Reception

Hello all, This week has been very exciting in foundation as we have changed our role play area. Following on from last weeks aeroplane making we decided to create an airport and an aeroplane which has created a real buzz. We have a check in desk, baggage handling and a security check area. The children have their own passports so they will be able to travel. Role play areas are fantastic for extending learning in a meaningful way. We look forward to enjoying a couple of weeks of first hand creativity. In Maths we introduced money. Next, week we will open a Foundation café where the children will be paying for their snack using coins.  On Friday we enjoyed Reception class first assembly. The children performed beautifully. They can be very proud of themselves!!! On Thursday next week,  Reception class will take part in Circus Skills workshop. I bet the children will have lots of fun on the day.  I hope you all have a great weekend. Mrs Sheehan

Hello all,   It appears that Tinkerbell and Peter Pan came for a visit over the weekend and brought a story telling hat for the children. They left lots of pixie dust and they wrote the children a letter. This has inspired the children to be creative and use their imaginations to write stories.   During child initiated learning the children wrote their own story using their writing skills. We noticed that children who would not normally gravitate to the writing activities started to join in.  We allowed them to write independently and supported if they felt they couldn’t do it. The children produced amazing writing which demonstrated their phonics and fine motor skills.  We are continuing corresponding with characters that visit the setting in the night. We are allowing the direction to come from the children so that it remains meaningful. One of the phonics reading books has instructions on how to make a paper aeroplane. The children have spent lots of time this wee...

  Hello all, We have noticed that many children have shown an interest in singing and making music, therefore d uring the week, we focused on singing Nursery rhymes. We sung the ones which are well known by the children and we introduced new rhymes.  We looked for the rhyming words and the children came up with ideas  of their own rhymes.  Nursery rhymes are a powerful learning source in early literacy and  enable children to develop vocabulary and language patterns. The children experimented with musical instruments in the garden by making different sounds and musical patterns. Next week, they  will make their own instruments using junk modelling materials and rice. Each morning, we found lots of fairy dust around the classroom. This is a clear sign that Tinkerbell came to visit us, and we think that this time she brought Peter Pan with her .We will see on Monday if there are any signs of visitors in our classroom over the weekend. As we have had such amaz...

  Hello all, This week we have been learning about artists and we have focused on Banksy. The children were very excited to know that Banksy does his art when they are sleeping in  bed. We have recreated some of his simpler art and have made a display in school for the other children to see. The children drew around Chloe to recreate the painting of the child with the balloon. Another exciting thing that happened this week was that we had a visitor in the night who brought us a new bell. The children were very excited when they found out it was Tinkerbell who had been to visit. They wrote letters to thank her for our new bell and we hope she will visit again. Maybe she will bring Peter Pan with her. Maths In maths this week we have focused on counting up to twenty and on recognising numerals over 10.  The children made their own number lines and practiced the number formation. Phonics Please continue revisiting the tricky words which were placed in your child's reading fo...

 Hello all, Well I am sure you are all aware that we have had a Gingerbread Man on the loose in the unit this week. It has been quite an adventure. We mixed all the ingredients together and put him in the oven. The children kept checking to see if he was cooking. At 10.15am when he was ready to come out of the oven the children went to check and the door was open. HE HAD DONE A RUNNER!!!!!!!!! This created an absolute buzz around the room. The children began to investigate and search for clues to find out what had happened. We decided to ring Mrs Custis to tell her and she suggested we made some lost posters to put around the school. She said she would notify the Police to see if they could help us. On Friday we interviewed some of the teachers in the school and lots of them said they had seem him. He has shouted to them "Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man." They told us which direction he ran and in the end we went to Mrs Cutis...

  Hello all, The children have noticed that our tadpoles are not changing and have been trying to resolve the mystery. We discussed with them many options and we decided to research further what could be causing the problem. We extended the learning and understanding through research and discovered that water and light were contributing facts.  We have changed the water and position and have removed the dead tadpoles. The children are monitoring any changes that may take place and we hope that we will have a positive outcome to report next week. Our caterpillars are now in their cocoons and we have  transferred  them to the butterfly tent. The children are very excited to see what happens next. Fingers crossed we have success. We have watched a very clever animated short film about the lifecycle of the butterfly. It is very good and funny with a twist at the end. Here is the link if you want to watch.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0a0aNqTehM  Ano...

 Hello all, After the mixture of the rainy and sunny weather, we have observed that the seeds which we have planted two weeks ago are starting to grow little shoots.  This week, to mark the Coronation event, we have planted a Wild Cherry tree in our garden and called it King Charles.  We will be looking at different types of trees and products made out of trees next week.  The children are observing and discussing the changes in the caterpillars and the tadpoles placed on our nature table.  We used the language of shape and size to describe the changes.  We read ‘The very Hungry Caterpillar’ story and the children were engaged in retelling the story using props.  Next, the children will make the life cycle books of a caterpillar and a frog. In maths, we explored the language of size and we used the non standard measuring techniques such as measuring with shoes.  Next week, we will be learning about time. If the children would like to make a t...