Day one of Science/Eco week in Reception and we are already super learning machines and scientists/eco warriors!

Splish! Splosh! Splash! What a wet start to the day..................but we were trying to save the ocean!!!!!!

Reception dived straight into the launch of science and eco week - they are definitely passionate about the current state of our oceans and the plastic pollution!!!!!! We used the story of the Rainbow Fish to continue the sea theme for the week......................some of the children taught us about the three levels of the ocean and the Mariana Trench as a result of our fishy discussion about the effect of the light on the sea!!!!!!!!


The children created collage posters to warn people of the dangers of plastic in the sea, we had sea themed poetry, mark making in the sand, we have a deep sea writing cave where the children cut out and decorated fish with reflective materials - they used torches to explore the effect of the light on them in the deep ocean, children were drawing and painting fish and sea creatures exploring drawing skills, focus, painting techniques and colour, the water tray became our science experiment where we learnt about surface tension by making and testing swimming paper fish! Why not have a go at bath time............ask them to show you!!!!!! (you just need a paper fish with a tale that has a "v" cut into it, and a small blob of washing up liquid placed on the "v" - lower it into the water and watch it swim!!!!!) There were fish themed information and story books to read as well as sparkly playdough to create rainbow fish.

The children absolutely love exploring science - we discussed that to be a good scientist you need to be VERY good at looking and listening. Last week we explored static electricity, over the course of this week we will be learning about the water cycle, forces, aerodynamics and chemical reactions!!!!!!! And that's just in class................then we have Mr. G coming in to teach us more!!!!!!


Don't forget the Science Fair in the school hall from 2:45 on Thursday - bring along an experiment or invention to share with everyone, or simply come and enjoy!

Mrs. J and the Reception Eco-Champions!

Reception Royalty for the day!

The Grand Ball was a roaring success!!!!!!!!


The Princes, Princesses, Kings and Queens were announced into the ball room where a glorious banquet awaited them................"cheers!" was heard many a time as the royal guests toasted each other with their champagne flutes of squash. They dined on the finest handmade biscuits in all the land following sumptuous ruby red slipper and tiara sandwiches. Music filled the air as the guests swept around the dance floor casting their finest dance moves! We were joined by The fairy Godmother herself who kindly granted each guest a wish! The finale of the occasion was entertainment provided a wonderful cast of actors and actresses!

I hope you will all agree that yesterday was a magical way to, not only conclude a topic, but also to bring it to life! It has been a half term filled with rich learning opportunities and fun. Thank you to ALL of you who were able to join us yesterday.

Home learning: bake a cake or cakes fit for a Prince or Princess! Use your maths learning to think about how to share it/them fairly, weighing, measuring, counting and using words like more, less, fewer etc. You do not need to bring them/it in to school but if you want to send a photo in or write about it in your red book, that would be wonderful too! Have fun! Yum! Yum!


Request x 3: it is not too late to bring in your jelly fish if you have not already made one, any more natural/tactile objects for our maths area would be greatly received (shells, buttons, ribbons, keys, curtain rings...........) and lastly any plastic containers saved from your recycling would be super (on Monday if possible please). Thank you.

Remember, next week is Science week - come in on Thursday afternoon from 2:45 to enjoy our science fair and do make and bring in an experiment or invention to share. Monday morning = whole school surprise, come to the front of the school a little earlier than usual drop off to join in the fun!

                                             Mrs. J and the "Roarsome" Reception Team

Reception February week 1

Well, what a week! A day in school in the snow! Wow! It was fantastic fun sharing this experience with all our friends - snow balls, snow angels and even a "snow Spracklen" and "snow Reception" were built!

This week we shared the story of Prince Cinders by Babette Cole and compared it to Cinderella. We decided the actions of the sisters and brothers were a bad example to set so HAD to write speech bubbles conveying our messages to them!

We have designed new shoes for Cinderella, made new clothes to go to the ball, made stick puppets to retell the stories, checked to find the owner of the shoes. Tomorrow we will be building clock towers telling us when 12 o' clock is, carrying out a stock take of Cinderella's salon, collecting data and so much more...............

We cannot wait for the ball on Friday - COME TO SCHOOL DRESSED AS A PRINCE OR PRINCESS FOR THE DAY. The ball is at 2pm and parents are invited in to the PRE-SCHOOL HALL at 3pm (dressed up too if you wish!!!!!!!!)

Thank you for the amazing jelly fish that have been swimming into the classroom - do keep them coming in as they will be on display in the corridor next week!

Next week is Science week, if you make a science experiment or invention that you would like to share at the science fair NEXT THURSDAY, bring it in then and parents are invited to come along to the fair too!

Forest schools tomorrow for Winnie, Rabbit and Owl group.

Thank you to all the families I have met with so far at the Parents Evening sessions, it has been a real pleasure to talk to you about your wonderful children and their very first year in school so far. It is a real privilege to be a part of this milestone and a part of their journey through school.

Mrs. J and The Reception Team.

Reception Tuesday 29th January 2019

Reception Tuesday 29th January 2019

Good Evening Everyone,

Thank you so much to those of you who have been able to donate some natural collectible items, they are all gratefully received, please keep them coming in!


