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Wow pond dipping was a lot of fun and incredibly interesting! The Reception children took turns in small groups to visit our school pond and investigate what's living within. They used nets to carefully catch nymphs and other water invertebrates and then looked at the pictures in the classification flow charts. They made good use of the magnifying glasses to make close observations before setting the animals free. What a day!
I bet you are impressed with our observational sketches! The children in Reception worked with great care and a careful eye to produce accurate sketches of our germinated bean seeds. They are excited with the growth and will draw one final sketch of their bean plant later in the year. Who knows how tall the beans will be by then? Perhaps they might be tall enough to climb!
To kick-start our new topic, 'Life in the Undergrowth', the children in Reception went on an invertebrate hunt. We looked for woodlice, bees, worms, spiders and snails. The children were very careful and showed respect for the environment and the creatures within it - much like our new song 'Please Don't Squish me!' The children in Squirrels found a bee that was in need of some help; they fed it some sugar water before it went on its way.
The children of Reception have been working incredibly hard over the past few weeks learning all about traditional tales. There has been opportunities for retelling the stories, acting them out on the stage or with puppets, drawing story maps and discussing appropriate and engaging adjectives. You might not believe this, but Reception have even written their own book! They thoroughly enjoyed sharing their writing with the Year 5 children, who were very impressed, and look forward to sharing the books with you too!
The children in Reception were very surprised to find that the start of the term began with a mini production of The Three Little Pigs, where Mr Holmes played the wolf and the three class teachers the pigs! This was an excellent way to start our new topic: Traditional Tales and Stories from Around the World.
We thoroughly enjoyed Arts Week. We were inspired by Henri Rousseau's 'Surprised!' painting and even created our own. We used watercolour for the background, vibrant pastels for the tiger and used our fine motor skills to tear paper to create a 3D grass effect. We also learnt and then performed a dance, inspired by the painting and read a story where the tiger came alive.
What a mess!!
There was mass destruction left in reception over the weekend and we had no idea what had happened. The children looked for clues to help work out what could have made such a mess in the classrooms and decided it could have been the wind, an animal, an elf or a monster.
I'm Stick Man, I'm Stick Man, I'M STICK MAN, that's me, and I'm trying to get back to my family tree.
Reception thoroughly enjoyed their forest school day, where they journeyed through the story of Stick Man. They met the characters of the story, including a dog and Santa, as they moved around the field until finally they made their own Stick Man back at the family tree. The teachers were impressed with the children's resilience when it came to binding their sticks together.
The children also enjoyed orienteering, making nature crowns and a hot chocolate to warm them up at the end of the day.
Carrying on with our journey around the world, this week Reception visited China and celebrated Lunar New Year. We learnt about the festival and how it is celebrated. We then made our own dragon puppets. In the Chinese culture, the dragon represents good luck, strength, and health. We loved making our dragons dance around the playground to the music played on the drums and gongs. Over the next few weeks, we look forward to using chopsticks, learning about pandas and their adaptations and making tangram rabbits.
As a part of our 'Around the World' topic, the children in Reception this week flew to Egypt. First we thought about Egypt's climate and what we might need to pack. When we arrived, we looked around to notice any similarities and differences. We were surprised to learn that some people in Egypt travel by camel! We then wanted to know more about camels and found out how they have adapted for their environment. Did you know that camels have long eyelashes and three sets of eyelids to protect their eyes from the sand?
What a Christmassy week! We have had a visit from the Clumsiest Elf, who entertained the children in traditional panto style. She had us all up on our feet singing, dancing and helping her find the key to Santa's sleigh. On Wednesday, the children enjoyed wearing their Christmas jumpers to school, making a Christmas crown and eating Christmas dinner with their teachers. On Friday, we were treated to another panto, but this time the teachers performed! Their singing and acting skills left a little to be desired, but it was great fun and made us all giggle.
