Welcome to our Reception Class

In our Reception Class you will find the teachers called Miss Gold & Mrs Brown and the Learning Support Assistants called Miss Ashley and Miss Rita. We are all so excited in getting to know the new Reception class and continuing our Learning Journey.

* Please don’t forget to look at the Reception door for updates!

* Please don’t forget your £1 cooking/snack money every week.

* Please don’t forget your book bags.

Welcome to Reception in Norman Pannell Primary school where we love to learn both indoors and outdoors! We have lots of opportunities to learn though active play, investigations, stories and visits and the children have settled in very quickly and are ready to learn .

We strive to ignite children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive! Below is an outline of what your child will be learning in Reception over the year. Each term, a shorter medium term plan will be added so that you know what your child will be learning over a half term period!

If you have any questions, worries or just 'news' please let one of the Reception staff know!

Getting to know you....

This week we have been meeting our teachers and new friends, looking and playing in our new classroom and even making iced biscuits! The children brought in their 'All about me' bags and we had a lot of fun learning about each other...

We have had a very busy week this week...our first FULL week in school! The children have settled very well considering that they have had lunch at school too! We started phonics lessons this week learning our sounds: /s/ /a/ /t/ /p/ /i/. Along side this the children have started 'early writing'.....

In other news...we had a successful baking day on Thursday making Pizza Faces! In school today we had our first lesson in meditation, did a handwriting lesson and then went on to make playdoh for next week! Busy Busy Busy

We had the most fantastic school trip today in Calderstones Park and it was non-stop from the minute we got there! We all made a den and we decided that Miss Rita and Miss Ashley's group won! They were pretending to roast marshmallows next to their den on the camp-fire!

Having stopped for milk and a biscuit, we then went on a conker hunt! Sadly we only found pine cones but the children were able to use lots of vocabulary to describe them such as: small, big, closed, open, rough, smooth. After going on our Gruffalo Hunt (but only finding squirrels!) we decided it was time for lunch......

With our bellies full of food; it was only fair that we fed the ducks with FIVE loaves of bread! This was a lot of fun....and then we raced back to the playground. It was very windy at this point and we were very lucky not to get blown away!!

Towards the end of playing on the swings, slide and see saws the children had an ice cream! Most of it was distributed around their mouths and hands but the children enjoyed them! Then there was the long walk back to the coach.....

So we found no bears, no Gruffalos but a few conkers, pine cones and lots and lots of exploring and investigating in our natural world.

When the children arrived at school today there was a 'crime scene' in our Reception class.....chairs had been knocked over, a bear print in the oatmeal, porridge everywhere, golden hair stuck in the door and finally there was a dropped basket of cakes too (we won't talk about which child ate the cakes at the end of the session! that's another crime scene altogether!!!).

The children decided they needed to 'investigate' the scene and chose items from our classroom to help them do this: torch, magnifying glass and a clipboard with paper.

Fingerprints were taken (to be sent to the local police station!) and the children had to predict, using the clues, who they thought the culprit was...! It was a great morning filled with questions and hunting for clues......

We have done a lot of learning this week! Starting with the Crime Scene at the beginning of the week in Literacy (it was Goldilocks!) and moving onto 'size' in Maths. We started to use the dinosaurs in our role play and so we enhanced learning with facts about Dinosaurs and lots of pictures!

In Topic this week we have been discussing our senses so in baking we made different flavoured Flapjacks: syrup, chocolate, cinnamon and normal! We also did a crisp tasting survey ~ look at our picture to find out the results!

On Thursday we did some meditating and this week we were flying on our magic rug in the sky....with the birds and the clouds. We concentrated on our breathing too! Another busy busy week ~ and let's not forget our new sounds that we have learnt! /ck/ /e/ /u/ /r/.

Having discussed on Monday what Goldilocks liked to have for breakfast, we talked about what we have for breakfast! It transpired that the majority of the children had never (or couldn't remember!) eating crumpets! Today in class we had crumpets for our snack! The children loved them and we used our senses to describe them. Words such as 'juicy' (the butter!), chewy, doughy amongst other words. Tomorrow we are going to try brioche!

The junk modelling is still producing masterpieces in class. Ellis and Jacob worked together to make a train and then showed the class how it would work! Aaron made a rocket and then a dinosaur and we even had a tower for Rapunzel!

We have had fun with our maths too using our number mats to put 1-10 in order. In the afternoons we are talking about 'people who help us' including people such as dentists, doctors, teachers and of course our mums and dads! The children are now starting to sound out their words too using dominant sounds in their writing.....and the learning continues!

Pirates and Bonfire Night (2.11.16)

We have gone straight back into learning after our half term break and for the next few weeks we are learning about Pirates! The children have already completed a 'what we already know...' and we now have a 'This is what we would like to find out..." ~ so the next few weeks are going to be very busy!

