In Reception, maths involves lots of manipulatives and is very visual to support the children’s understanding of new concepts.

When considering the composition of 6, 7 and 8 this week, we have used ladybird outlines and the children explored how many spots (counters) could go on each wing. We then noted aloud what each part was and the whole; for example, 4 is a part and 3 is a part, the whole is 7.

Outdoors, we threw 6, 7 or 8 beanbags into a hoop and observed the split between how many beanbags were in/out.

As an introduction to pairs, we considered where we might find pairs: socks, shoes, earrings, scissors, swimming goggles, eyes, ears. Patterned socks and wellies were used to illustrate the concept of pairs. The children noticed that 2 socks make 1 pair, 4 socks make 2 pairs, 6 socks make 3 pairs and so on. This is particularly tricky to get our heads around so please do practise at home with family socks! We learned that 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 are even numbers because we can make pairs without any spare socks left over. When we have 3 socks, we can make 1 pair and there is 1 sock left over: 3 is an odd number.

Away from maths, the children were invited to make a love bug. Some of them chose to include a message of thankfulness, for the recipient, on the back.

Can you believe that we are half way through this Reception year? It’s always an opportune moment to reflect, with the children, on how much progress they have made since September. Well done, RS, and thank you to everyone at home for your support. Enjoy your week off.