Reception Blog
Welcome to the Reception Blog!
Every Friday we will be uploading a weekly overview of what we have learnt, and any exciting news we want to share with you.
28th March 2024
We have had a lovely week completing our Easter themed activities. The children have decorated their own small Easter gifts to take home. They also made some delicious Easter nests and worked well as a team. Others have decorated Easter egg pictures with repeating patterns and we have also completed the Easter egg hunt which was kindly organised by the PTA.
All children have got a new reading book for over the Easter holiday. Please take some time to practrise reading with them. They are making great progress and we would love for this to continue.
Forest School this week introduced the children to 'Log Dogs'. There were so many unique and imaginative ideas, hopefully this is something you can enjoy on any nice walks.
Please check all uniform, including PE kits over the holiday. There are several items of msising school uniform which we would like to reunite with their owners.
We hope you all have a wonderful Easter holidays and here's hoping we can all enjoy some warmer Spring weather.
Best wishes and see you back in school on Tuesday 16th April.
The Reception Team
22nd March 2024
This week we have enjoyed innovating our Talk 4 Writing text, both classes chose new main characters and re-wrote the story into a five sentence story. The children drew the story using a story map. In school, we often spend time making up stories using the five sentence structure: Once upon a time, Early one morning, Unfortunately, Luckily, Finally. I know lots of the children have been using this language at home and inventing stories which is great to hear.
In maths, we have been revisiting subitising, where we count with our eyes. We did this by making arrangements of 6 and then spotting 6 or not. The children then made arrangements of doubles up to 10 including 1 + 1, 2 + 2, 3 + 3, 4 + 4 and 5 + 5. In school, we are learning to quickly recall these double facts.
We had a tasty start to the week as we read the book 'Handa's surprise' and the children got to taste some of the different fruit that the cheeky animals take from Handa. We have also been learning about different countries in the continent Africa and have been talking about the differences to our country in regards to how people live, the weather and animals.
We are fortunate to have access to an online library from Oxford Owl. Below is a link to the login for Oxford Owl as well as class usernames and passwords. On this online library you will be able to find a selection of free books including some Read Write Inc books, which is the scheme we follow in school. Please do take a look, and explore some other books that match your child's Read Write Inc reading books.
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/login?active-tab=students
Username: jpshedgehogs
Password: passwordh
Username: jpsrabbits
Password: passwordr
Remember, next week is a four day week and on Thursday we finish at 1:00pm.
Best wishes
The Reception Team
8th March 2024
Welcome to this week's Blog update. We said 'goodbye' to our ducklings who have now gone to live on a local farm. All five eggs hatched and they were looking strong and healthy by the time they left. It has been such a lovely experience and the children have shown great interest and sensitivity in the way they have behaved.
In Literacy, we have been creating our story map for 'Farmer Duck' and learning to retell the story using the pictures on the plan. We have also written about some farmyard animals, naming them and identifying key features.
Our Maths focus this week has been learning about odd and even numbers. This has been taught using Numberblocks and Numicon to help the children with their visual representations.
On Wednesday we had our first Forest School sessions and the children behaved so well. We walked around the field and talked about some of the plants and birds we saw. When we reached the site, we played a game of '1, 2, 3 Where are you?' and used a wolf howl to bring the pack back together. The children were interested to see what they could find and worked well as a group.
We hope you all have a lovely weekend, especially to anybody celebrating International Women's Day today, and Mother's Day on Sunday.
Best wishes
The Reception Team
1st March 2024
We hope you all had a lovely half term and we are glad to see so many of you back in school. This week has been very egg-citing, with the arrival of five duck eggs on Monday, we are fortunate to now have four ducklings to watch grow over the next week. This was the perfect hook for our new Talk for Writing text 'Farmer Duck'. The children have made a Zig Zag story of Farmer Duck, see if they can re-tell the story at home.
In maths, we have been learning about doubles and how each part must be the same. We are getting super speedy at showing doubles up to 10 on our fingers, have a go at this at home!
Today we were lucky to take a trip to the wild wild west, the children enjoyed a Drama 4 All workshop, leaflets are coming home in book bags today. Ask them about their adventure to find out what they saw, where they went and who they had to find.
Please make sure you are reading with your children at home every day and record this in their reading log. Your child is reading daily in their phonics group and once a week to an adult on a 1:1 basis but we need to see evidence of them reading at home.
We hope you enjoy your weekend.
Best wishes,
The Reception Team
9th February 2024
In literacy, we worked together to improve our sentences by adding brilliant adjectives or extending our sentences with 'and' or 'who. Here is an example: Unfortunately a troll lived under the bridge. Unfortunately a mean, smelly troll lived under the bridge and he loved eating rhinos.
We have continued to explore 'more than', 'fewer than' and 'equal' by decorating pizzas with different pizza toppings. I know at home some of you have been drawing dots on post it notes and using our new maths vocabulary, we love to hear about how you are taking your learning home and sharing it with your grown ups!
On Friday, the children got to learn about Lunar New Year, this falls on Saturday 10th February and this year is the year of the dragon. The children created some fantastic dragon art work and decorated, cut and made their own lanterns. It was wonderful to see a dragon head made by children in Hedgehogs class, this will be on display soon in our Reception corridor for you to come and see.
