Nov 282025
This week in Reception
Brrr! This week has seen some rather cold days, but this has been the perfect opportunity for us to explore our gardens and the forest. We have noticed a big change in the weather and the temperature outside. Lots of us has a wonderful time scraping ice and frost off of the equipment to make our own “snowballs” and mixtures in the mud kitchen.
We have also loved looking at our new ‘Curiosity box’ where we have been describing what we can see, as well as exploring and testing different materials.
Mini Explorers
We have had such a fun week exploring the forest. Here we are fully engrossed in our “loud and proud walking”. We had to use a stick to explore the sounds we could make on different surfaces in the forest. Can you spot the things we tested? You might like to try this activity again at home or on a local walk. Does a stone make the same sounds as a stick when you tap or scrape things?
Phonics
This week in Reception we have been busy using all of our phonic knowledge to help us label pictures, play games and make words. We have been learning about letters that go together to make one sound, such as ee, ai and igh. We have also been practising our harder to read and spell words. We know that these are words we cannot sound out so we must learn to recognise these by sight – we are beginning to get the hang of it and will continue to practise these over the next few weeks!
How you can help at home:- Practise recognising the new sounds we have been learning – can you spot them in any stories you are reading together?
- It is the time of year where we see hats, scarves, gloves etc all flying around – please help your child to be independent when getting dressed/undressed and check that everything is labelled! They may need some extra time to get ready in the mornings as learning to zip up coats can be quite tricky!
- Play games together that involve taking turns such as snap, snakes and ladders and other simple board games
-
Nov 202025
Rhyming and Planting
In Reception this week, the children have been busy creating their very own rhyming books as part of their literacy learning. Each child chose an animal, such as a cat, dog, or rat, and added new pages each day filled with rhyming words linked to their chosen animal. As they built their books, the children learnt to hear and generate rhyming pairs, practising these patterns through games, reading and shared writing. They also explored the key features of a book, discussing elements like the front cover, title, illustrations, and how pages are sequenced. This book making project strengthened their phonological and rhyming awareness and also developed their confidence as becoming authors and storytellers.
The Reception children have also been excitedly planting flowers and greenery to help make our playground look brighter. This hands-on project linked perfectly to our learning about growth, as the children explored how plants develop from seeds and what they need to grow strong and healthy. As they dug, watered, and are waiting for their plants to begin to sprout, the children also learnt about the importance of nurturing living things and caring for our environment. Through observing changes over time, they began to understand the life cycle of plants.
These are the phonics sounds we have learnt this week. Please practice these with your child at home.
How you can help at home:- Practise the phonics sounds above.
- Can your child find any rhyming pairs around the house? What does fork rhyme with?
- Can your child tell you what a plant needs to grow? How did they plant their plant?
Nov 142025
This week in Reception
This week we have been learning all about Remembrance. We attended a special assembly where we learned all about what Remembrance day is and why it is important. We heard from some of our friends and their parents who are in the military.
We know that Poppies are the special symbol of Remembrance and we worked hard to create our own. We used lots of different skills to create these – as you can see, some of them were created using watercolour paints, whilst some others were made using cupcake cases which we turned into a wreath.
We watched an animation about Remembrance https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/poppies and also read a poem which we used for our watercolour art.
Phonics:These are the sounds we have been learning this week:
How you can help at home:
- Practise your child’s reading book at least three times a week and record this in their reading record
- Discuss the ever changing weather and seasonal beauty – pine cones, conkers, leaves, acorns
- Practise playing maths games – this could be dominoes, board games, puzzles or just spotting numbers on items around your house e.g. clocks, microwave, oven etc
- Visit the local library and talk to your child about their visit – can they show you how to borrow and return their books?
- Play games that involve phonics – a sound hunt around your house or garden, I spy, spotting objects in books that begin with the same sound etc
-
Nov 062025
Our Library Trip
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.
This week we have also been busy investigating pumpkins! The Reception children enjoyed cutting open the pumpkin and seeing what was inside. They had a go at scooping out the insides with a spoon. They were fascinated by all of the seeds. They then had the chance to mash up the seeds to make their own pumpkin soup. We linked this to their learning of growth, looking at how pumpkins grow and where they grow from.
How you can help at home:– Visit Bushey Library and encourage your child to pick out a story.– Read lots of stories to your child and engage them by asking questions or asking them to spot certain sounds.
– Go on an Autumn Hunt and see what you can find.Oct 242025
This week in Reception
Wow! What a wonderful week full of colour! We have been learning all about the Hindu festival Diwali as well as looking at patterns and comparing sets of objects in maths.
You can learn more about Diwali here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/my-first-festivals-diwali
Here we are making colourful Diwali patterns and pictures!
We used our knowledge of letters and sounds to write some amazing poems and shopping lists for Diwali. We are very proud of the fantastic progress we have made so far this half term!
Looking for a free activity to enjoy together this half term? Visit your local library and take part in My First Library Adventure, by bringing the special bookmark (which came home from school) with you. If you have lost yours don’t worry. Just ask at the library for a new one.
