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.
