Summer term 2

This has been the last term of the year and we have been very busy as always.  

First a pirate visited Reception and left a bottle in our classrooms with a message inside. He invited us to find more about pirates ARRGGG! The children enjoyed learning about them. We also created our own pirates stories,  

This has been the last term of the year, and we have been very busy getting more knowledge about different topics.  

First, a pirate visited Reception and left a bottle in our classrooms with a message inside. He invited us to find more about pirates, ARRGGG! The children enjoyed learning about them. We also created our own pirates stories with many different funny characters. Then, we acted out these stories and we really enjoyed it. We can’t forget to mention that we also have a ‘pirates dress-up’. Many children came in to school wearing a pirate costume and talking like a pirate. Such a good day we all had!  

Then, we learned many facts about different sea creatures such as sharks, sea turtles, sunfish, jellyfish and many others. We discovered that sharks have no bones and their skin feels similar to sandpaper. The children were fascinated when they found out that some sea turtles can live up to 50 years or more. They also couldn’t believe that jellyfish don’t have brains and they also have no blood, no bones, and no heart. We all agreed that sea creature are just marvellous.  

After learning about pirates and sea creatures children wanted to find more information about mini beasts. As we promote the children independence and like them to take their own decisions, we let them to choose which mini beasts they wanted to learn about. They also had time to create their own mini beasts with different materials, paint a butterfly to learn about symmetry and use a potato to paint a ladybird. It was very fun doing all of these activities.  

In Reception, we had a very special guest. One of the children’s grandmother came to our classroom to tell us about Windrush. She told us how she felt about having to leave her country and start a new life in England at a very young age. We also could ask her some questions about Windrush. This helped us to understand a bit more what Windrush is and why we celebrate it. We also learned about the Caribbean Islands, how beautiful the islands are and what type of fruit and plants we could see if we go to the Caribbean. To finish celebrating Windrush, we had our special ‘Caribbean Parade’. We walked through the school holding flags from different Caribbean islands and wearing carnival masks and dancing along Caribbean beat.  

The last week before going to our new classrooms in year 1, we talked a lot about all achievements that we have got since we started in Reception. We also discussed about all the expectations that we had at the beginning of the academic year and reflected on if those expectations were met over this year. We also share with our friends what we have enjoyed the most about being in Reception and also what new things we would like to learn next year in year 1. It was nice to hear our friends opinions and understand that we were feeling a bit the same, excited and nervous at the same for going to year 1. Our parents had also the opportunity to see us performing our first assembly. Everyone loved how well we did. We talked about all the interested things that we learned and we sang a song to delight them with our adorable voices.  

And let’s mention our final trip. We went to the Town Hall in Walthamstow. We played in the fountain and got very wet. Then we had a look around the hall to see if we could find 4 different places nearby the Town Hall. It was fun! Then we played with bubbles and also rolled down a hill. When we were hungry, we had a picnic at lunch time. One of the teachers read a story and invited us to participate and act it out.  

It has a been a pleasure helping reception children to grow in confidence, independence and knowledge. We are sure that they all are ready to move to year 1 and keep learning more things. The reception team wish all the families in AW to have a beautiful summer break. We would like to see you very soon. Enjoy!    

Summer term 1 

This half term we have been racing around the World.

Initially we had to make decisions about which countries we wanted to find out more about. We had a vote to make it fair. We found out what we needed to take with us to go to another country. First we need a suitable bag- not too heavy and maybe on wheels to pull along. This was good problem solving opportunities for our maths club activities. We also needed a passport that needed to be stamped. Ms Phillips was our passport control officer. We had to say hello in the language of the country and also good bye too. Ms Phillips was very, very, busy with a long queue of children waiting to zoom off around the world.

We love looking at the planet Earth on the globe and on the map. We have looked at where our families come from and talked about traditions and what currency people use all over the World. Using data that we found by asking how children came to school we found out the way that most children come is by walking although some children wanted to use and electric motorbike! In Pakistan they use rickshaws to move around and it was interesting to find out about the tour de France is where they ride bikes in a race. We found out about famous places around our world like the Eifel tower and the colosseum where they had gladiator fights. We listened to a parent tell us about the Leaning Tower of Pisa and found out why it leans over. We then drew a picture of it. We found out about an old city of Cappadocia in Turkey where the houses look like fairy houses. This led on to talking about volcanoes. Canada was our last country to visit. We learnt about where maple syrup comes from and about the fantastic Niagara Falls.

We looked at flags around the World and how different they look from each other. Trying foods from different countries has been a WOW. We have tried, pita and hummus, waffles and maple syrup, pizza and many others. We talked about how they tasted and if we liked or disliked them.

Going to London was fantastic looking at the Coronation of king Charles 111. We had a great time making lots of fun in the afternoon creating and then we paraded around the school and playground. One child said “This is my best day ever”.

