Reception News 2020-2021
We love Summer!
We began our new ‘Summer’ topic by going for a lovely walk around our school grounds. We found most of the items on our checklists including an array of beautiful plants and flowers! Back in the classroom, the children have been writing about what they could see, feel, smell and hear on our walk independently. Other exciting activities have included; an ice-cream parlour in the role-play area, camping area in the book corner, ice-cream play dough, beach themed sand and water play in addition to lots of creative activities too! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Space
The Reception children have been really intrigued by our recent ‘Space’ topic. They have been using their imaginations in our ‘Space Station’ role-play area, building rockets in the construction area, manipulating ‘Galaxy’ playdough and designing and making their own space related models in our Creative Area. In addition to this, the children have explored fiction and non-fiction texts related to Space, and after writing about what they would take in their rocket to space, they also independently thought of lots of interesting Space facts and recorded them using full sentences. Super effort Reception! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Beautiful Butterflies
After patiently waiting, our class caterpillars finally emerged into beautiful butterflies this week! The children thoroughly enjoyed observing the butterflies up close in the forest garden before gently setting them free and watching them fly away. See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Science Fair - Reception
Science week - Draws to a close!
As Science week draws to a close, the Reception children were excited to discover that their predictions were correct! One of our plants grew healthily when watered with filtered water and the other plant looked not so healthy. The children recorded their results and then contributed towards creating our Science board display for the rest of the school to see how busy we’ve been. They especially enjoyed looking at the other displays at the Science Fair during their first trip to the Science room! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Science week – Our Investigation Has Begun!
After writing their predictions about what would happen to our plants if watered with clean or dirty water, today the children made their own water filters to test out their theories. See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
The Start of Science Week!
Today Reception noticed a mystery box on the carpet, they each had a turn at putting their hand in and guessing what the items might be for. They discovered the objects included a bottle of dirty water, a lab coat and goggles in addition to various other plant related items. After lots of discussion, the children soon guessed that they would be taking part in some investigative activities this week!
Linking to our recent topic 'Growth and Change', we talked about the dirty water and wondered if it would help our plants to grow...the children thought not! It was revealed that the children will take part in their own science experiment by making their own water filters to help clean the water and ensure our plants grow healthily! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Exploring the Internet
For their PSHCEE session today, Reception explored the Internet, what it is and how it is used. Following a discussion, they each had a turn at using the Internet via the classrooms interactive board, the children all thought of a question and used Google to find out the answer and along with more information. Lots of great questions from how does a butterfly hide? To, where is pizza made? To end the session, the children designed their own game for a tablet. See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Growth and Change
As part of our new topic ‘Growth and Change’, the children have enjoyed reading ‘Jasper’s Beanstalk’ during our Literacy sessions .This has supported them in writing a set of instructions about how to plant a bean seed using sequencing words and even creating a list to help them to remember what equipment they will need. From this, the children ventured outdoors to each plant their own beans, they remembered each step and exactly what they needed to do so carefully. In addition to this, the children thoroughly enjoyed personalising their plant pots using paint and decorating their own scarecrow to place inside their pot. Reception are excited to care for their beans over the coming weeks and watch them grow. Over the half-term break, the children will take their beans home and record the developments in a diary as part of their home-learning! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
The Importance of Nature
This week is 'Mental Health Awareness Week' with a focus on the importance of nature. In Reception, we enjoy mindfulness activities every week such as mindfulness meditation, yoga and daily visits to the forest garden to be close to nature. This week is no exception but we have had the added bonus of exploring nature outside of our school grounds with our lovely walk to Devonshire fields. We have had discussions throughout the week about the importance of looking after our minds as well as our bodies and Reception have continued to enjoy various activities to support this.
Next week, our new topic ‘Growth and Change’ will commence. This will involve the children learning about how to care for their outdoor world and look after the planet. The children will also plant their own beans and care for them as well as taking on the responsibility of caring for some of our lovely green areas around school. See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Mini Beast Hunting Adventure
What a fantastic adventure we had today! We walked from school to the lovely Devonshire fields to hunt for Mini beasts! We used our checklists and investigation tools to help us to mark off all of the different species that we found.
After hunting, we enjoyed our snack and a warm hot chocolate on the grass whilst excitedly discussing our findings with our friends. An informative and exciting outing – well done Reception! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Meet Our New Class Pets!
Appropriately named; Greedy, Flash, Wriggles, Leaf and Careful. Chosen by the Reception children themselves! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Mini Beasts
Our new ‘Mini beasts' topic has begun and what fun we are having! During Literacy sessions, the children have been making their very own Mini beast Mini books using non-fiction texts to research various insects of choice before writing interesting facts about them.
