This term, our topic is ‘Growth’ and we have thoroughly enjoyed talking and writing what we have learnt about living things, ourselves and decay. We followed instructions to plant some seeds and then watched them grow. We have used our listening and communication skills to learn about the life cycles of plants, chicks and the human cycle. Our trip this term was to West Ham Park, where we looked at plants, did tree rubbings and found other living things in the park. We have used our reflection skills to talk about our experiences. 

Maths:

This term our Reception children are exploring the concept of halving and sharing! Through interactive activities, they are developing their sharing skills by practicing how to distribute items equally among their peers. They are doing this through hands-on experiences of using chalk on the floor, cubes and cutting shapes. By integrating these lessons into daily routines, we ensure that these fundamental math concepts are engaging and easy for the children to understand and enjoy!

Communication, Language and Literacy  

The children have been developing their Literacy skills by learning how to hold a pencil correctly and structure simple sentences independently. To give their writing purpose, they have explored the wonders of the natural world, documenting the stages of both the human and chicken life cycles. Inspired by the environment, they also studied the work of Greta Thunberg and shared their experiences from our recent trip to West Ham Park. During this outdoor adventure, the children engaged in "tree hunts," "bush shaking," and "leaf printing," providing a rich sensory foundation for their descriptive mark-making. We have got so good at writing have a look!

In maths, we have been focusing on number mastery, which includes understanding the concepts of one more and one less. This has been  helping to strengthen our students' number sense as well as mixed operation maths stories. Alongside this, we have been exploring 3D shapes, engaging students in identifying and describing these shapes both in the classroom and in the world around them. This exploration is closely linked to our topic of "Our World," where students are connecting their knowledge of shapes to real-world,  For examples, enhancing their understanding of how mathematics is used in everyday life. 

Topic

Our topic this term is ‘Our World.’ Reception started by looking at Space and our place in the solar system. The children then turned their focus closer to home to celebrate their own unique heritage and the diverse stories within our community. We have also been looking at Bangladesh where we explored learning the numbers 1 to 10 and important facts about the country. The children worked hard to learn this new language and immerse themselves. It has been wonderful to watch our youngest learners grow into curious global citizens as they discover the world around them.

Literacy

We have been extremely busy in literacy. With International Week this term, we have been learning all about the country Bangladesh using non-fiction books to draw out facts that we can share with others. Some of us used our phonics sounds to write about what we have learnt about Bangladesh, for example in the form of a fact file. We also got busy creating our own T-shirt for World Book Day representing some of our favourite books. We read the book about Zaha Hadid who was our significant person this term and learned about her life and how she designed fantastic buildings such as the London Aquatics Centre.

We have had so much fun this term in Reception. In our new topic, ‘My stories,’ we have been learning about authors, illustrators, characters and how stories are structured. We used the story boxes we made at home with our family to introduce the topic and present our favourite stories to our friends and teachers. We used our communication and language skills to talk about what parts of the stories we liked and who our favourite characters were. As part of our learning, we went on an exciting trip to Plaistow library, where we explored a range of different books. We also learned a poem about the Gruffalo that we are going to perform to our parents at the end of the term.

Maths

This term we have been developing our mathematical skills. We have started to use our maths table and resources table in our classes and at home. We have spoken about addition and we were able to say ‘get ready to get some more’ every time we see + and ‘get ready to take away’ when we see -. We have learnt to write our own maths stories using the correct number formation. We have tried our best to revise our numbers and think about if they are odd or even.

Literacy

In Reception, this term our theme is ‘My stories’. The children enjoyed talking about their own favourite tales, with their story boxes. In addition, we’ve been exploring the world of Julia Donaldson, celebrating her stories and using them to learn about characters, settings and understanding story structure. The children have been captivated by her books.  We used, The Smeds and the Smoos to inspire our creativity and we worked as a team to make our own settings. We have developed our mark making skills and wrote sentences to describe characters from The Gruffalo story. 

