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Top Tips for Reading at Home
https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/children/2019/feb/tips-for-sharing-stories-with-children.html
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/tips-and-advice/reading-tips/
Phonics in Reception – Phonics Workshop Resources
What is Read Write Inc and how will it be taught? Click here to find out!
Our Amazing Work!
We are Earth Protectors
This half term we are Earth Protectors. We will be learning all about nature and life cycles. We will be starting the term by learning all about butterflies, frogs and chicks. We will also be looking at the life cycle of a bean plant. Here are some photos of our amazing learning.
This week we went to visit Pershore Fire Station. The children met the crew and looked at the uniforms and kits they use. The children all enjoyed looking inside the fire engine. We saw all the instruments and gadgets hidden under the side panel.
The children had a fantastic time and the highlight was using the high pressure hose. We would like to thank our friends at Pershore Fire Station who generously gave up their time and made our visit very special.
‘Doctor Wilkes’ came to visit us to discuss different foods. We talked about a healthy well-balanced diet and the choices that we can make for our meals and snacks. We then discussed how we can care for our teeth.
We had lots of fun learning all about The Dentist. Jasmin from Bupa came to visit us. She delivered a workshop about how we can look after and brush our teeth. Each child took home a goodie bag filled with a toothbrush and lots of teeth brushing aids.
The children have enjoyed learning all about doctors and nurses who help us in the Hospital. On Tuesday 14th February Dr Mathias came into school to visit us and told us about his job and how he helps us. He showed us some of his equipment and we listened to the sound of heart beats. He also showed us some x-rays and pointed out different bones using a full-sized skeleton. The children named the skeleton Simon Steven Skeleton. We used role play to learn our recently introduced vocabulary.
The children have enjoyed learning all about the role of a police officer in our local community. PC Wilkes came into class to inform us that a crime had been committed and she needed help to find the suspect. The children found two wanted posters, one for The Gingerbread Man and one for The Wolf. We searched for clues and used the evidence to help us find the suspects. We concluded from our investigations that The Gingerbread Man was guilty of committing these crimes.
We’ve also read Topsy and Tim and talked about how police officers helped them in the story. We also used this text to help us write about The Police in our local community.
Martin and Carr Veterinary Surgeons came to visit Reception. We learnt all about how vets treat and care for pets in our local community. We treated our own teddy bear pets using different veterinary equipment. We looked at x-rays and used specialist gowns just like a real vet.
Spring 1 – We are Heroes
“We are Heroes” is Reception’s theme for this half term. We will be learning about people who help us within the school community, and the wider local community. To start to spark their learning they will be having some very exciting visits from parents and visitors from the local community to talk to the children about their role in helping others, this will include vets, the police, a dentist and a trip to visit our local fire station.
Autumn 2 Traditional Tales
Our new topic is Traditional Tales. The stories we will focus on include Rosie’s Walk, The Little Red Hen and The Gingerbread Man. Towards the end of the term we will focus on The Nativity Story and we will also cover a selection of other stories during story time. You can help at home in a number of ways including reading a variety of Traditional Tales to support your child to be as familiar with these stories as possible. Discuss the beginning, middle and end of stories and how the writer keeps the reader interested.
Reception Stay and Play 9th Dec 2022
What a wonderful morning!
Parent Feedback about today’s Stay and Play…
“Really enjoyed the Reception Stay and Play”
“Love coming to the Stay and Play to spend time with my daughter, seeing what she’s learning in Reception and how she’s coming along.”
“Very fun time. It was lovely to see the children interacting and playing so well together.”
“I enjoyed being able to play and interact in a school environment. It was fantastic to see all of the fun everyone was having and the enthusiasm and laughter had by all. The range of activities really helped to get a feel for what the class normally do. Thank you for inviting us in and for the wonderful work you are all doing to support the children.”
“I really enjoyed seeing all of the things Frankie has done and her showing me her friends and toys.”
“I really enjoyed stay and play, it was really nice to see lots of activities set up and to see which areas my child chooses to play in. He loved showing me his classroom and us playing together.”
