This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

Spring Term

2020

School Closure

Literacy and Understanding the World

This week we have read four different stories with beanstalks: Jack and the Beanstalk, Jim and the Beanstalk, The Princess and the Giant and Jack and the Incredibly Mean Stalk. The children have enjoyed finding what was the same in the stories and what was different. 

We then talked about plants and what conditions they need to help them grow. We watched a time lapse video of a bean growing and we then planted our very own bean seeds. 

Please look after your bean seeds, keep them warm and watered and fingers crossed you will all have a beanstalk very soon. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee they will be magic beanstalks!

Collective Worship

The Reception children lead a collective worship on love with a special focus on Mother's Day. All of the children gathered on the carpet beautifully, spoke and sang with respect sharing the message from the bible that God loves us and he wants us to love one anther. We then celebrated our mums by thinking about and reflecting on how much love they show us everyday.

Happy Mother's Day to you all.

Maths - Voting

We chose four different names for our orangutan and then we voted on our favourite. The winner was Tangy.

Oliver "Tangy won because more people voted."

Maggie "Rangy never won because only 3 of them."

There's A Rang Tan In My Bedroom

On World Book Day we all came dressed in orange. We gathered together with Nursery and shared what we had been doing. We played our recycled musical instruments as Nursery danced to the 'Sustainable Palm Oil Conga, we then danced as they played their instruments and we shared our posters that we had made showing how we could try and save the orangutans.

Recyclable musical instruments

All of the children brought in a plastic bottle. We discussed that we were recycling them by making something new - a musical instrument out of something old  - a plastic bottle. We chose what to put inside and then played them with the music on the ipod.

There's A Rang Tan In My Bedroom

The children were asked to bring in something that could be recycled. The children were then asked to sort them into piles, saying why they were putting them there and finally to transfer them into our recycling bags.

Harrie "The brown bin is for plastic."

Nancy "Paper comes from trees and it can be recycled."

Maths - Reasoning and Fluency

The children have worked lots with the counting stick this year, we have used it to count forwards and backwards.

Caitlin "We count forwards on top."

Leo "We count backwards underneath."

We then looked at the Numicon shapes on the stick and talked about what we could see and explained our thinking.

Phoebe S "The middle of 3 and 1 is 2."

Bonnie "After 9 comes 10."

Phoebe Mc "7 Has 3 twos and 1 sticky up bit."

Maggie "1 is an odd number."

Writing using our phonics

The children have been accessing the boards and pens to show how their independent writing is developing. They have been thinking of their own sentences, working on using capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. Also they have been using their sounds and special friend sounds that they have been learning in our phonics sessions. Well done Reception, lovely letter formation too!

R.E. Other faiths - Islam

The children have been learning all about Islam. We know that Muslims pray in a mosque and they kneel on prayers mats. We looked at some prayer mats on our whiteboard and talked about the colours and the patterns we could see. We decided to create a class prayer mat using many of the resources available in our setting. The children took great delight accessing the colours and placing them in the different areas. We love the way they used all kinds of objects that are the same colour.

'I like the patterns on the prayer mats.' Harrie

Muslims say their prayers in a mosque.' Ava

Role play - the Chinese Restaurant

The children used their developing role play skills to access the Chinese restaurant. The children invited their guests to sit and then offered menus. The waiters then took the orders writing them on a pad, the chefs cooked the meals and the diners then enjoyed their food, displaying how to use chopsticks. Great communication and language in evidence and fabulous writing opportunities. 

Maths - taking away

We have been learning that when we take away we are taking a smaller number from a bigger number. We have been using the 10 frames and the counters and then recording our number sentences.

Chinese New Year

We listened to some Chinese dragon dance music and we watched some Chinese dragon dances. We then explored how we thought the dragon would move. 

"It turned form side to side and went up and down." Bella K

Next we moved to the music to create our own dances. Finally we used the musical instruments to create our own sounds and added our dance moves.

Chinese New Year - The Year of the Rat

As part of our celebrations we have learned that Chinese people use characters when writing. We had a go at writing the first letter of our names.

