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