Celebrations
This half term we are learning about different celebrations that many people celebrate. Firstly, we have been learning about Diwali, the festival of light. We learnt that Hindu’s celebrate Diwali by having feasts with their families, lighting candles in Diva Lamps and watching fireworks. We then made our own Diva Lamps out of clay for our own celebration. We also used glow sticks to light up the classroom and danced to Indian inspired music. A Bollywood dancer also, came to our school to deliver class workshops to the whole school. We had lots of fun learning different dance moves.
Last week in Reception the children enjoyed learning all about Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night. The children were very interested in the story of the gunpowder plot and recalled the simple rhyme of Remember, Remember. We made our own firework and bonfire pictures in class to mark this occasion. Many of the children came into school talking about their excitement of the firework display we held at our school.
Most recently, we have been learning about Remembrance Day. We began Thursday morning by talking about what the day means and why poppies are a significant symbol of the day. The children enjoyed making a class display of poppies and some children chose to make their own individual poppies.
Lots of parents joined us today at our Phonics Workshop – 3rd November 2022
Here are some comments from our parents:
“Knowing how the children learn to read is really helpful”
“Thank you for the workshop, it’s given me some ideas of how I can support my child at home.”
In our woodland learning this week, we found a range of natural objects to create patterns. We also spent some time exploring our woodland area.
The children have shown a keen interest in spiders, linked to our Autumn learning. Here are some photos of our activities.
A broomstick, a witch’s hat, a cat and a cauldron appeared on our carpet after playtime. We had no idea where they had come from!
We investigated where they had come from and found that they had jumped out of our new story Meg and Mog (Mog in the Fog). Mrs Wilkes read the story and talked about what happened in the story.
We learnt that Meg creates her potions using a cauldron. We learnt Meg’s special spell and sang the ‘Silly Soup’ song to help us. We then created our own spell. We drew the items needed for our spells and used our sounds to label our items. Here are some examples of our spells.
We had a lovely time in the Forest School area this afternoon. We collected sticks, bracken and leaves and turned them into magic wands. We used our wands to help us make different potions, just like Meg the witch did in our story.
Reception 2022-2023
The children in Reception have had a very busy start to the term. Starting Reception is a big step for children; we are delighted all of the Reception children have made this transition look effortless. Many thanks to all parents that have worked with us to ensure that your child was well prepared.
This week in Reception class, the children have been talking about their interests. Many children have a keen interest in dinosaurs. They have chosen their own weekly theme to be about dinosaurs. Here are some photos of the first 3 weeks of our learning journey in Reception.
Now Reception are used to their new environment, we are now focusing on our wellbeing. The children have played games and started to talk about their feelings. We have introduced the the Zones of Regulation using The Colour Monster story. The children now know how to label their feelings and emotions using different colours. The children are already very familiar with our classroom’s calm area and have been accessing this when necessary. The children have shown an interest in rainbows and have chosen rainbows as their next theme in class. Here are some photos of our own rainbows, colour mixing and colour patterns.
We have also been learning about healthy foods, and here are some photos of our fruit kababs we made in class.
The children have had regular opportunities to develop maths and literacy language in their new environment. We have also spent lots of time practising and developing our mark making skills. Here are some photos of our most recent learning.
2021-2022
Reception Stay and Play fun!
On Monday 27th June, we were thrilled to be able to invite all our Reception parents to our Stay and Play session. It was lovely to have all the parents in. The children most certainly took the opportunity to show off their learning in their classroom, as they showed their parents around with confidence and pride. It was a pleasure to see so many parents and carers attend our Stay and Play session. Here are some photos and comments from the day.
Thank you for having us today. I had an amazing time seeing how the children interact, play and learn. The teaching staff worked wonderfully with the children and helped those whose parents/carers could not attend. It was amazing to see how the teachers interact with the children and how much thought goes into planning each activity.
Thank you for everything you do.
Parent Comment
Stay and Play Sessions in Reception
Throughout the year we have ‘Stay and Play’ sessions in the classroom for parents and carers with children in Reception. These sessions give you a chance to see what your child is learning and to get involved, as well as to meet other parents and chat informally to the teaching staff.
The Animal Man visits our Early Years Department
Our reception children were face to face with wild animals this morning when The Animal Man Show came to visit us. Laura brought the sights and sounds of the world to Abbey Park First School. The children had a brilliant time seeing, and handling animals such as a snakes, reptiles, honey bears and an owl.
