Hello everyone, what a lovely week it has been in Reception thinking about our local area and Christian wedding celebrations.
This week
We started the week by developing our map and field work skills to learn about the Geography of our school grounds and the local area. We began by looking at satellite maps of the school, ordnance survey maps and road maps. We discussed what a map is and that maps can show us an area of land and that they can be used to show us features and landmarks. The children learnt that maps can also show us where we are and where we are going. We talked about the different symbols used on maps and their meanings. The children then had the opportunity to create their own map of the school and a class map of Hitchin using symbols and included features such as St. Mary’s church, Waitrose, the swimming pool, the library and school. The children learnt about local landmarks in Hitchin. We also used the art of local artist Samuel Lucas to see what Hitchin was like in the past. We used a watercolour painting of Hitchin market to look at how Hitchin has changed over time and the children had a great time making their own water colour paintings too.
Towards the end of the week we were learning about wedding celebrations and how a Christian wedding is celebrated in a church. We used the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton as an example to demonstrate the different aspects of the wedding. The children really enjoyed activities such as making top hats and designing cakes as well as making their own celebratory afternoon tea sandwiches.
In Phonics, the children were looking at CVCC words and further practising how to segment sounds and blend for reading.
In Maths we have been continuing to develop our understanding of teens numbers and number patterns when counting in order to count beyond 20.
Next week
- We will be learning about traditional May Day celebrations.
- We will be reading the story ‘The Tiny Seed’ by Eric Carle.
- We will be thinking about how plants grow, the seasons and seasonal changes.
- In Maths we will be learning about odd and even numbers and doubling.
- In Phonics we will be continuing our learning with CVCC words and using our phonic knowledge when writing words.
Supporting your child at home
- Promote and model active listening skills e.g. “Have I got eyes looking, ears listening, lips closed and hands still so I can concentrate on what you’re saying. This will help your child understand how to listen carefully. This will in turn help children why listening is important to help you learn e.g. “I could tell you were going to say the right answer you were listening so carefully.
- Ask questions to find out more and to check they understand what has been said to them e.g. Show genuine interest in knowing more: “This looks amazing, I need to know more about this.” And think out loud, ask questions to check your understanding; make sure children can answer who, where and when questions before you move on to why and ‘how do you know’ questions: “I wonder why this jellyfish is so dangerous? Ahh, it has poison in its tentacles.”
- Articulate their ideas and thoughts in well-formed sentences, e.g. Build upon their incidental talk: “Your tower is definitely the tallest I’ve seen all week. Do you think you’ll make it any higher?” and instead of correcting speech, model accurate irregular grammar such as past tense, plurals, complex sentences: “That’s right: you drank your milk quickly; you were quicker than me.”
Any other information
- WATER BOTTLES – As the weather starts to improve, please could water bottles be in school each day.
- AFTERNOON SNACK – If you would like you child to have an afternoon snack from home, please provide a fruit/vegetable snack.
- READING BOOKS – Please could book bags be in school each day.
- JUNK MODELLING – Thank you so much for all of the junk you have provided to us, it is always very much appreciated. Please keep it coming!
We hope you have a lovely long weekend.
Mrs Fisher and Mr French
Willow and Lilac Class Teachers
