Category: Reception – St Adrian

What a week everyone!!! So many things are growing in our classroom, so many things to care for… It’s all helping us to grow in love and care and be a little bit more like Jesus!

Our beans and cress seeds are getting taller every day. We make sure that the soil is moist all the time and that they get plenty of sunshine. Some of them are still sprouting as others formed roots and leaves. Soon they will be planted in the garden!!!

We learnt lots of interesting facts about how seeds grow and created a beautiful display of a plant:

We also watched a timelapse video of a growing seed. The children were absolutely mesmerized!!!

Our new role play is also ready to be explored. If you need some fresh fruit or veggies, please come to our brand new market. You will find potatoes, cabbage and cucumbers. Also milk, eggs and honey! The children did the labels all by themselves and helped set up the stalls. Well done everyone!

In Little Wandle we read our first super long words like fantastic and swimming. We are continuing learning that if the word is too long and hard to read then it can be ‘chunked’. Some words even need to be chunked into 3… fan-tas-tic!!!

In Maths we are continuing to think about numbers to 10. The children used conceptual subitising to identify a whole quantity within 10 by subitising the smaller groups that make up that number. This skill will support children to develop mental images for addition and subtraction, which helps children to move away from counting on and counting back.

We also made number books, thinking about what’s 1 more and what’s 1 less than a given number.

And finally but not least, congratulations for all your hard work and motivation! You truly deserve the awards, red sash and golden rosette!!!

Dates to remember:
Friday 28th March at 9:00 am – Mother’s day assembly (There will be no reading morning on that day)
Monday 31st March – Deadline for Easter bonnets
Wednesday 2nd April at 9:00 am – Stations of the Cross Assembly (all are welcome)
Thursday 3rd April at 9:00 am – Easter parade (all are welcome)
Thursday 3rd April – Non uniform day (£1 or more for the Catholic Children Society)
Friday 4th April/9:30 – 10:30 – Hot cross bun gathering and Easter craft day (all children are invited to wear purple)
Friday 4th April – School finishes at 1:30pm

Have a lovely weekend!
Looking forward seeing you next week!!!
Mrs Solakova

14.03.25

Dear children and parents,
This week we’ve been busy talking about the world around us and understanding the effects of changing seasons on the natural world. We were looking for signs of Spring and painted posters for each season. We talked about the different activities we can do in different times of year and the colours we see. The weather has been brilliant! Crazy changeable weather bringing much excitement and learning!
How snow and hail are different?
Where is the wind coming from?
What makes a rainbow?

This year’s British science week is ‘Change and adapt’ and that opened up lots and lots of discussions about what is means to adapt and how living creatures change in time. We made a giant caterpillar, painted animal boxes and planted some seeds.

We planted beautiful purple gladioli, talking about what the bulbs might need, how to look after them and how long it will take for them to grow. The children had to think about what comes first, second. They used their brilliant phonics skills to write about it 🙂

In our English lessons we continued to read the story ‘Pirates love underpants’ however we are retelling it with our own words. We also made pirate boats and tested if they will float or sink. Why it is floating? Why it is sinking?

In Little Wandle this term we are focusing on phase 4 phonics. That means that we will be learning how to read even longer words like swimming, fantastic and plurals like queens and boxes. We will not be introducing any new digraphs, trigraphs or tricky words. We are also busy mastering fluency even with super long sentences like:

In Maths we learned how to use simple strategies to discuss time and then progress to ordering and sequencing simple events. Next week we will be using calendars to mark off the days leading up to special events and that will help us understand the passing of time. In learning through play the children measured the time by counting how many times they can write their name in 1 min, 3 min and 5 min.
We also talked about length and height. We went out and found different length sticks, then we arranged them in order starting from the shortest and finishing with the longest.

In RE we read the bible story ‘The good Samaritan’.
We discussed questions like: Who is your neighbour? and Why it’s important to be kind? We helped the robbed person by giving him plasters and lots of kindness and care

And finally but not least, congratulations for all your hard work and motivation! You truly deserve the awards, red sash and golden rosette!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs Solakova

07.03.25

What a week we’ve had!
Went on a trip, dressed up for book day and learnt all about Ash Wednesday!!!

Well, the trip was definitely the highlight of the week! The bus journey went very smoothly and the children were very sensible and kind. They all said ‘Thank you’ to the bus driver and ‘hello and goodbye’ to all passengers! Well done!

The performance was absolutely smashing!!! We danced, we sang and did all actions!

After the performance we enjoyed a delicious lunch in the park!

Next week we will continue with the story ‘Pirates love underpants’ and start creating different settings and characters. Ahoy pirates!!!

On Thursday we had a wonderful day celebrating love for books and reading. The children looked absolutely stunning in their outfits and they were very excited to talk about their favourite stories in class!
We were thinking about all of the places we can read a book and came out with several ideas:

You can read alone or with a friend….

You can read sitting on a tire or bike…..

