Happy Friday! We have had a brilliant week in Reception and wanted to share with you some of what we have been up to.
Our first topic of ‘All About Me’ has seen us further getting to know one another with the staff sharing our family photos with the class as they respond with their own family stories. We also have spent time talking about what makes a good friend and it has been so lovely to see new friendships continue to blossom in Reception this week. We encouraged lots of talk with the children and tried to learn more about each other by sharing our personal likes and dislikes via a sorting activity. Also as part of this topic we have had the children sharing when their birthday and how old they will be at their next birthday by making some delicious looking play-doh cupcakes, with the children counting out the correct number of ‘candles’. We have also been encouraging each child to take a look in a mirror and have a go at drawing a self portrait which we hope to display in the cloakroom when they have all been completed.
Outdoors, though the weather has been a bit mixed we’ve tried to make the most of the sunshine and spent lots of time building in the construction area, singing and dancing on the stage and experimenting in the water area. The bikes and ball games have continued to prove popular and help us build gross motor and co-ordination skills. The DT area has also been opened up for children to have a go at constructing their own creations!
This week we have begun teaching in small groups and the children themselves put their heads together to come up with their new group names – so each child will now be part of either the Secret Shadows, the Galloping Unicorns, or the Jumping Jellyfish! In our Phonics sessions this week, we have been practising the key skills of listening to help build the basis of the children’s phonics learning going forward. We played different listening games to help the children discern between differing sounds and practised hearing when words rhyme.
Our Maths sessions have focused on recognising patterns and pairs. The children joined in activities to spot the odd one out in a group and to pair odd socks as well as working in pairs to build towers and use language skills to build matching towers from blocks.
On Tuesday this week the children enjoyed some time getting to know our PPA teachers which take the class when Mr Verdi and Mrs Andrews are out of class. Mr Joy teaches DT and has had the children manipulating clay to craft their own faces; Mrs Cooper-Kight teaches Art and invited the children to watch a video about individuality then encouraged the children to mark make art that represented themselves and their own personalities; Mrs Durrant teaches Music and has had the children learning songs and simple movements; Mr Gamble is our Forest Schools lead and took the groups out to the school garden to explore nature together.
We hope you enjoy the photos we have shared in this newsletter. We are only able to share photos on the newsletter that we have permission to allow on the internet. If you have not yet completed the permissions and agreements on the Arbor app please complete these as soon as possible.
Have a lovely weekend!
The Reception Team.
Tinshill Drive
Cookridge
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS16 7DH
0113 386 2500
