We Change as we Grow 

We have been learning about ourselves in the first few weeks of Reception class. We have been looking at ourselves within our families and our own timeline. We thought about us in the present and created self portraits. We then discussed ourselves in the future and what we would want to be when we grow up. We have a few children's who are aspiring police officers, vets, firefighters, teachers and artists!

UTW- How do Trees Change Throughout the Year?

 We have started our year long science investigation into 'How trees change throughout the year' by looking for signs of Autumn. On our Welly Walks we found conkers, brown leaves, muddy footpaths, change in weather and different animals getting ready to hibernate. 

Creative- Making our own Salt Dough Dinosaur Fossils

After learning about what a fossil was we made our own. We discussed which would be the best material to use to make these. We made the salt dough together, following a recipe and measuring the flour etc. We then used skills like kneading and printing to get the desired effect!

Thankfulness Collective Worship

Today we did our first Reception Collective Worship. We have been thinking about our value this term- thankfulness. We thought of scenarios where we have been thankful and when we have said thank you. We showed everybody who and what we are thankful for and even showed them our thankfulness song. 

PSED- Little Feet

We have had a visitor from Little Feet. She told us about the importance of walking to school and how its not only healthy for us but for the environment too!

 Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert- Map Making 

We made our own map based on the Leaf Man Story and decided where our leaf men would go. We used symbols to make a map to the park and even tried labelling them! We then followed our maps to see if they actually took us to the right location... they were a success!

PSED- Feelings 

Our key text for the first few weeks of Reception has been 'The Worrysaurus' by Rachel Bright. From this we have talked about the feelings of the Worrysaurus and those of ourselves. We have learnt some different  'feelings words' e.g. worried, relaxed, jealous, joyful. We discussed what a worry is and came up with some ideas to calm our worries. We used mirrors to act out certain emotions and look at our facial expressions. This has helped us in identifying feelings of those around us. 

Maths- Sorting and Matching

In Maths we have been learning how to sort and match. We have been using these skills in different ways throughout the provision by playing matching games; sorting dinosaurs into herbivores and carnivores; sorting animals by creating our own sorting rules such as big and small, wild and farm animals etc. 

UTW- DINOSAUR FOSSILS!

Reception class had a present delivered... lots of sand! Inside the sand we found something that looked like rocks. We asked some questions to see if we could get any clues to what they were. We then used a non fiction book to find out that they were fossils. We looked at Mary Anning and how she found fossils and then made our own! We tested whether salt dough would be better to use than play dough. After the test we found that salt dough would be the best option and so we used this. 

Creative- On Sudden Hill by Linda Sarah and Benji Davies.

Our key text has been 'On Sudden Hill' by Linda Sarah and Benji Davies. In the story the friends create things from cardboard boxes. We tried the same. We planned what materials we could use. We planned how we build and join the house together. We then built it together. Afterwards we spoke about what went well and what we would change! The children loved using their imagination to create things from just a cardboard box!

Hibernation, Building Hedgehog Dens, Waterproof Materials

Our key text has been Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. We have been learning about hibernation, nocturnal animals and how seasons cause changes in our environment. We finished our learning by planning and building a hedgehog den ready for hibernation! The children were split into groups and built hedgehog dens with different materials. We then predicted which material would be the best and tested them with water! This then led us on to exploring and experimenting waterproof and not waterproof materials within the provision. 

Diwali

We have been learning about Diwali in Reception Class! Not only have we been learning about the culture and traditions but we also had a visitor from Dance Days. Our visitor taught us some traditional Indian Dancing and played us traditional Indian music. We loved learning a new style of dance!