Reception Friday 13th March 2020

What a beautiful morning................let's hope for an equally gorgeous weekend!!!!!


The children have been completely captivated by the stories of Pinocchio and The Gingerbread man, this week. The stories have inspired learning in all sorts of different ways from making puppets, sewing, story writing, letter writing, poster making, making masks with veeeeeeerrrrrrrryyyyyy long noses which have then been measured...............We have also been painting pictures using water colours, inspired by Monet. We even compared a French version of The Gingerbread man, entitled "Stinky Cheese Man", what elements of the story were the same and what parts were different?

We had a visitor yesterday from the Fire Service who delivered an excellent, age appropriate, workshop about fire safety. Forest School was also a great success, Mrs. Thorpe showed the children a hedgehog house and they then made hedgehogs out of clay and other natural materials.

Lucia's mum came in and taught us a Spanish lesson. We learned vocabulary for ingredients to make a paella.

This morning we carried out a visual experiment to show the effect of soap on germs when we wash our hands.........pour water onto a plate and thoroughly sprinkle it with black pepper, to represent the germs that we can't see. You put your finger in the middle of the peppery water and nothing happens apart from some germs (pepper) stick to your finger. Then dip your finger in a generous dollop of liquid soap and place it back in the peppery water.............watch the power of the soap in front of your very own eyes!!!!!!!!

Home Learning:

Power Maths this week has been further exploration of 3d shape, using vocabulary such as slide, roll, stack, edges, curves, flat, faces, cube, cuboid, sphere, pyramid, cone, cylinder (some children even knew what prisms were!!!!). We have been testing which 3d shapes do these things and discovering why!? You could continue this learning with items that you find in and around the home.

RWInc - as well as reading and sharing your book DAILY, practise the speed sounds, speedy green words and red words in your books.

Can you make a puppet from junk modelling or by sewing? Can you tell the story of Pinocchio or The Gingerbread Man. Write a letter to Pinocchio telling him why it is not good to tell lies. Create a poster telling people to run and keep fit - from The Gingerbread man! Paint a picture of a garden/tree/flower using watercolour just like Monet.

Happy Friday!

Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Burgess, Mrs Briant and Mrs, Cleaver.

Reception Home Learning Friday 6th March 2020

Reception Home Learning Friday 6th March 2020

• RWInc - Please continue to read your RWInc book daily, this is ESSENTIAL to build confidence and fluency with new sounds being taught.

• Power Maths - Unit 11 Week 8 spatial awareness - Key vocabulary = positional and directional language: in front, on, in, next to, behind, beside, under, on top, up, down and across, forward, backward.

• Can you help to cook a French, Spanish or Italian meal at home? Can you paint a picture using the pointillism technique (use cotton buds)? Can you make a model of one of the famous landmarks from one of these countries - Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Sagrada Familia - make it inside or outside? Make a passport, draw a map of one of the countries and label it. From last week, paint a portrait of the Queen or Queen Victoria, a famous London Landmark, write to the Queen asking her a question………….

Reception 04/03/20 - Forest School reminder.........and all our learning so far this week!

On Monday, the children selected their mode of transport to cross the English Channel...............we docked, landed or pulled into the station in France. During the week we crossed borders into Spain and Italy...............our wow words this week have been replaced by French, Spanish and Italian words!

We have learned about famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Sagrada Familia. These have been used to inspire us to construct and to design and make, along with the football stadiums for Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain, both inside and out. We also looked at super cars that are produced in these countries as well as the flags of the countries. Travelling abroad has also inspired us to write postcards, shopping lists for pasta dishes, risotto dishes and paella dishes as well as what we might need to pack in a suitcase to visit one of these countries. Our art this week has been introducing a technique called Pointillism and exploring the technique that Georges Seurat developed. We loved learning the song "Frere Jacques" and will continue to immerse ourselves into classical music composed by Claude Debussy, Frederic Chaupin and Antonio Vivaldi.

