Crook Primary School
Crook Primary School
As we have continued our adventures in Africa, this week we ate and explored some of the delicious, tropical fruits from Handa's basket. After writing our recipe, we set to work peeling and chopping to prepare a tasty fruit salad, to share as a class.
At the end of the week the children amazed us with their knowledge of the story with their retellings using props, actions and picture clues.
Our number learning linked fantastically with our story, as we learned all about magic number 7 and it was 7 fruits, which Handa was carrying to her friend Akeyo. We developed our knowledge of number 7, forming, counting and developing our knowledge of different amounts which make 7, using our tens frame and part, whole models.
Within Literacy we began our first guided reading sessions. The children did an amazing job! We continued our phonics learning with 'w' and 'x', using knowledge learned alongside past phonemes and digraphs to blend simple captions. Our tricky words this week are 'has' and 'his'. We have also used our segmenting skills to spell the word 'sock'. Next week we will learn our final phonemes in the alphabet. It has been a pleasure to watch the children retrieve their phonics learning this term and we can't wait to see how they demonstrate this knowledge in their reading and writing.
Welcome back! What a chilly week to come back to, it has certainly made it a little more tricky to roll out of bed as many of the children have commented that they want to be snuggled up and cosy. I can't blame them! Whilst the weather might be cold outside, we have began a new and hot adventure. Setting our sights on warmer climates, we took a flight to Africa! Once we landed we met a girl called Handa and followed her as she chose to plan a surprise for her friend, Akeyo. Of course, we are only going to these places in our imagination (must be clear as some children wondered when we would actually be going - oopsy!) During our story of 'Handa's Surprise' we have met many animals and many exotic fruits. Over the course of the next few weeks we will be delving deeper into the African culture as well as learning more about their animals and lifestyle. This week the children have been building a new love for this wonderful continent as we have focused on the animals such as elephants, ostriches, antelopes, goats, giraffes, zebras, monkeys and parrots.
Over this half term the children will also be having two sessions of PE a week, we will go back to normal after half term with one main session and then a second on alternate weeks. However, for this half term we are lucky enough to fit in an additional session where we will continue to work on our teamwork skills, with a little bit of cheerleading and style thrown in too.
In Phonics we have learnt the phonemes 'j' and 'v'. We have been introduced to the tricky words 'as' and 'and'. Soon we will begin our Guided Reading sessions - to start, this will only be with a small group of children as we continue to build phonological awareness. We want to ensure the children are ready to start their journey of reading books before giving them one as it is our main priority to build a love for reading.
In Maths this week we have been learning all about the magic number 6. We have managed to find the number in our environment, we have been learning how to count to our magic number as well as finding ways to make it. The children have enjoyed going back to number and have shown that they have remembered some of those foundation skills that we learnt so many weeks ago.
Nativity practices are well under way! Tomorrow will be the children's dress rehearsal and we will be filming their performance, this will be uploaded for you to view following the live performances on Friday 20th December. Thank you for providing all the lovely costumes I am sure they are going to look amazing on stage.
We had a lovely time celebrating Christmas Jumper Day and everyone looked fabulous, the children really enjoyed showing off their jumpers and talking about the colours and patterns.
In class the children have been doing lots of Christmas activities with their friends and have loved sharing all their experiences from home in the build up to Christmas day. Today the children received personal letters from Santa!
What a busy week we've had in Reception. We started the week with the return of a naughty elf and our first Nativity rehearsal in the main hall. Midweek brought the children lots of joy, as we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Hall Hill Farm. The children loved exploring the farm, visiting Father Christmas and joining in with Christmas activities. We took along our Christmas letters, which the children worked their socks off to produce.
In Literacy we learned our first digraphs (2 letters combined to make one sound) ll, ff and ss. We also developed our reading skills from blending simple words to simple captions.
Concept Cat made another appearance in Mathematics, teaching the children about heavy and light. The children did an amazing job comparing weights of objects, using language learned.
Next week children may come into school in Christmas jumpers on Tuesday 10th December. As a team we would like to thank you for your continued support.
Over the past week we have been into our community and had wonderful conversations with new adults.
We loved going to the library last week and it was so exciting to pick our own book before stamping it out. The children were able to explore the library environment and we also enjoyed two stories read by the librarian.
Following this, we had a visit from Mrs Elliot and Mrs Lupton to talk about what they do. It was a little tricky to ask questions about their jobs however, we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them more as we asked questions like: what is your favourite book to read? How much money do you have? What's your favourite clock? There is never a dull moment in Reception.
In and amongst these lovely opportunities, we have had time for our usual maths and phonics lessons. In Phonics this week we learnt the phonemes 'f' and 'l' and we recapped the tricky words, 'is', 'I' and 'the'.
In maths, we have been learning about height with the help of our friend Concept Cat. We learnt the words 'tall' and 'short' so hopefully these might start to replace our favourite words 'big' and 'small'. We found different objects around the unit to represent tall and short, as well as comparing our own heights in class.
A couple of gentle reminders
Wednesday 4th December - Reception's trip to Hall Hill Farm. Please ensure children are wearing appropriate clothing and if you have ticked for them to have a packed lunch then please ensure they do not contain nuts.
Friday 6th December - Nativity costumes to be brought into school. If you have lost the letter stating what your child is then please ask a member of staff and we can let you know.
Mrs Wessels
Mrs Armstrong
Mrs Turner
Click here to contact the Reception team.