The children have had a amazing start to the term and have settled in beautifully with their new friends and teachers. They are becoming familiar with our school rules, learning to work as a team, and adjusting well to classroom routines. It's been wonderful to see them growing more confident and comfortable in their new environment. Our topic this term is ‘Who am I?’ We've been developing our communication skills by talking about ourselves and our families, helping the children build a strong sense of identity and belonging. As part of our creative work, we explored colour mixing and experimented with blending different skin tones to create thoughtful self-portraits.

Communication, Language and Literacy  

We had fun developing our literacy skills this term by mark-making in class using different media. We also worked on recognising and writing our names using lowercase letters. We have started exploring some phonics sounds by playing games during our sessions, and we have begun to practise blending the sounds. We enjoyed listening to different books about feelings, skin tone and families.

Maths

The children have been singing number nursery rhymes and learning to count objects in maths. This term, each week, we have focused on one number. We have learnt to recognise the numbers 1-5, count the amount and do the correct amount of action to match the number. During our maths, we have built resilience when learning to match amounts to numerals, count and subitise.

Understanding the world and Expressive Arts and Design

Our topic this term is ‘Our World’, and we have been learning about where we live and different cultures. First, we looked at the local area and visited the Olympic Park and looked at a building designed by Zaha Hadid, our significant person. Then we started to get prepare for International Week by having a block printing workshop with parents and learning all about Bangladesh. We had fun learning a dance routine with some traditional moves from Bangladesh and even got the chance to perform for our parents. Finally, we will look at space, and the solar system, then focused on Earth. We will use be using Google Maps to look at planets.

Maths

In maths, we have been focusing on number mastery, which includes understanding the concepts of one more and one less, helping to strengthen our students' number sense as well as mixed operation maths stories. Alongside this, we have been exploring 3D shapes, engaging students in identifying and describing these shapes both in the classroom and in the world around them. This exploration is closely linked to our topic of "Our World," where students are connecting their knowledge of shapes to real-world examples, enhancing their understanding of how mathematics is used in everyday life.

Literacy

We have been extremely busy in literacy. With International Week this term, we have been learning all about the country Bangladesh using non-fiction books to draw out facts that we can share with others. Some of us used our phonics sounds to write about what we have learnt about Bangladesh, for example in the form of a fact file. We also got busy creating our story spuds for World Book Day representing some of our favourite characters. We read the book about Zaha Hadid who was our significant person this term and learned about her life and how she designed fantastic buildings such as the London Aquatics Centre.

Our topic this term is ‘Our World’, and we have been learning about where we live and different cultures. First, we looked at space, and the solar system, then focused on Earth. We had a go at using Google Maps to look at planets. Next, the children visited the Olympic Park and looked at a building designed by Zaha Hadid, our significant person. Finally, we experienced International Week, where we represented Bangladesh, and a mini world experience, where we visited another class. We had fun learning a dance routine with some traditional moves from Bangladesh and even got the chance to perform for our dance parents.

Maths

This term, we have been learning many mathematical skills and words that we can use daily. For example, we have learnt about capacity , the difference between full and empty , and how to explain how much a container has in it. This term, for our number of the week we started exploring 2 digit numbers (10-20). We have been focussing on solving mixed maths stories using our fingers, different objects and the pupils tables. We also learnt how to use 3D shapes to make models by talking about the properties of shapes and using their names, just like our significant person Zaha Hadid does when she designs buildings. We had lots of fun thinking about what 3D shapes we can see in the environment

Literacy

For literacy we have been super busy! With International Week this term, we have been learning all about the country Bangladesh using non-fiction books to draw out facts that we can share with others. Some of us used our phonics sounds to write about what we have learnt about Bangladesh, for example in a form of a fact-file. We also got busy creating our story jars for World Book Day where we were able to present our jars to the rest of the class and adults. Some of us created the different characters from the story and included objects which linked to the theme and setting of the story.