We have started to have some wonderful jellyfish float their way into the classroom in preparation for our science week display - keep them coming in too.

A reminder that it is our ball NEXT Friday.

Forest school, for the next 3 weeks starting tomorrow, will be: Owl, Winnie and Rabbit groups. Please make sure they have warm and water proof clothes to wear for this - thank you!

This week the Elves had a problem...........they tried to fix a shoe but it was made of glass!!!!!!!! Guess who it belonged to? Cinderella! Do share this story at home if you have it, the children are enjoying designing, making and painting carriages, Cinderella's salon has been open in the role play area, fairy tale stories are on offer in the reading area, ball invitations are being written as well as granting Fairy Godmother wishes................


Our Jigsaw has been focussing on saying good bye to our loved ones in the morning and feelings that go along with this.
https://youtu.be/ajqKAKTwxQI

https://youtu.be/Uyx7M8wV0qE

In music we explored finding the pulse in different songs and in different ways, we danced, sand and used untuned percussion to copy rhythms. We were super creative and had a very good ear for this. We also discussed our opinions over different types of music.

See you all tomorrow!

Mrs. J and the Amazing Reception Team!

Reception want to enhance their maths provision.

A request.....................

We would really like to enhance our maths provision by adding more natural, stimulating and interesting natural, real life and varied materials for the children to use for counting, sorting, measuring and exploring with their senses.


If you happen to have any of the following that you could donate to us, we would be very grateful. Or, indeed, if you think of anything else that would fit our request, please bring it in.
Maybe you could link it with a scavenger hunt on a woodland walk/beach walk????????


Wooden or whicker baskets or bowls for collecting, displaying and sorting,
old keys,
buttons,
wooden discs,
corks,
logs,
sticks,
dowling - various lengths,
pebbles,
crystals,
shells,
tea spoons,
beads,
ribbon,
cotton reels,
pine cones,
screws, nuts, bolts,
acorns,
jewellery or brooches,
conkers,
collections: eg owl ornaments, egg cups, thimbles,
stones....................................

many thanks!


Reception Team.

Reception - Monday 21st January 2019

Well, more mystery and intrigue are afoot (pardon the pun, considering our topic!!!!!)

It appears that some elves have moved in - thank fully not like the elves we had to stay over christmas!!!!!!! They have been fixing shoes for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, we had to write them questions on tiny mini paper, ofcourse - which they replied to!!!!!!!! We found elf related words hidden in our reading area and even teeny, tiny books to write in. We have also done a lot of measuring, estimating, designing and problem solving.

This morning we watched an enchanting Elves and the Shoemaker ballet on the Cbeebies i-player. It really was excellent and the children were engrossed! This lead us to draw a shoe that we would like and writing a caption to go with it. Due to my very cold feet I challenged them to make me a shoe that would keep me warm and it had to have a label attached to it..........some super scientific thinking and reasoning here! We began making some papier-mache shoes this afternoon - they will be stunning!

Thank you to those of you who were able to come to the information session last week.

I apologise for cancelling the storytime last week due to sickness. It will be on this Friday.

We have introduced a daily "Time To Shine" opportunity - this takes place after lunchtime. We choose a child and put their name on a light box, the rest of the class think of wonderful, positive and kind things to say about that child. These are then shared, along with comments from the staff. Every child will have a turn of being on the box. So far, Edie, Rufus, Henry W, Henry C, Isaac and Hugo have shone like a star!!!!!!!! Well done - lots of wonderful things were said such as, "they  are kind, caring, they make me laugh, I like playing with them, they never give up, they make the right choices, they give good hugs............."

See you all tomorrow,

Mrs. J and the Team.

Reception 10th January 2019

Reception have come back eager to learn and it has been super hearing all about their Christmas holiday.
The key word in our class this term is "challenge". We have been talking about challenging our learning and persevering even when we are "stuck in the dip".

A request: Please could we have some pairs of shoes on loan for Monday for our topic - adult or child in pairs and in a variety of styles. We would really appreciate it - thank you! Keep the junk modelling coming in too!!!!!!

A polite request: If your child requires the reception class toilet before or after school, for safeguarding reasons, please could you NOT accompany them because other children may be using the toilets at the same time, thank you.

Thank you to all of you who have brought in home learning from the holiday, we are enjoying sharing them. From this Friday, your child will be bringing a reading book home which has been selected by their RWInc teacher. This book is to keep for the week and MUST be returned the following Thursday. Please do not bring them back early, they are to be re-read as many times as they like over the week so that the children build confidence and feel successful. The red home learning books will still come home but will now have a numeracy based task to be completed and returned by the following Thursday. Time to talk will come home every couple of weeks. Thank you for your amazing support with the home learning and your child's development, we are noticing a huge impact on their learning that is coming from the joint work and communication between home and school.


Maths you could work on at home that we have noticed this week................. accurate touch counting, recognising the numerals to 20 (especially 11-20).

Many thanks from the AWESOME 😀 Reception Team!