Reception Class News

Rabbits don’t lay eggs.

We have really enjoyed our Easter themed book: ‘Rabbits don’t lay eggs.’ It does make us laugh! The children’s writing is really progressing. After the holiday we will have a really big push on this too. Prepare to be amazed!

Last week, we were in sun hats and sun cream. This week we’ve been in the snow with our wellies and woolly hats! We just had to go on a Winter walk in the snow before it melted. It was magical!

We also, collected the hail stones and enjoyed hands on learning about them.

A little Easter focus in the classroom.

What else we’ve been up to:

Home-link:

In Maths this week we have been using lots of different measurements. In particular we used the vocabulary: full, nearly full, half full, nearly empty and empty. Perhaps you could find containers and add liquid to match these labels.  Photograph or video your child and send to our email address.

Reminders:

Egg rolling competition. Please send your child to school with a named (and decorated) hard boiled egg on Friday 22 April.

Have a wonderful Easter holiday! School reopens on Tuesday 19 April.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Using our story as a focus, we have been drawing story maps, retelling the story and changing what we might find at the top of the beanstalk. Children have shone in their writing this week.

In Maths we have been learning about odd and even numbers. How can you tell if a numicon number is odd? We have also ordered beanstalks by height and measured them.

Our reading sessions have been brilliant this week. Please allow your child to read their e-book to you this weekend.

The weather has been glorious and most welcome this week. As the weather continues to brighten during the coming months, please ensure that you send your child to school with a sunhat and apply a long lasting sunscreen before school each day. Children can bring named sunscreen into school but adults are not permitted to apply it for your child. As always please ensure clothing is named as children will be removing their cardigans and jumpers more frequently.

Spring walk. We enjoyed going onto the school field for the first time this year. We looked for signs of Spring.

They are starting to get more leafs.-Vinnie

Max found a ladybird.-Holly

They’re little furry buds.-Sofia

I didn’t see that yellow flower there before.-Reuben

More photographs of our learning this week:

Reminders:

Thursdays-Library book changing day.

Fridays-Reading record in school day.

Home-Link

Collect sets of odd and even numbers. Photograph them and send them to our usual email address. We really enjoy your home-link photographs!

Bubble and Bear Hunts!

Our brilliant ‘bubble’…

This week has been a little bit different for our children. A few members of our usual teaching team have been absent and we’ve stayed within our Early Years bubble. Here at Scholes, we pride ourselves on being a Happy and healthy place to learn. This week was another example of how resilient and happy our children really are. They have been FAN-TAS-TIC! Here are some ways we’ve been Happy and Healthy this week:

• Happy to meet some new adults, who have taken great care of us alongside our teachers. We love sharing our learning with visitors and showing them what we can do!
• Healthy continued discussions around handwashing, hygiene routines and taking extra care.
• Happy classroom lunchtimes with carpet picnics, music and stories.
• Healthy continued time spent outside, in our shared garden area and during playtimes.

Learning this week…

This week we’ve been Going on a Bear Hunt! We’ve had a great time re-telling this week’s very popular story.

The glorious sunshine has been very welcome. We’ve been potting and planting in addition to our usual outdoor explorations.

In art, we’ve been creating observational paintings of flowers. We were inspired by the artist Pandora Sellars.

In Maths, we’ve been learning about doubles!

Ask your child what we need to do, to double a number!

Here are some more photos of learning this week.

We’ve also been busy organising and recording a very special class assembly, that you’ll be able to watch next week. We’re keeping some of our learning as a special surprise!

Comic Relief…

Thank you to everyone who joined in with our Comic Relief, Non-Uniform Day today and for your donations to this very important cause.

Reading at home…

You will have received a new reading record today, with a letter about reading at home. If you would like to watch the short video we have made, talking through some of the eBook features and how we use the reading practise books in class, you can scan the QR code on the letter or click here.

Home-link challenge…

We’ve been working hard on our handwriting. This week we’d like you to focus on handwriting with your child at home. Please continue to use the Little Wandle formation sheets/ phrases.

One Hundred Decker Rocket

This week, we have read a story based on a space adventure and some messy aliens.

Before reading we made some predictions.

They going to space. Jacob

I think they will fly to space to see if there are aliens. Penny

A rocket with one hundred floors. Stanley

Rocket going up. Prisha

After reading, we designed and made our own deck to make a reception 45 decker rocket.

There were some wonderful ideas such as swimming pools, jacuzzies, reading dens, party rooms and gardens.

The children also enjoyed writing about the story or what they could see in the images from the book.

In maths, we have composed seven. We used lots of different resources such as Numicon, multilink and pegs to show our parts.

In the areas this week, we have explored space as well as seeds and growing plants.

