What's going on this week...

Hello everyone,

This week we've got a very mixed up week.We're not covering any specific topic but instead we are looking back over the year and talking about all the things we have done this year. This discussion will help the children to write the piece of work that will be the last thing in their learning journeys. We're doing this on Purple Mash, as this will also help the children to begin to get familiar with using the keys on a keyboard. We've had the chance to look over some really nice pictures that have been taken this year. It is very obvious how much every child has changed! 

In phonics this week we're very lucky to be able to start looking at some different spellings for the sounds we've covered. The different spellings we're looking at this week are:

'ay' - as in stay

'ou' - as in ground

'ie' - as in fried

'ea' - as in heap

Whilst the sounds of these have been covered earlier in the year, the children will be unfamiliar with how some sounds can be shown differently when written down. 

We're also starting the preparation for our final class assembly this week by making a video that will be shown in the assembly (next Friday!).

Reception team

NEW SCHOOL YEAR - Thursday 4th September

Just to clarify that the new school year commences on Thursday 4th September for all children and staff. Apologies for an error on the school calendar which specified another date.

A Day Full of Activities!

Hello everyone,

Today, reception had a whole day working with Mr. Farrington! He came into the class and helped to run some special workshops. Try the children were allowed to choose the workshop they wanted to do and it was great to see so many children giving tasks their full attention and focus. The activities the children could do were:

1. Irrigation and farming

2. Using powder paints to create patterns and symbols

3. Making Diva lamps out of plastacine.

4. Playing some Indian instruments.

5. Dressing up in traditional Indian clothes.

6. Cooking chipatis

Tomorrow, parents are welcome to come and join in our Indian cafe from 2.00pm onwards. There will be the opportunity to try some food that all the children have made this week as well as watching a dance that has been prepared. The dance will be performed throughout the afternoon so there will be more than one opportunity to watch it. 

Reception team

A maths challenge

Hello everyone,

As part of a continuing theme of problem solving in the class, see if you can solve this problem in a systematic way. I intend to put a different problem on the blog each week. You can draw your answer to this problem or chat about it at home! 

A City of Towers

In a certain city houses had to be built in a particular way.

There had to be two rooms on the ground floor and all other rooms had to be built on top of these.

Families were allowed to build just one room for each person living in the house.

So a house for two people would look like this:

but a house for three people could look like one of these:

There are some families of 7 people living in the town.

In how many different ways can they build their houses?

Reception team

India Week

Hello everyone,

This week, the whole school are focusing on the country of India. Reception will now have looked at lots of different countries and this will hopefully allow them to see how some cultures are different to our own and in some ways, similar. Today, we looked at some pictures from India and found out some information facts. Through the week, each child will be writing an information card about India and then creating an appropriate picture that has a 3D element. 

As well as this job, there will be lots of opportunities for reception to engage with some creative and making jobs. The children were introduced to these jobs today. They are; creating a stand-up elephant, making a Diwali lantern, Creating their own Rangoli pattern (indoors or outdoors), and making story masks for the Diwali story. Each child will also work in a group to create some Indian food for a cafe on Friday - more details to follow. On Thursday, Mr. Farrington will be coming into reception for the day to give us some special workshops - very exciting!

Our aim is for all the children to say one thing that they have learnt about India by the end of the week. 

Just a quick note to say that our trip to Honeybrook farm is on 2nd July and we would be grateful for any parent helpers that are available for the day. This is an all day trip and children will be required to bring a lunch. Hot dinners will be cancelled. 

Reception team

A class flag!

Hello everyone,

We have arrived at our final destination in our round the world tour: New York! It was surprising to see how many children had heard of New York and recognised some of its features. As this is our last stop we have given the children a challenge. We have been looking at flags throughout our journey and would like the children to deign and make their own 'class flag'. We have highlighted to the children that Flags usually contain shapes or patterns and blocks of colour. Please feel free to bring your own creations in to school and we will have a vote on which one we think should be our class flag.

A small note that next week is our whole school India week and we have lots of exciting activities lined up! If any parents are available to help in the afternoons we would be very grateful as we are planning to do a lot of arty jobs. 

Reception team

Are you going to San Francisco?

Hello everyone,

Today we made our way across the Pacific ocean and arrived in San Francisco. The children were shown some pictures of the city and had a surprising amount of knowledge about the country of America as a whole. The children were also given a challenge today. After seeing pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge the children were asked to create a bridge out of construction materials that could get a car over a tray of water. It was fantastic to see so many children having a go at this! There were so many original ideas , many of them making effective bridges. 

Throughout the rest of the week we are going to continue writing our journals in literacy. The children have worked very hard on these in their new exercise books. These books will then go up with them into year 1. We are also working very hard on getting children to write each letter using the correct formation. If you get a chance to practice some writing at home that would be fantastic. See if you can write a sentence that sums up your day. Or one thing that you learnt about today. I've popped a formation guide below to help with this. 