Next week we will celebrate book week and go out on our local walk. On Wednesday 14th children can wear pyjamas to school and on Friday 16th they can dress as a book character. Remember to come back to school on Wednesday 14th between 4:00-5:00pm for our Bedtime stories event where we will be selling some delicious baked goods. The book fair will be open between 3:00-4:00pm in the Lodge after school. We hope to see lots of you there.
We hope you enjoy your weekend.
Best wishes,
The Reception Team
2nd February 2024
This week we have continued to use the story of 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' but changed it into our own class versions. The children have enjoyed drawing their own story maps and we have written the new story as a class.
We have again been talking about Nighttime and have focussed on the children's bedtime routines. They created some lovely work telling us what they do (read a story, brush their teeth etc.) and we have also been trying hard to create our own lullabies.
In Maths we have focussed on using '5 and some more' to represent numbers to 10. This is a way to learn early addition and value of numbers. 5 and 2 make 7, so 7 is made of 5 and 2. We have also been creating a 'staircase' by using blocks and showing how numbers increase by one each time. The children have tried hard to count to higher numbers. Maybe you could practise this with them when out on a walk, out for a journey or even lining up toys or dried pasta. We also had a great Number Day on Friday with lots of fun activities.
It has been lovely to see how much progress the children are making with their Phonics learning. Please continue to support them with this at home. They have their reading books, library books and also the links to the Ruth Miskin website.
Here are some more links, this time linked to Mindfulness. The children have started to use these after lunch to help to get them calm and ready for the afternoon. They may help at home as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEuFi9PxKuo&t=66s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiMb2Bw4Ae8
We hope you all have a lovely weekend and we will see you next week ready for our walks around the local area.
Kind regards
The Reception Team.
26th January 2024
This week we have been revisiting using 'more than' and 'fewer than' in maths and have introduced 'equal' or 'not equal'. You can use this language every day at home to help develop your child's understanding, perhaps while you are eating dinner to compare who has more fish fingers or if you have an equal amount of peas!
The children enjoyed exploring our school grounds after dark and were able to spot lots of differences, thank you to those of you who were able to come along, the children had a great time!
Reception children are now attending the whole school Friday Celebration assembly. At Jupiter, we choose two children every week to receive a certificate, one to celebrate those showing the Jupiter values and one to celebrate a piece of learning, look out as your child might be coming home with one of these certificates.
Next week in Reception we will introduce our 'Bed time story bags', these will be sent home with different children every day so you can share the stories at bed time and then return them the next day. Please do check book bags, lots of children are now bringing home CVC books to read, Ditty sheets or reading books and we do expect parents to be listening to their child read every night and recording this in reading logs.
February is LGBT+ History month. As per our Enrichment Calendar, we will be using this as an opportunity to learn about family structures and backgrounds. In Reception, we will be doing this through reading stories.
Best wishes,
The Reception Team
19th January 2024
We have had another busy week with lots of things going on. The children have been learning about 'day' and 'night' and comparing how these times are different. We have spoken about events which happen at each time and that the night is dark because there is no light. We also found out that the moon does not give off it's own light, but reflects the sun. It has been a great opportunity to be outside as well, exploring the frost and ice left in the Reception garden.
In Maths, we sang '5 little men in a flying saucer' and used a five-frame to show that 5 is when the spaces are full. We then used two five-frames to show different ways to represent 6. This could be 5 and 1, 4 and 2, 3 and 3 or even 2 and 2 and 2.
Our Talk for Writing text has allowed us to create 'Wanted' posters for the troll, describing some of his features. We talked about him having 'skinky breath' or 'hairy feet'. What a delightful character!
On Monday next week, we will be having our 'Dark Walk' at 4.30pm in school. We look forward to welcoming as many of you to it as possible. Please remember to wrap up warm and to bring a torch with you.
There have been Phonics emails sent out and links added to help to support your child's reading at home. Please ensure Phonics books and Library books stay in book bags every day.
We hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Best wishes,
The Reception Team
12th January 2024
What a fantastic first week back for the start of 2024! We have had an exciting week trying to work out what could have left the footprints we found under our bridge. Lots of us thought it could be a fox or a badger. We looked at some animal footprints and decided that it had to be a different creature such as a troll. We read Billy Goats Gruff to the children and will be learning this story next week.
The children have been engaged with our new topic 'Starry night', we have been learning about the planets and created some lovely planet art work using water colours and pastels. We were lucky enough to go on an adventure into Space, the children loved the Wonderdome and got to learn some interesting facts about the planets and the moon landings. Thank you to those of you who have returned your permission slips for the local walk, we will be hoping to do this on the week commencing 5th February. Please return your permission slips next week.
Mr Brown will be emailing next week regarding a night walk, where you will be invited back to school to walk around the school grounds with your children and adults. Please put Thursday 18th at 4:30pm in your diary.
Mrs Armstrong and Mr Brown have shared a newsletter with some information regarding uniform, as of next week, we will be sending uniform slips home should children be in incorrect clothing. Please do take a look at our uniform policy.
