Reception

🍂🎃 Reception have had a wonderful time celebrating Autumn with our pumpkin-themed week! The children enjoyed scooping out pumpkin seeds to make pumpkin pies in our mud kitchen, going on an exciting pumpkin hunt around the school, and creating their own pumpkin observational drawings. It has been lovely to see their curiosity, creativity and imagination shine! There were lots of interesting conversations about Autumn and the weather we may see in Autumn. 🍁

How you can help at home:

• Go on an autumn scavenger hunt and write down what you can see.
• Continue reading at home
• Play counting games

Over the last few weeks, we have been forming relationships with adults and making new friendships. We are becoming more confident in exploring our environment and are beginning to get the hang of turn taking and sharing. We have been practising asking for help, inviting others to join our play, asking for a turn and also becoming increasingly independent when getting changed or looking after our belongings. Our grown ups are very proud of us!

We have also been getting creative; exploring ways to make marks, move to music, learning to use shapes and colour to create our own artwork. We have been learning all about an artist called Piet Mondrian. We know that he is from the Netherlands and liked using the primary colours – red, blue and yellow. Mondrian used lines to create shapes and colour blocked these shapes. His paintings are very colourful and many of us said we liked his work. Over this half term,  we have tried different media and techniques to explore how Mondrian worked, taking inspiration to create our own compositions.

We have explored ink and rollers, masking tape to create lines that we then painted, used rulers to create 2D shapes such as squares and rectangles. Here are some photos of the processes we used and the final pieces we created. You can find out more about Mondrian here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr9h-y4oIpw

There are many creative people from history that we can learn from. This week we have read the story of a special person – Ella Fitzgerald. We listened to her story and then some of Ella’s music. We discussed what instruments we could hear and we loved how soothing her voice sounded. Many of us really enjoyed listening to jazz music and even tried to learn some of the song words! We will continue to explore different types of music over the next half term.

How you can help at home:

• Talk about Mondrian’s work – what do you like/dislike about it? What shapes can you spot?
• You might like to visit a museum or gallery and talk about what you like and have learned.
• Listen to some different types of music. How does it make you feel? Can you find ways to move to the music when it is fast/slow etc?
• Find out an interesting fact about a person of interest and share it with us on Tapestry.
• Create your own artwork inspired by Mondrian – think about the shapes and colours he used.

We have made a fantastic start to our PE learning this term! Our first challenge was getting changed into our PE kit. This can be really tricky because there is a lot to think about! Our PE kit is a white t-shirt, black shorts and black plimsoles.

We have shown great resilience when faced with buttons on our shirts and we are becoming so independent at trying to make sure our jumpers, dresses and trousers go on the right way!

We follow our Merry Hill Way in everything we do at school, and this means that we are Ready, Respectful and Safe in PE as well.

This term,  we are learning about moving safely around the hall; using the space around us and listening carefully to instructions. We are also learning how to work independently, with a partner and in a group.

We have been practising many different skills- running, jumping, throwing, catching, rolling, skipping and balancing. We have found some of these to be really tricky and we are learning that it is very important not to give up when we find something difficult!

How you can help at home:

• Encourage your child to dress and undress independently, helping them to know which order to put their clothes on.
• Help them to recognise their name, so they are able to look for it on their clothes.
• Give your child opportunities to practise the skills of running, jumping, throwing, catching, rolling, skipping and balancing – this could be around the home, garden or in the park.
• Encourage your child to talk about why it is important to do exercise and how their body feels different before and after exercise.

This week, our Reception children had a wonderful trip to the library! It was lovely to see how interested and excited they were as they explored all the different books. The children listened beautifully to stories read by the librarian and asked some fantastic questions.

They also had a go at borrowing and returning books using the library system, just like real library members! Everyone enjoyed looking at the numbers on the shelves to help find specific books, showing great curiosity and number skills.

As well as our library trip this week, we also have been busy starting our Mastering Number maths scheme. We have started learning all about subitising. Subitising means, ”To say what you see without counting” and the children have been helping number blocks 1 and 2 to say how many dots they see. They have been maths superstars! They then had a chance to make their own dot cards. They explored different ways of making 3 and talked about the different arrangements.