We played a phonics game this week called "Master, Master can I cross your golden river". Children were given a word and they had to read the word in order to cross the river! Keeping within the theme of Pirates, they had a 'plank' to walk across to help them .

In Maths this week we are learning about 'opposites and things that go together' and the children now know what an 'opposite' is! A hard concept to understand when you are 4 years old!!

Today we experienced holding a sparkler as we are also learning about Bonfire Night. After a safety talk and putting on our gloves, Miss Ashley and Miss Jade took children outside so children could use sparklers to write their names, numbers and make random shapes! Lots of fun had in Reception this week so far! Tomorrow we are making 'sausage rolls' in baking

It's been a fun filled week for our first week back after half term! From sparklers, to investigating pumpkins to walking the plank, making sausage rolls and finishing the week off with our first (and very successful!) Messy Morning! A fantastic turn out from parents meant that we all got messy and busy making a double sided Pirate and parrot that we are going to hang in our classroom!

Continuing with the theme of bonfire night ~ yesterday we made delicious sausage rolls! These went down well with the children and left overs were given out to parents so they could join in with our baking treats!

Next week.....more Pirates, a school trip, more phonics learning....and our journey continues.......

What a fantastic school trip today! We arrived at Underwater Street at 10am and sat down to listen to the rules! "No running!" ~ and then the children went off to explore! Despite UWS being quite big the children initially stayed together (!) and played with the darts, car slides and climbing wall.....until they realised that there was so much more to do!

The children then made bath bombs (smelling of Turkish Delight as they added rose water to the mixture) followed by green slime .

Stopping for lunch, the children then went their separate ways and explored all over! Bubble hoops, crafts, looking for fossils, water investigation and much much more!

At the science show, the 'Professor' need two. mini professors to help him! Ellis and Lily Rae rose to the challenge making a volcano and rocket!

4 hours later we were all back on the coach! A few fell asleep....! The sign of a great day out .

The children were impeccably behaved today and it was noted by the staff at UWS. They listened, shared, played together, chatted in role play and problem solved! Very proud Early Years staff today. Superb

Christmas is coming in Reception and this week we have been watching out for our visitor! Elton the Elf is in Reception listening to our conversations about what we would like from Santa!

So we decided that instead of the Vet role-play, the children wanted a writing Christmas table . The children have been looking through catalogues, writing lists, writing cards and letters....lots of writing and practising our phonics!

This morning we had great fun at our local Santa Dash in Netherley Park. Most of the children came dressed up and all completed the course ~ and got a chocolate bar from the PTA as a 'well done' .

On Friday, the children made Peppermint Creams with Miss Ashley and Miss Jade! They tasted delicious and very easy to make . Dipping them in dark chocolate was very messy but a lot of fun ~ adding to the taste!

This morning, the lovely Aaron handed Miss Gold a present that he had made over the weekend. It was a salt-dough heart (along with a delicious crunchie bar!!). The decoration is now hanging from our whiteboard speaker for all to see.

Thank you Aaron .

We have had a busy week this week: practising the Nativity, learning about Christmas, learning about Chanukah. We also made our cards and calendars. The cards were entirely by the children themselves! We gave them the materials and they made their masterpieces! We hope you like them  

Miss Gold brought in a Menorah as we have been learning about Chanukah this week! Miss Gold will be eating donuts, chocolate money and opening a gift for every day of the 8 day festival! (well she won't! but her children will!!)...

We are looking forward to showcasing our Nativity to parents on Tuesday 20th December @ 10:30am and we hope you can all come and sing-a-long!

Elton the Elf is still causing trouble is hoping to have an 'interesting' weekend *watch this space*

We had an eventful first week back after half term and straight back into learning! This week we have learnt about 'worries' and what to do if we are feeling anxious or worried about something. We agreed, in class, that it's always best to talk to someone . We have done a display on what we think 'worries' look like and made worry dolls too!

In maths we have been learning about 'patterns' and to consolidate learning we made patterned fruit kebabs!

Lily came in with her masterpiece this week and showcased her canvas to the class. What a fantastic piece of art, painted at home! Well done Lily

In class this morning, the biscuit making table was in full flow! The children had to ice their biscuit and then decorate it how they wished! All of a sudden, we heard..."uh oh! My mum is going to go bonkers....!!!!". Lily managed to get icing ALL OVER HERSELF!!!  The icing was in her hair, on her jumper, on her tights, all over her skirt and around her mouth!

"Why didn't you wear an apron Lily? You know the rules...!" Said Miss Gold...

"Errrrrrrr I just didn't!!!" replied Lily!!

We decided to phone mummy so that she wasn't shocked at pick up! The result ended in Lily eating her smiley biscuit!

So much fun had in our Early Years classroom

It was lovely to see all the parents/carers who came to our Maths morning today! Many activities had been set out and all parents/carers got involved playing with their children and eating bacon sandwiches! Activities such as 'snakes & ladders' and 'skittles' were set out, but also games like wetting the numbers, threading and making patterns on 'Pants' were set out too.....

