Eid Party 

We had such a lot of fun for our Eid party last week. Thank you so much for donating food for the party, with the left overs now being donated to the local foodbank. 

We hope you had a wonderful Eid with your families. 

Welcome Back!!

We cannot believe we're already in the Summer term... it feels like the children only started with us 5 minutes ago.

This term is super exciting, a lot of our curriculum is centered around visiting the farm and transport. We will also be starting formal PE lessons this term, to support our children in their transition to year one. 

We can't wait to see what they get up to. 

 Circus Skills 

To practise our gross motor skills, Flip the clown came to school to teach us all about circus skills. We explored balancing on a see-saw, juggling scarves, spinning plates and rolling a diablo. 

Bridges

In our DT lessons this half term, we have been learning all about bridges. We know that there are many different types, for many different reasons and they have two different types of foundation. This week, we built our own bridges for our animal to cross the river. 

World Book Day

For World Book Day, the author Saviour Pirotta came in to school to read some stories to the children. 

They were absolutely enthralled, and joined in with the repeated refrains with such enthusiasm. 

Ducklings

We had five duckling eggs delivered last week, which we kept nice and warm in their incubator and waited patiently (some of us) until they hatched. We were thrilled to find four had hatched overnight, and quickly moved them to the cage. Over the last week we've loved learning about the lifecycle of a duckling whilst watching it in real life. We've taken such good care of them, and had some fun watching them swim for the first time, especially as they were very naughty and kept splashing us!

Science Day

For Science Day, we decided to incorporate a range of our focuses this week. We are reading The Odd Egg in Literacy, we are singing Humpty Dumpty at the end of each day and our have also had our duckling eggs delivered, where we are learning about their lifecycle and how to take care of them in Science. 

For our science experiment, we took 4 eggs and placed each one in a sandwich bag. One sandwich bag was left empty, with only the egg inside. The second had some loose bits of cotton wool in there too. The third, the egg was wrapped tightly in cling film. The fourth, the egg was wrapped in bubble wrap. 

We predicted which of the eggs might break, and then the children dropped them from a height. 

We found that the cling film protected the egg the best, as it was wrapped so tightly around the egg, it absorbed the shock from the ground. 

Forest School - Bird Feeders

For our forest school sessions during this half term, we have been using our fine motor skills to make bird feeders to attract the birds back to our garden, now that Spring is finally on it's way. 

We threaded cheerios on to string, or pipe cleaners, racing to see which pair could thread the most. We then tied them to a tree and checked back in the afternoon to see if the birds had eaten them. 

We, of course, finished our forest school session with a cup of hot chocolate and a biscuit to warm up. 

Join us for a Pyjama Party for World Book Day

Chinese New Year

With Chinese New Year just around the corner, Reception have been learning all about how it is celebrated. We have been creating Chinese decorations like paper chains and lanterns, making money envelopes and role playing as if we had our own Chinese take away. 

Falconry

This week, Jason from Falconry UK came to visit us with some different birds of prey. We learnt all about the different features of a bird as we are reading the story Owl Babies this week. 

Litter Picking

We have been learning about woodland environments this half term, so this week we have been litter picking around our school to make it a tidier place, and safer for the wildlife around here. 

Sutton Park

We have been reading the story The Gruffalo, and discussing using our senses to describe a woodland. We have also been learning about the types of animals that live in a woodland and which ones hibernate, the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees and how litter may affect this environment. 

We took a trip to Sutton Park where we explored the woodland on a very frosty day, with the sun shining. We collected natural resources to make a transient art picture, warmed up with some hot chocolate, went on a Gruffalo hunt and had a picnic. 

We had the BEST day!! 

Spring Term Plan

Please click below for information on what we will be teaching this term in Reception

Welcome Back for Spring Term

Hi everybody, 

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas break, and a Happy New Year to you. 

We have such an exciting half term coming up, with a trip to Sutton Park to use our senses to explore the woodland and hunt out a Gruffalo. We also have a visit planned from Falconry UK to learn about different birds of prey to tie in with one of our Write Stuff texts - Owl Babies. 

In History we will be learning about the invention of the phone, in Geography we will be learning about the four seasons and the weather and in RE we will be exploring traditions around the world. 

We can't wait to see what the children get up to. 

Thank you!!

What a fabulous half term the children have had. They've worked so hard and had so many different experiences. 

We hope you have a lovely festive break and will see you in the new year 

Little Angel Gets Her Wings

The children were AMAZING in their performance of 'Little Angel Gets Her Wings'. They've gained such a lot of confidence learning the songs, dances and lines. 

Thank you for coming to see them perform :). 

Christmas Parent Workshop

Thank you to the parents for coming to the Christmas workshop to work with your child to create their Christmas party hat. The children had such a wonderful time. 

Our Nativity

Our performance of ''Little Angel Gets Her Wings'' will be on Tuesday 19th December at 2pm. Only 2 guests are allowed per child, due to the space available in our hall. 

Parent Workshop - Christmas 

Please don't forget that we will be running our annual parent christmas workshop on Thursday 14th December. You should have had a letter to tell you if you will to attend the 12:45pm or 2:00pm workshop. 

Gingerbread Men Making

As we have been reading The Gingerbread Man in The Write Stuff sessions, this week we made Gingerbread Men so we could use our senses to describe how the smell, look and taste. 

Christmas Tree Decorating

In Reception, we are so excited that Christmas is finally here, so we decorated our Christmas trees ready for the festive period. 

Forest School: Christmas

In our forest school sessions this half term we have been making Christmas wreaths. We learnt that Christians usually decorate their front door with a Christmas wreath in December. We used our fine motor skills to manipulate the wires of artificial fir leaves, bows, acorns and berries. We also added string to dried oranges and cinnamon sticks. 

The children loved finishing their forest school session with hot chocolate and shortbread biscuits. 