"The character for C was a little bit tricky." Caitlin

Artist study - Georgia O'Keeffe

The children were asked to complete an artist study about Georgia O'Keeffe for their homework. The children discovered that she liked to paint big flowers and she often painted in her car!

We began our study by completing a guided drawing session in the style of Georgia O'Keeffe. We were encouraged to start in the middle by drawing a circle and then adding large petals. Next we discussed hot and cold colours to link with our weather theme. Then we introduced the 'shade' and the children experimented with mixing shades of their chosen hot and cold colours. We created our own colour wheel.

"To make light blue we needed to add some white." Sophie

"To make dark purple we needed to add just a little bit of black." Harrie

Finally we used all of our new skills to complete a painted flower in the style of O'Keeffe. We are going to make a gallery display with them all because they are so beautiful.

Literacy - Stickman

We used a 'story lines' theme to conclude our work on Stickman. We told a story where a winter storm destroyed the forest and our problem was what we could use to build Stickman a new habitat. We discussed what we would be able to find in the forest and what we would not be bale to find. Together we used our imagination to role-play building the new habitat. Once finished we investigated the resources available and worked in groups to create a new habitat. Finally the children evaluated what they had done using an S W SW chart.

R.E. - Celebrating

We read the story of Mary and Joseph taking baby Jesus to the Temple from the bible. We talked about what we could see in the picture. We know Jewish people go to the Temple to say their prayers.

We then built our own Temples and used the puppets of Mary, Joseph, Simeon and Anna to role-play the story.

"Why have you brought Jesus to the Temple?" Harrie

"We have come to say thank you to God for our baby." Anais

"Thank you for letting us see your baby, he is so special." Ava

Understanding the World-  Where will the ice melt the quickest?

We chose three locations to place our ice and the children placed their name next to the ice they thought would melt the quickest. We kept checking to see if we were right. The ice by the radiator melted the quickest, then the ice outside and finally the ice in the conservatory. The children were encouraged to talk about what they thought or what they had found out - their wonderings.

"It is hot in the conservatory and the ice will melt." Bobby

"You make ice by putting liquid water in somewhere freezing." Lilia

"The sun is hot and it melts the ice." Oliver

Understanding the World - waterproof and not waterproof

As scientists we predicted if we thought the objects were waterproof or not waterproof and then we placed them on our class t-chart. Next we tested our predictions and if we needed to move them on our t-chart we did. We found out that waterproof means the water does not go through and not waterproof means the water will soak through.

Weather - snowflakes

We discovered that all snowflakes are different by using google. We decided to create our own snowflakes using beads. We practiced our fine motor skills threading the beads onto the pipe cleaners. Some of us made repeating patterns and some of us chose our favourite colours. One thing for certain is that they are all different!

Weather

For our theme of weather we have been learning about different types of weather. Last week we had lots of windy weather and so we decided to make wind socks. The children were required to cut, stick, attach and roll to create them. Once they were finished the children were encouraged to share their learning using the words First, Then, Next and Finally when discussing what they had done. Finally we took them outside to test in the wind. We had so much fun listening to the wind rustling their streamers.

RE Celebrating

We went to Mass and then stayed behind to look at and learn about different things in church. We learned some new words e.g. altar, lectern, aisle, pews, hymn book, prayer book and collection bag. We are going to try and remember these words when we get back to class.

Weather

We have been watching the BBC weather forecast everyday and have been discussing the countries in the UK. The children were invited to select the symbols they wanted to use and then rehearse their weather forecast. When they were ready they were videoed doing this using the Book Creator app. 

Maths

We have been using the 10 frames to help us create add number sentences. We are now trying to record the number sentences we are creating on our 10 frames.

Maths - adding

The children have been learning to add using the add and equals actions. We are learning that add means joining groups together and equals means equal value, might look different.

R.E. Celebrating

The children were able to discuss many of the celebrations they know about. We brainstormed what would happen at the celebration and who would be there. We then cut up some pictures of celebrations to make a celebration jigsaw puzzle. The children were asked to complete the puzzle and decide the type of celebration they could see.

