Reception w/b 10th February
Date: 14th Feb 2025 @ 5:04pm
And with that, we are halfway through our Reception year! Time truly does fly when you are having fun!
Today, we absolutely loved our Valentine’s Day disco. This week, we have been busy baking fairy cakes. We now have some experienced bakers in Reception, having made bread, gingerbread biscuits and now cakes! I wonder what we will make next half term? This afternoon, we then decorated and ate our cakes – what a lovely treat this was! We enjoyed lots of dancing in the hall and then some fun games in the classroom. We have also been talking about the people that we love and the things that we really love about ourselves. The children had some really beautiful comments to share.
This week, I have been completing phonics assessments. This was a joyful experience as the children were feeling ever so proud of themselves! As a result of their hard work, they are making super progress. In your child’s diary, you will find information about their reading assessment – sound knowledge and their new reading level. I have also sent out additional information via Dojo. The phonics teachers are already looking to reading some new books and learning new sounds after half term. Reception, you are all amazing!
In maths, we have continued to explore the composition of 5, 6, and 7, creating addition number sentences (e.g. 3 + 2 = 5, 5 + 1 = 6, 4 + 3 = 7). We are becoming number bond experts! We have then focused on the comparison of quantities. We focused on comparing sets, without being diverted by differences in colour, shape or size. We then noticed when quantities were equal or unequal, and considered how we could manipulate the number of objects in 2 sets to make them equal. For example, Pat has 2 objects and Sam has 4 – Pat has fewer than Sam. To make the sets equal, Sam could give 1 object to Pat so that they both have 3 objects. Language has been a key focus, using ‘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 have also enjoyed a ‘guess the number’ game, using a number line to 10 as a visual aid. One child thought of a number, and we asked questions phrased ‘Is your number more than…?’ and ‘Is your number less than…?’ to narrow down the options. Eventually, children will develop their own ‘mental number line’ and the ability to understand which number is more than or less than another.
In a very busy week, we also managed to squeeze in a writing challenge, which I used as an opportunity for a writing assessment. The children were challenged to independently write the dictated caption ‘a red bus’. They did ever so well! This concludes our focus on Naughty Bus. Until this afternoon, we still hadn’t found him. Much excitement ensued when we received a present during this afternoon’s disco. Inside, we found…Naughty Bus! It is a relief to have had him back in Reception! We shall have to keep a close eye on him for the rest of the year!
In RE, we listened to another story that Jesus told: The Lost Sheep (Luke 15:4-7). After listening to the Bible story and watching a video retelling, we discussed the question ‘What was Jesus trying to teach us in this story?’ We learnt that Christians believe that God is like the good shepherd, and we are his sheep; he loves each one of us. Sometimes we can be a bit like that lost sheep and feel far away from God, but He is our good shepherd and He will keep searching for us and calling us back into His arms until He finds us. He will celebrate every time we come back to Him, just like how the shepherd rejoiced when he found the lost sheep. We enjoyed retelling the story with sheep in the provision (Nativity costumes and props continue to be useful!). Sawyer also wowed us all with his clever picture which involved a ‘lift the flap’ element behind which the lost sheep was hiding!
On Tuesday, it was Safer Internet Day. With Mrs Taylor, we used the Smartie the Penguin resources to look at different scenarios. There was a pop up on Smartie’s tablet with a picture that he thought was scary. He did exactly the right thing by showing his grown ups and asking for help. In another scenario, Smartie was searching for information about Polar Bears and one website said that they lived on the beach! This helped us to realise that not everything on the internet is true and we often need to check the information. Smartie was playing a game, when one of the other players sent him a message. They asked where he lived. We know that this is our personal information that we don’t share with strangers – Smartie showed his mummy the messages and remembered not to share his personal information. With Mrs Taylor, we learnt Smartie’s song:
Before you tap and click…
You need to stop and think…
And TELL someone!
In Spanish, we built on the language learnt so far (¡Buenos días! = Good morning!; ¡Hola! = Hi!; Me llamo… = My name is…) as well as learning how to ask ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?). After half term, we will learn different ways to answer this question.
In Forest School, our interest in birds continued after last week’s nest making. This week, we made bird feeders with Mr Simmons using pinecones, margarine and bird seed. How lucky the birds around Brereton are!
On Thursday morning, it was Reception’s turn to visit St Oswald’s Church for a service with Reverend Sandi, along with Year 1 and 2. Before we started our journey to church, we decided to be map makers. We first looked at Google Maps to see both a bird’s eye view and a Google Maps Street View of our local area, pointing out areas we recognised, such as the park. We looked at each recognisable landmark on our journey, including: the park, the post box, the bus stop, the archway over the road leading to St Oswald’s Church, Smithy Cottage and the Bear’s Head. We then spent time drawing our own maps of our local area, recalling the order in which we encounter each landmark on our walk. These early map making skills were a joy to observe. We then discussed our road safety rules, signing, STOP, WAIT, LOOK, GO. We thought about why we were wearing hi-vis vests and why we should walk at a sensible speed across a road. The children were ever so sensible as we enjoyed a chilly but (thankfully!) dry walk down to church. We listened for the sounds of birds, spotted the horses, and even saw some snowdrops – as one of the children said, “I can smell that spring is not far away!” In our service with Reverend Sandi, we sang lots of songs and had chance to ask questions about the church.
Thank you Reception, for a wonderful Spring 1 half term. I hope that you all have a wonderful half term break, and I shall look forward to Monday 24th February, when our new adventure shall begin.
With huge thanks,
Miss Witham