Design Technology : Bookmarks 

For our DT block of learning we have been exploring the skills needed to make our own bookmarks. Firstly, we explored existing bookmarks, learning what the purpose of them is and the different materials they are made from. We then practiced sewing in and out using binca so we would be able to sew a border on our final pieces, and drawing around templates and cutting out the shapes. We designed our bookmarks, thinking about what we would like to add to our bookmark to decorate it, and made them with some support from our teachers. We finally evaluated our final piece and thought about what we liked and what we would change if we did it again.  

States of Matter

In Science this half term we have been learning about solids, liquids and gases and how they change if we add heat or make things cold. 

We held chocolate in our hands and used our body heat to explore what would happen, predicting that the chocolate would melt and be runny. The following week we melted chocolate and predicted what may happen if we put it back in the fridge. We were shocked to learn that it doesn't return to the shape it originally was. 

Children in Need

This week we dressed in spots for Children in Need and participated in Pudsey related activities.

Happy Diwali

We have been learning all about Diwali; who celebrates it and how it is celebrated. We have been using clay and learning how to mould, manipulate and pinch to create diva lamps. 

Charlie the Tortoise

We read the book ''The Hug'' this week and the poor tortoise couldn't find anybody to give him a hug because of his hard shell. Mrs Rose kindly brought in her tortoise Charlie for us to explore the feeling of his shell. 

Autumn 2

Welcome back for Autumn 2. We have a very busy term planned, where we will be learning all about hibernation, people who help us in the community, Diwali, Day of the Dead and Christmas. We will also be starting our Design Technology unit where we will be making our own bookmarks. 

We can't wait to see what the children get up to, and how they begin to build on knowledge and skills they've already learnt. 

End of Term 

Wow, what a fun half term we have had. The children have now settled into their new environments and daily routines. We've explored maps of Lozells in Geography, Black History Month in History and Autumn in Science. We've been learning how to read and write and have been practicing our phonics every day, whilst exploring pattern, numbers 1, 2 and 3, and matching and sorting in Maths. In RE and PSHE we've discussed sharing an honesty, whilst also exploring Islam, Christianity and Sikhism.

Thank you, as always, for your support. 

We can't wait to see what the children get up to next half term. 

Black History Month

October is Black History Month, so we have been learning all about the differences in the past compared to now, with how people of colour were treated. 

We've learnt about famous icons of Black History, including Martin Luther King, where we listened to his speech and discussed how his dream was for equality and fairness. We each printed our hands, matching the paint to our skin colour and our teachers wrote our dreams for the future on them. 

Maps and Our Local Community

This half term we have been exploring the features of our local community looking at photos, but also exploring aerial view maps and ordinance maps. 

Reading Parent Workshop

Thank you to the parents who came to our reading workshop. Reading with your child at home really benefits them, and supports their love for reading, phonics and writing too. 

Autumn

Over the last few weeks, we have been out in our garden exploring how the season of Autumn is bringing changes to our garden. We observed the leaves falling off the trees, and searched for items that represent Autumn such as conkers and pine cones. We took the iPads outside, and took photos of our trees so we can look back at how they have changed in Spring. 

Induction Presentation

If you were unable to make the induction workshop for parents on Wednesday 20th September, please see the slideshow below.

Our Year Overview

Please see below for the overview of the curriculum for the year. 

Autumn 1

This half term is all about the children settling into their new classes with their new teachers and new environments. We spend the first few weeks learning about the class expectations, becoming familiar with the areas in the classroom, the dinner hall and the garden, and beginning our Literacy, Phonics and Maths sessions. 

Your children will begin to receive their library books which are changed every Monday, and their guided reading books which are changed on a Monday for RMc and RP, and Tuesday for RS. There are upcoming phonics and reading workshops for parents, to support you in supporting your children. 

Please see the curriculum overview above to see what we will be up to this year. 

2023-2024

Meet The Reception Team

Meet the team:

Class Teachers

Mrs McCoy - RMc & Year Leader

Mr Pendry - RP

Miss Spilsbury - RS

Teaching Assistants

Mrs Satnam

Mrs Gurdev

Mr Hussain

SEND Support Teaching Assistants

Mrs Chowdhury

Miss Ayres

See what we did last year!

Sports Day

We had the best time participating in Sports Day. We competed in a relay race, egg and spoon race, hurdle race, beanbag race amongst many others. Luckily the weather just held out for us!

Welcome Back

Welcome back for our final half term of the year. The sun is finally shining and we're going to try and enjoy it as much as possible. This half term we will be learning all about Father's Day, how the Earth has changed over time, shadows and reflections and we will be looking at aerial view maps of our community. We will also be participating in Sports Day, transition to our new class to meet our new year and get ready for year one. 

The children have made so much progress this year and we are so proud of them. We can't wait to see how they do in their final half term with us before they move to year one. 

As always, thank you for your continued support. 

Hatton Farm

Wow, what a trip!! We had the best time at Hatton Farm this week, comparing town and country and observing the animals. It was so much fun! We got to ride on a tractor, feed the goats, stroke a lizard, snake and rabbit, play on the funfair and hold a guinea pig. 

Pond Dipping

As we have been reading Tadpole's Promise this week, we took a trip to the pond at the KS2 garden and went fishing for tadpoles, observed the wildlife in the environment and tried to find a frog. 

Caterpillars to Butterflies

We have been revisiting life-cycles this week as we have been reading Tadpole's Promise. We had a delivery of our very own caterpillars and have watched them grow until they were huge, and each one turned into a chrysalis. After a week, they hatched into beautiful butterflies and we released them into our garden. 

The King's Coronation

To celebrate the King's Coronation, most of our class activities were linked to the Royal Family this week. We learnt all about what will happen during the Coronation, who will attend the special event and why it is celebrated.

Planting

This week our story was 'The Extraordinary Gardener', all about a young boy and how he turned his high rise block of flats into a colourful garden oasis. 

