We hope you had a special time at the weekend; the children were so excited to show you their Mother’s Day cards. Here are some photos that we can now share of the process involved! The children loved making observational drawings of daffodils, whist learning about St David’s day but also did an extra special job as they knew that they were making them into cards! We saw such careful work with the water colour paints and the children were rightly proud of the beautiful artwork produced.
Children in Reception are learning to ‘Explore, use and refine a variety of artistic effects to express their ideas and feelings’ and ‘Create collaboratively, sharing ideas, resources and skills.’ (Development Matters, Sept 2021)
Mother’s Day planting
Along with the cards the children were very excited to plant up the beautiful pansies, to wrap, decorate them and write a label. It was great to see these being given to surprised faces at the end of the day!
Handa’s Surprise
Our new story we are learning in Literacy is ‘Handa’s surpise!’ by Eileen Browne. The children love hearing how a surprise unfolds when a little girl called Handa puts seven delicious fruits in a basket and goes on a journey to the next village to see her friend Akeyo. The seven wild animals are very mischievous taking the fruits… and the strong goat bumping into the tangerine tree causes a wonderful turn of events! ‘Children in Reception are learning to… retell the story, once they have developed a deep familiarity with the text, some as exact repetition and some in their own words’ Development Matters, Sept 2021.
We have focused on the use of the harder to read and spell words (HRSW) ‘she, will, the, like’ to help us write our own sentences.
We have also thought about the describing words Handa uses, for example, “Will she like the red, ripe mango?” or “Will she like the juicy, round orange?” As well as write about them the children had the opportunity to try some of them….
Fruit tasting
During snack time the children had the opportunity to taste some of the fruits listed in the story; pineapple, mango, banana and orange. There were some clear favourites:
Here are some of the children’s responses:
“It was yum- mango was the best!” – Ruben
“I prefer pineapple, it is so tasty” – Ophelia
“Pineapple is more delicious than mango …it is really sweet!- Arthur
“It was so yummy, I loved the pineapple!”- Pia
“I love the mango because it is so sweet” – Aarin
Explore Time
Our ‘Explore time’ has also followed the theme of ‘Handa’s suprise’; there have been fiction and non-fiction books about Africa in various areas in the classroom, the children have been writing a shopping list for a fruit salad, using word cards to help them. They have had a go at the skill of weaving with paper, reminding us of the woven basket Handa carried the fruits with on her head and we had tangerines for snack one day. We also have a story sack containing props that allow the children to retell the story independently. Outside there has been dressing up and props as well as wild animals in the sand pit. The children have had a wonderful time exploring!
Music
We learnt about keeping a steady beat using the chant ‘Jelly on a plate’. We explored changes of volume by singing two different versions; one in a whispering voice and the other in a loud voice. We used the parachute to keep the tempo (speed) quite slow and steady- it was great fun!
How you can help at home
Here is a link for the story if you would like to read it with your child.
http://www.stmp.camden.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Handas-Suprise.pdf
Also please continue to practise diagraphs using your child’s phonic reader and also the harder to read and spell words recently sent home.
We hope you all have a lovely weekend ahead.
The Reception Team.