Autumn 1

Week One   wb 5.09.22

We have had a wonderful week getting to know our delightful new reception class. From day one the children stayed all day and coped brilliantly with staying for lunch as well. We have talked about all being part of Dragonfly Class and how we are looking forward to doing lots of fantastic learning together. We have read lots of stories about starting school and making new friends.

We have had lots of fun getting to know each other and have played lots of circle games focusing on learning everyone’s names. The children have adapted well to all the new routines and have really impressed us with their tidying up and listening skills. Well done Dragonfly class.

We have talked about our expectations for our classroom behaviour in and around our classroom and we have made our Class charter. We can’t wait for our new Marvellous Me parent app to be up and running. Your child will receive badges for progress and success and to reinforce values, positive behaviours and well-being actions. We will be sending home letters about this shortly.

Your children have had an amazing first week at school. Have a lovely weekend.

Week Two  wb 12.09.22

This week we introduced the children to our mud kitchen and climbing apparatus in the outside area. They have had so much fun! 

Our focus for this week has been introducing them to our big question. Each half term our learning takes place around a question. This half term it is ‘What makes me so marvellous?’ Our planning for this learning is in the  curriculum folder.

We have looked closely at our faces in mirrors and had lots of discussions about the colour of our eyes, hair and skin. We discovered that we are all different! This prompted a storytime finding out about how we celebrate each others uniqueness. We have started our own self portraits and have taken our time to mix the paint to the correct colour of our eyes, hair and skin. These paintings will be displayed in the classroom when finished and a photo will be taken to put on here for you all to see.  Later in the week, the children went on a nature walk collecting lots of acorns, leaves, twigs, sycamore seeds, and feathers to create their own loose part self portrait. The children then took a photo of their artwork using the class Ipad. They are such creative children!

We have introduced the children to our calendar each morning. This is where we duscuss the date and weather. We then sing the days of the week and months of the year song. Perhaps you could ask your child to sing the songs to you.

Week Three wb 19.09.22

We have been very mindful of our children and their understanding of the sad news of  Queen Elizabeth. We have let them guide our discussions but have answered their questions honestly and with a focus on a new King. This linked with our learning later in the week with our family trees. We planted some daffodil bulbs all around our fence in memory of our Queen.

The children have worked really hard on their self portraits which are now finished and displayed on the wall for everyone to see. It really is such a welcoming sight not only to see our wonderful children in our class, but their creative self portraits smiling back at us all day!

In maths this week we have been singing lots of counting songs such as 5 Little ducks went swimming, 1,2,3,4,5 Once I caught a fish alive. and 5 little men in a flying saucer.

We have continued to play lots of circle games to learn each others names and can now line up beautifully in alphabetical order for assembly and playtimes. Dragonfly class are really enjoying singing assembly and listen attentively in celebration assembly. 

This week we have introduced the children to a family tree. Thank you for sending in photos  so that your children have had a prompt to help them to talk to their class about who is in their family. Lots of vocabulary has been introduced such as cousin, grandparent, uncle etc. The children have enjoyed painting their trees and drawing their family. They have practised their cutting and sticking skills to complete their trees. It would be really helpful to provide opportunities at home for cutting and sticking as it is quite a tricky skill to master.

A really lovely week of learning and reflection.