In maths this week we are going to be focusing on subtraction and addition - so any opportunities you get at  home to use addition and subtraction, please take them. 

Reception team

Group reading session

Just a quick note to say that parents are still welcome to come and join in with group reading this week. Our final group reading session will be tomorrow from 9.10-10.00am. Please feel free to come along for however long you would like to. 

Reception team

Goodbye Hong Kong, Hello Yokohama!

Hello everyone,

Reception have continued their tour around the world. So far this week we have been looking at Hong Kong and all the fabulous things there. We are lucky to have someone in the class that has visited Hong Kong and has been able to tell us new things and bring in some fantastic pictures. Today we also received a message from a school in China saying hello and who they were! The children have helped come up with some really good questions that we could ask, and we are going to attempt to make a video to send back to them. If you think of any other questions to ask, come in and say so we can add them in as well. 

Tomorrow we are going to be waving goodbye to Hong Kong, hopping on a boat and making our way to Japan. There we will be able to explore the culture of Japan and how it is different and similar to our own. We will also be giving sushi a try on Friday! So bring your determined heads with you. To begin our stay in Japan, see if you can find out what the Japanese flag looks like and what the red circle represents. Or you could try and find where Japan is on a map. Or, if you're more arty, have a go at doing some origami...

http://www.origami-instructions.com/easy-origami-boat.html - some adult help may be required.

Reception team

The end of a lovely week!

Hello everyone,

We've come to the end of our first week of our round the world trip! We started in London before making our way to Paris and then on to Cairo in Egypt. Along the way the children have been writing journal entries and their imagination has been brilliant! We will try and see if we can post a few examples of what the children have been writing on the blog. 

We were very lucky to have a visitor come into school today that showed us some Egyptian dancing. After having a go themselves, the children had the chance to ask come questions about what it is like to live in Egypt. 

Next week we will be travelling to Hong Kong and the Yokohama in Japan! 

Final note, as the weather is getting warmer we would be grateful if you could send your child into school with a hat. Please feel free to leave the hat at school if it is easier.

Have a lovely weekend,

Reception team

Holiday photographs!

Hello everyone,

Next week we are still going to be travelling to far off lands and to aid with this, we would be very grateful if you could bring in any pictures you might have of you and your children on holiday - even if it was just a camping trip! We will be discussing what it was like on holiday and what we value about our home. 

Thank you

Reception team

Group reading session...

Hello everyone,

If you are not aware, next week (starting 9th June) parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts are invited into the school to come and join in with a group reading session. This is not compulsory and we are happy for you to come in for 10 minutes rather than a whole session. In reception we have our group reading session on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday - every time the session will begin around 9.10am and end at around 10.00am. Within the group reading rota we operate the children have a different job to do every session, apart from group reading, which they will do twice. Some of the jobs are led by adults and other are independent jobs: 

1. There will always be two groups reading with an adult.

2. Gardening

3. Some cursive writing.

4. ICT activity

5. A speaking and listening activity. 

If you would like to know when your child is doing a certain job, please feel free to come and ask us or look on the planning wall in the classroom (by the computers). 

We look forward to seeing you! 

Reception team

School Photos

School Photographs - all orders for photographs need to be handed into the school office by Friday 13th June. Thank you.

Some dates for your diary!

Hello everyone,

As previously said, here are a list of dates for the upcoming weeks:

Week beginning 9th June (all week) - Parents welcome to join in group reading sessions (more details to follow).

Week beginning 23rd June (all week) - India week

2nd July - Honeybrook farm

7th July - Reception sports morning

9th/10th July - Tesco's trip

11th July - Reception assembly

14th July - Open afternoon (2-4pm)

16th July - Reception/pre-school BBQ (from 3.30pm)

More details will follow on most of these dates.

Reception team

Around the World in 80 Days

Hello everyone! 

Welcome back to the final half-term in reception. This will be a very busy term with many things to do. I'll put up a list of dates for your diaries for the coming weeks as there are a few dates that have been added since the parent information session earlier on in the term. 

Today we started a whistle-stop tour of the world! We've based this adventure on Jules Verne's 'Around the World in 80 Days' - we will not be reading the whole story but it will be referred to throughout the next few weeks. We began our journey in London today and packed our bags before heading to the train station for a quick journey to the coast and hopping on the ferry to cross the English Channel, lastly  we got on to another train that took us to Paris! Throughout the journey we will be looking, very briefly, at the different countries we stop in. The next country we will be stopping in is Egypt so with that in mind, see if you can find something out about Egypt. Here are some possibilities:

What is the capital of Egypt?

What are some of Egypt's landmarks?

What Language do people in Egypt speak?

How many people live there?

All the children are very capable of having a go at writing the answers to these questions themselves! Do not be fooled! 

Reception team