Understanding the World
Growing
- Plant seeds and care for growing plants.
- Understand the key features of the life cycle of a plant.
- Begin to understand the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things.
- Understand the effect of changing seasons on the natural world around them.
Before the Easter holidays the children focused on non-fiction texts in our whole class reading sessions. The books were called 'A Pip to Pot' and 'Grow a Flower'. These lessons provided the children with lots of thinking and discussion time, allowing them to understand what a seed needs to enable it to grow. They sequenced pictures and talked about the stages a plant goes through in its lifetime as well as working in small groups to plant a broad bean seed. They also wrote instructions to say how to plant a seed.
Here is what happened to our broad bean seeds over the Easter holidays...
'Amazing Animals!'
This term our topic is called Amazing Animals. We have begun by focusing on minibeasts and initially asked the children if they knew anything about minibeasts. We had some interesting responses!
- What is a minibeast?
- Do you know any creatures that could be a minibeast?
- What is special about a minibeast?
Handwashing
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Manage their own needs.
Physical Development
- Know and talk about the different factors that support their overall health and wellbeing
- Further develop the skills they need to manage the school day successfully: mealtimes, personal hygiene
To support the children in their understanding of the importance of clean hands the school nursing team spent a morning in school with them. They talked about how germs are hidden on our hands and demonstrated the correct process for washing hands. They even used a special UV light to detect any germs they may have missed when the washed their hands! The children were keen to share the information they had learnt later in the week and were able to correctly model how we should always wash our hands to ensure we keep safe.
Understanding the World
- Begin to understand the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things.
- Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals.
- Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them.
Communication and Language
- Learn new vocabulary
- Use new vocabulary through the day
- Ask questions to find out more and to check they understand what has been said to them.
- Engage in non-fiction books.
- Listen to and talk about selected non-fiction to develop a deep familiarity with new knowledge and vocabulary.
We have had an exciting delivery arrive in reception...some teeny, tiny baby caterpillars! The children are really enjoying observing and talking about the changes taking place right in front of their eyes and cannot wait to see if they become butterflies!
Maths - w/c 17.4.2023
To 20 and Beyond
This week we have focused on identifying number patterns to 20, matching pictures to numerals, making amounts to 20 on tens frames and estimating how many.
Literacy
- Engage in story times.
- Listen to and talk about stories to build familiarity and understanding.
- Retell the story, once they have developed a deep familiarity with the text; some as exact repetition and some in their own words.
- Demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary.
- Anticipate (where appropriate) key events in stories.
- Use and understand recently introduced vocabulary during discussions about stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems and during role play.
Our first key text linked to our minibeast topic is 'The Wooly Bear Caterpillar' by Julia Donaldson. We began by looking at only part of the front cover to make a prediction about what we thought the book may be about. We had to decide if we thought it would be fiction or non-fiction. Take a look at some of our ideas:
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Zoolab Visit Reception!
Communication and Language:
- Understand how to listen carefully and why listening is important.
- Learn new vocabulary.
- Listen to and talk about selected non-fiction to develop a deep familiarity with new knowledge and vocabulary.
Understanding of the World:
- Explore the natural world around them.
- Describe what they see, hear and feel...
- Recognise some environments that are different to the one in which they live.
The children loved the hands-on experience when Eleanor from Zoolab brought some of her favourite minibeast creatures into school. They met a millipede from Africa, a cockroach, a snake called Kas, an Australian blue tree frog and a tarantula called Tilly!
Eleanor told us some many amazing facts about each creature and those of us who were feeling brave even got a chance to hold and touch some of these amazing animals!
When the millipede is feeling vulnerable as a predator is close by, it will coil into a ball and secrete a foul fluid from its body's pores.
10/38
Expressive Art and Design
- Explore, use and refine a variety of artistic effects to express their ideas and feelings
Working collaboratively to create a meadow of 'swishy, swashy' grass as part of our minibeast topic...I wonder what creatures we will find hiding amongst the long stems?
Maths - w/c 24.4.2023
To 20 and Beyond
This week we have continued to focus on identifying number patterns to 20, ordering number cards to 10, progressing to 20 and used ten frames to help us solve subtraction problems involving numbers to 20.
Celebrations for King Charles III Coronation
(Friday 5th May 2023)
Reception have loved celebrating the King’s coronation today! They started their day by parading decorated bikes, scooters and prams around the hall before returning to class and singing the National Anthem. The children had a special coronation themed dinner and were treated to a surprise visit from the ice cream van this afternoon. They all looked great in their red, white and blue clothes.
The children have been busy learning the National Anthem for the Kings Coronation too ...
It's time to release the butterflies ...
(Thursday 18th May)
Over the past couple of weeks the children have been watching each of our caterpillars grow and form their chrysalis. This week the butterflies started to emerge and today it was time to say goodbye and release them into nature.
Understanding the World
- Begin to understand the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things.
PSE - Mental Health Awareness Week
Mental Health refers to your emotional, psychological and social wellbeing. Your mental health can change on a daily basis and over time, and can be affected by a range of factors.
In assembly Mrs Wardell shared the story 'Lucy's Blue Day' and we took time to discuss our emotions and how we react to situations. Click below to hear the story again.
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Maths - Addition using a part whole model
Health Week
We have had a really busy week in school and completed lots of activities that promote an ethos and environment which encourages a proactive approach to developing a healthy lifestyle. We have focused on growing food, healthy eating and cooking and taken part in lots of physical activity as well as taking time to consider our mental health too.
We began our week by working with Oona who taught us the Haka dance, it was great fun!
Sports Day
The sun was shining, our grown ups were watching, we were in our teams and focused on scoring as many points as possible! We took part in three group activities:
- Speed jump
- Skittles
- Bean bag target
and then took part in individual races, including the egg and spoon. It was a great afternoon!
Understanding the World
- Design Technology
Fruit Kebabs
As part of health week we took part in a taste testing activity to try kiwi fruit and then designed our own fruit kebab. We could choose three different fruit and we had to put them in an ABC repeating pattern. Following the design task we made our own kebab by threading the different fruit onto the skewer and then we sat in the sunshine to eat our kebab alongside our friends. They were delicious!
Expressive Art and Design
- Explore, use and refine a variety of artistic effects to express their ideas and feelings
- Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
- Share their creations, explaining the process they have used.
Using water colours to explore colour mixing to create shades of green.
Bikeability!
RW have had a great afternoon on the balance bikes today. Kate from Bikeability taught the children how to correctly sit on the bike to control them around the playground. They even went under a 'bridge', over a ramp and along the plank.
RE
Over the past few weeks RW have been talking about the following key questions:
- What does the word creation mean?
- Who do Christians believe created the world?
- What is the Christian story of creation?
- How was our world made?
Today our key questions were
-
LO: What do religious believers believe about who created the world?
Class discussion around the Creation story. We watched a video about how Christians believe God created the world and tried to answer the following questions: What is beautiful about the natural world? / What does the word creation mean? / Who do Christians believe created the world? / What is the Christian story of Creation? / How was our world made?
The following shows all of our ideas during our class discussion:
What things are beautiful in our world? What makes it a good place to be?
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palm tree sea animals roses tree poppies family and parents flowers butterflies bees |
people Grandparents cats puppy pets dog Grandma Christmas tree Sunset rainbows |
worm tulips dandelions rabbits land snails sea creatures donkey beetles beach |