Spring 1 Is it all just rubbish?

Spring 1 

Week 1- WC 2.1.23

On the first week back the Reception children re-settled into school life, telling us all about their break and sharing their family stories. It was lovely to hear how diverse and exciting lives are away from School!

Spring 1-Week 2

WC 9.1.23

This week we introduced our new big question, 'Is it all just rubbish?' We explored where all the rubbish we had created over Christmas actually goes once it is put in the bin. They were introduced to the 3 R's, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. We explored the impact litter and rubbish can have on our environment and that it is better to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as we can. The children took part in a sorting activity, sorting all the rubbish according to its material. They learnt how plastics can be recycled and made into something new. 

In maths we looked at zero and asked the question, 'Is none a number?' Share the story and see if it helps to answer the question! 

• None the number

Spring 1-Week 3

WC 16.1.23

This week we met Morris, the Messy Magpie! We read his story of how he collected treasure to make his forest look beautiful. However, he soon discovered his treasure was actually rubbish that was polluting the forest and harming the animals. The children used their writing skills to write recounts of the story. They also used their creative skills to paint and draw what a happy clean forest looks like verses an unhappy polluted forest. In our role play recycling centre the children have been taking on the role of the different characters in the story and sorting the recycling into the correct boxes. 

In maths we have been doing lots of subitising up to 5 as well as focusing on the composition of 5.

It was also Chinese new year, we celebrated by cooking Chinese spring rolls, practising using chop stick, making Chinese dragons, lanterns and greeting cards. We enjoyed listening to some beautiful Chinese music and watched videos of how people celebrated Chinese new year at home.

• The Messy Magpie Share Morris' story at home.

Spring 1- Week 4

WC 23.1.23

It has been another busy week of learning in Reception. We have read about the recycle super hero, Michael Recycle! After learning about how Michael Recycle helped a town to respect their environment all the children worked hard on designing their own recycling super hero. They gave them a name and then thought of a slogan that their character can say to help people understand about pollution, litter and the 3 R's. All of the children wrote their captions in speech bubbles in the genre of a comic book. We have also enjoyed several non-fiction books about recycling.

We have been using our creative skills when designing transitional art. The children reused items to create patterns or pictures. 

Our Maths focus this week has been comparing weight and capacity, investigating how balance scales can show us what is heavier, lighter or the same. We have used our outdoor water area to explore the concepts of full, empty and half full. The children were challenged to make their own playdough by using a cup to measure ingredients. 

• Michael Recycle Share the story of Michael Recycle

Spring 1- Week 5

WC 30.1.23 

We shifted our focus of our big question, 'Is it all just rubbish?, this week to the seas, rivers and oceans around the world. We have read, 'Duffy's Lucky Escape'. A story about a sea turtle who mistakes litter in the ocean for food and gets very sick. We watched several videos of people rescuing turtles, seals and other sea creatures that are victims of plastic pollution. The children had so much to say about what they saw and many shared their feelings of feeling sad and angry that people litter the beaches and water. They all created their own posters to persuade people to not litter and dispose of their rubbish properly.

We have continued exploring the concepts of weight and capacity, using bricks to measure how heavy or light objects are.

• Duffy's Lucky Escape Share Duffy's story at home.

Friday was NSPPC Number day. We all dressed up and enjoyed a day of number activities. We found out information about Numbots, our new online home learning game. We played a few of the games and are all eager to use it at home!

Spring 1 -Week 6

WC- 6.2.23

We have had a wonderfully busy last week of half term in Reception.

This week was Safer Internet Week. We read a story about Buddy the dog who helps us keep safe when we are using the internet. We learnt Buddy's song and designed a game to play on a tablet. We also listened to Smartie the Penguin's story about online safety. We discussed what devices we use at school and home and if they are connected to the internet or not. We have been using lots of devices in our everyday provision. The children have been enjoying exploring the BeeBots and learning how to programme them to make them go to certain places on the BeeBot mats, some children then drew their own roads for the BeeBots to travel along.

In maths we consolidated our knowledge of the composition of 5. We played some games to show how we can use our knowledge to problem solve.

This week was also wellbeing week. We read the story of the colour monster and learnt about different emotions. We discovered that when you make different emotional faces your eyebrows move quite a lot! The children decided that in class they would like to change their feelings board to the match the colour monster's different emotions, we will work on this when we get back after half term.

Have a lovely break and see you soon.

Spring 2 Who are the real life superhero's?

Spring 2- Week 1

WC 20.2.23

Welcome back! I hope you all had a lovely half term. 

Our new big question for this half term is, 'Who are the real life superheroes?'

We discussed the difference between comic book super heroes and people who help us in our everyday lives. The children wrote about a real life situation they have had when a real life super hero has helped them. They used the small world and dressing up to role play different emergency situations. They were all very keen to discuss their experiences, you can talk about this at home; have you been to the doctor? How did the dentist help you? Have you ever seen the police or firefighters in their vehicles? They were challenged to make an emergency vehicle using modelling resources or to draw them using various media. We have been looking at a variety of videos and even got to see Mrs Webb's sister's baby scan as she found out she is having a baby girl. We listened to the heartbeat and found out about the special machines that are used to monitor babies inside Mummy's tummy's.

On Tuesday, it was pancake day. We read the story of the runaway pancake and learnt about why and how shrove Tuesday is celebrated around the UK. 

In maths we have been working on the composition of 6,7 and 8. The challenges were to make a 7 coloured rainbow and to make a spider with 8 legs. We have been using the 5 and 10 frames to to help us visualise what the amounts look like and the patterns we can make to help us to subitise each number.

Lots of constructing and experimenting has been happening in the outdoor area, children love to take their learning outside and use real life resources to support their learning.

Spring 2 Week 2

WC 28.2.23

We came off our normal timetable this week to celebrate world book day and our love of reading stories. Each day we read and focused on a different story. 

Firstly, we emerged ourselves in the story of Supertato. We retold the story using props and small world resources, we made stick puppets to create a puppet show and used the resources outside to build scenes from the story. We searched for the evil pea and rescued many vegetables and fruits from his evil ideas and plans.

Our next story was giraffes cant dance. We created out own jungle and made a puppet show to show how well we knew the story.

Our last focused story was Ringo the flamingo, we made puppets, created our own nests for the eggs, and used our puppet show to put on shows.

World book day was amazing, everyone dressed up so well and couldn't wait to discuss the character they were. We went straight into assembly to take part in the catwalk, it was great fun! Throughout the day we listened to all the stories linked to the characters either from books or videos. We visited our library, the children all chose a book and spent some time reading and sharing with the adults and their friends.

Thank you for all your effort with the costumes and instilling the love of reading in your children.