The highlight of our week was our Christmas Nativity! ‘The Sleepy Shepherd’ We were very proud of how the children sang, performed and spoke clearly. We were amazed by the confidence of the children performing on both days for the school and the parents. The joy on the children’s faces showed their enjoyment and how proud they were of themselves made it special. Thank you to the parents for your support.

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This week we learnt about the second week of Advent. We lit the second purple candle on the Advent wreath. The second candle represents peace. We talked about times when we are peaceful and what we like to do to find peace. We also thought about how we want peace in the world and what we can do to help this. We read the story Peace at Last and the children acted out the story, drew pictures and wrote captions about the places daddy bear tried to find some peace. The children sorted activities that they do at night and day and painted pictures of the night.

In Maths, we have been learning about shapes and their properties. The children have learnt about circles, triangles, squares and rectangles. They have been describing the shapes by counting their corners and their sides. We have been making patterns and pictures with shapes, printing with shapes, using natural materials to make shapes and cutting shapes out.

In our Ten Ten lesson, the children were learning about different body parts and how we should look after them.

Next week the children will be auditioning for Pope Paul Got Talent. Two acts will be chosen for the final on Tuesday 19^th December. If your child has a talent they would like to show – singing, dancing or anything else, they can show the class next Friday. Children will get time to practise group acts during the week.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Carey and The Early Years Team

On Monday, the children wore something purple to begin our learning about Advent.

They learnt that Advent was preparing for the birth of Jesus. The children mixed paints to make different shades of purple to remind them that purple is the colour of Advent. The first candle that is lit is a sign of Hope. The children thought about their hopes and wishes and added them to the hope jar. They made candles with purple playdough and they made Advent wreaths using paint and cotton wool.  In preparation for Fridays assembly, the children wrote their Advent promises on doves. Lots of children have promised to tidy up at home so enjoy parents! We made an Advent Calendar with our promises in to open up each day in December.

In Literacy, we read the story The Jolly Postman and the children were delighted to recognise the different characters they knew from other stories. They drew maps of the postman’s journey and added pictures and writing to their maps. Then they drew maps of the things in our playground. We thought about when we use maps and the different types of maps we use including paper maps and maps on our phones. Outside, the children have been developing their speaking and listening skills in the Post Office. They have been cutting labels and labelling envelopes. Then they were delivering letters using our post vans and filling and emptying the post box. If you need help wrapping your presents this year, the children have been showing amazing skills wrapping and labelling parcels.

On Thursday, there was lots of ice on our playground. This lead to the discussion about why the ice was there and what will happen to the ice. Children went on a hunt around the playground.

In phonics, we have continue to revise the Phase 2 sounds.

This week, we have continued to practise our songs and acting for the Nativity. We are looking forward to perform to you  on Wednesday 6^th December at 9.30am for our performance.

Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Carey and The Early Years Team

Another busy week of learning in Reception Class. This week we learnt about Hanukah, a Jewish festival. The children drew pictures of the temple that was destroyed and wrote some words and captions. They also thought about special things that they have and how they would feel if they were destroyed. They made cards to wish people Happy Hanukah and they made a menorah using their handprints. Wonderful building of temples were created too!

In Literacy, we read the story Whatever Next. The children acted out the story using props and we sequenced pictures from the story. The highlight was decorating a big rocket to use in our space station. The children loved dressing up as an astronaut and boarding the rocket. It was wonderful to  see the children practising their writing in the Space Station when writing boarding passes and writing including letters home to tell mum or dad about their adventures. They also drew and wrote a list of what they would take to space. In our Art area, the children made rockets with squares and triangles that look lovely displayed in the class.

In Maths, we have been learning about repeated patterns. Children have been extending patterns and making their own patterns by using nature objects and objects we use in the class. The children have also been drawing their own patterns. We made noises with our bodies to create patterns.

Each day, we have been working hard practising our class Nativity. Thank you for the costumes that have been sent in. If you have not sent a costume in, please can we have them next week.

In our Ten Ten lesson, we thought about how we are all special and unique. The children wrote what they thought was special about them on stars and decorated them. We through about all of the children’s amazing qualities and how we have special gifts and talents.

Remember to wear one item of purple clothing on Monday.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Carey