A huge welcome to all of our new reception children and families. What a fantastic start to the year we've had!

The children have settled extremely well into their new environment and are enjoying their new adventure with us.

We have been exploring our indoor and outdoor environments together whilst learning how to make new friends and build positive relationships. 

Oak class have really enjoyed bringing in their wonderfully created shoe boxes to share with everyone - it was so lovely to hear them speak about their families, friends and favourite toys.

Our theme this term is Marvellous Me, we have talked about and looked carefully at our similarities and differences and painted some beautiful self portraits. 

Every new theme has a new Talk 4 Write story which we: read together, act out from a story map and learn actions for the text so that we can re-tell the story orally. Our story this term is Martin Waddell's  repetitive story 'Owl Babies' - the children are really enjoying it and have crafted a collection of owls using different printing techniques. 

Please visit our web page again soon for photos of us and our wonderful work 

Grandparent's Morning

Oak class had a fun filled morning, we played traditional games such as: dominoes, snap, pairs and snakes and ladders. Thank you to all of the Grandparent's that gave up their time to join us and teach us how to play.  

Owl Visit

Last week we had a special visit from the 'real life' Owl Babies from our Talk 4 Write story of the same title. We watched the three different species of owls fly overhead, walk across the hall, eat chicken and found out some cool facts too. Did you know that the owl's eye colour indicates which time of the day they are active? 

We were very lucky (and a little bit brave) to be able to handle the owls - we used our sense of sight to describe how they looked.

Autumn Term 2

ROAR!

This half term our new theme is ROAR! We will be exploring the natural world with a focus on dinosaurs. Our new Talk 4 Write story this term is 'The Little Green Dinosaur' and we will be learning to re-tell the story through drama and role play alongside daily oral re-tells too. 

Phonics

We will be continuing to secure our phonic knowledge of phase 2 sounds and tricky words as well as moving on to Phase 3 sounds and tricky words.

 Maths 

In maths we will be deepening our knowledge of numbers and counting and exploring sorting objects by a chosen criteria, comparing amounts, finding one more/less than a number before finishing the term with exploring time.

                                                                 Dinosaur Visit

This week we were visited by two Palaeontologists, it was amazing! We found out lots of different information such as when dinosaurs lived, where they roamed, what they ate, how they defended themselves, how they protected their young and learned lots of scientific names too.

We discovered that dinosaurs built nests and layed eggs - just as birds do today! We got hands on with some realistic looking dinosaur models and peered into the jaws of a fierce T-Rex! We ended our visit with a very special surprise, we each took it in turns to hold an actual fossilised baby dinosaur still inside it’s egg - What an amazing experience to have had!

Autumn Term Maths

This term the children have been working really hard at understanding numbers to 5. We have counted forwards and backwards, matched numeral to quantity, made different amounts and represented these in various ways such as: using a five frame, exploring numicon and drawing mathematical pictures. Also, we have compared groups of objects using the comparative vocabulary: fewer than, more than and equal to, begun to subitise small amounts and found one more and one less than an amount or number by telling a First, Then and Now story.

Maths in reception class is a very 'hands on' practical lesson where the children get to explore different apparatus and physically 'hold maths' in their hands. We also develop the children's understanding by 'talking maths' using full sentences that includes  specific mathematical vocabulary.

At all times we ensure the children are secure in the knowledge of  the five counting principles - see document below. 

Spring Term 1

'To the Rescue'

Our new theme this term will be 'To the Rescue'. We will be finding out about the people who help us in our community and wider world. In addition to this, we will be learning ways in which we can help keep ourselves and others safe too.

We will be focusing on and re-telling 'Traditional Tales' in literacy, some of our Talk for Write will include: The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Little red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Gingerbread Man.  

Phonics

We will continue to embed and consolidate Phase 2 and Phase 3 phonemes especially recognising taught digraphs within words as we read. Daily practice of high frequency words and tricky words will help us build fluency during reading so that we can enjoy and develop understanding of what we are reading.

Maths

In Maths this term, the focus is number bonds within 5 through exploring the part-whole model, numbers to 10 including: comparing various groups of objects, combining two groups to find the whole, adding and subtracting and finally exploring characteristics of everyday objects, 2D and 3D shapes.