Category: Reception – St Adrian

07.10.2022

This week has been another busy week where we have been thinking about what changes are happening in Autumn. First we went on a very special Autumnal walk and collected lot’s of natural materials like twigs, small seeds, leaves. Then we used our creativity and imagination and created beautiful art. I am very impressed with all the children. They had fantastic ideas… they used small leaves for hair, twigs for arms and legs, seeds for eyes. Have a look yourself 🙂

On Wednesday we had a very, very special celebration. Our lovely school had a birthday!!! We had a fun afternoon with lots of surprises…. disco lights, loud music, musical statues…. and popcorn with film… so much fun!!!

We also planted some very special flowers around the special 60th birthday tree!

In Little Wandle this week we’ve learned these new graphemes and phonemes:

Please remember that it is really important to practise the new sounds with your child. A key part of our reading is encouraging the children to orally blend the sounds, so why don’t you play that game over the weekend:
Can you touch your?
You need to say some phonemes and your child will have to blend them in their head and touch the part of the body you say. For example:
Can you touch your L-E-G?

Maths

This week the children were learning how numbers can be composed of 1s and we began to investigate the composition of 3. The children met number 3 and found out all about number 3. We went for a picnic and our 3 Learning friends had to share 3 chairs, 3 pears, 3 plates.

Gentle reminders:
Please remember to book your Parents consultation on Arbour.
We are still collecting various items for Harvest. So any donations would be highly appreciated.
Thank you to those of you that already shared their family photos. We are creating a lovely gallery and the children love looking at the pictures and talking about their families.

Have a fantastic weekend!
Looking forward seeing you all on Monday!
Mrs Solakova

30.09.2022

What a busy week we’ve had! We were very excited to model on our new ‘Creation table’ and use our imagination to create different things. We’ve had castles, caterpillars, elephants, nests and so much more. We’ve been learning how to join, stick, link, fringe ….
We were also labelling our work, thinking about all the different graphemes we’ve learned so far.

At the end of the week the children voted and please put your hands together for our winners! I wonder who is going to win next week…

Little Wandle
This week we’ve learned 4 new sounds. Please practise the new sounds over the weekend and support your child with their Little Wandle home learning. This will really help them remember the new phonemes and graphemes.

In Maths this week we discussed why counting is as important as subitising. Last week we used subitising to identify the numbers in a set and this week we developed counting skills to enable us to identify how many they are in a set that cannot be subitised.

We also explored all sorts of things that can be counted, including sounds. We sang counting rhymes to support our learning. Why don’t you have a go too:

Have a fantastic weekend!
Looking forward seeing you all on Monday!
Mrs Solakova

23.09.2022

What a wild week we’ve had…. someone walked in our classroom and left some footprints on the floor, black fur and a ripped piece of paper…

The intruder also left a sack labelled ‘Sam’s stuff’. Inside the sack we found different things beginning with ‘S’, like sandwiches and strawberries, and also a book…

The book was super mysterious too. Especially when we read only half of it…
The children were thinking about what could happen next, who might be Sam and why he left his sack in Reception.

We will continue reading the story next week and hopefully will find out!

Little Wandle
Thank you so much for supporting your children. I am impressed by how well they are writing their letters and remembering all of them. Great job Reception! The first writing certificates are now ready and will be given on a Monday.
This week we’ve learned 4 new sounds:

We also played lots of blending and sound talking games. Maybe you can have a go at home too.

What’s that noise?
Think about the different sounds the animals make While playing the game instead of saying ‘What noise does the cat make?‘ you can say ‘What noise does the C-A-T make?‘
Then your child will have to blend the phonemes in their head and make the sound.
Have fun!

Maths
In Maths this week, the children were encouraged to quantify sets of objects by subitising, rather than counting. When subitising, children can say how many there are in a small group of objects by ‘just seeing’ and knowing straightaway without needing to count. 

Subitising can be categorised as ‘perceptual’ or ‘conceptual’. Perceptual subitising is used for very small sets of objects (initially up to about 3) and conceptual subitising is used when sub-groups can be perceived within a larger set and the whole is recognised, e.g. if 6 dots are arranged in a dice pattern, children may recognise this as ‘two 3s’ and know this is 6.

The focus for this week was perceptual subitising and the children were subitising up to 3 objects. We met number 1,2 and 3.

Have a fantastic weekend!
Looking forward seeing you all on Monday!
Mrs Solakova

16.09.2022

It has been such a pleasure to meet all the new Reception children. We had a fantastic start to the term and the children are settling in very well.
In the past 2 weeks we have been learning about the areas of the classroom, how to safely use equipment, how to tidy, where to find resources and so much more. Our role play corners have been particularly busy. We prepared lot’s of delicious meals in the home corner and camped under the stars, reading stories and melting marshmallows by the fire. What a treat!!!

