Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Just a quick message to say a big well done to all the reception children for making it to the end of their first term! 

Thank you for all the lovely presents and I hope you all enjoy the items that children have brought home this evening. 

Have a fantastic Christmas and I will see you all when we return in January!

Reception team

Festive Cheer

Firstly, a BIG well done to all the reception children for making it to the end of their first term! Phew! Only another two to go! It has to be said that they did exceptionally well in the Christmas performances - its not easy to remember the words to 8/9 songs - even I forgot  the words the other day. And especially considering how many children were feeling under the weather, I am very happy with their effort! A big thank you, as well, to all of the parents/grandparents etc. for bringing in the black T-shirts for the performance. 

Today was also the day of our party lunch and games afternoon. A MASSIVE thank you for bringing in all the lovely food for our lunch! It was well appreciated. We did have some containers left over so please come and see us in the morning if you know that you sent one in. 

After our lunch we played a variety of party games - pass the parcel, musical statues, musical bumps, sleeping lions etc - before going into the hall to join other classes for a disco, which I hope the children enjoyed. 

Tomorrow will be the last day of term. When the children arrive in the morning they can immediately choose what it is that they would like to do. We will have put a variety of activities out for them to do but it is up to them which one they choose. Parents, please feel free to stay for a bit longer if you have the time. At the end of the day we will be sending children home with a whole variety of items that they have made and contributed towards.

There is a Christmas Carol concert tomorrow afternoon at 2.45pm in the school hall if you are available. Bring your singing voice! 

You can all have a big rest after tomorrow!

Reception team 

Tomorrow Morning

Hello everyone,

Tomorrow is reception's first showing of their Christmas production. We have been been practising very hard with the songs we have to sing and we are ready to perform! 

Tomorrow morning there will be no teddy jobs out. Instead we will have the children's costumes out at their teddy job table. Please feel free to stay and help your children get ready - they will need to take off their trousers and put on their PE shorts and then change into their star black top - thank you by the way for bringing in the black T-shirts. 

The show is at 10.10am tomorrow morning and subsequent mornings and we look forward to seeing you there!

Reception team

Good luck!

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR PERFORMANCE, FROM YEAR 4!!!!!

Technology day

Tomorrow is technology day! The whole school will be taking part in different workshops throughout the day that are run by members of staff. There is a Christmas theme and children will be able to bring home their creations at the end of the day. Please come to school as normal as we will be telling the children which workshop they will be going to first. 

We have been doing some very impressive making in reception! We've made calendars, decorations and started to make Christmas cards. We will hopefully be sending children home with some books for reading over the Christmas break. 

Reception team

Christmas Mini-reading challenge..

Back in the summer, Dorset Library Service organised a summer reading challenge and due to the massive success that it had they have organised a further 'Christmas Reading Challenge'. The challenge will run between 12th December and 6th January.

Very simply, children have to read three books over the time period - you will need to sign up to Summer reading challenge website if you have not done so before - www.summerreadingchallenge.org - Children who have already created an account should continue to use this account. 

After this you just need to update your profile with any books that you read! You will receive a virtual badge as a prize and there is also an opportunity to enter the Christmas competition. 

We will be discussing this with children in school over the next few days. 

Reception team

Christmas party!

Hello everyone,

Thank you to all of you that have brought in a black T-shirt so far! We have until next Monday for all of them to be in. We would be grateful if you could name the bag. 

You may have noticed the list up outside the reception classroom, listing the items that we would like you to provide for our end of term Christmas party next Thursday (19th). Please feel free to put your name up for any of the remaining items. The Christmas party will take place on Thursday at the normal lunch time. In the afternoon we will play some games and join other classes in the hall for a disco. 

Reception team

The coming week...

Hello everyone,

This week is going to be a very busy week for all of us, with lots to do every day! Please don't be surprised if children say that they are tired! We're rehearsing our Christmas play on Monday morning so the children will be showing how well they can sing our Christmas songs. We will continue practising throughout the week. Hopefully you should have received a letter on Friday about bringing in a plain black T-shirt for use in the Christmas show. This doesn't have to be in for practising our show but please feel free to start bringing them in. We would appreciate it if you could put it in a bag with a name on - we can provide sticky labels if needed. 

