Spring 1 Week 2 17.1.25
Hello!
This week in Talk 4 Writing we have been learning the story of The Little Red Hen. The children have listened to and enjoyed the story, first of all joining in with the repeated refrains. They then worked in groups to reorder pictures from the story. We have come up with actions for the words and phrases in the story to help us to retell it orally. We have also drawn story maps to provide a visual representation of the story. The children have enjoyed learning how to make bread, which is what The Little Red Hen does at the end of the story. They have found out about the grain to bread process from the story and discussions of growing wheat and how windmills work and also from a short film by CBeebies Maddie. Here is the link we watched in class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG7CoExlhkc
The children have enjoyed creating their own hens from the story this week in the craft area. They have been colour mixing with the paints and cutting small parts to create beaks, tails, feet and the comb. Some children have also had a chance to make bread, mixing ingredients, proving the dough, kneading the dough and forming their bread buns ready to be baked. Some groups will continue with this into next week.
In maths we have been doing lots of activities that draw attention to the purpose of counting and finding how many objects there are in a set. We have revisited the concept of cardinality – that the last number in the count tells us how many things there are altogether. We have spent time discovering that each number has a value of 1 more than the previous number. Using blocks and squares to order quantities from 1 to 5 has helped to embed this key understanding.
As well as our class count in the morning where we count and write down how many children there are in class, sometimes in 10s, sometimes in 5s, we have added another routine to our morning which the children are really enjoying. We have two pictures each morning and when the children come in they decide which picture is their favourite and they put their name card under the picture. This activity allows us to discuss the choices and any reasons for these choices which builds on speaking and listening skills and it also allows us to use our verbal reasoning to explain which picture has the most votes and which has the least. This is great for comparing numbers and explaining our thinking.
In maths next week we will be consolidating understanding of the composition of 5. Composing and decomposing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 5 can be made of 3 and 2. The children will deepen their understanding of a ‘whole’ being made up of smaller parts through practical experience, in this case moving frogs from a log to a pool in a nursery rhyme. They will begin to recognise that numbers can be made by combining parts in different ways, and will be encouraged to make links by considering similarities and differences in the ways of making 5.
Next week we will be continuing with our Talk 4 Writing unit learning the story of The Little Red Hen. We will be collecting key words from the story and using our phonics knowledge to write these words. We will be learning how to write parts of the story and we will be making our own storybooks.
In our handwriting practice, we have worked on ‘around letters’ this week with the c shape to start them all off. We have sent home c, a and o sheets for your child to practice at home. They can do this with any type of pen or pencil. Encourage writing these sounds in other ways too: on the steam in the bathroom, with their finger in paint, using a stick in dough or in mud outside, in sand with their finger. The important thing is that these letters all start with a c shape.
Thank you for your continued support in your child’s learning. It is lovely to see pictures and videos and also to hear about all the reading and writing practice you are doing at home. A little bit each day makes such a difference to your child’s progress. We also love to see posts about other experiences your child has such as learning to ride a bike, taking part in activities with family and friends, coming home and telling you all about what they have learnt in school, the list is endless! All of these experiences and activities help us to see your child’s learning over the course of the year as they are learning all the time, not just when they are at school.
We hope you have a lovely weekend.
The Reception team