In our Role-play area, the children have become investigators in the Mini beast Museum, using magnifying glasses and checklists to identify the various creepy crawlies that they had found! Malleable Mini beasts have been made using playdough, googly eyes, straws, cushioned wire etc and in the Creative area, the children have been observing various mini beasts closely to paint them using the correct colours and precision. Our investigation this week was in our Sensory area, this involved the children trying to rescue the mini beasts which had been frozen! Bug hotels are in popular demand within the Construction area too!
Our exciting topic continues next week with some new class pets arriving as well as a trip to Devonshire fields to hunt for some real-life mini beasts! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Discovering Dinosaurs
Over the past couple of weeks, the Reception children have really enjoyed our Dinosaur topic. This has involved the children exploring fiction and non-fiction books and during their Literacy sessions, creating fact-files about Dinosaurs and their own 3-part Dinosaur stories too!
In Mathematics, we have been learning about halving. We used Dinosaurs to visually see how halving is the same as splitting objects in to two groups, this led the children to confidently complete halving number challenges independently.
In addition to this, the children have been playing with ‘fossil dough’ in the malleable area and painting dinosaurs, creating dino-skeletons and dinosaur masks in the creative area. In the sensory area, the children have enjoyed a bit of palaeontology, digging and searching for fossils in sand and water and recording their findings on their clipboards. Our role-play area has been converted into a ‘Dinosaur Den’ with fossils, cloaks, bones, magnifying glasses, recording materials and much more for the children to investigate and explore.
During outdoor learning time, Reception helped to make dinosaur eggs, the children helped to measure out the ingredients and each had a turn to mix them together. Once the eggs were made, they searched the forest garden for sticks, stones, leaves and grass to make a cosy nest. They are going to watch them carefully over the next couple of days to see if they hatch! What will be inside? See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Sports Day Skills
Reception thoroughly enjoyed taking part in lots of traditional ‘Sports Day’ activities during P.E this week... Relay racing, balancing, throwing, dribbling and most importantly, working together as a team! Well done Reception – great effort from all team players! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Animal Lifecycles
This week, the Reception children are learning about Animal Lifecycles with a particular focus on the Lifecycle of a Caterpillar. After reading ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ story, the children discussed how the caterpillar grows and changes throughout the story before ordering the stages by using sequencing words in their sentences.
In addition to this, we revisited Days of the Week as used in the story and learnt about doubling using ladybird spots during Mathematics. The Reception children have enjoyed creating a collage butterfly in the creative area, being a minibeast investigator during role-play, exploring fiction and non-fiction books in the reading area as well as making various minibeasts using playdough and playing minibeast bingo! The children are looking forward to taking their learning outdoors and hunting for minibeasts in the forest garden whilst also building a bug hotel using large logs, sticks, leaves etc. See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Red Nose Day Fun and Games
The Reception class children had lots of fun on Red Nose Day including playing Red Nose Day games like "Nose and Spoon Race". See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Transport and Travel
As part of our new topic ‘Transport and Travel’ we have focussed on the very funny story “You can’t take an elephant on the bus” which allowed the children to compose their own humorous suggestions! During our Literacy sessions, the children wrote sentences to explain why a certain animal of choice could not ride a specific form of transport also considering the key features of a super sentences and using the connective ‘because’. In addition to this, the children have enjoyed learning about various forms of transport and thinking about when and where the most appropriate form of transport would usually be used i.e. a helicopter for a rescue, a plane to get to a different country, a train to go to a city etc. We also thought about which forms of transport were most eco-friendly which led to the children suggesting traveling by scooters/bikes or even walking more! In the role-play area, the children enjoyed a bus set-up and in the creative area, the children used various shapes to create a form of transport of their own choice. In Mathematics, the children have been learning about distance. We explored our local environment on Google Earth which allowed the children to use vocabulary linked to distance to describe how near/far popular places where from our school. The children went on to make paper aeroplanes, estimate how far they would travel and then test their predictions by measuring and recording their answers. They have been directing their chatty partners around the forest garden to place objects in various places using the language linked to distance as focused on throughout the week. See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Traditional Tales - Jack and the Beanstalk
Continuing with our theme about ‘Fairy Tales’ this week, the children have really enjoyed focussing on ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. This has involved the children writing a letter to Jack from the Giant to ask for some of his belongings back. The children considered the key features of a letter and used descriptive language as well as connectives! In addition to this, the children have been planting their own beans with compost and gardening tools in the tuff tray, making beanstalks using play dough, using their imaginations in ‘fairy land’ as well as creating collage beanstalks in the creative area. Reception also enjoyed exploring our forest garden, observing the changes including some beautiful new flowers that are beginning to grow. It was very fitting that the children dressed up as their favourite character from a traditional tale for World Book Day at the end of the week! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
World Book Day
Reception have loved celebrating World Book Day today. Aside from dressing up, the children have enjoyed guessing who was behind the mask in the 'Masked Reader' competition, sharing stories with their friends, doing lots of World Book Day craft activities as well as listening to lots of traditional stories too. At the end of the day, the children enjoyed dancing along to Traditional Tale themed songs! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Traditional Tales - Sleeping Beauty
This week, the children have been learning about Fairy Tales and in particular focusing on ‘Sleeping Beauty’. We talked about the key features of Fairy Tales and what they usually include such as; royalty, magical objects, castles and happy endings of course! During our Literacy sessions the children retold the Sleeping Beauty story using descriptive story language and extending their sentences. The children have also enjoyed writing their own Royal Wedding invitations, making wands, building castles and using their imaginations in our ‘Fairytale Land’ role-play area. The boys have been very protective over their castles in the construction area dressed as knights!
