Each week we will share what we have been learning in our class. Remember to look at our photo gallery to see what we've been up to.

Friday 19th July 2024

This week has been a very busy week for us! We have been writing captions to silly pictures in Literacy to put all of our phonic knowledge into practise. In Maths, we have been recapping addition and subtraction by  'lucky dipping' a calculation and picking different methods to help us work it out. On Wednesday we had our school trip to Chiltern Open Air Museum where we followed the story of The Little Red Hen. We farmed, baked and shared stories with puppets. 

       

Friday 12th July 2024

Reception have been busy writing stories using full sentences, capital letters and full stops this week! Our imaginations have run wild with the narratives being told. In Maths, we have been learning how to measure length. Some of us even moved on to using rulers and centimetres! We have also been working hard practising various activities ready for our sports day next week. 

       

Friday 5th July 2024

This week Reception have been busy making their own story maps and then retelling them ensuring that there is a beginning, middle (maybe with a problem to fix), and then an ending. In Maths, we have been shape detectives hunting high and low for 2D and 3D shapes around the school. Friday was Deaf Awareness Day, and we loved learning signed songs, new BSL signs and learning about Deaf superheroes. 

     

Friday 28th June 2024

Our Literacy characters keep bumping into each other! This week The Big Bad Wolf stole The Little Red Hen's flour from our classroom and left huge footprints all over the carpet! We have worked hard to write newspaper articles telling everyone who to look out for and what has happened so far. In Maths, we have been shopkeepers practising to use money simply. We've explored pennies, 2 pence pieces and 5p coins. We had an email from The Little Red Hen about the best bread recipe, so on Friday we were busy in the kitchen making flatbreads. We've also been getting ready for the sports day activities! 

    

Friday 21st June 2024

This week Reception have been helping the Little Red Hen. She wrote to us asking if we could write our own letters to her animal friends telling them how to be helpful. We've asked ducks to teach swimming, dogs to help Mr Lack digging and cats to catch mice. In Maths, we have been learning how to find half of equal amounts. We have challenged ourselves to half odd amounts by using bread slices from the Red Hen. We've also been using our DT skills to fasten together paper to make windmills. As the warmer weather finally arrives, we've been planning our garden. We have each planted a sunflower seed. We will eagerly await their growth! 
     

Friday 14th June 2024

Reception has been busy with yet another traditional tale! On Monday, we came to class to find a crime scene! Porridge oats and broken chairs were everywhere! We suspected Goldilocks and have been making WANTED posters and writing speech bubbles to explain how the characters in the story were feeling. We received a letter from Goldilocks apologising and giving us a recipe to follow. We made tasty porridge and discussed what we did and didn't like. In Maths, we have been learning how to share using equal amounts, so we took the 3 bears on a picnic. 

          

Friday 7th June 2024

This week Reception have been busy learning and adapting the story of The 3 Billy Goats Gruff. We then challenged ourselves to write sentences about our adaptions. This led us to work as teams to build bridges that would withstand different weights. In Maths, we have been learning to add amounts and read calculations. We are looking forward to our topic of Fantastic Fairytales this half-term. 

      

Friday 24th May 2024

Reception have been busy making leaflets about many animals in Literacy. We've shared information about what they like to eat, where they could live and why we think they are fantastic creatures. In Maths, we have been using 2D shapes to create tangram pictures. We had some very leggy visitors on Wednesday! 4 giant African millipedes and their zebra isopod friends came to see us! We loved learning about them and holding them carefully. We've also been celebrating outdoor learning and have been outside every day, no matter the weather! 

       

 

Friday 17th May 2024

In Literacy this week we have shared what we think is the best animal in the world! We have then written phonetically plausible sentences to share our thinking with others. In Maths, we have been comparing quantities using our quick eyes to subitise. We've created lots of different dice-based games to help us with this. We have also been looking at RE and finding out what we can learn from stories. One of our favourites has been 'The Boy who Cried Wolf'. 

