Reception

Welcome to Reception

 If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to ask any member of the Reception team.

Reception Staff: Mrs Rycroft, Miss Thompson, Mrs Sharkey and Mrs Shanley.

Week 3 - 'Friends'

We have been talking about our friends this week. We have been thinking about what makes a good friend. In Reception, we are caring and kind; we share and take turns; we use kind words.

Maths

In maths, we have been learning to count. This week, we have been exploring number 3 and number 4 and showing these numbers in lots of different ways! We have also been 'Rally Robin' counting with our new learning partners!

PSHE

Stars of the Week!⭐

Well done to our superstars this week, Aleesha and Ahmed! They have had a fantastic start to Reception, learning the rules and being kind friends!

Weeks 1 and 2 - 'Welcome to School' and 'I am Amazing!'

We have had a fantastic two weeks in Reception! The children have been exploring their new classrooms and outdoor environment, getting to know their new teachers and playing with their friends. 

We have been focusing on making sure the children feel happy and safe at school. We have been learning about different feelings, through stories such as 'The Colour Monster' and 'The Worry Monster' and discussing the children's own feelings. We hope you agree that the children have settled in brilliantly! We are so impressed with how they come into their classroom every morning with big smiles on their faces.

Below are some pictures of your children enjoying themselves, exploring all of the activities that we have. We love learning through play in Reception!

Team 1's First Day Photos

Team 2's First Day Photos

Autumn 1

Water Wonders!

This week, we have been learning all about Sea Creatures in the ocean, like sharks, jellyfish and dolphins! We have been discribing what different creatures look like, how they move and what they eat! 

Writing

Look at our fantastic independent writing!

Maths

We have been finding 'hidden shapes' this week! We can find shapes inside others! Have a look at our fantastic work!

Spring! - Growing

(Science)

We have been learning all about springtime! We have been exploring seasonal changes from winter to spring, noticing the warmer weather! We went on a spring walk and noticed different signs of spring, such as the leaves coming back on the trees and some flowers starting to grow! Then, we planted our own sunflower seeds and gave them water and sunlight to help them grow. Look at how much they've grown already!

Minibeasts

(Science)

We have been learning all about minibeasts, like bugs and insects! We went on a 'bug hunt' in our science garden and then talked about what we had found! Then, we looked at lots of non-fiction books to find out information about different insects!

We have also been learning about lifecycles. We had our own caterpillars in Reception. We watched them spin their cacoons and then turn into beautiful butterflies!

Easter!

(RE)

We have been learning all about Easter. We have been exploring why and how Christans celebrate Easter. We read the Easter story and wrote some super sentences about it!

Eid!

(RE)

We have been learning about the muslim holiday 'Eid'. 

We learnt that Eid marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. We had a special visit from one of our parent governors, who brought lots of beautiful head scarves, hats and other items of clothing for us to try on! Some of the older children also came to visit to share their experiences of fasting. 

We had lots of fun!

Blackpool Zoo!

During our 'Wild Animals' topic, we went on a trip to Blackpool Zoo! We spent the day visiting all of the animals and learning about animal habitats! It was amazing to see lots of wild animals like zebras, giraffes and lions. Some of us have never seen these animals in real life before! 

In Reception, we offer a broad and balanced curriculum to prepare our children for a life in modern Britain.  

If you would like to view the curriculum map for the whole year, or for previous half term topics, click on the links below:

Reception Curriculum Overview

Spring 2

Spring 1

We hope that you all have a lovely break. We look forward to welcoming the children back on Monday 26th February!

Digging for Dinosaurs

This week, we have loved learning about dinosaurs. We have talked about what they looked like and how they might have moved. We have also found out about dinosaurs that were herbivores and dinosaurs that were carnivores. We have enjoyed reading lots of dinosaur stories!

Art and D+T

We practised our cutting skills this week! We named lots of different dinosaurs and loved making each one!

Maths

We have been comparing the weight of different items using scales. We have been using vocabulary like, 'heavy' and 'light' to compare these objects. We practised ordering numbers to 10 too!

Writing

We did lots of writing this week. Some of us designed our own dinosaurs and wrote a sentence to describe what they looked like. Some of us practised writing CVC words whilst some of us wrote words containing digraphs like 'sh', 'ch', 'ng' and 'nk'!

Week 5- 'People Who Help Us'

This week, we have been exploring occupations of people who help us in the community, such as doctors, nurses, firefighters and police officers!

Art and D&T

We did lots of creative activities based on our topic, 'People Who Help Us'. We made lollipop road signs, built police cars and lots more!

Maths

We have been practising our number formation and counting this week. We have also been learning to measure the length and height of different objects. We have been comparing these objects using vocabulary like 'longer', 'shorter' and 'taller'.

Week 4 - 'Safe and Sound'

This week we have been learning about how we stay safe in school, at home and in the local community.

D&T

We discussed safety in the kitchen and made our own Gingerbread Men. They were so yummy! We did lots of activities based on the Gingerbread Man story!

Maths

We have been learning to add two parts together to find the total using a 'Part-whole Model'.