We learnt about what plants needed to grow, drawing on some of our prior knowledge from Nursery. Each of us added soil to a cup, dug a well, added cress seeds and covered with more soil before watering. We knew that we had to ensure our plants got some sunlight, and we would need to water them every few days. 

Circus Skills

Lucky us - Flip came back to visit us and this time he did a circus skills workshop. We first of all watched a show altogether in the hall, before we to have a go ourselves. We juggled scarves, spun plates, tried out the diablo and the balancing bike. It was SO much fun. 

Eid Mubarak

We hope everyone had the best Eid and enjoyed their celebrations. To celebrate at school we had an Eid party and the cooks in the dining hall made us a special Eid lunch. We played some games and danced to some Bhangra music. 

Porridge Making 

Our story of the week was Goldilocks so to step into her shoes this week, we made and tasted porridge. We weighed out oats, measured milk and added them to pan so they could cook. Once cooked, we added golden syrup to make it sweet. 

Some of us loved the porridge and said it was ''tasty and delicious'' but some of us thought it tasted ''disgusting''.

Welcome Back!

We hope you all had a fantastic Easter break and enjoyed some time off from school. I can't quite believe we're starting our last term of the year with you all... time is certainly flying. 

We have so much to look forward to this term... warmer weather for a start!! Flip the clown will make another visit for a circus skills workshop, we will take a trip to the KS2 pond and to Hatton Farm, we'll celebrate Eid and the coronation of King Charles amongst many other things. 

Please remember our times have changed slightly:

8:50am doors open / 8:55am doors close

3:05pm children finish in Reception / 3:15pm children will be taken to the main office and marked as late to be picked up

Happy Half Term

Wow!! What a busy half term - from snow, to raising ducklings, to Easter Egg hunts - we have absolutely had the best time. 

We've learnt all about where we live on a map, how our houses look different to others around the world, what Muslims do to observe Ramadan, what Christians do to observe Shrove Tuesday, Lent and Easter, the lifecycle of a duckling, how we appreciate our Mothers, what police officers do in our community and so much more. 

Thank you as always four your continued to support. Stay safe and have a lovely break. 

Easter Egg Hunt

To finish a very busy half term, the Easter bunny visited us and left us some special treats in our garden. We had the best time searching for our chocolate eggs :).

Easter Craft Workshop

Thank you to those of you who came into school to participate in the Easter craft workshop with your child. It was lovely to see you all working together to collage your egg. We know the children had the best time!!

Ramadan and Pancake Making

This week we have been learning all about Ramadan and how it compares to Lent. Usually before Lent, Christians observe Shrove Tuesday where they use what is left in their cupboards and make pancakes with different sweet and savoury toppings. We decided not to make pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, and waited, so we could discuss the similarities and differences between the observations and celebrations of Lent and Ramadan, and Eid and Easter. 

Handa's Surprise

This week we have been reading Handa's Surprise and learning all about the fruits that are common in Africa. We got to taste the 8 different fruits that feature in the story - banana, orange, tangerine, mango, pineapple, guava, passionfruit and avocado, and explore them using our feeling and smelling senses. 

Throughout the week we learnt a little about Africa - we listened to African music, made African necklaces and looked at pictures of the types of villages in Africa.

From Egg to Duckling

This half term we were lucky enough to have some duck eggs delivered to school in an incubator. We kept them warm and eventually 2 hatched out. Unfortunately, due to the snow school was closed whilst the other 2 ducklings hatched and Mr Doddridge had to take them home for the weekend and move them into their new cage. They spent time growing and getting stronger under their brooder before they were old enough for us to hold them and watch them swim. 

Usually, our ducklings go back to the farm and enter back into the breeding programmme but luckily for us this year, Miss Freeman has decided to keep them.

Maps and Houses

This week we have been looking at maps to try and find out where we live. We have explored the map of the UK and found England, then Birmingham and then Lozells. We made our own maps, and drew our route to school. 

World Book Day

We had so much fun for World Book Day. We are reading the book The Odd Egg next week, ready for the arrival of our duckling eggs. For World Book Day, we dressed up as anything that hatches out of an egg. There were some wonderful costumes of chicks, dinosaurs, butterflies and frogs. Super work everyone!

Welcome Back

Welcome back to school for the second half of the Spring Term. We are officially half way through the school year now, and we have SO much to look forward to this half term. We have our duckling eggs being delivered so we can hatch them and have some ducklings to look after, World Book Day and we will celebrate Mother’s Day, Ramadan and Easter.

The children will continue to recap Step 2 & 3 of their Phonics, before they move on to Step 4 in the summer term, they will begin writing sentences much more independently in Literacy, and we will be looking at manipulating numbers to understand the composition, etc in Maths.

As always, we thank you for your continued support 😊

Charlie the Tortoise comes to visit

For Valentine’s Day, we were reading the book ‘The Hug’ for our Literacy text. We had to use the touching lens and think about what the shell of a tortoise may feel like. Luckily, Mrs Rose was ever so kind, to bring in her 10-year-old tortoise Charlie, and the two baby tortoises (we named them Frankie and Bobbie as they don’t actually have names yet, and you can’t tell if a tortoise is a boy or girl until they are 7, so they needed unisex names). We all got to hold the tortoises, and feed them some lettuce. We thought their claws felt spikey, but their shell felt smooth and bumpy.

Forest School – Bug Hotel

This half term, we worked really hard as a year group to create a bug hotel for the bugs in our garden to have a safe space, and to hide away from the birds.

The first group lifted and carried the pallets, placing bricks carefully between each layer to build the structure. The second group used larger fire wood, and smaller pieces of kindling to stack along the bottom layer to create a nice cosy area for the bugs who like to live on the ground like worms. The third group used a Stanley knife to cut plastic bottles in half before filling them with leaves and twigs. The fourth group used a hacksaw to cut bamboo sticks to size, and they then slotted those in. The fifth group added tiles and some pre-cut bamboo sticks. Finally, the sixth group planted some pansies to place on top of the bug hotel to try and entice some creatures to move in.