You can read on a bench or climbing frame…. The options are endless 🙂

There can be few things as powerful as regularly reading to a young child. It has astonishing benefits for children: comfort and reassurance, confidence and security, relaxation, happiness and fun. Giving a child time and full attention when reading them a story tells them they matter. It builds self-esteem, vocabulary, feeds imagination and even improves their sleeping patterns.

To celebrate their birthdays, children are encouraged to donate a book to our class library. The reward for doing this is to come to school in a favourite outfit.  You can view our class wish-list on Amazon.  
Reception wish-list https://amzn.eu/3RN7MT3

Ash Wednesday was a very special day for us too. We discussed that Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent and that the ashes are made of palm trees. The children started to think about their Lent promises and how to be a bit more like Jesus. Mrs Porter brought back ashes from the service and made a cross on everyone’s forehead!

And finally but not least, congratulations for all your hard work and motivation! You truly deserve the awards, red sash and golden rosette!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs Solakova

14.02.2025

Dear children, parents and carers
I can’t believe we are halfway  through the Reception year! The time has flown by….
The children have made massive progress not only in their reading, writing and maths, but also in their social skills, interacting with peers and adults and understanding rules and expectations.
This week began by thinking about how to stay safe on internet and what to do if something doesn’t look right while using internet. Smartie the Penguin was very supportive and he helped us understand the importance of never clicking on websites we are not sure of. We watched his story and learnt his internet safety song.

After listening to Smartie’s story we discussed all the ways to stay safe and created speech bubbles with lots of advice! We even modelled Smartie!

In Maths the children explored the composition of numbers to 8. They learnt how their skills of perceptual subitising and counting can be used to see and represent the composition of larger numbers in different ways.

The children were encouraged to name their representations of numbers up to 8 and prompted to match numerals to these quantities. To draw their attention we went on a minibeast hunt and counted how many legs each one had (no minibeasts were harmed in this activity :)) We counted 6 legs on the ant and 8 on the spider!

And finally but not least, congratulations for all your hard work and motivation! You truly deserve the awards, red sash and golden rosette!!!

Dates to remember:
Wednesday 26.02.25 – Parents consultations – 1:00 – 3:00 pm
Thursday 27.02.25 – Parents consultations – 4:00 – 7:00 pm
Tuesday 04.03.25 – Theatre trip to Alban Arena

Have a wonderful half term break!
Mrs Solakova

07.02.25

Hello children, parents and carers
It’s been a lovely week of thinking about feelings, emotions, mental health and wellbeing. We played games and enjoyed our time together, we learnt how to help each other by sharing our emotions and express ourselves. We read a wonderful book called ‘Ruby’s worry’. We all learnt from Ruby. She’s a perfectly happy little girl, until she discovers a worry. The worry – depicted as a scribbly yellow shape – is hardly noticeable at first, but starts to grow and soon it’s with her all the time, stopping her from doing the things she loved.

We also did wonderful writing thinking about our likes and dislikes. Here are some of the examples for you to enjoy 🙂

On the making table the children created lovely human faces with lots of emotions. They did great job describing how they feel and why they feel that way 🙂

In Little Wandle we started reading very, very long words like picnic and magnet, and even longer ones like bedroom and carpark. We’ve been revisiting phase 2 and phase 3 digraphs and some of the tricky words. In your blue books this week you will find your first longer words. Please practice them at home for building confidence and fluency. In class, when we read the longer words, we use the term ‘chunk’. For example the word bedroom can be chunked into two smaller words ‘bed’ and ‘room’. That really helps the children hear all the sounds in those very challenging phase 4 words.

In Maths the children developed the skill of perceptual subitising. This form of subitising refers to instantly recognising the number of objects in a group without needing to count them. The concept of subitising zero and up to five items was introduced in small steps. We did dot plates and used them in our PE lesson to do jumps, hops, star jumps and much more:

What a crazy ‘Crazy hair day’ it has been! The children had amazing hairstyles, fun and very creative!

And finally but not least, congratulations for all your hard work and motivation! You truly deserve the awards, red sash and golden rosette!!!

Have a lovely weekend.
Looking forward seeing you all on Monday.
Mrs Solakova

31.01.25

Welcome to our blog! We hope you’ve had a fun week like us. We’ve enjoyed lots of activities, but the best part was the Pets as Therapy Day on Friday. All children came to school dressed in all sort of animals, from little creatures to scary tigers… and they all looked amazing!

Lexa and Polka even visited our classroom and the children made them feel very welcomed. They gave them lots of cuddles and read their favourite stories to them.
Have a look yourself!

Well done for taking part in our Pets as Therapy art competition and congratulations to the winners! Your posters look amazing!

In Little Wandle we’ve learnt the last digraph and trigraph from phase 3 sounds and from now until Summer term we will concentrate on reading longer words like puppet, bigger, hammer using all phase 2 and phase 3 sounds.

We were also busy learning 3 new tricky words: are, sure and pure. The last two proved to be extra tricky, so please make sure you practice them at home too!

