Whilst school is closed, I will be updating the class page on a weekly basis with a weekly learning map and interactive activities. Please check back regularly for these updates.

If you have any specific curriculum questions during this period, please do not hesitate to send an email to the following address:

receptionbates@outlook.com

I will be checking this email on a daily basis. 

It would be fantastic to hear all about the children's home learning experiences, so please share any pictures or videos with me using the email address above. 

Many thanks,

Miss Bates

Forest School

In school, we have been working hard in our new Reception bubbles! At Forest School, we have been collecting natural resources to create mini-beast pictures, come and take a look.

Week 14

This weeks learning map is now available. Take the opportunity to share your child's home learning experiences and any activities you get up to, by emailing some photographs to our class email address. It would be lovely to share how you are getting on with one another. This also gives the children an opportunity to see their friends too!

Language enrichment

Ascension colouring page

Stay active challenges

Oxford Owl Free e-books

We know that you are all working very hard from home. Whilst school and libraries are closed, you might find that you are running out of things to read. The link below is to a website called 'Oxford Owl', if you sign up using an email address you can access lots of free e-books. Also click onto the 'English' page of the curriculum area for more links.

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/books/free-ebooks/

At the moment we are all experiencing a very uncertain period of time whereby we are all unsure what is going to happen in the near future. Below is a link to a story which has been written specifically to explain the Coronavirus epidemic to younger children, and advise them on what they can do to help. Please remember that during this time, children could be confused and worried about the current situation, so this story may help them understand it a little better.

https://nosycrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Coronavirus_INS.pdf

Please complete the daily calendar each morning, using the interactive videos below. As you work through each video discuss with your child the key questions in their home learning books. 

Ask your child:

• What day is it today?
• What day will it be tomorrow?
• What month of the year is it?
• What the weather is like today?
• To draw a picture of what the weather is like today, you can use the symbols to help.
• How will they need to dress today?
• What season are we in?

Remind your child to scribe what the weather is like in their home leaning book each day.Also discuss the structure of your day and what that will involve. 

Phonics

Below are some interactive 

phonics videos, your child will be familiar with these as they are used regularly in the classroom.

Please use these resources to help your child's early reading skills.

Ways to use these videos:

• Encourage your child to join in with the familiar songs.
• Pause the videos at different points and ask your child if they can think of an item with the same initial sound. 
• Find an item around your home with the same sound. 

Please make use of the free subscription to the Phonics Play website whilst your child is learning from home.

Week 7

This weeks Home Learning Map is now available. Don't forget to send pictures to our class email so I can see how hard you are all working!

The Rainbow Fish challenge

Maths Challenge

Can you go on a number hunt around your home or community?

Yellow Phonics Group

Orange Phonics Group

Red Phonics Group

A huge well done to the children that took part in the Easter bonnet competition. I can see you all worked very hard, they are fantastic!

Well done to our winner Oliwia. You have been very busy!

Week 5

Below is the learning map for this week. There are lots of activities on the map that can be completed using the resources from the home learning pack and/or everyday objects from around the house.

Below are some recommended websites that are mentioned on this week's home learning map

https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/food-facts/five-a-day

https://www.thespruceeats.com/salad-recipes-for-kids-2098905

https://www.todaysparent.com/recipes/salad-20-delicious-kid-approved-recipes/#gallery/delicious-kid-approved-salads/slide-8

https://www.myfussyeater.com/top-20-kid-friendly-salad-recipes/

https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/kid-salad/bba2ca5c-7237-46d6-b155-b0ec90c710d6

Weekly learning map

Week 4

Hello Reception,

I hope you all had a lovely Easter break and are staying safe. I am so impressed with the beautiful work you have been doing. Don't forget to send me some pictures of what you are up to!

This weeks learning map is now available below.

Keep up the hard work!

Miss Bates :)

Language enrichment

Talk to your child about what they can see and what is happening in the picture below.

Encourage them to ask question too.