As always, we finished our forest school sessions with a nice warm cup of hot chocolate and a biscuit.

Sutton Park

We had such a wonderful time on our trip to Sutton Park last week. We explored the dense woodland, using our senses to look at and collect the natural resources we found on the floor so we could make a transient art picture. There were so many cool pictures including robots, flowers, volcanoes, bonfires, faces and characters from the Gruffalo. We continued on a walk through the woodland, hunting for a Gruffalo and we even found an underground cave where a fox may live. Some of us spent time wading in the cool stream, before we enjoyed a picnic and some time to play games.

Sutton Park Trip Info

Please click the document below to find the Sutton Park trip information from the meeting on Wednesday 25th January. 

You will need to have paid for the trip by the evening of Friday 27th January. 

Puppet Workshop

We had the BEST time this week when Flip the clown came to visit us and brought all of his puppet friends. We watched a very funny puppet show and met some Flip's favourite puppets before taking part in a workshop where we learnt how to make the puppets talk, say yes and no, and show different emotions. 

Ice Investigation

This week we participated in a science investigation where we were looking at the quickest way to melt ice. We pretended that we needed to free the food for the owls to eat, like in our story. We had 4 different methods - using water, hammers, insulating materials and salt. We predicted that the water would be the quickest method, and learnt that we were in fact, correct. 

Owl Week

This week we have been learning all about owls as our story of the week was ''Owl Babies'. We were lucky enough to have a visit from Jason from Falconry UK who brought his wonderful birds with him. He brought 2 owls called Bailey and Brooklyn, a pygmy falcon called Rocco and kookaburra called Blue. He told us lots of facts about owls - they can see up to a mile away, they eat worms, mice and insects, their feet are called talons and they have feathers on their head that look like ears but they are there to scare other animals. 

We really did have the best time!!

Happy New Year!!

We hope you had a lovely break and rested your brains (but not too much!!). 

We have a really exciting half term coming up, with lots of fun things happening:

• A visit to Sutton Park.
• A visit from the Falconry Team with owls and other exotic birds. 
• Flip the clown will visit with his puppet show.
• Learning about dental hygiene. 
• Investigating ice, and how to best melt it. 
• Making salt dough hearts. 

We can't wait to see what the children get up to, and the progress they make. 

Happy Holidays!!

What a fantastic but very busy half term. We've got up to so much, and this week we're fully embracing Christmas. We have our Nativity performance, a phonecall from Santa, a visit from Santa and our Christmas Party. We'll also be making Christmas Cards and New Year calendars for the children to bring home. 

Don't forget that on Wednesday we will be closing at 2pm to get ready for our Christmas Fair. We will then reopen in the Junior Building at 3:30pm, so we hope to see you there.

We will be finishing school on Thursday 15th December this year, and returning on Thursday 5th January 2023. 

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday (and a fabulous Christmas if you celebrate it). Happy New Year and we'll see you in 2023. 

Stay safe and take care,

Reception Team 

x

Nativity

We hope you're as excited to see the nativity, as we are for you to watch it. Your children have worked so hard, and really enjoyed practicing the songs and dances to our Wriggly Nativity songs. 

We will be recording the performance and posting it here on our blog, so if you are unable to make it on Tuesday, you will still be able to see your child perform. 

Christmas Craft Workshop

Thank you to all of you who attended our Christmas Craft workshop and helped their child to make their Christmas Hat for the party this week. They had the best time!!

Christmas Craft Workshop

Please don't forget that you have been invited to a Christmas Craft workshop on Tuesday 6th December. You will have had an invitation for either the 9am session or the 2pm session. 

Our Chocolate Experiment

This week we have been learning all about how objects can change state. We have learnt that everything that exists in the world is either a solid, a liquid or a gas, and if we make something cold or hot we can change it's state. 

We each held a piece of chocolate in our hand, and noticed that our body heat made it melt. We learnt that it was changing from a solid to a liquid.

The best part was when our teachers let us lick the chocolate off (of course, we washed our hands before and after). 

Parent Workshop - Reading and Phonics

Please don't forget that there is a parent workshop on Monday 28th December in the infant hall for Reception parents where we will look at how Reading and Phonics is taught in Reception. There will be lots of opportunities for you to ask questions, and gain a better understanding of how you can help your child at home.

On Tuesday 29th December, the second part of the workshop will see you being invited into your child's classroom where you will be able to see their teacher teach a phonics lesson. Following the lesson, you will have the chance to participate in some phonics and reading activities with your child. 

If you are unable to make the workshop, please click the link below to see the presentation. 

Photographs

Thank you so much for sending in physical photographs, or emailing us digital versions of your children this week. It has prompted so much conversation, allowing them a stage to answer questions but also an opportunity to ask questions of others. They've been so interested in each other's past experiences, and waited with anticipation for the end of each day to discuss a new photo. 

Disabilities

We read the wonderful story of 'Freddie and the Fairy' by Julia Donaldson this week, for our Write Stuff lessons. It is a story about a fairy who is hearing impaired, and this prompted lots of discussion about different disabilities - both inward and outward. The children have shown such an interest in the ways that they can help people, showing just how kind and caring they are. We're so proud of our children, they've shown such respectful inquisitiveness to different disabilities and show an understanding that we are all different, but all special in our own ways. 

The World Cup

In Reception, we have been learning all about The World Cup this week, and a little about each country taking part. We have discussed the similarities and differences between the food, culture, religion, clothing and weather, amongst other things, of two of the countries playing each day. 

To support England and Wales (Mr Pendry is Welsh), we have shown these games live to discussed the basic rules of a football game with the children who were interested. For our children who have had experience of watching football at home, or participating in football at different clubs, they thought it was the best day ever. 

