Christmas is all around us!
A HUGE well done to all the children on their brilliant performances in our Christmas play this week. We are so proud of them for performing in front of such big audiences for three days running. We hope you loved it as much as we did!
They also enjoyed their first school church service at St Oswald’s with Reverend Carolyn 😊
As well as being super stars on stage, the children have continued to try hard with their learning this week. In phonics we have begun Phase 3 and the children have done so well learning 3 new digraphs ai, ee and oa and even a trigraph- igh!
In RE, we have continued to keep recapping and questioning the children about the Christmas story, all linked to our overarching Enquiry Question – Why do Christians perform Nativity plays at Christmas? They have thought carefully about the key questions – Why is Jesus so important to Christians? and How can we help other people at Christmas? The children have learnt so much and we have been impressed with their empathy and deep thinking.
As well as this, following on from reading our all-time favourite Christmas story – Father Christmas Needs a Wee! - we have been finding out about Christmas traditions from around the world.
Thank you so much for all the lovely Christmas cards and very generous gift vouchers.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
The Reception Team 😊
Autumn 2 - Week 4
World Nursery Rhyme Week!
We had a great time a couple of weeks ago learning and practising our five focus nursery rhymes. We will, of course, continue with our Rhyme of the Week going forwards. This class really do just love singing! 😊
Phonics and Maths
At this very busy time of year, we know it’s tricky at both home and school, to keep up with the basics, but it is so important the children keep practising. We have introduced several more digraphs (2 letters 1 sound) over the past couple of weeks, with many children also reading and writing CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words independently and confidently. We have also learnt a LOT of tricky words already and regular exposure and constant practise of these really is the key. In Maths, the children have learnt in depth about the number 3, as well as starting to explore 2D (flat) shapes, beginning with circles and triangles.
Superhero Day!
A huge thank to you all for attending our Parent Sharing Afternoon. We know the children loved having you in our classroom and it was such a joy to see you all talking and learning together. The children (and Mrs Swift – watch that aim!) are very excited to test out their inventions next week – let’s hope they are all egg-cellent!
And finally…Christmas is coming!
After spending a couple of weeks learning the songs, we are now in the thick of rehearsals for our Christmas play! There’s a lot of work still to do, but it’s so lovely to see the children performing and celebrating this wonderful time of year together J
Have a fab weekend!
The Reception Team J
Such a lot of new learning!
Wow! Reception have been ‘on fire’ with their learning over the past couple of weeks!
Last week, we had a special RE focus week, covering our first unit God/ Creation with the enquiry question Why is the word ‘God’ so important to Christians? The children listened well to The Creation Story from the Bible and have learnt so much about what Christians believe about how the world began. We are so pleased that so many children are now sharing their thoughts and ideas during whole class learning time.
On Monday, we celebrated Odd Socks Day for Anti-Bullying Week, starting by learning about what bullying is - when someone does something unkind ‘several/ lots of times on purpose’. We talked about how everyone needs to show courage, to ‘speak up’ and use their ‘power for good’ to promote friendship and stop bullying. We looked at all our odd socks and talked about how we are all different and unique. We read several books about friendship, worries and bullying, including The Rainbow Club. We then drew a picture of how to be a good friend.
On Tuesday, we learnt about why we wear poppies using a Reception-appropriate PowerPoint, short cBeebies animation and a beautiful story called Where the Poppies Now Grow. The children were really interested in learning more about the past and we focused on how much courage the soldiers must have shown. In small groups, the children looked closely at artefacts from World Wars 1 and 2, such as uniform, helmets and medical kits. They were really interested and especially liked trying on the helmet! They also enjoyed making paper plate poppies whilst continuing to discuss historical facts.
In Newsday Tuesday and on Wednesday afternoon, we focused on becoming historians again and finding out why we celebrate Bonfire Night. The children were fascinated by The Gunpowder Plot story – they couldn’t believe people wanted to blow up the king! They were very glad that the plot failed! Groups of children then furthered their historical skills by looking closely at artefacts such as a lantern, a pickaxe (for digging the tunnel), a felt hat and helmet. Again, they particularly enjoyed trying on the clothes and hats!
In Maths, it’s been all about the number 2! We have been exploring the many ways that 2 can be represented: the numeral, 2 cubes or 2 of any object, Numberblock 2, Numicon 2, a huge variety of ways using our fingers and so on. Remember, 1 and another 1 is 2!
Finally, today we have celebrated Children in Need by wearing yellow, spots or non-uniform. The children watched several video clips about real children in need, whether through illness, disability or poverty. We supported the children to understand how our money raised can help these children and encouraged them to think of other ways such as treating everyone with respect, giving away toys or clothes you no longer need, donations to food banks or simply by making someone feel welcome with kind words or a smile.
One more thing…the Christmas singing practice has started! 😊
What a start to the half term! It’s non-stop from here on in!
Have a lovely weekend.
The Reception Team 😊