     

Friday 10th May 2024

This week in Literacy we have been making our own story maps using lots of animals and foods. We've had cheeky hippos stealing melons and sneaky crocodiles snapping at burgers. In Maths, we have been building lots of obstacle courses to help us use positional language. We have also been talking lots during Skills for Life. We have spoken about families, emotions and how friendships and apologising can be very important.  We've been very grateful for the sunshine too!  

    

Friday 3rd May 2024

Can you believe that we have been visiting Africa? We have read the story of Handa's Surprise in Literacy and written lists of all the things we would take with us to a very hot place. In Maths, we have been naming and describing 3D shapes. We have enjoyed using the shapes in constructions to create gardens, palaces and rockets. We've explored Kenya specifically and made Maasi necklaces and tasted lots of fruits linked to Handa's adventure. 

     

Friday 26th April 2024

This week we have been learning about bugs! We've looked around our outside areas and explored lots of books relating to bugs in the UK and around the world. In Literacy, we have created lift the flap 'Who Am I?' pages and written clues for our friends to read and guess the bug. In Maths, we have been working on our doubling and subitising skills. We've loved playing number and dot matching games. We've also enjoyed fixing lots of jigsaw puzzles this week and had a go at making some of our own. 

   

Friday 19th April 2024

We have had a busy first week back at school! In Literacy, we found some swimming goggles and dived beneath the waves to learn about the oceans and rockpools. We loved the story of 'Sharing a Shell' and writing to describe different sea creatures. In Maths, we have been revisiting our counting skills. We have used lots of different methods to work on our counting to 20, and sometimes beyond. We have also been working hard to create watercolour art with an ocean theme. 

   

Thursday 28th March 2024

In Maths this week we have been hunting all around school to find numbers to help us practise writing numerals 0-9. In Literacy, we have read the story of Owl Babies and linked this to learning about speech bubbles. We have pretended to be baby owls and written what they might be saying. We have also been looking at where different birds might like to live and how they look after their eggs and young. We collected natural resources and made our own nests. 

      

Friday 22nd March 2024

This week we have been working hard in Literacy to read sentences and work out if they were fact or fiction. We've learnt lots about space and astronauts! In Maths, we have been exploring odd and even numbers using our Numicon pieces to help us remember. We sadly had to say goodbye to the chicks on Thursday, but we managed to hold them before they left! 

                  

Friday 15th March 2024

We are so excited to welcome our chicks to school. On Monday, 10 eggs and an incubator were delivered and over this week we have been able to watch them all hatch and move to their brooder box. We will keep them until next week, when they will return to the farm. We have used the chicks to support our Literacy learning, where we have looked at their life cycle and wrote instructions to care for them as they go from eggs to chicks. In Maths, we have been recapping repeating patterns and 2D shapes. We challenged ourselves to make patterns using more than 2 different shapes. 

    

Friday 8th March 2024

This week we have been working hard to double amounts in Maths. We have had some very helpful ladybirds help us with this! In Literacy, we have been using our blending skills to read sentences and piece together a set of instructions telling us how to catch a star. Thursday was world book day and we had a fantastic time! We took our theme of The Very Hungry Caterpillar to our learning throughout the week and created water colour art based on Lucy Arnold's insect paintings.  On Friday's we do Helicopter stories and act them out. We have been asking to do Helicopter stories every day because we enjoy them so much! 

     

Friday 1st March 2024

Reception have been loving Science week this week! Every afternoon we conducted investigations and experiments. We have grown cress, tested items to see if they float or sink and then made rafts using our knowledge of floating and sinking. In Literacy, we have been adapting the story of Whatever Next and writing sentences to match our adaptions. In Maths, we have been using our addition skills to build 7 in many different ways. 

      

Friday 23rd February 2024

This week we have come back to school and started our new topic of Light and Dark. We have read a story in Literacy called 'Whatever Next!' and have foxed story maps that had missing sections. We have enjoyed turning our role play area into our very own space ship! In Maths, we have been making number lines to 10 everywhere and any where to work on our numeral identicication. We've used washing lines and our fine motor skills to peg numbers up around our environment. 