Choose from hundreds of picture books, fact books and beginning to read stories to share at home.
Complete the Adventure to enter the special prize draw. Fifty lucky Hertfordshire Reception pupils will win a personalised, signed book from author/illustrator Ged Adamson with two overall winners enjoying an author visit with their whole class. Find out more here: https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/libraries-and-archives/news-and-campaigns/startingreception
How you can help at home:
- revisit the sounds we have taught so far – please see previous blogs
- Continue to read with your child everyday
- Enjoy lots of family time – perhaps go for an autumn walk (we’d love to see photos), visit the library, encourage your child’s independence in getting dressed, shoes, coats etc
- Play games, sing songs and rhymes with your child, encouraging them to listen for the sounds they can hear in words
-
Oct 162025
Art 🖼️
This week in Reception, we continued our learning all about the famous artist Clarice Cliff and her colourful designs! To challenge the children’s knowledge and art skills, they decided to have a go at creating their very own Clarice Cliff-inspired artwork.
The children started by cutting out different shapes from tissue paper, carefully choosing colours and shapes that they thought would look great together. The next day, they got creative using glue and bottles to make their designs! The children loved sticking their tissue shapes onto the bottles to make their very own decorative masterpieces. It was amazing to see how the designs turned out, full of imagination and creativity, and personality.
We also started a Literacy topic on poetry this week. The children have enjoyed listening to nursery rhymes and talking about their favourite one. We learnt the poem ‘Purple is’ which is about different things that are the colour purple.
How you can help at home:– Can your child go on a shape hunt around the house? Can they draw shapes they see and make a picture?– Continue reading everyday and practising the sounds.– Listen and sing along to some nursery rhymesOct 102025
This week in Reception
This week in Reception has been very busy! We have been trying out lots of new activities to help us practise our fine motor skills, maths skills and phonics.
We have been working hard at subitising this week – we have been discussing how we see numbers inside other numbers and also matching amounts of objects to numerals. We used tweezers to help us match the correct number of conkers to each number card – it was very tricky as the conkers were slippery!
You might like to use these number rhymes to help practise number formation at home. You could try writing them in mud, water or with chalk on the floor.
Phonics
This week in Phonics, we have been checking our understanding so far – we have been using our knowledge of the sounds we have learned to practise writing words and labels for pictures, including maps of the playground. Here are the sounds we have learned so far:
Expressive arts and design
This term we have been learning about the British artist Clarice Cliff – we know she created some beautiful pottery that was known as “Bizarre”. We have looked at the vibrant colours and shapes in her work. So far we have practised drawing shapes, tracing shapes and painting them. We are working towards our own design inspired by Clarice Cliff’s work – watch this space for more of our fantastic artwork!
How you can help home:
- Practise all of the sounds taught so far – you might like to hide them as a treasure hunt around your house! Talk about sounds in the environment – where can you spot the sounds you already know?
- Help your child to recognise and write their name independently – also help them to use a tripod grip when holding a pencil and forming their letters correctly.
- Talk about Clarice Cliff and ask your child to describe what they can see, what they like/dislike about it. Maybe you could try making your own artwork together – we’d love to see some of your creations on Tapestry!
- Continue to establish good bedtime routines for your child – build reading into your daily routines. Reading anything and everything your child is interested in will help them enormously! You could try reading recipes together, football results in the newspaper, comics, postcards or even invitations.
-
Oct 032025
Poetry and Autumn
On Thursday, we celebrated National Poetry Day. The Reception children learnt a poem about the different leaves you see in autumn. We spoke about the different features of a poem and the children used some actions to help them remember the poem.
Look at our wonderful poetry pictures!
We have also been continuing to explore the signs of autumn. The children enjoyed exploring the Reception garden and playground, searching for signs of seasonal change. They were especially excited to use magnifying glasses to investigate the contents of our investigation box and talk about their observations and extend their learning from last week. The children also enjoyed using their autumn treasures in their play, such as making ‘leaf lasagne’ and comparing the different sizes of conkers and leaves and doing some conker paint rolling.
How you can help at home:– Take part in a maths autumn hunt – how many conkers can they find? Can they subitise a certain amount?– Continue listening to your child read their phonics book at least 3 times a week.– Talk about the changes in weather with your child.– Can your child make up their own short rhyme for National Poetry Day?Sep 262025
This week in Reception
This week in Reception we have been very busy exploring the signs of Autumn – we have a very large Horse Chestnut tree in our garden and have spotted lots of the conkers falling off! We have been using some of these conkers to make our very own Conker Pie – ask us how we made it!
