Class Blog for Reception

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Welcome to Reception!

Welcome to the Reception Page where you will find out about the great things taking place in our classes.

We will update this page on a regular basis with information about our learning.

If you would like to contact us, please email secretary@wadebridgeprimary.co.uk and your email will be forwarded to us.

Home Learning: Reading three times a week and recording in their reading records.

Changing Reading Books: Mondays and Thursdays / Library books on Fridays.

PE Days: Fridays.

Miss Miskowicz
RB Class Teacher (Mon-Wed)

Mrs Clayson
RB Class Teacher (Wed- Fri)

Mrs Valter
RB Class TA

Mrs Allen
1:2:1 Support

Mrs Yates
RW Class Teacher

Miss Taylor
RW Class TA

Mrs Keat 
1:2:1 TA

Thank you for taking the time to come and look at the exciting learning that takes place in Reception. Please have a read of this blog to find some interesting information about life in Reception. We will keep this page updated regularly with blogs, pictures and information but please also regularly check Tapestry to see the exciting learning we have been doing in school! 

  

Learning in Reception 

As you know, children in Reception are on the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum (EYFS).  This curriculum is predominantly play-based and celebrates the whole child’s learning and development in a holistic approach.  Our planning comes from the children - through careful observations and assessments of their play, noting the gaps in their knowledge and primarily from their interests in an overarching ‘topic’.  

 

In school, we typically have a daily 30-minute phonics lesson, a 30-minute maths lesson and a short topic taught session. In addition to this, we have 10 minutes reading a day. We support the children’s writing development with weekly small group guided writing sessions.  This is where the children can apply their skills and knowledge of letters and sounds from their daily phonics lessons. The rest of the day is child-initiated play in the learning environments inside and outside.  We call this COOL time (Choosing Our Own Learning)!  This allows children the time for totally uninterrupted play; they can apply their learning from the taught sessions in a range of different activities and contexts.  This ensures the learning is meaningful to them and that it becomes embedded.  We try to ensure that the children have a minimum of 1.5 hours in the morning and the same again in the afternoon.  

 

In line with our school values, we promote the Characteristics of Effectively Learning through our learning characters; use of the following learning skills; ideas iguana (creativity), have a go hippo (enthusiasm) and keep going koala (determination). 

 

Morning routines 

Each morning, we ask that the children are dropped off at the little wooden gate between 8:35 and 8:45am. The children will then independently enter their classroom to organise their belongings and get ready for an exciting day of learning. This time of day is a busy time for teachers so we ask that any messages are passed on via the teacher on duty who will then pass the information on to the class teacher. If you have any further concerns or questions then an appointment can be made via the office. 

 

End of day routines

At the end of the day, please come to the same wooden gate by 3:10pm, so that we can dismiss your child to you and pass over any messages about the day. If you are ever unable to collect your child, please either phone the office or pass it on to the teacher on the gate in the morning. We will not send any child home with anyone different unless we have had a message to do so and the adult has your collection password. 

 

Things to bring to school

Full school uniform, a waterproof coat, book bag with reading record and book, and a water bottle. In the summer months, please bring a hat and sun-cream. We also kindly ask you to leave a spare pair of clothes on their pegs just in case they are need to change or have an accident.  Please ensure that every item is clearly named – including water bottles and packed lunch boxes.

 

Reading books - changed on a Monday and Thursday / library books on a Thursday

Your child will soon receive a reading packet and a reading record.  It is really important that these are brought into school every day in their book bags. We will change your child’s reading book every Monday and Thursday.  By practising re-reading the same book over a few days, it will help your child to become more confident with the text and fluent.  The children will visit our wonderful school library on a Thursday morning, where they will get to choose their very own book to take home!  They will need to return their library back to school every Friday morning, in order to change it for a new one.  We kindly ask you support your child with taking good care of our reading and library books at home, so that we can keep them in a nice condition for everyone to enjoy.

 

P.E kit - P.E on a Monday

As independent changing for P.E is part of the of the Early Years curriculum, we will be supporting and encouraging children to get changed for P.E at school. Our P.E day is currently Monday but please leave your child’s P.E kit on their peg. We will send home the kits for regular washing. 

 

Snacks

Free fruit will be provided for all of the children in Reception. However, if your child would like to bring their own fruit then they are more than welcome to. We kindly ask you to bring in a snack for the afternoons.  In order to promote healthy eating, we do ask that children only bring fruit to school. 

 

Lunch times

The children will continue to receive a free school lunch each day. Please ensure you order your child’s learning via ParentPay.  Alternatively, your child is welcome to bring their own packed lunch.

  

Tapestry

We know that the children often get up to some amazing things out of school too. If you have visited somewhere interesting or achieved an award (swimming, karate etc.) then please let us know and upload onto Tapestry! We love to celebrate all types of learning and achievements.  We share WOW moments and whole class special events, as well as key milestones of learning and development on the individual child on Tapestry.  Please take the time to view these and like the observations and share them with your child.


