sound out’ the sounds of a word you are looking for first, then ask your child to point to it on the page. Your child may then feel more confident to repeat the word back to you, first segmenting the sounds and then blending independently.
Little Wandle has some great resources for parents, including videos and information sheets. Click here to find out more about supporting reading at home.
Diary Dates…
Friday 28 January- School Nursing Team, Reception classes.
Let’s get swimming!
We have finally had children from Reception and Key Stage 1 swimming in our own pool! Two teaching assistants are now trained swimming instructors and each class has had their first lesson this week. There were some nervous children but also lots of excitement.
I loved going with my class.
I have never been swimming but I liked it.
I can already swim but liked going and being active with my friends.
Barwick Maypole celebration – dancers wanted
The Barwick Maypole Committee (barwickmaypolecommittee@hotmail.com) are looking for primary school aged children to dance at the maypole celebration this year. Please contact the committee on the email address above and they will let you know about rehearsals and how to join in the fun!
Lost and Found
It has been great to see all the children this week and hear about their magical Christmas experiences.
The weather has definitely matched up to our new topic this half term – Fire and Ice.
In literacy, we have been reading the story Lost and Found.
We began by using the title and front cover to make predictions.
I think they might find a pirate ship. Leo
I think they fell off a boat and they have to swim home. Jacob
Someone might find them and bring them home. Lucille
It might be about getting lost at sea and they have to find their way home. Norah
We created a story map and actions to enable us retell the story.
Can your child spot key events in these story maps?
In Maths, we have explored numbers to five. We have used Numicon to partition numbers to five.
In the classroom this week, the children have enjoyed freeing the penguins from the ice, creating frozen themed narratives, drawing penguins, feeding the penguin words and lots of other fun learning activities.
Home Link
How fast can you melt an ice cube?
What happens if you put the ice somewhere hot/cold? What happens if you put salt on it? How different does it look after 10 minutes?
You may choose to record your results using drawings or use a timer.
Notices
New PE days – Wednesday and Friday
We are beginning our swimming lessons next week! Your child will go on alternate weeks. PE kit should be worn on both swimming and non-swimming weeks.
Swimming dates
Sunshine – 12 Jan, 26 Jan, 9 Feb
Rainbow – 19 Jan, 2 Feb, 16 Feb
Please ensure your child is in their PE kit on these days, including trainers.
New eBooks will be added to child’s online library on Friday. This will ensure they have read the text at least three times in school.