Reception

We've had another busy week in Reception! All of the children were absolutely incredible during our class worship on our Christian value of ‘Thankfulness’. They excelled themselves by learning all of their words, singing beautifully and sharing the prayer that they’d created with everyone. Well done to each and every one of them. They were superstars!

We enjoyed taking part in our LDST Ethos Day. We listened brilliant during our zoom session and designed our own crosses.

In Maths, we have continued our learning about halving, with a focus on halving amounts. We have halved fruit for parrots, halved gold coins for pirates and we halved the bees in the hive to share them equally between two flowers.

In Literacy, we have sequenced the story of The Storm Whale using a storyboard structure. The children have illustrated the different sections of the story to support our writing of the story next week.

Take a look at the gallery below to see our learning in action. 

It’s been another busy week in Reception! We have continued with our learning about ‘Journeys’ and we thought about the different ways that we can travel. The children shared their experiences and drew pictures and made models.

We have enjoyed learning outdoors and making sandcastles by mixing the right consistency of sand and water.

We have also enjoyed using the skill of collage and using this effect to decorate our own storm whales.

In Maths, we have been learning about halving. Our focus this week has been on halving shapes. We have matched halves of everyday objects and split 2D shapes in half.

In Literacy, we have continued our learning around the story of The Storm Whale. We explored the vocabulary and phrases from the story and used some of the new words in our own sentences.

What a lovely week to kick start our final half term in Reception! We have had lots of fun in the sunshine this week making shaving ice cream, dens and lots of water play! We’ve also shown how grown up we are by keeping hydrated and applying our sun cream.

This half term we are learning our Journeys and Holidays and this week we’ve been thinking about the seaside. We learnt the new vocabulary of turret and moat while building sandcastles!

In Maths, we have been learning about doubling. We have learnt that when we double we add the same amount and we are getting really speedy at working out doubles to double 5 with our fingers. We’ve doubled the ladybird’s spots and the shells in the buckets.

In Literacy, we started the week by listening to the story of Lucy and Tom at the Seaside by . We wrote ‘I can see…’ sentences after looking at illustrations from the story.

We then started a unit of learning based around the story The Storm Whale by Benji Davies. We looked at objects from the story and thought about how we could help the little whale who was beached on the shore. We then wrote sentences using our ideas. The next day, we listened to the story and compared our ideas with how the little boy Noi tried to help the whale.

To finish the week, we had a really lovely Father's Day Stay and Play session where we were able to celebrate our wonderful Dads, Grandads and Uncles.

Take a look at the gallery below to see our week in action. 

Week ending 26.05.23

In Maths, we have been focusing on addition using ‘First, then and now’ stories. The children have been amazing at using their knowledge of number and their recording skills to find and write down the answer.

In Literacy, we have created new stories each day using our Tales Toolkit story bags. The children are becoming more and more imaginative with character, setting, problem and solution. The children extended their learning by writing the stories we created together as a class.

Take a look at the pictures below to see our learning in action. 

Week ending 19.05.23

In RE and Personal, Social and Emotional Development, we have been thinking about friendship. We listened to the Bible story of Naomi and Ruth and discussed what it means to be a loyal friend. We came up with lots of different qualities that a good friend should have and thought about how we can be good friends to each other. We returned to the story of The Colour Monster to support our emotional literacy when considering how friendship can make us feel.

In Maths, we have been developing our spatial reasoning skills using shapes. We created our own ‘Which one doesn’t belong?’ prints and explained our thinking to our talk partners.

In Literacy, we have introduced a new Early Literacy and Early Language approach called Tales Toolkit. This week, the children have used the Tales Toolkit bags to create their own story, with a character, setting, problem and solution. The children have been so imaginative and next week we are going to use our storytelling to write our own stories.

12.05.23

This week, we have had a real focus on child-initiated learning in the provision. The children have been so enthusiastic and motivated in their learning, using their own ideas and interests as a starting point. We have had bottle flip maths games, puppet shows, jewellery making and kite flying, to name but a few examples of the wonderful learning that has taken place.

In Maths, we have continued to sequence numbers and identify one more and one less that a given number. We’ve also had a focus on number formation to support our recording of maths.

In Literacy, we have been using a range of non-fiction texts to further our learning about minibeasts. We have identified the features of a non-fiction text, including the contents page and the glossary. We have continued to work on including finger spaces in our writing and we are making excellent progress!

