St John the Baptist CE VA Primary School Reception

Our book this week was Captain Scott: Journey to the South Pole

by Adrian Bradbury and we have been writing facts about who Captain Scott was. We finished our phase 3 phonics sessions and we revised sounds we found difficult, ready for our Spring 2 phonics sessions. The maths lessons focussed on using counting to compare and we practised using one to one correspondence to compare quantities, counting to compare totals and counting forwards and backwards to identify a difference. During Learning Through Play we enjoyed building dens with our outside large construction equipment and waterproof coverings, creating frost and snowflake patterns using oil pastels and water colour paints and making Antarctica posters and books in our Message Centre. You can help your child at home by checking they know the phase 3 phonemes, reading with them and talking to them about their learning.

This week Reception have been reading Dreamy Antarctica by Maya Sara Karthik. We researched and wrote facts about what Antarctica is like. Did you know that Antarctica is in the southern hemisphere? It is a large continent covered by ice. No one lives in Antarctica permanently but some scientists and explorers can live there for short periods of time. We found out how people use warm or hot drinks to keep warm in cold weather and we made hot chocolate which was ‘delicious’. Our phonics sessions focussed on reading longer words which include previously taught graphemes. During maths lessons we compared sets using mathematical vocabulary ‘more than’, ‘fewer than’ and ‘an equal number’ to describe how many objects there are in each set. ‘Fewer than’ is used rather than ‘less than’, as the focus is on countable things.

We also found out how to Stay Safe Online during our SCARF PSED lesson.  Our Learning Through Play activities included the opportunity to become an explorer and find a route to Antarctica using our large outside construction crates, bricks, balance beams and stepping stones, serving hot chocolate in our Hot Chocolate Café role play and creating a collaborative Antarctica landscape collage in our Creative Area. You can help your child at home by checking they know the phase 3 phonemes, reading with them and talking to them about their learning.

Our book this week was The Great Race by Christopher Corr and we discovered facts about the Lunar New Year and how some people celebrate it. We looked at China on a world map and we found out that the Northern China can get very cold and Mount Everest, which is on the border of China is extremely cold. We continued learning the phase 3 phonemes in phonics and this week focussed on air, er and words with double letters: dd, mm, tt, bb, rr, gg, pp and ff. Our maths lessons secured our understanding of the pairs of numbers that make 5 and then we used double dice frames to begin to explore 6 and 7 as numbers that are composed of ‘5 and a bit’. During Learning Through Play we could create Chinese celebration meals in our Chinese Restaurant, race the animals in our water tray ‘river’ and create fans, lanterns and Chinese New Year dragons in our Creative Area. You can help your child at home by checking they know the phase 3 phonemes, reading with them and talking to them about their learning.

This week Reception have been reading The Snowflake by Neil Waldman. We read facts about the water cycle and found out that snow falls when the temperature is low and there is moisture in the atmosphere in the form of tiny ice crystals. We continued exploring the Polar Regions and discovered they are so cold because they are located at the top and the bottom of the Earth and therefore get very little direct sunlight throughout the year. During phonics sessions we focussed on learning ur, ow, oi and ear, while our maths lessons focussed on consolidating our understanding of the composition of 5. Composing and decomposing numbers involved the children investigating part–part–whole relations, for example, seeing that 5 can be made of 3 and 2. During Learning Through Play we had the opportunity to explore how ice melts in our water tray, create our own Frozen Planet books in the Message Centre and compose our own music using musical instruments with a wintry sounds, such as bells, triangles and glockenspiels on our Stage Area. You can help your child at home by checking they know the phase 3 phonemes, reading with them and talking to them about their learning.

Our book this week was Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. We found the South Pole in Antarctica on a World Map and we found out that penguins, whales, fish, krill and seals live there. We continued learning the phase 3 phonemes and this week we focussed on learning oo, oo, ar and or. During maths sessions we practised counting and found out about the stable order principle – rehearsing the order of the first 5 numbers and understanding that the position each number holds in our number sequence does not change. We also investigated the difference in value of consecutive whole numbers and discovered that each number has a value of 1 more than the previous number. During Learning Through Play we could create our own shades of winter collage, tell stories about Antarctica in our story telling centre and explore Antarctica animals in our water tray. You can help your child at home by checking they know the phase 3 phonemes, reading with them and talking to them about their learning.