We can't wait to see who wins... COME ON ENGLAND!! (and Wales). 

Children in Need

Our children looked FABULOUS for Children in Need in their spots, yellow clothes and Pudsey ears. 

Thank you for your donations, we hope we've raised lots of money :)

Remembrance Day

''They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down on the sun and in the morning, we will remember them''. 

This week we have learnt all about Remembrance Day. We learnt that poppies grew in the trenches follow the war, so we have been creating our own poppies in lots of different ways. On the 11th November at 11am, we had a one minute silence to remember those who lost their lives. 

Day of the Dead & Halloween

This week it was Halloween on Monday and the Day of the Dead Festival on Wednesday. We learnt all about how the Day of the Dead festival originated in Mexico, and it is a happy time to remember those that are no longer with us. We explored pictures of the festival, designed our own sugar skull and Mrs McCoy brought her sugar skull in from home to show us. 

Diwali and Fireworks

This week we have learnt all about the Sikh festival of Diwali, how it is celebrated and who celebrates it. We found out that as it is the festival of light, we will see lots of fireworks in the sky. We also found out that there is a festival called Bonfire Night, and next week we will learn how to stay safe around fireworks. 

We found our creative sides and made some beautiful firework pictures using paint, forks and scourers. We also made diva lamps from playdough. 

Welcome Back!!

We hope you all had a wonderful break. We certainly did... Mr Pendry went to Wales to see his family, Miss Freeman went to France to see her family and Mrs McCoy went to America to see her family... it was a family filled half term. Mr Hussain, Mrs Satnam, Mrs Gurdev and Mrs Aziz also had a lovely break. 

For those of you who celebrate, we hope everyone had a wonderful Diwali .

This half term we have lots of exciting things happening. Our forest school sessions start on Friday mornings and we are building up to Christmas. Soon our Nativity rehearsals will start, we will put our Christmas trees up, bake gingerbread men and invite parents to school for a Christmas Craft workshop. 

We can't wait to see what you all get up to. 

Cultural Dress Up Day

To celebrate Black History Month, we dressed up in our cultural dress for the last Friday of term. 

Instruments & Shapes

This week we have had the most fun exploring instruments and shapes.

We watched the Disney Pixar animation of One Man Band, and wrote some lovely sentences about how Penny had a golden coin to give away but she thought the music was awful. 

We learnt all about circles and triangles in Maths, and looked for these shapes in the environment, which we added to our shape shelf in class RF. 

Autumn

This week, we have been focusing on the change of the season and looking at what happens during Autumn. We have been exploring the fallen leaves in the garden and drawing, leaf printing or collaging with them. We've also been exploring hibernating animals and harvested vegetables such as pumpkins. 

We know it's Halloween soon, so we have been making potions in our role play area, and dressing up as witches or wizards to cast spells. 

Black History Month

This month is Black History Month, and in Reception we have been recognising the lives and history of some famous black people who did amazing things. We have also been talking about race, and how our skin colour shouldn't define the way we are treated by others.

Last week, we focused on the life on Martin Luther King, and his famous speech, ''I have a dream''. We talked about what our dreams are for the future, whether that be for which career we would like, what we want for our family, or how we would like to see the world. 

Over the month of October we will be reading lots of books about people including Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris, Muhammad Ali, Pele, etc. 

September Parent Workshop

Please find the link below for the September Parent Workshop on Thursday 29th September at 9:05am. 

Settling

Reception have had an excellent few weeks in school... they are mostly all settled into their now, and are enjoying their daily timetables. Although we still have a few tears in the door in the morning, this will slowly become a thing of the past as the children become more secure and comfortable in their new routine and environment. 

We can't wait to see what they get up to this year. 

Welcome!!

A huge, warm welcome to all of our children and families to Reception year of Anglesey. Here, on our class page, we update what we have been up to each week, and upload any parent workshop powerpoints, important notices and letters.

From Thursday 15th September, most of our children will begin full time, and start having dinner at school. They will begin their daily sessions of Phonics, The Write Stuff, Maths and PSHE, along with reading groups. These will fit into their timetable alongside child initiated provision, where the children have access to the 3 classrooms, and 2 outdoor spaces. The snack table will also open, to allow for bagel and cereal breakfasts, or fruit in the afternoon. 

Please ensure your child now has their PE kit bag in school with lots of spare clothes, and they begin to bring their book bag everyday. We will send library books home from Monday 19th September. 

This half term is focused mainly on settling the children and supporting them with school routines and building friendship groups. At home, we would love if your focus could be on supporting your child to be independent with putting on their coat, recognising their name and writing their name. 

If you have any questions or queries, we do have an email address: yr@anglesey.bham.sch.uk.

Kind regards,

Mrs McCoy 

Sutton Park Trip

We will be visiting Sutton Park on Tuesday 28th June... please see the information below for everything you need to know. 

Queen's Jubilee

We had a wonderful day on Friday, dressed in red, white and blue for the Queen's Jubilee. We all got to have a lovely picnic in the playground, and complete lots of activities linked to the Jubilee. 

Welcome Back!

We hope you all had a lovely half term break, and enjoyed the weather (the little bit of sun that we had). 

We have lots to look forward to this half term, with a trip to Sutton Park for a picnic, celebrating the Queen's Jubilee, and beginning our transition for year one. 

As always we thank you for your support :). 

End of Half Term

It feels like only yesterday that we arrived back after Easter, but what a busy few weeks we have had. We've watched caterpillars turn into butterflies, visited the farm, visited the pond and fished for tadpoles and planted some cress seeds. We've been loving the water play in our outdoor area now the weather has warmed up, and Mrs McCoy taught us all about fires in forest school. 

We hope you have a lovely week off, and enjoy the Queen's Jubilee celebrations. 

Hatton Farm

We had such an amazing time at Hatton Farm. We rode a tractor, held a snake, lizard and guinea pig, fed some sheep and goats, and played in the amazing soft play, sandpit and outdoor play area. 

