Reception Thursday 28th January 2021

 

Helllllllooooooooooo out there..................

We hope this finds you amazing people all well? 

To all the children learning from home, Mrs. Hibberd, Mrs. Smith and myself were thrilled to see so many of you on the zoom meeting yesterday - we really do miss seeing you all and it made our day! If you would like to join next Wednesday, please email me directly. 

A couple of things: Thanks to ALL your excellent learning, we have filled our Dragon Gem Treat jar!!!!!!!! So, on Monday afternoon at 1:30pm we will be watching a film, eating something yummy and with a cuddly toy wearing our slippers and dressing gowns! If you are attending school you may bring in your teddy, slippers and dressing gown, if you are at home please get yourself ready - you deserve it! We are having popcorn in class but you can have a treat of your choice at home. We will be watching Robin Hood on Disney + which is rated U - you can watch this at home or choose another film!

Watch this space for a funny video coming your way, by special request of those children who were on the zoom yesterday.....................keep your eyes peeled!

So the next two weeks learning will be based upon Robin Hood! The Learning Buffet slide has lots of fun creative ideas for you and hopefully there will be something for everyone!

In order to promote oracy skills I would like to set up something called Flip Grid. This is an interactive way for your children to be involved in developing those skills and it is a safe, private platform. The only way you can access it is by giving me your email address. If YOU DO NOT want your child to be able to participate, please let me know asap, otherwise I will access your email addresses via the school office.

Thank you for EVERYTHING you are doing - it is absolutely evident that your children ARE HAPPY and that is the most important thing in the world!!!!!

Miss you all,

Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Hibberd and Mrs. Briant

Reception - message for parents!

Happy Wednesday - The Fonz  

                                                                    Message from Mrs. J 

You are awesome!

Reception Sunday 17th January 2021

 Hi Everyone!

This week's learning buffet for choosing time is all based around the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Do not feel you have to do everything on there, it is purely to spark interest and inspiration. By all means, add in your own activities.............baking, lego, going on a troll hunt on a walk (send someone ahead to leave some messages or clues left by the troll), paint a picture of the troll - you could make it life size, make a new healthier meal for the troll - or even do it outside with mud etc!?

Embrace the rain and the mud this week, encourage a love of the outdoors - if you live near a forest can you make a shelter or take some materials with you and make a den/shelter on your walk, walk to a friends house and leave them a message or picture from chalk on their pavement. For more fun in the rain make some boats from different materials at home and test which ones float and which ones sink - can you explain why?

We hope you are all well and look forward to checking in with you on our Wednesday phone calls.

Your mission this week is to belly laugh! Find something that you can all laugh at together and share it with us if you like!

Lots of love and hugs,

Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Hibberd

Reception Tuesday 12th January 2021

 

What a yucky, wet day! Don't let that deter you from going out though as Reception love being outside in all weathers!!!!!! As we have no snow - why not try some mud sledging down a hill!

Mrs. Hibberd really enjoyed speaking to you all today. We would like to reinforce that you are ALL doing an amazing job! We are hugely grateful to all of you who are keeping your children at home, despite the pressures of your own work! Can I also reassure you that we ALL suffer from "parental guilt" thinking we are not doing enough etc and, coupled with that, this has been going on now for nearly a year and we are all exhausted by COVID 19, trying to keep smiling for your children! 

We are all different and our children are all different, what might work one day may not work the next! Early Years education is NOT about sitting down formally at desks or for ages on the carpet. While we do do daily formal RWInc and Power Maths lessons, it is vital for their development that the children MUST play! The "My Learning Buffet" is for the children to choose from and is related to the topic but it is NOT essential - go with your child's interests! Do not be afraid to leave them engrossed in their play because they are developing thinking skills, problem solving, communication and language, resilience, imagination.............children learn through discovery and curiosity.

Things to try if you get stuck:

Maths: shape, number and measure can be introduced to all play and activities around the house or out on a walk. 

Please find time to do a puzzle with you child or play a board game.

Fine motor skills: cutting, threading, "dough disco" with playdough (google it), sorting small objects.

Fitness and mindfulness: Cosmic Kids yoga we use a lot in school. Find some trees to climb, this is great for adventure as well as developing risk taking and core strength.

Save some recycling and allow them to create - all they need is sellotape, glue and scissors on a basic level.

Encourage imaginary play with lego or playmobil, dolls or models, dressing up...............Put some old pots and pans in the garden, find them a mud patch and let them create their own mud kitchen set up!

Encourage conversation - perfect on a walk! Talk about the environment: colours, sounds, textures, smells, introduce vocabulary to describe things.

Don't forget that on BBC 2 CBBC is providing daily educational programmes from 9am if you just need 5 minutes to do something else! Cbeebies is such a great channel because it relates to some many areas of the curriculum! The children looooooooove Number Blocks!