To support your child with their reading, please spend some time every night watching these Read Write Inc videos. It is expected that children in Reception now know all of the single Set 1 sounds and are blending words. These videos will support your child to blend words that are sounded out.
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/ux8ih4hn/Fumiz3RQ
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/tRE9SZpd/JLiLj5N7
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/Ryhuz990/gvtoM7i5
Watch these videos to help you teach your child to blend at home.
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/b1xGIi94/ToXuuBts
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/PhRFtjwb/zGaDJ1PW
15th December 2023
We are so proud of all of the children for their Nativity performances, they were so brave standing up and performing infront of the children and adults, thank you to everyone who came.
In maths, we have continued to consolidate our understanding of numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and next week we will be taking part in a Christmas counting activity. In literacy, we have been telling stories to help develop story language and ideas. In class, we use five sentences to help us create a story: Once upon a time..., Early one morning..., Unfortunately..., Luckily... and Finally. See if you can create a story at home using these sentence starters!
The children have been going to their phonics sessions everyday and we are really impressed with their learning and progress. It is really important that you continue to support your child at home with their phonics and reading, especially supporting them to be able to hear and blend a word. Please continue to sound out words when you are having dinner, walking to the shops or on the way to school. Below is an example of how to do this!
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/NSE8PPMC/KSEX3RSa
Things to remember:
Monday 18th December 2:30-5:00 Christmas Fair
Tuesday 19th December Christmas jumper and Christmas dinner day.
Wednesday 20th December 1:00 Finish, end of term.
We have now sent home P.E bags and also the outfits for the Nativity, please can you look to see if all items returned belong to you. Please return anything that does not belong to you. I know we are missing a couple of pairs of leggings and P.E tops. Thank you
Best wishes
The Reception Team
8th December 2023
This week we have been learning about the Jewish festival, Hanukkah’. The children created their own minorah model and also watched some clips about how the festival is celebrated.
We have also been working together to start decorating our classroom doors. These are focussed on how countries celebrate Christmas around the world. Rabbits have New Zealand and Hedgehogs have Australia.
In Maths we have been focussing on recognising numbers to 5 and counting out the correct amount. We have reminded the children to count carefully and slowly, saying one number for each item as they count. If you are able to practise at home, board games are a great way to do this. The children have been trying hard to recognise the spots on the dice rather than counting them (subitising), and can then count the number of spaces for them to move.
The children have been trying so hard with their Nativity rehearsals. They have been working hard to rem
ember the words for the songs and we are really looking forward to sharing the performances with you.
Best wishes
The Reception Team
30th November 2023
What a fun way to end the week! TT Rockstars re-launch saw children and adults in fantastic 'rockstar' costumes, everybody looked great! Although we aren't quite learning our timetables just yet, we were still able to take part in some rockstar maths. All this week children have been recognising numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and representing that amount either by showing us on their fingers or collecting the equivalent amount of objects.
An email has been sent out regarding information about the nativity, and by the end of the day Monday every one will be told their part in the performance. We have been busy running through lines and singing the songs, it is great to hear that so many children have been playing the songs at home to learn the words. Thank you all for you support! Next week, the children will be using the stage, they are all very excited.
Next week we will be learning about Hanukkah and the children will be getting to taste some traditional foods eaten during this festival.
We all hope you have a lovely three day weekend. Please wrap up warm!
The Reception Team
24th November 2023
It has been another fun-filled week with lots of creative activities as part of our 'Once Upon a Time' theme. The children enjoyued listening to the story 'The Princess and the Pea' and we then talked about the properties of different materials. The children grouped objects into 'soft' and 'hard' but we also created an overlapping group for items which were both i.e. a paintbrush.
We have been planning our own version of 'the Gingerbread Man' as part of our Talk for Writing unit; we will create our own story maps net week. The children thought of some wonderful ideas including 'Cupcake Man', Pancake Girl' and even a 'Gingerbread Dinosaur'!
Our Maths focus has been on way to represent an amount. We wtached the 'Stampolines' episode of Numberblocks and then printed as many different ways as we could to show 4. We laos played '4 or not 4' to practise our subitising skills.
There will be an email coming out net week with further details and information about the Reception Nativity performances.
Have a lovely weekend and keep warm!
The Reception Team
17th November
This week started with Odd Sock Day which marks the start of Anti-Bullying week, we spoke to the children about uniqueness and being kind.
The children have been learning the story of The Gingerbread Man through acting it out on story stages and using actions when we retell the story as a class. Next week, we will be changing the characters to create a new innovative version of the story.
In maths we have been using the vocabulary part and whole, the children have been using these words in stem sentences such as 'My hand is a part of me and the whole of me is Miss Gillingham' and they have also been thinking about part and whole when looking at pictures of animals or toys.
On Friday, we wore non-uniform to raise funds for Children in Need and we spoke to the children about 'togetherness'.
Below are some short 'Pinny time' videos from our Read Write Inc resources, Pinny time is a way to review all of the sounds the children have been learning so far!
