Christmas party and film time

On our last day of the term we had a Christmas party. We played lots of games, danced, had some party snacks and then we watched a Christmas film to finish our day off. We have worked very hard this term so this was a lovely treat! 

Snowflakes

As part of our work on our fine motor skills we have been practising using our scissors and making snowflakes. Mrs Walsh showed us how to fold the paper and make cuts to make the different patterns in the snowflakes. We talked about the shapes we were cutting out and what we thought it would look like when it was folded back out. 

Christmas fun and adventures

During the festive period we have been exploring lots of different craft ideas, practising and performing in our Nativity, dressing up and playing with our friends. 

Making Christmas cards for our families 

We used different techniques to make our Christmas cards for our families. We started by using potato mashers to print our outline shape for either a bauble or a reindeer. We then moved on to add different collage materials to complete our creation. We looked at the best way to join the materials to the card and chose PVA glue this time. 

Salt dough decorations

In order to make some decorations for our Christmas trees at home, we made some salt dough and then imprinted our hands in them. We let them air dry and then decorated them to look like reindeers. We explored how some art needs to be returned to later in order to add further decoration. 

Buddy the Elf and his mischievous adventures.... 

Buddy the Elf has taken up home in our Curiosity Cube..... here are some of his adventures 

Buddy invited his reindeer friends for a party! Here is their dancing! 

We have found out that Buddy isn't always making the best choices.... the children have been drawing pictures and writing notes to show him how to make better choices. 

It isn't working..... yet.....

Literacy Text - The Jolly Christmas Postman

by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

This lovely Christmas version of The Jolly Christmas Postman sees the postman delivering Christmas post to various story book characters. I wonder where he will end up? 

Making Christingles with our families 

2nd December

In Stay and Play today we have been making Christingles with our families. 

The children placed 4 cocktail sticks in the orange and then added fruit, a candle and some red ribbon. 

The orange represents the world God made for us, the 4 cocktail sticks and fruit are the 4 seasons, the candle because Jesus is the light of the world and finally the red ribbon to represent the blood Jesus shed for us on the cross. 

Visit from the Police 

1st December 

Today we had a special visit from the Police. They came in their van! We had a go at pretending to drive the van, including using the lights and sirens! The children all got to ask the Police questions, such as "where do the baddies go?" "What's your favourite thing about being the police?"

The children were allowed to explore the van and this included looking at the back of the van, which is where the Police put the people they have arrested to take them to the Police Station. 

Maths - working on number 4. 

In maths we have been building a strong foundation in number. We have been exploring composition of numbers to 4. We have been thinking about the 3 counting principles and how to ensure we have counted accurately. 

We made sure we 1) counted each object once 2) said the numbers in the correct order and 3) the last number we used is the total number of objects we have counted. 

To help us with this we explored a 10 frame. We used the 10 frame to place the counters in different boxes and looked at how many spaces we had covered and how many spaces we had left. 

Maths - Number Rhymes

We have been applying our knowledge of numbers to our singing, practising counting backwards and taking 1 away each time, singing 5 little ducks and 5 little monkeys. 

We use props to enable our children to see the items left, as well as matching this to the number and how many fingers they have left up when they place one more down. 

DT Day 2

Making a sleeping bag for our mouse

As part of our ongoing development in DT we have been continuing to explore joining techniques and the advantages and disadvantages of these when using different materials. In this part of our learning we designed a sleeping bag for our mouse and considered the best ways in which we could join this to the mice would be cosy and secure. 

To see our learning and photos of the processes we went through, visit our DT page. 

Supersonic Phonic Friends

Tricky Tess

We have been working with Tricky Tess in our Supersonic Phonics to read and write some of our tricky words. Tricky Tess helped us to be able to see the tricky part of the word and this helps to us to read it. We then wrote one of the four tricky words on a post it note and put it out in the classroom for our friends to find. 

We then went on a Tricky Word hunt, found a post it and told our friends which tricky word it was! 

PE - Invasion Games 

In PE we have been learning the skills we need to be able to play invasion games. These have included chasing, changing direction quickly, moving in different directions and avoiding having our "tail" taken. The children have been learning the rules for the game, where the time-out area is and how this could be used, as well as how to evade being captured. These fundamental skills will help us later in school when we learn how to play other games such as tag rugby, football and netball. 

Drawing to music

As part of our expressive arts and design work we have been learning different ways in which to be expressive through art. Today we had a go at drawing to two different types of music. We listened to the music and had a think about how it made us feel, then made marks to reflect this. 

