Cycle Tots

Reception enhanced their knowledge of road safety, combining it with having lots of fun during the Cycle Tots visit. During the morning they learnt why you must always wear a helmet when riding a bike and how to be aware of other road users. They also learnt the importance of balance, co-ordination and resilience, as well as developing their gross motor skills.

Thinking About Buddhism

We said a very big "thank you" to Mr Garner who talked to the children about Buddhism and his experiences and beliefs. They learnt about meditation and thought about how they could practice it in class.

Reception are Down at the Bottom of the Garden!

Term Five's learning journey is "Down at the Bottom of the Garden" and we started it with a wonderful "WOW" visit to Wakehurst! The children were taken on a tour of the beautiful gardens by the Garden Fairy who taught them about the plants growing in their grounds. They collected twigs, leaves, tree bark and petals to decorate their own crowns and wands. After their delicious lunch they made ephemeral art sculptures before getting the bus back to school.

They retold their day, adding details about what they have learnt for their learning journal.

They also read the book "From Caterpillar to Butterfly". Using the text they learnt about the life cycle of their visitors - the caterpillars! Everyone was excited to see their progress as they slowly evolved into beautiful butterflies and the children have all raced in each day to see the transformation from caterpillars into butterflies.  They were both excited and a little sad as they released them into the wild.

The other focus book was Tadpole's Promise. The children wrote simple sentences about the life cycle of a frog, and discussed the meaning of promises and the concept of forgiveness just like caterpillar and tadpole in the story.

Wonderful Water

Term Four's EYFS topic is Wonderful Water. In literacy the children read "There was an old lady that swallowed the sea" and explored rhyming couplets. They also read "The Night Pirates" and were introduced to a crew of girl-only pirates. The story is about Tom, a boy who joins the crew, which takes him on an adventure across the high seas to steal the treasure from the grown-up pirates. Following this they created their own treasure maps and "Wanted" posters.

They practised their weaving skills and built simple circuits to light up their lighthouses, like the "The Lighthouse Keeper"; and made their own crazy wishes like the "The Fish That Could Wish"!

In literacy the children listened to the poem "Listen" by Brenda Williams. The poem describes the swishing, swirling sounds of the sea and the children imagined the sounds that they would hear standing by the shore.  They took part in a sound lotto game and wrote sentences to predict what they could hear, and walked quietly around the school grounds to listen to all the sounds of Spring.

Knowledge and Understanding

In their Knowledge and Understanding subject, they sorted different creatures into groups beginning to understand their different clarifications.

Construction and Digging!

The children focused on the story "Callum's Incredible Construction Kit". They designed their own machines and wrote instructions for others to follow, just in case they wanted to copy their inventions.

They also became Palaeontologists bringing the story "Dinosaur Dig" to life by discovering some interesting bones in the school digging area.

During their art lessons they looked at real fossils and developed their line drawing to create observational drawings.

Going on a Bear Hunt in Reception!

Reception children started their new term by going on a bear hunt! They built dens and caves, discussed the story, created actions and sounds for each part of the family's journey. They even went on their own Bear Hunt to the woods!

Reception Celebrate Diwali.

To celebrate Diwali, the children read the story of Rama and Sita and learnt about this important Hindu festival. They used their knowledge of phonemes to record the initial sounds of each of the characters. They made diva lamps to guide Rama home!

The Jolly Postman

As part of this term's topic, "Once Upon a Time", the children discussed the role of a Post Person and talked about the post that gets delivered to their home. They have also read the story of The Jolly Postman, created a story map of his route and the characters that he met.

During the term he continued his journey by meeting the Witch at Gingerbread Cottage. The children also elaborated on this part of his journey by reading the stories Room on a Broom and Hansel and Gretel.

Beegu and Funny Bones

The children read the story book Beegu, thinking about what it feels like to find themselves somewhere new and different. They used the text to make their own speech bubbles to consider what Beegu might say when he finds himself in new places.

They also read the story book Funnybones by Allan Ahlberg. They sequenced the story and used their phonic knowledge to help them write their own sentences.

Reception Term One Topics

As part of this term's topic "Ourselves", the Reception children discussed birthdays. Linked to the book "Bear's Birthday", they explored different birthday experiences, talked about their own birthdays, and shared their memories of past birthdays.

They also talked about why we celebrate Harvest and found out were we get our food from (especially pumpkins!). They learnt how wheat is milled into flour and even made their own delicious bread rolls! During their art lesson, they drew their own fruit and used vegetables to make print patterns.

Welcome to Reception

We welcomed to all our new Reception children and parents and were so impressed with how everyone settled into the school routine so quickly. The children made new friends and discussed what they like to do; if they have any brothers or sisters and what they liked most about school. They also expressed how we make each other feel by learning about the zones of regulation.

They discovered their classrooms and used the lovely resources, enjoyed their lunches and playing outside.