In Reception this week, we have been reading ‘The Leaf Thief’ by Alice Hemming. We used the story to investigate the season of autumn. The children brought in lots of things they had found on autumn walks over the weekend. They enjoyed sharing what they had found and exploring the things others had brought in. We used the items to create observational drawings, leaf prints and leaf collages. The children demonstrated excellent creative skills. The children challenged themselves to write the initial sound of characters and items found in the story. We were very proud of how well they applied their phonics skills in their writing.
In mathematics, the children have been learning about comparing amounts using the mathematical language of ‘more’ and ‘fewer’. They compared different groups of objects and quickly identified that the colour, shape or size of the objects did not matter. It is the actual amount that matters.
In phonics, the children have learned the sounds: s; a; t; p; i; n; m; d; g; o; c; k; ck; e; u and r. They are blending these sounds to read simple words, such as pig, cut and sock. They are also learning to read words on sight that do not follow the phonetic rules (we call these tricky words), such as ‘is’ and ‘I’.
Red Class went to Forest School for the first time. They learned about the rules for staying safe in the area and demonstrated this knowledge beautifully while climbing the trees. Engaging in physical challenges within their own limits is fantastic for developing executive function skills. It was wonderful watching the children independently testing their climbing abilities. There were so many happy and proud faces.
It is with a sad heart that we say goodbye to Mrs Lan. She has been a great support in helping the children settle into Reception this year. She has always been very dedicated to ensuring the children are safe and secure at school. She creates a plethora of opportunities for creative development and provides rigorous support for those who benefit from a little extra help. We wish her well on the next step of her journey.
