Hello!

We hope you all had a lovely Christmas. The children have settled really well back into the new term.

This week has been our annual Arts Week. The children have enjoyed a range of workshops and art-based activities. On Tuesday, Catherine from Tiny Tales and Tunes came to deliver workshops to our children. She told the children a story through music and movement. The children had lots of fun taking part in this. They also enjoyed the band Backchat Brass who came in to entertain us all with their groovy tunes. On Wednesday, the children learnt about djembe drumming and had a go making rhythms on the djembes and taking part in some African music. They have been busy crafting all week, creating sea creatures and sea scenes as our focus has been about plastic in the ocean, linked to the over-riding theme of climate change.

We have also sung some songs about climate change. Here are links to the songs:

Climate Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn9PhiDJp-A

Climate Change song (The time is now): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3yL_1L85Mk

Plastic bag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZQ0L3bolFw

Stop pollution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nvSMoYRi6Q

In maths this week we have been recapping the composition of numbers to 5 (2 numbers that make up a bigger number). We have looked again at how 5 is represented in different ways. We have also been reviewing 1 more and 1 less. The children have enjoyed creating number stories around the number 5. You could do this at home: collect 5 teddies or figures and then create 2 spaces for them, perhaps a den with cushions and a comfy chair. Can you tell a story about your teddies and where they are? eg 2 teddies decided to sit on the chair and read a story together while 3 teddies snuggled up in the den. 2 and 3 together make 5. How many different combinations of 5 can you come up with? You could try this with 4 or 3 teddies too.

In Understanding the World, we have been learning about climate change and in particular plastic in the ocean. The children have been learning about what happens to plastic and how it can be very damaging to wildlife. We read a story called Somebody Swallowed Stanley which you might like to share again at home. Here is a link to a reading of the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6CBMENGAo0

The children have also learned about what happens to rubbish and how it affects our world. They have begun to learn about recycling and composting and what sorts of things can be put into these bins. We have also looked at what pollution is and have looked at different images of pollution and thought about how this makes us feel and what we could do to help.

Next week in maths we will be learning how to work out the total of 2 groups. We will also be making numbers to 5 using not only 2 groups, but 3. We will be learning how to work out the missing number when working with numbers to 5 ie if there are 3 animals altogether and 2 are outside, how many are inside?

In Understanding the World next week we will continue to look at what happens to our rubbish and we will be learning about the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle.

Our Five Favourites books this half-term are: What the Ladybird Heard, Supertato, Simon Sock, Lost and Found and Somebody Swallowed Stanley.

You will receive some formation sheets in book bags this week. We have been looking at 'around letters' this week. These are the ones which start with a c shape. These sheets can be completed and can stay at home; we don't need them back in school.

Thank you for your continued support with your child's phonics journey. It makes a huge difference if they can practice speedy sounds, reading and writing at home with you in addition to what they are doing in school. Little and often is the most effective way, so 5-10 minutes each day is great if you can manage it.

Finally, PE starts back up next week. RBA will be on a Wednesday and RC will now be on a Thursday.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

The Reception team