The children were very excited when the chicks that Nursery had hatched came to visit us. They enjoyed observing them and creating pictures of them! We have also learnt how important instructions are. We followed them to make Easter nests and then enjoyed eating them!

The children have enjoyed finding out about why some animals migrate. Some of the reasons for migration included temperature, food and water availability, We found out about Bella the butterfly, Zara the zebra, Gary the goose and Holly the humpback whale! We have played lots of games and acted events out to help our understanding. When we were talking about geese migration they loved acting out the ‘v’ formation and moving together like a flock of geese. I wonder if they can tell you about it at home?

This week in Reception we have loved learning about our five senses through a range of activities.

To find out more about our sense of touch we put our hand into a freely box and told our group about what we could feel. We used words such as soft, rough and squishy.

We learnt that the taste buds on our tongue help us to taste. We tried some different foods to help us understand that tastes can be sour, salty, sweet and bitter.

For our sense of sight we enjoyed going for a walk around the school grounds to look for signs of spring.

We took time use our sense of hearing, using our ears to listen carefully to the sounds around us when we were inside and outside.

The children’s reactions to different smells, when we were learning about how our nose helps us to smell, was rather interesting. The garlic was not very popular!

This week the children have enjoyed spending time in the art area painting the ‘Big Bad Wolf’. We learnt how to mix different shades of grey and talked about the shapes needed to create him.

This week Reception enjoyed a visit to the local church where Rev. Sharon met us to help us learn more about what a church is and how it is used. We found out that a church is a place where some Christians come to worship. Rev. Sharon had organised a special activity for the children. She had taken photos of some of the different objects in the church and the children had to try and find them. They had fun exploring the church and finding out about the different objects.

Thank you to the parents who were able to join us and help.

This week in Reception we have enjoyed learning about Lunar New Year. We listened to a story and found out that this year is the year of the horse. We were lucky to have Mrs Bentley and Audrey’s parents as visitors who shared their experiences with the children. Thank you!

This week we have found even more ways to tell stories. We enjoyed sharing a video, from the National Literacy Trust, called ‘Rhythm and wriggles singalong’ with a poet called Simon Mole and his musician friend Gecko. We used body percussion to encourage some ‘magic’ worms to appear on the screen and worked hard to keep a beat. Simon and Gecko used their imaginations to create a story about a worm. In PE on Wednesday we moved around the hall like wriggly worms. On Friday we had fun creating our own stories about worms during our ‘story squiggle’ session!

We have had fun learning all about birds during our ‘Bird Watching’ week. The children have been getting creative making lots of bird pictures and learning how to draw them. They have had fun in our bird small world area and also looking for real birds in our outdoor area. We really appreciated some Year 5 children, who have their own bird watching group, coming down and sharing their knowledge with the Reception children. They worked really hard on their presentation and made it really interactive!

The children were very excited this week when they spotted a fire engine in the car park. We decided to go out and get a closer look! Firefighter Dan talked to the children about the job of a firefighter and showed us lots of the different equipment that is stored in the fire engine. He explained the importance of tidying up and putting things away in their correct places so they are always ready to go to an emergency when needed!

The children were very excited by the arrival of a police van on our playground on Wednesday! Thank you so much to community support officers Sarah and Paul for sharing their knowledge with the children and answering their many questions! For the children the highlights included trying on the uniform, seeing the flashing lights, listening to the sirens and climbing into the back of the van to try out the cell!