Lunch time was also a success and the children are becoming more familiar with the routine and where to go. I am really impressed by how polite they are saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to the dinner ladies. They are showing super skills while walk and balance their trays. Well done Reception!

We are very good following the timetable, knowing what we are doing at the moment and what is coming next.

Our first PE session went really well too. This term we will be doing gymnastics and think about the different ways we can move changing speed and direction. We are also going to learn how to listen and respond appropriately to instructions.

This week we began our Little Wandle journey and the children learned four new phonemes

If you are able to, please support your child practising the new sounds. Pronunciation of these sounds is really important, rather than ‘s-uh’ we teach ‘ssssss.’ Avoid adding ‘uh’ or ‘er’ to the end of sounds.  
Practising how to form these letters is also crucial – why not practising forming them with chalk, paint, tracing the letter on your back and guessing what sound it is. 

Today the children chose their first sharing book, so look out for reading and writing folder and reading record book.

Lots of children came into school today sharing their feelings about Her Majesty the Queen’s death. Here at St. Adrians we encourage children to discuss how they think and how they feel. At home it is just as important. Maybe you and your child might want to watch the video and talk about it with you.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/31694210

The children prepared a little something for our Friday assembly, reflection on what we have learned about the Queen.

‘I miss her and I am going to make her a card and send it to Heaven.’
‘I am going to give her a card and flowers out the window and it will fly up to Heaven’
‘The Queen died and would make her a picture and give her flowers to put on the floor like the others.’

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

The children absolutely love the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, often choosing the story at storytime.  We are, therefore, exploring the story sequence in more detail and learning to retell the story.

They became fierce cheeky Jacks, very cross mums and fierce giants in our Giant’s Castle.

A great inspiration for making our own castles.

The children also retold the story using puppets.

We’ve planted beans and can’t wait to see the roots and shoots appear.

More Jack and the Beanstalk adventures to come.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Nicola Palmer

Reception children took part in a Pentecost party on Thursday.  Many thanks for all the vibrant outfits. Pentecost marks the end of the Easter season.   This feast, sometimes referred to as the birthday of the Church, will be celebrated this Sunday.

The children learnt that at Pentecost Christians come together to share their happiness and joy because Jesus had kept his promise and sent the Holy Spirit to be their friend.  We can all share in this happiness and tell everyone.

As mentioned before, the coming of the Holy Spirit can be difficult for young children to understand.  We explored such things as air, wind and fire to help explain the power of the Holy Spirit.  The children made ‘tell the good news’ streamers and fiery hats.  

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They also decorated the classroom with red paper chains and enjoyed healthy red snack foods; strawberries, tomatoes and red peppers.  We were blessed with an extremely blustery day and the children were so excited chasing bubbles in the wind calling out ‘Share the good news, the Holy Spirit is here!’

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The children listened to the following scripture story Acts 2: 1-4

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We sang ‘Happy Birthday to the Church’ and the following song is one of their favourites:

Below is our Pentecost prayer:

Thank you, God! For the Good News of Easter.
Thank you, God! For the new life of Jesus.
Thank you, God! For the Good News of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you, God! For the Good News of your love.

Lastly, they have also made ‘Happy Pentecost’ cards to share with their families.  Look in your child’s book bag if you haven’t already been presented with your card.

Nicola Palmer

Dear parents,

Thank you for all the amazing Mary and Joseph outfits today.  The children enjoyed immersing themselves in our RE Curriculum Day dedicated to Saint Joseph.

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We began with a virtual whole school assembly where the children learned about Saint Joseph.  They discovered five key facts:

• Saint Joseph listened to God.
• Saint Joseph looked after Jesus and Mary.
• Saint Joseph trusted God.
• Saint Joseph shared his faith with Jesus.
• Today Saint Joseph is the patron of God’s worldwide family – the Church.

The children listened to a reading from the Gospel of Saint Matthew 1:18-25 (adapted)

Joseph loved Mary and was engaged to marry her.  When Joseph found out that Mary was going to be the mother of a baby, he was not sure what to do.  He wondered ‘Should I still marry her or perhaps I can quietly break off our engagement?

They also listened to the story of  The Day Jesus was Lost in the Temple and how Mary and Joseph looked for him.

We composed our own prayers to St. Joseph and the children wrote a prayer asking Saint Joseph to look after their family.

You may wish to say the following prayer at home:

We learned that Saint Joseph worked hard as a carpenter and had our own woodwork hut.

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Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Nicola Palmer