In literacy we will be looking at the different people associated with Christmas: Father Christmas, elves, reindeer etc. We will be making character profiles for some of these people and thinking about hypothetical questions i.e. how old do you think Santa is? What is an elves favourite food? 

In maths we are going to be matching different objects up and begin to look at adding two groups of items together. Counting in 2's will come from this. 

In phonics we will be learning no new sounds but will instead be consolidating and reinforcing previously learnt sounds in different contexts. 

On Friday the whole school will be having a Technology Day - this is an off-timetable day where all the children choose different workshops in different classrooms. We will be outlining each workshop to the children before they choose. Friday is also the day where we will be showing the festive headgear that it outlined in a separate blog post. 

Reception team

Non-school uniform

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is a non-school uniform day. There is no theme.

Reception team 

Sounds being covered this week...

The Sounds we are doing this week will be the last set of sounds we cover before we break up for Christmas. For the next two weeks we will be consolidating and reinforcing all the sounds covered so far this term. The Sounds are:

'ur' - as in fur - Hold knee as if hurt and say ur,ur

'oi' - as in boil - Cup hands around mouth and shout to another boat saying oi! ship ahoy!

'er' - as in hammer - Roll hands over each other like a mixer and say ererer.

'air' - as in fair - Put your hands in the air.

 

We've seen some super sounding out from children over the last couple of days! They're clearly getting much more comfortable with the sounds being covered! 

Reception team

HO HO HO!

This week we begin our Christmas topic! Today the children were shown the key question that we'll be thinking about: Why do we celebrate Christmas? The children had some fantastic ideas about this question, and we'll be looking at lots of their suggestions. 

In maths we are looking at length and the language that is used when talking about length. If you're putting up your tree, have a look at the tinsel and the different lengths it can be. Feel free to bring it in on a Wow! Moment. 

We got a letter from Father Christmas today asking us to write him our Christmas lists ready for Christmas, so we're going to be looking at writing lists and full sentences too!

Another thing we have started at the end of the day is  to ask children what they have learnt today. We would appreciate any support with this, to get children to think about their learning. From this we will be telling children their next steps for learning.  

Finally, we're going to put up a list (outside reception door) for any parents that would like a copy of the video that was made and shown in the class assembly last Friday. Please feel free to pop your name on the list!

Reception team

Congratulations!

Thank you very much for attending the reception class assembly this morning! We were very proud of the effort and confidence all the children showed. We had a few requests to have the video shown put onto a disk, so if you would like a copy, please come and see us and we'll write your name down for one.

This afternoon we have had a tea party, where the children all sat down and ate a small selection of nibbles! Hopefully they will still be hungry enough for their dinner! 

Finally, thank you for all of your effort regarding the costumes children wore today, they were brilliant! We had such a variety. 

Have a nice weekend.

Reception team

Wow!

Hi Reception,

We wanted to say WELL DONE! Your assembly was amazing, you have learned so much and grown up so much already!

From Your Proud Buddies in Year 4

Assembly lines

Apologies for the lack of warning regarding the lines your children brought home this evening. These lines are for our class assembly on Friday. We would encourage you to practise these lines at home for just 5 minutes. If you don't have the time, don't worry, we will be doing more practising in school! 

Thank you

A few bits and pieces...

Hello everyone,

Firstly, just to clarify, on Friday we have asked that the children come to school dressed up as their favourite book or film character. We will not be changing them into something different for our class assembly, they will continue to wear what they have come to school in. If anybody is struggling for ideas please feel free to come and have a chat! 

I am amazed with the continuous stream of home learning that keeps coming in! There is now so much up on our home learning wall that we are going to start a new display. We have photographed all of the work that is up on the home learning wall so it can be added to learning journeys so please feel free to come and take any work that your child has done and would like to take home! Thank you again for every piece of writing and every piece of art! Keep it coming! 

Because we are having such a busy week this week, we have decided to revise previously learnt sounds for the most part. However, we will be learning 'ow' - as in cow tomorrow. This will be the only new sound for this week. 

A quick reminder that our first class assembly is on Friday 29th November at 9.20am. It will be in the school hall so please feel free to head straight to the hall after drop-off!