The children are very much looking forward to continuing our topic next week when we focus on ‘Jack and The Beanstalk’ and dress-up as our favourite character for World Book Day...
See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Chinese New Year
The Reception children have really enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year this week. After reading the ‘Great Race’ story, The children were excited to learn which animal represented the Year they were born in. We learnt about the characteristics of the different animals and the children wrote about them too. The children have enjoyed developing their fine motor skills using chopsticks in the tuff tray to pick up and transfer noodles, creating Chinese symbols in golden sand with chopsticks, exploring a Chinese Restaurant in the role-play area and making various decorations in the creative area including lanterns, dragon puppets and red envelopes with a lucky coin in to take home. To conclude our learning this week, we had a Chinese New Year celebration with Dragon dancing and food sampling. The children enjoyed trying Spring rolls, noodles and prawn crackers too! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Traditional Tales - Goldilocks and the Three Bears
To continue our ‘Traditional Tales’ topic, Reception have enjoyed focusing on the story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ this week. This has further encouraged the children to learn more about story structure and character description, they have been writing a ‘Job List’ to include ways that they think Goldilocks could make it up to the Three Bears. The children also carried out an independent writing task whereby they wrote their own sentences for each key part of the story.
In groups, the children really enjoyed re-telling the tale, using their masks and developing actions and expression when repeating refrains from the story. The children created their own story map to highlight the key parts of the story. In addition to this, the children have been making bowls for the Bears with playdough, designing duvet covers for the Bears in the creative area, investigating dry and wet oats in the tuff tray and exploring capacity with various sized containers in the water. The children have thoroughly enjoyed the Three Bears House in the role-platy area and initiating their own version of the story with friends.
During outdoor learning, the children enjoyed going on a Bear hunt! They managed to discover them all and then order the Bears according to size. To finish off our week, the children made their own porridge, added the healthy toppings that they most liked and then ate it for their mid-morning snack! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Traditional Tales - The Three Billy Goats Gruff
To begin our ‘Traditional Tales’ topic, Reception have enjoyed focusing on the story of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. This has encouraged the children to learn more about story structure and character description, they have been writing independent WARNING posters and also writing down their imaginative ideas as to where the Troll can live instead of under the bridge.
In groups, the children really enjoyed re-telling the tale, using their masks and developing actions and expression when repeating refrains from the story. The children extended their role-play and construction, building a large bridge across the carpet area using large bricks to support their own interpretation of the story. In addition to this, the children have been making bridges using foil and play dough for sensory play and building bridges using wooden blocks and JCB trucks in the sand.