Take a look at the gallery below to see our learning in action!

05.05.23

Today, we learnt about King Charles’ coronation. We found out some facts about King Charles, made crowns and had our own celebration of a picnic lunch and disco!

In Maths, we have been consolidating our learning of one more and one less. The children sequenced numbers using their knowledge.

In Literacy, we have been focusing on leaving finger spaces between words in our sentence writing. The children are making great progress in this area of their learning! They have written simple sentences about The Hungry Caterpillar to practise finger spaces in their writing books.

Take a look at the gallery below to see our learning in action. 

27.04.23

Today we went on our class trip to Norton Priory. We learnt about plants, bees, worms and other minibeasts through lots of hands on activities. We learnt all about plants and bees in our first workshop and made a beeswax candle to take home. Then we took part in a nature hunt in the walled garden, followed by a walk through the spooky wood, where we heard 5 different bird songs! After lunch, we explored the museum, charmed worms and found lots of minibeast during a minibeast hunt. We finished the day by planting our own sunflower seeds to take home. It was a wonderful day, jam packed with learning, and our teachers and the other grown ups were so proud of our impeccable behaviour! Take a look at the gallery below to see our day in action. 

Week ending 21.04.23

What a wonderful start to the summer term! This half term, we are learning about Minibeasts and we kick started our learning with a 'Minibeast Hunt' around our school grounds in the sunshine! We found lots of different minibeasts in their micro-habitats and ticked them off on our hunt checklists. We also drew pictures of the minibeasts we found using pastel crayons.

In Maths, we have been learning about numbers beyond 10. We learnt that teen numbers are ten and ‘some more’ and used our knowledge to play teen number bingo, build teen numbers outside with the giant Numicon and counted to collect the correct amount of objects.

In Literacy, we listened to the story of ‘The Cautious Caterpillar’. We explored the new vocabulary of ‘cautious’ and discussed its meaning. We also used our phonic knowledge to rewrite the story in our Literacy books.

Take a look at the gallery below to see our learning in action!

Week ending 24.03.23

This week, we have continued our learning linked to British Science Week. We had two special assemblies throughout the week and learnt lots about the possibilities of science and the job that scientists do.

In Literacy, we have been labelling the parts of a daffodil and writing sentences about the spring flowers. 

In Maths, we have been recapping on number bonds to 10 and writing number sentences.

Take a look at the images below to see our learning in action. 

Week ending 17.03.23

This week, our school has been taking part in Science Week. We had a great time learning about all the different strands of Science in our whole school assembly on Monday. In class, we have been exploring the flow of water and creating our own experiments using scientific equipment in our water area. Next week, will be moving on to floating and sinking and making our own boats using this knowledge.   

Take a look at the images below to see our learning in action. 

Week ending 10/03/23

We had a great time celebrating International Women’s Day on Wednesday. The children thought about what they would like to be when they grow up and we talked about everyone having the right to be what they want to be. We have aspiring Doctors, Builders, Footballers, Dancers, Police Officers… the list goes on! The children spoke with pride about their amazing Mummies and listened to stories of inspirational women around the world.

In Literacy, to continue our learning from our visit from Alison last week, the children have been writing instructions for brushing their teeth. We listened to ‘Alan’s Big Scary Teeth’ by Jarvis. We enjoyed learning the new vocabulary and the funny illustrations in the story.

In Maths, we have been learning about 3D shapes. We recognised shapes and made repeating patterns with 3D shapes.

Take a look at the images below to see our learning in action. 

Week ending 03.03.23

This week, we have had so much fun celebrating World Book Day! The children looked incredible in their fabulous costumes and loved sharing the stories they brought in with them. We also enjoyed learning about our focus country of Tanzania. We listening to ‘We are Going on Safari – a Tanzania Counting Story’ and learnt to count in Swahili. We also watched a video about a little girl called Naseriah, who is part of the Maasai tribe. We learnt what it is like to live in Tanzania and noticed the similarities and differences between Naseriah’s life and our own.

On Thursday, we had a very special visit from Evie’s Mummy, who is a dental nurse. She taught the children the importance of brushing their teeth and how long and how often they should brush. The children were really knowledgeable and are looking forward to brushing the dolls’ teeth for two minutes in the home corner next week!