How you can help at home:

• Can your child subitise the amount of forks on the table?
• Can they count different objects around the house?
• What can your child subitise around the house?
• Ask them what they learnt about the library and what their favourite story is.

This week we have been learning how to transfer the skills we have been learning and practising in the classroom to our wonderful forest.

We have learned how to be ready, respectful and safe in the forest whilst also remembering the forest rules:

1. Walk in the forest

2. Big sticks should stay on the floor

3. When we hear the whistle we stop and return to base camp

4. We never leave the forest without a grown up

5.  We do not pick leaves or flowers from growing plants and trees

Our grown ups have been very impressed with our listening skills and how well we are able to demonstrate the Merry Hill Way. During our forest sessions, we enjoy singing songs, listening to stories, exploring and observing nature and seasonal changes. Each day we discuss the weather and then in our forest sessions we observe changes we notice. So far, we have spotted some leaves falling and changing colour, some signs of animal nests and also a few little acorns and conkers around. We can’t wait to see what else we find over the coming weeks – watch this space!

How you can help at home:

* Talk about how to show ready, respectful, safe at all times at school (classroom, forest, lunch, playground, library)

* Discuss signs of autumn in your garden or your way to school

* Share books together – stories or books about autumn and animals. Ask and answer questions and curiosities together

Hello and welcome to the new school year. We are delighted to welcome all the children into Reception. We have had a very busy start to the new term, despite the change in weather!

We are so proud of all the children, whether they are new to Merry Hill or are returning after the summer break. They have all settled in so quickly and are fast making lots of new friends. We have been busy learning all about the rules of the classroom and how to use each area safely and correctly.

As you may know, we have introduced The Merry Hill Way and the children are brilliant at showing us and talking about how to be Ready, Respectful and Safe! We are now very good at talking about how to be Ready for school each day. We will continue to build on how we show that we are Respectful and Safe as the weeks go by.

Another new thing this term is the introduction of our daily feeling word – this is to help develop children’s breadth of vocabulary and understanding of emotions and feelings. This week we have already learned happy, unhappy and angry. You might like to discuss these words at home with your child.

How you can help at home:

• Ensure your child is Ready for school each day by establishing good bedtime routines, as well as checking that all of their belongings are labelled clearly
• Talk to your child about their day – encourage them to answer questions in full sentences such as “I loved digging in the sand pit with my new friends”
• Model being Respectful towards others at home – looking at the person who is speaking, waiting for their turn with a toy
• Explore the outdoors – enjoy a walk in the woods or a bike ride together, discuss changes you notice in the environment
• Read with your child – share their library book, encourage them to talk about the pictures in books – using their imagination to make up the story
• Discuss how to stay Safe on the journey to school

Wow! What an absolutely incredible year we have had in Reception. Kingfishers and Teals have all been SUPERSTARS! We have loved every minute of our time together – we have built many positive relationships, learned a lot, had fun and achieved so much this year! Here are some of our favourite moments – from theatre trips and performances to library visits and workshops to sponsored events, forest sessions and food tasting, we’ve had a blast!

As we say goodbye to our lovely Reception children, we want to wish you a truly wonderful summer break with your families. We hope you are able to spend some time together making memories and having fun. Please remember to stay safe, look out for each other enjoy the break – you deserve it!

Thank you to all our lovely families for your support this year – it has been fabulous having parent helpers, volunteers, visits, surprise readers and help on our trips. We really couldn’t have done it all without you. Keep talking, reading and questioning your children about their interests and curiosities over the summer break. We look forward to seeing you all in September and hearing about all your learning with your new teachers.

