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Sir John Heron Primary School

Together we learn. Together we achieve.

Reception

Welcome to the Blue and Red class page!

2024-25

Expressive Arts and Design - w/b 10.02.25

 

For our last week in reception before the half term, we thought about those we care about and love, such as our friends and family. We made cards for our loved ones, created love bugs and even created some art inspired by artist Kadinsky by using heart shaped cutters and stamping them onto paper.

Understanding the World - w/b 03.02.25

 

In reception this week we have been learning about chefs and bakers. This inspired us to do lots of different food related activities. We used cut up fruit to stamp and make patterns, we made food out of playdough to practise using cutlery as well as creating our perfect meal on paper and making funny food faces. We also got a chance to do some cooking this week. We made vegetable rice together, we all helped each other by chopping up the carrots and potatoes and washing the rice. It was really tasty!

Understanding the World - 27.01.25

 

This week in Reception we have been learning about doctors and how they help us. We have also been enjoying lots of different doctor themed activities. We made our own doctor's bags and stethoscopes to listen to each other's hearts. We also explored painting x-rays onto our own pictures using white crayons and watercolours. In our role play room, we have been immersed into pretending to be doctors and patients.

Reading - W.B: 20.01.25

 

We love reading in reception! We have a range of fiction and non-fiction books we enjoy sharing with our friends. We also enjoy reading to teddies and stuffed animals! This week we are learning about firefighters so have enjoyed listening to books related to this during storytime.

Mathematics - W.B: 13.01.25

 

In Reception we like to count wherever and whenever we can! This week we role played as firefighters in the garden, counting down from 10 till the fire was extinguished. We also counted how many muddy dinosaur footprints we made and used numicons to make numicon animals. The fun didn’t end there, we enjoyed playing number games by matching the number of objects to its numeral.

Communication and Language W.B: 06.01.25

 

It’s our first week back after our holidays and we have been up to lots of exciting things! We have begun learning about people who help us this week, starting with police officers. We created our own police disguises, made police badges and also role played as police officers! This involved catching thieves and arresting them, making sure our school was safe. This lead us to talk about things that are right and wrong and the consequences that may come from it. Aside from serving justice, we got our creative hats on and made police cars, collages and even thought about what we might want to be when we grow up.

Christmas - WB 16.12.24

 

Our last week before the Christmas break has been exciting and busy! We have been in the Christmas spirit making lists for Father Christmas, creating bracelets for gifts and using shapes to make Christmas trees. Outside we worked together to make Santa’s grotto. We have also been learning about what Christmas is and why some people celebrate it.

Understanding the World - W.B 09.12.24

 

As we enter the winter season, we have been learning about the changes. We also learnt about some animals that live in cold climates like the Arctic. This inspired us to create some winter themed crafts. We painted polar bear pictures and winter trees, as well as playing a maths game to determine the number of balls we need to make a snowman!

Fine Motor Skills - W.B: 2.12.24

 

We have been getting creative in Reception this week yet again! We have begun reading a new story called ‘The Snowflake Mistake’ and have decided to make lots of different snowy themed crafts! We have enjoyed making snowman suncatchers, creating snowflake mosaic patterns and painting snowflakes too. We also used our fine motor skills and challenged ourselves to make paper snowflakes using just paper and a pair of scissors.

Expressive Arts and Design W.B - 25.11.24

 

We’ve been busy being very creative this week. As it is our last week reading the story ‘Blue Penguin’ we have indulged in different activities related to it. ‘Blue Penguin’ has a special dream in the story which led us to think about our dreams, so we made dream catchers to catch the bad dreams we may have. We also created our own passports to travel to Antarctica and painted beautiful scenes from the story using colours we noticed appear in the story frequently.

Topic - W.B: 18.11.24

 

This week in Reception we have continued reading our story ‘Blue Penguin’. We got creative this week and compared the illustrations in Blue Penguin to Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’. We pointed out the differences and similarities between the two and had a go at creating our own ‘Starry Night’ inspired Blue Penguin picture

Communication & Language - W.B: 11.11.24

 

Talk is an important tool in the Early Years and in Reception we love to talk! We use talk to role play with our friends, we use talk to organise our ideas and to explain what we have made. We also use talk to ask questions when we are unsure about something or need help. When we are playing with friends, sometimes disagreements arise, so we use talk to solve problems too! We encourage many opportunities for talk in Reception!

