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.
Understanding the World- Science; shadows
We’ve been investigating shadows, by spotting them outside and by exploring a ‘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. We’re looking forward to continuing our dark tent investigations next week.
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 and our body is the whole. Here is a detailed explanation of how this understanding is a crucial knowledge base for later mathematical learning:
“Composition of number is a key area of mathematics … By investigating their own bodies and familiar toys they will begin to understand that whole things are often made up of smaller parts and that a whole is, therefore, bigger than its parts… As part of their work on subitising, the children have previously begun to spot numbers within numbers, and this skill of de-composing and combining numbers (taking them apart and putting them back together again) will build firm foundations for later calculation strategies”
-NCETM Mastering Number 2021/2022
Maths Stay and Learn
A big thank you to all the parents and carers who joined us on Monday for our Maths Stay and Learn session. We hope you enjoyed seeing a lesson in action and taking part in activities with your child. Hopefully, you have also come away with some ideas on how to support your child further at home. If you do have any further questions or would like any further advice, please don’t hesitate to ask the class teachers.
We’d Love Your Feedback
Thank you again for joining our Stay and Learn session. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Please scan the QR code to fill out our feedback form.
Expressive Arts and Design; Artist Focus- Howardena Pindell
We’ve been discovering the art of American artist Howardena Pindell. Take a look at our thoughts about some of her artwork.
In Reception, we are focused on the art process. We try and replicate the art we see through exploring different methods and mediums. We also make comments on what we like or dislike about the art we see.
Much of Pindell’s art is based around ‘the circle’. This week, we’ve been using hole punches to make a stencil in squares of card.
Next week, we’ll use a sponge printing method and our pre-made stencils to create our art.
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 reading the words to match pictures we find.
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 Basket of Apples.
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 Rainbow class recite this week’s poem
Understanding the world; Snow much fun!
The turning weather and snow brought so much excitement this week. It was lovely to see the fascination and wonder, as we explored the snow and ice outside. The interest led us to creating our own ‘ice experiment’, leaving bowls of water overnight in the hopes that they would freeze!
Help at home; Stars
Next week, we’ll be looking to the skies again! We are reading How to Catch a Star and learning about the night sky.
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.
Reminders and Diary Dates
Learning Journey Drop in 01.12.25 & 04.12.25; 3.00-3.30pm – An opportunity to “drop into” school and share your child’s learning journal with them.