We are Ocean Protectors
This half term our learning theme is ‘We are Ocean Protectors.’ We will be learning about sea creatures and their habitats.
In our writing this week, we have labelled and written sentences about what we can see in the ocean. We have applied our phonics and written about fish, crabs. sting rays and many other sea creatures.
The children have also been sharing books about seas and oceans, both fact and fiction. We have been enjoying the terms class texts ‘Sharing a Shell’ and ‘The Rainbow Fish’ which has reminded us about being kind, turn taking and sharing.
We are World Protectors
The main theme for this part of the year is our world, looking at where we live and stories from other cultures. The focus of our stories will be stories from Africa. We will look at Handa’s Surprise, We’re Sailing Down the Nile and Fatou Fetch the Water. Towards the end of the half term we will also be learning about and celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee.
Growing Beans
This week in class we went on a chick hunt. We helped Rosie find her baby chicks. We were very excited to find that one of Rosie’s chicks, very kindly, gave us a book to read. We have all thoroughly enjoyed reading Jack and the Beanstalk and we have started to story this text.
Growing Beans
This week we have been reading ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and the children asked if we could grow our own beanstalks. We had a special delivery of magical beans arrive in school this week. Each child had a go at ‘planting’ their own beans. We planted the beans in a plastic cups and soil. The beans are in the classroom windows, and we will be observing their growth on a weekly basis.
In class we are keeping own bean growth diaries. We will write down any changes we observe.
Bean Experiment
In class we have set up a bean experiment. We have discussed that all plants need soil, water, warmth, and sunlight to grow. We have planted four different beans and exposed them to different growing conditions. For example, Bean One has soil, water, sunlight and warmth and Bean Four has soil and water but no sunlight or warmth. Bean Four has been put away in the Science cupboard. Each week we will be observing their growth and note down any changes and differences between the four beans.
Pond Dipping
As part of our topic ‘We are Earth Protectors’ the children enjoyed an afternoon of pond dipping. We took our nets, buckets and magnifying glasses and walked to the school’s pond area. . The children were fascinated to find so many different creatures in their nets – pond snails, freshwater shrimps , water beetles, pond skaters, worms and tadpoles, in different stages of growth. The sun was shining, and we had a lovely time.
As we return to school, our new topic for Spring 2 is ‘We are Earth Protectors’. We will be learning all about the great outdoors, where our food comes from and how plants grow.
Our literacy texts this term will be Rosie’s Walk, Where Oh Where is Rosie’s Chick and Jack and the Beanstalk. Through these texts we observe different life cycles of animals and plants.
We have been learning all about Superheroes in our community. We’ve learnt all about Vets through our class continuous provision. During the next few weeks, we will be learning all about the story Hairy Maclary’s Rumpus at the Vet’s. In literacy we will be learning how to act out and retell the story using a class story map.
We’ve started a new Topic called ‘We are Heroes’.
As we return to school, we are busy thinking about the people in our community who are our very own superheroes. We will be learning about the role of lots of different professions. We start the year by looking at the role of doctors and nurses. We will be asking questions about where they work, what they do and how. We will then explore the roles of teachers, the police, the fire service, and vets.
Our literacy texts this term will be from the Supertato series of books. We will explore and link the differing professions within our community to our texts. So far, we have thought carefully about the different medical treatments we’ve given our patients due to Evil Pea’s antics. Here is a link to the story we are learning in class over the next coming weeks.
Zones of Regulation
As a school we have a focus on well-being. We have been learning all about the Zones of Regulation. The children have been considering different emotions, facial expressions and how we can work out other people’s feelings. We continually discuss lots of different emotions and what can cause people to experience different feelings.
On a day-to-day basis, as different scenarios arise, we think carefully about how we can support and help our friends feel better when they are experiencing unexpected feelings. We have read different stories since the beginning of term and one story we have used regularly is The Colour Monster. The Colour Monster has helped us to label our emotions during the school day. When we are expressing our feelings, we use our Zones of Regulation display board to label our emotions. Here is a link to different texts we use in class to help support our understanding of feelings and emotions.
Learning to Subitise! This is when you are able to look at a group of objects and know how many there are without counting.
We had fun counting things in our environment.
Our New Reception Class
