Reception focus 28.11.16

This week in Reception we will be dressing up in our costumes and performing our Christmas play 'Whoops a Daisy Angel' to some of the children in our school and to some parents on Friday. 

The children will be introduced to the Christmas story and be asked to recall some of the main characters within the story.

In phonics we will be learning the phonemes 'h' and 'b' and writing them within words and short sentences.

In Maths we will be focusing on naming and recognising 3D shapes.

 

Reception focus 21.11.16

For the next two weeks we will be spending time perfecting our Christmas play in the hall. The children are becoming more confident in singing aloud to the music and signing using British Sign Language.

Our phonics focus this week is recalling all phonemes learnt so far and building CVC words reading and writing them correctly. We will also be learning the phonemes 'u'  and 'r'.

In Maths we will be measuring using non standard units and using the language longer than and shorter than.

 

Reception focus 14.11.16

This week in Reception we are continuing our theme of All About Me. The children will be sorting objects that a baby and child needs as well as discussing the changes that occur as they grow up.

In phonics the children will be learning the sound 'ck' and 'e'. 

The children will also be given their first reading book and green word book with the first three words to learn.

In Maths we are learning to write our numbers to 10 and to make sets of a given number.

 

Nursery Focus W/C 7.11.16

This week in Nursery, we will continue to focus on fireworks. The children loved making edible sparklers using bread sticks, melted chocolate and sprinkles last week so we are continuing the cooking theme by getting the children to make their own firework fairy cake. The will also have the chance to create a firework splatter painting and use the ICT programme 'Purple Mash' to create their own firework picture on the interactive whiteboard.
We will be introducing basic 2d shapes to the children as well: circle, triangle, rectangle and square. The children will be making shape pictures and learning a couple of shape songs throughout the week. 

Reception focus 7.11.16

This week in Reception, we will be beginning our topic All About Me. We will begin with a special visit from a baby and their mother, so giving the children first hand experience of discussing what a baby needs and looking at how they change as they grow older. The children will then sequence pictures of different stages of human growth and also sort objects a baby might need compared to a child. The children will have the opportunity to care for babies in the role play and wash and dress them in the Messy Play area.

In Maths, the children will be learning how to partition groups of 5 and learn how to write an addition number sentence.

In phonics, the children will be learning the next three sounds g, o, c and learning how to read and write them correctly.

Parents, don't forget that the second phonics workshop is on Wednesday 9th November at 9.15am in the Small Hall.

 

Reception focus - 31.10.16

This week in Reception the children will be learning about the celebrations of Diwali and Guy Fawkes Night. They will learning about the characters within each story and the moral behind each celebration, as well as creating some exciting art work. 

We will also be celebrating with hot chocolate and marshmallows around the fire pit on Friday. 

In phonics the children will be recapping sounds already taught and segmenting and blending to read words.

In Maths the children will be learning to count in 10s and order numerals to 20.

Parents, don't forget the Phonics Workshop is on Friday 4th November at 2.15pm in the Small Hall.

 

Reception focus - 17.10.16 - Science Week

This week at a Hacton is Science Week to help raise the profile of investigations and explorations. 

In the Early Years we will be focussing on the theme of Weather and Seasons. The children will be partaking in a wide range of explorations with all of the adults in Early Years and making shaving foam rain clouds, a tornado in a bottle, as well as going on an Autumn Walk around the school grounds and planting some bulbs for the new school garden. 

In addition, the children will be learning about repeating patterns in Maths and consolidating sounds learnt so far in phonics. We will be building words and learning to segment and blend them to read and write simple CVC words. 

 

Reception focus 10.10.16

This week in Reception we will be focussing on phonics and 2D shape.
The children will be going on a Shape Hunt around the school identifying 2D shapes they find within the environment. They will be investigating shape through their play in a range of ways including making shape pictures, models and digging for them in the sand pit.

In phonics we will be reinforcing the first three sounds taught already as well as learning p, i, and n. In P.E the children will be learning about positional language and applying it whilst using apparatus.  

Reception begin phonics

The children have begun their formal phonics sessions this week. Today the children learnt the letter 's'. They thought about what begins with the sound, learnt the Jolly Phonics song and made their first attempt at writing the letter. 

Here are a few pictures of Zebra class hard at work. 

What a fabulous start to writing. 