 

Personal, Social and Emotional Development - w/b 04.11.24

 

It’s our first week back after a restful half term and we have been talking about how we feel. Twice a day, we place our faces on an emotion to let others know how we feel. We are practising to explain our feelings and also thinking about what we can do to help ourselves feel better when we are upset or angry. In our classrooms, we have regulation trolleys full of sensory toys to help us feel better.

Metacognition Launch Day - W.B 14.10.24

 

We have been thinking about thinking this week and about all the different ways we learn. We know we used our senses to explore the world around us. We use our eyes for looking, ears for listening, nose for smelling, hands for feeling and tongues for tasting. We made hats for each sense before exploring different sensory activities.

Black History Month - W/B 07.10.24

 

It has been a busy and fun-filled week in Reception! As it’s Black History Month we have been learning about Rosa Parks and found out about her bravery as she stood up for her rights. We enjoyed writing about and drawing pictures of her, as well as creating colourful, happy buses to symbolise that all are welcome. In the small world area we enjoyed playing with magnetic tiles and peg people to create homes as part of our topic ‘Magical Me’. At the investigation station we used torches and coloured blocks to create colourful shadows. Some of us were being a Challenge-Rex and explored mixing different coloured blocks to make a new coloured shadow. We found out that blue and yellow make green!

Understanding the World - W/B 30.09.24

 

Kicking off Black History Month this month, we began learning about Mae Jemison. We found out she is special because she was the first black woman to venture into outer space! We were so inspired by her amazing achievement, we decided to make our own rocket ships! We used giant cardboard to make a rocket ship, which we all worked together to create and paint. Outside we made a giant rocket ship using large construction materials. We were then ready to blast off into space together!

Reading - W/B 23.09.24

 

We love reading in Reception! We enjoy spending time with our friends reading stories in our book corners and sharing books together. We have been reading a range of books together, both fiction and non-fiction. Our current favourites this week are: Baby’s First Bank Heist, H is for Happysaurus and The Short Sighted Giraffe.

 

Mathematics - W/B 16.09.24

 

During Mathematics this week we have been learning about the number 3. We made towers using 3 cubes and showed number 3 on a ten frame in different ways. We challenged ourselves to find 1 more/ 1 less. We also enjoyed counting teddies and sorting them by colour.

Communication and Language - W/B 09.09.24

 

In Reception, we love to talk! This week, we have been enjoying taking part in different role play activities in our home corner. We have been looking after babies, cooking and serving food. We have been using our kind words when playing with friends, especially when we are sharing toys. Outside in the garden, we have been using large construction equipment to make our homes. We worked together, handing each other blocks and talking about how our home will look.

Welcome Back! - w/b 02.09.24

 

It’s our first week in Reception and it has been amazing! We have enjoyed exploring our new area and making lots of new friends. We braved the wobbly bridge, started to master sliding down the pole and building with giant blocks. Inside we have done lots of colourful paintings, role played cooking and using our fine motor skills to make playdough people! We can’t wait to see what next week has in store for us.

Welcome to the Blue and Red class page!

2023-24

Expressive Arts and Design - w/b 08.07.24

 

We love expressing our creative sides in Reception. We do this in many different ways such as painting, stamping fruit, drawing patterns, creating structures and making something new out of old recycling materials. We love to get messy and use our senses to explore things creatively also. It makes learning fun!

Writing - w/b 01.07.24

 

We love mark making in Reception. Our mark making can be done in lots of different ways including painting and writing. When we write we use our phonics sounds to support us as well as sound cards. Writing can be tricky, but we try our best to use our phonics to write words others can read. We love to create cards, draw pictures and we ensure to write our names on everything we make. We use writing in our learning and in our play every day.

Number - w/b 17.06.24

 

In reception, we love numbers and anything to do with numbers! We enjoy counting all the time and noticing shapes in our environment. We count as we climb up the wobbly bridge and we keep score when we play football. This week we enjoyed tracing around shapes with pebbles and making a pattern with boats and balls as they slid down the water slide. We helped each other keep track of how long we held up hula hoops also by counting out loud.

Physical Development - w/b 10.06.24

 

We love being active in Reception! Being active helps to keep our bodies healthy and helps to develop our gross and fine motor skills. There are many ways we enjoy doing this. We love to ride bikes and are getting very confident gliding and pedalling on them. Activities such as riding bikes not only supports strengthening our muscles, but also helps with our coordination too. We enjoy using our hands to explore sensory play, which helps to strengthen our hand muscles as well as helping us to use tools more effectively, such as scissors to cut. We use large construction in the garden to build giant structures with our friends, working together to carefully lift and manoeuvre the large equipment.

