Reception Class News

What a fantastic and busy week we have had in Reception Class!
We've had so much fun learning together and shining our lights.

Expressive Arts and Design Development: This week in music, we began our session by listening to 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', originally sung by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. We learned that this song belongs to the Motown genre and was first released in 1967. After listening to different versions of the song, we compared them and discussed what we liked about each one. We had so much fun keeping the beat of the song while dancing together!

We then continued developing our knowledge of instruments, focusing particularly on the glockenspiel. We practiced playing nursery rhymes from previous weeks, concentrating on hitting the correct notes at the right time. To finish the session, we took turns creating our own beats on the glockenspiel while the rest of the class copied.

In preparation for Mother's Day, we had a wonderful time creating special cards. We carefully selected craft paper for the background, thinking about which colours our mums would like best. We painted art straws to represent the stalks of flowers and then created observational drawings of flowers, which we then painted with watercolors. Once they were dry, we attached the flowers to the stalks, tied them with ribbon, and stuck them onto our cards. The finished cards looked absolutely fabulous, and we were so proud of our creations!
Happy Mothers Day to all our mums.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Wellbeing: We began by discussing different emotions, something we have been focusing on throughout this half term. We have become very confident in recognizing and naming a wide range of emotions, including happy, excited, shocked, worried, sad, tired, confused, and joyful. We paired up with a partner and shared different situations that make us feel certain emotions, trying to think of as many as possible. Afterwards, we each chose one emotion to share with the class, along with the situation that made us feel that way. Some of our ideas included feeling happy when playing with friends, feeling sad when getting hurt, and feeling excited when going to breakfast club before school.

In our HeartSmart session, we revisited the story of Boris the Robot to remind ourselves of his journey, where he came from, how he was made, and the people in his life. We then looked at the character of the Scrapman and thought about why he might be grumpy. We decided that he was probably feeling lonely because he didn't have any friends and was jealous of Boris being loved. This led us to a discussion about how we treat others and how we can make people feel welcome in our classroom. We shared different ways we can be kind to new people, such as smiling when we see them, inviting them to join in our play, and using kind, soft words rather than harsh, rough words.
Boris reminded us that we can always choose to be a kind friend.
We linked this idea to a Bible verse: "Do what is right to other people. Love being kind to others." – Micah 6:8.

Mathematical Development: In maths, we focused on recognising, continuing, and building simple patterns. We discovered that patterns can be made using different shapes, colours, sizes, actions, and sounds. We learned how to label and identify simple AB patterns before progressing to more complex patterns such as AAB, ABB, and AABB. We had a great time searching for patterns in our environment and creating our own using classroom resources. Once we had made a pattern, we labelled it according to its core structure.

Literacy Development: Now that we have finished writing up our retelling of Little Red, we have been enjoying independent writing during our provision time. Some of us made posters warning people to beware of the wolf, while others labeled their construction projects or created small books inspired by Little Red Riding Hood. It has been wonderful to see everyone using their writing skills in such creative ways!

Physical Development: In PE, we continued with our gymnastics learning. To warm up, we played a game called Electric Car, where we moved around the hall at different speeds, changing direction at roundabouts and junctions and jumping over speed bumps. When we arrived at the Magic Zoo, we transformed into different animals, moving in ways that represented the creatures we were pretending to be.

During our main session, we refined our rock and roll skills from last week before introducing two new rolls: the forward roll and the side shoulder roll. After plenty of practice, we put together sequences using the different types of rolls we had learned and showcased them in front of the class. It was fantastic to see everyone improving their techniques and growing in confidence.

Well done, Reception Class, for another brilliant week of learning, creativity, and teamwork!
Have a lovely weekend
Mrs Ward