Reception's Blog

Stars of the week: Leon and Nyra

This week the children have been learning a new song in their Music lessons with our music lead Mrs Chan.

The song is called ‘Down There Under the Sea’ and the children are using percussion instruments to accompany the song. Leon and Nyra were able to listen to Mrs Chan and play the chime bars beautifully.

 

In Literacy we’ve been writing instructions for how to plant a seed. You can draw your child’s attention to instructions at home whenever they get a new toy, or when you follow any recipes in the kitchen.

To help us understand the world better we’ve been thinking about what a plant needs in order to survive, like water, soil, sunlight and carbon dioxide.

Next week, we’ll be writing lists. Our book of the week is The Hungry Caterpillar, we’ll be listing all of the foods that he eats. At home you can have fun writing lists for any shopping trips, or lists of favourite things.

In Mathematics we are continuing to look at sharing quantities into equal amounts, focusing on giving one item to each group in turn and asking if it is fair, do all the groups end up with the same amount of items?

For Art, the children have been using water-colour paints to portray a garden scene, inspired by the art we saw at The Garden Museum by painter Jean-Marie Toulgouat. Next week they’ll be looking closely at minibeasts and sketching them.

In PE, we’ve been using all of the exciting equipment. We’ve been climbing on the climbing frame and using the timber bar box to hone our strength and balance.

 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Miss Hardy

 

Stars of the Week: Araliya and Leiys

Reception went on our first school trip this week to The Garden Museum. We all had so much fun and all of the children were wonderful not only inside the museum but whilst travelling to and from as well.

Our first week back at school for the summer term has been a busy one!

Please some some photos below of our school trip:

The children had the chance to see beautiful paintings, use microscopes to look closely at leaves, to explore the museum and sketch different items, to plant seeds and to decorate their eco bags that they now have at home to keep.

In Literacy this week we have been writing recounts about our school trip. The children have been writing in the past tense and using their phonics knowledge to spell words in a way that makes sense phonetically.

Next week, we will writing instructions of How to Plant a Seed. Now that children have the hands on experience they will learn how to write instructions step by step.

In Mathematics we’ve been thinking about subtraction and using a number line to jump back to find the answer. Next week we will be making equal groups.

In RE we will be answering the question, who helps care for our special world?

In Art we will be looking again at the paintings we saw at The Garden Museum and replicating and creating our own with water colour paints.

This week in gymnastics the children have been climbing apparatus and honing their balancing on the benches.

We have photos below for you:

 

Although the skies today are grey, we have seen some sun this week.

Below are some photos of the children enjoying our outdoor classroom yesterday:

Have a wonderful weekend,

Miss Hardy

Stars of the Week: All of Reception!

It’s been a busy week in Reception, we have had our Class Collective Worship, a Stay and Play session and we’ve been to the Cathedral and performed our hymn. Every single member of the class spoke beautifully and read their lines clearly and in time, they all deserve to be celebrated this week.

Thank you to all of the parents as well this week, for attending any of the events we have had and for your continued support. You can find some photos of the Stay and Play session attached below :

When we return back to school after the break for the Summer 1 term, we have a school trip on that first Tuesday 16th April. Please come into school as usual that day, but with a packed lunch for the children.

We’ll be taking the bus to The Garden Museum to learn about plants and vegetables.  Our Half Term Topic is How Does Your Garden Grow? so a lot of the term will be focused on the natural world. When we return from the Museum, we’ll write sentences about our time there.

Our book of the week is ‘A Butterfly is Patient’ by Dianna Hutts Aston. We’ll also use this book in our RE lesson. We’ll think about the meaning of patience, and talk about times when we have had to be patient.

In Mathematics, we’ll be looking at subtraction. So far the children have answered questions involving ‘one less’.

Over the break, you can help to support this learning by encouraging your child to use their fingers to help them answer addition questions within 10, and by asking them, “what is one less than …”.

In Phonics, we’ll be looking at CVCC words (e.g. went, hand, lamp), and reviewing Phase 2 digraphs and 3 long vowel sounds.

Of course, please continue to read with your child over the holidays!

If you’d like to challenge your child, have them write at least one sentence a day, about their day.

For example “Today we will go to church.” You’ll find though they may require more support at the beginning, they’ll become more independent as the days pass, and of course don’t forget to celebrate their efforts.

PE will now be on Wednesdays, and we’re lucky to be working with an external gymnast each week.

 

Have a wonderful Easter holiday!

Best wishes,

Miss Hardy

Stars of the week: Daniel and Dhani

Reception have been learning about 3D shapes this week, and how they’re different to 2D shapes. Dhani and Daniel have learnt lots of new 3D shapes names. Well done to them!

We have introduced Show and Tell in the last few weeks and it’s been extremely popular with the children!

From next week, we’ll be introducing a new system that will allow for one child to bring something in to school each day. That child will come home at the end of the day with a sticker that says ‘It’s my turn for Show and Tell’, letting you know to please remind them to bring something in the following day.

It’s a good idea to rehearse their speech at home the night before. The key questions to address are:

What is the item?

What do I like about it?

Where did I get it from?

Each child will then get the chance to address any questions their peers have about their Show and Tell item.

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone in the school on Tuesday 26th for our Class Collective Worship, followed by our Easter Stay and Play session. The format is much the same as the Christmas Nativity.

We have our Easter Cathedral Service at Southwark Cathedral on Wednesday 27th. The children in Reception have prepared a hymn to sing.

