Have a look at what we’ve been learning…
Train Ride
The Reception children went on an exciting train ride. They walked to the train station at Wolsingham and waited on the platform for the train to arrive. They got very excited when they saw the train coming along the tracks. They boarded the train and found a seat. The train journey began and the children saw lots of things as they travelled to Frosterley then Stanhope and then back to Wolsingham. Weardale Railway provided some little activities for the journey to do during the journey. The children thoroughly enjoyed the train trip and were very well behaved.
Valentines Day
We celebrated Valentine’s Day by making biscuits. We rolled out the dough and used a cutter to make heart-shaped biscuits. We added pink icing and sprinkles and gave them to someone special. The children also made their own cards to give to someone they love.
Paper Weaving
The children had a go at paper weaving to make baskets after reading ‘Handa’s Surprise’. They weaved the strips of paper in and out, going over and under to make colourful baskets.
Pancake Day
We celebrated Pancake Day by making pancakes. The children mixed together flour, eggs and milk to make the batter. Once the pancakes were cooked the children could choose what toppings they wanted. The pancakes were delicious! Then we went outside to have pancake races. The children ran across the playground, flipped a pancake and ran back again. It was great fun!
Odd and Even
This week in maths we have been talking about putting things in pairs. We looked at different amounts of counters and put them into pairs. We talked about how sometimes there is a spare one left over after we have made the pairs. The children learnt that these are known as odd numbers. We went on to look at numicon shapes and sorted them into odd or even.
Making Boats
The Reception children listened to the Bible story of ‘Noah’s Ark’. Then they wanted to have a go at making their own boats. They had lots of fun making boats from junk materials. The children then tested their boats to see if they would float or sink. They put toy animals on the boats to see how many they could hold.
Chinese New Year
Reception Class enjoyed a banquet of Chinese foods to celebrate Chinese New Year. They had spring rolls, prawn crackers, noodles and dumplings. The children enjoyed tasting the foods and all had a try at using chopsticks to pick up the food.
Measuring
This week in maths we have been measuring mass and capacity. The children use the balance scales to compare objects and see which objects were heavier or lighter. Then we looked at different containers and talked about full, empty and half full. We measured how many cups of water it took to fill a container.
Handa’s Fruits
This week we have been reading the story of Handa’s Surprise. In the story, Handa sets off to deliver 7 tropical fruits to her friend. We looked at, handled and tasted the fruits from the story. The children all got involved and they tasted pineapple, banana, avocado, orange, mango and passion fruit. The children described the colours, textures and flavours of the different fruits.
African Sunset Pictures
We are learning about hot places on Earth and have learnt about Africa and the types of animals that live there. We looked at images of the sun setting in Africa and decided to try and make our own African sunset pictures. We used watercolour paints to paint the background, choosing warm colours such as red, orange and yellow. Then we drew trees and giraffes with black wax crayon, thinking about the shapes and types of line we needed to use.
PE
Reception Class are enjoying using the apparatus in PE. They are exploring ways of travelling along the benches and different ways to balance. They are learning to jump and land safely. The children were confident and they all managed to jump off the high red table.
Amazing Earth
The Reception children have started their new topic ‘Amazing Earth’. They were very interested and enthusiastic when looking at globes, world maps and Google earth. They asked lots of questions and wanted to know where different places are.
Then they made images of Earth using paper plates, paint and sponge dabbers.
EYFS Pantomime Visit
Nursery and Reception children had a fantastic time at Consett Theatre this week. They watched the pantomime ‘Jack and The Beanstalk’. It was great fun and the children joined in with the shouting, cheering, singing and dancing. The loudest screams were when two of the actors were squirting the audience with giant water pistols. The children’s behaviour was impeccable and staff were very proud of them all.
Aliens Love Underpants
Reception Class had lots of fun this week reading ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ and doing lots of fun activities relating to the story. They made alien spaceships from paper plates. They designed their own underpants. The children used playdough to make sculptures of their own aliens. They played in the alien slime and had lots of fun with space themed small world play.
Fun in the Snow
Reception Class have lots of fun outdoors whatever the weather but this week they were super excited to go out and play in the snow. They wrapped up warm and put on their wellies and waterproofs so they could make the most of the snowy weather. There wasn’t quite enough snow to make a snowman but they did make a little snow dinosaur! They also enjoyed making snow angels on the ground.
Squares and Rectangles
Reception Class have been learning about rectangles and squares. We talked about how they have 4 straight sides and 4 corners. We learnt that the sides on a square are all the same length and that a rectangle has 2 long sides and 2 short sides. We went on a shape hunt around school to find examples of squares and rectangles in the environment. The children were very good at finding squares and rectangles indoors and outdoors.
Number 5
The children have been exploring 5 this week. They have been learning what 5 looks like on a 5 frame and representing 5 in different ways. We used the Ten Town character Fiona Five to practice recognising the numeral 5 and writing it. They also played games to explore the composition of the amount 5, e.g. “3 and 2 make 5”, “4 and 1 make 5” or “2 and 2 and 1 make 5”.
Nursery Rhyme Week
As part of World Nursery Rhyme Week, Reception Class have been doing lots of activities relating to the rhyme ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’. They made stick puppets to act out the rhyme. They did some cutting and sticking to sequence the key events and they wrote rhyming words. The children also did some art work, which will be put together to make a fabulous display in the school hall.
Number 4
This week we have been learning to recognize the amount 4. We looked at the conkers scattered on the tuff tray and looked for where there were 4. We also practiced recognising and writing the numeral 4 using the Ten Town character Freddy Four.