Stickman

We are studying the story 'Stickman'. We have watched the story and read the story and now we have made our own stickmen. The children had to practice and develop their skills of wrapping around and twisting the pipe-cleaner to ensure the arms were nice and tight. Great work children!

Dates for your Diary

Spring 1

• Friday 7th February – Non-uniform day (unwanted gifts)  
• Thursday 13th February – 9am Stay and Share & Break up for half term (3.00pm finish)

Spring 2

• Monday 24th February – Return to school
• Monday 2nd March – Parents’ Evening
• Friday 6th March – 9am Stay and Play
• Friday 13th March – Non-uniform day  
• Friday 27th March – Non-uniform day (chocolates)  
• Friday 3rd April – 9am Stay and Share - Easter Bonnets and Raffle & End of term  (1.30pm finish) 

Autumn Term

2019

Dates for your Autumn Diary

Autumn 1

• Monday 23^rd September – Allday’s farm animals visit into school
• Thursday 26th September - Reception Welcome Meeting
• Friday 27^th September – 9am Stay and Play – Grandparents’ Morning (more information to follow)
• Friday 4^th  October – MacMillan Coffee Morning – School Hall
• Friday 18^th October – Non-uniform day (children bring in unwanted toys or gifts for the Christmas Fair)
• Monday 21st October – Parents’ evening (a chance to discuss how your child has settled into Reception)
• Friday 25^th October – Non-uniform day (wearing red and blue to say no to racism)
• Friday 25^th October – Stay and Share and break up for Half Term (3:00pm)

Autumn 2

• Tuesday 5^th November – Return to Reception
• Friday 22^nd November – Non-uniform day
• Friday 29^th November – Non-uniform day (Chocolate donations)
• Friday 6^th December – Non-uniform day (Bottle donations)
• Wednesday 11^th December – Christmas Play
• Friday 13^th December – Santa Dash, Xmas jumper day and Xmas Fair
• Wednesday 18^th October – Stay and Share
• Friday 20^th December – Christmas Party and break up (1:30pm)

Christmas party

We had a fabulous time at our party. What a great way to finish for the holidays. Happy Christmas everyone!

Birthday cards for Jesus

We created our very own cards to remember Jesus' birth. We took them over to church and sang 'happy birthday' and said the 'Hail Mary.'

Cards and Letters

We all received a letter or card through the post from our parents. We were so excited to share them with our friends in class. Our parents can't wait to come and see our Christmas play - 'A Miracle in Town' and we can't wait to perform it for them as we have all been working so hard.

R.E. Advent

During this special time the children have been learning about the meaning of advent. We know that advent is all about getting ready to remember Jesus' birth. We have discovered that there are very many ways in which we get ready during advent. In school we have been using our advent calendar to help us count down to Christmas. Each day the children have made an advent promise before they have opened to calendar. 

Anais said, "I will help my mum mop the floor."

Maisey said, "I promise to tidy up my bedroom."

Bobby said, "I will help mummy with the dishes."

We have also been getting ready by decorating the classroom. Each child was encouraged to bring in a decoration to put on out tree.

Finally the children have been using the Nativity figures to help them role play the story of the very first Christmas.

Christmas Jumper Day

The children all looked fabulous in their Christmas jumpers. Thank you parents for supporting us in this.

'A Miracle In Town'

The children worked incredibly hard to produce our performance of the Nativity story. They had to learn many songs as well as learn their lines. Each child participated fully, singing the songs with enthusiasm and saying their lines with such confidence and clarity. Reception you looked amazing and the play was a wonderful spectacle!

Reading - Library books

We love books in Reception, we like listening to stories, hearing stories and reading our own stories. Every 2 weeks we visit our school library to change our library books. We are now learning how to not only choose our library books but also to use the computer to take out the library books. We not only love books, we also love being librarians!

Trashion Show

The children were challenged to recycle a t-shirt or some old clothing to make something new for our trashion show. We had bags, capes, skirts and up-cycled t-shirts. The children took to the class catwalk like seasoned professionals. They looked great and all had a fabulous time strutting their stuff!

