Welcome to Reception Class S at Allerton CE Primary School in Leeds. Here, under the careful guidance of Mrs Shipley, we will blog to the Big Wide World.
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Happy Blogging!
When the children were asked where potatoes come from, there were suggestions of “the fridge”, “the cupboard” and “the shop”. However, some children suggested that, before the potatoes arrive in the fridge, they grow “in the ground”….”on a farm”…”in fields”.
Mrs Wake very kindly brought us some seed potatoes (of the Charlotte variety) and encouraged us to notice the shoots. She shared her experiences of potato growing and offered us top tips. Can the children recall what they were? Should we eat green potatoes? How do we prevent them from going green? What do we need to do on a weekend before we leave school?
We added nutritious compost to the bags – not too much as we learned that we will need to ‘earth them up’ when shoots appear. The seed potatoes were positioned carefully so they would have room to grow. We checked for stones to try and avoid funny-shaped potatoes! The children suggested that the plants would need water and a sunny spot in our outdoor area.
Let’s see what happens next. How many potatoes will we grow?
Perhaps the children could have a go at growing something at home – cress or carrot tops are fun and produce fast results.
We have started this term’s Talk for Writing text (by Oliver Jeffers) and had fun building spaceships. Don’t worry. We can’t fly away because, like the boy in the story, we don’t have any petrol.
Well done to our certificate earners this week.
Making Easter nests was one of the highlights of this last week of the Spring term. The children noticed how the chocolate and butter melted from solids into delicious-smelling liquids when we heated them in the microwave. We stirred our mixture with cornflakes before adding chocolate eggs and then popped the nests in the fridge to cool and solidify. The nests definitely passed the taste test so if you would like to make them at home, here are Maya’s instructions.
Thank you to Rev. Lottie for coming in to share the Easter story with us. Can the children show you the song she taught us? You can give the children a clue to start them off. “When all the world was sleeping….”
Wishing you all a very happy and restful Easter!
Thank you to Rev. Sharon for showing us around the church and for her re-telling of ‘The Last Supper’ story. Thank you also to the parents, who were able to accompany us for the afternoon. Can the children recall which of the photos show the stained glass window, the font, the cross, the altar, the organ pipes, the organ, the stalls, the Mothers’ Union banner, the pulpit? Can they recall Rev, Sharon’s secret about the bells? Can they tell you what they noticed on the walk to and from the church?
We were inspired to make our own stained glass windows.
Building on our senses learning from last week, we enjoyed smelling and tasting hot cross buns and talking about the significance of the cross on the top.
Some lovely writing about our experiences.
Here is our recital of hot cross buns for World Poetry Day.
We also laughed a lot watching and listening to Michael Rosen recite some of his poetry.
We have been exploring the world through our senses. Eliza’s mum came in as a mystery reader and shared Eliza’s favourite book, which has some fabulous content about ‘The Senses’.
This week, we discovered that…..
When we sniff and when we smell, we use our nose. Smells go up our nostrils.
When we eat and when we taste, we use our tongue. We pick up salty, sour, sweet and bitter tastes with different parts of our tongue.
When we listen and when we hear, we use our ears.
When we look and when we see, we use our eyes.
When we touch and when we feel, we use our skin.
What do the children notice at home through their senses?
Mrs Stott and Miss Cooke loved her mermaid.
Although we love playing in the Reception sandpit it has been looking a little bare recently! Today we started helping Mr Carter move the …8 TONS of sand into the pit. We didn’t even manage to move half a bag and we had already moved 7 wheelbarrows full. Havyar was great at smoothing the sand out in the barrow to fit in as much sand as possible! Lots of children were keen to help us load the barrow with sand!
Thank you for all the effort that went into dressing the children up as characters from ‘101 Dalmatians’.
To celebrate World Book Day, the children drew the front cover from their favourite book and talked about why they love it so much.
We made spoon puppets of our favourite story characters. Thank you if you sent in a competition entry from home. Winners will be announced by Miss Cooke next week.
Children were invited to draw and label story maps.