Week 3 - 'Eco Warriors'

This week we have been learning how to look after our environment. We have learnt about recycling and what we can do to look after our world.

Literacy

Our RWI 'Talk Through Stories' this week was, 'Supertato'. We loved acting out the story and repeating key phrases such as, "SUPERTATO TO THE RESCUE!" We created our own Supertato characters and wrote a sentence from the story for our writing activity.

Weeks 1 and 2 - 'On the Move'

We have been learning about different types of transport. We have learnt about how we travel to places on road, tracks, water or in the air. We designed our own vehicles. We also did our traffic surveys. We stood at the side of Moston Lane and recorded the different vehicles that we saw.

ART and D+T

We made lots of different vehicles this week using a variety of materials such as stencils, scissors and glue.

Literacy

We read lots of stories about vehicles this week. We explored mark making using whiteboard and pens, then wrote a sentence about what we saw on our traffic survey!

Maths

We explored numbers to 10 this week and spent lots of time practising our number formation!

PE

This term, we are learning to become gymnasts. When working with the apparatus, we are Safe, Silent and Sensible! During our lessons, we travel across mats, benches and balance beams and we are learning to jump and land safely.

Snow Day!

Autumn 2

We hope that you all have a lovely Christmas break. We look forward to welcoming the children back on Monday 8^th January!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas

We have been learning about why Christians celebrate Christmas. We have read the Christmas story about the birth of baby Jesus. We talked about different ways that people celebrate Christmas at a church or at home with family and friends.

We have made Christmas cards and Christmas decorations to take home. We have learnt Christmas songs and joined in with lots of Christmas activities.

Meeting Santa!

Our Christmas Party!

We had lots of fun at our Christmas party! We danced, played games and had some yummy party food!

Christmas Jumper Day!

We received lots of contributions for the Charity 'Save the Children' and as a whole school, we raised £160!

Thank you to everyone who contributed!

Our Christmas Nativity!

We hope you enjoyed coming to watch our Christmas nativity. We were so proud of all of the children.

Weeks 5 and 6 - 'Winter Wonderland'

We have been learning about the season winter. We have found out about:

• Seasonal changes from autumn to winter.
• The weather in winter.
• Clothes that we wear in winter and how we keep warm.
• What animals do in winter and hibernation.
• Trees, plants and flowers in winter.

 On the 1st December, we decorated our Christmas trees and had a visit from two cheeky Elves, 'Eddie' and 'Buddy'. They brought us an advent calendar and some chocolate coins! For every day in December, two lucky children will get chosen to receive their prizes from Santa!

Art and D+T

We have created lots of lovely winter pictures this week using paint and collage materials. We designed and decorated hats, gloves and scarves too!

Maths

We have been learning to use positional and directional language. We have learnt new vocabulary such as, 'up', 'down', 'across', 'behind' and 'next to'.

Weeks 3 and 4 - 'Day and Night, Dark and Light'

We have been learning about the differences between day time and night time. We talked about our morning and night time routines and discussed what we do at different times of the day. We also learnt about space. We watched lots of videos of astronauts in space and imagined what it would be like to walk on the moon!

Art and D+T

We loved our creative activities! We did lots of junk modelling and made rockets out of recycled materials! We also designed and made our own aliens using playdough and plasticine. Look at our amazing designs!

Literacy

We did lots of writing in Weeks 3 and 4. We read and wrote about the story, 'Whatever Next'.  We also wrote about our Alien designs, using lots of describing words! Some of us had a go at writing a sentence using finger spaces and full stops!

Odd Socks Day! (PSHE)

We wore odd socks to celebrate 'Anti-Bullying Week'. We talked about different emotions and talked about who we can talk to when we are feeling sad or lonely. Look at our wonderful artwork!

Inter-Faith Week (RE)

We celebrated 'Interfaith Week'. We looked at the religion Christianity and learnt that Christians believe Jesus is the 'light'. We practised 'This Little Light of Mine' and performed it together to our teachers!

Remembrance Day (History)

We have been learning about Remembrance Day. On Remembrance Day we think about all of the soldiers who have fought in wars to help to keep us safe. Poppies are flowers that help people to remember about the soldiers that have been injured or killed in lots of different wars. We have made some poppy artwork.

Diwali Festival (RE)

In Reception, we like to find out about different religions and learn about festivals that are important to these religions. This week is the religious festival ‘Diwali’. We have been learning about why this is an important time for Hindus and Sikhs.  Diwali is known as the Festival of Light. We created some lovely ‘Diwali’ artwork.

Weeks 1 and 2 - 'What's on the Menu?' (D+T)

We have been learning about why it is important to eat a healthy balanced diet. We designed and made a vegetable soup. It was delicious!

Art

We have been practising our cutting and sticking skills. We enjoyed vegetable printing and making vegetable characters!

Maths

We have been learning to name and describe some common 2d shapes this week, such as, circle, square, rectangle and triangle. We also matched the 3d shapes to their prints!

Writing

We wrote a healthy shopping list this week! We listened for lots of sounds in each word and found the corresponding letters using our alphabet mats!

