Creative juices!

Hello everyone,

So far this week we have been very impressed with the children's mathematical ability! We've been doing quite a lot of work on doubling and halving so see if your children can work out any doubles (up to 5) or halves (up to 10). We're also having a really good go at adding and subtracting single-digit numbers! The children have been very quick to get the hang of this and so we have been moving on to writing these down - something that isn't usually expected until year 1!

Next week we will be getting creative with our literacy and as a warm-up for that, I have a challenge for you...

Can you create your own planet?

You will have to think about how big it is, how warm/cold it is and if anyone lives there! It is up to you how you bring in your creation. You could draw it and write some labels, or you could create a planet using something spherical. Or you could just come and tell me what your planet would be like. We're going to be thinking about what it would actually be like to visit a planet. We will be using our senses to help us! 

School photos

Hello everyone,

Just a quick note to say that we will have a photographer come in to school tomorrow to do the school photos. Please could we ask children to come to school with a cardigan/jumper on for this occasion. I also promise to comb my hair! 

Reception team

Gardening and Phonics

Hello everyone,

You may have seen our current efforts in the garden when you come to drop-off and pick up. We have been very busy planting different kinds of vegetables and have now started to plant flowers too! The children have been keen to help out with different jobs in the garden. Today we dug a space into the ground so we could put our broad beans in. We will continue to add different things to the garden as the summer settles in! 

In phonics this week we have been looking at words that have consonant blends at the beginning i.e. spend, gift, splash. These consonant blends can be quite tricky to hear and read to begin with but we will be sending home books that will hopefully help to tackle this! The children have started very positively to the new tricky words too! We have been looking at 'have', 'come', 'some', 'what'. Again, these are hard to remember to begin with so we will be giving children lots of opportunities to practise them. 

A few things...

Hello all,

Just a few things since we have started out summer term. 

This Friday (25th) is the parent information session for the coming term. There will also be a brief overview of what a group reading session would look like. Later on in the term there will be an opportunity for you to come in to watch a group reading session. This will start at 9.00am. 

For PE this term we will hopefully (weather providing) be doing most of our PE outside. For this reason could we please ask that all children have a pair of trainers or pumps in their PE bags. We have not worn shoes very often this year so it may be the case where the children's shoes no longer fit them. If this is the case we will try to tell you. 

Finally, sun cream. As the weather (hopefully) gets warmer, we will be encouraging children to wear sun cream. We are able to apply sun cream but we will need you to fill out a form stating that we can do so. These can be obtained from the office. Children's sun cream will then be kept in a secure place. Could we please ask that all sun cream brought in is named and kept in a small bag/case. Any questions please ask. Thank you

Reception team

Space... The final frontier

Hello everyone and welcome back after what I hope has been a very enjoyable Easter break. Listening to the children, it seemed like there was an awful lot of chocolate eating going on! 

We come back to what will be the last term in reception! Nevertheless, we still have an awful lot planned for this term. We have begun our current topic: Space today. The knowledge that some children already have is very detailed so hopefully we will be able to put that knowledge to good use.

In literacy this week we're going to begin looking at a new piece of punctuation; a comma! We'll be making lists using commas - this will be centred around the story: Whatever Next! By Jill Murphy. We will also be looking at labels an labelling different parts of a rocket. 

In maths this week we're going to be introducing children to time. This is a very difficult concept for children to grasp and whilst we will be showing children a clock, it is not imperative that they are able to tell the time. All we will be doing is talking about the vocabulary associated with time - later, earlier, before, in a little while etc. - and the days/months of the year. 

To start our topic, here is a small challenge. See if you can find out the order of the planets; starting from the closest to the sun. We did discuss the names of the planets today. If you can do that easily, see if you can come up with an mnemonic for remembering them - My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles. Feel free to being this in on a Wow! Moment. 

Reception team

Tomorrow!

Hello everyone,

Tomorrow is the last day of term! The school is having a non-school uniform day tomorrow so please feel free to make a donation of £1 to wear your play clothes. There is no theme for the non-school uniform day. 

We have lots to finish off and start tomorrow. We've been focusing very heavily on maths this week and all the children will have done 2 different maths jobs by the end of tomorrow. Since Wednesday we've been looking at 2D & 3D shapes. As a small challenge, I wonder if anyone can use different 2D shapes to make a pattern? Look at the picture below to help!  

We'll also be hard-boiling some eggs so children can decorate them. Once children have done this we'll have a small competition to see who can roll their eggs the furthest. Mr. Farrington will also be taking children on an Easter egg hunt around the school with the children's year 4 buddies. Lastly, we'll be taking reception into the hall to help with the Easter cafe. Please feel free to come along to this and see/help your children. 

Happy Easter!

Reception team

Easter Egg Colouring Competition

Easter Egg colouring competition.  All entries need to be with the school office by Wed 2^nd April, to allow sufficient time to judge the entries and to hide them in the shops!  Sorry for any confusion caused.

This Friday...

Hello everyone,

I hope by now that you will have received a letter to your home from the children - if not I hope you receive them soon! These letters were written last week by the children before we went for a short walk to the local post box. The children were incredibly excited when doing this. 

This Friday, all the reception children will be heading into the hall at 3.00pm to help their year 4 buddies hand out cakes and drinks. Please feel free to come along at this time  and join in with your children. Please could you mention if you would like to take your children so we can make a note of who has gone and who is still with us. Thank you. 

We are busy baking this week so the children can add their cakes to the Easter Tea Party. As well as this, children have been making their own Easter cards to take home.

Reception team