Reception Class News

Reception Class News – Glorious Sunshine and Wiggly Worms!

What a glorious week we've had in Reception Class! The sun has shone and we've made the most of it by spending lots of time in our garden and tending to our allotment. The children have loved planting peas and onions, carefully digging and watering while learning all about what helps plants grow.

In Understanding the World, our focus has been on soil, the amazing upper layer of the Earth that helps plants grow. We discovered that good soil is made up of air, water, minerals, and once-living materials. After reading Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer, we learnt how worms help improve soil by breaking down dead leaves and making nutrient-rich pellets (worm poo!). To bring this to life, we built our very own class wormery, layering soil and sand, adding leaves and a slice of apple, and welcoming five wiggly worms into their new home. We're carefully observing them each day and making sure their soil stays moist, after all, we now know that worms breathe through their skin and need moisture to survive.

Our RE learning began with our new Questful RE unit: Stories Jesus Heard. We explored the story of Moses in the bulrushes with the help of Clever Cub, who brought us a basket of clues. We discovered that this story comes from the Old Testament, and that Jesus would have heard it as a child too. We discussed the theme of love in the story, especially the great love Moses' mother showed by placing him in the river to keep him safe.

In Literacy Development, we combined our science and writing skills to produce some brilliant observational drawings of worms, accompanied by independently written fact sentences. We're working hard on using capital letters, finger spaces, Fred Talk to spell new words, and full stops to finish our sentences.

Our Maths learning this week focused on deepening our understanding of addition through counting on. Using number lines, tiles, and objects, we explored the "First, Then, Now" structure to solve number stories. The children demonstrated great confidence when representing and recording their learning in their maths journals.

In PE, Coach Beth led another fantastic session. This week we explored different throwing techniques: a push throw using a ball and a pull throw using bean bags and foam javelins. We worked in teams to improve our accuracy and strength, and had great fun competing against one another while developing new skills.

In Expressive Arts and Design, our theme was in the garden. We created beautiful large-scale paintings of flowers and crafted 3D flowers using cupcake cases and rolled paper. It was wonderful to see their learning and creativity coming through in their independent play.

Our Personal Social and Emotional Development and Wellbeing sessions focused on kindness and truthfulness. In our Boris story, Cheer Up Boris!, we reflected on how words can affect others. We shared kind messages for Boris and wrote uplifting postcards to remind him how special he is. We also had an important discussion about what we really need in life: family, friends, love, food, water, and a safe home. The children shared thoughtful and mature reflections about what truly matters.

Reception Class, you've been shining stars this week, caring for the Earth, caring for each other, and learning with such curiosity and joy. We can't wait to see what next week brings!

Mrs Ward