 

Understanding the World - w/b 03.06.24

 

Our first week back has been a fun and busy one! We were lucky to enjoy the weather in our garden this week and explore some things that we found. We noticed some little caterpillars eating our strawberry leaves, so we decided to put them into a butterfly net to observe. We were very fascinated by them and wondered if they might turn into butterflies! We also used our senses this week too by making magic potions! To make our potions we used water beads and placed them into different sized containers. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next week.

 

Physical Development - w/b 20.05.24

 

We love being active in Reception, we understand it is important to help keep our bodies healthy. We keep active in lots of different ways. We enjoy bike riding, working together to build large structures, climbing the wobbly bridge and sliding down the pole. We like to exercise our hand muscles too to strengthen our fine motor skills. We do this through cutting, playing with play dough and messy play!

Communication and Language - w/b 13.05.24

 

We love to talk in Reception and we make sure to talk a lot every day! This week we have been following instructions to make our own bags. We have been learning how to thread needles and how to stitch. It can be tricky but we are trying our best. In the garden we have been on a web hunt, describing the webs we find and where we might find them. As well as hunting for webs, we have continued to look after our pet snails. We have been feeding them and noticing foods they do and do not enjoy eating. This week we fed them tomatoes which they enjoyed.

 

PSED - w/b 06.05.24

 

This week in Reception, we have been thinking about things that make us feel calm and happy. One activity that we have particularly enjoyed is gardening. Last week we planted our wild flower seeds and this week we noticed that they have already started to grow! We felt very excited to see the plants growing and can not wait for them to start attracting bumblebees and butterflies! We are also still using our feeling charts daily, and if we see one of our friends has put their face on the ‘sad’ feeling card, we make sure to ask them why they are upset and what we can do to help each other

Planting in Reception - w/b 29.04.24

 

This week in Reception we have been exploring planting and looking after plants. We have planted onion bulbs and are looking after strawberry, as well as mint plants! We have also planted some seeds to attract butterflies and bumblebees. Inside the classroom this week we have enjoyed making ‘number 12 spiders’, finding spiders in slime and making handprint spiders. We also enjoyed creating tracks to drive cars on and making pictures with shapes.

Earth Day - w/b 22.04.24

 

Earth day is an important day to us here in Reception, as we want to learn how to best look after our planet. We have been learning about the importance of recycling and what happens to our rubbish if we don’t. Today, a friend from Year 5 came down to show us how to make beautiful tulips from paper! We luckily had coloured paper we were recycling to use which worked well with what we were trying to make. It was a challenging activity but we were very proud of our work!

Understanding of the World - w/b 22.04.24

 

This week in Reception we found minibeasts in our garden. We found four snails in our water area and decided to make a home for them. We enjoyed watching the snails come out of their shells and move around. We thought about what they might like to eat and collected some leaves for them. We also used playdough to make spiders like in our story ‘Aaaarrgghh Spider!’

Writing - w/b 15.04.24

 

It is our first week back in Reception and we have been very busy! To share our holidays with our friends, we decided to draw pictures and write about what we got up to. We also have begun reading an interesting new book in English this week called ‘Argh, spider!’. We have been challenging ourselves to write sentences about the story so far using our sounds.

Easter - w/b 25.03.24

 

As Easter weekend approaches, we have been learning about it. We have been learning why Easter is special to some people and how they might celebrate it. We have enjoyed many Easter themed activities this week such as making cards, painting bunnies, making numicon pictures and more! We had a fantastic week.

Number - w/b 18.03.24

 

This week in Reception we’ve been looking at numbers in our different areas. We counted giant numicons outside in the garden, counted the steps taken to reach the top of the wobbly bridge and used our giant abacus to make 10 in different ways.

Understanding the World - w/b 11.03.24

 

This week in reception was a very eventful week. On Monday we received some eggs! We were curious to see what would hatch from them. On Wednesday our eggs began to hatch to reveal chicks! We were very excited about our new arrivals and began learning about the lifecycle of a chicken. Elsewhere in reception we have been getting creative making collage plants, paper plate snakes and role playing the Gruffalo.

