We hope you enjoy watching our Reception journey and all of the wonderful things that we have been doing at school together! 
 

Spring 2

Naughty Bus

This half term our topic is All Aboard and to begin our topic together, we have been reading our Power of Reading text 'Naughty Bus.' 

Spring 1

Chinese New Year

This week we have been learning all about the celebration of Chinese New Year and we know that this year is the year of the Dragon. We have created lots of beautiful crafts and art work and we have also produced some wonderful writing in Literacy too. During class discussions, we have made lots of links to celebrations that we have experienced and we have asked lots of fascinating questions to help us to find out more. Our favourite part of the week was having the opportunity to taste a variety of Chinese foods and persevering at using chopsticks together.

One Snowy Night

In Reception we have spent the last few weeks sharing the story 'One Snowy Night' by Nick Butterworth together and this has been a firm favourite! We have written our own list of things that we need to prepare for a cold, winters night and we have reflected upon how kind the main character is to all of the animals in the story. We have made our own bird feeders to hang in our nature garden and we also used the junk modelling materials to build our own wildlife shelters too. Amongst lots of other amazing things, we have been on many wildlife walks and have worked together collaboratively to sort a variety of animals into the correct habitats. What super learners we are! 

The Polar Bear and the Snow Cloud

Over the past few weeks we have been reading the story 'The Polar Bear and the Snow Cloud' together in Reception and we have enjoyed learning all about arctic animals and environments that are different to the one in which we live. In Literacy, we have discussed the different attributes that make a good friend and we have been writing about our favourite parts of the story. We have also loved developing our storytelling skills using props and small world toys to retell the story together. In provision, we have been busy weighing and measuring ingredients to make our own snow dough and we have painted lots of beautiful masterpieces for our classroom display. 

Season of Winter

What a lovely week we have had returning to school after Christmas and New Year. In Reception this week we have been learning all about the season of Winter and we have especially loved exploring our very frosty outdoor environment. We have been on lots of welly walks together to observe the seasonal changes that are occurring in our natural environment and we have made links to our own experiences. In class, we have been writing about what we discovered with our senses and we have created lots of spectacular winter art work together. 

Autumn 2

Christmas Celebrations

We have loved every second of getting into the festive spirit over the last few weeks. In school, we have taken part in lots of magical and exciting activities to make Christmas memories together. We performed our Christmas Nativity 'We're Going on a Baby Hunt' to our friends and families and we made everyone so proud! 

Astro Girl

In Reception this week we have been reading our Power of Reading text, Astro Girl. We have taken part in a hot seating activity and taken on the role of the main character Astrid. We asked our friends lots of intriguing questions to help us to find out more. We learned that in the story Astrid wanted to be an astronaut as she had been inspired by her Mammy and so we spent time discussing our own aspirations when we grow up. We have taken part in some fascinating science investigations together and we have particularly enjoyed creating our own space dough. What a super week we have had!

Whatever Next

As part of our Space topic, we have enjoyed reading Whatever Next. We loved listening to the story of Baby Bear's journey to the Moon and we were intrigued by what he chose to take with him. We have worked collaboratively in groups to write a list of items that we would take with us in our rockets - should we ever blast off to Space for a spectacular adventure like Baby Bear. We have also been busy exploring lots of sensory Space themed activities too. Our favourite part of the week was investigating light and dark inside our dark den and creating shadows together.

Helena Thompson Museum - Christmas Crafts

On 17th November we were kindly invited to Helena Thompson Museum to enjoy a morning of Christmas crafts together. We had a brilliant, festive morning and we would like to say a huge thank you to all of the staff at the museum for welcoming us and helping us to have so much fun! 

Diwali

This half term we have been fascinated by the celebration of Diwali, the festival of lights. We loved listening to stories and watching videos to help us to find out more. We have also thought about similarities and differences to other celebrations that we have experienced. What a lovely week we have had!

Remembrance Day

In Reception we have learned all about Remembrance Day and the significance and history of the day. We all thoughtfully participated in a whole school assembly and a 2 minute silence to remember. We also respectfully contributed to class discussions and collective worship. Well done Reception, you make us all so proud! 

Maths - 2D Shapes

In Maths we have been learning all about different 2D shapes and their properties. We have worked with our friends to sort and match shapes and we have also searched our environment for shapes in everyday objects. We especially enjoyed learning about the Artist Kandinsky and using his circles and triangles art work to inspire our own shape paintings.

Aliens Love Underpants

This half term our topic is Out of this World, all about Space. To begin our learning we have been reading Aliens Love Underpants, which we found very humorous indeed! We have spent time sharing our favourite parts of the story together and we have sequenced the events. We also enjoyed exploring and using different media to create our own aliens. 

Firefighter Visit

Our children in Nursery and Reception had a visit from our local firefighters to learn about all about their role within the community and how they help us. They helped us to understand how to stay safe and ways in which we can do this. We loved taking turns to try on their uniform and sit inside the fire engine. We asked lots of intriguing questions to help us to find out more. Well done Reception!

Autumn 1

Forest School

Each week we participate in Forest School learning in our wonderful outdoor environment. We have enjoyed exploring our natural world and spending time together in our nature garden. We have had lots of fun using natural paintbrushes to create art work outdoors and we have searched for lots of objects to investigate. 

Season of Autumn

Our Reception children have been on an Autumn Hunt with their families at home and they have each collected lots of interesting autumnal objects for us to explore in school. In class, we have listened to lots of Autumn stories, discussed and observed the seasonal changes and created our own Autumn crafts together. 

Jack and The Beanstalk

In English this week, we have been listening to the story of Jack and The Beanstalk. We have loved using our wonderful imaginations to think of and share our own ideas about what our own ‘magic beans’ could do. We have also worked in groups to use props and stick puppets to retell the story together. Our storytelling video can be seen on Tapestry by parents and families of our Reception children. 

Goldilocks and The Three Bears

This week we have been reading the story Goldilocks and The Three Bears and we have engaged in story times together. In our role play area, we have acted out and retold the story together. We also had the opportunity to make and taste test our own porridge together, just like the characters in the story. 

The Three Little Pigs

In Reception we have been reading The Three Little Pigs in English and we have joined in fantastically with the story. We have made predictions and anticipated key events throughout the story. In the outdoor area, we have used lots of equipment to collaboratively create our own houses for the Three Little Pigs with our friends, after discussing which materials are strongest. We have also enjoyed using a variety of materials and tools to recreate the three houses of the little pigs.  

The Gingerbread Man

To begin our Autumn 1 English topic, ‘Terrific Tales’, we have been sharing together the story of The Gingerbread Man. We have worked together to recall and sequence the events of the story, whilst thinking about how the characters are feeling at different parts of the story. We thought about what we would like our own gingerbread characters to look like and we have designed these in our books. Our favourite part of the week was having the opportunity to bake and taste our own gingerbread biscuits! We took turns excellently to weigh, measure and mix the ingredients. Well done Reception!