Reception focus 3.10.16

This week in Reception we are continuing our theme of 'Elmer' and reading a range of stories together. The children will be exploring colour mixing on a large and small scale, and also learning to group a set of objects to 5 and then 10.

We will be introducing phonics this week learning the first three sounds s, a and t, so children will be bringing home their first pieces of homework. 

 

Reception focus 26.9.16

Now the children are settled and learning the ropes in Reception, we are going to introduce our first topic 'Elmer'. 

In phonics we will be playing some listening games and learning to take turns whilst sharing our ideas within a class discussion.

In maths we will be reading and ordering numbers to 10 forwards and backwards.

The children will be able to explore colour and patterns by making their own Elmer designs on a large  and small scale as well as learning about jungle animals and the sounds these animals make.
 

Nursery Focus W/C 5/07

This week in Nursery, we are learning about the Jungle and will be starting our transition topic Elmer.

We will be reading 'Walking Through the Jungle' and will be using instruments to make our own piece of music to go with the rhythm of the story.

In art, we will be painting jungle animals and will be exploring colour and patterns on our own Elmer the elephant.

In addition, we will be continuing with our Letters and Sounds. This week we will be introducing the letter N.

Reception focus 4.7.16

This week in Reception we are continuing our theme of Pirates with the inclusion of Under the Sea and the seaside. We will be reading favourite stories including Sharing a shell, The Rainbow Fish and Tiddler. 

We will be writing lists about what we might take to the beach, orally sequencing the story of Sharing a Shell and writing our own stories.

In maths, we are looking at time and the place value of numbers, finding them on a hundred square and placing them in sequence.

In phonics, we are applying all of our phonic knowledge and writing our own sentences. 

This will be the last week of reading and Guided Reading and we will be taking in the children's reading books next week. 

 

 

Reception focus 27.6.16

Over the next two weeks we will be focussing on Pirates. The children will be making pirate accessories including eye patches and telescopes, be designing their own treasure maps and drawing their own pirate with an imaginary name.

We will be reading pirate themed stories and encouraging the children to make up their one treasure hunts with clues.

In phonics, we are revising the trigraphs taught in Phase 4 and applying them in our writing.

In maths, we are learning to count in 5s, and we are learning about capacity and the vocabulary involved with this concept. The children will also be looking at a hundred square and reading and writing some bigger numbers. 

 

Nursery Focus W/C 27/06

This week in Nursery, we will be exploring holidays and the seaside. The children will be discussing the different types of holidays and will be able to share their own holiday experiences. In addition, we will be talking about the different types of transport needed to get to our holiday destinations.

In the writing area, the children will be making passports and postcards.

In art, the children will be making seaside pictures using sand and shells.

This week our role play area will be a travel agents.

In addition, we will be continuing with our phonics sessions. This week we will be introducing the letter P.

Reception focus 20/06/16

In Reception this week, we are focussing on the Queen's birthday. We will be making bunting, learning about the Royal Family and making cards and invitations for a royal tea party which will take place on Friday. 

 

We will be taking part in our Sports Day on Tuesday (weather permitting).

 

In phonics we will be recapping all digraphs taught and placing these into words and sentences.

 

In maths we are focussing in addition and subtraction using apparatus and different methods.

 

Nursery Focus W/C 20/06

This week in Nursery, we starting our under the sea theme. We will be reading 'The Rainbow Fish'  and many other under the sea stories. We will be discussing what animals live under the sea and what we things we would find in the ocean. The children will be making their own coral using play dough and pasta.


In art, the children will be making their own Rainbow fish and will be exploring the different patterns.


The children will also enjoy role playing in our aquarium.

Nursery Focus W/C 13/06

This week in Nursery, we are continuing with our space theme. We will be reading 'Aliens Love Underpants' by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort. The children will be painting their own aliens and will be discussing the different types of patterns on the underpants. They will then be designing their own underpants using different patterns.


In addition, we will be cooking rock cakes. The children will be following their own recipes.

Reception focus 13.6.16

This week in Reception we are continuing our theme of dinosaurs. The children are enjoying making small models of pteradactyl and large models of their own 'pull along' dinosaurs. 

This week we will be concentrating our efforts on a special occasion coming up this Sunday!

In maths, we are focussing on 2D and 3D shapes as well as missing numbers within a hundred square and within a sequence.

In phonics we are continuing to consolidate the children's knowledge and application of all digraphs and trigraphs taught.

