Reception

 

Adults in Class : Mrs A Sunderland -Teacher,  Mrs B Hudson - Teaching Assistant 

Mrs S Harris - Wed PM & Mrs L Towler - Fri AM

Welcome to Reception Class

We have had a lovely busy start to our new year together.

The children have settled in well and are enjoying exploring the Unit.

They are also enjoying completing our Phonic, Maths & Investigation Challenges.

Our new topic is ALL ABOUT ME, and we have all painted fantastic self-portraits. 

Below are details of our planned learning for the next half-term. We will however follow children's interests and ideas, so this may vary.

We have done PE for the first time this week. The children were very good at following instructions and we learned the Bean Game. The children particularly enjoyed being french beans ("Oo la la!") 

We then began to learn how to use space to move around the hall safely. We pretended to be some of the pets that the children had talked about earlier this week.  We were dogs, cats and parrots!

We have had a very busy few weeks in Reception.

We are all getting to know each other well through our Topic "All About Me".

This week we have looked at 'Our Heroes' and what characteristics they have.

We talked about Usain Bolt, we discussed his dedication and resilience. We enjoyed watching clips of his races. Some of us drew pictures of him. We had our own races in the playground and in PE we practiced running safely at different speeds, we also liked doing the Lightening Bolt stance!

Thank you to the all the parents and grandparents who joined us for our Early Years Maths Workshop.

  It was lovely to watch everyone tackling the maths challenges. 

In Maths we have been looking at patterns.

We looked at the artwork of the British Artist Bridget Riley, who specialises in pattern and optical illusion.

We created our own versions of some of her work. 

This week in Reception we have been talking about our favourite toys.

We looked at a range of toys, including ones from a long time ago. We all then made our own 'cup & ball' toys, decorating our cups and then attaching a ball & string using cellotape.

Then the fun began! We showed great resilience in using our new toys, as they can be quite frustrating! We knew we had to keep trying and we congratulated each other when we finally achieved success. 

On Wednesday evening Friends of Hill Top kindly organised and ran the Halloween Disco for the children.  It was a super party with a 'spooky' hall and lots of party games. Children also received drinks, crisps and sweeties. 

The children looked amazing and we all had a fantastic time. 

On Friday 19th October the school held a MacMillan Coffee Morning & we all wore pink to support Breast Cancer Research.

The children really enjoyed the buns!

We had a visitor on Tuesday, who came to talk to us about the importance of Road Safety. He taught us a song about the Green Cross Code & told us a story about the importance of seat belts.

We also watched a puppet show about staying with grown-ups near roads.

We then went outside into our playground to practice being safe around roads & traffic.

Below is our planned schedule for this half-term, however, as we do endeavour to follow children's interests, this may alter.

We have had a busy few weeks looking at the amazing sculpture work of British Artist Cornelia Parker. We have used a variety of resources, (both inside & out) to re-create some of her work.

We all looked superbly 'Spotacular' this morning, in support of Children in Need.

Thank you to everyone for your kind donations.

Our story this week is Owl Babies and we have enjoyed listening to the story and also acting it out ourselves! Our favourite part however was making owl faces with fruit & vegetables, then having a 'picnic' together eating our creations!

We have had a very special visitor today . Mr Roop Singh came into our Assembly to talk to us about Sikhism. He talked to us about all of God's wonderful and varied creations, and how we are all different and this should be celebrated. He also explained to the children all about his Sikh ' uniform'. The children thoroughly enjoyed his visit. 

Our Topic this week is 'Going on a Bear Hunt'! We spent the morning hunting for bears in our Wildlife Garden. After we had found them all, we decided to explore the environment further, hunting for 'good' sticks and also by sliding down the mudslide on our bottoms & getting very muddy!

We had a fantastic morning!

December 2018

Christmas has arrived !!!

We enjoyed putting up our class Christmas tree on the 3rd, everyone chose a bauble to hang & our 'Star of the Week' placed the star on top of the tree! 

 

We have been learning about the Nativity story, including creating 'Shows' to perform in-front of our friends. Some of these shows began with the Nativity, but led into groups of friends singing and dancing for other children!

Our Caretaker Dave donated a large box which immediately became Santa's sleigh!

Mrs Hudson helped the children to cut the cardboard into a sleigh shape and then the children decorated it. When it was dry, they used it in their role-play!

We have had a fantastic Christmas Party this afternoon, which was made perfect by a special visitor!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Happy New Year!

The children came back into school eager to share their Christmas experiences and eager to learn yesterday!

Below are the plans for the next half-term, however, as we do follow children's interests, this may vary as the weeks progress.

The topic of Magic was inspired by the children, as many of them  have used our previously collected sticks as magic wands in the playground!

In our Circle Time this week we talked about how we felt when we tackled a new experience. The children shared how they were nervous beginning swimming lessons and how they were excited the first time they travelled on planes or ferries. We then discussed how we have to be brave and try new things! We then created our own 'brave' pose, to help us to be bold!

