Reception

So far we have made lots of new friends, learnt some new rhymes, drawn and painted portraits of ourselves, played in the home corner and sandwich shop, worked on our fine motor skills and played outside.

We are really enjoying Reception and can't wait for what comes next.

Blackpool Zoo

We had the most amazing trip to Blackpool Zoo as part of our work on Around the World. We enjoyed learning about the different animals, especially those from Africa and their habitats. It was a very hot day, so we were very lucky to see the animals outside in their enclosures. The children had a brilliant day and were a credit to Denton West End! Thank you to all who came and helped us!

Growing

We have been reading the story 'Jack and the Beanstalk' this half term. Children have planted beans to see if their beanstalks will grow up all the way to their castles! We will be watching them closely and seeing how the bean changes and talking about what it needs to grow. We will be measuring our bean using non-standard measures, such as cubes and writing a weekly bean diary to note the changes that we can see. Fingers crossed!

Terrible Beasts

Inspired by the class reading book, ‘Billy and the Beast,' children designed their own ‘Terrible’ Beasts as part of their Computing work. They thought about the features that their Beast would have and what colours they would use.

They then made their Beast speak. To do this, we used the app Chatterpix Kids. Children added their picture by taking a photograph and drawing a line across the character's mouth. They then recorded themselves, trying to use expression in their voices. The children were also able add stickers and text if they wanted too. Below are a few examples of the videos that the children made. We hope that you agree that their Beasts are terrifyingly terrible!

Chicks

Children were able to spend some time with the chicks from the nursery. We asked questions about the chicks to find out what sticky knowledge the children had from learning about the chicks last year. It was lovely to see them.

Spring Maths Learning

It is important that children develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, ‘have a go’, talk to adults and peers about what they notice and not be afraid to make mistakes. During the Spring term we have been using lots of manipulatives and learning maths through the NCTEM and Numberblocks. We have read the stories Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins and Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh. Children have also sequenced their day and drawn maps at home showing their route to school. Our EYFS Knowledge Organiser (above) will help you to know what your child should know by the end of the reception year.

World Book Day

Children dressed up as their favourite book character for World Book Day this year. Children brought in their favourite stories, wrote a book review, coloured in bookmarks, decorated masks and hats and we listened to the 'Masked Reader', guessing which teacher was reading us the story. We found this hilarious!

Reading, Steady, Read (Tameside Libraries)

Reception children took part in a virtual visit, with 2 Boards and a Passion theatre company. The actors told us the story of the 'Little Red Riding Hood.' We learnt a song, joined in with the actions and voices and shared our ideas. It was lovely to see the children so engaged and excited to meet and listen to them.

Let's Talk About Teeth

As part of our learning about people who help us we looked at how to look after our teeth and what foods we should eat. Children had lots of fun using the large teeth and toothbrushes and looking at the stories and information books.

Fairy Tale Day

This term, Reception celebrated fairy tale day by dressing up as our favourite fairy tale character.

Sean Perkins

Children were visited by the author Sean Perkins. They enjoyed listening to his new story 'Oscar and Ben, The Birthday Party.' Children had the opportunity to purchase the book and have it signed by Sean.

Chinese Food Tasting

As part of our Chinese New Year celebrations, we tasted lots of different Chinese food. On the menu were noodles, prawn crackers and lychee. The most popular was the prawn crackers which the children said were delicious!

Reading Party

We have been reading the book 'Mr Wolf and the Three Bears' by Jan Fearnley. As part of our learning children planned a reading party. We wrote invitations to each other and wrote a list of the things that we needed to buy for the party. On the afternoon of the party we had a great time celebrating with our friends!

Sandwich Making

Children designed, made and wrote instructions on how to make a sandwich.

Winter Welly Walk

The children wrapped up warm and put on their wellies for our winter walk around the school grounds. On the walk, the children noticed ice and frost on the grass, plants and trees. The mud on the field had frozen and it was hard to walk on. As we spoke, we could see our own breath. The children noticed that most trees had no leaves and could see that all the leaves that had fallen in autumn were on the ground. They had all turned brown. Along the way, we collected lots of twigs and sticks that we found.

When we returned to school, we talked about what we had seen and compared this to our autumn walk. The children then made winter pictures and looked at aerial photographs of our school and drew their own maps of our school field .

Ice Experiment

The children used all their senses to explore ice. They described what the ice felt and looked like using words such as cold, wet and slimy. We then predicted whether hot water, cold water, salt or sugar would melt the ice the fastest. Children used spoons and pipettes to test their predictions. They watched the ice melt and kept returning to see what was happening to it. We then talked about the results and whether our predictions were correct. It was a very exciting experiment.

Reading Challenge Reward Autumn Term

Well done to all the children who completed the reading challenge. We had a fantastic day in our costumes, playing games, drinking chocolate milk and eating biscuits. You should be really proud of yourselves. Keep it up!

Christmas Nativity Show

Reception and all of the EYFS children have been working so hard this term to learn their lines, remember new songs and practice their dance routines. All the children did an amazing job and all the staff are very proud of them. Well done everyone!

Maths Week

Maths week is a whole week dedicated to helping children become more engaged with Maths as a topic and a hobby. Maths week is about encouraging children to appreciate the amazing things in our world which use maths. Let’s prove to all of our children just how fun and useful maths is beyond school! This week children used lots of resources to count, build, problem solve and investigate numbers and patterns.

On Wednesday 16th November, children dressed up as their favourite Numberblocks character from numbers 1-5. They brought in objects to match that number.

Both classes also worked with Miss Varney, a Maths consultant who works throughout school. Children used Numicon and read the book 'One is a Snail, 10 is a Crab' by April Sayre and Jeff Sayre. We have been very busy!

Odd Socks Day

On Monday 19^th October, children came to school wearing odd socks. Odd Socks Day is an opportunity to encourage people to express themselves and celebrate their individuality and what makes us all unique.

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day is the one day a year that we stop to remember the fallen soldiers. Children painted poppies and completed writing patterns. We all sat beautifully for the 2 minutes silence at 11am.

Autumn Welly Walk

To introduce our new story 'The Leaf Thief' by Alice Hemming, the Reception children went on an Autumn walk to explore the changes the season brings and to see if we could find Sam's missing red leaf from the story. Children enjoyed talking about what they could see, hear, feel and smell. We also collected Autumnal objects along the way to make Autumn collages and pictures.

The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming

We have attached the story below for you to enjoy together at home.

Welcome to Reception

We'd like to give a warm welcome to all of our Reception families this year. The children have settled really well! We are looking forward to watching your children learn and grow throughout this coming year.

The children have been busy getting to know their new friends and our classroom rules and routines. We are reading books that help us to talk about our wonderful families and friends and have been looking at the numbers 1,2 and 3.