How to Catch a Star
Literacy
This week our focus story was How to Catch a Star.
In the writing area, the challenge was to think, draw and write ways we might catch a star.
We had lots of amazing ideas.
I would go in a helicopter.
I would jump on a kangaroo.
I’d go on a rollercoaster.
Maths
This week, we have built on our understanding of the composition of numbers by investigating the composition of 3, 4 and 5.
We composed and de-composed numbers by investigating the part, part, whole relations, e.g. seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Mice.
Click here to watch Reception recite this week’s poem
Art
Over the past couple of weeks, we have been inspired by Monet’s series of paintings, Houses of Parliament.
We created our own art work by using blocks to print shapes and make a building silhouette.
Then, we explored using water colours to create the sky. We thought carefully about how different colours can change the feeling of a painting and represent the sky during different weathers or times of the day.
Mine is bright ’cause it’s sunny.
I’m going to make mine look foggy.
I’m using dark blue for a stormy sky.
Help at Home
Spot some signs of winter.
You may choose to take photos, draw pictures or talk about what to find.
Dates
Learning Journey Drop In’s
Tuesday 12 December and Thursday 14 December
An opportunity to “drop into” school and share your child’s learning journal with them.
Times – 8.45 am-9.15am and 3.15pm-3.45pm
Children In Need-Thankyou!
The whole of KS1 have really enjoyed our non-uniform day. We were certainly cheerful in a sea of yellow ears and spots. Thankyou for all of your donations. We know that they will be put to good use.
Each Peach Pear Plum
Nursery Rhyme Week
In literacy, we read the story Each Peach Pear Plum.
It was a very engaging book and the children loved spotting the different characters on each page.
Check out our super writing!
We also explored household objects from the past. Asking questions to learn about objects we had never seen before. We were then able to compare these to objects we might have at home.
Home Link
What objects from the past can you spot in the picture?
Compare these objects with the ones in your home.
Odd Socks
On Monday, we all wore our odd socks. This was to celebrate our differences and share the message that we are all different in some way.
Stay and Learn
On Wednesday, we had a wonderful morning exploring maths with our adults.
Thank you to all the adults that were able to join us and join in with lots of maths activities.
It was great to receive your valuable feedback.
Very helpful to know how to help at home.
Wonderful to come to school and get involved in the learning with my child.
Great learning how we can help with their maths.
It was very informative and helpful.
Music
This week in music, the children listened and danced to Boogie Wonderland.
After, they were asked…
How did you feel?
Happy!
It feels like a disco.
I was proud.
I felt like I was in the song.
Excited!
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called A Basket of Apples.
Other learning
This week we have explored lots of nursery rhyme themed activities in our classroom.
Dates for your diary
Swimming
Leaf Man
This week, we have explored all things autumn!
Science
We began by taking an autumn walk around the school field to spot changes in the natural environment.
We collected items to add to our autumn tray in the classroom. We looked closely at the objects and created some observational drawings.
Literacy
We read the book Leaf Man and thoroughly enjoyed looking at the different pictures made using leaves.
Art
Inspired by the book, we made our own leaf pictures. We used a variety of different objects, such as leaves, conkers and sticks.
Maths
Our focus in maths this week has been comparing quantities. We have developed our skills to look carefully and use the language ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’ to describe sets of objects.
We varied the objects ensuring they had different attributes such as, colour or size to draw attention to the number.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Five Little Pumpkins.
Watch us recite the poem here.
Dates for your diary
We have changed the timing of some our stay and learn session to incorporate an opportunity for you to meet with your child’s teacher and other parents at a coffee morning.
Stay and learn sessions
This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about the Early Years Curriculum and watch your child learning in school.
Maths – 15.11.23 – 09.00 – 10.00
Phonics Phase 3 – 16.01.24 – 09.00 – 10.00 (with coffee morning)
Fine Motor Control and Writing –06.02.24 – 09.00 – 10.00 (with coffee morning)
World Book Day- 07.03.24 – 8.50- 9.20
Learning Journey Drop In’s
An opportunity to “drop into” school and share your child’s learning journal with them.
Times – 8.45 am-9.15am and 3.15pm-3.45pm (Tuesday and Thursday)
Week beginning 11.12.23
Week beginning 25.03.24
Week beginning 08.07.24
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
Literacy
This week, our focus book was We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
The children were able to use their knowledge of the story to retell it using pictures and props.
Geography
On Tuesday, we went for a walk in our local area. This involved following a map and looking at different symbols to find landmarks.
Philosophy Friday
Did you know, each Friday morning we take part in Philosophy Friday? In Reception, we use this time to focus on asking questions that encourage the children to think beyond the ‘here and now’. We are starting with some ‘Would you rather…’ questions. This week’s question was would you rather live with chickens in a coop or a dog in a kennel?
Kennel because I love dogs.
With a chicken because I like to eat eggs.
A dog because they are fluffy and cute.
Maths
This week, we have explored how numbers can be composed of 1s.
We have will learnt that a ‘whole’ is made up of smaller parts and is, therefore, bigger than its parts.
Phonics
Autumn 1 week 4 has focused on the new phonemes:
ck,e,u,r.
Ck is our first diagraph ( two letters that make one sound).
We’ve also learnt a new tricky word; I.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Falling Apples.
Watch Sunshine Class recite the poem here.
Other learning
Stay and Learn
Our first stay and learn session will be on Thursday 12 October.
This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about phonics and watch your child learning in school. There will also be a coffee morning after the session.
3,4 B Class News
A wonderful week of learning in 3,4B this week!