Some of the children built Cruella de Vil’s mansion. When I asked where the puppies were, Poppy said, “We can’t have real ones or they’ll poo all over the classroom”! So, we made some using black and white cubes. Each day, the architecture became more elaborate as the children developed their thinking. Just wonderful!
Today, we explored the school buildings and grounds by carefully following the images on a map. We noticed: daffodils growing in the year 1 flower beds; older children eating lunch in the dance studio; our buddies working hard in their classroom (but they were very kind and invited us into their classroom); a football match on the MUGA; a pizza oven like the one Eva has at home; the fish pond; Mrs Elliott preparing for a cookery lesson in the cafe; Obi helping Miss Frazer with her planning; Mrs Thomson considering ways to ensure that we flourish at ACE and, finally, Miss Backhouse and Mrs Gregory, who help families and us in so many ways throughout the day. Thank you to everyone who made us feel so welcome on our adventure.
Maybe the children could make a picture map for someone to follow around your home?
….to our learners of the week, Sima and Rio, and to our other certificate winners this week. Your hard work is paying off – thank you and keep it up!
Excitement had been mounting all week for today’s visitors: police officers, Sarah and Paul.
Sarah and Paul talked to us about their important role in helping members of our community to make positive behaviour choices. They were impressed that the children knew the phone number to call in an emergency. We enjoyed learning about the equipment that forms part of their uniform: a radio, a camera and a torch. Can the children recall all of the different vehicles that the police use and how animals help them to do their job?
Before the visit, we identified some question words and discussed what we might ask Sarah and Paul when they came in.
We also drew some pictures and made books.
A particularly exciting part of the visit was when we were invited to go and explore the police van. We noticed that there was a place on the van, where people would be asked to sit if they needed some help with their choices management. The lights flashed and the sirens blared. We even got to hold the heavy shields that may be used to protect police officers in a riot.
Thank you so much to Sarah and Paul for inspiring so many of the children to say, “I want to be in the police when I am bigger”.
This week we have been learning about Lunar New Year. We started by looking at the places in the world where many people celebrate Lunar New Year. We discovered that Lunar New Year is a celebration of a new moon every Spring. Families prepare by cleaning the house before putting up decorations: lots of red for luck and flowers as a reminder of Spring. On the morning of Lunar New Year, new clothes are worn to recognise the fresh start and children are given red envelopes containing money. Lanterns are made to symbolise the brightness of Spring and people offer good luck messages. Feasts with eight or nine (lucky numbers!) dishes are eaten. Families then go outside to watch the dragon parade and dancing. After the parade, there are firecrackers to deter bad spirits. Each year is named after an animal. I wonder if the children can recall why this is? Here are our beautiful lanterns and dragons that required lots of precise cutting and thoughtful sticking!
Thank you to the lunchtime team for our delicious Chinese banquet on Wednesday.
Thank you if you were able to attend our assembly today. Well done to the children for joining in with such enthusiasm and good humour! Here are the certificate earners from this week. Well done to you all. Have a well deserved break next week.
After enjoying the book, ‘A Busy Day for Birds’ by Lucy Cousins, we went on our own birdwatch around the school grounds. Can the children recall which birds they spotted or heard? We came across a pigeon, blackbirds, house sparrows, a carrion crow, a blue tit, a pied wagtail, lots of magpies and a herring gull. We were most impressed by the magnificent red kites but disappointed not to see a robin. Luckily, we have our own Robyn!
We discovered that all birds: have feathers; lay eggs; have a beak instead of teeth and have wings (but not all birds fly). We made our own colourful birds and learnt that it is the male birds, who are have the most colourful feathers, so they can attract females.
To try and attract more birds to our class willow tree, we made bird cakes. Why not make some at home too?
Come and get your cakes, birds!
Congratulations to our learners of the week: Aulani for being such an inspiring athlete and Peter for his reasoning in maths. Well done to our Reading Eggs and Mathseeds certificate earners. Birthday girl, Paige, is our home reader of the week.