Notices

We will be sending home new reading records next week which should be sent into school on a Friday in your child’s bookbag.

This is the place where you will be able to check what book your child has read in school and will be on their e-library.

After you have read with your child at home, you can add comments to share with your child’s class teacher.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar and World Book Day 2022!

Welcome Back!

We were so excited to welcome Reception back this week, after a very wet and windy half term break. Our outdoor area definitely felt the effects of storm Eunice but was soon back in action!

Let’s Go! is the name of our theme this term. We’ll be looking at the season of Spring and growing. We’ll also be looking at different journeys and the vehicles we might use to make them. At the end of the term, we will be learning about Easter.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This week, our focus story was The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We hope you enjoyed seeing the story come to life through the Reception Team’s World Book Day costumes!

This book has so many great learning aspects; we discussed days of the week, the life cycle of a butterfly, the ‘one more’ aspect of what the caterpillar eats at the start of the story and of course, we enjoyed re-telling the story.

Each morning the children wrote down their breakfast, to create a food diary.

We’ve also enjoyed creating symmetrical butterflies, sorting fruit and vegetables into where they grow, exploring our sensory tray, making dough characters from the story and more!

Maths

This week was all about meeting number eight and comparing numbers, especially identifying ‘more’ and using ‘one more’ to re-visit the ‘staircase pattern’

Can your child tell you how we make a staircase pattern?

World Book Day 2022

Wowee! What amazing costumes we saw on Thursday. Thank you for participating and for sharing your favourite books from home. Both the children and staff had a great day. World Book Day is one of our absolute favourite days in the school year, because reading and encouraging a love of books is so very important.

Home-link challenges

Next week, as part of our Let’s Go! theme, we will be reading a story about a journey into space. Please help your child find a fact about space that they can share in class. This could be specific to the vehicle used to travel to space or a general fact about astronauts/ space.

We’d really like to display some pictures of the first signs of Spring. If you go on a day out or a walk outside, please send in photos of anything you spy that is beginning to grow!

Reminders and messages

-Wellies: If your child does not currently have wellies in school, please bring them in. Due to the weather, our outdoor areas continue to be super soggy and muddy!

-PE: This half term, PE days will continue to be on a Wednesday and a Friday. Swimming for your class will be on the following dates:

Sunshine: 2 March, 16 March

Rainbow: 9 March, 23 March

-Shoe boxes: To support with our learning next week, please send in an empty shoe box.

-Potting and planting: At this time of year, we really appreciate any donations of spare compost, plastic pots and seeds. If you have any you would like to donate to our Early Years classes, please hand them to your class teacher. Thank you.

A Super-Comic, Super Final Week!

This week, Reception have been learning about the features of a comic book and having a go at creating a comic page of their own. They have also enjoyed using technology to create their own Superheroes!

Click here to have a go at home too!

We gave our Superheroes a name and wrote labels or sentences describing them:

We have also been continuing to learn about people who help us:

In maths this week, we have been learning about “five and a bit” when composing numbers to eight: “five and two more makes seven”, for example. We have also been creating a “staircase pattern” when exploring one more. We made staircase patterns using multilink cubes.

In phonics, we have learnt the phonemes; ur, ow, oi, ear and tricky words; my, by, all

We have been exploring floating and sinking in the water tray, Numicon and number composition in the sand tray, practising our turn taking skills through multi-player board games, balancing in PE and much more! Take a look:

Parent-Teacher Consultations

Thank you to all of our parents/ carers who attended our parent-teacher consultations this week. We’ve loved having the opportunity to share your children’s successes and next steps with you. We are so proud of all the progress each and every child has made since September and that we know they will continue to make. Spring 1 term has seen such a boost in their confidence and we look forward to seeing what the next few months will bring, as they continue their learning journey with us.

Home-link challenges

It’s the half term break! We want you to relax, recharge and enjoy family time together.

If you do wish to keep practising skills at home next week, here are some suggestions:

-Write a list of fruit and vegetables (this links to our book that we will be reading on our first week back!)

-Explore ways to make the number eight.

-Practise letter formation, using the Little Wandle phrases.

-If you go out for a walk, see if you can spot some first signs of Spring.

Don’t forget to enjoy your library and eBook reading together!

Diary Dates…

Monday 28 February- Training Day; School closed to pupils

Thursday 3 March- World Book Day; Dress up as your favourite book character. You can also bring in your favourite book. Please ensure this is named. Thank you.

Safety Week

We have had a very special week talking and learning about people that help us. There are so many highlights! We know that your child/ren will have been filling you in on their most memorable parts.