Rangoli Patterns
We looked at Rangoli patterns and talked about how they are used to decorate houses during Diwali. We used collage techniques to make a Rangoli pattern. The children choose different materials and colours to create their patterns. They sprinkled the materials carefully and pressed them down so that they stuck to the glue.
The children made some beautiful patterns and were very proud of their work.
Diva Lamps
Reception Class learnt about the Hindu festival of Diwali. This festival is also called ‘The Festival of Lights’. People who celebrate Diwali often put lots of little lamps, called diva lamps, in and around their houses. The children used clay to make their own diva lamps. They rolled out the clay then pulled and squeezed it with their fingers to make the shape. The children will paint and decorate the diva lamps when the clay dries.
Circles and Triangles Shape Hunt
This week in Maths, Reception class have been learning about circles and triangles. They went on a shape hunt and were very good at finding examples of circles and triangles all around the school environment.
Halloween Parent Craft Session
Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who came in to join us for our Halloween crafts session. The children had a fantastic time decorating cakes, making pumpkins from paper plates, cotton wool ghosts and Halloween wreaths to hang on the door.
Paper Plate Scarecrows
As part of learning about autumn and harvest time, we talked about how important scarecrows are to protect the crops from birds. We read ‘The Scarecrows’ Wedding’ by Julia Donaldson and sang ‘I’m a Dingle Dangle Scarecrow’. Then the children made paper plate scarecrow faces. They chose what colour they wanted to paint the face. Later they carefully selected what materials they wanted to use for the eyes, nose, hair and mouth. They used glue to stick all the bits together. The finished scarecrows look amazing.
Learning to Blend Sounds
The Reception children have made an excellent start to learning the Read Write Inc set 1 sounds. The children are working on recognising the sounds and are starting to blend the sounds to read simple word, e.g. m-a-t….mat.
Getting Physical Outdoors
When the children are playing outside, lots of the things they do are helping with their physical development. We have lots of fun pedalling the bikes. When we are pretending to wash the van, those big movements will help us with our writing. We make obstacle courses and enjoy balancing, jumping and crawling.
Celebrating Harvest
In Reception Class we read the story of ‘The Little Red Hen’ and then we talked about how farmers have been busy gathering in the crops. We talked about all the different foods we eat and how we rely on farmers to grow lots of them. The children learnt that at Harvest Festival people say thank you for all the wonderful foods they have to eat. The children filled a basket with foods they liked and talked about foods they are thankful for.
Here are some of the children’s comments when talking about food:
“Thank you for bread because it’s so delicious.”
“Thank you for carrots because they are crunchy.”
“Thank you for strawberries…I like strawberries because they are sweet.”
“I want to say thank you for apples because they are juicy.”
Baking
The children had lots of fun baking chocolate chip cookies. We measured out the ingredients carefully. Then we put the sugar and butter in the bowl and mixed it together. We whisked the eggs and added them to the mixture – it went a bit gooey! Then we added some flour and gave it a good stir. Finally, we put the chocolate chips in. We greased a baking tray and placed them in the oven to cook. They smelt delicious.
While baking, the children were using lots of maths and language skills. They had lots of fun and are looking forward to eating the cookies for snack tomorrow.
All about 1 and 2
In maths this week, Reception Class have been learning all about 1 and 2. They learnt to recognize the amounts 1 and 2 on sight without counting (this is called subitizing and is a very important skill). They represented the amounts 1 and 2 in different ways. We have also worked on recognizing the numerals 1 and 2 and beginning to write them. We use the Ten Town characters King One and Tommy Two to remember how to form the numerals correctly.
Maths in Reception Class
This week in maths, the children have been exploring the concepts of ‘more’ and ‘less’ in different contexts. They compared boxes and filled them with bricks to see which box holds more. They built towers that were ‘taller’ or ‘shorter’ than the one the teacher had made. They used balance scales to compare two objects and see which one weighed more (heavier and lighter).
Autumn Walk
Reception Class went out for a lovely walk this week looking for signs of autumn. They were asked to use their senses of hearing and sight as they walked along. They found lots of different coloured leaves, feathers, berries, apples growing on trees and mushrooms growing on tree stumps. They heard cars, the running water of the stream, a digger, birds squawking, the wind rustling the trees and children playing.
And of course they found lots of conkers and collected them. We talked about the green prickly shells that the conkers are in and then they were amazed by the round, shiny brown conkers inside. Some children even got “doublers” with 2 conkers inside.
Using Our Five Senses
In Reception Class we have been learning to name parts of the body and about the 5 senses. The children had lots of fun using their sense of touch to work out what was in the trays. They used their language skills to describe what they could feel. Here are some examples of what the children said:
“It is wibbly and wobbly and wet. I think it’s jelly.”
“It’s prickly and hard.”
“It feels cold and wet and hard. Is it ice?”
“It is long and thin and bendy.”
Cauliflower Cards
The children in Reception Class have been busy making footprint Rudolph designs. These will be sent home and parents can get them turned into a range of Christmas products via Cauliflower Cards. The information and how to order will be sent home with the children.
Some of the children found it very ticklish having their feet painted! They stuck on eyes and a red nose before showing their mark-making skills when drawing on the antlers.
Maths in Reception Class
A lot of Maths in Early Years is based on the children noticing things. We are focusing on finding things that are the same. The children helped Miss Stoker sort the mixed-up socks. When they found 2 socks the same they hung them on the washing line (using pegs is very good for their fine motor skills and will help to build the strength in their fingers ready for writing).
First Few Days in Reception
The children have had a busy first few days in Reception, exploring the classroom and learning important routines. They have listened to and shared stories with their friends. The art area has been very busy and the children are enjoying making models and pictures. They have also had lots of fun in the home corner, construction and water tray.