We look forward to letting you know more about Reception soon and sharing pictures and learning with you. 

 

 


 

Spring 2 - Week 4 - We're digging our learning.

Our focus story this week has been 'The Enormous Turnip'. The children have learnt the story and have looked closely at the characters and the setting. They have been able to sequence the story and both classes have created the own versions of the story. For this, they thought long and hard about the characters in the story.  We then discussed the vocabulary that they wanted to use and made the story map together. We were  very impressed with how well the children learnt and adapted the story.

In the creative area,  the children had a good look at some different root vegetables and were then able to create observational drawings of different veg as well. They took their time looking carefully at the colours and the shapes of the vegetables, using their pencils to sketch. They then added detail and definition using charcoal, finally adding a little colour using a coloured pencil. We have some fantastic artists is Reception. I'm sure they would love to show off their observational drawing skills at home too! 

In maths over the last two weeks we have been focusing on number bonds to 10, as well as ordering numbers to 10. Today we carefully placed the number cards in order on the carpet. We then asked then children to close their eyes whilst we stole one of the number cards. The children were so good at recognising which number had gone missing. Well done Reception. 

Reminders - If you have not booked in a parents consultation slot with us, please log on to Arbor and book a slot if you are able too. 

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Best wishes,

The Reception Team 

 


 

Spring 2 - Week 2 - Run, run as fast as you can!

Well a week of fun has been had in the Reception classrooms this week. Not only was the Gingerbread Man spotted on camera going through our classes, our attempts to capture him at the end of the week resulted in our classrooms being messed up. But luckily for us, the Gingerbread Man left us a little treat to congratulate us on our attempts to trap him. 

The conversations and ideas about how we could trap him really excited the children. Throughout the week, the children have been making traps, posters and even bridges to help him escape the fox. As you can imagine, the conversations and ideas that the story has sparked have been amazing. Every child has been totally immersed and a great deal of wonderful work has been completed by the children. They have been able to critically think, analyse and confidently share their ideas with each other throughout the week. We are sure the conversations will continue at home well into the weekend!

Reminders -  We change reading books on Mondays and Thursdays. Please ensure your child brings in their book bag each day as we read with the children throughout the week too. Please also ensure they bring their library books in on a Thursday. 

Tuesday 5th March - St Piran's Day - Children are encouraged to wear black, white and gold on this day.
Thursday 7th March - World Book Day - Children can come in in their pyjamas or onesies. They can come in as a favourite book character if they would like to, but do not feel you need to spend any money on outfits. Mrs Clayson will be donning her favourite onesie for the day! 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Best wishes, 
The Reception Team 

 


Back With a Bang! 

This week our topic has been Chinese New Year and we discovered about different customs and traditions. We started our week by learning the story of how the tradition began and about the twelve animals which represent the years. We watched a short film where we learned about how people decorate their houses, wear new clothes and give red envelopes with money in for good luck.  We were intrigued to see how the whole family (including the children!) worked really hard to give the whole house a spring clean before they decorated it.

 

The children enjoyed learning about the delicious foods and the fabulous dancing dragons.

Demonstrating great recall, the children were able to explain the facts about the celebration.

 

In our guided writing, we looked at Chinese dragons and wrote words, captions and sentences to describe how the dragons looked. 

 

In our COOL time, we enjoyed playing in our pop-up Chinese restaurant (with real chopsticks and food!), making dragon puppets, creating lanterns, exploring Chinese music, painting Chinese symbols and much more!

 

Our super week was encapsulated by putting all of our creations together and performing a dragon parade around the whole school, weaving in and out of classrooms as we went!  We were delighted with the children’s enthusiasm and pride whilst exhibiting their artist flare!

 


What Happened Once Upon a Time? 

To support our topic of 'What Happened Once Upon a Time?', please find the attached knowledge mat for Spring 2 at the bottom of the blog page.  This gives you an overview of our key learning focuses for our topic.  You can support your child with their learning by exploring our top 10 vocabulary, 5 facts and specific knowledge, alongside enjoying the magic of stories at home!  In school, we will be discovering how traditional tales have a beginning, middle and end and how to order a story.  The children will be building their prediction skills linked to our texts and suggest how stories might end.  We will delve into different character types and their attributes.  The children will have wonderful opportunities of retelling stories in many ways such as; storytelling, creating props, putting on plays, making stories in their own books and much more!

If you have any special moments of your child's learning and development, please continue to upload your own observations on Tapestry - we love to see them!  

Thank you for your continued support.

The Reception team

 


The Magic of Stories! 














From the second week after half term, we are moving on to a new and exciting topic! We are going to be learning about the magic of traditional tales. A traditional tale is a story that has been told and re-told for many years, and consequently, becomes a story that almost everyone knows. Traditional tales are also referred to as fairy stories or fairy tales.

Stories such as The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Jack and the Beanstalk are all traditional stories.
Traditional tales play an important part in early literacy. These well-known stories are used to help develop reading comprehension and early writing skills. Traditional tales also provides excellent opportunities for role-play and support children’s creativity and imagination.
Our overarching topic question is going to be ‘What Happened Once Upon a Time?’