Physical Development - w/b 04.03.24

 

Physical development is a very important part of our daily routine in Reception. We do this in lots of different ways such as using playdough to strengthen  our hand muscles. We also have lots of opportunities to work on our gross motor skills in the garden as we can, hop, throw and climb.

Reading - w/b 26.02.24

 

We love reading in Reception and this term we are reading lots of fantasy books as well as some non-fiction too! We enjoy reading together with our friends as well as independently. We like to see the sounds we recognise in books but we love to look at the pictures to see what the books might be about!

Understanding the World - w/b 19.02.24

 

It’s our first week back to Reception after a restful half term and we are excited to get back to learning! This week, as the spring season approaches, we began to learn about plants. We thought about what plants need to grow and be healthy as well as learning about the different parts of a plant. We also thought about how some of our food comes from plants too, and we will be trying to grow our own vegetables!

Religious Education - w/b 05.02.24

 

This week in Reception we have been learning about Guru Nanak and why he is special to Sikhs. We explored different artefacts around Sikhism and talked about what we could see. It was also Guru Nanak’s birthday not too long ago, so we decided to celebrate it this week. We made our own shaving foam cakes and special birthday cards. We had a great time being Exploraptors and learning about a different religion.

Number and Numerical Patterns - w/b 29.01.24

 

This week has been filled with enjoyable and educational activities! We explored  various maths activities that were both exciting and challenging. Our main focus was on the number 9, and we had a delightful time creating paper pizzas and paper plate fruit cakes with 9 toppings. Additionally, we explored the concepts of one more and one less. We further challenged ourselves by writing matching maths stories. This week we have also started to learn about people from different religions. It's been an enriching week, and we're excited to continue providing stimulating learning experiences for our Reception classes.

Pre-writing Skills - w/b 22.01.24

 

This week in Reception, the focus was on exploring a variety of fine motor skills. An interesting activity involved using tongs to save numicons from a simulated fire, followed by a challenge to represent the same numbers on a ten frame using counters. The children also had a blast creating handprint fire engines, finding particular joy in dipping their hands into the cold paint. They also engaged in crafting playdough firefighters, which they made collaboratively with their teachers. The playdough activity incorporated different skills such as rolling, pinching, and squeezing. Overall, it was a highly enjoyable week, and the children are eagerly looking forward to the upcoming activities in the next week.

Reading - w/b 15.01.24

 

In Reception this week, we've been thoroughly enjoying our exploration of various books. Together, we've engaged in both class readings and shared moments with friends. We've taken the time to discuss the intriguing details found on the front covers of the books, challenging ourselves to make predictions about what the stories might entail. Our focus has extended to exploring the characters and key events within the narratives. The enthusiasm for reading in Reception is great, and we eagerly anticipate delving into many more books in the future.

Communication and Language - w/b 08.01.24

 

Our first full week back has been an exciting one. We have begun learning about the different people who help us in our communities. This week we learnt about police officers! We enjoyed using our language and communication when role playing as officers and criminals in our police station and creating disguises for our pictures. We also incorporated some of our maths learning into our police play by making the number 6 in different ways using officers and criminals.

Christmas - w/b 11.12.23

 

In Reception this week, we have begun celebrating Christmas! We have been making decorations to put up in our area such as baubles and paper chains. Last week we visited St Michaels and All Angels church and learnt lots of exciting facts about churches and we also heard the nativity story. We were inspired by our trip, so this week we completed lots of activities related to it! We made churches using recycled materials, we created our own stained glass windows with colourful tissue paper and we even recreated a scene from the nativity story using recycled materials.

Understanding the World - w/b 04.12.23

 

This week in Reception we were Exploraptors! We explored ice by holding, observing and smashing it with little hammers to try and rescue our colourful penguin friends from inside. We also explored natural objects we found in the garden, such as autumn leaves, and painted and printed them onto paper, noticing the different patterns on each leaf. The children also had a challenge of making a boat that floats to help the little colourful penguins safely cross the ocean. We had great fun exploring this week.

Being Exploraptors - w/b 27.11.23

 

In Reception, we have had a very exciting and fun-packed week. We have had the opportunity to be Exploraptors and explore different activities such as building an igloo for the Blue Penguin in the outside construction area, creating 2D shapes using lolly sticks, to name but a few. Not to mention, Reception is now fully in the Christmas mood as we have begun to make paper chains and decorate snowflakes for our classrooms. We're looking forward to the week ahead!

