Reception Blog - Spring 1 Week 5

Reception became super scientists and excellent eco warriors last week as they excitedly took part in the Big Plastic Count and investigated liquids and solids, working out how to make melt ice quicker. The children then applied their learning when thinking about the polar regions and the negative effects that climate change is having on the environment and particularly the wildlife. The model polar bear we observed in a melting ice really helped to mirror what is happening in reality and the children showed huge amounts of compassion and empathy. We want everyone to care about looking after our wonderful works as much as these children do. 

We also learnt about Arctic explorers as part of our history, and the children were fascinated by the amazing, challenging and often dramatic adventures these people went on. They talked about how things were different in the past, and how you expeditions have developed and changed in the present. These significant individuals have been added to our class timeline which we refer to regularly. 

This week, the children have continued being historians, looking at their own personal history, putting themselves on a timeline and talking about how they have changed over time. 

If course, alongside all this, we have continued to work hard in maths, phonics, Big Writing, PE and music, and even found time for independent learning and play. The Reception children really don't ever stop! 

Next week will be out Easter focus week and we look forward to seeing you at our Parent Event on Wednesday afternoon. 

Have a lovely weekend.

The Reception Team 

Explorers, Historians and characters! J

Yet again, the weeks are simply whizzing by! We are really pleased with how many of the children are trying hard to really focus on their learning – it seems to be tiring them out though!

On Wednesday, we went on our third school trip – an expedition around Collingham! The children demonstrated some excellent map skills, following the route and finding specific features we passed such as the church and the bridge. Most children could explain whether these features were human or physical, really consolidating their Geography learning of the past couple of weeks. They also became historians, hunting for clues about the past. They were particularly interested in Mrs Harrison’s out building which is actually one of the oldest buildings in Collingham and part of one of the original farms. They went on to spot lots of other old building on our walk by noticing large and uneven shaped bricks. The children all followed our safety rules and we were very proud of them. They were so intrigued and enthusiastic when looking at photographs of Collingham in the past – especially the railway line and station! Try asking them about how Collingham was different in the past and which features have changed.

World Book Day was another exciting and fun day! The children all looked brilliant and took part in a character hunt and drew and wrote about their story character. We will send the books home once we have read them.

Maths has been all about the number 8 – we’re sure ‘Octoblock’ is a firm favourite! We have also continued our learning about units of time and the children enjoyed seeing how many of the different challenges they could complete in 1 minute.

In Phonics, we have nearly finished learning all the tricky Set 2 sounds, with many children recalling them all correctly. They are enjoying impressing us with their reading and spelling of our tricky words too. Any extra practise you can do at home of the sounds and tricky words will be hugely beneficial.

We hope you all have a restful weekend.

The Reception Team J