For updates on our learning activities, please check our class blog on the website which we update fortnightly.

Best wishes,
The Reception team

 


Tapestry Update 

Dear Parents and Carers,

You may have noticed that we have reduced the number of observations on Tapestry recently. We have received further Tapestry training and this has been a great opportunity to reflect on how we were using this platform. As a team, we realised we were using Tapestry more as a blog and round-up of the week; however, this is the purpose of our class blog on our school website. Tapestry is used for WOW special events as a class (such as school trips and cooking) and to help celebrate key milestones and achievements of your child individually.

We continue to thoroughly enjoy you uploading your own observations of special moments and key learning and development on your child from home. We can also share this as a class in show and tell time. This supports us in celebrating the wonderful accomplishments of your child!

Tapestry will additionally be used to share important messages and information.

Thank you for your continued support.

The Reception team

 


 

Spring 1 - Week 5 - Serious about seven

We have been learning all about the number 7 this week, and the children have taken their number formation very seriously. They filled up their whiteboards with as many number 7s as they possibly could. They absolutely loved this challenge. We extended our learning to find out all the different ways we can make the number 7. First, we used our knowledge of part-part- whole models and next we used the numicon. The children loved finding all the different ways they could add this way. 

In phonics, we have all shown how fabulous we are becoming with our reading and letter formation. Please keep reading the book that the children bring home with them in their book bags as this helps to embed the sounds that the children are currently working on at school, and encourages them to feel confident when we read as part of out phonics sessions. 

In our wider curriculum areas the children have been super busy creating clay animals and habitats, construction, writing and talking about polar animals and helping our little penguins escape from the block of ice!

Next week, we have our exciting trip to Eden. Please bring in your children at the normal time dressed in their school uniform. They will also need a waterproof coat, hat and gloves. If you have not ordered a packed lunch for that day, please ensure your child brings their own packed lunch. Also, don't forget to pack a water bottle. We will return back to school for the usual collection time of 3:10. 

We hope  you have lovely weekend.

Best wishes,

The Reception Team 

 


 

Spring 1 - Week 4 - We came, we thawed, we conquered. 

This week we had fun exploring the question 'What is ice?'. The children had some lovely ideas of where we might find ice, and some had an idea of what ice was. We discussed what ice was made from, and talked about how we could make ice ourselves. We then looked at a cup of water that we had left in the freezer overnight and discussed how it had changed from the day before. The children absolutely loved to feel and look at the ice. They explained that it had frozen, that the water wasn't a liquid any more and that it felt hard to touch. We left the ice in the classroom for the rest of the day to see what happened. The children were delighted to tell us that the ice was melting and getting smaller, and that there was now water in the bowl. 

To continue our icy theme, the children used ice cubes which had paint in to do large mark making in the creative area. They also designed and made snowmobiles and had fun in our investigation area with the fake snow and polar bears.

In maths, we explored the number 6 looking at how to write it, where we can find the number 6 around us, how we can make 6 with our part-part-whole model and how this leads into combing numbers (adding). 

The children have had an absolutely fantastic time in our outside area this week, where we have been able to put out some new equipment and resources. They have been so respectful and careful with all their new things. They have particularly loved the new water tables, ramps and den making equipment. 

We hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Best wishes,

The Reception Team 



 


 

Spring 1 - Week 3- Winter is snow much fun!

We have had such a fantastic week learning all about the polar regions, and to top it off on Thursday we had snow! We made the most of this rare occurrence in Cornwall, and got ourselves outside before it thawed!

We have been learning all about who lives in the Artic, what they wear and eat and quite importantly, their homes. The children are becoming real experts. We spent some time also thinking about how Wadebridge compares to living in the polar regions, where the children compared photos of these two places. They recognised that it isn't as snowy here, that we have cars not snowmobiles and they said they don't have a McDonalds in the polar regions!

Maths - We have been learning all about mass and capacity this week. The children were able to recognise when the scale was balanced or, if it wasn't, which side was heavier or lighter. They really enjoyed our last session on capacity where they got to show how accurate they were with their pouring.

Reading - We love hearing the children applying their phonics learning in their reading and writing. They are so proud of how they are doing, as are we.

Reminders - Library is on a Thursday. Please make sure that library books come in on this day. Also, please ensure that if your child needs a school meal that these are ordered in advance via Parent Pay. 

We hope you have a good weekend.

Best wishes,

The Reception Team

 


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Our Values...

Creativity

Creative

We are bold and innovative in our approach to find new solutions to the challenges we face.

Curiosity

Curious

We are inspired by the awe and wonder of the world.

Integrity

Responsible

We take responsibility for our actions in an environment of mutual respect.

Enthusiasm

Enthusiastic

We are passionate about learning.

Excellence

Excellent

We are the best we can be.

Determination

Determined

We overcome all barriers to reach our potential, developing a capacity to improve further.


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