Welcome to Reception - Mrs Morley's Class
W/C 11th March 2024
This week Reception read non fiction books all about Spring. We enjoyed a lovely spring walk around the school grounds yesterday. We saw lots of signs of new life. We drew pictures of what we saw and labelled them using our phonics. We have been writing some wonderful Spring poems in our books this week.
In Maths we are learning about capacity. We have explored filling containers with water, sand and toys. The children have used vocabulary such as empty, nearly empty, half full, nearly full and full.
The children made bird feeders using recyclable tubes, peanut butter and bird seeds. We learnt that birds are migrating back to our country as it is getting warmer. Hopefully, they enjoy our bird feeders when they return.
In the creative area we have used water colours to paint daffodils. We used magnifying glasses to look closely at the details.
To celebrate British Science Week we had two wonderful assemblies, one to learn all about different energy sources and also a visit from the Fun Scientists were the children made their own slime to bring home.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 26th February 2024
This week Reception read Pigs Might Fly by Jonathan Emmet. In this story, the pigs enter an air race. We have watched videos of the red arrows, winger walkers and created our own planes out of junk modelling. Lots of us recall watching the red arrows at Southport Air Show.
In Maths this week we are making more complex patterns such as AAB, AABC. We have focused on repeating sounds and actions too. In our PE session this week we explored fireworks movements. The children moved fast, slow, high and low. The children were busy in the creative area this week building their own planes using junk modelling materials.
We’re the school attendance champions for this week. Keep up the hard work Reception! In assembly we received the new attendance trophy. We get to keep this in our classroom for the full week.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 19th February 2024
This week Reception read the traditional tale Little Red Riding Hood. We discussed how this story has changed over time and their are lots of different versions to read and listen to.
On Monday, we found a Wanted poster in our forest! It was for the Big Bad Wolf. The children immediately started to write their own Wanted posters, made traps and used the magnifying glasses and binoculars to look for clues. The next day, we had shock as we found footprints in our classroom and the furniture being knocked over. We handed out our Wanted posters around school to ask people to keep an eye out.
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 5th February 2024
This week Reception read The Great Race by Emily Hiles as we have learnt about the celebration of Chinese New Year. We acted out the story together as each of the animals raced across the river to have a year named after them. In our class we were born in the year of the dog (2018) and pig (2019).
We looked at traditional Chinese music and dancing and compared it to the dancing we watched during the celebration of Diwali. In the creative area we have been busy decorating our own Chinese lanterns to take home to celebrate. The children enjoyed a yummy afternoon tasting Chinese food. We’re so proud of the children for trying the different foods. Prawn crackers and sweet chilli sauce was our favourite.
To celebrate diversity week, Reception have read the story Dog’s don’t do Ballet. This then prompted conversation that only girls can do ballet, so we watched some videos of boys and girls who are wonderful ballet dancers. No matter who you are, you can do and be anything you want to!
It was also Safer Internet Day this week and we read a story about Mo and Jaz who like to watch videos online. In this story, they see a video that they don't like and it makes them a little worried and scared. In class we discussed if we see something online when using our tablets/ipads that we don't like we should stop watching and tell a grown up straight away.
We hope you have a wonderful half term break,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 29th January 2024
This week Reception read the book All Aboard the London Bus by Patty Toht. We turned our bus classroom in a bus and we all jumped aboard to London. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace and watched the change of the guards. Our second stop on the London bus was to Big Ben. We watched a video of the bell inside the tower ringing to tell the time. The children used some excellent vocabulary in their writing! We visited our final stop on our bus journey through London; the Tower of London. We watched a video clip of King Charles Coronation and used special vocabulary to describe his crown. Children have each brought home their London bus ticket, ask them to recall the special landmarks they have learnt about this week.
In Maths we are working on our adding skills. The children created their own problems to solve. We have looked at different types of transport. We discussed which types of transport we have used and where we went.
In our PE session this week we have continued our team games. We took part in a range of different races. The overall winners were the Yellow team.