Hi Reception,

Hope you are all doing well. I’m so impressed to hear about all the wonderful work that you have been completing at home from your ‘Home Learning Maps’ during the last 3 weeks. Your grown-ups have been sending me pictures of your work and it is lovely to see all the great things you have been doing whilst staying safe at home.  We know that this is not easy for you but all your adults at St Thomas’ are incredibly proud of all of you and we are missing you lots!

Lots of Love

Miss Bates

Easter Bonnet

This would have been the stat of your Easter holidays, so we will not be setting a home learning map. However, we would still like to keep you busy whilst having fun. Over the holidays we are setting an Easter competition, we would like you to decorate an Easter Bonnet. You may want to design your bonnet first in your home learning book. Then, you can think about what materials you will use around your home to decorate your bonnet. Once you have designed and decorated your bonnet, email a photograph to receptionbates@outlook.com no later than Friday 17th April. Mr Deane will choose the winning bonnet and a prize will be posted to them the following week!

Holiday Diary

During the Easter break, we would also like you to draw a picture in your home learning book each day of how you are feeling and the things you have been doing/going to do that day. 

Maths

Please use the interactive videos below to help your child with their counting skills.

Previous Home Learning Resources

Below are the resources from all the previous week's home learning packs. You are welcome to continue accessing these if you feel this would be useful.

Welcome to Reception B's Class page 

Miss Bates

Mrs McGrath

Mrs Olisa

We have been getting stuck in this week and planting in Reception. We planted some sunflower seeds to observe how they grow and change. The children are very excited to see the results and we will be sure to share them!

The children have also been investigating with cress. We decided to see what happens to the cress when grown with sunlight and water, or no light or water. All the children made their own predictions on what they thought might happen. 

As the children took such good care of the chicks, Farmer David wanted our help with some of the other animals. The children had a fantastic time feeding and petting the animals. We listened very carefully as Farmer David told us some information about the different animals he brought along with him 

Our Visitors

The children came into school to find we had some very special visitors to EYFS. The children waited patiently for the chicks to hatch we spent some time learning how to take care of the baby chicks and keep them safe. The children were very excited to see how the chicks were doing and on Tuesday they discovered that 7 of them hand pipped their way out of the shell and hatched! The children waited patiently for them to dry off before we very carefully had some time to hold them and have a closer look. We have loved watching the chicks grow. The children have produced some fantastic writing all about the chicks. 

We had lots of fun celebrating Pancake Day, in reception B we used this as an opportunity to explore counting and sharing. First we designed our pancakes and which toppings we would like and then we enjoyed eating them!

In Reception we are working very hard with our phonics and reading. Throughout the year their will be meetings that parents and carers will be invited to in order to support your child's reading progress at home. As part of the reading scheme your child will soon bring home a reading book, the children are very excited about this. Every child is on their own reading journey and we are working very hard in school, the children will have a home reading book at different times in Reception. 

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to ask a member of the Reception team. 

Over the next few weeks Reception will be taking part in lots of wonderful activities in the run up to Christmas. We are feeling very excited for the celebrations.

We have been very busy in Reception, in Maths we have been focusing on our numbers!

Everyday we practise counting forwards and backwards, we love to show off our skills - ask your children to count at home! We start by counting to 12, then we move on to counting up to 15, and next up to 20 and beyond. Counting backwards is a little more tricky so this is where we may need extra practise. 

In school we have been detectives finding numbers and representations of number around our school environment. Looking out in the local community for different numbers is also lots of fun. Ask your children can they see any around: on the street signs, doors or inside your local supermarket. 

There has been lots of hard work on number formation. Below you can find our number formation guides. These are what we use in school to help the children form their numbers correctly. 

In Reception we have been learning about the changes of season, this half term we have been looking at Autumn.We have enjoyed looking at the different signs of Autumn in our outdoor environment. We collected lots of leaves and other things that had fallen from the trees, after investigating these we used them during Maths to help with our counting. We have looked at different animals and their habitats and made our own bird feeders. We placed these in our outdoor area and we also took some to Forest School.