A fire engine and fire fighters came to the school playground to educate us on their important role of helping people in the community. Fire fighters took the time to show us their vast equipment on the fire engine itself and gave different scenarios when they might be used. We learnt about what fire fighters wear when facing a fire. Some children were able to wear a protective helmet.

The children even followed a tutorial on how to draw a fire fighter. We were really impressed with the results:

Our Police Headquarters role play was extremely popular outside this week. There have been many ‘bad guys’ caught and arrests made. Our bikes are well used and its great to see the children taking turns and involved in such great physical play. We have also been writing up police reports and parking tickets.

On Internet Safety Day we spoke about what the internet is, how we use it and what to do when we’re unsure (STOP and ask a grown-up).

We asked the children:

‘What is the internet?

It’s electric-Netflix. Poppy A

It’s Wifi-Ronnie

It works on screens at home-Stanley

Do you have a limit on how much time you use a screen?

Half an hour-Charlie

Why is it not a good idea to spend lots of time on screens?

You could get a headache-Jack

To help support our focus this week we set up many areas of provision to aid our understanding of those that help us. We had dentists, vets, road workers, doctors/nurses, rescue vehicles, a supermarket etc. We did speak about Superheroes and real life heroes. So many children said their parents were their real life super heroes.

Take a look at some of the incredible learning that took place this week:

Next Week

On Tuesday, the NHS school nurses team will be in to carry out routine checks on your child’s height, weight, hearing and vision. They will send a little report home.

Reminder

Please ensure that you send your child’s library book back to school each Thursday. If you have any outstanding at home, please return them.

Reading

We have received some very positive feedback about our new ebooks. Please continue to instill a love of reading with your children.

Home-link

Can you draw and label a picture of the heroes that you are thankful for?

Chinese New Year

It was been a wonderful week of fun and learning in reception.

We have explored celebrations from other cultures – Chinese New Year.

We started by reading The Magic Paintbrush.

Here are things we would like to draw if we had a magic paintbrush…

I would paint a cat for my mummy. Penny

A rainbow because they have all my favourite colours in. Poppy

A tiger. Clara

A puppy. Leo

I would paint loads of food to share with the people who can’t afford food. Norah

I want to paint lots of money so people can afford food. Stanley

Using our knowledge of the story, we were able to sort true or false statements and retell main events.

The children enjoyed creating their own Chinese lanterns. After following instructions, the children were then able to help and teach others.

Using tissue paper and paper chains, we created a class Chinese dragon.

In maths, we have continued to develop our number knowledge. We have explored the composition of numbers six and seven.

Take a look at our other learning around the classroom…

We also had a Superhero photoshoot.

Home Link

What celebrations/traditions do you celebrate?

You may choose to discuss

• the meaning of the celebration/tradition
• food
• decorations
• clothes

Superhero Headquarters

Our construction area has been turned into Superhero Headquarters. It is complete with masks and capes to hide identities. The area has inspired different creations of vehicles, role play, phone conversations (because you should call for help) and of course writing. There has been such a buzz about this area that we are having to take turns to play there.

The week has been based on the popular book ‘Supertato.’

The children have been taking turns to build a hideout for Supertato and they have even been making their own Supertato too.

We have had other vegetables in the classroom to help us with our Maths. We used different coloured onions to explore which numbers 5 is ‘made of.’

We apologise for the lack of photos this week, there have been a few technical difficulties.

Inspiring Arctic Expeditions

This week we have learned so much about the polar regions. Looking at the habitat for animals and how they are suited for life in their natural environment has lead to interesting conversations. We have looked at explorers who were the first to reach the South Pole and imagined that we were going on an expedition too.

You have to wear warm clothes so you don’t freeze.-Charlie

You might get to meet a penguin. It might have a baby egg.- Lewi

You will need to pack lots of food and a camera-Eti

We have also watched a video and read news articles about ‘Polar Preet’ (Captain Preet Chandi) the first woman of colour to travel solo to the South Pole. Her inspiring mission finished this January! Follow the link to her website to find out more about her:

https://polarpreet.com/

We wrote a list of ten things we might see on our expedition. The children’s phonic knowledge is increasing all of the time. The process of hearing sounds in words and writing the correct corresponding grapheme is strengthening and speeding up. Every child is a writer in Reception!

Rainbow Class swam for the first time. We are so proud of our swimmers. They were so confident to get into the pool. We will continue to swim on our rotation every Wednesday.

Identity Day.

Today we have spoken about our choice of outfit, our hobbies, talents, families, likes and dislikes. Mrs Kopiczko is from Poland and she educated us on what Poland is famous for. The children were utterly intrigued.

Have a look at what else we have been up to this week.

Home-link

Can you use your phonic knowledge to write a list of 5 items? Perhaps a shopping list? Take a photograph of your list and send it to our email address.