Our new topic is Frozen Planet and this week we have been reading Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Eric Carle. We used a story map and actions to retell the story and we used our segmenting fingers to sound out words we wanted to write. We looked at the Arctic regions to explore where Polar Bears live and found out information about some other animals that live there. We started learning the phase 3 phonemes in phonics sessions and this week we focussed on learning ai, ee, igh and oa. During maths lessons we uses our perceptual subitising skills (seeing the quantity without counting) in increasingly complex arrangements, moving from dots in a line and arrangements of 2, to a focus on standard dice arrangements and we practised counting by touching a small set of objects one at a time to find out how many were in the set. During Learning Through Play we had the opportunity to use our outdoor construction equipment to build a route to the Arctic, create a book about the Arctic in our Message Centre and create snowflake pictures in our Creative Area. You can help your child at home by checking they know the phonics phonemes, reading with them and talking to them about their learning.

Our book this week was "Let’s Celebrate" edited by Debjani Chatterjee & Brian D’arcy. We read poems about Harvest, Diwali and Christmas and we wrote about our favourite celebration. We also had a class vote to find out which is our favourite festival or celebration and we discovered Christmas was the most popular. During phonics sessions we practised learning z, qu and ch and tricky words, go, no, to and into. Our maths sessions continued to focus on patterns and how they can be represented with objects (such as pebbles, dinosaurs, pieces of fruit) as symbols using colour and shape to identify a unique symbol for each term of the pattern sequence. The Mastering Number sessions explored the concept of ‘wholes’ and ‘parts’. The children investigated their own bodies and familiar toys to begin to understand that whole things are often made up of smaller parts and that a whole is, therefore, bigger than its parts. During Learning Through Play we had the opportunity to construct and deconstruct things with parts, such as jigsaw puzzles, create a crowd picture based on Jesus feeds the 5000 in our Creative Area and buy items in our Celebration Shop. You can help your child at home by checking they know the phonics phonemes, reading with them and talking to them about their learning

Reception have been reading" Let’s Celebrate 5 days of Diwali!" By Ajanta and Vivek. We looked for India on a world map and we wrote facts to explain what we found out about Diwali. We made coconut barfi and tasted some Indian food including poppadum, vegetable samosas, Vegetable Tikka Masala, Pilau Rice, Mango Chutney and Naan bread. Some of us liked all of the food but Mango Chutney was the most popular, closely followed by the Naan bread. This week our phonics lessons focussed on v w x and y. We practised writing these and we also introduced more tricky words, and, has, his and her. Our Mastering Number sessions focussed on comparing quantities using ‘more than’, ‘fewer than’ and ‘an equal number’ to describe how many objects there were in each set and we continued learning about patterns during maths sessions by providing a variety of patterns including spiral, wriggly, diagonal examples of repeated patterns and asking the children to describe the patterns and identify the repeated unit using ordinal numbers to explain the position.  During "Learning Through Play" we had the opportunity to create necklaces, belts and bracelets using coloured beads in our maths investigation area, create Indian recipes in our mud kitchen, using herbs and spices and create Diva lamps in our Creative Area. You can help your child at home by checking they know the taught phonemes using your home learning book, reading with them and talking to them about their learning.

This week, Reception started their new topic, Let’s Celebrate. We read "Bonfire Nigh"t by Eliza Berison and wrote about how people might celebrate bonfire night. During phonics sessions we practised learning ff, ll, ss and j. Our maths sessions focussed on comparing patterns. We looked at pictures of patterns and extended them, using again, the same and repeated to help us. Our Mastering Number sessions were about counting. We checked we knew the last number in the count tells us ‘how many’ things there are altogether in a set of objects. During "Learning Through Play" we had the opportunity to celebrate birthdays in Home Corner, create Bonfire Night Recipes in the Mud Kitchen and make our own firework models in the Creative Area. You can help your child at home by checking they know the phonics phonemes, reading with them and talking to them about their learning.

Our book this week was" Marvellous Me" by Lisa Bullard. We created a story map and actions to retell the story and we wrote about our special skills that make us marvellous. During phonics lessons we focussed on learning more graphemes, h, b, f and l, including how to write them. For Mastering Number, we enjoyed looking carefully and using the language of comparison to describe sets of objects including ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’. In maths sessions we continued comparing measures. Our "Learning Through Play" gave us time to create jellyfish based on our RE lesson about The Creation Story, dig in our sandpit and look after the dolls in our Baby Clinic.