In Maths, we’ve continued our learning around number bonds to 10. This week, we used Numicon pieces to make each number bond.

Take a look at our learning in action below. 

Week ending 24.02.23

This week, we’ve started to think about the season of spring. We have thought about the animals that are born during spring time and learnt about the life cycle of a chicken.

In Literacy, we’ve been enjoying the ‘Oi Frog!’ series of stories by Kes Gray. We have written the rule for frogs and enjoyed exploring the rhyming words.

In Maths, we’ve enjoyed learning about number bonds to 10. We’ve learnt songs to help us remember, we’ve explored the number bonds with objects and represented them using part whole models.

Week ending 10.02.23

On Thursday, we all wore something yellow for our LDST Wellbeing Day. We talked about what wellbeing is and how we can take care of our own wellbeing. We took part in a range of activities, from gardening to yoga, which allowed us to play and take time and enjoy being together.

In Literacy, the traditional tale we’ve focused on this week is The Elves and the Shoemaker. We’ve explored the new vocabulary in the story and the children have enjoyed sequencing pictures from different parts of the story.

In Maths, we have been counting on to make the correct amounts on dominoes.

On Friday, we went to St Luke's Church. Along with all of the other children in school, we led our final worship of this half term based around our Christian value of Perseverance. We sang beautifully for everyone in church. 

Take a look at the gallery below to see our learning in action. 

Week ending 03.02.23

This week, there has been so much fantastic child-initiated learning going on in Reception! The children have been so purposeful in their play and it’s been wonderful to see their creativity, problem solving and thinking in action.

In RE this week, we have been learning about ‘special holy places’ – places of worship. The children have been really thoughtful in their learning and shared their own experiences and thinking.

In Literacy, Little Red Riding Hood has continued to be our focus text. This week we have listened to different versions of the story and created ‘wanted’ posters for the big bad wolf. We’ve also done some great independent speech bubble writing in our ‘Message Centre’.

In Maths, we have been learning about making pairs with numbers, in preparation for our learning about odd and even numbers later in the year. The children have been introduced to the vocabulary of odd and even and they are amazing at working out if a number is odd or even.

Week ending 27.01.23

Reception have enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year and how it is celebrated. Some of the children have shared their own experiences of attending celebrations at the weekend and this has sparked the interest of lots of the other children. We’ve made dragon masks and lanterns, performed a Dragon Dance Parade around our school, chanting ‘Good luck in, bad luck out’, and worn traditional clothing and used chopsticks to eat in our new café role play area.

In Literacy, Little Red Riding Hood has been our focus text. We talked about the similarities and differences between this story and Goldilocks and The Three Bears.  We’ve also made story maps and wrote sentences about how Little Red was feeling.

In Maths, we have been learning about capacity. We ordered containers by how much water we thought they would hold and then we filled the containers to see if we were right. We used the vocabulary of empty, full, half-empty, half-full and overflow!

Week ending 20.01.23

This week, we have been learning about different types of maps. Lots of the children enjoy making maps in their play, so we followed this interest and linked it to the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We decided to draw our own maps for Goldilocks to make sure she doesn’t get lost in the woods again! 

In Literacy, we continued our learning around the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We made bear porridge and wrote instructions for Goldilocks to make porridge her own porridge too!

In Maths, we have been learning number bonds to 5. We used cubes, Numicon pieces and throwing games to consolidate our learning.

Take a look at the gallery below to see our learning in action!

Week ending 13.01.23

We have had a jam packed week in school this week! In RE, we have been thinking about Special Places. We drew and labelled our own special place. We have enjoyed exploring our new ‘Light and Dark’ investigation shelves and on Wednesday we made shadow puppets. In PE, we have moved on to movement games. We had lots of fun playing ‘bumper cars’ using hoops, as we travelled in different ways and followed instructions.

In Literacy, we have enjoyed listening to the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In our reading area, we have used puppets and props to retell the story using different voices for the characters. We have also sequenced the story and written a sentence in our writing books.

In Maths, we have been learning to represent numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 in different ways on a ten frame. In our daily maths meetings, we have been counting and ordering numbers and finding one more and one less than a given number.

Week ending 06.01.23

This week has been ‘Arts Week’ in school and the children have done lots of creative learning. Wednesday afternoon was Panto time and the children had so much fun watching Aladdin!