In Maths we talked about 4 side shapes and practiced describing the properties of the squares and rectangle. The children learnt that the square has 4 equal sides and the rectangle 2 short and 2 long sides! We went on a hunt around the school and looked for 4 side shapes in the environment. We were lucky to spot lots of square windows, rectangle benches and much more:

In RE we talked about how Jesus wants all children to be his friends and when his disciples tried to push the little children away Jesus said: “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them,” Jesus said. “The kingdom of heaven belongs to these little ones.” 

And finally but not least, congratulations for all your hard work and motivation! You truly deserve the awards, red sash and golden rosette!!!

Have a lovely weekend.
Looking forward seeing you all on Monday.
Mrs Solakova

24.01.25

Hello and welcome to another week.
There is lots to share, as we are always busy learning, creating and playing. This week began by exploring a new equipment. It was so much fun doing the obstacle course and playing ‘hot lava’ game. The children did great balancing and maneuvering, making sure they hold on tight. Well done Reception!

Last week in Little Wandle we’ve learnt 4 new digraphs.

The children were reading words with the new digraph and even learning how to spell and write some of them.
We also learnt 3 new tricky words. They are already in your child’s blue book, ready for you to practice at home. The new tricky words are ‘was’, ‘they’ and ‘you’.

This week we learnt 3 new digraph and a trigraph. We played lots of games with the new sounds, so the children can get more and more familiar with them.

The new tricky words for this week are by, my and all.

In Maths we introduced the idea that all numbers are made up of small numbers and that these are referred to as parts. Learning to see a whole number and its parts at the same time is a key development in children’s number sense. We were partitioning a whole number 5 into 2 parts and by using practical activities the children understood that 5 can be 4 and 1, but also 2 and 3.

Understanding of the World

We started to think about how the seasons are slowly beginning to change when we spotted that some of the spring bulbs planted in September are starting to come out. We were very excited and very much looking forward seeing their beautiful blooms!

And finally but not least, congratulations for all your hard work and motivation! You truly deserve the awards, red sash and golden rosette!!!

Have a lovely weekend.
Looking forward seeing you all on Tuesday.
Mrs Solakova

10.01.25

Happy New Year and welcome back everyone.
Hope you’ve had a restful holiday and are ready for another busy term!
We loved sharing christmas stories and experiences during circle time. Some children even heard Santa coming down the chimney :). Lucky!

This week we dedicated to Epiphany and talked a lot about the three kings and how they gifted baby Jesus with very special gifts. We created beautiful crowns using different shaped gems:

On the writing table the children were practicing their digraphs and trigraphs by writing messages to friends and family.

We also dressed up as kings and prepared special gifts for Jesus. It was a long journey 🙂

In Little Wandle this week we learnt the first four of phase 3 sounds, including our very first trigraph. You will find more information about phase 3 sounds and tricky words in your child’s pink folder.

Please take your time to look at our new home learning grid (you will find a paper copy in your child’s book bag too).

And finally but not least, congratulations for all your hard work and motivation! You truly deserve the awards, red sash and golden rosette!!!

Have a lovely weekend.
Looking forward seeing you all on Monday.
Mrs Solakova

20.12.24

Welcome to our last blog of 2024!
It is hard to believe that we have completed a full term of school. It has been such a pleasure to get to know everyone.
This week we enjoyed a lovely Grandparents tea morning and we even went again on the stage to perform our favourite songs from ‘Mary’s Knitting’.

We also baked delicious cookies and made an exceptional hot chocolate with cream on top! We had lots of fun guessing our KKs and receiving our presents.

Thank you very much for your generosity this Christmas and thank you for your massive support this term. The amazing progress the children have made is really showing your dedication and effort.

And Finally….
Finally, it is goodbye to 2024. A very important year for all of you who have had a child start ‘big school’.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
I hope you have a wonderful time over the break.

See you in 2025!
Mrs Solakova

13.12.24

Congratulations to all children for a brilliant performance! What a treat it was to watch them perform so amazingly, singing songs and acting. All the hard work has paid off and I am sure you will all agree that they were absolutely smashing! Well done EYFS!!!

Big round of applause for our excellent shepherds and wise man!

A big round of applause for fantastic Mary and Joseph and narrators!

A big round of applause for smashing stable animal, innkeepers, angel and Bethlehem star!

A big round of applause for superb sheep!

Friday was another fun day. Christmas jumper day was definitely a hit and the children really enjoyed the special meal. The dining hall looked amazing and you could hear a lovely festive music :).

And finally … We’ve had a special visitor. Someone who came all the way from North pole. Can you guess?
Well done…it is Santa. The children were very kind to him. They gave him some milk and cookies and sang christmas songs!

Dates to remember:
Grandparents Christmas Carols and Tea – Monday 16.12.24 at 09:30 am
Term finishes 13:30 on Friday 20 December
Spring term starts on Tuesday 7th January 2025

Mrs Solakova