     

Friday 9th February 2024

We all hope that you have recieved your letter that we posted home  during our walk to the post box on Monday moring! We've been drawing lots of maps and creating parks in small world construction since the walk. In Literacy we have been thinking about Children's Mental Health Week and relating this to what we are good at. We've written sentences as independently as possible and drawn lots of pictures too. In Maths, we have been looking at basic times and sequencing our daily routines. 

      

Friday 2nd February 2024

This week Reception have been busy learning about the celebrations linked to Chinese New Year! We have loved designing dragons and writing about them in Literacy. In Maths, we have been learning about comparisons. We have compared sizes, weights and heights using almost everything in our classroom! On Friday we had some very special visitors. The Neonatal team at Stoke Mandeville Hospital come in to tell us about their very helpful and important job! 

   

Friday 26th January 2024 

Reception have been busy building 6 and 7 using Hungarian number frames. We've also enjoyed playing lots of games relating to this using dice. In Literacy, we have been using our knowledge from the vets to write Who Am I? clues for our friends to read and guess the creature. We have been using our new tricky words from phonics, 'he' and 'she'. We have also loved making mini models of vehicles that help us. 

       

Friday 19th January 2024

This week Reception have been working hard to catch a criminal! We read a story about Burglar Bill and how he was stealing things. They decided that the best thing to do was to make and display WANTED posters. In Maths, we have been using part-whole models to find ways of building 5. We have also been making large scale models of vehicles that help us to add to our display wall and have loved dressing up in our vets role role-playing area.

   

Friday 12th January 2024

So far, since we have returned to school after Christmas, we have been recapping rhyme. We shared the story of 'Superworm' and loved taking our learning outside. We made small bug homes and shelters in the garden and used water colours to paint insect art. Our new topic for this half-term is 'People Who Help Us', and we've started by exploring the role of vets. We've used our phonics skills to label and name animals that a vet could help. In Maths, we've been recapping our ordinality skills by ordering and sequencing numbers to 10. We have also made our own junk-modelled instruments!

  

Friday 15th December 2023

We did it! Our Nativity show was a great success, and we enjoyed showing it to our families and friends. Thank you for supporting us! In Literacy this week we have been working on our blending to read by hunting around school for hidden Christmas words. We've also been searching for missing Numicon around the school, and then practising writing the matching numeral from 0-10. We have also been pleased to find lots of ice in the outdoor area and experimented with how we could melt it. 

                 

Friday 8th December 2023

This week we have been getting ready for Christmas! We joined the school at St. Mary's Church for a Christingle service, and then decorated our Christmas tree in our classroom. In Maths, we have been developing our counting, ensuring it is reliable. In Literacy, we have looked at the story of Christmas and linked this learning to our Nativity show. 

  

Friday 1st December 2023

Reception have been busy this week decorating our Christmas tree decorations ready to sell at our Christmas Market this week! In Literacy, we have been adapting familiar stories and writing about the new characters we have added. In Maths, we have been subtracting within 5 using physical objects to support us. We have also been working hard to remember the songs and BSL signs for our Nativity. Ask us and see what we can show you! 

    

Friday 24th November 2023

In Maths this week we have been working hard to use physical resources to help us learn how to build number bonds to 5. In Literacy, we have been enjoying the story of The Tiger Who Came to Tea. The tiger delivered a bag full of food for our role-play and gave us a story map to learn too! The tiger inspired us to have our very own tea party. In the afternoons, we made and decorated cakes ready for a tea party on Friday. 

 

   

Friday 17th November 2023

This week we have continued our learning along the theme of Sparkly Celebrations. We have been talking about our birthdays, birthday traditions and the months of the year. In Literacy, we have been using the tricky word 'to' to write a party invitation to a friend. We have also been on lots of word hunts outside to develop our blending to read. We've played musical statutes at pretend parties and made many playdough cakes! In Maths, we have been comparing size, mass and weight. We've had lots of socks filled with all sorts of media to explore. 