Pinny time 1
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/xQ7kThw8/LQ8YJIwx
Pinny time 2
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/vrqhgfs3/z6khJexo
Pinny time 3
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/mdLh2ja5/JkFrLvNp
Pinny time 4
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/BcsidM07/Z3VJ9Cp9
Pinny time 5
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/LjqEAPPR/b9B7GUWJ
Pinny time 6
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/iJ7TCkdh/Nmmjcdy4
Pinny time 7
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/Jq9TidHv/JbvSGsjU
Pinny time 8
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/yBG8E0AC/8xCxOssV
Pinny time 9
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/xzZ3IhAU/sAjR4JZF
Pinny time 10
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/L0XCP9Gr/GBhJLYWs
Reminder, next Tuesday is school photos!
Best wishes,
The Reception Team
10th November
We have had such a lovely, busy week! We have continued to learn 'The Gingerbread Man' and focussed on the fox. We did some research and found some 'Fox Facts' before creating our own fox poem.
In Maths, we have been comparing amounts by using the phrases "..... has more than......" and have also started to use "...... has fewer than ...." The children have been encouraged to subitise the amounts but also to 'count to check' using the counting checklist (say the numbers aloud, start at one, each item is worth one number, stop when you have counted all of the objects).
One of the parents came in to visit and tell us about how they celebrate Diwali. They also organised some lovely craft activities for the children. Ms Fredericks lead an assembly on Friday to talk about how her family will celebrate Diwali this weekend. It sounds like it will be lots of fun!
We visited the cinema on Friday to watch 'The Smeds and the Smoos' as well as 'Superworm'. The children were all so well behaved and should feel very proud of themselves, the staff certainly are!
On Friday we also had a few moments of reflection as we talked about Remembrance Day. The children made their own poppy wreath and we watched a clip from CBeebies.
We hope you all have a restful and calm weekend, there have been lots of colds and sniffles this week. We look forward to seeing you all on Monday.
Best wishes
The Reception Team
3rd November
Welcome back! This week, the children have loved putting on their boots and puddle suits and playing in our mud kitchen. Please do send one in as the rain has made an appearance. In maths, the children have been recognising ‘5’ and counting up to this amount, we know we have five fingers on one hand and have been giving high fives! In literacy, we read The Gingerbread Man and this will be the focus for our next unit of work. The children went to an assembly about Bonfire night, they did a great job at remembering facts and created some beautiful firework artwork. Take a look at our Bonfire night and Autumn display below.
This week in phonics the children have been split into phonics groups. In these groups, the children will revisit the single sounds and will be doing lots of blending. Please spend the time at home sounding and blending words with your children and using the phonics links.
Fred game - weather
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/INcm87cH/hu6HgCGz
Best wishes
Miss Gillingham & Mr Brown
20th October
The children have continued to explore Autumn and the changes it brings. The rain arrived but it was a great way to start a conversation about weather and the children worked to create some wonderful weather pictures. Some used wax crayons and splashed paint over the top to create rain while others painted rainbows and sunshines. Both classes created a rainbow out of items around the room, which then led to some great team building as the children worked together to tidy the items away, back where they belong. This supported the work we have done with the children on class rules and being responsible for our classroom.
In maths, we introduced the vocabulary 'more than' and 'fewer than', using it to compare amounts. We used resources and teddies to see if 'Bear had more than bunny' or if 'Bunny had fewer than bear'. It would be great for you to continue to use this language with your children, perhaps over dinner comparing who has more sausages or when you are out shopping. Sometimes it is easy to recognise, but other times we have to count!
The children have been writing initial sounds using the characters from the stories we created! There was a cow and a fish in our class stories so the children worked with an adult to write the 'c' and 'f'.
Below are the links to the sounds we have taught this week and some more blending games!
r
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/lkv5grWG/QOMo7YjY
j
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/8KzJxtwY/bYM0a7HW
v
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/ahsXK4of/sTdFt415
w
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/98ObNyee/dAMCMnOc
y
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/pUNPSJ4l/Y7XlZNWf
Blending
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/9F5HIHGT/YbKY5oN3
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/dYc6IiUJ/IpF083Sx
We have had a wonderful start to the year and we hope you all have a lovely half term!
Best wishes
Miss Gillingham & Mr Brown
13th October 2023
This week, both classes went on their Autumn Walk around the school grounds. Even with the unseasonably warm weather, we got to see some different colour leaves and even spotted some mushrooms growing. We have tried hard to remember some of the names of various trees around the school, such as Horsechesnut, Oak and Lime.
Once we returned to class, we have created some artwork by rolling conkers in autumn coloured paint, have tried leaf rubbing and also used the Tuff Trays to develop our fine motor control.
In Maths we have continued to work on our subitising skills by recognising amounts to 4. We have talked about the different arrangments of spots and the patterns we can make.
We have also been learning about famous people in History during Black History Month.
The children have enjoyed making a class version of 'The Baby Mouse' story which we will continue to use next week. We hope you have all had a lovely weekend and enjoyed the good weather.
Best wishes
Mr Brown and Miss Gillingham
f
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/IvYZ6kkA/UDauUkH9
e
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/hMV1NU0M/TCYZzQVr
l
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/aWRetbjw/hAEZ83az
h
hhttps://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/DEp98ZNN/hNl26n6l
6th October 2023
This week we have been very lucky to still have such warm weather! The children enjoy using our outdoor area and this week have explored large sunflower heads using magnifying glasses, unfortunately we think the birds and squirrels ate most of the seeds before we could get a good look!