In Science we have been looking at animal skeletons and classifying them based on a range of different criteria. The children worked in pairs to do this and worked fantastically in a collaborative way – having great discussions and offering each other help and support when needed.
In Geography this week, as part of our topic- ‘Where in the world am I?’ we have looked at compass points and then applied this knowledge by looking at a map of Roundhay and deciding where locations are in relation to each other.
Help at home by regularly listening to your child read and discussing the content to develop understanding. Feel free to quiz us on the counties in the United Kingdom and the points of a compass too!
The Great Big Book of Families
We’ve been reading The Great Big Book of Families. Through the book, we have explored and celebrated the variety of families.
What is a family?
People who live in the same house.
People don’t have to live in the same house.
They love each other.
Grandma and Grandad because they can live in your house.
In our writing, we created our own family pictures and labelled with initial sounds or words.
Maths
This week, we’ve been using our subitising skills.
When subitising, we can say how many there are in a small group by ‘just looking’ and knowing without needing to count.
We used counters to create our own arrangements of 2 and 3.
Phonics
This week, we have learnt the phonemes (the sounds a letter makes) i,n,m,d.
During our phonics learning, we became detectives by searching for objects with the initial sounds s,a,t,p,i,n,m,d.
Each week we will be sending a ‘learn at home’ sheet, which recaps the phonics learning from the week. Please look at this with your child and complete the activities.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Chop Chop.
Within the first 6 weeks of Reception, your child will participate in the reception baseline assessment.
“The RBA is a short, interactive and practical assessment of your child’s early literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills when they begin school, using materials that most children of your child’s age will be familiar with. It became statutory for all schools from September 2021.”
Click here to find out more.
Help at Home
Sound Detectives – Find objects around your house or outside that have an initial sound we have learnt.
s a t p i n m d
Family photos
Over the next few weeks, we will be thinking about our homes. To help support our discussions and art project, please send in one picture of your front door. You can also email photos to the email address below.
Living and Learning
This weeks’ Living and Learning statement is ‘I use good manners’.
In KS1 we had a long discussion about what good manners look like and sound like. We thought about lots of ways we can use good manners both at home and at school.
We know that manners are very important. They make us feel good when we use them, and others good when they receive them.
Being Healthy Week
What a fun-filled, healthy week we have had! Despite the rain, the children enjoyed taking part in their first sports day.
On Tuesday, we took part in a yoga session.
Throughout the week, we have focused on a personal best challenge. This involved timing ourselves while running laps and counting how many star jumps we could do in 1 minute to see if we could improve over time.
Literacy
This week, we read The fish Who Could Wish.
The children thought about their own wishes for year one.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers.
This week’s poem is Dance.
A huge thank you for sending videos of your child reciting the poem at home.
Poetry Picnic Superstars!
Science
We have continued exploring floating and sinking by making our own boats and testing how many coins they could hold before they sank.
More of our learning this week…
Reminders
Swimming – Rainbow- 19 July
Beach Party – Your child can come to school dressed in their own clothes ( please make sure they are suitable to wear all day) and can bring a special snack and drink.
All children are welcome to bring swim wear and water pistols. A towel to get dried with is essential. The children are also welcome to bring any outdoor play equipment eg: bats, balls, hula hoops, footballs etc.
Please name as many items as possible and don’t send anything too precious.
Carrier Bag – Please send a labelled carrier bag on Thursday in order to send home your child’s books.
Clean Up
Clean Up
This week, our story took us on a journey all the way to Jamaica.
We discussed key words from the story: sanctuary and island.
In our writing, we retold parts or all of the story in our own words.
The book also had some great messages about looking after our environment. Linked to this, our word of the week was pollution.
Maths
This week’s focus has been on deepening our understanding of how to compare quantities. We have explored this skill in a range of ways: comparing groups of objects, comparing by looking, then by counting, creating groups with equal amounts and using our sense of magnitude, e.g., knowing 8 is a lot more than 2 but 4 is only a little but more than 2.
10 is more than 5.
4 is fewer than 5.
4 is only a little fewer than 5.
5 and 5 is equal.
I have more because 10 is more than 7.
I have fewer. 5 is fewer than 6.
You have more and I have fewer.
10 is a lot more than 5.
Phonics
Summer 2 week 3 has focused on words ending in the suffix -ed but sounding like t, id or d such as helped, floated and stormed.
Please continue to use the Little Wandle sheets, sent home with your child each week.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers.
This week’s poem is Five Little Peas.
Click below to watch Reception recite this week’s poem!
Art
Using our decorated 3d shapes and cut out 2d shapes, we created mobiles inspired by Alexander Calder.
We discussed how we can recycle some plastic, glass or paper packaging or re-use it in imaginative ways, such as our mobile.
More of our learning this week…
Reminders and Dates
Baby photos – Please send in or email (scholesf2@spherefederation.org) a baby picture of your child to support their learning. We will be discussing how they have grown and changed.
Transition Morning- Thurs 6 July Drop off and collect your child from their usual Reception classroom on this day. We will send a slip home with your child on this day, confirming which class they will be in from September.
Learning journey drop-ins- Week commencing 10 July
An opportunity to “drop into” school and share your child’s learning journal with them. We would like to welcome you into the classroom on one of the following sessions:
9.00 – 9.30 Monday 10 July
9.00 – 9.30 Tuesday 11 July
3.30 – 4.00 Thursday 13 July
Swimming
Rainbow- 5 July, 19 July
Sunshine- 12 July