Reception Class News 29/09/23

Reception Class, it is lovely to be back this week and see everyone's happy faces, eager and excited to learn.

Let's share a little snapshot into our very busy week...

This week in our mathematical development, we have focused on counting up to five accurately using the counting principles we have developed over the past two weeks. By lining up our objects and using a five frame we ensured that we didn't count too few or too many of them. Five, is an important number in our class, as it is the age we will turn over the course of our reception year. So to help us represent five pictorially, we made '5' birthday cards for ourselves and drew a '5' party picture in our maths journal. In our additional afternoon mastering number sessions, we have developed our skills of subitising numbers to 3 and then presenting 3 in different spatial arrangements within a square frame. Great maths work this week Reception Class, well done.

In our literacy development, we enjoyed our first 'jump in' session to introduce our Read to Write text for this term: 'The something.' As we entered the classroom after worship we discovered a hole had mysteriously appeared in the classroom floor, surrounded by dug up soil. Collectively, we suggested answers to questions about the hole, how did it get there? What was in the hole? Who could have dug it? We certainly have great imaginations and came up with some fantastic ideas and suggestions. Then after break time as we were met by a very sad boy called Dan who was sitting by the hole. After asking him lots of questions, we discovered he had been playing in the garden and lost his red ball. He had searched everywhere but couldn't find it. The only place he hadn't looked was down the hole. Why not? you ask, because he doesn't know what are inside holes as he's never been down one before!

After discovering a hole in our classroom as part of our 'jump in' session, we played a game called 'What's down the hole?' as part of our understanding the world development. This involved thinking about different animals that live in holes. After singing each verse of 'What's down the hole' to the tune of 'Frere Jacques' we took turns to suggest animals we know that live in holes underground. You have great Knowledge Reception Class, suggesting moles, rabbits, badges, snakes, mice and worms.

In our wellbeing session this week, we thought about things that 'bug us.' First we unpicked the expression 'bug' and understood it to mean to annoy or upset us, then took turns to say what bugs us at times. Then we added a new strategy to our emotional toolbox to help us manage our feelings when we get angry or annoyed, we practiced shaking it off 'Taylor Swift' style.

Turn taking and playing co-operatively are important characteristics that we encourage in each other in Reception Class and this week in our HeartSmart session we thought about how we take turns as well as encouraging each other during play. Beginning the session by recapping what we know about Boris, we talked about the Boris that we had made for our classroom last week. We remembered what we used to create him and that we used the book for reference. We discussed Boris' toolbox and what things he kept inside.Next, we played a game with a partner, each pair had a game card which was an empty toolbox, taking turns to roll the dice, adding the number of tools to the box, working together until the toolbox was full. We loved working as a team, encouraging each other!

Boris says, "It is great when friends help each other."
Bible link, 'Love each other deeply with all your heart.' 1 Peter 1:22

Throughout the week we have really enjoyed our new paining easel, experimenting with autumnal colours for our expressive arts and design development. There has been a wonderful array of independent, self-directed artwork for our autumn display wall. My favourite was by the picture by artist Harriet titled 'Walking in the autumn leaves under a rainbow!'

In our music session we listened to a song titled 'Sing' by the Carpenters and discussed what we thought about the music and how it made us feel. We thought it was a very calming song that made us feel happy, peaceful and loved. Ella thought it would be a great song for a wedding as it's about love. Listening carefully again to hear the instrument played in the piece, we thought we could hear a trumpet, a flute and a piano. We then clapped and tapped out the beat to a games track and the syllables (units of breath) it took to say our names. Finishing our session we sang along to 'This Old Man' with actions.

Continuing with invasion games for our physical development, this week we focused on bouncing a ball and tracking it with our eyes. Warming up first, we played a game of hop tag, where we ran around trying to steal as many tail tags as possible whilst dodging to try to avoid our own tail being stolen. Moving onto our main session we practiced bouncing a ball using two hands to hold it to bounce it hard enough so we didn't need to bend to catch it. Our challenge was to bounce and catch five times without dropping. Once comfortable with our bouncing action, we then started to move around seeing how fast we could move whilst accurately bouncing and catching the ball. Concluding our session we played hoop ball, trying to bounce our balls through the hoop.

And before we knew it, it was Friday again!
Have a great weekend, let's hope the sun shines for us all.
Mrs Ward and Mrs Wainwright