Reception - Miss North

This week Reception class has learnt about Remembrance Day.  We learnt that we wear poppies to remember the soldiers, sailors and air crew that have died in the wars. We were so respectful during our 2 minutes silence on Monday, our teachers were very proud of us. Mrs Gears and Miss Galloway helped us to create the beautiful stone poppy that was displayed on our whole school Remembrance display and we also listened to a story about the life of Captain Tom Moore, who was an engineer in Army during the Second World War. On Monday, Miss North showed us a video about why we wear poppies on Remembrance Day.  We really liked listening to the music and many of us asked to watch it again over the week. If you would like to watch it at home please follow this link https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/poppies

This week Reception have been learning about an Indian festival called Diwali. Diwali is a festival of light which celebrates good overcoming evil. People who celebrate Diwali light candles and make rangoli patterns to decorate their house. We made our own diya lamps using mod-roc and then carefully decorated them in a pearlescent paint. We then made rangoli patterns using chalk and glitter to display our lamps.  At the end of the week, we also designed mehndi patterns for our hands! What a busy time we have had!

Reception enjoyed learning about Bonfire Night this week! We created leaf sparklers outdoors, painted fireworks using our homemade chalk paint and made firework pictures to display in class. We also used lolly pop sticks to copy patterns of fireworks, this really helped us to develop our spatial reasoning skills. 

This week Reception have been learning about an Indian festival called Diwali. Diwali is a festival of light which celebrates good overcoming evil. People who celebrate Diwali light candles and make rangoli patterns to decorate their house. We made our own diya lamps using mod-roc and then carefully decorated them in a pearlescent paint. We then made rangoli patterns using chalk and glitter to display our lamps.  At the end of the week, we also designed mehndi patterns for our hands! What a busy time we have had!

This week, Reception have been learning about matching and sorting objects during their Maths lessons. Through the activities we also honed our team work and turn takings skills! 

On the third day of learning the Set 1 sounds, Miss North was made redundant! The children in Reception class have loved learning a new sound each day! Look out for information about our upcoming Phonics Stay and Play!

So much learning going on already, even though we've only just started! 

On art day, Reception made pictures of themselves using hardware materials, created colourful bead bracelets and did some printing with shapes on enormous sheets of paper!

Autumn 1 

Week 1

The Kissing Hand

This week we created a new display titled ‘The Kissing Hand’. It features handprints the children have printed, arranged in the shape of a love heart. As we all know starting school for the first time or even returning after the long summer break can be a nervous and unsettling time for children with new teachers to meet, classrooms to explore, and friends to make. Mrs. Morris, our Headteacher, found this lovely story which features a little raccoon, Chester, who is embarking on his first day of school.

School is starting in the forest, but Chester Raccoon does not want to go. To help ease Chester’s fears, Mrs. Raccoon shares a family secret called the Kissing Hand to reassure him of her love any time his world feels a little scary. Mrs. Raccoon places a kiss on the palm of his paw while explaining to him that her kiss will send her love up his arm to his heart where it will stay all day.

The children have loved this story and we have used the handprints in class to remind the children that they are safe and loved. Our parents/carers have started the tradition of the ‘Kissing Hand’ too which has helped the children greatly during this big transition.

Week 2

St Paul's CE Primary School, Porritt Street, Bury

Today we talked about the name of our new school. We made sure that everyone knew that our school was called St Paul’s CE Primary School. We then went out in small groups to visit the street sign on the road on which our school is built. We learned that the road was called ‘Porritt Street’.

 My Family

This week we drew a picture of our family and shared it with our friends. We discovered that everyone’s family was different. Some people lived with their Mum, some with their Nan, some of us had lots of siblings and some of us had none. However, we all had one thing in common…. we all love our families and they love us right back!

We Are All Unique

In RE we looked at the faces of children from all around the world. We also looked closely at each other’s faces and realised that God made each one of the same but different.

We then drew around our hands and coloured them to match our skin tone. When we put all the hands together, we noticed all the different colours and sizes – we are truly unique.

Week 3

Class Map

We created a map of the classroom by drawing around 2D shapes from the Maths area. We then wrote down the initial sound of the name of each area. We included features such as doors, cupboards, and toilets. Of course, we couldn’t forget Tilda!

Our Names

In RE this week we talked about our names. Names are very important and at the moment we are learning how to read and write our names. When someone knows your name and remembers you, you feel happy.

In the Bible it says,

‘Everyone’s name is written on the palm of God’s hand.’ Isaiah 4 9:6

We painted a beautiful tree and then used autumnal-coloured paint to add thumbprint leaves. We realised like our names, our thumbprints were unique too.

Week 4

Matching and Sorting

Matching and sorting was the theme in our maths lessons this week. We enjoyed sorting objects by different criteria and explaining our choices. Some of us dug deeper and tried to find Miss North’s mistake. Whilst outside some children decided to sort the plastic balls by colour, everyone then wanted a turn – fantastic teamwork!