What FUN we have in Reception!

Spring 2 

In Literacy we have focused on traditional tales, with a particular emphasis on understanding story structure and developing literacy skills. The five tales that we have been looking at were The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Hen, and The Three Little Pigs. We had explored the six traditional tales in-depth. The children have discussed what happened at the beginning, middle, and end of each story, and identified the main characters and events. This has helped them to understand the structure of a story and to develop their reading comprehension skills. We have also explored the use of intonation when reading aloud. They children have practiced using different voices to represent different characters and to convey emotions. Overall, everyone in Reception have enjoyed exploring the different tales and have developed important skills such as reading comprehension, writing conventions, and oral communication.

In Maths, we have covered a wide range of topics including; time, subtraction, money, and shapes. The children were able to learn and understand these concepts through various activities and problem-solving exercises. We learned how to read the time on a clock. The children created their own clocks by writing the numbers from 1 to 12 and putting the hands in the appropriate positions. We then focused on money. We learned about where money comes from, the difference between notes and coins, and what they can buy with them. We had a debate about our needs and wants and how to differentiate between the two.

In Science this term we have covered several interesting topics that children have enjoyed a lot. We made gingerbread cookies and watched as the dough changed texture and colour when it was heated in the oven. Then we used some of those delicious gingerbread cookies to do another experiment. With this experiment we explored the properties of different liquids such as milk, water, and oil. The children were amazed to see how the liquids separated and formed distinct layers when poured on gingerbread man cookies.

When we learnt about ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ we had the chance to grow our own beans. This experiment allowed the children to learn about the different parts of a plant and what they need to grow. We discussed what the bean plant would need to grow. In Reception, during Science week we got to choose which experiment we wanted to do. Some children did a magnet experiment whilst others explored colour mixing. We really enjoyed.

We also had time to dance and incorporate music from other cultures. We learned some steps to dance Bollywood and Ballet. In Reception we have learned we are all different and for this reason we like to learn and investigate more about other cultures, and we celebrate it whenever we can.

We loved ‘World Book Day’ and we enjoyed dressing up as lots of different adjectives.

We finished this term with an amazing trip. We decided to go to the forest to build dens for The Three Little Pigs. Some parents came along with us, and we had a lovely time. We had to collect sticks, pebbles and leaves to build the dens, and we did. We are fantastic adventurers!

We hope you will have a nice Easter break holidays and we can’t wait to see you all back in April. Thank you to the parents for all their support this term.

Spring 1 

WOW! What a busy time we have had. Our teachers have kept us really busy but we keep telling them, ‘We love learning’-It’s true!

In Reception there are so many clubs. Firstly, there is Phonics Club. We separate into different groups where we learn initial sounds, segmenting and blending words, digraphs and even trigraphs. We love all the games we play with the teachers; they make learning so much fun! Phonics has really helped us to begin to read and write. We can now write initial sounds of words, captions and even full sentences. We have even started using capital letters and full stops. Our teachers are so proud of us.

Our next club is ‘Maths detectives’. Maths is so fun at Ainslie wood. We go on number hunts and shape hunts in the garden, play games to help us order numbers and play games with dice. We love to try and solve the real problems-just like the real detectives. We are excited about the ‘Science Club’. We looked at Alexander Fleming and how he found penicillin. We looked at cheeses and made some mould on a lemon. The next club is the ‘Young musicians’ We have been learning about the Beatles group and the ‘Yellow Submarine’ song. We loved to free dance to Beethoven’s 5th symphony and have learnt a Caribbean and an African song. We are enjoying learning a poem of the week and we try to remember it to recite it to our parents.

A further club is ‘Art Club’. We have been looking at different artists, like Paul Kee and recreating a similar picture to him. We loved making a fire picture in a plastic punch pocket-it was fun!

Some parents were even allowed in (after covid) to tell us all about their jobs as police officers and nurses. Lots of parents and carers even join us for ‘Stay and Play’.

We spent time learning about different jobs and had a think about what jobs we might like to do when we grow up. Nurses, fire officers, vets and chef were the most popular. We especially enjoyed learning about a chef and then making some cakes with Mrs Phillips. We thought about lots of different types of transport and role-played adventures on buses, cars, cable cars, planes and also bikes- all of us have a bike. It was funny looking at transport from the past, especially the one-wheel bike!

Finally, we learnt all about dinosaurs. We found so many amazing facts and made top trump cards and made up our own stories. Guess what in Reception have our very own dinosaur museum.

Our teachers think the next club might be ‘sleep club!’ because we have been so busy having so much fun learning and growing!

