Our Learning > Our Classes

Hello from Lilac and Willow, what a great week we’ve had in Reception.

This week

We started our week by revisiting the Nativity story.  The children were able to remember that this is a special story for Christians, as it tells us about the First Christmas when baby Jesus was born.  The children also recognised that our Nativity play Whoops-a-daisy Angel is similar to the Nativity Story.  The version of the Nativity story the children heard had some actions to help with telling the story and as you can imagine, the children joined in and made for a lovely retelling of the story.

We then spent some time talking about churches and how they are special places of worship for Christians.  We discovered why people might go to church, some of the activities and events that take place in a church, the artefacts and objects they might see and what Christmas is like in a church.

As the week continued, we focussed our learning on the different traditions people have when celebrating Christmas in the UK.  It was fantastic hearing the children share their own experiences of Christmas, as well as other festivals and celebrations the take part in with their friends and families.

Our week of main teaching and learning ended with us looking at Christmas celebrations from the Victorian period.  The children discovered that many of the traditions the we have and enjoy now originated from Victorian times.  We learnt about Christmas gifts, food, decorations, games and songs and discussed how things were the same and how they were different between the past and now.

In Maths, we spent time recapping all of our learning so far this half term as well as “digging deeper” with challenges in each area of learning.  The children were able to demonstrate their understanding of subitising, representing numbers to 5, composition of numbers to 5 using a 5s frame and the part-whole model and showing 1 more and 1 less of a given amount.  The children have worked so hard this term and were able to demonstrate a good understanding of these key maths concepts – well done Reception!

Next week

• We will be performing out EYFS Nativity Whoops-a-daisy Angel. Once the video is ready we will notify you of where and how you can view it.
• We will be learning about other countries around the world and discovering:
  • Where the country is
  • What the climate is like
  • What language is spoken including learning how to say Hello and Happy Christmas
  • Key landmarks
  • Traditions celebrated during Christmas
  • What the national flag is
• In Phonics, we will be revisiting and reviewing all of the sounds learnt so far throughout Phase 2, continuing to practise reading our tricky words as well as applying our phonic knowledge when reading and writing.
• In Maths, we will continue recapping all of our learning so far this half term.
• We will be making Christmas hats ready for our School Christmas Dinner and Christmas Jumper Day on Wednesday 15^th
• We will be enjoying our Christmas parties on Thursday 16^th
• We will be enjoying a Movie afternoon on Friday 17^th December (with thanks to the SLPA).

Supporting your child at home

• As we move from Autumn to Winter, the children will be wearing clothes to keep them warm. Encourage your child to practise putting on gloves and wellies, as well as zipping up their coats.
• Go on a Winter walk with your child and look around at the things that have changed since the summer before they started school.
• Tell your child a number. Place this number of raisins or cereal pieces on their plate or bowl.  If you say ‘one more’ encourage your child to add one more and say the number they have.  If you say ‘one less’, allow your child to eat one then count the number they have left.

Any other information

• JUNK MODELLING – Thank you so much for your donations, we very much appreciate them. If possible, please could we ask for small boxes with thin cardboard as they children can find thick cardboard slightly trickier to model with.
• WATER BOTTLES – We have noticed quite a few children bringing metal water bottles into school.  They are quite heavy. We would prefer younger children to have plastic water bottles to avoid any injury if they are dropped or used inappropriately.  Many thanks for your understanding.
• SCOOTERS ON SITE – Please remember, in order to keep everyone safe, children should not ride scooters on school grounds.
• END OF TERM – School finishes Tuesday 21^st December at 2pm.
• SPRING TERM 2022 – School will be closed for Staff INSET training Wednesday 5^th January 2022. Children will return to school on Thursday 6^th January 2022.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Fisher and Mr French
Willow and Lilac Class Teachers