Summer Term 1- All Creatures Big and Small

People Who Help Us Week

We have had a very exciting and informative time in Reception for 'People Who Help Us' week. We have had a variety of interesting visitors and have learnt lots of new facts about this topic. 

On Monday, we learnt how to be scientists. We found out how to use a hand-held microscope and how to make rainbows. On Tuesday, our lollipop man, Paul, came in to talk about how to cross the road safely. On Wednesday, two police officers came in to visit us, and they brought their police car with them. On Thursday, Anna came in to talk to us about her job as a paediatric nurse and tomorrow we have a visit from a parent who is a civil servant. We have also learnt about paramedics, dentists, vets and lifeguards.

We would like to say a great big thank you to everyone who has come in to talk to the children. It has been a wonderful week!

 

 

 

Exciting News!

Our butterflies have hatched out of their chrysalises ! 

 

 

 

 

Caterpillar News !

Our very fat and hungry caterpillars have now formed chrysalids/ chrysalises, and we are monitoring them daily to see what will happen next! 

Summer 1 week 5

 Topic: Dinosaurs 

Key Texts: 'Dear Dinosaur' and 'Tyrannosaurus Drip'.

The children have all enjoyed learning about lots of different dinosaurs this week in Reception. We introduced the new topic with the story 'Dear Dinosaur' by Chae Strathie and Nicola O'Byrne. The story included letters written by a little boy called Max to a dinosaur at the museum. The dinosaur then wrote replies to Max.  During our literacy sessions, the children wrote letters to a variety of dinosaurs and asked lots of interesting questions. We also read 'Tyrannosaurus Drip' by Julia Donaldson and learnt which dinosaurs were herbivores, carnivores or omnivores. 

We have set up a Dinosaur museum in the role-play area to explore during 'Play and Learn'. The children made salt dough fossils and also used pasta to make dinosaur skeletons.  

In our Maths sessions we learnt about odd and even numbers.

 

 

 

 

Summer 1 Week 4 

Topic-Savannah

Key Text – One Day on Our Blue Planet

Our topic for this week was all about animals which live on the Savannah grasslands of Africa. The children wrote safari animal fact files during our literacy sessions. We read a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts and had lots of interesting discussions about lions, elephants, giraffes and the other animals that live on the Savannah grasslands. We discussed what the animals looked like and what they liked to eat.

In our Maths lessons, we learnt how to find half of a group of objects by sharing equally into two groups.

The children explored animal prints and patterns in the creative area and decorated leaves with paint.

 

 

 

Summer 1 Week 3 

Topic – Minibeasts and Small Creatures

Key Text – Oi Frog! by Kes Gray and Jim Field

The children enjoyed learning and sharing information about a wide variety of minibeasts and insects this week. They looked closely at the features of the different minibeasts and then used clay to create models of the insects. 

During our Literacy lessons, the children shared the story 'Oi Frog' together and wrote their own poems and rhyming sentences. For example, 'A bee on my knee, a flea in a tree'.  'A slug on a rug and bugs in a mug'. 

We are continuing to learn number bonds up to ten in our Maths sessions. We are also working out simple number problems, including how to find a missing number when using the part/whole model. 

Our caterpillars have grown bigger, and we are observing them daily to see what will happen next!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer 1 Week 2           Under The Sea

Key Text- Commotion in the Ocean

The children enjoyed reading 'Commotion in the Ocean' which is a book of sea life poems and rhymes. We discussed what we already knew about a variety of different sea creatures and then found out  lots of  new information to share during class discussions.  We also  learnt about different habitats where the creatures live. 

In our Literacy lessons, the children wrote clues about different sea creatures to challenge their friends. For example, 'I have very sharp teeth. I have a fin on my back. What am I?' 

In Maths we doubled numbers up to 10 and beyond. For example, double 5 is 10, double 2 is 4, double 3 is 6. During 'Play and Learn' the children used ladybird resources to make doubles with  play dough and buttons.

We are using the big climbing frame in our PE sessions and are working on our core body strength.

 

 

Summer 1 Week 1       Rumble In The Jungle

Our new topic for this half-term is 'All Creatures Big and Small' and we began by learning about jungle animals. We read  'Rumble in the Jungle' by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz and lots of interesting discussions took place about the different animals and creatures.  During 'Play and Learn', the children had opportunities to paint jungle animals and to use collage materials to make animal patterns.

Our caterpillars have arrived, and we are making close observations of them as they grow. The children are using the non- fiction books to find out more information about them.

In our Maths sessions, the children are using their knowledge of number bonds up to ten to solve a variety of number  problems. This included using the part /whole model to make number bonds with cubes and counters.