We listened to the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" by Tchaikovsky and Handel's "Music for the Royal Fireworks" and drew marks using different techniques and speeds. 

Our letters to Father Christmas

We have written to Santa Claus this week to tell him we have been good and what we would like for Christmas. The children had to think very carefully about what Santa could afford for them this year as we talked about how his energy bills in Lapland were considerably more expensive this year. The children carefully considered a small toy they would like and then with their most careful writing (so Santa could read it!) we wrote our letters. 

We had to think about where we lived so that Santa would know where to deliver to, we realised that if we wrote "my house" Santa may get confused. 

Literacy text - Stick Man

By Julia Donaldson

As our transition from learning about Autumn into our Christmas learning journey, we are exploring our next text, Stick Man. The children are continuing to learn about authors and illustrators and as such, we are using this text written by Julia Donaldson, an author we are very familiar with. 

Friendship Friday 

18th November

As part of Anti-bullying week, we celebrated Friendship Friday in Reception by inviting our parents in to colour in "kind hands" and write some kind words. Our children considered what words are kind and how they make us feel. 

RE

Learning all about the Nativity Story

As part of our RE unit, this term we are exploring the Nativity Story in detail. This is a very important time of the year for the Christian faith and as such we will be learning about why Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. 

We started by watching this video showing the Nativity in sand art. Next, we spoke about the important parts of the story, who was present in the stable and why they are important. 

We introduced the Nativity set in the classroom and the children explored this in their continuous provision. 

We have also been recreating the stable part of the story using our art skills. This also enabled us to practice making some of the shapes we have been learning about in maths! Triangles and squares! 

We talked about the Nativity Story and which parts we could remember, speaking about how this is an important story for Christians as it is the birth of Baby Jesus. 

As part of our art and DT development, we talked about how to join the lollipop sticks to the paper and which method would work the best. Some children tried a glue stick, some PVA glue and some sticky tape. We then talked about which method worked the best. 

When we had made our stable shape we then drew some animals in the stable, Baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph. 

Road Safety workshops / Road Safety Week

We have had a visit from our local Road Safety Officers, who have been helping us to understand how we can keep safe in our car seats and while we are walking near roads. 

We learnt about the seats we should be using in the car, how we should always have our seatbelts on and how our teddies do not need to be in our seat belts!

Walking with an adult near a road is very important and we talked about how important it is to hold their hands, walk sensibly and listen to our adults. We learnt about how to cross a road safely by looking and listening for traffic and how wearing bright or reflective items, especially in the autumn and winter seasons, enables other people to see us and keep us safe. 

Beep Beep Day is a national campaign designed to keep our younger children safe on and near the roads. There are lots of free activities here to have a go at home, and the children have been colouring their own postcards to remind themselves and their adults of how to ensure their safety near roads. 

Remembrance Day / Week

In Reception this week we have been learning all about Remembrance Day and why we remember our fallen soldiers and those who fought in the wars for us. We watched a video to help us to understand why people wear poppies on November 11th and why we are silent in order to remember all the brave people. 

As part of our exploring this week we have been making poppies using playdough as well as printing using apples and red and black paint. We explored the shapes of poppies and mirrored this in our creations. 

Literacy Text

After the Storm (Percy the Park Keeper)

by Nick Butterworth

As part of our learning about Autumn, this book helps to understand about the life cycle of an Oak Tree, as well as learning about the animals the children may see in autumn. The book talks about where the different animals live in a wood and which parts of a tree the animals make their homes in. 

As part of our literacy work we explored the book further, looking at how the animals and Percy may have felt during the story. We asked Mrs Walsh to scribe our ideas. 

Next we looked at where the animals lived in their new homes in the tree, what their habitats were called. We drew these on the tree and labelled them. 

Finally, we drew a story map on the IWB and this time we had a go with our talk partners to draw our own story map. 

Firework Art

The children have been exploring the patterns and colours made by fireworks this week and have been using a printing technique to make colourful firework art. The children carefully placed their tube onto the paper to make sure that the paint didn't smudge. Some children explored what would happen if they placed different colours over the top of others. 

Literacy Text 

Remember Remember the Fifth of November

This text follows the story of a hibernating hedgehog Henry, who is awoken on Bonfire Night from his "big sleep" and explores the sights and sounds of the fifth of November. 

It introduces the children to different types of words and vocabulary, such as a range of adjectives and onomatopoeia words used to describe the fireworks. 

As part of our work with this text, we explored adjective and onomatopoeia words to describe the fireworks. The children came up with these words.