Staff have been sharing their favourite books this week and we are very excited to celebrate World Book Day tomorrow! Children that are doing Forest Schools tomorrow are encouraged to come into school wearing their book day costume and bringing their warm Forest School clothes in a bag, which we will change into. A reminder, the groups are: the Polar Bears, the Red Pandas and the Brown Bears. 

We are looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow in your costumes!

Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Burgess and a huge thank you to Mrs. Briant and Mrs. Cleaver, who have been working in Reception during some afternoons.

Reception Thursday 27th February 2020.......London's calling!

Good evening!

Thank you so much for all your kind words and well wishes, I am privileged to come to work each day to teach your children and be a part of such a warm community. I was so happy to be back and the children have been amazing, they are a credit to each and every one of you - so caring and considerate! It makes my heart melt!

"Who else lives in our world?" is our topic this half term.

This week we have been exploring the differences between a village, a town and a city with a focus on our capital city, London; the Queen, Queen Victoria and the history of afternoon tea, famous London landmarks such as Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace and The Tower of London. We identified where the UK is on the world map and then zoomed in to a map of the UK to find Dorchester and London. As well as baking Victoria sandwich cakes, making Union Jack flags, building and making crowns, models of London modes of transport and London landmarks, we also wrote tea party invitations to the Queen, questions for the Queen and even drew her portrait looking at black and white photos. Reception are now learning a "wow" word of the day.........have you been told you are elegant, stunning or graceful this week????? (Words inspired by our Queen!) Tomorrow's word is "exquisite."

See these links for the songs we have been learning, do continue to practise these at home!

London Bridge is Falling Down

Pussy Cat Nursery Rhyme

Home Learning: We were bowled over by the amazing half term home learning that has been coming in, the children clearly had a fabulous time! Well done!
Children have settled in well to their RWInc groups and they will be bringing their new book home tomorrow, please do continue to write in their little red record book, it is really helpful! Take time to review the speed sounds and story green words.
Power Maths - Unit 10 week 7 - part part whole, number bonds to 10 - you can deepen learning further by using the language fewer and more as well as using items around the house to explore number bonds to 10.

FYI - exciting news............Beginning NEXT Thursday, Mrs. Thorpe is going to be leading a weekly 2 hour Forest School session just for Reception! There will be further details to follow. Three groups will have 5 weeks consecutive sessions and then these will swap to the other three groups for 5 weeks. Next Thursday, for 5 weeks, it will be the Polar Bears, the Red Pandas and the Brown Bears.


I wonder where in the world we will explore next week.............?

Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Burgess

Reception Sunday 23rd February 2020 - IMPORTANT INFORMATION - please read!

What a wild and windy half term!!!!!!!!!!!!! We hope you have all had a lovely break.

It was due to be the Reception class assembly this coming Friday 28th February, however, as I am only just back, we will be postponing it until Thursday 19th March at 9:20am. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

FYI: World Book Day = Thursday 5th March 2020. The children are invited to come in to school dressed as their favourite story book character in order to celebrate a love of reading and literacy. Don't feel you have to buy a costume - home made are always brilliant!!!!!!!

Ideas: The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Highway Rat, Room on the Broom, The Selfish Crocodile, Mr. and Mrs. Large, Whatever Next, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Paddington, Mr. Men and Little Miss, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, The Big Bad Wolf.....................

On World Book Day please could each child bring in a book from home (named) for some activities we would like to do.

See you all tomorrow!

Mrs. J and Mrs. Smith

Reception Thursday 13th February 2020

Happy Last Day of Term Everyone!


Wow, where have these 6 weeks gone? The progress ALL children have made since coming back from Christmas is tremendous! Reception have thoroughly enjoyed their learning all about Our Blue Planet! I am busy collating a whole class project book from this half term, which will be in class after the holiday for you all to see and share with the children!