Well done to everyone for their amazing efforts for our celebration of Number Day 2024. All of your £1 donations will go towards the NSPCC and their fabulous work. Thank you so much for supporting the children with their hats and number outfits we really appreciate it.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 22nd January 2024
This week in Reception we have learnt all about the planets in our solar system as we read Meet the Planets by Caryl Hart. At the start of the week, we blasted off into Space in our rockets to explore the solar system. We are learning a song about the solar system. Can you listen to this song together at home using the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2prtmPEjOc
We learnt about a significant person this week; Katherine Jenkins. Katherine worked for NASA and was extremely clever and talented in Maths. Her work helped the rockets and astronauts travel to space safely. What an amazing woman!
The children have really enjoyed using the creative area to make our own rockets week out of junk modelling. We also created our own planets by rolling balls in different coloured paint and mixing them together. In the playdough area, the children were busy creating their own aliens, which were fantastic! Outside, we enjoyed continuing with our space learning as we created a space station from loose parts and used sticks for the forest to create stars.
There was excellent listening this week in our PE session. We played a range of team games and there were lots of different instructions and rules to follow. It was great to see the children cheering each other on.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 15th January 2024
This week in Reception we have learnt all about Penguins. We have learnt that they live in Antarctica, which is covered in snow and ice. The South Pole is in Antarctica. The children learnt that people don't live in Antarctica as it is too cold for us too survive. Can the children recall any facts they have learnt about penguins this week?
The children have located Antarctica on a world map this week and we learnt about a famous explorer from the past; Robert Scott who carried out an expedition to the South Pole is 1910. There are some wonderful documentary clips available on BBC iPlayer and YouTube, all about penguins. The children have enjoyed watching this clip this week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfstYSUscBc
We had a wonderful surprise of snow one day this week, and our school field was blanketed with snow. We felt like we were in Antarctica. We had lots of fun playing in the snow.
In Maths we have worked in pairs to build towers and help each find one more and one less. We also read the story Loo Queue and discussed how to place thing in order from 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.
Some of our Year 6 friends have been coming to read with us during lunch time to share stories with us. We love listening to our older friends read.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 8th January 2024
Happy New Year everyone! What a fantastic first week back in school we have had. We have been learning all about Winter as we have read lots of non-fiction books. The children have enjoyed playing in our Arctic house role play area. At the start of the week Reception enjoyed a walk around the school grounds today searching for the signs of Winter. We discussed the changes that have happened since Autumn. It was very cold, so we wrapped up warm. We found lots of bare trees and some berries.
We have used our Wren powers and T learnt about New Zealand. Did you know that when it is winter in England, it is Summer in New Zealand? Our flags are very similar and we found out that King Charles III is also the King of New Zealand!
In the creative area we have been busy creating our own winter scene pictures and also make snowflakes for our Winter display. We have lots of creative children in Reception.
We have held our own science experiment this afternoon to see how we could free our animals from the ice. The children had lots of good suggestions such as breaking it with our hands, using warm water, hammering it, using the microwave, and putting it on the radiator. We found that it was too hard to break with our hands. The microwave and pouring warm water on was the best way to melt them.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 18th December 2023
What a Christmas week we have had with lots of festive fun happening around school. Reception have enjoyed their Christmas party with a special visit from Santa and we enjoyed party games and dancing together. The children also performed their Christmas singalong for their families, we are so proud of how well they sang and completed the actions in the hall.
We finished reading the Jolly Christmas Postman this week and the children enjoyed looking through the catalogues and chose what they wanted for Christmas. The children enjoyed a walk to the local postbox to post their letters. The children also used beebots to navigate to the post office, using language such as forwards, backwards, left and right.
We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and we will see you all in the new year.
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 11th December 2023
This week Reception have read The Jolly Christmas Postman. We have enjoyed reading the different letters for the different characters and we have written our own letters in our wonderful writing books.
In Maths, we have continued our learning on 2D shapes and and discussing their properties. We discussed why wheels are a circular shape rather than a rectangle.
We have been super busy practicing for our Christmas Singalong next week, the children are amazing us with their singing and actions, we can't wait to perform to our families next week.