Our youngest guest today was Ava's baby sister but it all got too much for her and she slept throughout the whole morning!! Looking forward to our next Messy Morning on Thursday 16th February @ 9am....

Today we had the most fantastic school trip! Having learnt about Liverpool Landmarks over the last few weeks; today we put it all into context....starting off with the two Cathedrals. The children were very patient getting on the bus, getting off the bus, putting on seatbelts, taking them off, up and down the stairs etc.

The children could not believe their eyes when they saw the Chinese Arch....but most of all the Superlambanana was the winner by a mile!

In the museum, we ate lunch and then looked around the dinosaurs, the bug house and aquarium. Then we toddled down to the Albert Dock! A quick photo with the Liver Buildings, the Beatles and then we walked to the 'old fashioned sweetshop' to buy some old fashioned 'Crunchies'! The children definitely loved this bit! On the way we went into the Postmaster's House to look at a house from 1940s....the children took it all in, loved it!

Finally, we went to Sefton Park and looked around the Palm House.....taking a quick photo with Peter Pan himself...! On the way home we knew the trip had been a success as a few fell asleep on the way back....

Such a fantastic day! Thank you to all the children and staff for making so many memories.

Today we were very lucky to not only make bread, but we also ate foods that we may not have eaten before! We started off with green/red peppers, cucumber and tomatoes.....then the chef, Daniel, cooked all these ingredients and put them inside an omelette. We all had a taste of the omelette and the majority of children enjoyed it! Yay!

We then tasted a fruit that not even the teachers had heard of before called a: Honey Polemo. Its a cross between a tangerine and grapefruit and was

de-licious!  

We then made our own wholemeal bread using a bread mix, warm water and our fingers! Looking forward to eating this later....

Back in the base we decided that we would look at foods and put them in 'healthy' 'not healthy' and 'a bit of both' hoops! This was fun!

Reception have had a very busy few weeks back in class! We had the 'owls' come and visit the whole school! We learnt many facts about them and we were allowed to get up close and personal to them too!

Then we had 'World Book Day' and we all came dressed up! Miss Gold wasn't in that day so we all took photos to show off our fantastic designs!

We have now started learning about Paddington Bear (in the mornings!) and in the afternoons we are learning about wiggly worms and how wonderful they are! We all pretended to be 'wormologists' and dug up worms to put into our classroom. We are able to watch them form 'tunnels' in their containers ~ it's so interesting to watch! We will also be learning about caterpillars and spiders in the next few weeks!

fact: Did you know that a worm has 5 pairs of hearts??!!

On Thursday we watched the part in Paddington where he gets all tangled up in sellotape! We decided that instead of sellotape we would use toilet roll! We had so much fun twirling round and round and for our friends to problem solve how to continue the wrapping once the toilet roll snapped!!

We also made jelly today ~ watching the solid form turn into a runny liquid and then set to a hard/wobbly form again! We had worms coming out of our jelly today! They were delicious!

After our very exhausting trip to London, by plane, on Thursday ~ we had a fun filled Red Nose Day on Friday! As you can see from the photos the children came dressed in red with noses, glasses and even light up trainers!

Sadly, we also finished Paddington Bear today and we have had so much fun learning about: storylines, characters, letter writing, labels, captions and eating marmalade! Not forgetting our plane journey to London!!

We took a vote to see how many of us enjoyed learning about Paddington. As you can see the vast majority (besides 2!) enjoyed it  hip hip hooray!

We have had a busy week in Reception! In Literacy we are still watching Trolls and learning hard words such as banished and tenacity! The children are loving this topic! In maths we are using hard words such as plus, add, total and equals....our young mathematicians!

Minibeasts can be yucky but not for our Reception children who are learning about their features and where we can find them! They even made minibeast cookies ~ good enough to eat!! yum yum!

We have had a very busy five weeks in Reception! We have been learning all about 'Trolls' and doing lots of writing! In Maths we have been problem solving, learning time and subtraction! The sun has his hat on and we need to remember our suncream and hats so that we can play outside safely please!

We had the clowns in school today and the children laughed, watched and loads of magic! Martin Mere, and educational visit, was loved by all the children! The weather was great and the children found a hidden birds nest amongst the bushes!

Only one half term left which will be concentrating on all aspects of learning including transition into Year One.....

Have a great half term!

Today we had our special visitor in to read us stories and poems. Miss Chris came back in to see our lovely Reception children. She brought in her 2 reading teddies for the children to hold!

In the Investigation area we had lots of flours/sugars to make predictions with. What will sieve better? Will it make a solid? Why is it runny? So much fun (and mess) was had! In other news, thank you for all the sticks! The children have been using them for mark making in the paint and sand and also for maths work.

So much fun already and it's only Tuesday!