This week we have learnt...

Spring 2

Week 7

This week we have been celebrating Easter and learning about the Easter story. We enjoyed matching the eggs - matching lower case letters with the capital letters. 

In maths, we have been counting pennies and using pennies to pay for items at the post office. In literacy, we have been drawing and writing about what we can see in Spring. 

We had lots of fun making and eating Easter nests in DT!

In Outdoor Explorers, we had an easter egg hunt! We then decorating cardboard Easter eggs with nature finds. 

Week 6

This week we have been learning all about symmetry. We used mirrors on the line of symmetry to show the other half of the image - we then drew the other half of the picture making sure it is the same on both sides. 

We have been learning about dinosaurs that are herbivores and carnivores - we sorted the dinosaurs into herbivores and carnivores. 

In Outdoor Explorers, we made symmetrical butterfly prints using leaves to print the wings. We then glued on sticks for the bodies and drew on the antennae. 

Week 5

This week, we have been reading 'Dear Dinosaur' - in literacy we wrote postcards from the T-Rex in the story. The T-Rex went surfing, built sandcastles and had ice cream!

In Maths, we have been making number stories using a dice and acting the number stories out using cups. 

In Outdoor Explorers we have been learning all about signs of Spring - we drew all the signs of Spring that we could see. Catkins, blossom, bees, daffodils...

Week 4

In Maths this week we have been learning all about sharing equally - we shared the food equally between the plates. We have also been exploring weighing objects to find out if they are heaviest or lightest. 

Fred the frog has been very cheeky this week - he muddled up all of Mrs Godwin's green words! We helped to sort the green words - Fred talk, read the word and then match the word to the correct special friend. 

We also loved celebrating red nose day - we learnt about the importance of red nose day and why we dress in red. We also had fun making red nose day self-portraits, making our own red noses and making red potions. 

Week 3

We loved the forensic science workshop on Monday! We used the clues to solve the case of the missing dog. We loved exploring the evidence! After the workshop we used paint to make fingerprints. We noticed how all our fingerprints are slightly different. We also made footprints out of paint - our footprints are different sizes and with different patterned treads. 

In Outdoor Explorers, we learnt about birds nests. We watched a time lapse of a blue tit making a birds nest and we examined a real life birds nest. Then we made our own birds nests using sticks, straw, moss, leaves and feathers!

In maths, we have been ordering objects from the tallest to the shortest. We measured dinosaurs using blocks, then we ordered the dinosaurs from shortest to longest. 

Week 2

We had an intruder in Reception this week! We searched for clues to investigate who had broken into our classroom. We found muddy dinosaur footprints, chairs that had been knocked over and big eggs in a nest! Luckily there was a video of the intruder... a T-rex! We then wrote a newspaper article all about the T-rex break in!

In maths, we have been continuing to create addition and subtraction number stories. This week we used dominoes and Numicon. 

We have also been learning about Mary Anning the famous fossil finder. We searched for our own fossils in the sand tray and broke apart the rocks with hammers to find the fossil inside. 

On Thursday, we celebrated world book day! We had an exciting visit from the author Theresa Davies who read her story 'Fiery Fox' to us. We also brought in stories from home and shared them with our friends. 

Week 1

We love our new topic...dinosaurs! We have been learning about dinosaur fossils. We searched the sand to find fossils with our brushes. We also practiced our cutting skills, cutting out a dinosaur skeleton and piecing it together and we made fossils using the playdough. 

We found some dinosaur footprints with numbers on them in the Reception garden. We used these to practice counting and then we match the number to the giant Numicon. 

In literacy, we drew pictures of our favourite dinosaur and then wrote a sentence about the dinosaur with describing words. 

In Outdoor Explorers, we found lots of dinosaurs hidden around the forest. We then used these to make dinosaur foot prints with paint!

Spring 1

Week 6

In art this week, we used pastels on black paper to draw the deep, dark forest from Little Red Riding Hood. We then stuck on a collage of Little Red Riding Hood and the big, bad wolf! We have also been writing about Little Red Riding Hood in literacy - we have in the speech bubbles what the characters are saying. We have also made cupcakes and decorated them with icing. 

In Outdoor Explorers, we have continued our bird watch and we made bird feeders. 

Week 5

Our book of the week is 'Little Red Riding Hood' - we have loved acting out the story in the small world tuff tray. We have also been learning about adjectives this week. In literacy, we drew a picture of a character from 'Little Red Riding Hood' and wrote some adjectives to describe the character. We have also been learning capital letters and have practiced writing all of them!

In maths we have been making addition towers to help us to solve addition problems. We have also been exploring repeating patterns using stamps and paint. 

Week 4

We have been learning all about Chinese New Year and the zodiac! We made Chinese lanterns, we turned our mud kitchen into a noodle shop, and we have used chop sticks to taste yummy Chinese food. We also made a giant dragon head and used it to perform our very own dragon dance to Chinese music! We also learnt about Chinese wishing trees - we wrote our own wishes on red paper and hung them on our class wishing tree. In Outdoor Explorers, we made mud paint by mixing soil and water and used it to paint Chinese letters and words. 

