Reception Class News 28/06/24

Another busy week of learning in Reception Class!

It was so lovely to be back together again as a class family for a full week of learning after time spent last week in Year 1 on transition activities, due to our new starters coming in for some 'Get to know you sessions.'

Thank you to all the crazy outfits, wild hair and tattoos for break the rules day last Friday, everyone looked brilliant!

So what have we been up to this week? Here is a little snapshot of some of the highlights...

In Mathematical Development, we moved onto an optional Power Maths unit of sorting, as noticing similarities and differences is an important part of being mathematical. We explored how shapes and designs have many different characteristics and can be sorted in a variety of ways. We used lots of descriptive talk, paying attention to detail of colour, size, shape and being specific about the reasons for our sorting choices.

For Literacy and Communication Development, we continued to explore our story text "The Storm Whale" to support our writing activities. We enjoyed listening to the story song set in four parts, corresponding with our story friends: Opening Octopus, Build-Up Bear, Problem Penguin, and Ending Elephant. This helped us become familiar with key vocabulary and phrases that we could use in our writing. We have now planned and written our opening, build-up, and problem sections, and we look forward to writing our story ending next week.

In Understanding the World Development, we read the story "Caterpillar Butterfly" to explore the lifecycle of a butterfly. We also watched a time-lapse video of a butterfly egg hatching into a caterpillar, it eating its way through the leaf it was born on, shedding its skin four times, then making its pupa, pupating, and finally undergoing metamorphosis into a butterfly.

We observed that butterfly wings are symmetrical and used this concept to make butterfly art for our Expressive Arts and Design Development by carefully putting paint daubs onto paper, folding it, then opening it so the paint was distributed symmetrically on the paper.

For Physical Development, Coach James was joined by some of our Year 6 buddies, who loved being PE coaches for the afternoon. They supported our games, reminding us to be team players, play fairly, and follow the game rules.

In Personal, Social, and Emotional Development, we thought about some of the things our Year 1 teacher will need to know about us for September, such as a love of horse riding, riding a BMX bike, being a good friend, and importantly not giving up on learning when it get difficult.

In our RE, we listened to a story from the 'Believing and Belonging' series about a little girl and her faith and the special building that she worshipped in with her family. We made connections to our visits to places of worship and some of the activities we can do there. Then we looked at some of our wooden replicas of a Church, Gurdwara, Synagogue and Mosque and some of the key features inside and incorporated then into our afternoon play. We look forward to exploring this further next week.

Have a lovely weekend