Welcome to Reception Class!
| Brown Bear | |
| Class Teacher | Mrs Johnson |
| Learning Support Assistants | Mrs Barker Mrs Smith |
Reception is a unique and exciting time as our children embark on the transition to school and begin a lifelong learning journey. Through developing a secure relationship with our early years staff and each other, our children become confident and independent learners who feel happy and safe at school, and develop a real love for learning.
A variety of practical, hands-on and playful learning experiences are aimed at sparking our children’s curious minds and promote critical thinking and open-ended exploration of concepts and themes. Using high-quality children’s literature as our starting point, our children are introduced to the magical world of reading and writing through daily phonics sessions. We encourage our children to explore mathematical concepts through practical activities, role-play and discussion of our everyday lives and the environment around us.
We strive to achieve an environment where children can play, feel relaxed and be comfortable. When children feel emotionally safe and secure, they develop the confidence to explore and find out about the place they are in and the things they can see and touch.
In collaboration with our early years team, the children are equipped with the necessary skills to progress towards the more structured academic challenges of Year 1 and beyond.
This week Brown Bears we shocked to find a note inside their "what the ladybird heard" storybook from Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len. They had stolen our red hen from our farm!! We decided to make wanted posters to catch the thieves and then we designed traps. The children were so immersed in their learning and loved telling every adult in school to watch out for the baddies.
This week in Maths, we have been looking at doubles. We put spots on ladybirds to help us find a double and even made double butterflies using numicon. We learned that a double means both parts are the same.
This week in Brown Bears we have been learning about pets. We sent pictures in from home of our pets and it was lovely to talk and share about how we look after them. We wrote a list of things a pet needs, made a graph of which pet was the most popular (dog won) and even painted our own paper plate pets.
This week children in Brown Bears have been very excited to learn all about the Coronation. We made our own crowns, decorated union jack bunting with finger prints and even wrote letters to the King himself.
We were very excited to see that all 5 of our caterpillars had hatched into butterflies after we returned from Easter and we enjoyed setting them free in the garden. Some butterflies needed to think about it before they flew away and some lucky children were able to hold them!
In Brown Bears we have been learning about the different signs of Spring. We painted some Spring trees, learned the names of baby animals and learned a song about the seasons.
If you spot any signs of Spring out and about this weekend, please do take photos of them and send them in via Tapestry. We love to share our learning outside of school.
The Brown Bears loved dressing up for World Book Day! We shared stories with our teachers and friends, talked about our favourite books and characters, and read stories with Dormouse Class.
The Brown Bears have been reading Chicken Licken and learning about birds this week. Some of us made lovely bird pictures for the classroom using feathers.
Reception baked Gingerbread Men this week, after reading the story of The Gingerbread Man. We mixed the dough, rolled and shaped the men, and then decorated them. Thank you to the catering staff, who kindly baked them for us:) They tasted delicious!
Reception thoroughly enjoyed the Perform Drama Workshop on Wednesday. We did mime, movement, role-play and lots of laughing.
Thank you to PC Paul and PCSO Jack for your visit to Brown Bear Class this week. We so enjoyed trying on all the different police helmets, seeing the police car lights flashing and listening to the siren, and talking about what the police do. Thank you for answering all our questions so patiently!
The Brown Bears had a wonderful day last Friday with our Christmas Jumpers and a delicious Christmas dinner.
The Foundation Stage Team would like to congratulate all the children for a brilliant performance in their Nativity Play. It was also very special to be able to put on a live performance again to parents.
Reception had a lovely visit from Mrs Lawton, who told us all about Hanukkah, how they celebrate it and why. She even taught us a song about lighting the menorah. Thank you, Mrs Lawton, it was very interesting!
After we had read the story of Rama and Sita, Reception had a lovely visitor to tell us all about how they celebrate Diwali. Mrs Pendarkhar and Adhya showed us some of the Diya's and Rangoli patterns that they make to help with their celebrations. Thank you for a very interesting visit!
The Brown Bears dressed up as people they admire for Children in Need, and we had a really good chat about how these people help and inspire us.
Reception had a lovely week reading the story of The Great Race, which tells of how the animals of the Chinese Zodiac were chosen. We then had two very special visitors - Mrs Tang and Kayla, who are from Hong Kong. They showed us the decorations they use and told us about how they celebrate the Chinese New Year by sharing with friends and family, and wishing each other good luck and happiness.
On Remembrance Day, some Reception children made their own poppies to wear using tissue paper and masking tape.
Reception have been privileged this week to have two very special visitors!
Mrs Power, who is Jude's grandmother, spoke to us about all the lovely things she does with Jude, to make special memories with him.
Lynne, who is Evie's grandmother, is also a nurse. She told us about how she helps children and families to look after themselves and keep healthy.
Reception enjoyed dressing up for International Attire Day!
In anticipation of the Halloween Disco, we dressed up as witches and wrote some spells.
The Brown Bears have been making patterns in maths, and now we had fun making more patterns with stamps in the painting area.
We also had another Baby visitor. Thank you so much to Mrs Egunjobi for bringing Anisi to play. It was such fun to watch her crawl and smile.
A very big thank you to Mrs Frew-Basden, Jude and Harper for a wonderful visit with your baby, Harper. We had a wonderful time playing with her and learning about all the things she can do, and the things she cannot do yet. We have enjoyed looking at our baby photos and guessing who they could be...
Reception have been looking for signs of Autumn and have created an Autumn table to explore. We have been using our senses to describe the items, sorting them into baskets and counting the acorns, conkers, pine cones and different coloured leaves.
Reception have been having the best time in our creative areas, making and cutting and sticking all sorts of materials while we chat. We have also been playing at teachers in the reading area, reading stories to our 'pupils.'
The Brown Bear children are learning to put their own coats and jumpers on, and take them off, independently. Thank you to all the parents for your help with this.
