This week in Reception has been another busy and exciting one!

In Phonics, we have been learning the tricky word ‘to’ and the new sounds ‘e’ and ‘u’. We practised saying the sounds with their actions and writing both the sounds and our tricky word. We have also been working really hard on blending and segmenting words containing these sounds—our confidence is really growing!

In Maths, we have been investigating different ways to compose and decompose sets of 3. We explored how 1 and another 1 and another 1 makes 3, and how 1 and 2 also makes 3. We then moved on to finding ways to make 4 and 5, creating stampoline patterns by printing paint stamps to show different ways to make these numbers. We also used our hands to find the different combinations that make 4 and 5.
Alongside this, we revisited the names and properties of 2D shapes and sorted them into categories.

In Drawing Club, linked to our topic of traditional tales, we focused on Little Red Riding Hood. We started by discussing what we already knew about the story. After reading it, we talked about how Little Red Riding Hood might have felt walking into the forest, why she carried a basket, and what she might see or hear around her.
We discussed that every story has a character and a setting, and this week we drew Little Red Riding Hood in the forest. The children also drew something they thought could help Grandma escape from the wolf—they had some wonderful ideas such as magic doors, flying shoes, and torches to distract the wolf!

In RE, we continued thinking about how we look after God’s creations. Last week we focused on caring for animals. This week we looked at how we can look after the environment. We talked about pollution, littering on beaches and in the ocean, and cutting down trees.
We read The Messy Magpie, a story about rubbish and recycling, and discussed why it’s important to recycle and throw away litter properly. Miss Burkinshaw then pretended to litter all over the classroom! We talked about how this behaviour was not okay and why it is important to keep our environment clean. The children worked together to help tidy up, explained to Miss Burkinshaw why littering is wrong, and she promised she would not litter again. To finish the lesson, we went on a litter pick around our playground and managed to fill almost three-quarters of a bag—fantastic teamwork!

Later in the week, we looked at the Nativity scene and discussed who the different people in the picture were. We read the Christmas story and talked about how we will be performing this story next week in our own Nativity. The children have been working extremely hard to practise their songs and lines ready for their performances.

Finally, our trip to the post box!
We had a wonderful time walking to the post box to send our letters to Santa and then visiting the Big Teddy Bear in town before returning to school. Thank you so much to the parents who volunteered at the last minute—we really appreciate your support in making the trip possible.

A big thank you also to everyone who has brought in red items for our Christmas hamper.