Fire Building

In forest school this half term, we have been learning about the fire triangle. Mrs McCoy taught us that fires need oxygen, heat and fuel to continue to burn. We then learnt how to take away these things to break the fire triangle and put out the fire. 

We collected sticks, and learnt that kindling and fire starters are excellent ways to start a fire. We built out fire up, and then toasted some halal marshmallows on the fire. We thought they were SUPER tasty. 

Caterpillars to Butterflies

To continue our work on lifecycles we had some caterpillars delivered to us. We watched as they fed until they were nice and fat, and then they formed into a chrysalis. After a week, they emerged from the chrysalis as beautiful butterflies. We fed them for a few days, using fruit and flowers, before releasing them into our gardens and watching them fly away. 

Junior Pond Visit

As we have been learning about life cycles, we made a visit to the Junior school pond to fish for some tadpoles. We learnt that frogs lay eggs that we call frog spawn, they hatch into tadpoles, and then the tadpoles grow arms and legs as they grow into frogs. We loved seeing the frogspawn, flies, dragonflies and bees at the pond, but were not lucky enough this year to see a frog unfortunately.

Planting Seeds

This half term we have been learning all about new life. We planted some cress seeds, and we have been making sure they have water and sunlight to make them grow. We will be sending home the plants with the children over the holidays, and would love to see how they grow at home. Maybe you could upload some photos onto your child's Tapestry journal. 

Hatton Meeting

If you didn't manage to make the meeting about the trip to Hatton, please see the attached information below. 

Hatton Trip Note

Dear Parents / Guardians, 

Please don't forget that you must pay for the trip to Hatton by Friday 13th May. Currently only 13 people have paid, which means at the moment, the trip cannot go ahead. The consent for the trip is also via the My Child At School app. 

Just to clarify, this is a separate trip to the one you have already paid for, for Sutton Park. That trip was postponed, and will be going ahead on the 27th June. 

If you are having problems with paying via the app, then please visit the junior site and ask to speak to Mr Bradley or Mr Ferris.

Kind regards, 

Mrs McCoy

Collins E-Books

We have now moved from sending guided reading books home to using Collins E-Books. You should have received a letter with your child's log in details for you to gain access. Each week, we will allocate the children their guided reading book for the week, and hope that you can spend 5 minutes a day reading this with them, and asking some questions to work on their comprehension skills. 

https://ops.collinsopenpage.com/sso/login?service=https%3A//ebooks.collinsopenpage.com/wr/index.html&eulogin=true

If you have any questions, or need a new copy of your child's log on details, please ask your child's class teacher. 

Happy Eid!

We hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating Eid... feel free to upload some pictures onto Tapestry so we can see what you got up to. 

Welcome Back!!

We hope you all had a lovely break for the Easter holidays. This term is a very exciting one!! We have caterpillars being delivered in the second week, a trip to Hatton Farm, seed planting and a trip to the KS2 pond. We will also be building fire and toasting marshmallows (halal-friendly) in forest school. 

We know that most of you will be celebrating Eid next week, so send you our best wishes for a wonderful day. 

Thursday 5th May is Election Day so the school will be closed (except for year 6) to children. 

Please remember we start PE this week:

Monday for RN

Tuesday for RP

Thursday for RL

... so your children will need their kit of a white t-shirt and black shorts in school. 

Mrs McCoy 

Happy Easter!

We hope you have a wonderful Easter holiday, and a good rest away from school.
We have some really exciting things happening next term which we just can't wait to tell you about.
We return to school on Monday 25th April. Please remember that we will be starting PE after half term, so the children will need their kits in school. RN will be on Monday, RP on Tuesday and RL on Thursday.
Thank you as always for your support,
Mrs K. McCoy

Forest School - Bird Feeders

We had a wonderful time making bird feeders to hang in the trees in our garden this half term. We used our fine motor skills to tie knots, and thread cheerios onto the string before hanging it in the trees.

Of course, we had hot chocolate and biscuits as a special treat to end our session. 

Parent Workshop - Reading in Reception

Thank you to those of you who attended the workshop on Wednesday 6th April. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did, and felt that you got something from it. 

The powerpoint is attached below. 

Police Visit

This week we were lucky enough to have PC Manns come and visit us to talk to us about his job, and how he helps the community. 

He showed us his personal protective gear, and we learnt how he may use a baton, pepper spray, handcuffs and leg straps. We also learnt about the different things PC Manns may do each day. 

Some of us have decided that we might want to be police officers when we're older :). 

Reminder - Parent Workshop

Please don't forget we have our parent workshop all about Reading in Reception on Wednesday 6th April in the infant hall at 9am. We hope to see you all there. 

Circus Skills

We were so lucky this week as we got to see our friend Flip the Clown. This time, he brought his circus skills box with him, and after watching his show (which was hilarious), he taught us how to use some of the objects. We learnt how to spin plates, juggle scarves, use a diablo and balance on a see-saw. We had SO much fun. 

Porridge Tasting

This week for The Write Stuff, we have been reading the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We needed to write a sentence using the tasting lens, so we made porridge and tasted it together. Some of us loved it because there was sugar on the top, where as some of us didn't like it and said it tasted 'boring'. 

Later this week we will be writing a recipe of how to make porridge, so we're going to need to remember the process. 

Thank-you!

Just a quick thank you to all of you who sent well-wishes, cards and gifts for our wedding. We are so grateful, and both of us just adore the wonderful children and parents we work with in our schools. 

Mrs McCoy :) 

Red Nose Day

We had so much fun dressing up as wild animals for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day, and raised an incredible amount of money in Reception, so thank you very much!

Fruit Tasting

This week we have been reading Handa's Surprise, and have learnt all about the different fruits Handa attempted to deliver to her friend Akeyo. We got to try each of the fruits, using our senses to explore the feel of them, the smell and the taste. 