Reception team

The week ahead

This week we will be finishing our preparation for our first class assembly! The children are very excited and have been working hard with their acting. We will be looking at writing invitations this week, in particular, we will be encouraging children to have a go at sounding words out before writing them down! 

In maths we will be looking at counting up to 20 and finding one more/less. If there are any opportunities to do this at home, please take them! Counting how many knives & folks we need at the table, how many shoes there are on the shoe rack etc. 

On Friday we have invited the children to come to school dressed as their favourite book/film character in order to celebrate the end of our stories topic. They will then wear these clothes during our class assembly. 

At the end of Friday we are planning to have a tea party with the children - We will be trying to keep this a secret from the children! 

Reception team

What we've been up to...

We've had a very busy week so far in reception! 4 groups of children have now made the sides of our sweet house, which is really taking shape. It's currently sitting on top of the drawers so feel free to have a look. 

In maths we are still paying close attention to 2D and 3D shapes - so if you are out, see if your children can spot any shapes in the environment.

For the rest of the week, we are going to be moving on to looking at  a new traditional tale - Goldilocks and the three bears! We plan to have a small tea party at the end of next week (More details to follow soon) as well as basing some writing around the story. In maths we are going to be moving on to counting up to 20 securely and beginning to look at estimating and adding to small groups of items together! 

We are also going to be having a problem solving morning where the children will work in their teddy job groups to solve a problem that require them to work together i.e. make a bridge so a toy car can get from one table to the other. 

Sounds being covered this week.

Hello everyone,

The sounds that we will be covering this week are

Long vowel sounds 'oo' - as in boot. Move head back and forth as if it is the cuckoo in a cuckoo clock. This is the same action for the short vowel 'oo' sound.

'ar' - as in part. Open mouth wide as if at the dentist and say ah.

'or' - as in fork. Put hands on head as if ears on a donkey and say eeyore, eeyore (This action also incorporates the 'ee' sound that the children will already know. 

Short vowel 'oo' - as in look. The action is the same as that of the long vowel 'oo' sound' 

The sounds are becoming increasingly tricky but we are all amazed with how the children are picking them up and using them! Thank you for your continued support in this area! 

Because of the complexity of the new sets of sounds, we are leaving the Friday phonics sessions as more of a recapping session where all the sounds covered in the week are looked at again. 

 

Challenge

The children were given a challenge this morning so anything to help the children achieve it would be wonderful! 

All the children are becoming increasingly confident with the sounds that we are covering which is fantastic. What we are now encouraging the children to do is write the sounds they think of or hear down. We want every child to have a go at writing a simple word that they have sounded out and written themselves! Please don't feel you have to write it down on A4 paper; post-it notes, envelopes, in shaving foam, electronically - just some ideas. 

The children will also have the chance to do this in the classroom as well. If you're comfortable with one word, try writing several different ones or perhaps even a short sentence! 

Make sure you bring it in to show us if you do do some writing!

Reception team

Sounds being covered this week

Hello everyone,

As we are moving in to 2 letter sounds I thought it might be useful if I put down a weekly list of the sounds we will be covering. 

This week we are covering...

'ng' - as in thing. The action we use is pretending to lift heavy weights 

'ai' - as in rain. The action we use is cupping your ear and pretending not to have heard something.

'ee' - as in green. Put hands on head as if ears on a donkey and say eeyore, eeyore. This is the same as action as for 'or' 

'igh' - as in high. Stand to attention and salute, saying ie ie.

'oa' - as in goat. Bring hand over mouth as if you have done something wrong and say oh!

If you are using the phoneme frames, each one of these sounds would go into one box. See if you can give children some words, using the new sounds,  to write using their phoneme frame. Please feel free to bring in the phoneme frame for us to copy. 

I would like to say a big well done to the children for all the writing that they are currently doing! Its fantastic to see!

Next week...

Well done everyone for all the hard work last week. We made poppies, rockets, firework pictures and instructions for how to make the rockets in one week! The instructions will be displayed for you to look at in the classroom. We were also thinking about 2D & 3D shapes and how many sides (2D shapes) and faces (3D shapes) they have. 

Next week we will be starting another topic: Traditional tales. The first tale we will be looking at is Hansel & Gretel. We will be attempting to make a house out of different materials and make and paint some sweets out of clay. As well as this, we will be discussing the importance of a balanced diet and why we should make sure we're eating fruit and vegetables. 

