Sunbeams - Reception

Welcome to Sunbeams reception class which is taught by Mrs Pierpoint

Welcome back to Term 5!

Please read the attached newsletter to find out what Sunbeams will be learning this coming term.

Week 5

What a surprise we had when we came into school on Monday morning. All five caterpillars had emerged from their cocoons and transformed into beautiful Painted Lady butterflies!

We will observe them in their habitat over the next few days before setting them free outside in the playground.

For our Enterprise Week we have decided to hold a plant sale. One local business has been very generous in donating lots of colourful bedding plants and compost. Children will be busy this week planting, making posters and painting signs ready for the sale on Friday afternoon. They are extremely excited and definitely up for the challenge of raising the most profit for a worthy cause.

Week 4

Our focus for maths this week is number bonds to 10. We began the week by reinforcing number bonds to 5 before using manipulatives to support our learning. 

One of our favourite stories has been the focus of our English lessons this week - 'Superworm'. We have listened to the story and drawn and written about our favourite part of the story as well as thinking about if we were Superworm what we would do for our friends. 

During our Topic sessions we have been looking at and talking about toys. Toys from the past and the present, our parents' and siblings favourite toys as well as making our own toys. Mrs Crosby even dropped in to see what we were up to! I think you will agree the hand puppets are amazing!

Our caterpillars have attached themselves to the lid of the cup and become chrysalides. They look like they are resting, but an amazing transformation is taking place!

We placed the lid upright into the Chrysalis Station and moved the Station into the habitat close to the side of the mesh netting.

We now have to wait 7-14 days for the butterflies to emerge. Make sure you check back regularly to see our amazing Painted Lady butterflies!

Week 3

This week we have been talking about positional language in both our Maths and English lessons. We have used the story 'Rosie's Walk as the basis for a range of activities, including a walk around the school, retelling the story together with our favourite part. The class have been very good at giving each other instructions using positional language!

We have been looking at Toys during our Topic lessons and have talked about toys old and new - having asked our parents, grandparents and siblings what was their favourite toy. We even made our own cup and ball toy on Friday!

Week 2

Our story this week is 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar and we have written fruit lists for the caterpillar, made zig zag books and re-told parts of the story during our English lessons. On Friday we also performed an assembly with Year 1 about the story to the rest of the school. 

This week in Topic we are looking at the life cycle of a butterfly. Children have been identifying the different stages of the life cycle.

We have our very own caterpillars in Reception and will be observing the changes over time that they go through. We have all named our own caterpillar with the fifth one being called 'Sunbeam'.

Week 1 - Summer Term

It was lovely to welcome the children back to school for another term of learning! 

In Maths this week we made our own clocks which we used to help us tell o'clock times.

This week we have been reading Handa's Surprise during our Literacy lessons. We have completed a range of activities planned around the story including, retelling the story using stick puppets, observational drawing, being creative with playdoh and writing sentences.

To finish off the week the children enjoyed tasting some of Handa's fruits during Topic. They then recorded which ones they liked and disliked in their books. 

This term for PSHE we will be looking at "Living in the Wider World - One World". On Wednesday the topic was 'Families' and we talked about people who love and care for us and the different types of families around the world. After thinking about this, children were asked to draw their special people in a caring heart.

Welcome to Week 6!

This week in Maths we have been looking back over the topics we have learnt over this term! Our Maths sessions always begin with counting.

Welcome to Week 5!

Well done Penelope on achieving your Bronze house point certificate this week!

This week we are looking at the story of 'The Gingerbread Man. The children listened to the story before completing a joint story map which we can use to help us with our writing for the rest of the week. 

On Friday our English session consisted of a carousel of activities covering the different areas of learning. Children could choose their own activities around the story of 'The Gingerbread Man'.

Continuing to work hard in our Maths sessions, this week we are learning about number bonds to 5. We have used the part, part, whole method and will look at using a 5 frame and double coloured counters to make addition sentences to 5.

To finish the week in Maths we used two coloured counters and a five frame to work out number bonds to 5. Children have worked extremely hard getting to grips with this topic using a variety of manipulatives to help them. 

Welcome to Week 4!

Another busy week in our Reception classroom, with a special Headteacher's Award for some wonderful independent writing! Well done Ava!!

Friday began with an assembly in Sunbeams classroom talking about Red Nose Day and why we donate money and wear red to school. Throughout the day we completed different Red Nose activities, including maths challenges and 'investigating red' resources set out in our tuff tray. During our child initiated sessions today the children enjoyed colouring and designing their own red noses!

Head over to our latest news page on the website for the whole school photo!

Some lovely painting going on in the classroom today. Can you recognise me?

This week we have been learning to share equally between groups. We practised on our whiteboards as well as completing various activities.

Our traditional tale this week has been the story of 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. We have listened to different versions of the story and written some captions of our own. 

During Topic this week to compliment our writing of 'Jack and the Beanstalk, we have looked at the life cycle of a bean as well as planting our own beans. These will be kept in the classroom so we can observe any changes over time before being brought home for the Easter holiday. I wonder whose will grow the tallest?

All children in the school took part in a sponsored walk in aid of Prostate Cancer UK on Friday morning. Reception and Years 1 and 2 walked together twice around the block before receiving a medal. Everyone had a great time!

On Monday 7th March we had a very special visitor come to talk to us at Elliott Park. 'Marathon Man' Nick Butter, who has ran a marathon in every country in the world to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK, spent the morning talking about his experiences and challenges before setting the children challenges of their own! Head over to the 'latest news' page on the website for more info and photos. 

Another busy week in Reception this week with the children working incredibly hard and continuing on their learning journey.

Our maths focus this week has been money and coin recognition. Children have been learning to recognise coins and completed activities both in their books and on the interactive whiteboard.

During PSHE this term we have been talking about Digital Wellbeing. This has included 'The Internet and Me', 'Online and Offline' and  this week we have talked about 'Staying Safe Online'. In this lesson we discussed and talked about basic rules to keep safe online, including age restrictions and what should be kept private. We all agreed that if something was making us feel uncomfortable whilst we were online we would tell our trusted adult.

Continuing with our theme of 'Traditional Tales' this week, we have read the story of 'Cinderella'. With the help of our story and phonics mats we have worked hard writing our own captions for pictures from the story. 

Our Traditional Tales display/working wall is coming along nicely with lots of work being on display in the classroom.

During Topic/UTW we have been talking about healthy living and eating. We know that a balanced diet and exercise keeps our minds and bodies healthy.

Children enjoying a 'brain break' between sessions. These mental breaks are designed to help pupils stay focused and energise or relax. They provide processing time for children to solidify their learning. Our current favourite is 'Encanto'!

One of our new sounds this week is 'th' and children have been working hard to practise writing and recognising words containing this sound. 

Children pursuing their own interests in our daily Child Initiated sessions. 

On Friday Reception and Year 1 performed an assembly to the rest of the school. We acted out 'The Little Red Hen' and sang 'Spring Chicken' with the whole school joining in the singing at the end. Everyone agreed it was a great performance!!

What a busy week we have had in Reception! Below you can see just some of the amazing activities the children have been involved in.

During R.E we listened to the story of 'Ten Lepers' before re-telling the story using our own words in our books.

Child Initiated sessions are timetabled into every day when children can choose their own activities and resources - this is the favourite part of the day!