 

Nursery Focus W/C 6/06

This week in Nursery, the children will be learning about space. We will be focusing on the story  'Whatever Next' by Jill Murphy.


The children will be making their own rockets and will enjoy playing in our space role play area.


In maths, we will be making shape rockets and ordering numbers.

Reception focus 6.6.16

For the next two weeks in Reception, the children will be learning about dinosaurs. They will think about the different types of dinosaurs, what they ate, how big they were and where they lived. The children will be joining in with lots of different activities in which they will be able to create their own dinosaurs, hunt for dinosaurs and write their own dinosaur books.

In Maths we will be focussing on halving and recapping our doubles.

In phonics we will be focussing on our Phase 4 digraphs and trigraphs and using these within recounts we write.


 

MFL Week - Brazilian Carnival

Early Years children enjoyed celebrating MFL week focussing on the country of Brazil and its infamous carnival. The children took part in six different adult led activities which included learning to play football, making sweet chocolate brigadeiros, playing Brazilian Tag, making rainbow fruit skewers, making rainmakers and creating some beautiful mural art work. 

 

On Friday, we held our Carnival Day in which all children followed a carnival procession to Samba music and then enjoyed joining in the French Cafe with Year Six children and learning some dances from around the world with Mrs. Neville. Lots of fun was had by all, and we thank the children for joining in so readily with new activities. 

 

 

Early Years focus 23.5 16 MFL Week

This week in Nursery and Reception we are celebrating our annual MFL Week with the whole school. Each year group celebrates a festival from around the world and Early Years have chosen the Brazilian Carnival with a link to the upcoming Olympic Games. 

The children will be learning about Brazil and completing focussed activities throughout the week which include: learning to play football and Brazilian Tag, making rainbow fruit skewers and chocolate truffles, and creating some collage art work and making a rainmaker instrument. 

We will complete the week with a carnival on Friday where we invite all the children in EYFS to dress in bright colours. 

Reception focus 16.5.16

This week in Reception, we are continuing our theme of animals and focussing on the story 'Noah's Ark' from the Bible. The children will be designing and making their own boats and experimenting if they float or sink. They will also be making rainbows using a range of media including mixing and making their own colours. 

All children in Reception have been given a partner. They need to work with their partner all week, and they will complete some challenges together as well as line up together, sit together and sign in for each other. This will test the children's conversational skills as well as compromise and negotiation. 

In Maths, to link with our topic we will be learning to count in and write numbers in 2s up to 20. 

In phonics, we are focussing on Phase 4 and recapping the digraphs 'oa' and 'oo'. 

Nursery Focus W/C 16/05

This week in Nursery, our theme is Julia Donaldson. We will be reading many of her stories such as A Squash and A Squeeze, Monkey Puzzle and The Smartest Giant in Town.


In maths, we will be ordering numbers.


In art, we are continuing our theme of nature and will be making many natural collages.




In addition, this week we will be making Gruffalo crumble.

Reception Focus W/C 9.5.16

 In Reception this week, we are continuing the theme of animals around the World. The children will be learning about where particular animals live and will have the opportunity to sort animals according to their habits.

We are sequencing the story of Creation this week, further linking to our RE and talking about the Bible and what it represents for Christians. 

In phonics we will be recapping the trigraphs 'igh' and 'air' as well all previous ones taught.

In Maths our focus is money. We are recapping what coin is what, investigating how many pennies go into each coin and adding small amounts of money together.
 

Nursery Focus W/C 09/05

This week in Nursery we are continuing with our Gruffalo topic.


The children will be painting pictures of the Gruffalo. They will be experimenting mixing the colours together that we need for the features of the Gruffalo.  We will also be making the Gruffalo with play dough.


In addition, this week we will be talking about nature. We will read the story in the woods and will look for natural materials. We will be discussing where the animals in the story lived and will use natural objects to build these habitats, for example, the log pile house.

Nursery focus 2.5.16

This week in Nursery, we are starting our Gruffalo topic. The children are very excited about their visit to the Gruffalo trail. We will be reading the story of the Gruffalo and will be completing many Gruffalo themed activities. The children are enjoying learning The Gruffalo Song.


In addition, the children will have the own opportunity to tell and act out their own stories during our helicopter session.