In maths we are going to be looking at money this week - so if you are out and about, encourage children to look at how much things cost and let them pay for some things; don't give them the credit card though! If children know how much the coins are worth, write it down on a Wow! Moment and get them to think about how much 2 coins would be worth etc. 

We have sent home individual reading books with 3 groups of children so please try and read these with your children - they are for children to read though. 

We have also set up a parents' folder on pupil links with some useful links contained within. We will attempt to add to it as the year goes on.

Reception team

Phoneme Frames

Hello everyone,

You may have noticed that your child came home today with a pen and something that looks like the picture above - a phoneme frame. We have sent these home as a result of the phonics workshop that took place last half-term. The idea is that the children use them and they will have all used them in school before so hopefully they should know how they work. The basic principle is that one sound goes into each box. For example - if you wanted to spell the word 'mad' you would put a 'm' in the first box, an 'a' in the second box and a 'd' in the final box.

We have now started covering sounds that have 2 letters in them i.e. 'sh' & 'ch' so these would go into just one box. Children can think of their own words to sound out and spell but any adult help with thinking of simple words for your children, would be greatly appreciated.  

If you're still not sure how to use them please don't  hesitate to come and ask us for help. 

On top of that, we have also started taking children to the school library for individual reading books; these are for the children to try and read. We would like to encourage you to come in with your children and change your books whenever you feel it is necessary. You can just take books you feel your child can tackle - we try to encourage the children to challenge themselves! We would like to request that you take no more than 2 books at any one time - you can come in and change your books as often as you would like. Again, if you would like any help or clarification on this please come and ask us!

Many children also had their sound pots changed today as well, so please keep using these. If your child is comfortable with knowing the sounds, try to get them to create words out of them, using the phoneme frame in tandem if you desire.

Many thanks, 

Reception team

POWSA AGM

POWSA will be holding their AGM on Thursday 7th November at 19.45 in the school staff room.
Anyone is more than welcome to attend.

A new half-term!

A big welcome back to everyone! We hope you had a well earned break! We have launched straight into our Bonfire night and Remembrance topic for this week only. Today we had a visit from a fire safety officer who told children all about the fire service and spoke to us all about keeping safe around fireworks & bonfires. We also had a chance to see how quickly reception could get changed into a full fire officer uniform! I think we managed 1 minute 50 seconds at one time. No excuses in PE any more! We will be sending some fire safety resources tomorrow. Apologies they did not come home today, we were running a bit late this afternoon. 

This week we are thinking about 2D & 3D shapes in maths, so I have a little challenge. See if you can spot shapes out and about or at home, and name them. You could even draw them and notice how many sides 2D shapes have. We have also started making fire safety posters that can be displayed, the children have really taken this idea on board and their ideas are brilliant! Later on in the week we'll be making rockets and poppies using different materials. 

Just a quick reminder about pupil links on the school website, we do update the websites every so often when different topics are being covered. 

Finally, a big thank you for writing in the home school learning diaries so regularly! It is good to see what children have been up to - much appreciated. We will always try and write in them once a week. 

Reception team

Woodland feast & Half-term

Well well well... The first half-term completed by reception! Congratulations to all the children for working really hard, even when we had some really tired eyes! Thank you to all the parents/grandparents that were able to attend the woodland feast on Thursday! The children were very keen to share their work with you all and what better way to do that then with food! We hope that you enjoy(ed) watching the children retelling the story of the Gruffalo! 

When we come back after half-term we will be looking at Bonfire Night and Remembrance Sunday for a week, and then moving on to Traditional tales/stories. 

Over half-term we would encourage all the children to practise changing, as we will be making more progress with this when we come back in PE lessons. Please continue to share your child's group reading book and sound pot. We will be introducing children to taking out information books after half-term. These will mostly be for children to look at with you! 

Take care,

Reception team

Thorncombe Woods

A massive thank you to all the parents and grandparents that helped out today on reception's trip to Thorncombe woods. We were very lucky with the weather and only really had to contend with the wind. A huge well done to reception for all their walking to get to and from our final destination! We split into our family groups to do two activities: 

1. Children had to make a natural art collage of a chosen character from the Gruffalo story. Unsurprisingly the children chose to do the Gruffalo himself! One group of children collected all the material and made the outline of the Gruffalo whilst the other group helped to fill it all in! 