Reading

Our RWI 'Talk Through Stories' this week was, 'Room on the Broom'. We loved acting out the story and repeating key phrases such as, "Iggety, ziggety, zaggety, ZOOM!" 

Bonfire Night

We have been learning about why we celebrate bonfire night. We also talked about how we keep safe around bonfires and fireworks. We have created some bonfire night artwork.

Autumn 1

Week 7 – ‘Autumn'

We have been learning about autumn. We went on an autumn walk around our school grounds. We talked about seasonal changes from summer to autumn. We discussed what the weather is like; what happens to plants and trees in the autumn and what animals and insects do as the weather gets colder.

Art

We collected Autumn leaves on our walk and used them to collage squirrels and hedgehogs. We loved it!

Maths

We have been learning to name and describe some common 3d shapes this week, such as, sphere, cylinder, cone and cube. We looked at which shapes could roll or stack and why! Some children said, "The sphere can roll because its curved like a ball"!

Week 6 – ‘Head to Toe' – Senses

We have been learning about our five senses this week!

Sight – We use our eyes to see. We enjoyed the story ‘Anna’s Amazing Glasses’. The children made their own glasses.

Hearing – We use out ears to hear. We played lots of listening games and could identify lots of different sounds.

Smell – We use our noses to smell. We had lots of smelly tubes. The children had to use their sense of smell to try and identify what was in each tub.

Taste - We use our tongues to taste. The children enjoyed tasting a few different foods such as hummus, honey, ketchup and chilli sauce. The children were encouraged to use different vocabulary to describe the tastes and talk about their likes and dislikes.

Touch – We use our skin to feel. We played a feely bag game. The children had to use their hands to feel what was inside the bag and guess what it was.

Week 5 – ‘Head to Toe' – Our Bodies

We have been learning about our bodies this week. We have been naming our body parts and talking about what our bodies can do and how we keep our bodies healthy. We discussed eating healthy food, joining in with exercise and making sure we get a good night’s sleep.

Maths - We have been comparing quantities of identical objects this week, using words like 'more' and 'fewer'!

Writing - We labelled our bodies this week and worked really hard to listen for lots of sounds in each word!

Music - We played lots of instruments this week and explored the sounds they make. We changed the 'Dynamics' of the music, playing loudly and quietly. We also experimented with the 'Tempo' of the music, playing slowly and quickly. 

We listened to a beatboxer as part of our 'Musical Mondays'. We loved trying to beatbox ourselves after listening! 

Week 4 - 'Those Nearest and Dearest' - Friends

We have been talking about our friends this week. We have been thinking about what a good friend is and how we can be a good friend. In Reception, we are caring and kind; we share and take turns; we use kind words.

Maths - In maths, we have been learning to count. This week, we have been exploring the number 5 and showing 5 in lots of different ways! 

Reading and Writing

We have been learning lots of new sounds in our phonics lessons! Our RWI 'Talk Through Stories' this week was, 'Owl Babies'. We loved acting out the story and repeating key phrases such as, "I want my mummy"! 

We recapped our learning from last week and wrote about our families!

Art - We made friendship bracelets and collaged our friends using tissue paper and wool!

Music - We have been learning about 'Body Percussion' this week, where we explored the different sounds our body can make. We loved our game, 'Pass the Sound'!

PE - We have been learning about dance and movement in PE. We have been enjoying lots of ring games! We have been following our PE rules: Safe, Silent and Sensible and we are getting much better at putting our shoes and socks back on independently!

Week 3 - 'Those Nearest and Dearest' - My Family

We have been learning about families. Families come in all different shapes and sizes. We have been talking about who is in our families and what makes them special.

Maths

In maths, we have been learning to count. This week, we have been exploring the number 4 and showing 4 in lots of different ways! We also did some 'Rally Robin' counting with our new learning partners!

Phonics and Reading

We have been learning lots of new sounds in our phonics lessons. We have been practising our letter formation too using iPads and whiteboards! 

Art

We have loved our creative activities this week! We practised our cutting skills and made our own houses using scissors, glue sticks, 2d shapes and lolly sticks. We also painted self-portraits. We used mirrors to look at our skin, eye and hair colour. Look at our beautiful display!

Music

We have been singing some of our favourite Nursery rhymes this week. We have also been exploring different instruments and experimenting with the sounds they make!

PSHE

Piece 2: How am I feeling today?

This week, we recognised different emotions and began to learn how to manage our feelings. We matched each facial expression to the correct emotion.

Weeks 1 and 2 – ‘Welcome to School’ and ‘I am Amazing!’

We have had a lovely 2 weeks in Reception. The children have been exploring their new classrooms, getting to know their new teachers and playing with their friends.

We have been focusing on making sure that the children feel happy and safe at school. We have been learning about different feelings through stories such as 'The Colour Monster' and 'The Worry Monster' and discussing the children's own feelings. We hope you agree that the children have settled in brilliantly. We are so impressed with how they come into the classrooms every morning with big smiles on their faces.

Below are some pictures of your children enjoying themselves, exploring all of the activities that we have. We love learning through our play in Reception!

Team 1's First Day Photos

Team 2's First Day Photos