Reception w/b 7th October
Date: 11th Oct 2024 @ 5:05pm
What a joy it is to teach this wonderful class of Reception superstars! Mrs McAree and I feel very lucky to share in their joy and enthusiasm each day. We hope that you could feel this joy and enthusiasm from the children in Thursday’s Learning Exhibition. We were just delighted to welcome you into our classroom and engage in the activities together. Thank you so very much for coming, even though it meant having to sit in the Reception sized chairs!
With Thursday’s Learning exhibition meaning no phonics session, it has been a three-sound week. Whilst it can seem that we have introduced rather a lot of sounds in the first half term, the Read Write Inc. ‘Making a strong start’ principles mean that all children are introduced to the first single letter sounds together, spending a day on each sound for this half term. Over the next two weeks, we shall assess the sounds that children have retained so that, after half term, they can work in smaller groups on their target sounds and at a pace that works best for them. This tailored approach, with lots of repetition, will best support the children to progress with their phonics. We are looking forward to it! Our three sounds have been: k, u, b. We used the following handwriting phrases:
k – down the kangaroo’s body, round the tail and down the leg
u – down and under, up to the top and draw the puddle
b – down the laces to the heel, back up then round the toe
K needed an extra focus as, at Brereton, we form this letter differently than shown in the Read Write Inc. scheme, a ‘precursive’ approach, helping the children to establish letter formation habits from the start, that will eventually help them to join their writing once they reach Year 2. ‘Word time’ has continued and the children just get better each week – such confident and speedy blending! ‘Quick-fire’ opportunities to show children the sound cards continue to prove to be very useful.
In maths, we have been exploring how numbers can be composed of 1s and, from this, have investigated the composition of 3 and 4, e.g. seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2. Through practical experiences, the children are learning that a ‘whole’ (e.g. 4) is made up of smaller parts (e.g. 3 and 1) and is, therefore, bigger than its parts. We especially enjoyed looking at number 3, creating a picnic for the three bears which linked to our ‘Goldilocks’ focus. We have helped Counting Croc to realise that differences between objects, such as size and colour, do not mean that the number of objects is different. For example, if we have a red cup, a green cup and a blue cup, we still have 3 cups! If we have a large bag, a medium-sized bag and a small bag, we still have 3 bags! Counting Croc is learning so much about the counting principles from our expert Reception mathematicians.
In our literacy lessons, we have been focusing on the traditional tale, ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. We began with a mystery bag, revealing clues including a bowl, chair, bed, bear ears, a Goldilocks puppet and story logs. It didn’t take long for the children to guess our story! They have then loved telling the story in all of the different voices, joining in with repetitive phrases. It has been lovely to watch this extending to the provision, as the children have retold the story with the puppets or acted it out in the home corner and nature kitchen. Later in the week, the children confidently recounted the story so that we could draw a story map together, which we have then referred to for our retellings. We have also been singing the song, ‘When Goldilocks went to the house of the bears’. https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/articles/zbkrf4j
In PE this week, we continued with our focus on jumping. The hall was still a little busy on Monday but, luckily, the sun was shining beautifully! We therefore decided to use the trim trail as our ‘apparatus’. We thought back to the jumps that were introduced last week: rocket jump and star jump. We especially emphasised the importance of bent knees before jumping and when we land. The challenge this week was to perform these jumps as we jumped off of the apparatus.
In Forest School, the children enjoyed making nature necklaces. We definitely needed to use our superb fine motor skills to carefully concentrate on the threading. Mrs McAree says that the children worked beautifully together and spent the whole morning with beaming smiles.
This week, we have been thinking about autumn and the seasonal changes that we observe. We wondered why these changes happen. We were especially interested in where conkers come from and enjoyed learning more about horse chestnuts. On Thursday, we thoroughly enjoyed an autumnal treasure hunt, collecting as many natural treasures as we could. We found conkers, acorns, and leaves of various shapes, sizes and colours. We especially enjoyed hunting for ‘helicopter seeds’. Well done, Reception!
We thoroughly enjoyed our music lesson this week. We began by singing along to ‘Oats and Beans) https://youtu.be/K9fDuoCJQ5E?list=PLcvEcrsF_9zLSqyGrmhpZ1lkMPHyMxTvm, concentrating carefully in order to tap to the pulse of the music. Then, we made links to our understanding of the seasonal changes that occur in autumn. We especially thought about the leaves changing colour and falling from the trees. We listened to ‘The Fall of the Leaf’ by Imogen Holst played by Steve Isserlis. Each child had a piece of blank paper and a crayon and were invited to move their crayon with the music, imagining the leaf blowing around as they did so. We asked: How does the music make you feel? What instrument is playing? (Cello) Is the music fast or slow? Loud or quiet? We had such fun and it was great to see each unique ‘musical map’ that the children had created.
Of course, we have enjoyed lots and lots of choosing time, ‘Phase One’ games and activities, and, as ever, lots of time outdoors. Our Makaton sign of the week has been ‘finished’, a sign that we have enjoyed using as we complete an aspect of our day and turn the card over on our visual timetable.
I hope that you all enjoy a lovely weekend. As we near the end of the half-term, children must be feeling very tired and there are lots of bugs going around. We really are impressed with how well they are doing but I hope that you all look after yourselves this weekend and have a good rest. I shall look forward to seeing the children on Monday to begin our ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ adventures.
With many thanks,
Miss Witham
