Blog Week ending 16.09.22
Annnnnnd relax!
It is the end of a super first few weeks in Reception and we couldn't be happier with how the children have settled into Pear class and adapted to our new school routines.
You may find for the first few weeks that there will be reports from your children that they haven't done anything all day, they didn't play with anybody and they didn't eat any dinner! This couldn't be further from the truth, but we do find that the sheer exhaustion of the first few weeks is overwhelming and communication after school is at best, limited. Unfortunately, you will bear the brunt of that tiredness with a sometimes unhappy or weepy child. Please rest assured that the children are happy and smiling throughout the day and if there were any problems, we would be quick to let you know.
Luckily, the children in Pear class have a lot to say whilst they are at school and we are finding friendships are beginning to form and some real characters are shining through! I would like to thank you all for bearing with us over these first few weeks. There are always initial teething problems as we welcome the children into our busy classroom, but we really appreciate that some parents have now chosen to drop their child at the door and some are still coming into the classroom but leaving promptly for school to start. Please can I ask that if you do wish to talk to us about anything, you either do it via email or at the end of the day after we have dismissed the children .
This week we have started our RWInc journey and have learnt the sounds 'm, a, s, d and t' We hope that you have received the video links that were sent out by email and this weeks formation sheets for handwriting practise. We are grateful for any support you can give your child at practising these sounds little and often at home. We look forward to seeing you at our parent information meetings next week so we can explain RWInc to you in more detail.
For these first few weeks, our focus has been on settling the children into Pear class - learning about our golden class rules and enjoying exploring time in the classroom both inside and out. In our first week we began work on a display that will be placed in the school hall after the half term holiday as a celebration of the Platinum Jubilee. We introduced the children to the concept of life cycles by looking at the Queen . The children were very excited to learn that the Queen herself was once a child who went to Reception! Ironically this week, the lifecycle of the Queen came to an end as she sadly passed away and so there was lots of sensitive discussion about loved ones like the Queen who are no longer with us.
As part of this display we looked at the artist Jackson Pollack, an artist who uses paint experimentally by painting standing up to create abstract art using different objects like sticks and dried paint brushes. We all enjoyed splatting, dripping and spreading the colours of our Union Jack flag and we used this collaborative art work to create different sized Queen heads to represent the different stages in the Queen's life, starting from small and gradually getting larger.
This week we have moved on to our topic myself, my world and feeling fine. We have been thinking about ourselves and our likes/dislikes, our feelings and how we look. We spent some time during carpet sessions learning our key vocabulary similar and different. We discovered that some of us were similar as we may be the same in some ways because we both have the same colour eyes or have the same hair colour, but that other things about us are different. Most importantly we discussed how that differences should be celebrated and we are all very special. We enjoyed a lovely book called Happy in Our Skin, a story that explores the differences in how children may look, but with the emphasis that all children are equally special.
The children enjoyed investigating their faces and the faces of their friends using mirrors and then creating line drawings of what they could see and loose part representations of what they observed. In Pear class we do lots of loose part play as this improves children's problem solving and theoretical reasoning. Loose parts also tend to enhance children's ability to think imaginatively and see solutions - a toy rabbit will always be a toy rabbit, but a stick can be so much more than just a stick.
Excitingly we started Drawing Club this week. Drawing Club is a way that we are able to immerse the children in the world of story and unearth their imaginations as they develop their fine motor skills. Our focus story has been The Colour Monster, who starts off at the beginning of the story feeling all mixed up and confused, only to be helped by putting his different colours (emotions) into separate jars. This story helped the children understand the concept of feelings as the story makes them tangible by changing them into a colour and an object. We enjoyed drawing our own colour monsters and choosing to colour this monster the colour that we currently felt.
This story has led us to create our own morning feelings check in, where the children choose a coloured button/buttons and put it into the correct coloured feeling jar. This helps us as we then know which child may need some extra attention, if they are feeling worried, or which child has come to school feeling happy and confident. Please do remind your child to choose their button in the morning before they go to their chair for morning challenge.
Thursday saw the children moving like jungle animals- jumping like frogs, slithering like snakes, prowling like tigers, and flapping like parrots! They then listened carefully to the jungle music and moved like the animals in time to the music, carefully using the apparatus. Pear class were excellent at listening to the class rules when being in the hall for PE. Well done Pears!
In our RE this week, the focus has been on ‘families’. We talked about who was in our family and who we lived with. Pear class enjoyed talking about the various activities they do with their families and discussing pictures of special family times. In our circle everyone talked about who was special to them and then continued to paint a picture of a special person in their lives.
Jigsaw is the scheme we use for our personal, social and emotional development in Pear class. Jigsaw Jenie helps us to talk about our feelings and recognize our emotions. Our theme this half term is ‘Being in my World’ and this week we have been considering how we are all UNIQUE and what a wonderful school and world it is because we are all different!
We have enjoyed being musical this week with ‘Charanga’ (our music scheme), exploring and finding the pulse of song together. Fabulous dance moves were demonstrated by all our Perfect Pears! They then got into pairs and sang ‘pat-a-cake’ whilst clapping their hands together then clapping hands with their partners in time to the beat- great job!
Please do read the class newsletter for information about this term and the equipment needed at school. We would ask you to remember to label all items and remember that a water bottle is needed daily. As we access the field daily, wellingtons are imperative. Our milk list is still small so should you wish your child to be added, please let the office staff know so that you can be added to our list.
Well done to Lily Arkless who was last weeks Star of the week for settling into Pear class with a big smile on her face!
This week's star of the week is William for being such a kind friend in Pear class!
A big WELL DONE goes to you both!
Once again, thank you so much for all of your support and good nature. Enjoy your weekend and we will see you all on Tuesday the 20th!
Mrs H-S and Mrs T
Pear Class Friends!
NUF multiskills!
Our Loose Part Representations of ourselves!
Playing and Exploring!