Understanding the WorldWe also learned all about the Jewish festival of Rosh Hashanah. We know that it is the Jewish New Year. We found out lots of interesting facts from Miss Reuben. She even brought in some apple and honey for us to taste – it was delicious. You can watch a video about how some Jewish families celebrate here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/the-lets-go-club-celebrating-rosh-hashanah
Phonics
This week we have learned the sounds:
g, o, c, k
Here are their rhymes to help us when we write them:
g – goat – start at his ear, around the face and down the beard
o – ostrich – around the ostrich’s body
c – camel – curl around the camel’s back
k – kid – down the body, up the arm, down the legHow you can help at home:
- Look for signs of autumn – conkers, pine cones, acorns and leaves changing colour
- Talk about festivals and celebrations you share together as a family
- Read at least 3 times a week – talk about the pictures, encourage your child to talk about their favourite page
- Practise the sounds we have learned so far in Reception – s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k
- Encourage your child to practise mark making – sticks in the mud, water on the floor with brushes, chalk; these all help with preparing your child for writing!
-
Sep 182025
Phonics and Literacy
Sep 122025
Welcome to Reception!
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.
All of Reception have been getting stuck straight in with their learning, building friendships and trying new challenges. They have demonstrated great resilience when things have been tricky, such as changing for their first PE lesson, trying school dinners and exploring the forest in the rain! They are fully immersing themselves in their learning already and this is wonderful to see – we are very proud of them all already! As you can see we have already achieved so much – our first PE lesson, our first Mini Explorers session, making new friends, staying for lunch, mark making and taking turns to play maths games to name just a few. We look forward to seeing what is to come – watch this space!
As you may already 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 already 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
-
Jul 172025
🐘A final entry… 🐘
As we wrap up this wonderful academic year, it’s time to look back and celebrate all the exciting adventures our Reception class has experienced together. From colourful elephants to deep-sea creatures, our learning has been full of imagination, discovery and fun!
Elmer the Patchwork Elephant
Our year began with Elmer, the patchwork elephant, who showed us the beauty of being different. Elmer’s bright, patchy colours reminded us all that being unique is something to be proud of. He was more than just our class theme — he helped us learn kindness, friendship and the joy of celebrating ourselves and others.Journeys to the Moon with Whatever Next
Next, we blasted off into space with Whatever Next, exploring the moon and beyond! This story took us on a magical journey that sparked our curiosity about space and the stars. We imagined what it would be like to float among the planets and learned about the excitement of adventure and discovery.Zog and the World of Dragons, Kings, and Castles
With Zog, we entered a kingdom of dragons, brave knights and grand castles. Zog taught us about courage, learning from mistakes, and the importance of helping others. We loved hearing about his adventures and imagining life in a magical medieval world.The Journey Home: Caring for Our Planet
Then came The Journey Home, a gentle reminder about looking after our planet and all the animals that live on it. We learned about endangered animals and how important it is to protect their homes. This topic helped us understand how our actions can make a difference to the environment and inspired us to be little eco-heroes.Commotion in the Ocean: Exploring Sea Life
Diving into Commotion in the Ocean, we discovered the fascinating creatures that live beneath the waves. From playful dolphins to mysterious octopuses, this topic sparked our curiosity about the ocean and the amazing animals that call it home. We learned to appreciate the wonders of marine life and why it’s important to keep our oceans clean.Ahoy, Pirates! Fun in the Sun
Finally, we set sail on a pirate adventure, learning how to be brave, work as a team and enjoy the sunshine! We played games, sang songs and imagined ourselves as fearless pirates exploring tropical islands. It was the perfect way to celebrate all the hard work we’ve done this year.This year, our Reception children have made incredible progress in their literacy skills. We began by learning how to hold a pencil correctly and forming some recognisable letters. Through daily phonic lessons, the children learned to recognise letters and their sounds, helping them sound out and read simple words. Many of them are now confidently writing sentences all by themselves! It’s truly special to watch them use these skills to read books independently and write notes for their loved ones. The progress they’ve made is something to be so proud of.
In maths, the children have developed a strong foundation through a variety of exciting activities. They have learned to measure and compare objects, name both 2D and 3D shapes, and create repeating patterns. The children can write numbers, count accurately, and have even reached doubling numbers. They’ve also started to recognise odd and even numbers and have been exploring addition and subtraction in fun and practical ways. Their enthusiasm for maths has grown alongside their skills!
As this year comes to a close, we want to say a huge thank you to our amazing Reception children for their enthusiasm, curiosity and kindness. We’re so proud of how much you’ve grown and learned. To the parents and carers, thank you for your wonderful support — it truly makes a difference.
As always, the learning does not stop just because it’s not happening in a classroom- please continue to look out for digraphs and trigraphs while out and about this summer as reading is the number one thing you can do to help your child prepare for Year 1. Also any board games involving a dice will support your child to subitise easily alongside the benefits of learning to take turns.
Here’s to all the memories we’ve made and to the exciting adventures still to come in Year 1. Have a fantastic summer holiday, Reception! Keep shining bright like Elmer’s colours and keep dreaming big like our journey to the moon.
With our fondest wishes,
Mrs Jones, Miss Reuben, Mrs OJ, Mrs Hill, Mrs Barnes & Mrs Bradbury
🌟🚀🐉🐘🌊🏰🏴☠️
-
