….is our topic this half term. The children have been talking about all of the people, who help them. Parents will be pleased to hear that you came up quite a lot – especially in relation to feeding them! We have also identified doctors, the police, builders, firemen, teachers, refuse collectors, nurses, dentists and delivery drivers.

There has been some wonderful role play in our medical centre. Coby used the thermometer: “Put it in your armpit or your mouth to make sure you’re feeling alright”. Ian told Miss Hague, “It’s a bandage for a leg cut or bone break.”

While sharing our story about Dr Miranda, Isaac revealed that he is on course for a medical career if he wants one. He offered a super explanation for the term swollen: “It’s where you injure something like your ankle and it becomes fat.”

He also told us, “If you are hot, you might have a temperature”.

Most of the children were able to recall their own medical experiences. We heard about rashes, earaches and sore throats.

Thank you very much to Amy for coming in on Friday to explain what she does in her role as an intensive care nurse. Please ask the children what they recall from her visit.

Later in the half term, we will welcome a visit from some police officers.

….whose head appeared in our classroom. After hunting around the classroom to find all his body parts, we put him back together. Fred, the bear, wrote to thank us for our help and he explained that it wasn’t the first time that something bad had happened to him. We sent Fred letters to ask what happened in the past.

Fred sent us a book, which explained that he had not, in fact, been squished by a lorry or hit by a lion or thrown out of a window (or any of the other suggestions from children in RS). He had been pushed into a bin by a dog and ended up on a truck to the dump. Oh no!

We practised our cutting, pinning and sticking skills by making our own bears.

Next week, we will start to imitate the story, learning the words with actions.

In our final week of Autumn term, we have enjoyed several Christmas celebrations with singing, dancing and edible treats.

Ahead of our Christingle service this afternoon, we learned that Christingles are used in some Christian churches during the Advent period. We discovered that each part of a Christingle represents something special for this time of year. Can the children remember what?

Thank you for all of your support this term and for your kind and generous festive messages. Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas break.

Nativity week! We have been building up to this all half term, the children were performance ready and have loved dressing up, saying their lines and wiggling to the songs. Here is our filmed performance for anyone who wants to watch it again! We are so proud of the children as standing on the stage is daunting at any age. Thank you for all of your support with costumes, line learning and song singing!

We are embracing all things Christmas in Reception at the moment: noticing the properties of 2D shapes as we make our Christmas cards; practising our subitising (on a dice) and ‘counting on’ as we play the Santa track game; marvelling at Sam the elf’s ability to create baubles for our tree and to inspire us to cook vegetable pasta; making toys in our workshop; creating pebble nativity scenes; writing to Father Christmas and rehearsing for our Nativity performances. We can’t wait to wriggle for you next Wednesday and Thursday! Look out for your tickets in book bags.

We are reflecting on the value of thankfulness this week. Parents and siblings will be delighted to hear that the children expressed much appreciation for you, when sharing what they feel grateful for…in particular (but not exclusively) for the food you make! We would all like some of Zoe’s mum’s spaghetti after hearing about it. Jay told us about the hugs he enjoys with mummy. Alma is particularly grateful for the safe arrival of her brand new baby sister. Edie expressed appreciation for the Year 6 buddies and many of the children talked about how much they love their friends. Darius spoke for us all, when he said, “I am grateful that Coby is back at school. I missed him”. Coby himself said, “I am happy I can come to school again and thank you for the nurses that got me better.”

The first snowfall of the year always has such a captivating impact on young children and it has been wonderful to witness their enthusiasm for the seasonal changes. We noticed that there was snow on our class apple tree as we made our way down from Nursery Lane and discussed why there was no snow on the underside of the branches.

We were delighted to find that there was ice and snow to explore in the outdoor area and Zoe was overheard explaining to her friends that the “mud” in the outdoor kitchen had “frozen”.

At snack time on Monday, we chose some objects to place in water outside overnight as an experiment. When we arrived in school on Tuesday, there was fascination that solid ice had formed on the inner sides of the cup and on the top but there was still liquid water on the inside. The ice-crystals made it hard for us to see through the top but the ice was transparent further down and we could see the toy.

Alma started her own experiment at home and brought it into school on Thursday to share the learning with her friends. We particularly enjoyed watching the pockets of air moving around. It took all morning for the ice to melt.

When we wanted a break from the chilly weather, we came inside and created wintry scene pictures, choosing different materials in cold colours

We have also been practising zipping up coats and putting on mittens. Gloves are particularly tricky so please only send them in when the children have mastered putting them on independently! Thank you.

….at Skelton Grange on Tuesday. Sam and Chris invited us to join in as they told the story of The Gruffalo. During the morning, we searched for berries, hazelnuts and crab apples for mouse, listened out for owl’s hoots, sequenced the story and examined wriggly and slimy minibeasts in their natural habitat. We broke for an indoor picnic before heading out to explore again. The children collaborated to gather long sticks for a cosy den. Cakes, soups and hot chocolate were cooked up in the mud kitchen. Critical thinking skills were in evidence when the ball run broke and the children had to work out how to fix it. We bravely balanced along the ropes and Sam sent us flying through the air on the rope swing. What a fun day, filled with outdoor learning and adventure!

Please check your child’s book bag as they have all chosen a couple of photos to bring home to you.

Stories, rhymes and games really help children to visualise the maths that we want them to understand.

One more

In the Gingerbread Man tale, we notice the increasing number of hungry characters chasing him. Run run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me!

The number of elephants, that went out to play on a spider’s web, increased by one each time until the web fell down. I’m not sure I want to meet the spider, which managed to spin a web that would support four elephants!

At home, you could give the children a few grapes or raisins or cubes.

How many do they have? Can they tell you how many they will have if you give them one more? Count to check.

Ask children to listen carefully to you clap 1, 2 or 3 times. Can they clap one more time than you?

Taking one away

As the frogs jump off the log into the cool pool, we notice how many is one less than 5, then one less than 4, and so on.

Another game to try at home is to drop a few small stones into a tin. Ask the children to listen carefully as you drop them in one at a time. They can count aloud as they hear the stones hit the bottom. Ask your child how many stones will be in the tin after you have taken one out.

We love these stories, rhymes and games for developing number sense!

Our focus, this week, has been learning about Diwali – the Hindu and Sikh festival of light – where goodness triumphs over evil. Mrs Ajith very kindly talked to us about how her family celebrate at home.

The children listened to, watched and then acted out the story of Warrior Prince Rama and Princess Sita.

Princess Sita and Warrior Prince Rama loved each other very much.

However, Demon King Ravana wanted Princess Sita for himself and took her away. (Darius is trying very hard to look mean!)

Prince Rama asked his good friend, Hanuman – the Monkey King – for help. So Hanuman rounded up all of the monkeys to help find Princess Sita.

Prince Rama shot an arrow at Demon King Ravana….

…..and he died.

Princess Sita and Prince Rama were reunited. Diva lamps help them to find their way home.

Super drama, RS! It was brilliant that you all wanted to perform on our ‘stage’. I wonder if the children can use the pictures to retell the story at home?

The children rose to the challenge of manipulating clay and then creating patterns with tools to make beautiful diva lamps. Please just add a tealight when they bring them home. We hope they burn brightly and bring you good fortune.