Supporting Soccer Aid in Reception

Today was a great day in Reception. We all wore special sports clothes to support Soccer Aid by UNICEF . We talked about what the charity does and looked at what our money could go towards. We also explored why it was so important that children learn and play. We talked about  how lucky we are in our class because we can read, write and play everyday! We explored our right to play and made links by looking at different pictures. We love being a Rights Respecting School. Thank you to all the grown ups who donated in our Reception classes today.

RB's picnic in the sunshine!

RB had a lovely afternoon having a class picnic outside on the grass. RB gained all their marbles in the jar and voted for a picnic in the sunshine. We made our own sandwiches and got to spread them by ourselves. We sat next to friends in the big playground and played games using the giant scrunchie and parachute.

Science Week in Reception

Last week was Science week!  In Reception we did lots of exploring and discovering.

We looked at what happened to water when we put it in the freezer and then once it was frozen, we thought about how to get the objects out.  We then discovered that when the ice warmed up, it turned back into water!

We also made bubbles and used different shaped objects to blow them - but the bubbles were still round!

Finally, we made a balloon rocket!  We used the materials pictured and we talked about what makes the balloon move.  Try it yourself!

Reception loved being scientists! Well done!

RG's Treat

RG have been superstars and filled up the class reward jar with marbles! They chose to make their own jam or cheese spread sandwiches and have a picnic as their treat.

Well done RG!

RG Planting Potatoes!

This week we planted our potatoes. We talked about what the potatoes need to grow. These were... the soil, light and water. 

We are looking forward to watching them grow and especially eating them once they are ready. Yum!

Early Years Sing Up Day!

Today was Sing Up day.  We started our day with a fantastic assembly lead by Mrs Bullas and we did lots of singing! 

Ask your child to sing you one of the songs.

Road Safety in Reception

On Tuesday, we had a visit from 'Bike- it Jen' from Sustrans, who talked to us about the benefits of walking, cycling or scooting to school and how to keep safe.

Some of the many benefits of walking to school include:

• good exercise
• fresh air
• lots to see and talk about

Here are some 'Green Cross Code' top tips on how to stay safe when walking near the road:

• Think - find a safe space to cross (zebra crossing, pelican crossing, lollipop person etc)  - never between parked cars
• Stop - keep a safe distance from the road
• Use your eyes and ears - never cross when listening to music or using a mobile phone
• Wait until it is clear or the cars have stopped - both ways
• Look and listen
• Walk, never run
• Wear bright/reflective clothing when it's dark

If you are unable to walk to school, Jenny also talked about how to stay safe in the car. Her tips included:

• Always wear your seatbelt
• Don't play with the car doors
• Remind the driver never to use their phone while driving

For more information, please visit www.sustrans.org.uk 

Rights Respecting and Global Learning in Reception

Today in Reception we thought about how we can make the World a better place. 

Children thought really hard about what we could do to make our environment a happier place for everyone; these are the ideas they came up with...

• Put rubbish in the bin and recycle
• Save water and remember to turn off taps
• Be kind to each other
• Keep rooms clean and tidy
• Always try our best
• Look after toys, equipment etc.
• Be nice and share with others
• Help each other

Didn't they do well!!? We are all going to remember to do these things in Reception from now on.

KS1 and Reception Disco!

We have some very spooky pictures to share with you... Be warned! KS1 and Reception have had a fantastic time at their disco. What spooky costumes they all had! Even some of the grown ups dressed up! I bet you can't guess who the children are behind the masks!!!

Every Child a Talker Parent Workshop

Today we had a parent workshop for helping to develop communication and language in Early Years.  Jan Stevens is a speech and language therapist who now delivers training to parents and educators across Southampton. 

Together we looked at 'top tips' for helping children develop their communication and language, how singing nursery rhymes aid children with their reading skills and how developing children's muscles in their mouth can help speech sounds and being active by doing large arm movements can develop writing skills.  

Parents who attended were given a free resource pack including games and listening ears to play with their children at home.

Please feel free to come and checkout our ECaT (Every Child a Talker) display in Nursery for top tips or speak to a member of staff!

Every Child a Talker Parent Session

Every Child a Talker is a national initiative designed to help develop children's communication and language skills.

On Tuesday 1st December we had a parents workshop run by an Early Language Consultant and Speech and Language Therapist called Jan.  We talked about stages children develop language and barriers to their learning. 

Parents were given lots of ideas to help them develop their child's language at home and a free pack was given with lots of games and activities.

Look out for future family learning workshops!

ECaT Talking Tip of the Month

Our 'Every Child a Talker; Talking Tip of the Month' is to develop children's oral blending and segmenting skills.  This helps to tune your child in to hearing sounds in words, which will help with their reading and writing.  

You can help to develop your child's awareness of blending and segmenting by modelling breaking down sounds in words. For example; "Where is the c-a-t?" Or "Can you see the r-e-d c-ar?". 

Remember to say the sounds as they are heard in a word, using a soft voice.

Please see a member of staff if you would like any more information.

National Sing Up Day in RG

Yesterday we had a brilliant day doing some extra signing for National Sing Up Day. Our topic at the moment is 'Growing' and in RE we have been learning about new life. Mrs Bullas has taught us The Chicken Song and we love it!

RG E-Safety

Today is E-Safety day and we have been doing lots of learning about how to stay safe on the computer. We read a story and helped Smartie the penguin make good choices while on the computer and have learnt that when online we need to remember to Lock it, Block it, Show it, Tell it. We learnt actions to go with each one and made a poster on what it means. We will put them up next to our computers to help us remember what each one means. Come and have a look at our great work! 

RG are amazing artists!

Look at the amazing art we have done in RG! Lots of us worked together to produce one large piece of art that we are very proud of. We showed excellent skills in teamwork and thought hard about using different medias to make our dinosaur. Well done everybody! 

Measuring in RG

This week in RG we have started learning about our new topic - dinosaurs. We found a life size dinosaur footprint which was very exciting! We measured it with our shoes and found the dinosaur foot print was longer than 8 of our shoes! We then measured our feet with cubes and compared lengths to see who had the longest and shortest feet. 

Teddy Bear's Hospital

Last week RG had an excellent afternoon at the teddy bears hospital! We were visited by medical students who did some activities with us about looking after our bodies and staying safe. They also made our poorly teddies feel better! We used the equipment to check how they were feeling and worked out what we could do to fix them. We throughly enjoyed ourselves and have learnt a lot.

World Maths Day in RG

Today is world maths day and we have been joining in by playing lots of games! We have been matching numerals to the right amount of objects. We are getting very good at knowing our numerals and their values now, look at the example of what a great job we did! 

RG becoming authors

This week in RG we have launched our writers workshop sessions. We have decorated our books and started writing using the letter sounds that we have been learning. We have then been using sharing time to celebrate our great work and either tell our friends something we liked about their writing or something they could try next time. 

RS had a visitor

Our sports day had to be cancelled due to the rain, but we had a friendly visitor called Sparky. We loved giving Sparky a high five. Some of us were even brave enough to give Sparky a hug.