2. The children had to work in pairs to find all the characters from the story that were hidden around the area. Once they had found them they had to tick that one off of their list! 

Afterwards we came together as a whole class to solve the clues that would lead us to the Gruffalo! We finished by having a drink and snack before heading back  to the coach! 

Another plug that reception's woodland feast will be at 3.00pm on Thursday so please feel free to come along and celebrate all our hard work that we've done during the Gruffalo topic.

Reception team

Reception Class Photo

Our Reception Class photograph was in last nights Echo, Monday 21st October. This photo
is available to view online and order from the Dorset Echo office

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/

This week...

Hello everyone,

This week reception are off to Thorncombe woods! If anyone is available to lend a hand, that hasn't already mentioned, please do so tomorrow morning. We would like the children to come to school in play clothes and wellies on Tuesday, just in case its a bit muddy and messy - We're all hoping the weather stays relatively calm! We will be back to school for lunch.

We've also got our woodland feast on Thursday from 3.00pm as a grand finale to our Gruffalo topic! please feel free to come along to that and celebrate with your child. We are very nearly finished with our Inspiring Gruffalo book for you to take home, all we need to add is our Gruffalo story sequencing activity. 

A quick message about after half term. I know many children have already began taking individual reading books from the library, but we will introducing it to all children from the first day back. if any parents, grandparents, uncles or aunts have any spare time to come in and read with children, please come and mention it to us.

Thank you,

Reception team

Maps, Videos and Ordering

Apologies for the lack of a blog this week! If there are any parents that would still like to make an appointment to see me, please feel free to find a time and a date in the morning or after school. 

We have been super busy this week. By tomorrow, all the children will have had a go at making a Gruffalo Pie, ready for our woodland feast (details below), and a map that shows a route through the woods. Each group will also have had a go at making a short video, retelling the story of the Gruffalo. This will all be collated into an inspiring Gruffalo book that the children will be able to take home next week! Tomorrow we will also be looking at 'The Gruffalo's Child' story so if you know it already, try and ask your child to retell it to you... can they remember what happens? And if you haven't read the story before, what do you think will happen? Will the Gruffalo's child be kind? Scary? Brave? Can you create a new adventure for the Gruffalo?

At the end of next week, we will be hosting a Woodland feast (Thursday 24th October) in school. We will be celebrating all the children's work in relation to the Gruffalo and tasting some of the Gruffalo Pie that the children have made, along with some other treats. We are inviting you to come along from 3pm onwards to celebrate with your children! We hope you will be able to attend. 

Finally, if you happen to get through a vast amount or 2 litre bottles, we would be more then happy to take them off your hands. For that matter, even if you only drink one a week, we would be happy to take them off your hands. I don't want to reveal too much yet, but we're hoping to gather 1500 bottles by next summer, so any help in this area would be greatly appreciated. They do have to be the standard 2 litre bottle shape and plastic - like the picture below

Reception team

A Busy Week Ahead

Hello everyone,

We have made a fantastic start to looking at 'The Gruffalo' story by Julia Donaldson. This week we will be looking at using the story to inspire us in making our own stories. Children will have the chance to sequence the story and retell it as well as thinking of answers to creative questions... We are then going to hopefully film it! There may also be some lovely smells coming from the kitchen as we cook up some Gruffalo themed delights. Additionally, we will be talking about, and doing, map-making, so have a think about what you need to make a map. Please feel free to continue bringing in your favourite stories to show us - we're thinking about what makes a good story this week. As the term progresses we will also be adding more and more links to pupil links - which can be found on the school website. We like to make sure the children see the websites before we put them up onto pupil links. 

We do have a very busy week next week: we have a visit from Dorset police tomorrow to talk about E-safety - There is a session in the hall for parents between 9-10am if you are available.  

Tuesday and Wednesday are parents evenings. If you have not already signed up, the timetable is stuck up outside the reception classroom. If you are unable to attend any of these times/dates please chat to us and we can arrange another time to have a chat. When you come to parents evening we would kindly ask that you come in the main school entrance and wait in the ICT suite to be seen. we will have the learning journeys out for you to have a good look at! 

