Welcome to Reception!

Welcome to our class webpage where you can find out about our amazing learning journey. You will find information about our activities, examples of our work and comments from us! Please visit often to see our learning journey develop.

Our classroom is always busy and full of stimulating resources and activities that our teachers have planned for us.  It is so much fun investigating the different areas of our classroom; we can be pirates digging in the sand for treasure one day and we can be on a spaceship to the moon the next.  We play to learn!

We are fortunate to have a lovely outdoor area where our children can express themselves physically and investigate our natural world.  There are opportunities for the children to explore their immediate environment by digging for mini-beasts, making mud pies or participating in water play.  The children are encouraged to discover new things and they are provided with plenty of opportunities to talk about what they have found.  As a result of this, our children begin to develop the key skills that they need in order to be competent and capable explorers and learners.  These opportunities also support development in our prime areas; communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development. 

Alongside these fabulous play opportunities, the children in Reception are starting to become fabulous readers and writers through learning phonics.  We spend some time each day learning phonics and we use our phonetic knowledge when we are playing to help us read and write as we go.  We send out ‘Super Sounds’ homework each Friday and we encourage parents to support their child with this.

We also dedicate special time to mathematics and the children love going to Magic Maths Island each day. Each child has an individual maths target and our maths sessions are tailored around these.  We love to explore the mathematical concepts of shape, space and measures through lots of exciting real life experiences such as baking, water and sand play. Children are encouraged to explore the similarities and differences in the shapes and amounts that they see and find in the world around them. We have so much fun doing lots of active maths activities such as counting as we jump, hop or clap and enjoy lots of engaging small group activities to promote mathematical development as we play.  We love to give the children maths challenges!

Just Playing

When I'm building in the block area,

Please don't say I'm "just playing."

For you see, I'm learning as I play,

About balances and shapes.

Who knows, I may be an architect someday.

When I'm getting all dressed up,

Setting the table, caring for the babies,

Don't get the idea I'm "just playing."

For you see, I'm learning as I play;

I may be a mother or father someday.

When you see me up to my elbows in paint

Or standing at an easel,

Or moulding and shaping clay,

Please don't let me hear you say, "He is just playing."

For you see, I'm learning as I play.

I'm expressing myself and being creative.

I may be an artist or an inventor someday.

When you see me sitting in a chair

"Reading" to an imaginary audience,

Please don't laugh and think I'm "just playing.'

For you see, I'm learning as I play.

I may be a teacher someday.

When you see me combing the bushes for bugs,

Or packing my pockets with choice things I find,

Don't pass it off as "just play.'

For you see, I'm learning as I play.

I may be a scientist someday.

When you see me engrossed in a puzzle

Or some "plaything' at my school,

Please don't feel the time is wasted in 'play.'

For you see, I'm learning as I play.

I'm learning to solve problems and concentrate.

I may be in business someday.

When you see me cooking or tasting foods,

Please don't think that because I enjoy it,

It is 'just play.'

I'm learning to follow direction and see differences.

I may be a cook someday.

When you see me learning to skip, hop,

Run and move my body,

Please don't say I'm "just playing."

For you see, I'm learning as I play.

I'm learning how my body works.

I may be a doctor, nurse or athlete someday.

When you ask me what I've done at school today,

And I say, "I just played',

Please don't misunderstand me.

For you see, I'm learning as I play.

I'm learning to enjoy and be successful in my work.

I'm preparing for tomorrow.

Today, I am a child and my work is play.

-  Anita Wadley

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

We have really enjoyed reading 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' this half term.  The children have been working on remembering the key parts of the story and have had great fun acting it out. Click on the video below to watch a group of children acting out the story.

After learning to recite the story, the children were eager to take part in different literacy activities.  They sequenced the story using specific story language and they described the characters using adjectives.

Here are some examples of the children's character work:

Some of the children are also starting to create their very own books:

We had great fun learning about St David's day!

We spoke about who St David was and what he did.  We also watched a video of how some Welsh schools celebrate this special day.

The children loved tasting Welsh cakes!

We discovered that some Welsh schools take part in an event called 'Eisteddfod.' Eisteddfod is a bit like a talent contest.  

We decided to hold our very own Eisteddfod!

Disability Awareness Day

Today was Disabilty Awareness Day.  The children met a man called John McCorkell who has had cerebral palsy since birth and runs a company called 'It's all normal' which promotes inclusion.

The children listened to John talk about his life and experiences in an assembly and then took part in a workshop where they got a chance to ask questions and gain an understanding of what it is like to be disabled. 

One of the main messages from John was that we all do things slightly differently to others, but we should treat all people the same regardless of our differences. The children really enjoyed having a turn in John's wheelchair. 

Pirates

The children have expressed great interest in pirates, so we decided to base some of our learning around this.  One of our key texts  has been 'Pirates Love Underpants.' The children have written pirate descriptions and looked at different pirate settings. We are building up to writing out very own books. 

Welsh birds of pray

Today we were visited by a bird expert who brought 7 birds of prey along with him. We found out lots of fantastic facts about hawks, owls, falcons, buzzards and kestrels.  The children had a great time!

St Patrick's day

We had great fun celebrating St Patrick's day today.  The children learnt some new facts about this special Irish celebration and we partied in style by having our own St Patrick's day party. 

We decided that we were going to go to Tesco together to buy everything that we needed for our party. Throughout the week, the children wrote shopping lists, invitations and worked with a budget to decide what we could afford to buy.

The children loved our trip to Tesco!

Meet our chicks!

The children loved welcoming some beautiful baby chicks into the world.  They had the unique chance of watching the chicks hatch from their eggs. It was magical!