Rosie's Walk

We have had great fun reading, listening to and watching this story about Rosie the hen. The children then created a map of the route Rosie took around the farmyard. They drew their own pictures and then wrote their own captions. We really like your story maps Reception.

"My favourite part was when the rake hit the fox in the face." Logan

"I liked when the bees chased the fox." Sophie

"My favourite part was when the flour hit the fox." Sophia

Imagine That!

What an amazing visit we had to Imagine That! The children had a fabulous day full of enquiry and exploration. We hope you get a feel for how fantastic this place is from our small selection of photos. 

The children were a credit to themselves and to the school. We are all super proud of you!

"I loved the dressing up." Maggie

"My favourite part was the bubble making." Ethan

"I loved making the snow." Phoebe S

Invitation writing

The children wrote an invitation to their parents inviting them to our Christmas play - 'A Miracle in Town.' We excitedly visited the Post Office to buy stamps and then posted them in the letter box. We are very excited for our parents to receive them and are hoping we might have something posted to us back in school. Watch this space!

Maths - Finding all Possibilities

The children were challenged to use either 3 different coloured cake cases and 3 different coloured smarties or 2 different coloured cake cases and 2 different coloured smarties and make as many different cakes as possible. The children had to explain why the cakes were the same or different, and were encouraged to place their cakes correctly. We used the actions for rows and columns and tried hard to work systematically to prove we had found all possibilities.

"Each cake has to look different." Harrie

"The yellow smarties have to go in the yellow smarties column." Bella K

Literacy - The Little Red Hen

The children used the ipads and Book Creator to create their very own version of 'The Little Red Hen.' It was lovely to hear their voices telling the story as well as seeing their written captions. 

R.E. - Birthdays

The Reception children helped to plan for Ted's 5th birthday by creating a party list. Mrs O then took the list to the shops and bought the items. Back in class we made party hats using the skills we had developed from our baker hats. Finally the party was organised; we sang Happy Birthday, shared birthday cake and finally played party games. 'Happy Birthday Ted!'

Maths - equivalence museums

Working cooperatively the children found different ways of making the same number and displayed them in their museum. They used the Numicon shape of their chosen number to prove they were right and were then asked to check that all of their exhibits were different. The children are learning that equivalence means 'makes the same number, just looks different.' Finally the children were asked to say what Numicon shapes had been used to create each exhibit. What fabulous mathematicians you all are!

Children in Need

The children celebrated Children in Need by coming into school dressed in their pyjamas. Thank you so much for your continued support and for all the donations to this worthy cause.

Maths - Making baker hats

The children worked cooperatively with a partner to create a hat to us e in our role play bakery. They learned and were encouraged to use the language of measuring. The children had to measure around each other's head to ensure the hats would fit.

"It is just the right size." Elliot

They then demonstrated growing physical development to use the masking tape and stapler to complete their hats.

Happy baking everyone!

Baking Bread

The children have been reading the story of 'The Little Red Hen.' They discovered that the other characters in the story were not very good friends as they would not help the Little Red Hen. When Mrs O decided to bake bread the children all said, "Yes I will help!"

The children discovered lots of new vocabulary linked with baking and baking bread, they also discovered how delicious the bread was as we had it for snack each day.

"The bread was yummy." Harrie

"The bread was delicious." Ethan

"The bread was scrumptious." Maggie

Collective Worship - Remembrance Day

We created poppies and then gathered together to remember all the brave people who try to keep us all safe. We listened to an Act of Remembrance on CBeebies and to some words from the bible. We showed great respect during the 2 minutes silence.

Anti-bullying performance

Altru drama presented an anti-bullying performance for the whole school. The performance helped us to realise that being a good and kind friend is very important. We saw how upset people can become if they do not have kind friends and we also learned a very important message, "We must always tell a grown up if people are mean and unkind to us."

P.E. - Gymnastics

In our gymnastics sessions with Sam we have been learning all about movement, control and balance using all the equipment.

