Friday 15th September

The children have been amazing this week. They have coped really well with staying for lunch and for three whole days! We have been very impressed. They have been able to choose their lunch quickly, so many thanks to all the parents who are reading through the menu in the morning.  

Thank you to all the parents who made it to our Reception Induction meeting. We hope that you found it useful. We realise there is a lot of information to take in. Please feel free to come and ask if you have any questions. This meeting will be repeated next Tuesday at 9.15am. The slides will be posted on the school website for those who are unable to attend.

The children have been getting to know the different areas of the classroom this week and learning how to access resources and how we look after school equipment and tidy up after ourselves.

The children have been very focused in ChIL and this has given us a chance to chat to the children assessing  their phonic and mathematical knowledge which will inform our planning, giving us a baseline to start from.

Have a lovely weekend,
The Year R Team

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Friday 8th September

Welcome to Reception!




We have been very impressed with the way in which the children have come into the classroom each day. There have been a few tears at drop off, but we would like to assure you that they stop very quickly and all the children are then happy at school.  The children have been fantastic at listening and following instructions and seem to be settling quickly into the school routine. Next week please can your children line up with their book bag, water bottle and coat and we will help them put everything away.




This week we will not be posting photographs on the blog as the children have been wearing name stickers and we never name a child with their picture.  Parents in the past have said how nice it is to see their child on the blog. It enables you to see what they have been doing and how happy they are at school. In order for your child to be on the blog you must provide consent on the form which can be amended in the office.






Timetable for next week
On Monday and Tuesday all the children will be staying for lunch and going home at 1.30. It would be extremely helpful if you could discuss the lunch choices with your child each morning and encourage them to choose something that you think they will enjoy. You should all have been provided with the latest menu.


From Wednesday all children will be in full-time, with pick-up at 3.15pm. If someone different is picking your child up from school please either write it on the board outside the classroom or email the office.




Next week is our first Parent Induction meeting on Thursday 12th September at 9.15am in the hall. The same meeting is then repeated on Tuesday 19th September at 9.15am.




Show and Tell will be on Wednesday afternoons. Each colour group will be allocated a Wednesday in which they have Show and Tell. We will remind the children which colour group they are in. This term we would like the children to talk about themselves and their family, sharing any information about celebrations and customs. Your child may wish to bring in some photographs to help them talk. It would help if your child practised at home.

Date	Colour group
Wed 13th Sept	Red
Wed 20st Sept	Blue
Wed 27th Sept	Orange
Wed 4th Oct	Yellow
Wed 11th Oct	Green

If you would like your child to have milk please order it online. For more details look in your 'Starting School' information pack.


Please could you ensure that all of your child's belongings are labelled - jumpers, water bottles, coats, wellies and shoes.


We go outside whatever the weather, please could all children wear appropriate clothes e.g. a coat if it's likely to rain. All children need to have a pair of named wellies which can be kept at school.




It's lovely to see children coming to school on their scooters, please could they be taken home or left in the Junior school bike shelter behind the carpark.


We look forward to seeing you at the induction meeting.
Have a lovely weekend,


The Year R Team

Stockwood Park

The children really enjoyed their first school trip to Stockwood Park!

 

In literacy this week the children have been writing lists of all the things we saw on our school trip.  They learnt to start each new item on the next line always starting on the left hand side.

We also used all the junk modelling boxes and materials to create our own vehicles.  The children had to think carefully about what vehicle they wanted to make and the resources they were going to use.

As the sun has been shining and Spring is now here, the children took part in a Spring walk around the school.  They noticed the changes that have happened in the environment and also visited the allotment on the field.

In Maths we have been learning all about symmetry.  The children have been finding lines of symmetry using mirrors and challenged themselves to make symmetrical patterns that are the  same on both sides!

Next week we will be learning about Easter.  The children are going to use the wax resist technique to design different patterns on Easter eggs.  We are also going to make Easter nests, using shredded wheat and chocolate to create the nests and adding in a mini egg or two!

The children are going to make a class book all about the signs of Spring they found on their walk.

As we are having this sunny weather, can you please make sure you put suncream on your children in the morning as we can not apply the cream during the day.