On Friday it is the schools Autumn Fest, organised by POWSA, so please feel free to come along from 5pm onwards. 

Finally, a point that was raised about reading eggs this week: you DO NOT have to pay for access to reading eggs, the school has purchased a licence and all the children have their own log-ins. If you follow the link on pupil links it should take you directly to where you can log in. If you are asked to pay please decline and come and chat to us. 

Bits and Bobs

Hello everyone,

Thank you to all of you that came to the phonics workshop session this morning - I hope it was informative and useful! If you would like any of the content that was delivered or a handout regarding the soft sounds used in phonics, please ask any of us and we will be happy to help. 

As a direct result of the session we will hopefully be sending all children home with a phoneme frame and a letter mat that has the cursive letters for each sound written on it. We have used phoneme frames within school so they shouldn't be new to the children. Each box has one sound in it i.e. c/a/t. Over the next few weeks we'll be having a big focus on cursive letter formation so hopefully the letter mats will be an aid with that.

I'm also happy to announce that on the last day before half-term we will be inviting any parents that are interested, in early so they can come and enjoy our woodland feast that we will have prepared. More details will follow.

Reception team

Bling a bike day

“Bling a Bike Day”

Yes that is “Bling”, although we would like you to “Bring” your bikes too!

On Tuesday 15^th October we will be holding an event to promote “Being Safe by Being Seen” when out on your bikes and scooters. We will have a competition to see who can make their bike or scooter extra colourful and bright,- so that it really stands out!

The children may score extra marks for having bright, colourful clothing that they can put on when parading their “blinged”-bike.

Children who would like to take part in the competition should bring their bikes or scooters to school on the morning of Tuesday 15^th October. We will be asking Jonathon Dixon, our local Sustrans Bike Officer, to judge the competition. Winners will be decided during our school assembly at 10.10 am.

It is important that any materials added to your bike or scooter should not be in the way of moving parts, and that your bike or scooter can still be wheeled along in the parade without any difficulty.

Duncan MacBean Prince of Wales Bike Champion

Describing words

Thank you to all of the children that have brought in their favourite book so far this week! We will be looking at the Gruffalo story up until half-term so please feel free to bring in your favourite book if you haven't already done so. 

As mentioned we have well and truly begun our Gruffalo topic - I wonder if you can remember what happens in the story? Who are the characters? What happens in the end? We have begun doing some writing related to Gruffalo - we have been thinking of describing words. If you can come up with any describing words for anything bring it in on a Wow! Moment. 

Just a reminder that the parent phonics workshop is this Thursday at 9.00am in the hall - please feel free to come even if you didn't sign up on the original sheet. 

Reception team

The Gruffalo

Hello everyone! 

Next week we will be starting our brand new topic: The Gruffalo! 

We will be looking at the story and its characters and using them to inspire our work over the next few weeks. The topic will build up to a trip to a nearby woods and a woodland celebration as we break up for half-term. Tomorrow we will be thinking about our favourite books and stories, so if you have one that inspires you or makes you laugh, bring it in to show us! We'll try to show the rest of the class.

To tie in with our topic we are going to be doing some den making so if anyone has any unused blankets, curtains etc please bring them in! We'll give them a good home. 

Finally, thank you for all of you hat came to the Harvest assembly on Friday; we all thought that reception did very well for their first performance! 

Reception team

Our Harvest celebration

Thank you for all the harvest produce brought in, also the wonderful cakes and breads which were for sale in the Harvest café during the afternoon. The children created some wonderful food in class too! We hope some of you got to savour their delights? If not, ask your child what they cooked and what they enjoyed trying?

The School council decided that they would like all proceeds to be sent to help children in other countries whose parents cannot afford to send them to school. We will endeavour to find the right avenue to send this money and will keep you posted.

Reading eggs and Harvest

Hello all,

We have today sent children home with their reading eggs usernames and passwords. It is a great resource and the children have all seen how it works.

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is the Harvest assembly at 9.20am - please feel free to bring in a voluntary contribution i.e. fruit, vegetables etc. After lunch tomorrow the children will be invited into the hall to buy a cake so we would kindly ask that children come to school with 20p to spend. After that it is the Harvest Cafe from 2.30pm - you may come and collect your children from this time to enjoy a nice cup of tea and slice of cake in the hall. Please could we ask that you tell a member of staff if you come and collect your children. 