In Maths, we are continuing to develop instant recognition of 1, 2, 3 and 4 by looking and not counting. This is called subitising! Take a walk and see if you can spot 1, 2 or 3 items, perhaps you can see three birds on the grass or two cars parked on a driveway.
Below are the links to the sounds we have been learning this week! Please take the time to sit and watch these with your children and join in! It is the perfect way to support your child to learn to read. This week, I have also added a link to a Fred game, Fred and Elly sound out words for the children to blend and say. This is a really important skill and one you can easily play in the home or out and about.
c
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/RfYdkQtt/A2L5Mzjp
k
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/rsA0ieVs/BuseDPsx
u
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/Ejm1rd8z/GTPKdPQJ
b
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/RjQNiG9m/mMKzVkZc
Fred game
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/w5AKTsgZ/p91xHU3R
We are very excited to have organised our first trip for Reception, the trip letter was sent home on Thursday. Please take the time to read the letter and return the permission slips.
Thank you! Enjoy your weekend.
Best wishes
Miss Gillingham & Mr Brown
29th September 2023
The children have continued to settle in well and are becoming more confident with their daily routines. We have enjoyed making the most of the dry weather and used the Reception outdoor area as much as possible.
The children have enjoyed learning the story 'Baby Mouse' and have sequenced pictures to retell it. They also acted out the story in small groups.
In Maths, we have been focussing on counting objects and sounds. We talked about the important skills we need to remember; such as only counting each thing once, saying the numbers in order and stopping once we count the last one.
We have continued to use the phrases 'Same and Different' when comparing features with our friends, and have also been active in our PE sessions.
Below are the links to the sounds we have learnt this week in class. Please watch these with your child to aid their learning.
i
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/KVwyqI1G/H3yUnS2m
n
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/PFUkzWGW/xAUYA6MO
p
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/PFUkzWGW/xAUYA6MO
g
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/7RP3XEYk/usPteWDU
o
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/SNGf0HgM/kQQOqkCp
Thank you and we hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Best wishes
Mr Brown and Miss Gillingham
22nd September 2023
Thank you to those of you who were able to attend our lunch today. It was a great opportunity for you to be able to see how well settled your children are and to taste some of our delicious meals.
This week the children began their phonics lessons. Below are the links for you to use at home, please watch them with your children and support them to revisit 'm', 'a', 's', 'd' and 't'. This is their first step to learning to read and write, how exciting!
m
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/BmBpeGSu/CNRWVvsB
a
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/44IISi4t/5gt5JPd7
s
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/CdWZhsqZ/XlpM6LUn
d
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/K5SGhCBb/uEBOuRDm
t
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/zLiZWlbK/SHUwkqBV
The children have been taking it in turns to talk to the class about their family, thank you for the photos, it was lovely to see the children so proud to introduce the people in the pictures. We have been discussing how we are similar but also how we are different and importantly, how we are all unique.
Now the weather has started to turn, we do recommend sending your child to school with named welly boots and a water proof coat or overalls. The children will be asked to put these on to play outside in the mud. Please do send them in with regular coats as it begins to get colder.
Remember to name all items of clothing!
We hope you have a great weekend!
Best wishes
Mr Brown and Miss Gillingham
15th September 2023
What a wonderful second week in Reception. Myself and Mr Brown are so proud of all of the children for settling in so well. It has been great to see them interact with each other and start to build new friendships within their class.
It was great to see so many of you at the 'Meet the Teacher' open classroom, the children were all very excited to show you their rooms!
This week the children have been talking about classroom and school rules and have all been trying their best to adhere to these. We have seen some wonderful tidying up, fantasic listening and children using their words to communicate.
Next week we will start our phonics sessions, we will be sharing links that you can watch at home with your child to support them learning to read. Please spend the time reading the books they choose and encouraging a love of reading.
Have a great weekend.
Best wishes
Miss Gillingham and Mr Brown
8th September 2023
Welcome to all of our families! The children have settled very well into their new classes and it has been lovely spending time with each and every one of them. We have some wonderful characters in each class and it has been great to see how confident and settled the children are.
We have been talking about our Theme; 'Me and My Community' as well as sharing what we know about Maths, such as counting songs and ages. The children have each chosen a book to take home, please share this with your child and keep it in their book bag to be changed each week.
The children had their first PE session this week with Mr Oldham. Please ensure that all kit and uniform is clearly labelled, this makes it much easier to find any misplaced items.
Children also need a water bottle in school which can only have water in. These will be sent home each day.
Next Wednesday (13th September) at 3pm, we are hosting a 'Meet the Teacher' session where you can pop in and say 'hello'. We will also be sending you a Newsletter with key information, dates and reminders.
Thank you for your support and we look forward to communicating with you all throughout the year.
Best wishes
Mr Brown and Miss Gillingham
23rd June 2023
It has been another hot week this week so we have tried hard to enjoy the cooler weather in the morning and to use the shade later on in the day. Please remember to bring sun hats and apply sun lotion each day.