  

Friday 10th November 2023

Reception have been getting ready to celebrate Diwali this week. We learnt about the festival of light and had a go at making our own diva lamps from salt dough! We have also been making poppies for Remembrance Day at the weekend. In Literacy, we have challenged ourselves to write a word or short caption to match a picture. In Maths, we have been working on our reliable counting and using 1:1 correspondence to ensure we have counted the accurate total. 

     

Friday 3rd November 2023

This week we have been celebrating Black History Week. Reception have explored the life and adventures of Mae Jemison. We've used this to create space-inspired art, packed bags containing things we would like to take to space and watched videos from NASA. In Maths, we have been learning about more and fewer when comparing amounts. We have used our quick eyes to help us subitise and work quickly! In Literacy, we have started to look at fireworks ready for November 5th. We have used 'It is' as a stem and had a go at writing short words to complete the sentence. 

   

Friday 20th October 2023

We have made it to our first half-term. Well done Reception! This week we have been learning all about our bodies, healthy eating and skeletons. We have read stories from the 'Funny Bones' collections and loved them! In Literacy, we have heard sounds in potion ingredients and had a go at writing them down. Some of us challenged ourselves and wrote CVC words to match. In Maths, we have been continuing, creating and fixing repeating patterns. 

   

Friday 13th October 2023

We've begun to feel autumnal vibes in Reception. We've been on bug hunts and Autumn hunts this week! On our Autumn hunt we collected lots of resources to take back to our classroom to make abstract autumn art. In Literacy, we have read the story of Stick Man and listened for any rhyming words, then we had a go at finishing rhyming strings. In Maths, we have been learning about the composition of 3 and 4. We have built many towers to show the different ways that the numbers could be made. 

      

Friday 6th October 2023

This week Reception have been learning to hear initial sounds in Literacy. To help us we had yet another strange delivery from someone called Oliver. He sent us a story about his grandad's vegetable patch and a potato! We've linked this learning to Harvest. We've made a huge scarecrow and added it to our cloakroom display. We've also learnt about healthy eating and what we like/dislike eating. In Maths, we have been learning to count reliably using the 1:1 correspondence whilst playing Bingo! 

      

Friday 29th September 2023

We have continued our Literacy learning, and this week adapted our story maps to change the vegetable. We have had enormous tomatoes, kiwis and melons! Our challenge was to see if we could hear the initial sound of the new vegetable, 't-t-tomato', some of us even had a go at writing the sound! In Maths, we have been learning the composition of 1, 2 and 3. We've been collecting and sorting groups of items. We've also been learning about our bodies and what they need to be healthy, linking to all of our vegetable stories. We have created a huge person and added labels for the body parts. We have also been using the iPads and have been on a photo hunt to familiarise ourselves with the school even more. 

      

Friday 22nd September 2023

This week we have continued to settle into our new school routines and learning. In Literacy, we had a surprise delivery of vegetables! The little old man who grew the enormous turnip wanted to share them with us. He also packed a story map that we have been learning to retell using BSL signs to help us remember. We have started our phonics learning by recapping Level 1 and hearing initial sounds when playing listening games. We sat together this week and created our own class rules that are on display in our classroom. We are using our 'T-rex' arms to say stop if we do not like something that someone is doing.

    

Friday 15th September 2023

We have completed our first full week at school! It's been a very busy and exhausting week for everyone, but also very exciting! We are settling in to our new classroom and daily routines well. As the weeks go on, we will be adding more small steps to our routines. So far, we have been learning how to sign Good Morning and Good Afternoon in BSL, ask us to see if we can remember! We have also been on a tour of the whole school. A big favourite was the library. On Wednesday we ventured to the hall for our first short PE lesson and loved it. We're looking forward to next week when we will start Literacy learning and retelling stories.