Class Photos
Animal and Insect Visit
We were very lucky to have an animal handling visit this half term. One of our parents brought in insects and small animals for the children to hold and look at. She told us lots of interesting facts about them. The children were very engaged.
LabTots Wicked Waves Workshop
This week, the children in nursery and reception had a visit from Professor Soph from LabTots Learning System. They took part in a ‘Wicked Waves’ workshop. The children learnt how a rainbow is formed by a process called refraction, and they learnt how different sounds are made when objects vibrate. The children learnt lots of new scientific words. They also had an experiment to do back in class, making sounds with straws!
Pattern Blocks
In Reception, the children have been making some complicated patterns and pictures using pattern blocks. This activity supports the teaching of shapes, colour, counting, number and measurements. It also helps to develop good visual - spatial awareness.
Filter paper art.
The children used pipettes to drop paint onto filter paper. They watched as the paint spread as the filter paper drew the paint outwards, and the colours mixed together. 🌈
The children were careful when using the pipettes, only to drop a small amount. This is very good for fine motor skills
Butterfly release! 🦋
In Reception, as part of our understanding of the world, we have been watching our caterpillars as they moved through their life cycle to undergo a complete metamorphasis. The children were very patient and on Monday five butterflies emerged. On Wednesday we set them free. The children were so excited and cheered as they flew away! 🐛 🦋
Potato Harvest
The children were so excited to harvest their potatoes this week. They dug them up and washed them and Mrs Dean very kindly cooked them for us. The children all had a taste and many wanted more!
In Reception, as part of our literacy, we have been reading the story of Handa's Surprise. We looked at all the different fruits in the story and decided to make a fruit salad of our own. The children made a tick chart and asked their friends to tick their favourite fruit. After adding up the ticks they chose the most popular fruits. They enjoyed cutting the fruit independently and made a fruit salad to share. It was very nice!
The reception children had lots of fun outside this week, enjoying the sunshine.
Our caterpillars have arrived and we look forward to seeing the process of how they turn into butterflies. 🐛 🦋
Monday was World Bee Day. We had a discussion about what we know about bees and the importance of bees as pollinators. The children volunteered lots of answers. We then did some research to find out more about bees. The children were fascinated to know that there are lots of different bees and they go through stages like a butterfly does.
As part of our knowledge and understanding, we have been learning about plants and how they grow. We were very lucky to have some donations of plants from our parents and the reception children have been busy planting them. We will water them and watch them grow.🌻🌸🌺
Having fun in the sun!☀️ The children enjoyed the role play ‘bike wash’ and did some lovely writing.
Tree climbing and swinging! 🌳 The children enjoyed hanging and swinging in the tree today. They supported each other, managing risk and becoming more confident. This activity supports gross motor skills which, in turn supports fine motor skills needed for writing.
Our African snails are growing very quickly. The children are helping to care for them and take them home at weekends. We were very fortunate to receive a new tank as a gift from one of our parents. The children enjoyed relocating the snails into their new home. They are always looking up facts about the snails and enjoy telling us what they have found out! 🐌
As part of our Understanding of the World, we have started our topic on Growing. The children have planted sunflower seeds and prepared runner bean seeds so that they can watch the changes. Our potatoes are also growing well! 🌻🫛🫘🥔
This week we have been learning about Easter. We read the Easter story and watched some clips on Cbeebies 'Let's Celebrate Easter'. The children had a visit from the Easter bunny! They took part in an Easter egg hunt. The children were very excited! 🐰 They have also made Easter nests and taken part in Easter craft activities.
We are taking part in Grow Your Own Potatoes 2024. Our potatoes were busy ‘chitting’ for a few weeks but this week, the children planted them. 🥔 🥔
This week we have been reading the story Monkey Puzzle. We have been learning about the different animals that live in the rainforests. The children created rainforests using the large blocks and the Gears.
As part of our topic on Dragons, Castles, and Knights, we have been reading the story of Zog by Julia Donaldson. We looked at castles and their different designs and learnt about knights and their armour. We celebrated with a ‘mini medieval banquet’ and tried some medieval dancing. We made our own sandwiches and cakes. Mrs Dean very kindly baked the cakes for us.
World Book Day
The children all looked amazing and we shared some wonderful books during our story times! 📕
There was lots of role play and writing in the home corner this week as the children decided it was a cafe. The children looked through magazines to decide what they would like to order and the ‘waiters’ took the orders, writing on the shopping list templates.
The children have been very busy this week learning about different celebrations. They have made Valentine’s cards using their hand prints, explored the history of Shrove Tuesday and made heart shaped waffles using a pancake mix of eggs, milk and flour. They have also learnt about Chinese New Year and made dragons and lanterns! 🐉
This week was Children’s Mental Health week with a theme of ‘My Voice Matters’. We read the book Hug about a little chimp who needed to be heard. The children spoke about the people they could talk to if they had any worries or things to share. They took part in mindfulness activities and a yoga session. 🧘♂️
The children were happy to see some sunshine this week! They enjoyed being outside and even took their coats off for a bit! ☀️😀
This week, we spoke with the children about the RSPB Big Garden Bird watch. The children were interested to talk about the birds they see in their gardens. They painted some lovely birds and made bird viewers to use outside. The children took home a garden bird tick sheet so they could record the birds they see at home over the weekend.