During outdoor learning, the children were set a number of Traditional Tale themed challenges such as ‘You’re Gretel. It’s night and you’re cold. Gather some sticks a make a fire to stay warm!’ For their home-learning, the children have each chosen a traditional tale story book to take home over the weekend and share with their family. See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Castles and Dragons - CASTLES
This week, Reception have been learning about Castles. We explored some famous castles that the children would recognise to begin our topic (Hogwarts from Harry Potter which is Alnwick Castle in Northumberland!) From this, we thought about what makes a castle and what they were originally built for many years ago. The children enjoyed exploring an online Castle finder that allowed us to explore some real castles throughout the UK and learn more about their features and history. We discovered that some of the children as well as Miss Hardy and Miss Bennett had visited many of the castles and so we enjoyed sharing our experiences. Next, the children designed their own Castles on large paper considering the key features and even labelling them to include drawbridges, moats, arrow slits, turrets and much more. After writing about their castles, the children created their own 3D versions using various junk modelling materials which they took the time to add great detail to. On Friday, we enjoyed learning a medieval dance as you can see from the video! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Castles and Dragons - DRAGONS
This week in Reception, the children have enjoyed learning about Dragons. We listened to the ‘Tell me a Dragon’ story which led to the children designing and painting their own dragons. The children used their lovely creations to help them to write about their Dragon using describing words and even some connectives to extend their sentences too!
The children have also enjoyed exploring the Castle role-play area, building castles, creating Princess and Knight masks and learning about fiction and non-fiction books by exploring dragon stories as well as information books about castles.
During Mathematics, the children have been exploring measures with a particular focus on length and height. They were very excited to learn how tall they were and enjoyed making estimations and measuring various objects using a ruler themselves. See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Happy New Year from Reception!
Over the last couple of days, the Reception children have been learning all about the New Year, what it means and how it's celebrated. We watched the 2021 firework display in London and talked about how things are a little different this year but how we can keep ourselves and others safe.
In Mathematics, we learnt learnt about Days, Months and Years and in Literacy, we set and wrote our own New Year’s resolutions. We finished our learning about New Year with a relaxing New Year pattern activity whilst listening to Auld Lang Syne and then we enjoyed some New Year themed Yoga...Happy New Year to everyone from us all in Reception! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
It’s Christmas!!!
Our Reception class have loved all things Christmassy over the last couple of weeks...With a Santa’s Grotto, Wrapping Station, Christmas Play dough and plenty of Christmas crafts, we sure have been busy! In particular, the children have loved writing their letters to Santa which we then walked and posted ourselves into the post-box. We hope our parents enjoy their special delivery in the post too, the children really took their time to create a beautiful card and write their own Christmas greetings inside. Well done Reception! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
BHT Elf Kick Santa Dash!
KS1 Christmas Elf Kick Challenge 1 - Santa Dash!
We’re Going On a Bear Hunt
Continuing with our topic based on stories with repeated refrains, this week our focus story was ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’. The children loved joining in as a class to help Miss Hardy read the story and then they used their imaginations to create their very own part. The children each thought of a place which they described and then they thought about how they would get through it using various noises and actions...
“Uh oh! Sinking Sand, stinky, sticky, sinking sand. We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it, we’ll have to go through it! Balance, jump, balance, jump”
After finding some suspicious Bear prints in the forest garden, the children then went on their own Bear Hunt! This involved the children going through the long wavy grass, across the river, through the snowstorm, in the dark forest and through the thick oozy mud. After tip-toeing through the cave, they discovered IT WAS A BEAR!!! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Going on a Gruffalo Hunt
This week, we have started our new topic ‘Stories with Repeated Patterns’ and our focus story has been ‘The Gruffalo’. The Reception children have been learning about story structure which led them to create their own ending to this familiar story. The Gruffalo has also supported the children learning about rhyming words and they particularly loved playing rhyming bingo! Other activities have included making Gruffalo Crumble in the tuff tray, making a Gruffalo using brown playdough, sticks, googly eyes and purple prickles and also creating masks and characters for our new Gruffalo Cave in the role-play area. A favourite was playing ‘Rhyming River’ during outdoor learning time! We wonder what fun ‘The Snail and the Whale’ will bring next week... See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Learning about Diwali
As part of our topic ‘Light and Dark’, this week we have been learning about Diwali. This has involved the children learning about why the festival is celebrated and all about the Rama and Sita story. From this, the children have been learning about how to write phrases using multiple words and finger spaces. In addition to this, the children have been creating Rangoli patterns and Happy Diwali cards. During outdoor learning, the children enjoyed building a den to enjoy a story in the dark with torches! To take home, the children have made their very own Diva lamps with an added candle to enjoy as part of the ‘Festival of Light’ celebrations on Saturday. See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Spotty Fun on Children In Need Day
What a lovely morning in aid of Children in Need, wearing spots, playing outdoor games with spots and eating spotty biscuits. Yummy! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Light and Dark
As part of our new topic ‘Light and Dark’ the children have been involved in lots of exciting activities this week. We shared the ‘Bears in the Night’ story which led us to talk about our bedtime routines and how we can feel safe in the dark. The children then created a list of descriptive words for Light and Dark and recorded their thoughts in their Literacy books. The children have created powder paint firework displays during outdoor learning as well as a brightly coloured firework wall display during Art using kitchen roll holders. Reception have also enjoyed making firework patterns in the sand and watching a virtual display in a darkened class room. Next week we will continue our theme of ‘Light and Dark’ focussing on Diwali, the Festival Of Light. See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Halloween...well almost!
