Reception Mae Jemison & Jane Goodall
Welcome to Reception!
Seasons!
We started our new topic 'Come Outside' with a week all about seasons! We have been learning the names of the 4 seasons and what happens in each one. We all had a turn at creating some large seasons trees - we had to think about which resources to use and the shapes we needed to make. Our finished trees are fantastic! We also went on a welly walk to spot signs of Spring. We used our eyes well and spotted lots of blossom, green leaves, colourful flowers and even a birds nest!
Fairytale Day!
To end our learning on 'Terrific Tales', we had a fairytale day! We all came to school dressed as a character from a fairy tale or traditional tale and had lots of story fun all day!
We went on a fairytale character hunt, made story maps, retold some new stories, sang some princess songs, danced in our own fairytale ball and even pretended we were Goldilocks and tasted some porridge! Some of us said 'this porridge is too cold!'
To help us celebrate fairytales, we were very lucky to have The Teeny Tiny Theatre company visit us. Laura and Chantel immersed us into a magical library, where we had to act out some stories! They were very impressed with our listening skills and participation.
Our visit to Church.
We all walked to St Andrew's Church in Cottam to learn about the features of a Church. Canon Towers showed us the font, special statues of Jesus and Mary and the clothes that he wears. Some of us got to light a candle and touch the holy water in the font. We all listened brilliantly and asked some thoughtful questions.
Making Gingerbread Men!
To end our learning on this story, we all did some baking! The children named all the ingredients and observed the changes that happened when they were added together. They all helped to mix and then had their own piece of dough to roll out and cut. The children then gave Mrs. Wadley and Mrs. Harrison instructions on how to make sure the Gingerbread Men didn't escape when they had been cooked!
Making boats!
After making bridges, the children thought that the Gingerbread Man should have a boat to help him cross the river! The children knew that the boat should float so they had lots of fun exploring different materials that would float to help them. The children worked in pairs and found that cardboard and sponges do not make a good boat as they soak up the water and then sink!
World Book Day
To celebrate world book day, we were treated to a visit from Damian Harvey, an author who has written over 180 books! Damian read several of his stories to us. They were fantastic!
To continue the celebrations, we came to school dressed to show how we enjoy reading - some of us were book characters, some of us came in our pyjamas and some of us came dressed in our comfiest clothes! We listened to lots of stories throughout the day and to end the day our Year 5 buddies came to read to us aswell!
Making Bridges!
The children have been thinking about how the Gingerbread Man could have safely crossed the river and not been eaten by the fox! Lots of us thought he needed a bridge so as part of our learning on materials, we explored which material would make a good bridge and how to build one! We found out that the material needs to be strong because otherwise the bridge falls down! We also learned the words 'sturdy' and 'stable'. We showed good teamwork and built some super bridges.
Kapla Workshop.
We were very lucky to be able to take part in a Kapla workshop. Each class had a turn to create a specific construction under the guidance of Jennifer, the Kapla expert! Reception started the build off, building two little villages. We all showed great listening skills and had very steady hands!
Once each class had had their turn, we went back into the hall to see the complete build. It was amazing!
Doing Yoga.
As part of Children's Mental Health week, we had a visit from The Yogi Group. We all spent time learning to be calm through different breathing techniques, yoga moves and positive affirmations. We all listened brilliantly, well done children!
China Day!
We were very lucky to have a visit from Christopher's mummy who told us lots about Chinese New Year. After her visit, we decided to have our own China Day so we got in our planes and 'flew' to China! We found China on a map, compared the Chinese flag to the Union Jack, tasted some Chinese food, made some dragons and even learnt how to say hello in Chinese! We also celebrated Chinese New Year by doing our own dragon dance.
Journey to Space!
As part of learning about different types of transport, we looked at the artist Peter Thorpe. He was famous for his rocket and space paintings. We used his paintings as inspiration for our own rocket pictures. We used marker pens to explore drawing different space rockets and then used chalk pastels to copy our designs. Finally, we used different painting tools to print the finishing touches to our work. Our pictures look fantastic!
Naughty Bus!
As part of our topic 'ticket to ride', we have been reading 'Naughty Bus'. The children worked together to draw maps of his journey and then they created their own 'naughty buses'! They took them on a journey inside and outside. All the buses travelled to a destination, which the children used to say and write a sentence. We all practised using the correct positional word and spoke in full sentences. Can you use the photos to say where the buses went?
Christmas Party Day!
Boogie Woogie Nativity!
Our first Nativity was fantastic - we spoke with loud voices and sang beautifully!
Shadows
We have loved being scientists and learning all about shadows! We found out that there has to be light to make a shadow and shadows are made when the light goes around an object. We investigated which objects make the best shadows and we used the words 'opaque' and 'translucent'. We noticed lots of shadows outside on a sunny day and had lots of fun drawing round them!
Our Trip to Little Lancashire Village!
To continue our learning in our 'everyday heroes' topic, we went on our first trip to the Little Lancashire Village! It was very exciting to go on a coach - some of us had never been on one before. We had lots of fun exploring all the different areas and acting out lots of different roles. We loved being mechanics, hairdressers, shop assistants, pilots, vets and dentists. We even had a go at working in a launderette, coffee shop and pizza place!
A visit from the Police!
To get our new topic 'everyday heroes' off to an exciting start, we were very lucky to have a visit from our local PCSO's. We learnt all about the different jobs they have to do, what they wear and we even got to sit inside their police car, turn on the lights and the sirens! The children listened very well and asked some great questions.
Halloween!
The children looked amazing in their costumes and we had a super spooky day! We read the story 'Pumpkin Soup', practiced our cutting skills to make a pumpkin and explored real pumpkins! We looked for spooky creatures in scary spaghetti and found some more creatures hiding in green slime. We even had a special lunch - what a busy day!
Mondrian
As part of our learning about colours, we have looked at the dutch artist, Piet Mondrian. He was most famous for paintings that used bold black lines to create squares and rectangles. He then filled some of the shapes in using one of the three primary colours.
We used our cutting skills to cut black strips and glued them on a piece of white paper. We used the words ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’. We know the primary colours are red, yellow and blue so we chose those colours to fill in some of the shapes, just like Mondrian did!
Look at the photos below to see our fantastic work!
Our first welly walk!
Our first welly walk was an Autumn walk! We listened to the story 'Leaf Man' and talked about what happens in Autumn. We then put on our wellies to go and search for Autumn objects, especially leaves! We were very excited because our buddies from Year 5 came with us too. They helped us search for Autumn objects to take back to the classroom. When we had finished, we went back to the classroom and used what we had collected to make pictures.
Travelling Tuesday!
We had a fantastic first 'travelling Tuesday! We boarded the 'plane', found our seats, put on our seat belts and flew across the English Channel with our pilots Mrs Harrison and Mrs Wadley! They 'flew' us all the way to France! We found France on a map and learned that the capital city is Paris. Some of us have been to Paris! We looked at the shapes and colours on the flag and even watched a video about The Eiffel Tower. We had fun painting flags, creating The Eiffel Tower, learning french words and eating pain au chocolat!
Where will we travel to next time?
Our First Two Weeks at School!
We have had so much fun making new friends and exploring all the exciting things in our new classroom! Look at the presentation below to see some of the things we have been doing.