Week 3

This week we planted magic beans. We learnt that beans need light and water to grow and we learnt all about the life cycle of beans. We have also been counting and sorting magic beans, using tweezers to move the beans to improve our fine motor skills. In Outdoor Explorers, we drew what we could see - trees, clouds, birds, insects and plants. Some children made beautiful leaf rubbings and bark rubbings!

Week 2

We loved junk modelling this week! We designed and made the castle and beanstalk from 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. In maths, we have learnt all about subtraction! We used plant pots in the Reception garden to count and solve subtraction maths stories. In Outdoor Explorers, we made bubble wands using sticks and enjoyed blowing bubbles!

Week 1

We have been reading 'Jack and the beanstalk' this week. We created our own giant beanstalk in the classroom by cutting out green spirals and then sticking on green leaves. We have also had fun retelling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk in the small world tray. 

In Maths, we have been learning about 2D shapes. The new shape that we learnt is oval! We played a fun sorting game - find the shapes in the sand and then sort them into the hoops. We also made space rockets using the 2D shapes. 

Autumn 2 

Week 7

This week we explored Hapa Zome in Outdoor Explorers - the Japanese art of printing leaves onto fabric by hammering it. We collected interesting looking leaves, arranged them on our fabric and then hammered them to create a print. We learnt how to be careful when using hammers. They look great!

Week 6

We have been celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah this week! For Christmas, we made beautiful Christmas cards for our families. We also made repeating pattern Christmas lights using finger painting. For Hanukkah, we made Challah bread. We made the dough, kneaded it, plaited it, covered it in egg wash, baked it and ate it! Delicious! We also made Menorah candles using paper plates and coloured paper!

Week 5

This week in Outdoor Explorers we made Christmas wreaths for our classroom. We foraged for foliage and then attached it to the wreath!

In Maths we have been learning to read and act out addition number sentences, we have used cups, blocks and plastic animals to help us count. 

We have also been doing lots of Christmas crafts, such as printing a Christmas tree using green paint and a fork. We also loved writing letters to Santa!

Week 4

This week we have been learning all about 2D shapes. We have matched the shapes, made shapes using sticks and played the shapes game on the playground. In literacy, we have been learning about rhyming words. We played a match the rhyming words game! We also loved playing a phonics game- roll the dice, move the counter, say the sound!

Week 3

It's been a frosty week so Reception have been learning all about freezing and melting. We had fun rescuing the animals from the ice and melting ice using warm water. We also enjoyed painting the snow!

In Outdoor Explorers we made Ice Baubles. We went on a hunt for interesting nature finds, then we arranged them in a bowl. We poured over water and then added some string as the handles. Then we left them overnight to freeze. In the morning we had amazing ice baubles...beautiful!

Week 2

This week we have been reading 'Room on the Broom'. We had lots of fun acting out the story using props, we also made the witches wand and made Room on the Broom potions. Iggity, ziggity, zaggety, zoom!

In Maths, we have been making number sentences using blocks... 2+4=6!

Week 1

We have been celebrating Bonfire Night and Diwali this week. We made firework pictures and prints using colourful paint and glitter. We also had lots of fun making chocolate sparklers! For Diwali we made beautiful Rangoli patterns with coloured rice and glitter - we also made salt dough Diya lamps and decorated them with paint!

Autumn 1

Week 8

We have had a fantastic week! We loved the visit from Tiddler Town and had lots of fun acting out different jobs. We made and tasted delicious pumpkin soup in DT and in Maths we have been counting pennies and using the pennies to buy food from our outdoor shop!

Week 6

We have been going pumpkin mad this week! We have had loads of fun decorating pumpkins, exploring what is inside pumpkins, learning about the lifecycle of pumpkins, making pumpkin potions and pumpkin printing. 

In phonics we have started to blend words! The children have done a super job at listening to the individual sounds and blending to make a word. We have been using letters to write short words and match them to the pictures.

In music, we have been learning about pulse and have been drumming and clapping to the pulse of the music.  Another great week Reception!

Week 7

Reception are getting really good at blending sounds in phonics! This week we have been using cups to blend the sounds. In Art we collected different coloured Autumn leaves and used them to create leaf insects. We also loved cutting the Autumn leaves with zig zag scissors and different shaped hole punches in the Reception garden. We have also had lots of fun counting conkers!

Week 5

We have had lots of fun hearing the initial phonics sound in words and matching the picture to the phonics sound. We have also been starting to write the numbers 0, 1 and 3!

In Outdoor Explorers we learnt all about migration and we had great fun making bird feeders for the birds that do not migrate. 

In Art, we have been mixing primary colours and painting them on a colour wheel. What a fun packed week!

Week 4

We have enjoyed reading the 'Owl Babies' this week and have worked in groups to retell the story to each other. We have also had lots of fun on the balance bikes!

Week 3

We have been starting to write our names, finding the first letter in our names and ordering the other letters. We have also been having fun in Outdoor Explorers learning about Autumn leaves and making Autumn leaf crowns. 

Week 1

We have had a fantastic first week! The children have been settling in really well and making new friends. We have been having fun exploring with playdough, painting, playing with the water tray and making mud pies in the mud kitchen. 

Week 2

Lots of counting, matching and having fun with numbers this week.