As a school, we are taking part in the Spirited Arts Project and that has been the focus for our learning this week. Our theme of ‘Green Faith, Green Future’ has made us think about ways that we can care for our world. Focus stories of Noah’s Ark and The Messy Magpie have supported our artwork about a ‘Green’ world. We drew pictures of what we thought the world might have looked like after the flood and learnt how to mix water and powder paints to make our own watercolours.

We were so lucky to have a dance workshop with Miss Natalie to finish the week! We used dance and drama to tell the story of nature and had so much fun moving to the music!

Week ending 16/12/22

This week, we performed in our Christmas concert. We had so much fun singing and dancing and put on a great show for our families. We also had our Christmas party, which was so much fun! We danced, played games and had party food.

We have enjoyed learning about the change of season in our outdoor area this week. We have explored the snow and the ice and we’ve thought about the changes to night and day now that it gets darker much earlier.

In Phonics, we have been reading lots of words using Fred Talk and Fred in our Head. We have also been writing words using Fred Fingers. We have also been applying our phonic knowledge in our play by writing Christmas lists and Christmas cards for our friends and family.

Week ending 09/12/22

This week, we introduced independent challenges to our classroom. We were set five challenges that have been matched to our next steps in learning and skill development. This week, our challenges were linked to Christmas and we’ve had so much fun completing them! 

In Maths, we have been focusing on four sided shapes. We’ve spotted them in our classroom and outside area and in pictures of other everyday objects. We’ve also created our own four sided shapes using craft matchsticks and lollipop sticks.

In Literacy, we have used our phonic knowledge to write Christmas lists. Using ‘Fred Fingers’, we’ve been able to segment the sounds in each word to write them.  

Week ending 02/12/22

This week, we are fully embracing the festive season! We have enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree in our home corner, we’ve made junk model reindeers and we’ve been doing lots of singing practice for our Christmas Concert.

In Maths, we have returned to the composition of number. Focusing on numbers 4 and 5, we have explored all of the different ways that 4 and 5 can be made. The children have such a deep understanding of the numbers and it is supporting their ability to add and subtract. We have enjoyed making collections and playing games to consolidate our learning and secure our knowledge.

In Literacy, we have enjoyed listening to stories by Timothy Knapman. ‘Dinosaurs in my School’ has been a firm favourite! The children made predictions about what would happen next at key points through the story.

Week ending 25/11/22

This week, we continued with our learning around dinosaurs. In the creative area, we added a replica of a dinosaur skull and we observed carefully to draw the detail that we could see. We also used our sense of touch to investigate the skull a little bit further and used words to describe what we could feel.

In Maths, we have been using mathematical language to describe shapes. We looked at the artwork of Kadinsky and spotted the different shapes in his paintings. We created our own artwork in the style of Kadinsky and then described the properties of the shapes we had used.

In Literacy, we continued to work on sentence writing. We looked at images of different dinosaurs and came up with our own ‘I am …’ sentences using Fred Talk to write the words.

Take a look at the gallery below to see our learning in action.

Week ending 18/11/22

On Monday, we kickstarted Anti-Bullying Week with Odd Sock Day. In Reception, we talked about how we can show kindness to each other. We shared ideas about how we’d been kind to our friends and family and enjoyed listening to the story ‘Tyrannosaurus Drip’. 

In Maths, we have been learning about one more and one less. We used the Numicon pieces and cubes to make one more and one less for different numbers.

In Literacy, we have enjoyed listening to Mad About Dinosaurs by Giles Andreae. We also learnt about how dinosaur bones are discovered and carefully removed to be taken to museums. This was a focus for our sentence writing.

On Friday, as past of our learning about 'Occupations', we had a special visitor. Mr Brooke, who is a paramedic, came in to talk about the important job that he does and what we should do in an emergency. One little boy in the class was super proud of his Daddy and even let the children look at his toy ambulance! 

Week ending 11/11/22

In Reception Class this week, we started our Dinosaur topic. We have enjoyed making dinosaur worlds in the small world and construction areas, and we’ve been fascinated by all of the different types of dinosaurs we’ve seen in our Dinosaur non-fiction texts.

In Maths, we have been learning about the composition of different numbers. We have explored all of the different ways that 3 counters can be arranged on a five frame.