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Term 2 -Once Upon A Time

Spring 2 week 5: Eid and Spring

On Monday we recapped what we had learnt about Ramadan and Eid. We made chapatis and loved tasting them! Later in the week, we took advantage of the sun and went on a spring walk. We discussed the different signs of spring and managed to spot some of these on our field.

Spring 2 week 4: Goldilocks and the Three Bears:

On Monday, we took part in a taster tennis lesson from Batchwood; the children practised balancing and controlling the balls with the rackets. We had so much fun! We have been reading and re-telling the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. During Play and Learn, we used puppets to act out the story and some children chose to make their own puppets in the creative area. In Music, Miss Blassberg taught us a song about Goldilocks, and we used instruments to play alongside us. We have begun looking at teen numbers and how they are made up of ten and some more.

Spring 2 week 3: Measuring 

This week we have been observing how our bean plants are growing and looking at the parts of different plants. We have been conducting an experiment where we change the conditions of a bean, e.g. no water or sunlight, and are observing if it will grow. In Maths, we have been exploring measuring using non-standard units such as cubes or our footprints. We went on a walk around the track and collected sticks and then ordered them from the shortest to the longest.

World Book Day

The theme for this year's World Book Day was 'empathy'. We read 'The Lion Inside' by Rachel Bright and Elmer by David McKee and discussed how important it is to be kind, what this looks like and what we can do in school to look after one another. Reception buddied up with Year 4 for a wonderful reading session and, at the end of the day, all the children got to bring their soft toys and select a story of their choice to go and listen to around the school.

Celebrating 100 Days of School!

Since our first day in Reception, we have been using a 100 square grid to count how many days we have been at school. We used this as a great opportunity to teach recognising and counting groups of ten. We also practised counting up to 100 in ones and tens. We asked all the children to create a piece of homework to represent the number 100 – have a look at some of their fantastic ideas! On the day, we had a celebration and took part in lots of activities to do with 100, including a special PE lesson where the children took part in 100 exercises e.g.

Week 1- Jack and the Beanstalk

Our first traditional tale for this topic is Jack and the Beanstalk. We looked at speech bubbles and rehearsed speaking in the style of one of the characters from the story. We then wrote our own speech bubbles! We have planted our own beans and are watching them grow - I wonder if they are magic beans...?

Spring Term 1 2026 - We're Going on an Adventure

Lunar New Year:

For Lunar New Year we made dumplings! We also looked at how Lunar New Year is celebrated across the world. We watched a video of the Dragon dance. During PE we listened to traditional music and tried recreating these rhythms with instruments whilst the rest of the class danced along with our homemade dragon head.

 

Week beginning 2nd February:

Our book of the week is 'Emma Jane's Aeroplane' by Katie Haworth, which describes a little girl's adventures across different cities, spotting famous landmarks on the way. The children did a fantastic job working in pairs to draw maps of where Emma Jane visited in her aeroplane. During Play and Learn, many of the children used the book to influence them to be 'Awesome Authors' and create their own adventure stories.

In Maths this week we are exploring regrouping parts to find the whole – which is the first step towards addition. We used dominoes to identify the parts and then count how many there are altogether in order to find the whole (total). The children helped to sort the dominoes into two categories, one which represented the number 7 and one which did not.

Week beginning 26th January: Pirates

This week we read 'Billy and the Pirates' by Nadia Shireen and looked at creating our own treasure maps. We worked together to create a large scale map, place obstacles and practise our use of directional language to navigate across the map. During Play and Learn, we used these skills to direct our beebots across the grids. Lastly, in our creative area, we practised our joining and sticking techniques to work in pairs to build boats out of junk modelling.

On Monday 21st January, Reception took part in a walk around our local area. We walked along the River Ver and then back to the Nunnery, using our senses to spot any signs of Winter along the way. Our Literacy this week is based on creating our own maps of the walk and selecting two or three key things that we saw. Thank you to all the adult volunteers who accompanied us on the trip.

 

This week we had a visit from Shirley at HCC who read a story about the road safety initiative ‘Stay Safe with Aya & Harry – Travelling by Car’

This term our PE topic is Gymnastics. We will be exploring making different shapes with our body.

Reception were very excited to experience a little bit of snow and frost on our first day back. This led beautifully into our discussions about describing  the signs of Winter. 

Our book of the week was 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' by Michael Rosen. We re-enacted the story and innovated our own settings using descriptive vocabulary. During Play and Learn, we explored different materials to make an individual and one group collage of different settings. 

In Maths, we focused on positional and directional language and had a great time exploring the beebots.