Warm wishes,

The Reception Team

Some ideas for the summer holiday:

• Visit the local library and take part in the summer reading challenge
• Take photographs of your adventures
• Write a postcard to your new teacher about what you have been up to
• Draw a map of somewhere you have visited
• Draw/write about a book you have read or shared together
• Make a piece of artwork using recycled materials
• Play a board game, learn a card game or even make up your own game!
• Create a dance routine
• Learn a new skill – this could be riding a bike, making your own sandwich or even some gardening

Our Reception children had a fantastic day on their trip to Tring Museum! The excitement started as soon as we boarded the coach, and we were so proud of how well the children listened to the adults throughout the day. After a quick snack, we took part in a wonderful mini beast workshop, exploring a pond habitat and discovering fascinating creatures such as water snails, bloodworms and mayflies. We then headed into the woodland to search for mini beasts in their natural habitat, where the children’s enthusiasm and curiosity shone through.

After a yummy lunch, we explored the museum galleries, where the children were amazed by the incredible animals on display and even had the chance to touch some interactive exhibits. As they explored, they completed a worksheet, recording the different animals they spotted. It was a fun-filled day packed with learning, and the children were a real credit to the school from start to finish. They were very thrilled to see a teal and kingfisher in the gallery too!

How you can help at home:

– Discuss – what was your child’s favourite part of the trip?
– Discuss -what animals did they spot in the mini beast workshop?
– Read some books to your child about mini beasts

Over this half term, we have been developing our Expressive Art and Design skills. We have had a big focus on designing, joining materials, and creating things for a purpose. We have been repurposing items to turn them into boats. This links to our learning about caring for the environment and recycling.
Each week we have taken turns to try different activities including: designing a boat, making a 2D boat, making paper craft boats and building 3D boats using recycled materials. We hope to test these out next week, so watch this space!
We have been “safely using and exploring a variety of materials, tools and techniques; explaining the process used” (Development Matters, 2020)

Taking care of our environment is so important and reinforces lots of important  messages to our children such as teamwork and respect. This week we have had some helpers take care of our garden by sweeping up the “caterpillars” that had fallen off our tree. We thought they looked a bit like natural pipe cleaners! I wonder what we could do with them all?! As well as taking pride in our learning spaces, using the tools also helps to build core muscle strength which is important for our gross and fine motor skills. We also had a lot of fun doing it!

The warm weather has seen lots of water play recently and here we are exploring and developing our teamwork and negotiation skills as we learn to share resources, listen to the ideas of others and change our plans to overcome difficulties! The water spills and splashes have been keeping us cool too.

How you can help at home:

– Can you design something else out of recycled materials eg a musical instrument?

We have had a very hot week this week and the children have coped brilliantly while continuing to engage in their learning activities. A big focus this week has been staying safe in the sun. The children have been doing a great job remembering to wear their hats and drink plenty of water throughout the day.

Outside, the children have enjoyed exploring the water tray. We have been learning about capacity by filling and emptying different containers and comparing how much water they can hold. We also investigated what happens to the water when different objects are placed into it, noticing how the water level changes. When spending time indoors to stay cool, the children have been exploring the topic of transport, talking about different ways people travel on holidays and sharing their own experiences. The last few weeks have also been exciting as we have been watching England play in the World Cup. To support and celebrate Englands’s progress, our tuff tray was designed for a mini football game! The children loved using their mini figures to pretend to play a match.

We are very proud of how well the children have adapted to the warm weather while continuing to learn, explore, and have fun.

How you can help at home:

• Can you do a mini sports day at home when the sun is shining?
• Continue to read with your child
• Ask your child if they can tell you how to stay safe in the sun.

This week in Reception, we have been busy show casing the many skills we have learned over the year! We welcomed some new to Merry Hill friends and showed them how to follow the Merry Hill Way by demonstrating teamwork, resilience, communication and inclusion.  We also had fun practising our teamwork and communication skills whilst we practised for Sports Day.

Mrs Barnes led a very exciting assembly this week. It was all about the men’s World Cup! We learned some interesting facts such as Brazil has won it the most times and England has won it once. We even saw a funny picture of Mrs Barnes’ dog dressed up ready to cheer England on! We know that the football players have to use lots of teamwork, communication and determination to practise their skills to succeed. We talked about showing respect to our team members and the players on the other team by giving them a handshake, just like we are going to do on sports day!

How you can help at home:

– Read daily with your child

– Practice some sports day skills in the weekend sun!