Summer Term 2021

W/C 21/06/2021

We have finished our book work on 'The Night Pirates.' We finished off by going on a Pirates adventure using the Now, Press, Play audio equipment. We then finished off by writing a 'How to be a Pirate' guide. The children wrote some amazing guides! Next week, we will start our new focus text which is going to be 'The Naughty Bus.'

In Maths, we learnt about doubles and explored doubles using bingo dabbers and butterflies. We added spots to one side of a butterfly and then folded it in half to double the amount. We learnt that double means twice as many.

We continued learning about famous landmarks in London and the children had a go at creating the different buildings using blocks.

In PSHE we discussed how we are feeling with the thought of moving up to Year 1. This discussion sparked a variety of emotions. Some children said they were excited whilst others said they felt nervous. We discussed that it is perfectly normal to feel nervous. It would be really helpful if you can continue to talk to your child about how they feel about moving up to Year 1 and reassure them that Mrs Glaves is a lovely teacher!

Caterpillar update: They are huge and really fat!

W/C 14th June 2021

 I am not sure where this week has gone but we blinked and week 2 is over!

 We continued our book work on 'The Night Pirates.' We received a letter from The Night Pirates asking if we would like to join them on their adventures out at sea. We wrote our own letters back saying that we would love to join them. We also learnt more about the key features of a Pirate Ship. We learnt some new words: toil, mast, stern, bow of the skip and rigging.

 In Maths, we continued to use First, Then, Now stories to learn about subtraction. The children demonstrated a great understanding of this and we had a go at writing number sentences for others to follow. Next week, we will be practicing our doubling skills.

In PSHE, we recapped our understanding about the different stages of human life. We understood that we change from babies to an elderly person over our period of life. The children were keen to talk about what they look forward to being able to do when they are an adult e.g. driving a car, getting a job and eating sweets when they want!

We continued learning about London and went on a virtual tour of London. We looked at the landscape and compared it to Sleaford. We were fascinated with the London Eye and loved watching videos of it in action. Mrs Hughes told us all about it as she has been on it!

 We now have some class caterpillars which we are going to watch grow and eventually change into butterflies- we will keep your posted with each stage! We will look forward to learning about the Life Cycle of a Butterfly.

 On Friday, we had a visit from a HUGE dragon- photos to follow!

W/C 07th June 2021

We had a great first week back and it was made even better with the gorgeous weather.

We started our new focus text in Literacy, 'The Night Pirates.' We have been learning about maps and how they help us to travel from one place to another. We kicked started our story by going on a Pirate adventure around the school using our own maps. We were very good at following the map and we managed to find the hidden treasure! We also used some of our half term photos to talk about our own adventures. We will continue with this story next week.

In Maths, we learnt about 'First, then and now' stories. We used these stories to find out how many altogether (addition). We really enjoyed reading 'Mr. Gumpy's Outing' to help us with these addition stories.

We have also borrowed the water wall from Nursery and the children have loved explored this new addition to our garden. It would be really helpful if we could have some spare clothes as we might get a little wet!

Reminder: Please ensure you put sun cream on your child in the morning and we will top up at lunch (please provide us with sun cream).

W/C 24th May 2021

We had super last week to term 5. We finished our 'Oi Frog!' book work by creating our own rhyming stories. The children loved the task of creating their own and then reading them to the rest of the class. The children were beaming when I said they were all authors as they had written their own story!

One of our friends brought in some honeycomb from a hive to show us. We used our class visualiser to look closely at the cells and the layer of wax on top. We also tasted some honey and used our senses to descibe the taste and smell. We learnt about the importance of looking after bees.

In PSHE we learnt about stranger danger and what we should do if a stranger talks to us. We discovered that you can not always tell if a stranger is going to be nice or not so it is always best to ask your own grown up.

We had some visitors in our garden... ducks. We watched the ducks as they explored our garden. We were very quiet as we did not want to scare them away. We laughed when they had a little swim in the water tray!

W/C 17th May 2021

Time is certainly flying by in Reception... 1 more week to go!

This week we have seen some great learning inside and outside. We have continued our learning on minibeasts and the children have enjoyed exploring our garden for different minibeasts and looking closely at their habitat. We saw a variety of minibeasts including lots of slugs near our potato plants!

We have focused a lot of our work on building team work, sharing and turn-taking skills. The children have been interested in Pirates so we provided them with a couple of pirate games. The children demonstrated great turn-taking skills and followed the rules of the games well. This co-operation then continued outside; the children worked together to build an obstacle course. The children helped each other to complete the obstacle course and encouraged each other to keep trying!

Next week we will be learning about the importance of Bees. We will be trying some honey and using our senses to describe the taste, smell and texture of the honey. Please let me know if your child can not eat honey.