Reception focus 2.5.16

 In Reception this week, the children have requested to learn about animals around the World. This has linked nicely from our mini beast topic, as we have been discussing habitats and where we find different animals. 

We will reading the story of Creation to link to our RE and taking about the Bible and what it represents for Christians. 

In phonics we will be recapping the digraphs 'ee' and 'or' as well all previous ones taught.

In Maths we will be teaching subtraction using a number line. memory. 

Nursery Focus W/C 25/04

This week in nursery, we are exploring minibeasts. We will be reading 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and 'The Bad Tempered Ladybird'.


Our maths focus will be on counting the different number of spots on the ladybirds. In the writing area, we will be making booklets about the lifecycle of a butterfly and in art we will be painting butterflies. In addition, we will be making ladybird pizza.


We are excited to observe the change to our caterpillars as they have now started to build their cocoons.

Reception focus 25.4.16

This week in Reception we will be continuing our theme of The very hungry caterpillar. The children will be making stained glass butterflies and sequencing the life cycle of a butterfly. The children will also be tasting some of the foods stated in the story and also trying some worm jelly!

In phonics the children have now completed Phase 3 and are now consolidating their knowledge by using it in a range of contexts. 

We will be starting our daily Guided Reading sessions in which the children will read a book at their level, discuss it and then complete simple independent  activities on it. 

In maths the theme is doubling. The children will be learning how to double numbers to 10 and record these on ladybirds as well as recalling simple doubles from memory.

Reception visit to Tropical Wings

The children in Reception thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Tropical Wings. The trip linked nicely with the theme of mini beasts and our story The very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle. 

The children saw a host of different animals including lemurs, otters, goats, rabbits, monkeys, parrots,  wallabies and meerkats. 

The highlight though was of course the tropical butterfly house in which the bright and beautiful butterflies put on a show, flying close to the children and showing their colours. The children got to feed the fish in the pond which was a real treat for some.

We ended the day with a mini beast experience, in which the children got to see and learn about a cockroach, a tarantula, stick insect and African land snail. Some of the children were a lot braver than the adults when it came to handling these delicate creatures! 

The children were a real credit to their parents and the staff and were very well behaved throughout. It was a very pleasurable day, Thank you children! 

Reception focus 18.4.16

For the next two weeks we will be focussing on the story The Very hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We will be observing real caterpillars as they grow and develop as well as sequencing the story especially concentrating on the days of the week. 

We will be also trying the fruits stated in the story and talking about our likes and dislikes. 

In phonics we will be learning the trigraph ear and the digraph er.

In maths we are still continuing our theme of time looking at o' clock.

We have introduced 'super sentences' this week. Each day we will write three key words on the whiteboard. The children will need to then write a sentence using each word. The children who write the best sentences will get to wear the special superhero cape all day. 

We are also looking forward to our school trip to Tropical Wings on Thursday. The children will be able to observe lots of animals first hand and also take part in a discovery session on mini beasts. 

Nursery Focus W/C 18/04

This week in nursery, we are continuing with our farm topic. We will be reading many stories about farm animals such as I Love Animals and Farmer Duck.


We will be looking at information books to learn the names of baby animals. We will be matching the animals to their young.


In addition, we will be observing the changes to our frogs spawn in the pond to learn about the lifecycle of a frog.

Nursery Focus W/C 11/04

This week in nursery, our focus is on spring and farm animals. We will be reading many stories about farms and our main focus will be on Farm 123 by Rod Campbell. The children will be discussing what animals live on a farm and will be counting different amount of animals.


In addition, the children are very excited to observe our eggs hatch into chicks this week. We will be discussing the lifecycle of the chicken.

Reception focus 11.4.16

This week in Reception we will be focussing on Spring and what we see in the springtime. 

The children will be going on a Spring Walk looking for the new signs of life around the school and taking a photograph of what they see.

They will also be learning about the artist Monet and recreating the painting 'The Poppy Field'.

In Maths we are focussing on time and reading an analogue and digital clock to the hour.

In phonics we are recapping on the digraphs and trigraphs taught last term as well as introducing oi air and ure. 

Please remember Lions swimming is on a Monday and Zebras on a Wednesday.

P.E is on Thursdays for both Lions and Zebras.

