Fly me to the moon!

 Wow! 

What a week we've had! It has been an absolute privilege to be with the children this week, there's been so many #inspiredtolearn experiences!

It is safe to say Space and Moon week has been tremendous, so much so we are going to continue our super space learning into next week!

We have loved playing in the new gravel pit, they children have worked together wonderfully and have a done a fantastic job at keeping the gravel in the pit so we can all enjoy it.

Clever Mr Bascombe made us a pallet car which we've used as a Moon Buggy just like Neil Armstrong! Thank you for the Gravel Pit and the Moon Buggy Mr Bascombe we've loved it!

Now, on Tuesday I decided it was time we went to space, but I needed help, I wasn't sure how to get there.... But never fear the fantastic children in Reception told me I needed a rocket and they helped me build one, we had to make a computer to help us fly the ship, our space chefs made sure we had lots of yummy food to eat whilst we were away. But before we took off we had a disaster, we didn't have any fuel! So we all made a 'button' (mark making or drawing) and we pushed our buttons to refuel the ship, we had to press our buttons 5, 8, 9 even 15 times to make sure we had enough fuel and the children (aka astronauts) were amazing at counting! Once we'd got fuel and blasted off we visited the Moon, Mercury and Jupiter, where we stopped off and sang some space themed songs!! We did all this and managed to make it back in time for lunch!! Phew!!

On Wednesday we noticed that the moon had forgotten to go to bed and was still out in the morning, we decided that we needed to send the moon a message, again the superduper Reception astronauts saved that day, and made a sign telling the moon to go to sleep!

 I'm sure the moon had a good sleep!

On Tuesday we watched a video of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon! We were very interested in the way you walk on the moon! We have spoken about the super secret force called gravity, it's just like the wind you can't see it! But in space there isn't any gravity and on the moon there's less so you bounce, or as Neil Armstrong said you 'hippity hoppity'  Well, we just had to learn how to walk on the moon.... Safe to say Reception will all be ready for their first moon walk!

This afternoon we made our own planets, it was fantastic to see the children so deeply engaged in their learning experiences!

Our Space station has been extremely popular this week too!

Now, space potatoes!

Space Potatoes have been a child led activity, in a nutshell paint space on a potato... A beautiful concept that only the mind of a child could invent... Everyone's loved the space potatoes, we've painted and painted and painted them! It's been so lovely to see the children discussing their ideas and enjoy mixing and creating new colours! I am pleased to have found another use for the mighty potato!

Looking for letters and numbers with our secret stars

Building towers with 3D shapes in maths.

Enjoying the Bucket and Pulley, 'Jurassic park' in dinoland, sharing sharing stories, drawing spaceships and general merriment in the mud kitchen!

The joy, happiness, play and deep learning experiences have been truly amazing this week, I even had a que for Drawing Club this morning!

Every single child has been a complete super star this week, on Monday I learnt a new word, Koselig, which is Norwegian, it describes 'the warmth of being together' I truly believe we have celebrated that this week!

 
Ms Evans and the brilliant Reception Team

Harvest, Farms, apples, apples and more apples!

 What a week! What a week! 

Every week I am just amazed by the children, they are just wonderful!

We have throughly enjoyed our theme of harvest and farming this week! So much so I am going to the let the pictures do the talking this week!!

We have had a wonderful time using our 'Joy Boxes' this week, these boxes are designed to promote talk, partnership and sharing, the children all sit together and share a box of joy, which is filled with interesting knick knacks!

We had a fantastic time making Apple Crumbles, Mr Bascombe took us in small groups to pick the apples from the trees, we went in small groups to peel and chop the apples and made the crumble topping too!

This wasn't the only thing we did with apples, we also made apple printing pictures!

Our theme this week was farming, we have read farm related stories and explored how we look after animals, particularly muddy animals!

We were sad to postpone our trip to Maiden Castle Farm, however this will be rearranged for the last week of this half term!

We have also enjoyed drawing this week!

We have had two sessions are part of our Food, Faith and Farming focus, on Tuesday we learnt about Humanism, and Christianity!

We have also played and then played some more!

We loved the farm shop this week!

On Thursday we had a special delivery which was super exciting! We discussed how the crane lifted the heavy bags and the children guessed what we might use them for, watch this space!!

Today we had our Multi Faith and No Faith Harvest assembly,  I am extremely proud of all the children and how beautifully they sang our Harvest song! 

Turning our attention to next week, myself and the reception team are SUPER EXCITED as we are having a Moon and Space week, this theme has been led by the interests of the children and we can't wait to get cracking!! 

This weekend perhaps you could ask the children what they already know about space and the moon? We will be exploring this all next week!

Coming up:

3D shape in Powermaths

Space and the Moon in Understanding the World

Space potatoes (just wait and see)

Flu immunisations (11th October)

Parent's Evening 12th&13th October

We also have a very special guest visiting us on Monday, Greg Bottrill is a former Early years leader and has written the most excellent books including Can I go and play now? Which inspires our learning practices in Reception. We cannot wait to have Greg to play!

Phew! What a week! Very well done Reception children, you are Fantastic!

Ms Evans and the Reception Team

Postponing our Farm Trip 5th October

 Hi all,

Having watched the weather closely over the past 24 hours, it looks like we are due a very wet morning tomorrow, I have decided to postpone our trip to Maiden Castle Farm and hope for better weather in a few weeks time.

I am aware that the children were really looking forward to the trip (me too) but I want to make sure that the children have the very best experience and the wind and the rain forecast for tomorrow would impact that.

Thank you to those who have volunteered to accompany us tomorrow, I will be in touch with plans over the next week. 

I would ask that you please share this information with others so we are all aware of the change for the morning.

Many thanks

Ms Evans