Exploring Under the Sea!

Hello Reception Families and Friends! 

What a fantastic week we’ve had in Reception Class! Our theme this week was Under the Sea, and we’ve been fully immersed in learning all about the incredible creatures that live beneath the waves. From hands-on crafts to exciting adventures, here’s a look at what we’ve been up to.

The highlight of our week was our amazing trip to Weymouth SEA LIFE Center. The children were full of excitement as we explored the different zones and got up close to some incredible sea creatures.

Before our tour of the SEA LIFE Center, Reception spent a little time at Weymouth Beach, where we explored the different types of shells, seaweed and sea glass!

Once in to the Sealife Center we started our journey with a special talk where we watched the seals having their lunch. The children were fascinated as the seals playfully swam and interacted with their keepers. We learned about what seals eat and how they are cared for. It was amazing to see them up close and learn more about these wonderful marine mammals!

A visit to Fairy Penguin Island was another favourite part of the day. The little penguins were a delight to watch as they waddled around.

Next, we walked through the Ocean Tunnel, where we were surrounded by graceful rays and mesmerising sharks swimming overhead. 

As we moved through the park, we saw seahorses, jellyfish, and lots of brightly coloured fish! 

After all the excitement of exploring, we visited the adventure play park at the Sealife Center. The children had a fantastic time climbing, sliding, and playing together. It was a great opportunity for them to burn off some energy and enjoy the fresh sea air before we came back to school!

Back in the classroom, we got our creative juices flowing with some fantastic under-the-sea crafts! The children made beautiful jellyfish using paper plates and tissue paper, giving them long, wavy tentacles. We also created lots of fish inspired by the story The Rainbow Fish – some were sculpted from clay, others were painted, and we even made some using collage techniques. Our classroom is now a beautiful underwater world full of colourful sea creatures!

In our writing lessons, the children have been working hard on their very own sea creature fact files. They have been learning lots of interesting facts about different ocean animals, from how sea creatures communicate and protect themselves from predators. It has been wonderful to see their enthusiasm and growing confidence in writing!

As part of our learning, we also had an important discussion about keeping our oceans clean. In our Under the Sea Cleaning Spree lesson, we talked about how rubbish in the ocean can harm sea creatures and what we can do to help. The children were very engaged and came up with great ideas on how we can all help protect marine life by reducing plastic waste and always disposing of litter properly.

It has been a truly magical week of discovery, creativity, and fun. We are so proud of how engaged the children have been and how much they have learned about our amazing oceans.

We hope they’ve been telling you all about their adventures at home! And thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to another exciting week of learning next week!

We look forward to another fantastic week in Reception looking at amazing animals!

Miss Godden, Mrs Rogers, Mrs Smith and Mr Long.