Having completed our reading assessments, most children will bring home books of a different level on Monday 25th. Please continue to celebrate their progression at home and keep reading as much as possible to develop their fluency.

Stars of the week: Kavalli and Lilian

This week in Reception we’ve been writing sentences. Lilian and Kavalli have done a wonderful job applying their phonics knowledge and including digraphs and trigraphs in their writing.

For Music, children have been learning a new hymn that we will sing in the Cathedral at the service on Wednesday 27th March.

In Computing, we’ve been playing with BeeBots this week, and learning to code and give instructions.

For Art, the children have been making and decorating jelly fish with paper bowls, paint pens and tissue paper.

In RE, we have been learning about the Easter story and Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Next week in Literacy, we’ll practice descriptive writing and using adjectives to describe animals.

At home, you can use lots of fun adjectives in your speech.

In Mathematics, children will be introduced to 3D shapes. To help at home, notice the 3D shapes we see in everyday life. For example, books are cuboids and balls are spheres.

Thank you for your continued support!

 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Miss Hardy

Stars of the week: Tiwa and Nathan

This week we’ve been learning a new song in Reception, called ‘Five Fine Bumblebees’.

Nathan and Tiwa have made a great effort to take part and learn the lyrics, focusing on the pitch and tempo of the song.

This week being World Book Week, the children have been thinking about pirates!

We’ve heard pirate songs and read pirate books, the children have enjoyed creating WANTED posters to post around the school. On Thursday the children had time with Year 4 and were able to chose their favourite classroom books, for the Year 4 pupils to read to them.

In Mathematics, children have been learning to tell the time.

To help at home, when it’s on the hour and the minute hand points to 12 – ask your child to help you tell the time!

Today we’ll have a big class photo all together on the pirate ship. In the afternoon, children will take part in our Mystery Reader and get to choose a book to be read by a mystery teacher.

 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Miss Hardy

Stars of the week: Amelia and Nathan

This week we have read Ten Delicious Teachers and painted our own monsters, and used googly eyes and feathers to bring them to life. Amelia and Nathan have worked hard to create brilliant, imaginative monsters!

Today the children have benefited from an early World Book Day workshop, with the authors Burchett and Vogler. They went along on an interactive treasure hunt with Jan and Sara and later had a whole school assembly where they told us of their journey as authors.

Next week in Mathematics the children will learn about time. We’ll discuss the different times of the day that we typically do certain things. For example, in the morning we wake up and brush our teeth.

In Literacy, we’ll be writing mothers’ day cards for all of our mums!

On Friday we’ll be celebrating World Book Day officially (it’s pirate themed) and the children can dress up as they like!

 

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Hardy

Stars of the week: Kavalli and Araliya

We have been thinking about rainforests and the animals that live within them. These children wrote beautiful sentences about different animals in their literacy books this week. They both tried so hard and were able to apply their phonics learning.

The children have had a great return to school and have loved sharing their half term stories.

This week, we’ve looked at the art of Henri Rousseau, that shows us beautiful jungle scenes with animals nestled amongst the leaves. Children have had the opportunity to create their own art using bright wax crayons and sugar paper.

Next week in Literacy we’ll read Ten Delicious Teachers and create our own monsters!

In Mathematics, we’ll think about pairs and doubles.

Playing a game of dominoes at home will help to support this learning.

Noticing any pairs of socks, gloves, shoes will also helpful.

Next Friday (in anticipation of World Book Day – which will take place the following week) the children will take part in an external pirate themed workshop!

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Hardy

 

Stars of the week: Ariella and Nathan

This week in Reception we have been making rainbows for our Christian Symbols display. We have used colourful tissue paper and PVA glue. Ariella and Nathan worked particularly carefully and have created beautiful artwork!

It was lovely to see you all this week for parents’ evening. Thank you all for coming!

Now we’ve made it to the end of the term, a huge congratulations to all of the children.

We hope everyone has a relaxing break.

When we return, we will be reviewing phase 3 digraphs that we’ve already learnt.

In Spring 2, we will be consolidating the sounds we covered in Spring 1.
I will attach the overview for the following half term here:

Reception_Spring_2_overview_Aug-23

In Mathematics, we will be looking at the composition of 6, 7 and 8 – with a focus on subtraction.

You can help at home with this by looking at subtraction within 10 at home using real objects. If you begin with 8 grapes and then you eat 2, how many grapes will be left?

Our new half term topic is: Habitats of the World.

In the new half term, we’ll spend time looking at different types of habitats and the animals that live in them.

We’ll begin by looking at the jungle and reading ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ by Giles Andreae.

 

Have a wonderful half term!

Miss Hardy

Stars of the week: Liv and Amelia

These girls are our stars for their efforts to dress independently for our PE lesson. Well done girls!

Next week in Literacy our traditional tale will be The Gingerbread Man.

We’ll look at compound words, like gingerbread. Children will be taught about how compound words are words that are made up of other words, but have their own individual meaning.

For example: sunset, cowboy, pancake, daylight.

You can support this learning at home by noting any compound words you use in daily life and highlighting the different words that make up the compound word. For example if you eat pancakes or blueberries at home, make sure to discuss the compound words and their composition.

In school, the children will sort words as to whether they are compound words or not.

In Mathematics we’ll look at weight. We’ll use scales and weigh classroom items, whilst discussing which items are heavier and which are lighter.  Whilst cooking or baking at home, include your children whenever you weigh any ingredient. Let them help you!

As Chinese New Year is on Saturday 10th February, we’ll learn about the animals of the zodiac and make our own dragons.

 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Miss Hardy