Thank you

Reception team 

A few things...

Hello all,

Today reception had a taster session from a local tennis club. Everyone got to throw, catch and balance a tennis ball, but a big well done has to go to all the children for getting fully changed into their PE kits for the first time! We will be sending a leaflet home tomorrow if any children would like to join.

Tomorrow, reception will be having their photograph taken by the Dorset Echo. This will only happen once and will be printed in the paper in the next few weeks - I promise to brush my hair! We will try and give you some warning as to when it will be in the paper so you can buy one if you wish.

We have been practising hard for the schools Harvest assembly this Friday and making our art work to show. Reception will be in the hall from 9.20am - 10.00am so please feel free to come along! 

A final note, thank you for the fantastic amount of Wow! Moments that you are bringing in! We have already run out of space on the board near the cloakroom so we have begun using the surface of the role play/library area! Please keep them coming.

Reception team. 

Maiden Castle Farm trip

Firstly, apologies that there was not a post regarding reception's trip up to the farm yesterday! The day just seemed to fly by! Anyway, reception managed the walk up to the farm with great ease (thank you to all of the parent/grandparent helpers we had). Once we arrived we had time for a biscuit and a drink before learning all about life on the farm at Harvest time - see if you can remember anything... We were able to see a MASSIVE combine harvester, as well as cows, sheep and horses before we had to depart to get back to school. A big thank you to the staff at the farm and we hope all the following trips will be just as exciting.

We have also started a 'Home Learning' wall in the reception classroom (along the back wall, currently next to the giant hedgehog) that we want YOU to help us fill! We will give you ideas related to each topic that we are covering - there will be some on the blog as well as on the parent board in the classroom. We are currently covering 'Autumn' as our topic and we have had some leaf printing and a collection of autumn debris in a lovely display. It doesn't have to be topic related work - for example we had some beautiful cursive writing brought in - so please feel free to let your creative juices flow.

Some ideas - Leaf printing, leaf crowns, drawing what you see on a walk, seed helicopters! 

There are also some websites coming up onto pupil links. To access pupil links go to the school website and scroll down until you see a yellow box on the left hand side labelled 'Pupil links' then simply click on reception. 

Reception team

Autumn Fest........."Read all about it!!!!"

Come and spend quality family time, wrapped up warm and cosy, enjoying wonderful stories, warming yourselves by a bonfire, listening to music, eating scrumptious jacket potatoes........if you want to bob for apples, enter a carved pumpkin into a competition or take part in some Autumn art then why not have a go too!!!!!!! There's lots of family fun to be had at POWSA's Brand New Autumn Fundraising event - "AUTUMN FEST"...........Look out for posters around the school, letters will follow with options to buy tickets and food attached! We would love to see you all there......... "Celebrating Autumn, celebrating Families and Supporting the School."

Maiden Castle Farm

Hello everyone,

Next Monday (30th September) reception will be off up to Maiden Castle Farm for their first visit! Could we please ask that children come to school on Monday with wellies and waterproof coats - just in case the weather in unfavourable. 

In line with our trip to the farm we will be preparing for the Harvest festival at the end of next week. We have already made our cake product to take but will be baking our bread product next week as well as finishing all of our art work. We will also be learning about the origins of Harvest.

Reception team 

Writing and Maths!

This week we have been paying special attention to the season of autumn and as the 

children are becoming very confident writers we have made a collaborative autumn poem, as a class, that describes autumn! It can be found on display outside the reception classroom (towards the ICT suite). Please feel free to come and have a look; it is not completely finished but should be by early next week! 

We had some fantastic words to describe autumn such as dark, chilly, falling leaves... If you can think of any more, come and tell us or have a go at writing it down and we can add it to our autumn tree! 

As well as that we have been focusing upon counting in maths and looking at what one more is than any given number. Next week we'll be concentrating on sequencing numbers in the correct order and counting games as well as introducing the concept of zero - hard work! 

We also had our first science club this lunchtime. The club is only open to reception and pre-school children and as the weeks go on we hope that all the children will have the opportunity to have a go at hypothesising and thinking about the 'Why' things happen question! 

Reception team