Week 5

Science Day

Mrs. Greenhalgh organised a wonderful day for us today. As part of our annual Science Day, we learned about jobs that we could do when we are older that have a scientific background.

We visited the vet's surgery and took x-rays of our pets and used the thermometer and stethoscope to check that they were healthy.

We also had a visit from a local vet who showed us how to take care of Tilda and how to keep her fit and well.

Later, we went into the hall to meet the paramedics. They showed us how to use the ECG machine which measures our heart rate. We were then lucky enough to step onboard their ambulance, the siren was very loud!

My face

During our ‘All About Me’ topic we looked closely at our faces numerous times to see how we are all the same but different. We realised that we were unsure as to what all the parts of the face were called. To help us to remember the new words we created a huge 3D face with Mrs. Gears and then labeled the different parts.

Week 6

World Mental Health Day

To mark World Mental Health Day this year we started to explore different emotions. As part of our learning we read, The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas. The main character is Colour Monster, who one day wakes up feeling very confused. His emotions are all over the place; he feels angry, happy, calm, sad, and scared all at once! To help him, a little girl shows him what each feeling means through colour. We created emotion jars in class and made little puppets to represent each emotion. Throughout the year, we will use the emotion jars to develop our awareness of the different emotions, the effect they can have on our bodies, and how we can regulate them.

Week 7

Harvest Festival

On Friday, we took part in the whole school Harvest Festival. This year, instead of collecting gifts, the school distributed gifts to all of our families. In class, we explored lots of different vegetables that can grow in the United Kingdom. We used our sense of touch and smell to investigate and then cut them open to see what they looked like inside. We then used the vegetables as a printing tool so that we could see all the intricate details.

Case Study - Tanzania

Today, Miss North brought some of the artefacts that she collected during her time living in Tanzania. We loved the bright colours and recognised some of the wild animals that can be found there. We then looked at photographs of typical houses, schools, and food shops in Tanzania and compared them with England, talking about what was the same and what was different.

Autumn 2

Week 1

Pumpkins

Today we explored pumpkins as part of our nature study. Miss North brought in several pumpkins that all looked very different. After using our senses to investigate them we then made predictions as to what they might look like inside. We were shocked to learn that they were all different on the inside both in colour and texture! After scooping out the seeds we also noticed that they too were different each time.

So as not to be wasteful, we then went outside in small groups and left the pumpkin slices out up high for the local birds to enjoy – we hope they liked this seasonal treat!

Materials

This week we investigated materials. We collected a number of objects from the classroom and spent time looking closely at each object. We asked questions such as; what does it look like? What does it feel like? Is it rough or smooth, warm or cold? Are there any things you can see through? Which ones feel heavy? Can you see a reflection of your face in any? We then worked in pairs to talk about the objects and sort them into groups.

Bonfire Night

“Remember, remember the 5^th of November!”

We were very excited on Friday as many of us knew that it was Bonfire Night the next day. We talked about our plans and how we were going to celebrate with fireworks and sparklers. Miss North taught us about why we celebrate this special day and then we created our own firework pictures using glue, salt, and watercolours – don’t they look fantastic!

Week 2

Remembrance Day

This week we marked Remembrance Day through a number of activities that helped us to understand why this day is so important to so many people across the world.

Miss North shared pictures of her Grandfathers taken during World War II, we learned about the life of Captain Tom Moore and watched a beautiful video created by Cbeebies which helped us to understand why we wear poppies. We also created poppy pictures using mixed media and transient art. On Friday we took part in the 2 minutes of silence. We were so respectful and took the time to remember all the people who have died due to conflict.

Week 3

Andy Goldsworthy

Today we worked in a team to create a piece of artwork in the style of Andy Goldsworthy. Goldsworthy is a British sculptor and photographer who uses natural objects to create his artwork. We first explored our outdoor area, looking for resources that we could use. We then brought them inside (due to the terrible downpour) to construct our design. We decided to add some man-made materials to the pattern to add colour and texture.
                                      

Random Acts of Kindness

To mark Random Acts of Kindness week we decided to make a gift for our friends across the school. We love visiting the library each week, so we designed special bookmarks to hide within the books on the shelves.

Week 4

Robins

Our outdoor area was visited by a robin this week. We created a lookout area to see if we could spot him or her again but sadly we didn’t see it again before the holidays. Despite this, we decided to learn how to draw a robin by following a series of pictures. After practising on whiteboards, we created our final piece on paper.

World Cup

Reception have been so excited about the World Cup. We worked together to create a tabletop football game, designing the player's kit, drawing the crowd, and making sure the lines on the pitch were nice and straight. Once it was ready, we couldn’t wait to start the first match. We made sure we recorded each goal scored so that we knew which country was victorious.