Mango was definitely our favourite, but we weren't a fan of avocado or passionfruit. 

Ducklings

We were so lucky to have 5 eggs delivered in an incubator this week, and we got to watch them hatch over the space of a few days. Once their feathers were dry, we moved them to their cage and named them - Rocky, Charlie, Lily, Dotty and Junior. We learnt how to care for our ducks - how to clean them out, feed them, and how often they needed water. We all got to handle them, and spent wonderful afternoons watching them swim in the water. 

Yesterday, they were picked up to go and enjoy their lives on a farm in Yorkshire. 

World Book Day

We had such a lot of fun for World Book Day. We have been reading the story 'Walking Through the Jungle', so we all dressed up as animals from the jungle. 

Pancake Day 

We had such a lovely time celebrating Pancake Day on Shrove Tuesday. We worked together in our classes to measure out and mix the ingredients, before cooking our pancakes, flipping them and adding lemon and sugar to eat them. 

We learnt all about how Christians observe Shrove Tuesday, and how it begins Lent. We talked all about how Lent and Ramadan are similar in many ways, and both lead up to the festivals of Easter and Eid. 

Forest School - Bug Hotel

This half term we have been building a bug hotels for the bugs in our garden, during our forest school sessions. 

We searched for the bugs we might find underneath the logs, and then thought about the things bugs need to survive.

Each week we worked together, to carry the pallets and build the frame, saw bamboo for ants to run or hide inside, use a stanley knife to cut bottles in half to stuff with twigs and leaves and added tiles and logs to make lots of small spaces for the bugs to explore.

As ever, we finished our sessions with hot chocolate and biscuits to warm up. 

Chinese New Year

It was Chinese New Year this week for our Chinese friends, and we have been learning all about how they prepare, and how they celebrate. We found out that the years are named after animals, and this year is the year of the tiger.

We learnt how to use chopsticks, explored noodles in a wok, learnt mandarin numbers, wrote fortune cookie messages and learnt how to write good luck messages in mandarin. 

Sutton Park Trip - Postponed

Unfortunately we have had to postpone our trip to Sutton Park, due to staffing numbers. We will now be visiting Sutton Park in June. Information will be sent nearer the time. 

Flip's Puppet Workshop

We have a fabulous day this week when Flip the clown came to visit us. He performed a hilarious puppet show, and introduced us to lots of his friends. We talked about different emotions, and then Flip showed us how to portray these using our own puppets. We learnt how to move their mouths to make it look like they're talking, and how to show them feeling excited, shocked and worried. 

Falconry Visit

This week we have been reading the book Owl Babies, for our Write Stuff lessons. At the end of the week we have to write a non-chronological report, so Miss Lee arranged for Falconry UK to come in and visit us, so we could meet some birds and learn about their characteristics. We met three different types of owl, a tiny, rare falcon from Africa and a cheeky kookaburra from Australia. 

We really did have the best day!

Welcome Back!

Hi everyone, 

Welcome back to school. We hope you had a lovely holiday, and a wonderful new year. 

We have so many exciting things happening this half term... In January, we have Falconry UK coming to visit us with some birds of prey to support our learning of the book Owl Babies. We also have Flip the Clown returning with his puppet workshop, where we learn about lots of different emotions. In February, we will be learning all about Chinese New Year, Valentines Day, and we shall be taking our first school trip to Sutton Park where we will use our senses to explore the setting. 

Make sure you look out for the letter from us, and pay for the trips and visits and consent via the My Child At School app. If you need any help, please visit the junior office and ask to speak to Mr Bradley and Mr Ferris. 

We can't wait to see what your children get up to, and have some fun over the next few weeks :). 

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas break and thank you for your continued support. We have sent some homework packs home with the children, so please work with them on their sounds, tricky words and high frequency words over the holiday. 

We will be returning to school on

Thursday 6th January 2022 at 8:55am. 

Nativity

The children worked so hard to learn their lines, dances and songs for our Reception Nativity play. Please see the video below to watch the performance. 

Forest School

We've now completed our first half term of Forest School, and have loved making Christmas wreaths. We collected sticks to weave into our wreath wire, then added artificial fir leaves which we had to bend around the wire, and then we added red bows to make our wreath look extra Christmassy. We warmed up with hot chocolate and a biscuit afterwards.

Gingerbread Men

We had such a wonderful day on Wednesday, baking gingerbread men for our Write Stuff text - The Gingerbread Man. We've been learning all about the story, and writing our own fiction sentences for the action, tasting, thinking, touching and noticing lenses. For our non-fiction write we had to write a shopping list of the ingredients we would need, so we worked as a class to bake our gingerbread men to help us remember the ingredients. 

Christmas Craft Workshop

Thank you to those of you who came to our Christmas Craft workshop, to work with your children on their Christmas hat. Our children love having you come in to work with them, and talk about it for days after. 

Change of State

This week we have been looking at how different things change state. First, we talked about solids, liquids and gases and thought about a couple of examples for each. We thought about how our cornflakes turn soft and go mushy when milk is added, and how butter melts when we spread it on our hot bagel.

On Thursday, we experimented with a piece of chocolate. We held a square of Dairy Milk in our hand, and predicted what may happen. After a few minutes we all noticed that our hands were warm, and that the chocolate was beginning to get sticky and melt. We knew it was changing from a solid to a liquid, and predicted rightly, that if we froze it, it would become solid again. 

Luckily for us, our teachers told us we were allowed to eat it, and enjoyed licking our hands clean (don't worry, we did wash our hands first). 

Christmas Craft Workshop

We have sent a letter out, to invite you to a Christmas Craft workshop on Monday 6th December. We run this workshop every year, and our children and parents have always really enjoyed themselves.

You may be invited to the 9am workshop, or the 2:20pm workshop, depending on which key group your child is in. We have to separate you into two groups as we just don't have the space to all be able to work together at the same time.