Friendship fortnight

We thought about what makes a good friend, we came up with lots of great vocabulary.

"A good friend is kind." Ava

"A good friend is helpful." Caitlin

"A good friend is loving." Oliver

We then decorated a 'special friend' heart and gave it to our very own special friend. 

Music

During our music session with Mrs Payet we have been learning to follow the conductor and using the stop and go signs. We know if the sign is red our music making has to stop and if it is green we can start to play. We have to watch and listen very carefully during these session.

Judaism

During our other faiths week we learned about Judaism. We watched a presentation about Hanukkah and the story of 'The oil lamp in the Temple.' The children learned all about the menorah a special candlestick and how it represented the 8 days that the lamp burned for in the Temple. We had a lovely time creating our very own menorah and loved using all of the glitter!

Stay and Share

Thank you for coming along to make our very first Stay and Share such a special occasion. We  celebrated all things physical and the children were delighted to be able to share their Learning Journeys with you all.

Art - observational representations of autumn fruits.

Having selected one of the fruits available the children were encouraged to use the media available, choosing colours and shades of colour very carefully. They then worked until they were satisfied with their end results. 

R.E. - Welcome

As part of our theme of 'Welcome' we looked at pictures of a baptism, talked about who came to our own baptism and then re-enacted a baptism. The children used appropriate vocabulary  demonstrating a growing understanding of baptism. Roles were decided upon as a group and the children reminded each other what they needed to say or do. Well done Reception, you performed your re-enactments so beautifully and with such care and respect.

Art - observational painting of a sunflower.

The children were encouraged to spend some time carefully observing the sunflower. They discussed shape, size and colour. Using the paints available the children were invited to mix their own colours trying them out before they used them on a separate piece of paper. Once satisfied, the children created their own representation of a sunflower, some of which are now on display in our class 'Gallery.'

Estimation Station

The children were encouraged to estimate how many conkers they thought were in the container. They then recorded their estimation using a variety of resources and finally counted out the real number again recording this in a variety of ways.

Problem Solving - Finding All Possibilities

The children were challenged by Captain Conjecture to make as many different faces as they could from using two different eye colours and two different hair colours. We had lots of different predictions, but after working systematically and introducing the terms rows and columns we discovered that we could make four different faces. Great problem solving Reception!

R.E. - learning 'God Loves Me' from 'Come and See'

The children were learning the hymn 'God Loves Me' to fit in with our theme of 'Myself.' They all listened so carefully and joined in with the words and the actions. It sounded beautiful.

Building the Numicon staircase

The children were engaged in building the staircase, they were encouraged to check what they had done using the number lines, then they were challenged to add digit cards underneath and finally they were encouraged to count out accuratley using two hands.

Data Handling

Initially the children were challenged to place themselves on a human pictogram on the carpet depending on their eye colour. They were then encouraged to discuss what they could see about the pictogram they had created. This information was then transferred onto a paper pictogram. The children were then asked by Captain Conjecture to talk about what they noticed. The children were encouraged to use the vocabulary of more and less, most and least.

Observational painting

The children have been developing their observational painting skills. We have been collecting seasonal objects and the children have been studying them carefully and then completing their own representations of them.

Grandparent Day

Our grandparents were invited to come and look around our setting. What a wonderful morning we had sharing what we do with them. There was lots of wonderful working together in evidence. Thank you for coming and making it such a special morning.

Allday's Farm Visit

The animals from Allday's Farm came to visit Foundation Stage. We had a wonderful time learning about them and handling them. We learned about the similarities and differences between ourselves and the animals.We even had the chance to brush the pony.

Accessing the outdoor provision

The children have loved exploring the outdoor setting. They have been showing off their physical development skills by balancing, climbing, reaching, stretching and pulling. They also worked well together to create a bridge around the garden using all the available resources. Great communication and co-operation skills in evidence!

Mission Statement Display

In Reception we have been exploring the book 'We're All Works of Art' by Mark Sperring and from this we chose to represent our faces in the style of Pablo Picasso. We discussed how very special we all are and began to understand that we are indeed 'God's Work of Art.'