As you know, the children were taken on a journey over the rainbow into a world of magic...........it truly has been a "magical" week............unfortunately a dragon came over night and "bear napped" Paddington! Disaster!!!!!!!! So we have been exploring dragons, creating traps, drawing maps, making potions, writing stories, writing potions to bring Paddington back..........I hope we get him back!!!!!

Power Maths this week has been Unit 10 week 6 number bonds to 10, a solid understanding of the number bonds to 10 is the foundation of understanding all number bonds.
We have also been preparing our flower beds by weeding them and are very excited to start planting soon!

As you will have seen on the board outside the classroom, all RWInc books should be returned today, new ones will be given out after half term when the children start new groups. Children will come home with a sheet that will be highlighted to show you the RWInc group your child will be in and a summary of what they will be learning. As a guide, Reception children are expected to leave Reception at Green Level.

Home Learning:

Power Maths Unit 10 week 6
Reading: share stories, have fun story telling, think about what character you might like to dress up as for World Book Day.
Practise your letter formation.

Choose:

• Send Mr. Spracklen a postcard adressed to the school 
• If you happen to have a surprise visit to London, please bring back pictures of your trip 
• Scavenger hunt project:

1. Find a stick and make it into a character.
2. Find and order 5 different sized leaves.
3. Take a picture of something blue.
4. Take a picture of an old building.
5. How many different examples of water can you count and a picture of or draw?
6. Make a model, collage, painting or drawing of something you like when you visit the Borough Gardens.

Have LOTS of fun!

I CANNOT wait to see you all soon!!!!!!!!!

Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Cura.

Reception Thursday 6th February 2020

Hello Everyone!

It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Parent Consultation evenings this week; we were so proud of all the children and excited to share their progress with you all. If you were unable to attend, then please do contact us to arrange a more convenient time. I would also like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Mrs. Smith for giving up her time to join me and share the learning that has taken place since Christmas.

We absolutely loved the beach themed home learning that has been coming in and the children have really enjoyed standing up in front of the class and sharing their adventures. Also, the various creative sea creatures that are hanging in the reading area are phenomenal!

The children have been thoroughly absorbed by our story telling focus this week and our visitor, Martin Maudsley, on Tuesday inspired them all. It really was a fun and valuable opportunity for children to develop so many skills: speaking, listening, team work, expression, imagination, story language, vocabulary, sentence structure and performance skills.

In Power Maths this week we have been exploring and deepening our understanding of part, part, whole.

As we shared with you all, at the Parent Consultation evenings, where your child is in RWInc, Mrs. Smith is still carrying out assessments. As promised, we will send home a highlighted progress sheet next Thursday with a RWInc book for the half term holiday.

On Monday we have our Dance Festival, thank you to the volunteers who are accompanying us. We will take photographs and film their dance so that you can see it during next week at drop off and pick up times. The children will have an early lunch on Monday and will be back at school by 3:30pm. Please check the weather forecast and ensure the children have suitable coats etc. as we will be walking there and back.

Home Learning:

• Power Maths - Unit 9 week 5 - addition to 10 and combining 2 groups together
• RWInc books
• Can you be a story teller? You could be filmed telling a story and send it to us - you could do this using a book or by making up your own story! Can you make up a story that has a pirate, a dragon, a cat and dragon gold in it? Can you use the words: suddenly, magic, next and carefully in your story? Use some toys at home to make up and tell your story. Can you use different voices for your characters and give them names? Could you change the characters from a story you already know "The Three Little Hippos!" Can you find an interesting place to tell your story - at the dinner table, in the park, in your garden, in the bath, in a den with a torch, in the woods, on a farm, out on a walk????????????? Can you get your family to join in or even dress up? If you want to, you could even write your story down!!!!!!!!!!!
• Have LOTS of fun with your story!

Thank you once again for all your support!

Mrs. J, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Cura

................something magical is brewing, not all is as it seems next week...............