🎶 It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas 🎶🎄🎄

There have been many surprises in Reception this week! Every day the elves in Holly and Oak classes have been up to their mischievous tricks, hiding in the most unlikely places! 

There’s been a hot chocolate stand in Oak class where we’ve had to write the orders for the delicious hot chocolate and marshmallow. There is also a Christmas Post Office for writing and sending Christmas cards.

In Oak class we have a Christmas Toy Workshop where we can practise our cutting and wrapping skills. 

In the middle of the week, we had the grand opening of the Super Duper Writing House! In there we can write amazing words and sentences. 

And of course our classrooms are looking very festive. 

Even Barry has got his Christmas lights on! 

We are having so much fun at this festive time of year! 

Mind up activity

In Reception we have been learning about our brains. We looked at what we use our brains for. The children said we have brains to ‘remember everything’ and also ‘for thinking’ .💭 💭 Then we looked at a glitter bottle which can represent our brains. We shook it and talked about times our brains feel a bit shaken up and confused. We came up with different ideas to help calm ourselves down when we feel like this. Some of our ideas were to take a deep breath, sit down to help us relax, count back from 10 and to give ourselves a big hug.

Then we learnt some big words to name different parts of our brain and we discussed their functions. We used animals to help us understand these functions. An example of this is the prefrontal cortex is like a wise owl. It helps us make wise decisions especially when we are in a tough situation.

We will be learning more about this in Reception and applying this new knowledge to our everyday lives.

Coming to the end of Autumn 🍁🍂

This week we have kept up our correspondence with Isaac the hedgehog. We have been writing to him and he had even wrote back to us! 

We have also been writing  invitations to our friends. Listening to the sounds and writing our letters carefully. Because we practise writing our names every day, we are getting very good! 

In the Art area we have been painting Autumn trees with Miss Hill and talking about the signs of Autumn. 

We had good fun when the teddy bears came for a picnic and we served pretend biscuits and milk. 

In Oak Class we have had the floor puzzles out which were quite a challenge, but we didn’t give up! 

On a Friday we get to find out who our ‘Special Helper’ is for the next week. After they have been chosen, they are interviewed by the class, who ask questions about their family and favourite things. It’s a lovely way to finish the week. 

Autumn Days 🍁🍂

This week held a big surprise! We came into the classrooms to find a trail of leaves! 

We discovered a book called, ‘ Wide-awake Hedgehog.’

We all read the wonderful story of Isaac where we discovered a hedgehog who was not tired and didn’t want to hibernate. We have learnt lots of new words this week and their meanings, some of them are, hibernate, scurry and tumble. We are learning to retell the story using story bags. 

This has led to lots of hedgehog and Autumn activities. Outside we had to use the tweezers to collect conkers , rice and pasta. We have also had a tent and a campfire to toast our marshmallows.

The Maths area was full of hedgehogs! Using the pegs, we had to attach them to the correct number on the hedgehogs. 

Working with the play doug we used small sticks to make hedgehogs. 

And in our Small World area we have had an Autumn scene to play with and in our ‘Investigation Area’ we have been learning about things we can find in Autumn. We have been talking about changes we see at this time of year and adding to our vocabulary.

Another busy week in Reception! 

Celebrating Diwali 🎉🍯🍲🍚🎉

This term we are discovering all about the Indian festival of light, Diwali. It is the most popular festivals of Hinduism, and we are enjoying it! 

On Monday, we listened to the story of Rama and Sita and how the village people put lights on the paths and in their homes to guide the lost pair home. We then used clay to make our own Diva candle pots ( when they’re are dry we’re going to decorate them ) which felt very cold and sticky! 

We  have also made lanterns, Rangoli patterns in coloured rice and Diwali cards for our friends and family. 

Dressing up is one of our favourite activities and we were very lucky to be able to try a sari on. We looked beautiful. 

We’d enjoyed learning about differences and similarities between Diwali and celebrations within our own culture. Happy Diwali everyone! 

Autumn walk

To start off our Autumn topic, Reception children went on a local walk. Our mission was to find signs of Autumn. We had a wonderful time and found all sorts of interesting clues that Autumn had started. Leaves were changing colours and some had fallen off the trees. We found berries, acorns, conkers, mushrooms and even saw a squirrel searching for acorns to hide away for the winter. We loved listening to the rustling and crunching of the brown leaves under our feet and had a wonderful time throwing the dead leaves into the air. We had a calm time too where we focused on relaxing and on our breathing. We listened to the different sounds around us. Now we are ready for more learning about the season of Autumn.

Autumn has arrived 🎃🍂🍁

Welcome to our new term. This week we are talking about Autumn and all the changes that come with this lovely season. 

In our Small World area we have set up bonfire night. 

In the Creative Area we have been colouring Autumn pictures. We carefully chose the right Autumn colours. And in the playdough area we have been making gingerbread people with the play dough. The play dough smelt of ginger and cinnamon, delicious! 

Outside we played a game where we rolled the dice and wrote the letter sound that landed on the top. We were very good at this and wrote our letters carefully, sometimes reciting our rhymes to help us remember how to write the letters correctly. 

Also outside we had glittery water and glittery sand. We used the sieves, teapots and cups to make magic potions. 

Inside we have been using the paint pouches to write our letters. It is a lot of fun! 

This week we also looked in our outdoor learning area at our tree and shrubs and talked about the colours changing. Then we went on an Autumn walk to Oakford Lawn to find lots of signs that Autumn has arrived. 

Happy Half Term!

What a wonderful first term at school we’ve had in Reception. We have done so well settling in and making lots of new friends. In phonics we have learnt 12 new sounds and in Maths we have done lots of number work, even learning how to write our numbers up to 5. All of our teachers are very proud!

Take a look at our amazing learning journey boards on display in our classrooms. We love to look back at all of the fun things we have done.

Holly Class Learning Journey Board

Oak Class Learning Journey Board

Today has also been a very exciting day to end the first term as we all came dressed as Superheroes as part of our whole school ‘Bring a can, save a cow’ day! Our teachers said we have been like superheros this term by helping each other, being kind and being brave. We celebrated this morning with a catwalk to share our costumes with our friends then we all went outside for a photograph! Look at our incredible poses…

We hope you all enjoy a well deserved half term break. Over the holiday, take a look outside and think about what changes you can see. This is something we will be doing together when we come back to school as part of our new topic… can you guess what it is?

Happy half term everybody!

From the Reception Team X

Let us tell you a story…

In Reception we have been learning the story ‘I like me’ by Nancy Carlson. We have learnt to retell the story using our own actions and we had lots of fun in the process. We’re very excited to share it with you. So sit back, relax and enjoy!

Here is Holly Class performing ‘I like me’ with their chosen actions!

Here is Oak Class performing ‘I like me’ with their chosen actions!

Welcome to Reception! 🎨🎧🎐📚✏️📝🖌🖍

Hello and welcome to the Reception Blog. Every week you will find beautiful photos and information about the wonderful children in Reception. 

This week we have been settling in to school life at St Michael’s. We have lots of activities inside… 

And outside. 

Barry our pet Afrcan snail lives in Holly Class and he is very popular. We all help to look after him. 

Keep reading the blog to see all the exciting activities we are going to be doing this term, it’s going to be so much fun learning through play!