What an amazing start to the Reception year! Everyone has settled well and adapting to the morning routines. We cannot believe how quickly this half term has gone and how much work the children have done.   

In maths we have looked at measuring, sorting a range of objects and using mathematical language. Our number work has focused on consistent number recognition and ordering numbers to 20 and the formation of these numbers. We have explored 1p, 2p and 5p coins, examining their size, colour and worth. The children used 1ps to pay for items in our classroom shop and with support ordered coins by their value. The shop was also used in Spanish lessons as the children learnt different foods and how to order them. We have some great accents developing and confident speakers. Patterns have played an important role in our learning, creating repeating patterns with 2 colours, using musical instruments to copy a pattern, and drawing shapes to continue a pattern. This supports our learning in the future when exploring number patterns. Time has been a favourite with the children, with many confident with o’clock, making their own clocks and being able to move the hands before the wolf got to them! 

In phonics children found objects from around the class and wrote down the sounds that they heard as well as attempting to write the letters with the correct lead-ins to start their journey towards joined up handwriting. The children are working extremely hard with the formation of cursive letters, with many writing CVC words and some rising to the challenge of full sentences. A great job by all! Guided reading is developing the children’s confidence and they are enjoying reading in a group. 
 

We have gone back over 150 years to find out about Mary Seacole, a nurse. We discovered she learnt about plants and how they could be used in medicine and that she used her own money to help soldiers in the Crimean war. The children looked a portrait of her which led to lots of discussion before they drew a picture of her. These were fantastic. Our visit from Mrs McCarthy-Phull was brilliant, with the children learning a song to accompany hand washing, how to bandage their friends and how much ‘snot’ we produce each day! ? We have discussed the similarities and differences between nurses and their uniforms over the past 150 years, drawing what we thought a nurse would look like and the characteristics they required. We had some super ideas, a big smile, cuddling arms, specialist equipment and lots of plasters and bandages.

Topic work has also lead us to talk about an important event that has happened in our life so far and what future experiences might be heading our way. Self-portraits using different media encouraged us to think about the position of our facial features and the colours that could be used to represent them. We had a lovely time playing ‘Guess the Baby’ with the photographs you sent in. Some of the children were so identifiable from their photo. We have displayed them in the classroom as they have produced lots of discussion. 

We have been looking at teeth and how we can keep them healthy. The children have learnt that gods and drink containing sugar are not good for our teeth. We have also been learning how to brush our teeth and that children lose their teeth.

We read the story of Jim and the Beanstalk by Raymond Briggs. We wrote a letter from the Giant to Jim thanking him for his new set of teeth. The children displayed some excellent skills of using their phonic knowledge to write the sounds they can hear in each word.

Developing our cutting skills has been a focus. Cutting and sticking objects into the correct category of ‘healthy’ and ‘not healthy’ for our teeth provided lots of discussion about the foods we eat and looking after our teeth.

The children have worked super hard creating foil sculptures, using photographs to position arms and legs and mounting on the base before using papier mache to complete the sculpture.   

With wonderful Autumn sunshine we have been into our garden area, weeding and planting up the roundabouts in our mini roadway. We worked in two groups to create skeletons using natural resources, with lots of talk about the length and thickness of sticks required for different bones, in particular femur and ribs. Using hammers and screwdrivers the children have made apple and sunflower birdfeeders and made Autumn Tree Characters to protect the trees over the coming winter months. 

With Harvest on our minds the children have collected apples, completed observational drawings, and shown us their chopping skills in preparation for making soup, which they loved! They have loved singing all the Harvest songs with Mrs Nowell. 

With all these busy activities going on we enjoy a calm Friday afternoons, listening and responding to music and participating in our Yoga session to stretch and strengthen our muscles and work on our breathing skills. 

We all now deserve a break and will return refreshed ready for the build up to Christmas.