Reception 2022-2023
Transport
When our topic moved into Transport, we were so excited (especially the boys). There were cars and buses everywhere. We spent the week exploring how we can move around Thorney Close and the city safely and really enjoyed reading different maps and looking for symbols to help guide the way.
However, the best bit was building our very own cars. With just some simple instructions, we independently made our own vehicle using our new skills.
The next day, like good engineers do, we tested them on different surfaces to make sure they were safe and that our wheels moved. It was so much fun - we've definitely found some engineers and mechanics of the future.
We had lots of questions when we began designing our own cars, including whether we could use a different 3D shape for wheels. "Would a cube work well?", "How about a cuboid because it's longer?" and "What about a cone with a curved face?"
As scientists (and mathematicians), we decided to investigate and do some problem solving of our own. We tested which shapes were best for rolling and which were best for stacking. We had so much fun!
Collage of a King
What an amazing job in making a King's collage in celebration of the Coronation!
Reception 22 - 23 - The King
The Coronation
Reception was a sea of red, white and blue on Friday when we were graced with the presence of our very own kings, queens, princes, princesses and of course a royal guard in celebration of The King's Coronation.
Hopping Mad
We’ve been hopping mad about our tadpoles and so excited that we couldn’t wait for them to turn into frogs. Looking at lots of different pictures, we realised each frog could be a very different colour and we all had our own comparisons – ‘green like the grass’, ‘dark green like a Christmas tree’ and even ‘apple green’. Taking out the yellow and blue paints, we each mixed our own shade and painted our own frog.
Reception 22 - 23 - Hopping Mad
Tadpoles
Across the year we have explored the changing seasons and spring has been one of the most exciting with the arrival of our very own tadpoles. We’ve loved watching them change over the last couple of weeks.
Reception 22 - 23 - Tadpoles
Spring has sprung!
It’s been such a busy half term in Reception and spring has definitely sprung. As well as exploring the life cycles of frogs, butterflies and other animals, we have also revisited the Sensory Garden together. We have been spotting bees, ladybirds and other insects. We noticed the changes in the trees. New leaves and blossom was everywhere and we can’t wait to go back later in the term to pick some apples.
Reception 22 - 23 - Spring has sprung!
We have also enjoyed listening to some stories. These are our favourites.
Bloom by Anne Booth and Robyn Owen-Wilson
The Extraordinary Gardener by Sam Boughton
The Great North Museum
There was certainly lots of wow factor when we visited The Great North Museum. We loved exploring the different areas across the museum.
- We started our time with the crystals, gems and fossils - and there may have been a few scary moments when we were faced with a dinosaur.
- Visiting the Living Planet gallery, we were met with all kinds of creatures including a giant white shark and Japanese spider crab. We tried hard to not be too scared by the whale's jaw bone too.
- We were fascinated by the spiky porcupine and curious koalas. But, it was the elephant that really blew us away. It was so huge! We loved pointing out all of the animals we recognised from the stories we’ve read in class - including those from our most recent story, Handa’s Surprise which is set in a beautiful Luo village in Kenya.
- Just before the Planetarium, we visited the Natural Northumbria gallery, we began to see lots of animals we all recognised and loved explaining where each animal might be found.
Please look through our photo gallery to see what a wonderful day we had.
Reception 22 - 23 - The Great North Museum
Circus Central
What an amazing day at Circus Central in Newcastle. The day started with a fabulous show from Paul, one of the circus trainers with us today. From the moment he began, the smiles and gasps told us we were all in for a magical treat! Treated to a story about a girl called Nell and her chicken Rosebud, we then found out there had been a very special delivery made to the circus just for us. Opening an envelope with our name on, we each found a brightly coloured feather left by one of Rosebud's friends. A feather that spoke to us, it gave us the courage to try all of the circus tricks ourselves, just like those in the story, Nell and the Circus of Dreams. Then, it was on to our training, we started with some juggling of flowersticks and then on to balancing on the trapeze. Finally, we became acrobats as we swang through the air.
Reception 22 - 23 - Circus Central
Easter Hunt
What better way to finish term than with an Easter egg hunt! The children needed to find all the eggs and letters to figure out a secret message!
Reception 22 - 23 - Easter Hunt
Out of this world
Last week was out of this world! We learned so much about different astronauts and their time in space and were so excited to find out more. We built our own moon buggies and rockets outdoors, drew planets with chalk and even managed to role play as astronauts in our very own Rocket! We loved learning about space and the solar system so much that we've continued our learning this week too.
