Summer 1 - Down on the farm

Big Question - what’s it like inside an egg? 

This half term we will be learning about life on a farm.
Our 2 main texts will be Sam plants a sunflower and a non fiction text about the life cycle of a duck. 
 

In phonics we will be using our phase 3 diagraphs and phase 2 sounds we have learnt to read and write longer words.

Please continue to help support your child at home with consolidating the sounds. 
Thank you :)

Healthy Inside Out Day

Our first day back has been a very busy one. We have looked at what makes a good friend reading Meesha makes friends, we then looked at the qualities of what makes a good friend. As part of our enrichment curriculum we had Tatty Yoga come into school and do a yoga session with the children. This was a great experience for us all and very calming. 

We also welcomed some new friends to our classroom which we have for the next 2 weeks. We are very excited to watch them grow and learn about how to care for ducklings and their life cycle.  

Spring 2 - On Our Way!

Big Question - How will we get there? 

This half term it is all about transport. The children will listen to stories about different vehicles; bus, bike, plane and hot air balloon. We will continue with our drawing club and encouarge the children to become creative, independent thinkers.   

In phonics we will review all the Phase 3 sounds learnt so far and begin to read and write longer words and those containing double letters. We will also be consolidating reading and spelling all the tricky words we have learnt so far.

Please help your child consolidate these at home by reading the words in your reading record book.
Thank you :)

First week and healthy inside and out day. 
Our first week back started with reading Ravi’s Roar where we looked at how we feel and what we can do when we feel angry and how this can display its self. We also learnt how to make a sock puppet.  We introduced our new topic and started with reading Mrs Armitage’s wheels and looked at what she had added to her bike. This allowed us to write some simple sentences starting with I can see or she has a…

Outside we got creativity recycling plastic bottles to make our own skittles. In maths we started looking at 5 and what is 1 more, 2 more and what pattern we notice as the numbers get bigger, we used a tens frame to support this. 

What a busy half term. We have had: World Book Day, stay and read with our loved ones as well as Lent and Easter services at St Peter’s Church. Our learning has included looking at where Trinidad is and how it is different to Leeds as we read Coming to England. In maths we have been looking at doubles and odd and even numbers with the help of the Numberblocks. We have had a focus on tricky words and finding lots of ways to practice these including them being passwords into the dining hall. 

Easter Hunt with our Year 6 buddies. 

In our last week we had an Easter egg hunt and scrap shed play with our year 6 buddies. We had lots of fun playing together. Our year 6 children showed patience and kindness to the children. Wonderful memories being made. 

Spring 1

Big Question - How are the Arctic and Antarctica different? 
 

Our topic this half term is Poles Apart. We will be exploring where polar bears live and how it is different to where penguins live.

In phonics we will be starting phase. The sounds this half term are ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, er.  The tricky words we will be learning this half term are: was, you, they, my, by, all, are, sure, pure. 
please continue to read at home with your child, at least 3 a week. 

First week and healthy inside and out day

We returned to school having had lots of snow.  Our first day back we read the book The Dot as part of our healthy inside and out day.  We looked at our growth mindset characters including Captain Challenge, Professor Perseverance, Inspector Independence and Major Mistake. The children had a go at creating their own dot art work and discussed any barrier they may have faced. The rest of this week the big freeze came upon us and we explored the ice and snow developing our understanding and knowledge of the world. This was a great hook into our new topic and our first book The problem with Penguins.

Drawing Club

In reception we have started drawing club. Our first club was on the book Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. The children came up with some great ideas about their character and what would happen to him. The children were creative, excited and loved sharing their ideas with the adults and other children. 
we cannot wait for our next club to find out what book it will be. 

Maths in reception 

This term in Maths we are focusing on numbers beyond 5 thinking about 5 and a bit using ten frames. We have started to look at one more and children have continued to engage with activities that draw attention to the purpose of counting – to find out ‘how many’ objects there are. 

Stay and Investigate 

We welcomed our parents and carers into reception today as part of our science day. We had lots of different experiments happening from how magnets work to the best way to clean our teeth. The children loved spending precious time with their loved ones.
We continued our science day into the afternoon where we did our slippery slope experiment to see which liquid would be best for our penguins to slide down. We discussed our predictions first and then tested out each liquid with some surprising findings. 

Our Learning Environment 

This half term we have been continuing to develop our physical development through many fine and gross motor activities.  The children have used different medias in our creative arts areas and in RE we have been looking at our wonderful world. 

English and Art Week 

As part of English and Art week we studied the painting 'The Tiger in a Storn or Surprised' by Henri Rousseau. We took inspiration from the jungle and created our own jungle scene using recycled material. We then painted our own tiger heads and added more detail with black pens. In drawing club our code word allowed us to imagine what animal the tiger could be chasing. We had lots of discussion about what we could see in the painting and where the tiger might be going. The painting inspired to make our own tiger tails and masks in the classroom. 

Autumn 2 

Big Question - What do we celebrate? 

Our topic this half term is called what do we celebration and we will be learning about many different festivals and celebrations including Bonfire Night, Diwali, Birthdays and Christmas.

In Phonics the graphemes that we will be learning in this half term are:

e u r h b f ff l ll ss

following the Little Wandle Phonics Scheme 

Please help your child consolidate these at home by reading the words in your reading record book and sharing their reading book. 
Thank you :)

In our first week back after the October half term break, we welcomed the children back with our Healthy Inside and Out Day. We learnt the new skill of making our own sandwich which we enjoyed as an afternoon snack. We also enjoyed learning about Bonfire Night and exploring our new tricyles and parachute in our outside area. 

As part of our learning we have looked at lots of different celebrations and explored theses in our areas of provision. The children have been developing their independence skills and continuing to build on their friendships. We even had some very cold days in November exploring how ice melts and what helps it. 

Christmas Week 

We have had great fun celebrating Christmas. This has included our nativity, carol concert, party, making decorations with our year 6 buddies and lots of in class activities. 

Autumn 1

Big Question - How can we make friends?

First Weeks in Reception 
Our first few weeks in Reception have been great. It has been lovely to get to know each other, make new friends and explore our learning areas. The outside area has been very popular as the children explore and develop their gross motor skills. 

English 

In English we have been reading lots of books including You Choose and Ready, Steady Mo. We have been experimenting mark making and learning our new phonemes and graphemes. 

The graphemes we are learning in this first half term are:

s a t p i n d g o c k ck e u r h b

Please consolidate these at home along with sharing their reading books. 

Thank you. 

Maths

In maths we have been looking at numbers 1-5. We have been subitising (using our fast eyes) and that we can make a number in different ways e.g. 

1 and 1 and another 1 makes 3

3 and 1 makes 4. 
 

In expressive, art and design (EAD) we have been colour mixing and experimenting with different paintbrushes and medias. This all helps to support our fine motor skills. 

Outdoor Learning 

We aim to get outside no matter the weather. We have been developing our gross motor skills through cycling, climbing and balancing. Our mud kitchen provokes great conversations, turn taking and develops the children’s imagination. Our water area extends their maths knowledge looking at capacity and volume.