This week in Literacy, we have changed the version of 'Mr Gumpy's Outing' to create our own class version. Next week we will be planning our own individual plans with different characters. We have also been completing an assessment task which has been to describe a picture of a dragon. We had some lovely descriptive vocabulary talking about the long nose, the sharp claws and pointy spikes!
In Maths we have used the song 'Five Litlle Speckled Frogs' to help us to practise our automatic recall. This is where we see an amount without having to count them, and undertsnading how the number is made. If there were 2 frogs in the water and 3 on the log, there are still 5 altogether.
Our afternoons have been focussing on animals found in the ocean and creating information pages. Some children shared facts about Starfish, some about Hammerhead Sharks and others chose Rays. There were lots of great facts that we learnt together. We also had our first Transition Afternoon on Wednesday which was a great success. These will be happening again over the next few weeks to help the children to spend time in the classroom and with the staff they will be with in Year One. They all did very well this week.
On Friday we looked at a piece of art by the famous French artist, Henri Matisse. He created a piece called, 'Le betes de la mer' which means 'Beast of the sea'. Once we talked about it, we created our own class version on a display board. It looks so effective!
Next Wednesday (28th June) is our Reception Sports Day at 9am. Please send your child into school wearing their PE kit which they can stay in all day. Hedgehogs will then need them back in school on Thursday as it is our PE day. We hope to see as many of you at Sports Day as possible.
Well done to Darius for getting the Star Award for his writing, and to Nebi for getting the Values Award for settling in so well. A special well done to Emma and Alana in Rabbits for your awards too!
We hope you all have a lovely weekend. Enjoy the good weather and keep safe.
Best wishes
The Reception Team
16th June 2023
Once again this week we have been blessed with lots of sunny weather, and this has tied in nicely with our current theme of 'On The Beach'. We have talked about holidays in the past and looked at old seaside photos, discussed the kinds of animals found on the beach and thought about how we can look after our beaches. Our role play area has been transformed into an ice cream shop, and the children have thoroughly enjoyed serving (imaginary!) ice cream to their friends, being creative with flavour combinations and adding sprinkles!
The children have also created some beautiful seaside themed 'silhouette' artwork, using a water colour wash as a background and then adding seaside objects using collage.
In Literacy the children have been able to confidently retell our story of 'Mr Gumpy's Outing' using our story map that we created last week. They have all had a go at sequencing the story by sticking pictures from the book in the right order.
In Maths this week we have been looking at number patterns. The children have been learning about doubles and have been putting objects into equal groups.
A huge well done this week to Carys and Alexis who were awarded Star of the Week.
Also well done to Priscilla and Kejan who received our Values awards.
9th June 2023
What an excellent start we have had to the second half of our summer term this week! We have been taking advantage of the beautiful sunshine and spending lots of time outside. The children have enjoyed playing with water and sand, and we have made sure that our plants are watered as the weather has been so warm!
In Maths we have been focusing on counting to 20 and beyond, and counting carefully - making sure that we only count an object when we have physically moved it or crossed it out to help us.
Our new Talk For Writing Story is 'Mr Gumpy's Outing' and this week the children have been listening to the story and have made a class story map to help us retell it.
The children have thoroughly enjoyed Art Week this week, and have produced some amazing pieces of Coronation themed art work. It has been a lovely opportunity for them to work alongside some of the older children in our school and to make some new friends! The children's masterpieces will be on their way home with them soon, but in the meantime you can see some pictures of our Art Week activities on our social media accounts.
Well done to Elio and Alp who were awarded Star of the Week this week.
Also a huge well done to Lily and who were given our Values certificates this week.
May 2023
We took delivery of some caterpillars and it has been amazing to see how quickly they hav been growing! It was like the story 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'! They changed into a a chrysallis and hung from the lids of the pots. We then transferred them into the butterfly net where our butterflies hatched. They were Painted Lady Butterflies and we released them into the wild. Hopefully they will lay eggs nearby and the life cycle can start all over again.
The children have been workig hard to learn the story, 'The Enormous Turnip'. We have changed the characters in the original text to make our own class version.
This half term we also had our visit to Langlebury Children's Farm. The children were so well behaved and loved the opportunity to see lots of animals and to feed them! We have been painting pictured of our favourite animal and talked about our experiences. The dog, Moss was the star of the show! Please see our social media accounts for some of the photos from the day.
April 2023
We had such a lovely time getting the Reception gardens looking better. The children helped with weeding and digging over the areas so that we could use them for growing different fruit and vegetables.
We have planted some beans and peas, potatoes, lettuce and tomatoes. Hopefully we will get some good weather to help them to grow well!
The children have enjoyed using the story 'The Three Little Pigs' and have even created their own version. There has been such fantastic ideas, ranging from 'The Three Little Cats and the Big Bad Dog' to 'The Three Little Flamingoes and The Big Bad Lion!'
In Maths, the children have been focussing on their comparisons and saying which group has more or less. We have continued to practise our counting and also seen 7 and '5 and some more'. From this we learnt the stem sentence, "7 is made of 5 and 2 so 5 and 2 makes 7."
3rd March 2023
This week in Maths we have been counting carefully and ordering numbers. The children have enjoyed choosing Numberbloxks and placing them in order from smallest to laregst. We have then used sentneces such as "1 more than 5 is 6" and "1 less than 3 is 2". The children have also spoken about which numbers are 'less than' others i.e. 3 is less than 8.