In Literacy, we have enjoyed listening to some ‘Harry and His Bucketful of Dinosaurs’ stories by Ian Whybrow. In guided writing, we composed a sentence about a dinosaur and then we had a go at writing the sentence using ‘Fred Talk’ to spell the words.

Take a look at the pictures below to see some of our adult-led and child-initiated learning in action. 

Week ending 04/11/22

This week, we have been learning all about pumpkins! We looked at the life cycle of a pumpkin and compared it to the learning we did about apple trees back at the start of the school year. We looked closely at some miniature pumpkins on our ‘The World’ shelves and did observational drawings of them. 

In Maths, this week we have been making collections and representations of the numbers 1, 2 and 3. We have investigated the composition of each number and used Numicon to make the amounts in different ways.

In Literacy, we have been learning about the story Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper. On Monday, we made our own pumpkin soup and enjoyed tasting it! We then wrote a list of the ingredients we used and instructions for how to make the soup.

Take a look at the images below to see our learning in action!

Week ending 14/10/22

A huge well done to all of the children who sang beautifully in our Harvest Worship last Friday afternoon. We were so proud of you!

As part of our learning in Understanding the World, we had another visit from a person who helps us. Mrs Weadock, who is a nurse, talked to the children about the very important job that she does. The children listened carefully and enjoyed trying on the gown that a patient might wear in hospital.

On Monday, we took part in a workshop - part of the Cronton Sun Moon ans Stars project. We made our own beautiful star wands that we were able to use in our play. 

In Maths, we have continued our learning linked to comparing objects. This week, we compared objects by length and weight. We used the balance scales to compare objects and enjoyed the challenge of making them balance.

In Literacy, to link to World Mental Health Day, we have been listening to the story of Elmer. We thought about what makes Elmer happy in the story and then drew pictures of the things that make us happy.

Have a look at the pictures below to see our learning in action. 

Week ending 07/10/2022

It’s been another jam-packed week in Reception Class. This week we have been practising for our Harvest Worship. We have been singing the songs beautifully and learning about why we give thanks at Harvest time. We even had a visit from Farmer Ollie and his gigantic tractor!

In Maths, we have been comparing objects of different sizes. We’ve been using lots of great mathematical vocabulary in our learning.

In Literacy, we have been listening to the story of The Little Red Hen. We have been learning to retell and sequence the story. We’ve also made puppets and shelters for the characters in the story. Take a look at the pictures below to see our learning in action.

Week ending 30.09.22

What a busy week we have had in Reception this week! We started the week learning all about France as part of the European Day of Languages. We counted, sang songs, made flags and tasted French food. It was so much fun!

We had a very special visit on Wednesday from Mrs Kay, a neo-natal nurse. We learnt new vocabulary including incubator and neo-natal. She talked to us about the very important job that she does and the children were then able to use the equipment she gave us. 

On Thursday, we had our first Spanish session with Mrs Kimmins. We learnt how to say hello in Spanish and then we practised it in a song. 

Take a look at the pictures below to see our learning in action...

Week ending 23.09.22

This week, in Maths, we have been matching and sorting. We enjoyed listening to the story 'The Button Box' and we had a go at sorting buttons in lots of different ways. In Literacy, we read the information text 'I am Special' and we shared what makes us special in our class discussion. In our independent learning, we have shown lots of enthusiasm and determination. In the construction area, we have started to write simple labels for the models we have made. Take a look at our learning in action...

Week ending 16/09/22

This week, we had our first PE lesson in the hall. We all showed perseverance and independence in getting changed for PE and we were so excited as we lined up to go into the hall! We listened carefully and followed the instructions quickly and showed lots of skill in the way we travelled. 

We have been engaged and excited in our child-led learning and there has been lots of imaginative play  outdoors. Take a look at our learning in action...

Week ending 9/9/22

Reception have been amazing on their first full week in school. They are remembering all of their important jobs in the morning and sitting beautifully at carpet time. The have been really engaged and enthusiastic in our morning maths meetings and they've listened carefully during our story time and Literacy sessions. We loved learning about the life cycle of an apple tree in Understanding the World. 

In their play, the children have been taking turns and sharing with each other. They have also been using their imaginations in lots of areas of the classroom. Take a look at some of our learning in action... 

This year, it will be Mrs Durr and Miss Wilson looking after you! We are both very excited to welcome you into Reception and cannot wait to have some wonderful times learning new things together.