Early Years Literacy Week finale

To end our Literacy Week in Early Years we had a Fairytale Ball and Banquet. The children all made a fantastic effort dressing up as favourite fictional and film characters. We went into the Hall for some party games including Musical Statues and taught the children how to play the old favourite 'Farmers in the Den' before enjoying some delicious party food. In the afternoon the reception children took part in an Easter egg hunt to celebrate this festival before beginning the Easter holidays. 

Reception Library visit

Today all of the children in Reception walked to Hornchurch Library for their first school trip. Once inside, the children were introduced to Viv, who explained how a library works and how to use the library correctly. She then read a story to the children engaging them by asking questions and asking children to join in using actions.
The children then had the opportunity to look at a range of books with the staff and parents volunteers before choosing one to bring back to school. Viv also showed them the 'magic table' which is an interactive table with lots of activities.
The children then enjoyed their packed lunches (Thank you mums!) before catching the 193 bus back to school.
The children were exceptionally well behaved and we are very proud of their behaviour outside of school.

Nursery Focus W/C 21/03

This week throughout the whole school is Literacy Week. 

In Nursery, we are focussing on Nursery Rhymes as stated in our Pupil Passport and we will be reading the story 'Each Peach Pear Plum'. We will be singing the rhymes in the story and discussing the characters from the traditional tales.

On Tuesday, we will be making Jam tarts linking this to the pie in the story.


On Wednesday, we are looking forward to a theatre groups production of fairy tales.


On Thursday, we will end our week with a dressing up day in which everyone will dress up as their favourite literary character. In Early Years, we will hold our own Ball and Banquet and then end the day with an Easter egg hunt.

Reception focus 21.3.16

This week throughout the whole school is Literacy Week. 

In Reception we are focussing on Nursery Rhymes as stated in our Pupil Passport and the story Each Peach Pear Plum. 

The children will be exploring rhyming strings and finding rhyming words in nursery rhymes as well as singing a wide range of them. 

On Tuesday, the children will be visiting the library in Hornchurch and learning about how a library works and what we use it for.

On Wednesday the school will look forward to a live production of 'The cat in the hat'. 

On Thursday we will end our week with a dressing up day in which everyone will dress up as a literary character. In Early Years we will hold our own Ball and Banquet and then end the day with an Easter egg hunt.

Reception's Egg Day

Today in Reception we held our annual Egg Day linked to our Easter topic. 

Every child brought in a hard boiled egg (thanks parents!) so that they could decorate it, make a safe nest for it from resources in the setting and then try to take part in every day activities whilst looking after their egg.

The children became quite ingenious with their nests using cotton wool, bubble wrap, pots, boxes and lots and lots of masking tape! It was trial and error for some as eggs were broken when dropped or when they went whizzing down the slide! 

The children used the bamboo pipes to make ramps for their eggs and also had lots of fun taking part in egg and spoon races, as well as making some cinnamon spiced Easter biscuits. 

The day ended with the children going to the hill and rolling their eggs in a competition. It was a very egg-citing day! Well done all! 

Nursery Focus W/C 14/03

This week in Nursery we are reading 'The Little Red Hen'. The children will be discussing the process of how bread is made. They will then be making their own bread rolls. On Tuesday, the children will be walking to the local bakers to buy bread and hot cross buns.  

This links in with our Easter theme. The children will be discussing why we celebrate Easter and will be making Easter cards using ICT.  On Wednesday, we have our special Easter Fun Day.

Reception Focus W/C 14/03/16

This week in Reception our theme is Easter. The children will learn about why we celebrate Easter and everyone will have the opportunity to make an Easter card for someone special. The children voted on Friday afternoon for which card design they wanted to make out of a choice of  four.  

Throughout the week there will be lots of different activities linked to our theme going on. These include cooking an Easter biscuit and decorating it, exploring the texture of hard boiled eggs in our messy play and making hot cross buns out of play dough. The children are being asked today in our Newsletter to bring in a hard boiled egg for the second half of this week. They will have the chance to decorate it, look after it, create a nest for it if they wish and then there will be an egg rolling competition.

In phonics the focus will be on the digraphs or, ur, and ow and placing these in words and sentences.

In maths we will be focussing on taking away and writing simple subtraction number sentences.

                           

                                                                                                                    

Nursery Focus W/C 7/03

This week in Nursery we are reading 'The Gingerbread Man'.


The children will be following a recipe to make their own gingerbread men.


In Maths, the children will be using positional language to find the missing gingerbread man. In addition, the children will be counting the number of buttons on the ginger bread man.