For PSHE we learnt why sleep is important. We listened to some calming sleep music and then discussed our bedtime routine. It was lovely to hear the children talk about how they get ready for bed. Some children said they enjoyed listening to music, having a bedtime story or having cuddles before they fell asleep. It was also great to hear that all children brush their teeth before bed

 I am looking forward to talking to you on TEAMS for Parents Evening. Please check that you have received the link via your email account.

W/C 10.05.2021

We have started reading our new book in Literacy, 'Oi Frog!'. We have discovered what a rhyming word is and listened really carefully to the story to spot the rhyming pairs. We also had a go at writing questions and using a question mark instead of a full stop. The children have found the story very funny! We will continue this book next week too.

In Maths, we have been learning about number 11. We discovered that 11 is ten and one more. This understanding of number will help us when we move into Year 1 as we will have a good foundation to place value.

We have learnt about Vincent Van Gogh and painted our own sunflowers inspired by him. We have also shown an interest in drawing flowers that we see in our garden.

We enjoyed using our 'Now Press Play' headphones to immerse ourselves in a mini-beast story. Throughout the story we had to transform ourselves into different mini-beasts found in the garden. We will be learning about insects next week.

My dad has also kindly built us some new wooden blocks for the children to use in the outdoor area. We have enjoyed exploring them and using them for ramps and constructing different buildings. As there are not too many, the children have had to focus on team work and sharing skills.

We also had another 'Vending Machine' winner in our class! Keep reading at home for your chance to win!

Reminders:

-Class photo Monday 17th May 2021. Please wear school uniform and not P.E kit. Please bring P.E kit in a bag.
-I will be out of class on Tuesday 18th May and Thursday 20th May due to training. Miss Massingham will be covering on Tuesday 18th May and a supply teacher will be covering on Thursday 20th May.
-I will send out links for Parents Evening over the next week

W/C 03.05.2021

The four day week really did fly by!

Our book work came to an end this week. We finished 'The Tiny Seed' and discussed what we would like to do when we grow up; the children had some great aspirations and life goals. Next week, our new focus text will be Oi Frog! This book will support us with our understanding of rhyming words.

In Maths, we recapped repeating patterns. We built on our previous knowledge and extended it with more complex patterns. The children were very confident when telling me of my mistakes and correcting the repeating pattern. Over the next few weeks we will be building our number knowledge and exploring numbers 11-20.

In PSHE, we learnt why it is important to wash our hands before we eat and after we go to the toilet. We quickly realised that germs can spread super fast and they can sometimes make us poorly.

We have also been learning about the lifecycle of a sunflower. We have set up a sunflower experiment to investigate which conditions plants grow best in. We will be watching them grow over the next few weeks. We also discovered a new word, 'germinate'. We discussed how seeds need water to start the germination process. Next week, we will be drawing and painting our own sunflowers, inspired by Vincent Van Gogh.

W/C 26.04.2021

We have continued our book work using the story 'The Tiny Seed.' This week we practiced writing instructions to inform other children how to plant a seed. The children produced some excellent work with very clear instructions. We also listened to some 'growth' music and pretended we were a tiny seed ready to grow. We discovered that plants need a number of things to grow into a healthy plant: sunlight, water, soil (nutrients), air and time!

In Maths, we have been consolidating our number bonds to 5 and 10; we are getting very good at recalling them.
We used Part-Whole model to support our learning with number bonds.

We enjoyed listening to the story 'Jack and the Beanstalk' using Now Press Play. Being immersed into this story inspired us to act it out in the small world area. We also created some Beanstalk Art work.

We also had a winner in Reception for the Vending Machine book challenge. Remember, every time your child reads at home they will be entered into the prize draw e.g. If your child reads 7 times, they will have their name entered 7 times into the draw!

Reminder: Please ensure you hand me parents evening forms back ASAP.

W/C 19.04.2021

We have a fantastic first week back.

Our Literacy focus over the next few weeks is 'The Tiny Seed', by Eric Carle. This week it has inspired us to create posters to put in our garden to remind us not to stand on the plants. We did a super job using our Phonics to create them. Next, we will be writing instructions informing nursery children how to plant seeds and care for them.

We have explored different seeds including investigating which fruits/vegetables have seeds.

In Maths, we have explored number bonds to 10. We have used numicon and double sided counters to help us with this.

We have also introduced our new wood work area (part of our EYFS life skills curriculum). We have safely introduced screwdrivers and discussed the importance of wearing safety glasses when in this area. Next, we will introduce hammers and nails.

Reminder: Please ensure your child is wearing sun cream on warm/hot days and that they have a sun hat. We spend a lot of time outside. If you need us to top up sun cream at lunch, please hand me the sun cream at the door.

Please read with your child at least x3 times a week.