Phonics Stay and Play

This week we opened our doors to our families to explore phonics. After spending some time in a workshop with Miss North, we came together to play games and complete activities which we could recreate at home to improve our reading and handwriting. It was lovely to be able to share our learning with our loved ones and we are looking forward to doing it again in the Spring term.

Week 5

Class Maps - Outdoor Area

We used our indoor mapping skills and applied them to the outdoor area this week. We are looking forward to our new playground being built in the coming weeks and we will use this map to compare the two areas in the new year.  

Week 6

St. Paul's Bake Off

What an amazing day we had in Reception to mark St Paul’s Bake Off. In the morning we made a marble sponge cake. We had to follow the recipe and measure out the ingredients carefully. We loved watching the swirls appear as we blended the different coloured mixtures together. The cook in the kitchen then kindly baked our cake which we were able to enjoy at dinnertime. We also learned about different utensils and their uses and talked about healthy food choices. In the afternoon, we decorated bauble biscuits and designed packaging for them to transport them safely, as they were a gift for someone special in our lives.

Week 7

The Nativity

All the children in Reception did a fantastic job in our whole school Christmas extravaganza this week. At the end of the performance, we gathered onto the stage to recreate the Nativity scene and sing a song - all on our own! We have some fantastic singers in Reception and the children were so confident in front of a hall full of friends and family. Merry Christmas everyone!

Week 8

Hanukkah

Today we learned about another festival of light, this time from the Jewish faith. Hanukkah last for 8 days and helps us to remember a miracle from many years ago when a lamp burned bright for 8 days even though there was only a small amount of oil. We watched a film of a little girl called Sophia and her family. She showed us how they celebrate this special time together. We noticed that they lit a candle each night. This was called a Hanukkiyah. We created one in class together to help us to remember the miracle.

Reception had a wonderful day celebrating the 25th anniversary of World Book Day. The plates that the children decorated looked wonderful and they will be added to a whole school display - the winners were announced in assembly the following morning and went to the bookshop in Bury to choose a prize!
In the morning we explored the texts, 'Owl Babies' by Martin Waddell and 'Each Peach Pear Plum' by Janet and Allan Ahlberg as part of the class Read It journey. The children joined in beautifully with the activities and enjoyed acting out parts of the stories.
At various points in the day, we had a DEAR session - DEAR stands for Drop Everything And Read- the children loved choosing a book which we have read before in class. In the afternoon we had the opportunity to share a story (Share It) with our friends from Year 6. The older pupils were amazing with the class and took great care to ask them questions about the story they were reading and they all put on fantastic voices for the different characters. I think from the picture you will see that this class really does have a love of reading!

On 1st March, we had a little extra treat...pancakes! We learnt about why we traditionally eat pancakes in the run up to Lent and what the key ingredients are to make the batter.
We had a selection of toppings to choose from including strawberries (which we chopped ourselves), lemon, sugar and golden syrup! We then washed up our plates and cutlery ready for our friends to use. I think the children enjoyed them from the pictures!

On the same day, we also celebrated St David's day! We learnt how Cerys, a child from Wales, celebrates with her family and about the life of St David. We also created some observational paintings of the Welsh national flower, which is the daffodil. Did you know that during a battle between the Welsh and the Saxons in the 6th century. Before the fighting began, a celtic monk called David (later Saint David) convinced the Welsh soldiers to fasten leeks to their helmets so that they would be able to tell friend from foe. Soldiers believed it was the leeks which had allowed them to gain victory. Therefore we also used our senses to learn about leeks - many of us had never seen a leek before!

Reception class have had a fantastic time this week learning about measurement. We have compared the height and length of different objects using the words; longest, shortest and tallest and have begun to measure using cubes and paper clips. We also solved problems and created a whole class display, creating labels to tell our friends the heights of different objects. What a busy week! Next week, we will be learning all about the number 9!

Reception class had an amazing day yesterday learning about different ways in which we could develop our mental health and wellbeing. Miss North has attached some pictures but here is a snapshot of our day!
We started the day with our 'Connect' session where we made connections and forged new relationships with the pupils in Year 4. We had brilliant fun with the older children and some of us got to spend some time with our older siblings!
In the next session, we wanted to 'Give'. We each wrote an affirmation on watercolour paper that we had decorated earlier in the week. We then visited classes and offices around school to deliver our gifts - next time you are in school look out for them!
Before lunch we then 'Took Note' and spent some time listening to our bodies and took part in some guided meditation.
In the afternoon we needed to 'Be Active' and took part in the school's Race For Life. We managed to run, walk, hop and skip for a full 45 minutes in aid of a fantastic cause!
The whole class were a credit to the school and threw themselves into each activity, we can't wait to do it again soon!