Week 8

  Christmas Dinner

Reception celebrated with a Christmas dinner.  Roast turkey with all the trimmings and Christmas music. 

 Santa's Treehouse Grotto 

We had a special visitor in our Bushcraft area.  Santa Claus came to visit and handed out treats and gifts to the children.  Reception were so excited to see Santa and enjoyed catching their gifts at the end of the slide.

 Christmas Party

Reception had a wonderful morning full of dancing, party games and party food.  Don't we look fantastic in our party clothes!

 Christingle

Reception have been enjoying learning about the celebration of Christingle. They all made their own, decorating them with sweets and fruit. They learnt about the importance of each part and what it represents. 

 The Polar Express

Do you believe?  Reception received a golden ticket and wore pyjamas just as the children in the film did.  We watched this magical movie on the big screen.  Each ticketed passenger was  served warm hot chocolate.  Santa left Reception their very own 'first gift of Christmas' a bell from his sleigh!

Week 7

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S Spells Christmas 

The children have enjoyed another busy week in school and the excitement for Christmas is beginning to build! We have been working hard on our Christmas production of C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S Spells Christmas and the children are looking forward to performing this on Wednesday.

 Nativity Story and Christmas Continuous Provision

This week Reception have listened to the Nativity story.  The children used wooden characters to retell it to their friends and practised their cutting skills while making their own Nativity scene.  Decorating the loose parts Christmas trees and snowman models have been a popular choice this week.  Look at our beautiful designs!   

Week 6

 The Gingerbread Man

This week we have enjoyed listening to and retelling the traditional tale of "The Gingerbread Man".  The children were very excited to make their own gingerbread person by following instructions, carefully measuring and mixing ingredients from a recipe. 

Equal Amounts

This week the children have been using songs and rhymes that include the counting sequence. They have been representing quantities to 10 and matching different representations.  We remembered that the 'stopping number' tells us how many we need altogether.  The children have been recognising numerals to 5 and developing their understanding of equal amounts.  

 Building Towers

 Counting Carrots

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Reception class have been practising for our performance. We worked as a team to decorate our class Christmas tree.

Week 5

 Owl Babies

This week Reception listened to the story "Owl Babies" by Martin Waddell.  We discussed what the owl characters could be saying and wrote our own speech bubbles.   We learnt that owls are ‘nocturnal’ and baby owls are called ‘owlets’.  The children used different materials to create their own owl picture. It was lots of fun and everyone was really creative!
We have spoken about how an owl would feel and discussed words to describe owls. The children chose soft materials to stick on their pictures. Well done Reception, the owl pictures look brilliant!  

 Virtual Christmas Performance 

Reception are taking part in Newcastle Music Partnership North's virtual Christmas performance of ‘The Star Was Bright’.

Week 4

 In the Net!

As the world cup began this week, we looked at the text "In the Net!" by Jillian Powell   After reading the book together the children wrote some fantastic sentences using their phonic knowledge and practised using finger spaces and a full stop. 

We played an old and new football themed game with our friends and compared them.  Reception decided that the traditional game of 'Blow Football' from the past was more fun to play!

Parts and Whole

This week the children have been learning about 'part' and 'whole.' We have looked at toys with different parts and even different body parts.  The children learnt that all the parts together make a whole.  We then moved onto making sets of 2 and 3. They learnt that 1 and 2 are parts of 3. Below is a link to the Numberblocks episode that explores 'part' and 'whole' 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08dr1l3/numberblocks-series-1-12-the-whole-of-me

As part of mastery maths this week the focus is how parts make a whole.  One of our continuous provision challenges was to complete a jigsaw, with the emphasis on how all the parts of a puzzle make a whole.

Week 3

Rosie's Walk

Our story of the week is "Rosie's Walk" by Pat Hutchins.  We took an aerial photo of our group story maps.  We used position words and the maps to retell the story in the correct order.

 Where is Fox?

In Maths we were challenged to spot and describe 'Where is Fox?' and played position bingo in a group.

 Comparing Groups

This week the children have been revisiting subitising numbers to 5 and have also been reinforcing their learning with more than and fewer than. They have also been sharing items so that each person has an equal amount as well as making towers with an equal number of cubes.  Below the children are playing 'Who has more?'.

Equal Amounts

We helped Baby Bear share the party items, so each bear had an equal amount.  We compared groups of up to 3 objects by matching them 1:1.