A topic that could not be missed in Reception. The children have been so excited to base their learning around all things spooky this week. We read ‘Room on the Broom’ which led us to describe the witch using some fantastic adjectives. Also to support our learning of 2D shapes, the children have been creating witches and monsters using various shapes during Mathematics. They have enjoyed exploring the ‘Witches and Wizards Workshop’ as well as playing a Halloween themed listening game during outdoor learning time with instruments representing different spooky sounds. To finish a very busy half-term, we enjoyed a Halloween special during Yoga time, making unique monsters during Art and then most excitedly, taking home the Halloween basket which we decorated throughout the week (now filled with yummy treats!) Happy half-term! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Learning all about Autumn and Harvest
We started our week with a lovely walk to Caldy Woods, we spotted lots of seasonal changes and collected a beautiful range of Autumn objects to take back to the classroom – we even stopped for a splash in the puddles as we did have our wellington boots on!
Back in class, we have been Autumn printing, making pumpkins with play dough and making potions in the water area. In addition to this, we have been exploring fruits and vegetables in class and comparing fresh foods to processed, thinking about which foods would be suitable to donate for Harvest.
Of course we didn’t want to see all of the lovely vegetables go to waste, so we decided to make some yummy vegetable soup with them. The children created lists of the ingredients we needed and after reading ‘Animal Soup’, we created a recipe together to help remind us what we needed to do. The children washed and chopped vegetables, stirred them up and then tried the delicious finished product. See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Black History Month in PHSCEE
During our PHSCEE session this week, we have been learning about the importance of treating everyone fairly as part of Black History Month.
We focussed on the story of Rosa Parks and created a bus in our classroom. We sang 'The Wheels on the Bus' before each stop where then one child got on the bus. We repeated this until there were no more spaces. The children quickly noticed that this wasn't fair because one child was not on the bus! We thought about what Rosa Parks did when this happened to her, saying that it was not fair that she couldn't have a seat. Reception decided to add another chair to our bus to allow for all of the children to continue their journey together and happily singing. We know how important it is to treat everyone fairly despite our differences!
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!
Well done to our lovely Reception class who played the hand bells beautifully. They had to concentrate really hard to keep in time and showed great teamwork!
Autumn Explorers!
This week the Reception children have started learning about seasons with a particular focus on ‘Autumn and Leaves’. We began our new topic by looking for signs of Autumn in our forest garden. From this, we collected some beautiful Autumn objects to help us with our descriptive writing and leaf printing. We have enjoyed fantastic stories such as ‘Leaf Man’ and ‘Stick Man’ and the children have even had a go at making their own in the creative area. In addition to this, the children have been making hedgehogs with playdough, investigating natural objects in the tuff tray and exploring a range of whole body actions to simulate the movements of leaves alongside Autumn inspired music. After all of our busy work, we finished the week with ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ Yoga. Phew! Next week continues with Autumn and Harvest... See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Our Senses
This week, the children in Reception have been learning all about their senses. We started our learning by going on a sensory walk in our Forest Garden where we could hear birds, see trees, smell flowers and feel leaves. We then took our learning back into the classroom where the children tried some various fruits and as you can see, the lemons and limes got a great reaction! The children were also involved in adding their own herbs and spices into play dough, adding flowers to our water play and exploring wet and dry sand. During our outdoor learning time, the children made their very own fantastic ‘Autumn Sun Catchers’! What a productive and super busy week, well done Reception! See the Reception Gallery for more photos.
Starting School
Our Reception children have made a fantastic start to their school life!
The children have created their own Class Charter, adding their promises for the year on to their handprints. The children have begun to learn about sounds and numbers and they are enjoying our topic ‘Ourselves and Our Families’. This has involved the children thinking about why they are unique and creating their own self-portraits. The children have then shared their own family photographs from home with their class, discussing who is in their family and why they are special. A particular favourite has been outdoor learning time, where the children have extended their learning further and enjoyed practical, hands on activities within our forest garden. Well done Reception, a well deserved certificate to everyone for making such a fantastic start to your school year! See the Reception Gallery for more photo.