Autumn 2

What an amazing term! We have learned a lot of interesting things during this term. We started this new term by learning what kindness means and discussing why it is very important to be kind to people. Then, during Think equal sessions, we read multiple books, the children loved the story named Ted The lion tamer. This story showed us that feeling upset or angry sometimes is okay. As anger belongs to one of our emotions. We just need to know where this feeling comes from and how to calm ourselves down. But how? It is very easy. Ted the main character of the story, gave us some ideas, for example, stopping and counting up to five or telling someone to give you a hug. Children in Reception understood this very well. But of course, they are still learning how to put this into practice in real life. It is a bit difficult sometimes to recognise this feeling or let this feeling go. We cannot forget they are just 4 or 5 years old. Definitely, we don’t. We all are helping children in Reception to be independent, empathetic and fearless. We tell them that they can be whatever they want to be. We want the children to believe in themselves and always give new challenges a try. This is why our slogan in Reception is I can try.

Every week we tend to read a different book that links with our learning of the week. These books were So much, Room on the Broom, The Stick Man, The Secret Adventures of Anonymouse, The Jolly Postman and Alliens love Panta Claus.

We also have been talking about our differences and similarities. They could tell us why are we all different and also what things we have in common. To help us to understand a bit more and make it visual for them we have read Elmer. They like Elmer the elephant. We celebrate that we are unique and at the same time we have things in common with our friends. Some of us like bananas, the colour red, pasta and some of us have siblings.

During Black History Month this term, we have been reading books such as So much, Hair love, Hey you and My hair. Children enjoyed reading and discussing these books.

In Maths, we have been learning about length, capacity, adding numbers and 2D shapes. You cannot imagine how tricky it was for some of the children to pronounce the name of the shapes such as hexagon, heptagon, nonagon or decagon. But the most important thing is we all enjoyed our lessons while learning. Then we went outside in our garden for a 2D shape hunt, we became shapes detectives. Team spirit was shown amongst the children. They helped each other to find shapes. We all had fun. Also, we have been practising how to write down numbers. We learned rhymes to help us remember the sequence of the numbers.

In Literacy, we all feel very proud of how reception children have improved their writing skills. They enjoy going to Phonics Club every morning before lunchtime. We have been working on writing CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and sentences, using phonics sounds. Reception children feel very proud of the accomplishments they have achieved since September.

During this term, we also took part in Remembrance Day. We went on a trip to Memorial Park to place poppies in the grass and show our respect. We observed 1 minute of silence to remember soldiers who died fighting in World War 2. A few parents came with us and we all had a nice time. This wasn’t the only trip that we went on. We also went to the forest to collect some sticks to build a Stick Man. We all enjoyed getting our wellington boots muddy.

We couldn’t forget to mention our lovely Nativity show and Christmas dinner. Children in Reception practised for their wonderful show in December. They all enjoyed taking part in the show. Like many people said they performed like real professionals. We couldn’t be more proud of them. Then some parents came to the school to have Christmas dinner with their children, teachers and Ms Scott. After a few years of not being able to do this because of the Covid pandemic, we were very pleased to see our families enjoying the event.

Just a week before the Christmas break started, the school had to close due to snow. The whole country was covered in inches of snow. But we heard our children enjoyed being at home with their parents making snowmen and having awesome snow fights!

Happy holidays to everyone. We can’t wait to see you all back in January.

Autumn 1 

We're here in Reception in the big school. We are all excited to be here and our teachers love to see all our smiling faces every morning. Some of us run into school and some of us need a little more encouragement. To support this, we have been looking at the mood meter in the classroom assisted by the book 'The Colour Monster' and a program called 'Think Equal'. We will write our names on the correct colour depending on our mood at the time. Red for angry, Blue for tired and sad, yellow for happy and excited and green for calm, or as one of our friends said, ‘mellow’.

It has been very important for us to learn and remember to use the class rules to help us share, make friends, and enjoy our Reception experience.

We are using the school library to select a book to share at home and taking a school reader book that we are starting to read. We love PE in the big hall where we must listen to instructions and move in different ways. We are working on getting changed into our PE kits and not losing any of our clothes in someone else’s tray! The problem is all the clothes look the same!!

In Maths we have looked at Number and subitising, patterns and sorting. We especially love making sequence patterns with the buttons and natural materials.

In Phonics, we are learning Phase 2 sounds and are ready to really get stuck into using it in our writing and reading.

We had great fun exploring Recycling and the best thing was designing and creating a model from a box. We cut, stuck, and placed materials to make a final piece. Our teachers were super impressed!

We had a great time looking at our bodies, their bones, and organs. We also looked at the Paralympics and how anyone can do anything they want to. Our class logo is, ‘I can try’ and our teachers support us in always try our best!

We have loved the Science experiments, seeing how flowers suck up water through the stems, through coloured water in the vase and working out how to get rid of germs on our hands.

Our final week this half term is ‘Space’ coinciding with ‘National Space Week’. We are having fun using black glittery playdough, making rockets, and looking at the planets in our Solar System.

Enjoy your half term rest ready for the forthcoming Nativity!