 Children in Need

Thank you to all the families who have helped us to support Children in Need once again this year by sending their children in non-uniform and giving donations.  What a fab day we have had, and we raised money for a great cause at the same time!  The children enjoyed decorating their own spotty cupcakes and tried the fundraising activity 'hook a duck' from the story "Pudsey's Great Fundraiser". 

 Autumn Mono Printing

The children enjoyed creating their own mono prints  by rolling paint onto a perspex  panel and using their fingers to create a leaf design. Once they were happy with their picture the children placed a sheet of plain paper on top and pressed down. When the paper was lifted away the children were amazed that their picture had transferred onto their paper. 

 Leaf Man and Andy Goldsworthy

Our story of the week is "Leaf Man" by Lois Ehlert.  We used photos of transient artist Andy Goldsworthy for inspiration.   Reception used Autumn treasures such as leaves, conkers, sticks and acorns to make our own animal, people and patterned designs.

Week 2

 Theo and the Velvet Onesies

Reception were fascinated to learn children had to sleep underground during the war to stay safe in London.  We found out that the prime minister Winston Churchill's siren suit was the original onesie! 

Lest We Forget

Reception observed the two minute silence on Remembrance Day.  We watched the Cbeebies animation 'Poppies' and talked about how the rabbit was feeling. The children used loose parts to make their own poppy designs. 

Five

This week the children have been using the song 'Five Little Peas' when looking at the number 5.  They have been making collections of 5 using a hand template and then a die frame. The children soon realised that if you put two die frames together there are 10 in total - "5 and another 5 make 10 altogether".

 Hapa Zome

Reception enjoyed working with Mrs McHatton in the Bushcraft area.  Hapa zome is the Japanese art of bashing the natural pigment out of leaves and flowers onto fabric to create prints.  It’s a wonderful sensory experience, a really simple and effective way to learn a little more about plants and trees and a creative way to make beautiful prints.

 Exploring Brambles

We explored the key text "The Gifts That Grow" and tasted brambles in different formats.  The children used their senses to explore Autumn treasures.  They squashed the berries to make their own paint.

 Sparks in the Sky

As the children have been celebrating Bonfire night this weekend, we based a discussion around what sights, smells and sounds they could hear as the fireworks produced their lovely bright colours in our dark sky. We enjoyed reading and looking at our story of the week "Sparks in the Sky" and based a classroom discussion around the story. The children were very excited to tell everyone about their own experiences. 

Bonfire Night Brave Writing

Our independent brave write this week was all about bonfire night.  We used a robot 'Fred talk' voice to sound out words.  Reception described the firework noises and spectacular sights they could see.

 Fireworks Crafts

We made our bonfire night pictures using a range of media.  This included collage, mono prints and chalks.  Reception used the bonfire themed pattern cards and paintbrushes to mark make.

Edible Sparklers

Reception made edible fireworks.  We used icing and sprinkles to make our designs.  They were delicious!

 Hedgehog Bread

Reception have continued to learn about the nocturnal hedgehog.  We each made a hedgehog bread roll.  The children followed a recipe, kneaded the bread, let it rise, shaped it with scissors and put it in the oven ready for hometime.

Plan to Play

Hedgehog Enhancements

Our finger challenge was to add spikes to a hedgehog.  The children have enjoyed exploring oil pastels this week to make observational drawings.

 Hedgehog Awareness Art Day

We discovered that hedgehogs are nocturnal and are awake during the night by listening to "Wide-awake Hedgehog" during storytime.  They also hibernate and sleep for a long time during Winter.  Sadly hedgehogs are becoming endangered and our school council arranged this day to raise awareness.  The art the children produced was entered into a competition.

Thank you Mrs McHatton for the donated wooden shape puzzles.  They have been very popular!

Week 1

 What's in the Witch's Kitchen?

Reception wrote their own spooky spells.  We used a 'Fred talk' robot voice to sound out words.  Look at our fantastic writing!

Magical Mud Experiment

Reception made green cornflour slime.  We experimented squeezing the mixture and rolling it into a ball.  The mixture felt different and changed when we stopped rolling it.  The children developed their observational skills by describing how the mixture felt and talked about the changes they could see and feel. 

 Bubbling Magic Potion

We mixed together bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to make fizzy potions.  Look what happens when the ingredients are mixed together.  What words can you use to describe the potion?

Comparing Groups

This week in Maths the children have been comparing groups of objects, finding the group that has more or fewer. They have been using the stem sentences ".... has more than ..." "... has fewer than ...".  The children have found the word 'fewer' a little tricky but have become more confident as the week has progressed.