Week 8

 Witch's Kitchen

Reception have explored the text and enjoyed finding the rhyming words.  We have been acting out the story "What's in the Witch's Kitchen?" by Nick Sharratt in our role play area and enjoyed making potions.

Halloween Party

Our Reception children had a spooktacular time at their Halloween party.  The children enjoyed the spooky games which included pass the parcel and pin the tail on the black cat.  I'm sure you'll agree that the children looked frightfully good in their Halloween costumes and party clothes.

 Yayoi Kusama

Reception looked at the art work of Yayoi Kusama.  Inspired by her bright colours, sculptures, installations and paintings, we created our own polka dot pumpkin artwork. Here are some photos!

Pumpkin Hammering

To develop our hand eye co-ordination we hammered golf tees into pumpkins.

 "Zoo on the Broom" Zoo Lab Workshop

Rob the wizard came to visit Reception and shared a story about a friendly witch Zog.  She rode on her broomstick through towns, forests and a bog.  The helpful kind witch offers a ride to animal hitchhikers, who we got to meet.  We were introduced to many exciting creatures including a tarantula, snake, giant snail, rat and even a hissing cockroach.  

Week 7

 Pumpkin Soup

Our Reception children have had opportunities to explore, play, cook and even taste pumpkins.  We were inspired by our story for the week called "Pumpkin Soup" by Helen Cooper.  Every day the characters, Squirrel, Duck and Cat slice up a pumpkin from their pumpkin patch, stir in some water and salt to make the perfect pumpkin soup… until the day the animals want to swap jobs!  A funny, rhythmic traditional tale that was perfect for our Autumn topic.

Pumpkin Exploration

Reception used their senses to investigate and describe the pumpkins.  We talked about what was the same and different.

 Fine Motor Challenge

The children painted with cotton buds for pincer grip development.

 Coming to England

It has been another wonderful week of learning for our Reception children. We had a mixed topic week to celebrate Black History and the joys of Autumn. 

We loved listening to a storyteller share how Floella came to Britain on a ship named Empire Windrush.  It is a true story about a girl who lived in Trinidad and moved to England with her family.  The children thought about how would they feel being in a strange place and people not welcoming them.

Numberblock 4

This week we were introduced to Numberblock Four, one jumped onto Three.  Reception made stampoline patterns and investigated how many different shapes they could make.

Week 6

 The Leaf Thief 

This week we enjoyed reading "The Leaf Thief" by Alice Flemming as our story of the week. It provided great discussion about the changes Autumn brings around and led us over to our interest table to look at other books and items we may see around this time.

Autumn Patterns

Reception used their Autumn treasures to create a repeating pattern.

 Colour Patterns

We also continued and made our own AB colour patterns.

Ten Frame

Reception have been developing their number sense through a race to 10 game.  We have been learning to recognise dice patterns and how to fill a ten frame systematically.

 Fine Motor Challenge

We are developing our hand eye co-ordination using bingo dabbers this week.

 Write a Spell

Reception wrote their own spell containing CVC words, using the sounds we have been learning in phonics.

To the Castle - Get Set 4 PE

In PE we set off on a trip to an invisible castle.  To get there we had to travel through a magical forest using different travelling actions.  We had to jump over logs, hop on lily pads and side step through trees.  When the grown ups shouted "the ogre is coming" we had to stop and hold a shape still, so that the ogre didn't see.

 Bushcraft Adventure

In the great outdoors, children connect with nature and engage in hands on experiences that promote curiosity and exploration.

Board Games

Turn taking comes before sharing.  Board games offer a great way to teach children about rules, turn taking, following directions, problem solving and celebrating when someone else wins.  In addition, board games are a fun and interactive way for children to spend time together.

Week 5

 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.

 Composition of 3 and 4

Reception explored how numbers can be composed of 1s and, from this, began to investigate the composition of 2, 3 and 4.  Here we are making our collections of 3 things so that Numberblock Three can see what 3 looks like.  We used the stem sentence "1 and 1 and 1 makes 3".

Numberblock 2

We made collections of 2 and played a sorting game.  Reception took it in turns to subitise the picture cards and sorted them into a 1 and 2 pile.

Week 4

Room on the Broom

Reception listened to the rhyming story "Room on the Broom" by Julia Donaldson.  The children used puppets and prompts to act out and recall story events.  They sequenced the characters on a broom and used labelled the animals using their letter sound knowledge.

Flying Broomstick

Look what happens when we blow through the straw!  We tried to make our witch fly even further on her broomstick.

Signs of Autumn

Reception looked for sigs of Autumn in bushcraft.  We found hazelnuts, sycamore seeds, fir cones, acorns and conkers.  They sorted the Autumn treasures into sets and carefully opened the spiky conker casings.

🍂🍁🍃 Sorting Objects

We sorted the Autumn treasures by colour, texture and type.  Some ideas included 'brown and not brown' and 'smooth, bumpy and both smooth and bumpy'.

 The Button Box

This week in Maths we have been learning all about grouping. We listened to a lovely story "The Button Box" by Margarette S. Reid and helped to sort Miss Knowles' buttons, thinking about colours, sizes and numbers of holes.

Guess My Rule

The children tried to work out what was the same about the button collection.  Are the buttons the same colour, size, shape or have a matching number of holes?

Week 3

 Walking Through the Jungle

We’ve been reading "Walking Through the Jungle" by Julie Lacome.  This repeating story was great for retelling from start to finish, as we recalled the ‘action words’ used throughout the story: walking, running, leaping, swinging, creeping and wading.

In our writing we mad a list of the animals from the story, listening carefully to the initial sounds.  In phonics we have been linking sounds to letters and some children are beginning to use these letters in their writing. 

The children have enjoyed learning some new songs. We developed our listening skills and kept a steady beat using body percussion.  Reception were brilliant and we can't wait to work with Jane again next week.

 Name Train

We've been learning to recognise our name, match the letters and then sequence them.

  Match and Sort into Sets

Reception found objects that match and are the same.  We then guessed the sorting rule and grouped objects into sets.

Subitise

 In Maths, we have been looking at the numbers 1-3 and learning to 'subitise' - seeing how many there are without counting and recognising 1, 2 and 3 in different positions and patterns.

Week 2

Carrot Soup

Reception harvested the carrots they planted in Nursery with Mrs Hughes.  We carefully chopped the ingredients to make a delicious carrot soup for snack time.

Portraits

This week we have been thinking about ourselves and what makes us special.  We shared the gorgeous book "We Are All Different" before discussing and comparing our hair, eye and skin colours.  We painted our own portraits while carefully looking at our facial features in a mirror.

Week 1

 The First Day

My delightful new Reception class have settled into school life seamlessly!  Here they are enjoying their first week.  We have been learning routines and how to use the classroom equipment.  They explored the indoor and outdoor environments, stayed for lunch and have been making new friends.  All of the children have settled in very well and I am looking forward to a fun filled year!  Have a look at some of the things we have been up to ...

In Reception we balance adult led activities and child initiated play.  Through adult led activities we can introduce children to new ideas and provide opportunities for them to develop their skills.  During play children explore their own ideas, learn how to use resources and use imagination and creativity.