Summer 1: Glorious Growth

This half-term, our topic is ‘Glorious Growth’. We will find some mysterious seeds and will need to use our inquisitive minds to determine what the seeds are and what they might grow into. We will use information books, the internet, and our own knowledge of growth to help us to identify what our seeds are. Once we have found out that it’s a bean seed, we will think about how to plant seeds and read Jasper’s Beanstalk by Nick Butterworth.  We will try to follow some of Jasper’s planting advice, but the boys and girls in Reception might not always agree with Jasper’s planting techniques and might have to sequence their ideas so that they can help Jasper to improve his planting. We will plant our own beans and take care of them, making sure that they have just the right amount of sunlight and water.

Once our beanstalk starts to grow, we will begin to read Jack and the Beanstalk.  We will let our imaginations run wild as we think about what new land might be at the top of our beanstalks. The boys and girls will use actions as they perform each part of the story, and this will help us to remember the story and be able to orally retell it to our friends. These skills will aid our writing so that we can write sentences, leave finger spaces, and use capital letters and full stops.

Spring 2: The Dinosaur

This half-term, the boys and girls had the opportunity to observe our living eggs hatch into beautiful chicks. We looked after them for a little while and made sure they had everything they needed. When it was time to say goodbye to our chicks, so they could continue to grow in their new homes, we had another very 'egg-citing' discovery! An unusual egg was found in our playground, and it was like nothing we had ever seen before. We made predictions of what could be growing inside the egg and where it had come from. The boys and girls transformed into explorers and went hunting for clues. After a few days, we decided we needed some more help from an expert. We got in touch with a Palaeontologist who helped us take care of the egg until it was ready to hatch. One morning, we were filled with excitement as a small dinosaur had popped out of the egg overnight. The children shared their knowledge of dinosaurs with their friends as we researched the different types of dinosaurs and discussed what they looked like. Sadly, the dinosaur went missing, so the children decided to use their prior knowledge and create a missing poster to help find him. They wrote descriptive sentences using their segmenting fingers to help their spelling. We used our scientific knowledge to find out what our dinosaur likes to eat and left a tasty trail for him to come back to us.  Once our dinosaur had returned, we tried to make him feel safe and happy in the classroom by creating some of our own dinosaur friends for him and volcanoes for him to explore. The excitement didn't stop there because it was time for even more eggs but this time in the form of chocolate eggs. The children learnt all about Easter and the symbolism of eggs during this celebration.

 

Spring 1: Naughty bus

After the Christmas holiday, we came back to school to receive 2 presents left on our teacher’s chair. We opened them and found a little red bus and a book. What does this mean…? Who should we say ‘thank you’ to?

The first few pages of the book have taught us about a big city called London. We have looked at how this city is different from where we live in Redditch and have compared the different landmarks. Lots of children have been very knowledgeable talking about landmarks in Redditch and have identified the water tower, Morton Stanley Park and The Vaynor First School. 

After receiving the little red bus, strange things have started to happen in our classrooms and things are not quite as they should be. As we read more, we discovered that this book is about a ‘Naughty Bus’ and it’s been busy in our school!

The bus continues to cause lots of devastation around our school and outdoor area. Our investigation area has been set up as a pond and outdoor garden. The little red bus drove straight into the pond, and we didn't know what to use to rescue him. We experimented with lots of different tools to discover which ones would help rescue our little red bus and noticed that Naughty Bus was not floating in the water.  The boys and girls were so interested in rescuing Naughty Bus and talking about objects that sink and float that our investigation area was used to create and test our ideas. 

After all the fun, the little red bus is very tired and goes to bed. We talk about how the bus changes as it becomes a night bus. Which animals would it see? How would things look different during the nighttime? What would Naughty Bus do now that he is a night bus? 

The boys and girls are now busy planning new adventures for Naughty Bus!   

Autumn 2: We have settled into school life! 

 

The boys and girls have watched the seasons change from Summer to Autumn. We have been on many welly walks and have collected leaves to create artwork inspired by Andy Goldsworthy.

As a year group, we made a whole school bonfire and enjoyed singing campfire songs and throwing the leaves up and over our heads. We have had so much fun and I know the pictures were enjoyed by family and friends on Tapestry too. As the weather gets colder, we will enjoy observing more changes to our school grounds and perhaps a visit from Jack Frost. We will soon be practising our Nativity and learning many new songs and getting our costumes ready. Watch this space grown-ups! 

Our new topic for this half-term is: 

Firstly, we will be using our prediction skills to find out what is living in our classrooms! We will see the outside come inside and hear some very strange noises ... until we discover a BEAR! 

We have enjoyed using actions to help us retell the story and to help us with our sequencing skills.

Our investigation area has been full of exciting things for us to explore. We have used our senses to explore grass, mud, water and snow and even got to grow grass heads which probably need a haircut by now! 

All the children in Reception were wonderful in our Nativity and sang and said their words with such clarity and enthusiasm. We performed the Nativity on the big stage in the school hall, which was very exciting. 

Our enquiry question: Is the bear trying to make friends with the family? 

 

Autumn 1: We have started school!

All the teachers would like to thank the new boys and girls of Reception 2023 for settling into Reception life so well. They have embraced new routines, friendships and classrooms with enthusiasm and a determination to achieve.

We have already started to recognise our names on our coat pegs, box files and reading folders so that we ensure we remember where to find our belongings. 

The children have devised their own class rules to keep our friends happy and safe. We are trying very hard to follow them and enjoy moving up the zone board for trying our best! 

 

Sharing books and Little Wandle books have gone home, and we are trying hard to get those 5 signatures a week (checked every Monday) so that we receive a stamp on our reading chart. Grown-ups don't forget to look carefully at the RED reading challenge letter and help us to keep our Vaynor reading promise. Sharing books are brought back into school and changed for a new one that day. Little Wandle books are brought back on a Monday and a new book will be given out on a Thursday.

Our fingers and thumbs have been working extremely hard, and we are trying to strengthen those muscles to help develop our pencil grip. We have enjoyed exploring the funky fingers table and using the playdough, threading, pencil control sheets and name writing activities. We are working towards our dynamic tripod grip by using our 'pinchy fingers'!

In Maths we are learning to develop subitising skills (saying how many objects are in a group without counting them). We are also developing our one to one correspondence skills, recognising numerals, ordering numbers, creating a repeating pattern and singing number songs and rhymes. 

Finally, we ask Walt the puppet what we are learning about each day. He is a little cheeky at times, but we all like getting to know him.

Here is a picture of Walt: 

Our Topic this term is: Marvellous Me!

We have been thinking hard about what makes us unique, and the teachers have already sent home the 'Marvellous Me' bag/box. Each child will have the opportunity to fill this with items that are special to them. We will all get a chance to explain and share why they are so important to us and display them in our classrooms. 

We have an Investigation Area in our classrooms and have been busy using our senses to explore what we look like and who we are. We have particularly enjoyed the smelling pots and using our sense of smell to guess what might be inside each pot. 

Soon it will be Walt's birthday and we are guessing how old he might be, making preparations for his party and thinking about our birthdays and how we celebrate them. 

Our enquiry question is: Are we all the same?

We will be exploring our favourite things, our special people and our happy places. We will learn to understand that everyone is unique and has different special qualities. We will learn to tolerate and be interested in others as we settle into our new classrooms.