Our Talk for Writing story is 'The Three Little PIgs', and this week we have sequenced the story, retold it and also planned our own class versions. Next week, we will sequence the pictures from the original story and then plan our own versions. We look forward to sharing these with the rest of the class.
Thank you for your efforts for pyjama day and Story characters day. We hope that all of the families who came back to school on Tuesday had a lovely time sharing an evening story around the school.
We had a fantastic day celebrating 'World Book Day' on Friday. We chose the story, 'The Tiger who came to tea'. We made our own tiger headbands, had a tiger tea-party and even had a visit from a very greedy tiger!
Well done to Highbury and Joe this week, you should be very proud of getting your certificates. A special well done to Sebastian and Lyra.
We hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and see you next week.
Best wishes,
Mr Brown and all of the Early Years Team
24th February 2023
Welcome back after a hopefully restful half term break.
We have started a new topic called 'Animal Safari'. This week we have read 'Dear Zoo' and spoken about what a pet may need. We have also introduced the word 'habitat' and did a walk around school to see if we could find any animals in their habitats. On the walk, we spotted birds flying in and out of their nests, worms in the mud and even spotted a centipede under a log! We also shared pictures of our pets and discussed how we look after them, and created a bar chart of 'our pets' within the class.
We were also very lucky to have a visit from the stick insects (thank you Year 2!) and we each had the opportunity to hold one.
On Tuesday it was pancake day! We used playdough to role play creating pancakes and practice flipping them in the frying pan. We also tried and tasted pancakes and most of us thought they were yummy.
In Literacy, we have started learning the Three Little Pigs and created actions to go along with each part of the story.
In Maths, we have been practicing counting in order, and even challenged ourselves to count backwards too! We also discussed 6 being just a little bit more than 5, and 7 being a little bit more than 6'. We have also practiced one more and one less.
In Jigsaw, we have started a new strand called 'Healthy Me'. This week we have spoken about what it means to be healthy. Minahill said "We have to eat healthy." and Ausere said "We need to exercise.". We had a look and discussed different sports and then had a go at exercising ourselves. We tried to count how many jumps, hops and star jumps we could do individually in 1 minute. After that, we discussed what happened to our bodies during and after exercise. Many of us said they felt tired and thirsty, but also feel energised and hapy for doing it.
Well done to everyone for a great first week back!
We hope you have a lovely weekend,
Miss Young and Mr Brown
10th February 2023
We started this week brilliantly with a visit from an astonomer! All the children were very excited and had lots of questions to ask.
In Literacy, we had a look at features of a rocket and used our phonics knowledge to label it.
In Maths, we have learnt 'more than', 'fewer than' and 'equal to'. We have watched numberblocks to support out learning, and used a variet of objects to compare amounts. We even challenged ourselves to use the symbols to show 'more than', 'fewer than' and 'equals to'.
In Jigsaw, we discussed what feeling proud meant and how when we learn something new or achieve something, it can make us feel proud. Evelyn said she felt proud because she has moved up swimming classes. Bonnie said she was proud because she has learnt to ride a bike. Anayah is proud of how well she can write her name.
On Wednesday, we had an assembly with Dog's Trust. We spoke about how to keep safe around dogs and how to look after them.
Well done to Callum and Hamid for learning to write their names. Well done to Elena for being such a good friend, and to Marcos for trying so hard with his reading.
We hope you have a great half term.
Miss Young and Mr Brown
3rd February 2023
This week we have learnt about nocturnal and diurnal animals. We did some research into the different animals, and read 'Owl Babies'. We created our own owls using different coloured paper and buttons.
In Literacy, the children wrote their own version of 'How to catch the moon' with support. The children have beeen working hard with applying their phonics sounds, as well as introducing capital letters, full stops and finger spaces.
In Maths, we have been focusing on the composition of 6 and 7. We sang '5 little men in a flying saucer' and what that would look like on a die. Then we built upon our knowledge of composition of 5 and found different ways to show 6 and 7.
In Jigsaw, we discussed what we would like to do when we were older. They all thought of something they would like to be when they get older and thought about the skills they would have to learn in order to reach that goal. Callum said he wanted to become a police officer, and we all agreed to do thatt, he would have to learn the rules, be able to read and write, as well as know his numbers.
Reception have been enjoying P.E, learning in their dance unit. The children have been learning short routines and playing a variety of games.
Well done to Emily and Benjamin for working well in P.E.
Well done to Isabella for having a great week and Jo for his Maths.
We hope you have a lovely weekend.
Miss Young and Mr Brown
27th January 2023
This week we have been learning about who works at night and their job role, as well as disussing different types of dreams that you have when you are asleep. We looked at the painting 'I and the village' by Marc Chagall and following this, we created our own dream-like pictures using oil pastels.
In Literacy we changed 'How to catch a star' to 'How to catch the moon'. We went through the whole story and changed the characters, places and actions. We then wrote our own class version and created new actions for the changes we made.
In Maths, we focused on the composition of 5. We sang '5 little speckled frogs' and practiced moving the frogs to the pond and showing how many is left on our fingers. We also practiced showing 5 using two different coloured cubes. (5+0, 4+1, 3+2).
