Pirate Sandwiches, Missing Numbers and a Very Jumpy Visitor! 🏴‍☠️➕🐸

What a busy and exciting week we have had in Reception! The children have amazed us with their curiosity, creativity, and confidence across all areas of learning.

In Literacy, our budding writers learned how to write instructions, and what better topic than how to make pirate sandwiches? The children carefully sequenced each step, using words like first, next, and finally to guide their writing. Best of all, they got to follow their own instructions to make their sandwiches — and of course, eat them too! One child happily declared it was “The best sandwich ever!” 🍓🍞 Not bad for a jam sandwich!

In Maths, we’ve been diving into part-whole models. The children explored how to find the missing number, confidently explaining what needed to be added to one part to make the whole. For example, “If the whole is 9 and one part is 4, then we need 5 more!” It’s been brilliant to see them using their number knowledge and reasoning skills so clearly.

But the highlight of the week might just have been our surprise visitor… Terrance the toad! 🐸 Early one morning, a very big (and very jumpy!) toad made a special appearance in our garden. The children were absolutely fascinated and had the opportunity to observe him up close — from his bumpy skin to his big eyes and long legs.

Terrance’s visit inspired a whole range of fun learning activities:

Jumping like frogs in the garden (some very impressive leaps were seen!)
Fact-finding about frogs and toads — we now know the difference between the two!
Listening to lovely frog and toad-themed stories during story time

How you can help at home:

This week we have been reviewing our new phonics sounds, it will benefit the children greatly if they can practice these sounds at home!