A rather damp first week back for the last of Summer Term but we’ve tried to make the most of it! The rain and especially the puddles were very popular with many children having a great time splashing about. It was also a rather wet welcome for our butterflies too! The caterpillars that we had been keeping an eye on in Reception had been tucked away in their chrysalises all throughout the half-term break and then this week they have all emerged as beautiful Painted Lady butterflies. The children have loved having them in class within their netted enclosure and on Friday we released them out to the beautifully damp Cookridge garden where we are hoping they will enjoy their short lives (hopefully they’ll enjoy at least a little sun at some point!).
Our latest topic on dinosaurs has begun too this week, with the children starting the week by sharing their knowledge and coming up with questions that they’d like to find answers to over the coming weeks. We have already learned a bit about when dinosaurs lived on planet Earth and some of the different species there were. The children looked at some particular dinosaurs and discussed their various features (such as plates, spines, claws and frills) which allowed them to play a guessing game and become more familiar with these dinos. There has also been some dino art projects, with children using stencils to create prehistoric scenes and colouring in different dinosaurs by following specific instructions. We’ve also had lots of fun with ‘magic’ painting using only water to reveal some colourful dinosaur pictures.
Maths sessions this week have introduced the concept of division via sharing activities. We discussed how when sharing out an amount it must be divided equally so that all groups are the same size. The children explored this practically through a forest-themed treasure hunt, acting out a sharing story called ‘The Doorbell Rang’ which involved sharing out a batch of cookies between friends. Outside the children played a throwing game but first had to share out the beanbags fairly between the group.
In Phonics we have recapped the three-letter ‘trigraphs’ ear (ear), air (chair) and ure (pure). We have had reading practise outside as children hunted down bug-themed word posters and had to read which each said to find all the answers on their sheet. Inside children were challenged to read a sentence and then draw a picture illustrating it to demonstrate their comprehension of what they had read. Sentence writing in books is also coming on so well – all the teachers have been so impressed by children using their phonics knowledge to spell carefully and remembering all our sentence rules to write more independently.
Have a lovely weekend
The Reception Team
KEY DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:
Thursday 19th June – Sports day (EYFS/KS1 – 1:30pm-3pm)
Saturday 28th June – Summer Fair (12pm-4pm)
Friday 18th July – Last day of Summer 2 term
Tinshill Drive
Cookridge
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS16 7DH
0113 386 2500