Welcome to Reception / Year One
Each week I will add some information about what has been going on in the class!
You can also print off the homework for the week just in case your child wasn’t in on Friday
Week beginning 7th May
The children were amazed how big the beanstalks had grown over the Bank Holiday and they are convinced they will be able to climb them at some point! We have enjoyed books by Melanie Watt this week – they are all about Scaredy Squirrel who is scared of most things but actually finds out that they aren’t actually that bad. The children have made their own version of the book called ‘Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping’ it is in the classroom in the reading corner so they can continue to enjoy reading it.
In maths our focus has been on number formation and number patterns. The Year One children have been ordering numbers from highest to lowest. The Reception have been working on getting their numbers the right way round. You can continue this at home too!
You should have received a letter this week about our forthcoming trip on the 12th June – it you haven’t had one please let me know.
Week beginning 23rd April
This week we have continued to look at what plants need to grow and we have planted our own beanstalks. These will continue to grow in the classroom and once they get too big the children will bring them home to plant in the garden! We have tied in planting our beanstalks with instructions – the children have done instructions before so this was a chance to revise the type of language we use when we are giving or writing instructions. The children drew pictures showing the steps of planting a bean and then once they had done it they added sentences.
In maths we have been working with money, the children have found this difficult so we will be going back to it again in a couple of weeks.
Week beginning 16th April
Our new topic started this week and much of Tuesday was spent creating our classroom campsite. The children have enjoyed playing in the area this week particularly climbing inside the sleeping bags in the tent!
In our Literacy we have begun to look at how things grow and started by reading ‘Jasper’s Beanstalk’. The children have done some excellent writing on bean paper and enjoyed thinking about what Jasper would do once he got up the beanstalk. In Maths we have started to look at money which we will carry on with next week.
Week beginning 19th March
In Maths this week we have been solving word problems – the children have found this tricky! You can help by asking them simple questions such as, if I went to the shop and bought 4 apples and 3 bananas, how many pieces of fruit would I have? We will revisit number problems again in the Summer Term.
In Literacy we have done some writing about Captain Smellypants! The children have used WOW words to describe him and in topic we have imagined and created what type of vehicle he might ride or drive.
Week beginning 12th March
The children have loved making their superhero underpants – they drew their designs, created them and then were able to evaluate what they had done and make suggestions of what they might change – the underpants are up on the wall in the classroom!
The book we have looked at this week was ‘Charlie’s Superhero Underpants’. The children predicted where Charlie’s underpants had gone and wrote and drew pictures to show it. We are consolidating our phonic knowledge at the moment and the children have been amazing at pointing on different sounds as we come across them in everything we do.
In maths we have gone back to number bonds and have tried to remember which numbers added together make 5, 10 and 20.
On Friday we had our Superhero day and the children had a great time. We searched for Captain Smellypants, decorated biscuits and designed masks. The children also chose to do lots of writing about the different superheroes in the class.
If you click on the Superhero Day Link you will see some photos of our day!
Week beginning 5th March
Our superhero theme has continued and the children this week have been investigating which material would be best for a pair of waterproof superhero underpants!
They have enjoyed choosing materials and putting them into water to decide whether their predictions were right or not. On Friday the children turned into designers and have drawn a design for a pair of superhero underpants and next week will be making them following their design. They will then evaluate what they have done and make suggestions on what could be improved. We are hoping to have an ‘Underpant’ display in the classroom.
In Literacy we have worked hard on making interesting superhero sentences using the story of ‘Max’ who is a superhero who can’t fly. In maths the Y1 children have begun to learn about partitioning numbers and even some of the Reception children are beginning to understand it too!
Week beginning 27th February
This half term we are looking at Superheroes! The role play area has been set up as a Superhero Headquarters and the children have really enjoyed playing in it this week. We have talked about the ‘Superhero Rules’ and we have decided we are going to be the type that help and save others!!
We have created ourselves as Superheroes and these are displayed outside in the corridor by the classroom door. We have talked about what type of Superhero we might be and what powers we could have.
In maths we have revised 2d shape and looked at 3d shapes.
Week beginning 13th February
The children created another story this week using our story bags – this time it was about a princess, prince and a giant. They had some fantastic ideas and they enjoyed sharing them with their talk partner. We have spent the week consolidating our learning and the year one children have had a maths ‘quiz’ which they all did really well on!! The children have also being reading and spelling their tricky words and we have been assessing which sounds they know. Enjoy the week off and I am sure the children will have already told you about our next topic – Superheroes!!!
Week beginning 6th February
The children have enjoyed measuring things this week – including me! They have counted how many cubes long, short and tall things are and have also measured in paper clips! Some of the children have started to use rulers and record results in centimetres.
The role play airport continues to interest the children and many have imagined they were flying to Disneyland this week. We did do some research about Spain and have learnt some Spanish words too – this came about because the children wanted to know more about the country.
We have been writing a class story this week which I promised the children I would put on here – it will be attached shortly! We used our Story Bags to help us write the story and the content of it comes very much from the children – even the bit about spaghetti bolognaise. If you want to find out more about story bags then visit the following website which will give you further information - Story Bags
Week beginning 30th January
This week we have learnt about instructions. The children have enjoyed giving each other instructions on how to do very simple things such as, cleaning their teeth, putting on their coats. They quickly realised how important it was to use the right type of language and that instructions have to be precise!
The role play area is now an airport and the children have enjoyed making passports and stamping them numerous times!! 
The children have also enjoyed using all the chairs to make an aeroplane which seems to have more than one pilot.
In maths we have looked at positional language and started the week by wearing blind folds and giving each other instructions to avoid crashing into things in the hall. The children then went on to create runways and roads and give each other directions on how to get to particular places. This linked nicely with our airport and instructional language.
In our topic work the children have finished off how to keep healthy by painting pictures that show them doing something to show they know how to stay healthy. They enjoyed using water colour and then enhancing their pictures with pastel – the pictures on display in the classroom!