We enjoyed looking at this book this week, and have had lots of discussions about how we are all different and unique.

( We decided though that although it was okay for some people, none of us really wanted to eat

macaroni & cheese in the bath!)

We have been looking at the artwork of British Artist Yinka Shonibare. We particularly liked his work titled Black Gold and we all had lots of fun painting our own interpretations.

Some of the children also spent their time locating circular objects in our environment ( inside & out!) to create their own versions too!

We were all very proud of ourselves this morning when we were awarded both the

Tidy Classroom Award & the School Attendance Trophy in Assembly!

A while ago, a child had asked about the trophy and numbers that Mrs Hyams talks about in Assembly every week, so I explained what 'attendance' meant, and we briefly discussed percentages!

We always talk about how many children are here every day and the children grew progressively more excited as this week went on, as we realised we had a chance of getting the Trophy ourselves! 

 

It was Safer Internet Day today. (050219) We had a story about a boy called Ben who received a new tablet and we all discussed what actions Ben should take when unusual messages or new game adverts appeared on his device. Reception class had very sensible ideas and we all decided that the golden rule is ' ALWAYS ask a grown-up '. We learnt a song to remind us of our rule.

Below are details of what we plan to do over the next half-term. As always, we follow children's interests so this is just a guide and we may stray from this! Our Topic is Amazing Animals, because as a class we decided we would like to learn more about animals from all over the world.

 

Our Artist this half-term is Steven Brown. The children have created some amazing artwork which will be shown in our Class Assembly on March 13th. 

Some of the children also took their artistic ideas outside and created some work using chalks.

On Monday it was very windy, so we embraced the weather and all made kites. We drew our designs then cut & attached string.

The most enjoyable part was watching the shapes that our kites made because of the wind.

Thursday 7th March was World Book Day. We had some fantastic 'Book In A Box' creations. Thank you to all who supported the children with their boxes.

On Wednesday we performed our Class Assembly for the whole school and parents/grandparents. The children were amazing and did a fantastic job of showing what they have learned during this topic so far. We acted, sang, danced, shared facts and showed our artwork loudly & proudly!

We had special visitors in class this week. Tortoises Shelly & Fung-Fu Panda came to meet us on Wednesday afternoon. The children all had an opportunity to hold a tortoise. We learned about how they are reptiles, they like to eat fresh sprout leaves and they need a heat-lamp to keep them warm in their tank!

Below is the planned learning for Reception for this half-term, however, as noted previously, we do believe in following & extending the children's own interests,  so this is just a guideline.

The children are thoroughly enjoying our Marvellous Minibeast Topic & loved our Minibeast Hunt in the Wildlife Garden, where the children ticked off the insects they sawused the I-Pads to      photograph a few!

We have new arrivals in Reception Class this half-term... 5 tiny caterpillars! However, they are not tiny for long! Below are photos of Day 1, Day 5 & Day 8. The children have already spotted how much our 'pets' are growing! Watch this space for further updates.

We have had further developments with our caterpillars. The cocoons were moved into the Butterfly house in eager preparation and on the 9th May three of our butterflies hatched. We have watched them closely as they emerged & then hung their wings to allow them to unfold and harden ready for flight. The children have fed them fruit & nectar, and also named them! Please meet Rosie, Rainbow Sparkle & Shelley! We await the arrival of our 4th new pet, whom the children have already named Star!

After a few days of watching our new butterflies mature, we decided it was time to set them free. We took Rosie, Rainbow Sparkle, Star & Shelley onto the school field as it was a lovely sunny day and we released them. We watched as they explored the flowers around the field before they flew away to lay their eggs, and the life cycle will begin again.

We all had a fantastic time on our School Trip to Ledston Estate. We met lots of bugs and each made a beeswax candle. Some of the braver ones amongst us also held tarantulas & corn-snakes!

The sun shone, which gave us the opportunity for a super picnic on the grass! 

Below is our planned learning for the next half- term, however, as mentioned previously, we do like to follow children's interests, so we may stray from this! 

We have had lots of fun being pirates in Reception! We have written instructions for how to be a pirate & how to find the treasure! We created our own treasure maps and even made pirate-ships from apple & cheese!

We had all done lots of pirate maths activities, created our own pirate names & learned some funny

sea-shantys!

As part of our Black History studies, we have looked at the World No1 Tennis Player Serena Williams. We spoke about the resilience and dedication she has shown to become the best in her field. We were all inspired by how her path the success began when she was 3 years old! 

We all thought about what we would like to be World Champions at.

On Monday morning we all had a fantastic time competing in Sports Day.

We all got stickers which we were very proud of!

Thank you to the family members who came to support us,

and a special thank you to those who helped with stickers and

also participated in the Mum's & Dad's races!