This week, Reception celebrated Harvest Festival at St John the Baptist church. We drew our favourite fruits and vegetables, and wrote a class prayer to thank God for all the wonderful fruits and vegetables. During Literacy sessions we continued reading "A Handful of Buttons" by Carmen Parets Luque. We used our story map and actions to help us remember the main events and we discussed and wrote about the pets we have, or would like in our families. During phonics lessons we have been learning new graphemes, ck, e, u and r and in our Mastering Number sessions we built on our subitising skills and investigated the shapes made by Numberblock Four. For maths we practised using the language of heavier and lighter to compare mass or weight. We found out bigger things are not always the heaviest. During "Learning Through Play" we enjoyed mixing colours using our handprints to make new colours, playing family roles with the dolls in our Home Corner and dressing up as People Who Help Us.

Reception have been reading "A Handful of Buttons" by Carmen Parets Luque and thinking the special people in our own families.  During phonics lessons, we have been checking we know the phase 2 sounds from previous weeks and learning new graphemes, g, o, c and k. We are all eager to practise our handwriting and we have been segmenting words we want to write such as mum, dad and nan. Our Mastering Number sessions focussed on how numbers can be composed of 1s and, from this, we investigated the composition of 3 and 4. For instance, seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2. We continued practising our counting skills in maths by touching and arranging the items we wanted to count. Our "Learning Through Play" provided us with the opportunity to role play using technology such as phones and laptops in our Home Corner, count autumnal objects in our outside maths investigation tray and create photo frames for our family drawings in our creative area.

Reception start their day with some Busy Fingers activates to develop their fine motor skills. This week we enjoyed cutting and sticking pictures of people who help us, colouring pictures of families and building houses with Lego. We also practised writing our name and read with adults during our Early Morning Work. During literacy sessions we continued reading There’s Only One You by Kathryn Heling and we thought about the Very Important People (VIPs) in our lives. We used photographs to help us speak about who our special people are and we drew pictures of them. In our phonics sessions we continued learning our phase 2 GPCs. We wrote the focus letters, i, n, m and d, and we talked about how learning can be difficult but the more we practise the better we will get. We used our counting skills in maths and Mastering Number sessions and we found out that the last number in the count tells us ‘how many’ things there are altogether. During Learning Through Play we could perform our favourite rhymes on our outside stage, count groups of ducks and frogs in our water tray and attend our Doctor’s Role Play to check we are all well.

Reception have been finding out about where we live and where our school is. This week we read a book called All Kinds of Homes by Emma Damon and we began learning a new song called, ‘Hello to all the children of the world’. We looked for the United Kingdom on a world map and some of us could name the village or town where we live. We enjoyed painting a picture of our home and talking about what it looks like. We continued learning rhymes and counting songs during our Little Wandle Rhyme Time sessions and we took part in maths counting sessions. We had our church Welcome Service on Wednesday and we all received a special book from Reverend Sarah. During Learning Through Play we had the opportunity to play with our dolls house, write all about me facts in our message centre and act roles in our school role play.

This week Reception have been reading "There’s Only One You" by Kathryn Heling, and we have been thinking about what makes us special and unique. We thought about how we have changed since we were a baby and we noticed we can do much more now than when we were younger. We also talked about how we are all different and how we like doing some similar things but also some different things. We started our phase 2 phonics sounds this week and practised writing the focus letters, s, a, t and p, using the Little Wandle letter formation phrase to help us. Our maths and Mastering Number lessons focussed on subitising. We practised rolling a dice and saying the number on the dice without counting the dots and saying how many there were in a small group of objects by ‘just seeing’ and knowing straightaway without needing to count.  We also compared groups of objects using the same, more or less to describe how many. During Learning Through Play we had the opportunity to create our own treasure box to keep our special things in, count cars in our toy garage and wash dolls in our water tray.

Welcome to Reception. This week we started our new topic ‘Ourselves’ by creating a mind map to show what we already know and new information we have discovered. We painted self-portraits and practised writing our names. We read our Scarf PSED book, All About Me and thought about how we are the same and how we are different. We also began our Little Wandle Developing Language, Rhyme Time lessons, which supports children learning language, their awareness of sounds within words and later their reading. For maths this week we have been singing counting rhymes and practising our counting skills. Our Learning Through Play sessions allowed us the opportunity to practise our DIY skills while setting up our Home Corner, thinking about our feelings as we start school, exploring our inside and outside areas and the activities we can complete in each and writing cards in our Message Centre.