Reception Class News

Welcome Back Reception Class!

We've had a lovely start to the summer term in Reception Class! It was wonderful to see so many excited and smiling faces as we reunited after the Easter break. We enjoyed spending time sharing our news and stories from the holidays, talking about the special moments we had with our families.

We soon settled back into our routines and launched straight into our new theme all about Our Diverse Planet and the importance of growing plants.

Understanding the World Development:We began our week by celebrating Earth Day, a special time to reflect on our beautiful and diverse planet and how we can all help to protect it. We thought about the little changes we could make at school to reduce our energy use, like turning off lights and computer monitors when we're not using them, not running taps for too long, and planting seeds or trees. Each of us made a personal Earth Day pledge, writing down one small way we could help look after our planet. We've already been doing a great job keeping to our pledges. Let's see if we can continue making these positive changes at home too!

Mathematical Development: In maths this week, we focused on counting on and counting back using a number line. We practiced adding on from a given number and used the structure of "First... then... now..." to explain our thinking clearly. This helped us to confidently talk about where we started on the number line, how many we were adding on, and what the final total was. The children did a brilliant job using this method to support their addition skills!

Personal, Social and Emotional Development: This term in our HeartSmart sessions, we are exploring the importance of telling the truth. We began by rereading Boris and the Scrapman and talked about the words that the Scrapman used towards Boris and how they made Boris feel. We discussed whether the Scrapman was telling the truth or a lie, and how untruthful words can hurt others.

We then compared this to the kind and honest words that Boris's friends used, and how those words made him feel happy and cared for. We related this to our own friendships and how important it is to speak with honesty and kindness.
Boris says, "Kind words fill our hearts."
And we reflected on the Bible verse, "A lie has a short life, but truth lives on forever." Proverbs 12:19

In our well-being session this week, we explored the idea of our favourite place. We shared our favourite places with a partner and talked about why these places are special to us. Some children said they loved school because it's where we learn, others mentioned home because it's where their families are. We also heard about Greece, the seaside, and more!

To finish our session, we took part in some relaxing movement and stretching. We became stiff like robots, wobbly like jelly, tall like giraffes and small like mice. It was a wonderful way to reset and focus on our breathing and body awareness.

Literacy Development: In literacy, we explored the beautiful story The Extraordinary Gardener by Sam Boughton. We were inspired by how the world around the main character transformed after he planted just a few seeds and how his actions brought joy and change to others.

We then looked at a set of instructions for planting seeds and discussed other times when instructions help us: like when baking a cake, playing a new game or doing a craft activity.We learned that good instructions have four parts: a title or introduction, a list of what you need, step-by-step directions, and finally a helpful top tip. We used this structure to write our own set of instructions for planting a seed, just like in the story. We began with a title, created a list with labelled drawings of what you will need, and wrote simple, clear steps to follow. What fabulous writing, Reception Class!

Expressive Arts and Design Development:This term in music, we've started an exciting new topic--Big Bear Funk! We're working towards performing a full song by the end of the unit, and we can't wait to share it. We began the session by listening to the song "Big Bear Funk." It was very upbeat and we had so much fun dancing along and keeping the beat.

We listened carefully to identify the different instruments in the music and spotted saxophones, trumpets, trombones, glockenspiels, guitars and drums. Next, we began learning the words to the first two verses and added some actions to help us remember the lyrics, this made it even more fun! Finally, we clapped along with the beat during the clapping section of the song, learning that this part is a 'call and response.' We're already looking forward to next week's session!

Physical Development:This week we were very excited to meet Coach Beth for our first PE session of the term, and what a fun and energetic session it was!
We warmed up by playing the bean game before partnering up and exploring different ways to travel around a space, taking turns to lead and follow each other's movements.

Next, we moved to the running track and practiced running in teams to a set point and back. Coach Beth taught us a new skill, a strong starting position with one foot in front of the other, knees slightly bent, and the opposite arm to our front leg held out. We practiced this a few times and then applied it in some exciting games of tag and Fishes in the Sea.We finished our session with a team relay race, where we took turns running our part of the race and cheering on our teammates. Thank you, Coach Beth, we loved our first PE session and can't wait for the next one!

Have a fabulous weekend Reception Class