I know books and reading is tricky at the moment but Mrs. Smith has been investigating..............If you google Oxford Owl, on the right hand side click on "join us" as a parent (it is free) and you will fnd RWInc support, resources and ebooks!

I understand there were some teething problems with the google slide: I will try to rectify my settings for next week, failing that, if you request access I will let you in!

I have not had many replies regarding the Year 4 buddy letters.

I will set up the zoom next week for those of you who have sent your emails, we totally understand if you do not want to do this as it may be more distressing for the children as they cannot be in school.

Take care, stay in touch - we are here for you and remember: 

YOU ARE AMAZING AND YOUR CHILDREN LOVE YOU! 

They are just happy to spend time with you - treasure these early years!

Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Hibberd

PS If you know someone is not accessing the blog, please could you let me know - thank you!

Reception Saturday 9th January 2021

                                                                                 Hi everyone!

I hope this finds you all safe and well and a huge thank you to you all for your support this week. I completely understand how difficult it is trying to manage work and home schooling but, by learning from home, we are really playing our part at fighting this horrid virus and trying to minimise as many people as possible from getting it, especially the vulnerable members of our community. I also applaud those of you who have had no choice but to go out there and continue to work - please stay safe!

From Tuesday, you will see on the Distance Learning tab on the home page of our school website, that there is a timetable. This will mirror exactly what we are learning in class and also mirrors the routine that the children are used to. Please take a moment to look through the links before Tuesday so that you are prepared. The RWInc lessons will be exactly the format the children are used to in class and they can access these lessons independently. The children will need their white board and pen and/or their writing book and pencil. Use items from around the house or kitchen to assist Power Maths. The My Learning Buffet mirrors the continuous provision that the children choose from in class. Please feel free to add any ideas of your own.

In Reception, we do not intend to send weekly packs home because we want to minimise the footfall on the school grounds;everything you will need for home learning will be on the Distance Learning tab. Email me if you have any questions.

Next week - w/c 18/01/21 I will be setting up small group zoom chats. Please send me the email address you would like me to send the invite to. I intend for this to be a weekly meet, you will have a time slot and day that will be the same each week. It will be at 3:40pm for approximately 15 minutes so that myself, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Hibberd can be present.

I have had a few emails about book recommendations for children that are beginning to read.

I would Google or go on Amazon and look for book sets aimed at 5-7year olds and that are Early Reader ones so that they can access them independently. Try Usborne, Penguin, Ladybird, DK, Songbirds. Julia Donaldson does Early Readers, the Rainbow Fairy Early Readers may appeal to some children, Horrid Henry also does an Early Reader collection, also you may try Traditional Tale Early Readers as children already know the story so this would help with confidence. Songbirds books are phonic books and also children love the Biff and Chip collections too.

We have really enjoyed seeing the learning going on at home and especially your happy faces!

We miss you all!

Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Hibberd

Reception Tuesday 5th January 2021

 Good evening to you all,

Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Hibberd and myself want to extend our thoughts and virtual hugs to each and every one of you! We have had an extremely emotional 24hours, having seen all of the children yesterday and how happy they were to come back to school to suddenly not seeing them or being able to say goodbye! 

I tried to call every family today to see how you all were, if I didn't get through to you and you wish to contact me, please email me directly. Please rest assured we are here for you and will help you with whatever you need! One of the team will contact you weekly because communication is vital in these times and parental mental health is as important as the childrens. 

We are creating a pack for you to be able to collect on Thursday and this is designed to support the online learning that is being set. We will NOT be sending reading books home, but I would like to reassure you that, as from next TUESDAY, you will be able to access 3 daily RWInc lessons which will provide all your child will need in order to maintain their progress with reading. Above all, ensure you continue to read TO your child and build vocabulary and oracy skills. 

I hope to be arranging some face to face zoom meetings with groups of children so that we can stay in contact.

Take great care, stay safe and we will be in contact very soon,

Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Hibberd.

Reception, week 1 Spring 2021

 

Happy New Year to you all! We hope you have had a lovely holiday, all be it a little strange and VERY quiet. Atleast we have been able to relax and spend quality time at home. Like me, I am sure you have found it very emotional - keeping positive for your little ones but desparately missing other family members, even if they are close by! We MUST remain positive and stick together in order to see a light at the end of the tunnel - it MUST and WILL be over soon and we will be thankful that we stuck to the rules and remained safe.

We hope you enjoyed our Christmas Eve video!

Having enjoyed sharing the Magical Achievements books; hopefully you have managed to add a couple of pages over the holiday. Please return these, in the named wallet with any library/RWInc reading books you have on THURSDAY this week, thank you!

With all that said, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Hibberd and myself are all looking forward to see our wonderful class again tomorrow and have certainly missed them all.

We are planning our half term around Traditional Tales and storytelling so watch this space.............

See you all tomorrow - stay safe!

Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Hibberd