The Blue Penguin - w/b 20.11.23

 

This week in Reception, we have been exploring different activities related to the book we have been reading called ‘The Blue Penguin’. We got creative and made penguin masks using felt. This activity supported our fine motor skills and was very enjoyable. We were also being 'Ideatops' and used our imagination to create a friend for the lonely penguin! We painted the friend and put it up for display. Some of us even drew penguins and used cotton wool for the body of our penguin. We can’t wait to continue reading our story to see what might happen next and explore many more exciting activities.

Oracy - w/b 13.11.23

 

In Reception, we love to talk all day long! Talking is a very important part of our development, so we all talk a lot. This week we used our Oracy skills whilst role playing with our friends, making our little characters talk to each other and thinking about what might happen next. We also talked to each other about how we might make a Pudsey Bear mask, and what we might use to decorate his bandage. In the garden, we communicated with each other and worked together to build a new home for Blue Penguin, the main character in a book we are reading in English. We discussed which materials would be best to use and how we should build the new home.

Celebrations - w/b 06.11.23

 

This week in Reception, we have been thinking about what makes us special and what is special to us. We noticed we all look different, so outside we made towers using large blocks and crates to see how tall we are, compared to our friends. We also have been learning about a special celebration called Diwali. We learnt that Diwali is known as the festival of lights, so we made our own lanterns and rangoli patterns to celebrate. We understand that we might not all celebrate the same special days, but we enjoy learning about them.

Halloween - w/b 30.10.23

 

We celebrated Halloween this week in Reception. We enjoyed mark making on pumpkins using paint and markers as well as making a witchy mud worm pie. We hunted for spiders in the garden to place on a spooky spider web and found our outdoor house had been taken over by spiders! We also incorporated maths with our Halloween fun this week by making numicon monsters and counting legs on our playdough spiders.

PHSCE - w/b 16.10.23

 

In Reception this week we have been talking about our feelings. Each morning we show our friends how we are feeling by placing our faces on an emotion. We know it is important to share how we feel as we can learn techniques on how to feel better, if we are not feeling great. We have come up with a few strategies to use when we feel upset or angry. We have found that counting to ten helps as well as taking a break with a drink of water. We can also help our friends when we notice they feel sad too by asking them to join us in play as well as telling an adult.

Black History Month - w/b 09.10.23

 

This week we continued to celebrate Black History Month. We made steam trains inspired by Elijah McCoy, created our family tree inspired by the story ‘So Much’  and recreated scenes from the story ‘Handa's Surprise’. We also looked at the wonderful necklaces made by the Samburu tribe. We made our own necklaces using paper plates and paint.

Science - w/b 02.10.23

 

In Reception this week we have been exploring the natural world around us. We have noticed the leaves on the trees change colour and fall down as it is now  Autumn. We have been feeling the leaves and describing how it feels and what we can see. We are also learning about Mae Jemison this week, the first black female astronaut and have been making rockets to shoot up into space.

Reading - w/b 25.09.23

 

We love reading in Reception! This week we enjoyed reading outside as well as in. We have been reading comfortably on bean bags, sharing books and stories with our friends and telling each other what we can see on the page. In our reading room, we have been exploring the different books available and spending some time reading them peacefully and quietly.

Mathematics - w/b 18.09.23

 

This Week in Reception we have been exploring the number 2! We have been exploring different ways we can make 2 using various manipulatives including cubes and numicon. We used different objects around the classroom and made groups of 2. It has been great fun and we were also being ‘Challenge-Rexes’ while doing so.

Mark Making - w/b 11.09.23

 

This week in Reception, we have been doing a lot of writing and mark making! We have begun practising to write our names each morning as well as practising how to correctly form our sounds. We make sure to hold our writing tools correctly using a pincer grip. It’s tricky but we are being ‘Tryatopses’ and trying our very best.

Welcome Back! w/b 04.09.23

 

We had a fantastic and fun filled first week in Reception! We enjoyed exploring our new areas, seeing our friends and making many new friends across both Red and Blue class. We were very lucky to be welcomed with great weather, so we enjoyed much of our time in the garden. We braved the wobbly bridge and slid down the fireman's pole. We enjoyed building obstacle courses to challenge our friends to balance on and make sand castles in the sand area. We cannot wait to see what the rest of this year has in store for us.

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