To finish our core book The Gingerbread Man, the children made Gingerbread of their own.
We have been reading the story of The Gingerbread Man. The children made ‘gingerbread men’ using play dough and cutters. The children wanted an oven to pretend to bake them and we suggested making one with a box. This was a very popular activity and the children were soon very busy creating with tape, collage material and recycled boxes!
The children have been experimenting with water to see if it will freeze. They made ice decorations using leaves, berries and twigs in a pot. They added water and left them out overnight. They were a bit disappointed the first night as the temperature wasn’t cold enough. However, the following night the temperature dipped and the ice decorations froze! There was much excitement!🧊❄️
We have been reading the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children became ‘engineers’ and built bridges of their own. 🌉
The children enjoyed their last morning before the Christmas holidays by baking cakes for themselves and the nursery children. Mrs Ramsey helped them and they took them to Mrs Dean to bake in the oven. 🧁
Christmas dinner day wearing our Christmas jumpers! 🎅🎄
Our African snails are growing. We have been trying them on different food and have decided that cucumber is a favourite!
This week, the children performed their Nativity on stage. It was lovely to see all the hard work come together. The children sang beautifully and used their ‘big voices’ when speaking. ⭐️ 🌟
Lots of mischief in reception today as the children decided it was now an elf school!
Christmas pantomime! The Wind in the Willows. The children enjoyed a visit from IMAGE Musical Theatre. They had a great time joining in with the songs and actions!
Christmas Art Day in Reception - It was lovely to see so many parents at our Christmas art day. The children had a wonderful time showing their artistic skills! 🎅🎨
We have been very busy learning the story of The Nativity and practising our Nativity performance. The children are enjoying playing with the knitted figures. They are so old. They come out every year and the children love them. There has been lots of role play to support the story. ⭐️
❄️ Winter is definitely upon us and the children were very interested in the ice and frost on a very cold morning at school. They talked about how water freezes and why it melts. 🧊
Christmas has begun in Reception! The children were asked to decorate the tree in the foyer ready for our very successful Christmas Fayre! We wrapped presents to go underneath and the children wanted to continue this in class. So we put up our own tree to put the presents under. The children also made decorations, using the hole punch to attach ribbon. 🎄🎁
Odd Socks Day! 🧦 We are proud to be different!
The children took part in a Balanceability training session. They learnt how to use their ‘dinosaur’ feet to run with the bike, to glide and manoeuvre the bike safely. They had lots of fun! 🚴
Remembrance Day - the children have been learning about the significance of the Poppy on Remembrance Day. We watched a video from CBeebies which sparked lots of questions and conversations in a child friendly way. The children then made their own poppies.
Happy Diwali! We have been learning about Diwali. We watched a video on CBeebies explaining how families prepare and celebrate. We chopped mint to make a dip for our poppadom snack. We also created our own Rangoli patterns, made firework pictures in salt and glitter, and decorated hand prints.
We have been very busy this week. On Monday we had a visit from the author C.S.Clifford. He told a very animated story of The Ugly Duckling and the children joined in enthusiastically! On Friday we had a drama workshop from the company Perform. The children followed instructions and acted out a story.
More from Perform!
Puzzles - puzzles enable children to develop problem solving skills, cognitive skills and support fine motor also. We have been helping the children to complete simple puzzles and to develop the confidence to try more challenging puzzles also.
Crystal Salt Painting- This week, we have been learning about absorption using paint, glue and salt. We printed shapes with pva glue, added salt and dabbed on paint. The paint spread across the glue as the salt absorbed it.
Pumpkin Fun! 🎃 This week, the children have been talking about Halloween. We read the book Pick a Pumpkin and carved our own pumpkin. They were excited to explore what was inside the pumpkin.
This week we have been learning about Autumn and the autumnal changes. 🍁🍂 We read the book ‘1,2,3 What Can You See?’, supporting our maths subitising also. The children printed leaves, exploring colour mixing.
In maths, we have been practising subitising. Perceptual subitising is being able to look at a number of objects and know the number instinctively. Conceptual subitising is to look at a number of objects as a combination of smaller amounts.
This week, we have been reading Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs. This led on to talking about dinosaurs and the children had lots of questions. We looked at a book called Questions and Answers About Dinosaurs to see what we could find out. The children also painted some lovely dinosaurs and role played at being palaeontologists!🦖🦕
The children were making the most of the ongoing warm weather this week. They wore firefighter hats and ‘rescued’ things from the trees. They also enjoyed lots of climbing, scooting and water activities! 💦
Today Nursery and Reception held a Macmillan coffee morning to raise vital funds for cancer support. The children were very proud to invite their parents into their classes and shared some lovely cakes! ☕️🍰
The children have settled well and are enjoying exploring lots of activities!