Understanding the world and Expressive Arts and Design

The children have had a fantastic start and settled in well with their new friends and teachers. This term's topic is ‘Who am I’, and we have been learning about ourselves. The children have learnt about our school rules, teamwork and class routines. The children learnt about colour mixing and mixed skin tones to use for their self-portraits. The children have been using their communication skills to talk about their families, and they draw some amazing pictures. We have also been learning a song about harvest.

Communication, Language and Literacy

We had fun developing our literacy skills this term by mark-making in class using different media. We also worked on recognising and writing our names using lowercase letters. We have started exploring some phonics sounds by playing games during our sessions, and we have begun to practise blending the sounds. We enjoyed listening to different books about feelings, skin tone and families.

Maths

The children have been singing number nursery rhymes and learning to count objects in maths. This term, each week, we have focused on one number. We have learnt to recognise the numbers 1-5, count the amount and do the correct amount of action to match the number. During our maths, we have built resilience when learning to match amounts to numerals, count and subitise.

Our topic this term is ‘Our World’, and we have been learning about where we live and different cultures. First, we looked at space, and the solar system, then focused on Earth. We had a go at using Google Maps to look at planets. Next, the children visited the Olympic Park and looked at a building designed by Zaha Hadid, our significant person. Finally, we experienced International Week, where we represented China and Bangladesh, and a mini world experience, where we visited another class. We had fun learning a dance routine with some traditional moves from the countries we represented, created some artwork, and even got the chance to perform for our dance parents.

Literacy

We’ve been very busy exploring different skills linked to our topic “our world”, this term. For literacy, we’ve been using our Curwen core skills such as communication, resilience and reflection to ask different questions about books we’ve read and learning we’ve done. In addition, we’ve been using our phonics sounds to write or mark-make about different planets, countries and habitats. During International Week, we created our fact files and explored other non-fiction books to explore the countries China and Bangladesh. We also had lots of fun on World Book Day, celebrating our favourite books by presenting our sandwich boards to our teachers and friends.

Maths

This term, we have been learning many mathematical skills and words that we can use daily. For example, we have learnt about weight, the difference between heavy and light, and how to measure it with different scales. We have been focusing on finding one more and one less of numbers using our fingers, different objects and number lines. We also learnt how to use 3D shapes to make models by talking about the properties of shapes and using their names, just like our significant person Zaha Hadid does when she designs buildings. We had lots of fun thinking about patterns with our friends.

We have had so much fun this term in Reception. In our new topic, ‘My stories,’ we have been learning about authors and illustrators and how stories are structured. We used the story boxes we made at home with our family to introduce the topic and present our favourite stories to our friends and teachers. We used our communication and language skills to talk about what parts of the stories we liked and who our favourite characters were. Furthermore, we had a special visit from people from Stratford Discovery Centre, and we really enjoyed listening to their stories. We also used Now Press Play to listen to the Three Little Pig story and act it out in our classes, pretending to be all the different characters. 

Literacy 

This term, we have been busy using various reading skills to explore our new topic, 'My Stories.' We created story boxes and used them to talk about our favourite stories. In phonics, we have been practising our set 1 and set 2 sounds and are now reading CVC words independently. We have been using our phonics sounds to label our pictures and attempting to write simple sentences. In reading time, we have been learning about poems and rhyming words. We used Julia Donaldson's books to learn about rhyming words and even learnt to recite the Gruffalo poem/song.

                                                                                               Maths

This term we have been busy using our different Curwen Core Skills, particularly our communication and resilience skills to help us with our maths! We have been practising how to add using cups and learning the actions to assist us with adding. We say “get ready to get some more” when we add. We have also been learning how to subtract  using our cups, learning the actions and we learnt the phrase “get ready to take away”, when we work out our subtraction maths story. We are also learning how to subitise amounts, by looking at an amount and identifying them without having to count! This is a skill we are getting good at with plenty of practise. We are also learning how to use ordinal language and we related this to the Lunar New Year, and discussed the Legend of the Chinese Zodiac.