During the craft workshop you will be working with your child to make a hat, and there will be other Christmas activities available.

We hope you can make it, and can't wait to see you :)

Photographs

Thank you to those of you who sent photographs in for this weeks focus activity. It was lovely to hear the children talk about their past experiences, and their families. 

We learnt all about what we can use to take a photograph, why we take them, and what we may do after them. We discussed how physical photographs don't seem to be as much of a thing now a days, because of camera phones and iPads, but the children agreed that they much preferred looking at a physical photo instead of a digital one. 

Children in Need

Thank you so much for your donations for Children in Need, and for making such an effort with dressing your children up in their spots and stripes. 

Anti-Bullying Week

As this week is Anti-Bullying week, we have been talking about different emotions that we may feel and why - shocked, surprised, angry, sad, happy and excited. We have explored the emotions in different ways: during PSHE lessons, at the creative table, in the outdoor area and we have written kind words to each other. 

Remembrance Day

This week we learnt all about what Remembrance Day is, and why we recognise it in the UK. We talked about the World Wars, and how poppies grew in the fields at the end of the war, which is why people wear them at this time of year, to remember those who lost their lives. We observed a one minute silence on the 11th November, which the children were incredibly well behaved for, and we've been making poppies this week and displaying them in our class rooms. 

Parent Workshop

Thank you to all of the parents who came to the parent workshop on Tuesday 9th November. We hope you enjoyed watching us teach a Phonics lesson, and participating in some of the activities with your children. We are now sending home reader and library books home with your child each week, so these will need to be read for at least 5 minutes every day, and brought back every Monday. 

There will be more parent workshops in the future, as we felt that this one was so beneficial, and we received some great feedback. 

If you have any questions, or there is a workshop you would like us to run, please talk to your child's teacher or email us at yr@anglesey.bham.sch.uk.

Diwali

We have also been learning all about Diwali this week. Mrs Satnam and Mrs Gurdev told us all about their plans, and what they were up to in the lead up to the festival of light, and then they told us what happened on the actual day once they returned to school. 

We learnt all about the story of Rama and Sita, and why Diwali is the festival of light. We role played making Diwali feasts, looked at Rangoli patterns and made Diva lamps using clay. 

Bonfire Night

This week we have been learning all about our Bonfire Night, and Guy Fawkes. We have learnt how we can be safe around fireworks, and what fireworks are made of. We've been exploring how to make firework pictures, and how to write the sounds fireworks make. 

Phonics and Early Reading

Thank you to those of you who attended the phonics and early reading workshop this morning, we hope it was beneficial in helping you to understand how we teach your children in school and how you can support them at home. 

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 9th November at 9am for the second part of the workshop. 

Welcome Back!

Welcome back everyone to Autumn term 2. We hope you had a lovely, restful half term, and for those of you who took part in Halloween activities, we hope you had a lot of fun. 

This half term is one of our most exciting. We will be celebrating Diwali, Bonfire Night, recognising Remembrance Sunday, and enjoying the run up to Christmas. 

We will all take part in a Nativity performance of The Wriggly Nativity, there will be a Christmas parent workshop, a Christmas party and the children will get to have a Christmas dinner. 

There will also be opportunities for you to join us in school for some workshops to work with your children in Phonics and Reading.

Over the holiday, we made some exciting changes to our unit, with the bike track being painted in the outdoor garden, and our front office wall being built to allow for a much easier free flow environment. 

We can't wait to see the progress your children make this half term, and thank you, as always, for your support. 

Black History Month - Story Teller

We were so lucky this week to have M visit us to tell us an old story from Ghana. We learnt about Anansai, and how he asked others in his community for food. We talked about the moral of story, joined in with repetitive refrains, and sang a wonderful song complete with actions. 

Black History Month

October is Black History Month, and Reception have been learning all about famous black people from past and present who are celebrated for the incredible things they do or did. 

We learnt all about Pele, Marcus Rashford, Harriet Tubman, Muhammad Ali and Mo Farah. 

We also learnt lots about Martin Luther King, and watched his iconic, ''I Have A Dream'' speech. We talked about how our skin colour shouldn't affect the opportunities we have or are given in life, and that we should all be treated equally and fairly. 

Together we discussed our own dreams for our futures, and wrote them onto our painted hand print. 

How Do I Put It On?

This week, our story of the week has been How Do I Put It On? The children have had a go at labelling the picture of the bear with his clothes. 

Our First Week

The children have settled into their new Reception classes so well, and have enjoyed exploring their new environment. They've adapted to the larger space, class expectations and whole class teaching, and are trying so hard with their learning. 

Take a look at the photos, to see what your children have been up to. 

Welcome to Reception

Hi everyone , 

Welcome to your new year group and class page. Every week we will update this page with photos, videos and information of what the children have been up to. We will also post important information that you will need to know here, and on Tapestry. 

The Reception staff are:

RL - Miss Lee (Year Leader) and Mrs Gurdev

RN - Mrs Noakes and Miss Mummery

RP - Mr Pendry and Mrs Satnam

Mrs Uredi is our Early Years Assistant Headteacher. 

Our children will start part-time in a couple of weeks, where they will need to attend school in their uniform with their red book bags, and a spare change of clothes, ideally in a school PE bag. Part-time hours are 8:55am - 11:30am. 

Monday 13th - New children to Anglesey.

Tuesday 14th - New children to Anglesey and Spring / Summer born. 

Wednesday 15th - New children to Anglesey, Spring / Summer / Autumn born. 

Children will start full time on Thursday 16th September where they will have their dinner here, and begin their lessons. Full-time hours are 8:55am - 2:55pm. Please be on time to collect your child, and drop them off on time in the morning. 

For any information you may need for your child starting school, please read the induction presentation below. 

We can't wait to meet you all, and begin what will be a fantastic year in Reception.