In Jigsaw, we discussed what using kind words mean and how it makes us feel. We decided that when using unkind words, it can make us and others feel sad, angry and upset. When we use kind words, it can make us feel happy and calm. We then went round in a circle and said something kind to someone in the class.
Well done to Callum and Calli for taking their time with their dream-like pictures in theme. Well done to Declan and Addi for trying super hard with their phonics
Well done to Isaac for his fantastic starts to the day, as well as Hudson for his brilliant work in Phonics.
In the next couple of days, you will see everyone coming home with a library book. This will be to share with a grown up at home, reading the book and creating discussion about the story or pictures. Please keep these in your book bags so that we can change them weekly.
Best wishes
Miss Young and Mr Brown
20th January 2023
This week we looked at bedtime routines. We read 'Whatever Next?' and thought about what Baby Bear might want to take with him to the moon. We explored different materials and collaged our own teddy bears.
In Literacy, we have been making puppets and character masks linked to the story 'How to Catch a Star'. Then we acted out the story in order, using our puppets and masks.
In Maths, we have focused on ordering numbers from 1 to 5. We looked at Numberblocks and used that to create a 'staircase' with each number. We then worked with our partner to create our own staircase and tested each other to see if they could guess which number was missing.
In Jigsaw this week, we looked at setting goals for ourselves. We spoke about things we might find tricky and ways we could could improve to work towards a goal.
Well done to Bonnie and Minahill for their partner work in Maths. Well done to Lyra and Carys for their amazing writing in theme this week.
Well done to Anayah and and Chloe M this week for getting your certificates. A great week and lots of positives.
We hope you enjoyed the 'Dark Walk' at school, it was lovely to see so many of you join us. Today, we also learnt about 'Chinese New Year' and completed some crafts linked to this. We hope you all have a lovely weekend and see you next week.
Miss Young and Mr Brown
13th January 2023
Welcome back after a hopefully restful and enjoyable Christmas break.
We have started a new topic called 'Starry night'. We talked about what you can see at night, such as the stars and moon, as well as the planets that are there but cannot see them. We had lots of fun painting planets, creating and feeling moon sand, as well as going for a walk around the school to see different features that we can notice in daylight.
In Literacy, we have introduced a new story 'How to catch a star'. The children have really enjoyed learning the words and actions to match the story and have even sequenced the storry using 'first', 'next', 'after', and 'last'.
In Maths, we have been focusing on subitising to the number 6. We have played games where we have rolled the dice and the number it lands on, is how many times we did an action, such as clapping, jumping and stomping. We used number tracks and dice in groups, to start on a number and end on the finishing number.
In Jigsaw this week, we have focused on what 'resilience' means and what that may look like when they are in school or at home. To test this, the children tried to build the tallest tower and had to keep trying and trying. When some of the children were asked what they did when the tower kept falling down, Declan said "I had to find a different way to build the tower'. Isabella said 'I kept trying and trying'. Well done everyone for working together to be resilient learners!
Well done to Benjamin, Ausere and Emma for your fantastic writing, and to Sebastian and George for their enthusiastic Maths learning.
Well done to Ruby-Anna and Oakley for their hard work in Phonics. You should be very proud of yourselves.
We look forward to see what learning happens next week!
Best wishes,
MIss Young and Mr Brown
7th December 2022
Thank you for being so pateint whilst we organise the new school website. I hope you find it useful and a means of finding out a little more about our Topics and activities in school.
The last week has been spent creating some beautiful artwork ready for the Christmas Fair. We listened to the story, 'Ferdie and the Falling Leaves' and created our own winter picture. The children enjoyed adding glitter for a frost effect.
Our Maths focus has been finding 'parts of a whole'. We ahve been looking at part of a picture and seeing if we can work out what the whole picture could be. We have used flowers, dinosaurs and teddy bears. The children have really enjoyed playing a game choosing body parts, using the sentence stem 'your arm is part of the whole of you'.
We have been busy practising our Reception Nativity, I am sure you are already very familiar with many of the songs! Next week we are looking forward to welcoming you on Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon.
Please look at the Planning Overviews to find out what else we have been doing and we will update these with the plans for Januray.
Thank you to those families who have already sent in their Nativity costumes. Please speak to your Class Teacher if you are having any issues with this.
Best wishes,
Mr Brown and Miss Young
18th November 2022
This half term's topic is 'Sparkle and Shine'. This week, we have been focusing on 'light' and what are the sources of light. We had a discussion about where light comes from and spoke about how the moon is lit by 'refelctive light'.
In Literacy, we have been learning instructions and followed a recipe on how to bake gingerbread men. We then wrote our own simple instructions and decorated the gingerbread men before taking them home to eat. Lots of children came back the next day and said how delicious they were!
In Maths, we have been learning all about the number 5 and what that looks like in different ways. We know that we have 5 fingers on each hand without counting it.
Well done to Elena, Marcos, Kejan in Hedgehogs and Lyra, Sophie, Isabella in Rabbits for your fantastic writing in Literacy.
We hope you have a lovely weekend.
Miss Young and Mr Brown