All children need to bring a water bottle to school with them everyday.

On Friday there will be a celebration assembly at 9:15 for parents.

Show and tell next week will be the yellow group. 

Have a lovely weekend

A big thank-you to everyone who came along to help.

Here are some photographs of our day!

Goodbye

This is a strange time of year.

On one hand we are all looking forward to the summer holidays but on the other we are really sad as we have to say goodbye to the wonderful Ducks and Robins. We also say goodbye to the children who are leaving Crabtree. We wish them both lots of happiness and good times in their new schools.

The last two days were really busy (as always). The leavers assembly was wonderful, you could see by how well our children sat that they were as interested as the grown ups in everything that the year children had to sing and say to us. Good luck in the juniors year two! 

We spent some of our time cleaning up and sorting out the reception unit - the children were really helpful especially when it came to moving all of the old sand from the sand pit to the area next to the path - anyone looking in will notice that the rough area is now beautifully covered in bark and now looks much more inviting!   

Our talent show was lovely too. The children confidently shared jokes, dances, karate moves, drumming, poems, songs and lots more with us and we all had a lovely time. 

We would all like to thank you for the very genreous gifts that you gave us at the end of term - you are very kind. Obviously the gifts are greatly appreciated but the books with the children's contributions and the cards and letters are so very special. One child wrote 'Thank you for making me happy' what more can any teacher ask for?

So as this is the final blog for this year we would like to say thank you to all of the children and parents in reception 2010/2011 and to wish you all a fantastic summer holiday. We look forward to seeing the new Woodpeckers and Kingfishers in September - remember that children in all year groups are allowed to hug past teachers!

Look at the fun we had at Bekonscot!

Thank you so much to all the parents that helped.

On Tuesday at 2:00pm it is our Teddy Bear's Picnic!

This week we are going to be writing invitations to the picnic and writing labels for our Teddy Bears so they do not become lost! We are also going to be making cakes and sandwiches for the picnic.

(Please provide your child with a savoury snack)

At the Picnic we will play some circle games, eat our sandwiches and cakes and sing you some Teddy Bear songs!

(Parents of junior children please feel free to come and go)

We look forward to seeing you at the Picnic

Please remember to bring your Teddy and a Picnic blanket!

Bekonscot!

Look what we did when it was hot!

This week we have been making story maps! We made our own story maps (a sequence of pictures) for the story of 'Rosie's Walk'. All the children were able to re-tell the stories using actions and the story map to help them. Here are photographs of our story maps!

Ducks Robins

The children then had a go at making up their own version of the story and changed the characters and the obstacles in the story.

Next week we are going to write our stories using our story maps to help us!

On Monday we are going to Bekonscot Model Village.

http://www.bekonscot.co.uk/

The children are going to look around the village, have a train ride and sketch some of the houses in the Village.

Remember to bring a packed lunch in a named plastic carrier bag with 2 screw top bottles of drink, wear school uniform, comfortable shoes and a waterproof coat!

Next week in Maths we are going to be practicing our addition skills using money, to help us to recognise different coins. We are also going to be recognising and naming 3D shapes and their properties, such as the number of sides/corners they have and if the sides are flat or curved.

Sports Day!

We had SO much fun on our Sports Day!

We all took part in different activities and cheered on all our friends. Here are some photographs of us.

This week we were focussing on 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. The children had great fun learning about the life cycle of the butterfly and we all acted out the sequence of the cycle. We have painted our own symmetrical butterflies using different objects to print with. The children wrote their own versions of the story and changed the food they ate and what they were going to turn into! We learnt lots of interesting facts about butterflies and caterpillars and made our own fact files.

Next week we are going to be learning all about 'Rosie's Walk' by Pat Hutchings. The children are going to learn the story by acting and using a story map. (Writing the story in pictures) We are then going to change the characters and other parts of the story and write our own versions of the story.

The children's new classes have been put on the Newsletter.

Robins are going to be Kingfishers with Miss Bucus

Ducks are going to be Woodpeckers with Miss Vela

Hope to see you tomorrow at the summer fair! (11:30 - 2:30)