We’ve had another fun-filled week in Reception with lots of exciting learning happening across all areas of the curriculum!

Phonics

In phonics this week, we have been continuing to learn some of our Level 4 tricky words. Our tricky word of the week has been ‘so’, and the children have done a fantastic job remembering that we can’t sound it out—we just have to know it!

We have also been revisiting our Level 3 tricky words and playing lots of games to help us practise, including Tricky Word Bingo, where the children had to listen carefully and mark off the correct words. Alongside this, we’ve been recapping our Level 2 tricky words and continuing to segment and blend words and sentences. The children have also been working hard on writing their own sentences.

Maths

In maths, we have been recapping how to subitise quantities to 5—recognising how many there are without needing to count. The children also had the chance to use a Rekenrek, a special maths tool that’s used higher up the school. This helped them to see numbers more clearly, especially numbers up to 5 and 10, and develop their number sense.

We also revisited the concept of 1 more and practised working out what 1 more than a given number is. Towards the end of the week, we recapped odd and even numbers and talked about what makes a number odd or even.

Drawing Club

This week’s Drawing Club text was The Rainbow Fish. The children loved exploring this beautiful story and discussing our four special vocabulary words: shimmer, proud, lonely, and share. We worked together to come up with definitions for each word.

The children drew their own versions of the Rainbow Fish and wrote sentences to describe his shiny, shimmering scales. They also imagined a scene where the Rainbow Fish met another fish who wanted one of his special scales—they thought carefully about how that fish might have felt when the Rainbow Fish first said “no.” Finally, the children used their brilliant imaginations to create brand-new sea creatures for the Rainbow Fish to meet, such as jellysharks and mercats—very creative ideas!

RE

In RE, we have been learning more about the Bible, including the two parts—the Old Testament and the New Testament. We read the story of Abraham and Sarah and talked about the special promise God made to them. We discussed what the word promise means and thought about how sometimes we have to trust a promise even if we can’t see it straight away.

To help us understand this, some brave volunteers had a go at being blindfolded while a partner led them safely around the room. Just like they had to trust their friend, we talked about how we have to trust God’s promises. We also read the story of Jacob and Esau, Abraham and Sarah’s grandchildren, and reflected on how important it is to keep promises, say sorry when we’ve made mistakes, and remember that God always loves us.

PE

In PE, we’ve been continuing to practise for Sports Day. Mr. Luckhurst kindly came to help us and explained exactly what we will be doing on the big day. The children had a go at practising the races and routines on the field and are getting very excited to show you all soon!

Star of the week: Congratulations to Krastina, who is our star of the week, for demonstrating an increase in confidence with putting her hand up and answering questions. Krastina will be taking home her certificate and Wilfred the Elephant to write in the book all about her time spent with Wilfred over the next week and will bring him back next Thursday.

Please remember to read with your child, even for just 5 minutes! Please also remember to record it in the reading record. We will only change your child's book if you have read with them 2 or more times in that week! Reading books are changed on Tuesday's and Thursday's. Please remember to also have the library book in your children's book bag on Thursday to be changed. 

Any issues or concerns we need to know about, please speak to the Acorn team before and after school or email at: acorn@st-barnabas.kent.sch.uk

Well done Reception for a brilliant week of learning!