One of our favourite moments of last week was listening to a story read by real astronauts in space. If you'd like to share another story together at home, the International Space Station has a series of pre-recorded videos available here to watch.
https://storytimefromspace.com/hey-ho-to-mars-2/
Children in Need
In Willow class we helped our friend Pudsey to raise money for Children in Need. We started the morning with lots of photos with our friends and talking about why donating a little money or kindness to Pudsey helps lots of other children around the country. Afterwards, we thoroughly enjoyed showing everyone our super scooter and bike skills outside on the yard too. So much fun!
Autumn Leaves
Autumn has finally arrived in Reception. We've had so much fun exploring the changes to the trees in our own outdoor area and the Sensory Garden. We discovered different types of trees and even learned why leaves change colour from green to all of those lovely autumnal shades. We’ve also begun trying to write our own sentences with a little support to hold our ideas in our heads!
Our stories have included:
Let's go fly a kite
On Friday, we were practically blown to school so when Thomas had the great idea of flying kites, we had to oblige. Out came the very technical kite making materials - carrier bags and string. We had so much fun!
Halloween
What a way to start our half term! Not only have we been dressing up, we've also been practising our sound blending and colour sorting with Halloween themed activities. We also managed to build a few towers for the wicked wizard and witches too."I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down"
"I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down" has been growled out so many times this week, we actually started to believe that the big, bad wolf was actually hiding in our classroom. As well as describing the different materials that each little pig used to build their homes and explaining why they were or weren't the best, we've had so much fun retelling, acting out and even building houses just like the cleverest of the pigs. Some of us even practised our segmenting and blending skills.
Where in the world are we?
Some of us became very inquisitive today when a basket of maps appeared. With a little help, we were able to find Sunderland and even match countries from an atlas to the globe. We also enjoyed exploring an OS map with magnifying glasses so we could identify the different symbols for forests, roads and churches.
Repeating patterns
We have been busy creating our own repeating patterns too. So many different ideas and so many different creations. We were even able to create our prints using vegetables and fruit. Challenged to create patterns with mistakes for our friends to fix, we've really shown our reasoning skills too.
As easy as 1, 2, 3!
As easy as 1, 2, 3! What a great week of Maths we've had. Learning about the real meaning of each number and how they can be represented in so many ways, has been great fun. We've been on number hunts around the school and even practised our formation of the numbers.
Home is where the heart is
Home is where the heart is! This week, we've focused on Carson Ellis' book - Home. We've talked about our families and the people who care for us and shared each others pictures from home. We've worked together to build a town, create homes and even use our building skills to show when something is taller or shorter.
If you'd like to listen along to our book for this week, here's the link.
Matching Pairs
What a busy couple day we've had! We've found matching pairs everywhere! From finding identical pairs of socks and hanging them on the washing line, building identical models in construction and even finding different objects in the classroom which match by colour or size, we've become experts at what it means to be the same and different. We even learnt the BSL for same and different too!
Funny Bones and Skeletons
What a week we've had learning all about our funny bones! From creating our own Loose Parts skeletons to even having skeleton tea parties in Willow House - it's been lots of fun! Building 3D characters in the Construction area was definitely a favourite too. Some of us even practised our phonics with an 's' for skeleton being a big favourite on the class whiteboard as well.
Funny Bones
We have been continuing to explore our topic Marvellous Me. As we begin to learn more about our bodies and the amazing things we can do with them, our story focus will be a classic from Allan Ahlberg, Funny Bones!
If you'd like to read along at home, here is a great version
//www.youtube.com/embed/gweOq4OT-H0#t=0.5
Our First PE Lesson with Tanya
We were given our very first PE lesson of the year from Tanya, our gymnastics coach! We practised different stretches, worked on our coordination and even a little bit of throwing and catching!
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/i/video/September_2022/Reception/Beech_Reception_PE_Throwing_and_Catching.mp4
Puzzle Makers
We have some master puzzle makers in Beech class! Some wonderful team work as well
First Music Lesson for Beech Class
Beech Class's first music lesson together! We had so much fun listening and dancing to the different tempos.
/i/video/September_2022/Reception/Reception_First_Music_Lesson.mp4
Our Second Day in School
Our second day in Willow class has been full of activities and everyone is settling in really well. From practising our colour sorting to making some very important phones calls, it's been a very busy day all round. We were all amazing at lunch time too - everyone was trying really hard to use their knives and forks on their own as well.
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What a fabulous first day! We've had so much fun together and can't wait for what our first year in school will bring. Here are just a few photos of what we've already been getting up to!