In the creative area we have been busy making our Christmas cards and calendars for 2024,
We also enjoyed a lovely treat on Thursday, of a puppet show called Shepard's Spy. The children really enjoyed it and sat very well for their first time in the hall. On Friday, we had Christmas pyjama day, were we all enjoyed a hot chocolate and a film in the afternoon.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 4th December 2023
This week Reception have read How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers. We lay down for some star gazing in our class and looked at different star constellations. The children then used chalk to draw their own constellations outside. We have used challenging vocabulary to write sentences about how we would catch stars and what they would look like.
In Maths, we have looked at 2D shapes. The children worked in pairs to describe the properties of different shapes. We created pictures using 2D shapes and we are confident in naming triangles, squares, rectangles and circles.
Our highlight of the week was our trip to Imagine That! We enjoyed some amazing Science experiments; we made slime and snow. We chose and painted fridge magnets, decorated Snowman Bags and found out our Elf names. We loved exploring all of the different areas, we enjoyed water play, painting, construction, role play and performing on the stage for one another! What an amazing experience, we are so proud of you Reception.
We had a special visitor come to Reception this week; a Christmas elf. The children wrote lots of name suggestions, and our elf liked Snowy best. We have enjoyed seeing what he gets up to each day. On Thursday the children wore Christmas jumpers and we enjoyed a yummy Christmas dinner together.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 27th November 2023
This week Reception have learnt all about Autumn. We used our senses to explore the world around us and discuss how we felt. The children thought of some wonderful vocabulary this week, such as spikey conkers, firey red leaves. We were amazed!
In Maths the children have explored with composition of numbers to 5. The children worked in pairs to build towers using 5 blocks with two different colours. We are getting confident in recalling our number bonds to 5. The children thought of their own way to make 5 and wrote the number sentence for them.
We have learnt that some animals hibernate in winter, such as; hedgehogs and dormice. Before they hibernate they eat lots of food to make sure they have energy to get them through the winter until they are ready to wake up again in Spring.
We have mixed Autumnal colours together to create our own autumn leaves for display and they look wonderful.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 20th November 2023
This week Reception we read Little Glow and discussed how a candle is used in different celebrations around the world. We focused our learning around the celebration of Diwali. Can you ask your child to tell you about some of the traditions they have learnt about this week?
We have been exploring our Diwali celebration area. We have been looking at traditional dress, food and artefacts. In the creative area the children created their own diva lamps out of salt dough, they enjoyed painting them in bright colours, glitter and sequins. The children took them home with their own tea light candles to celebrate Diwali at home.
This week we have learnt that Diwali is a Hindu festival. Hinduism originates from India. We used globes and world maps to find the country and we drew our own flags. We even spotted an Indian flag in the hall when we were having our lunch. In Music, we have listened to some traditional Indian music and copied the dance moves, they loved dressing up and performing them to each other.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 6th November 2023
This week Reception read a poem called Bonfire Night by Sara Foxx. We used the FANTASTIC's to engage our senses as we thought of words to describe bonfire night. We then looked at examples of shape poetry and created our own in rockets, sparklers and bonfires. We discussed why bonfire night is celebrated in the UK and shared our own experiences of how we celebrated it.
In Maths, we made repeating patterns using a variety of resources in the classroom. We used colours, natural objects, musical instruments and body parts to create different AB patterns. The children were amazed at how many different ways we can create patterns.
We had a special visit from Newton Fire Service this week, they shown us the different equipment on the fire engine, explained how they do their jobs and let us have a go of the big hose's. The children were in awe and asked lots of intriguing questions. We were very proud of them.
In the creative area, we made our own firework pictures using recycled tubes. As part of of wider curriculum, we learnt about how the fire service and fire fighters uniforms have changed over time.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 23rd October 2023
This week Reception read Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. We had lots of fun this morning acting out the Room on the Broom with each other. The children worked hard to use expression for the different characters. We looked closely at the different rhyming words throughout the story and thought of our own.
Reception had a special message from the witch on Wednesday. She left us some ingredients to make our very own potion with frog slime, dragons blood, fairy dust and mermaid scales. We loved watching as the ingredients fixed and bubbled. We then thought of our own potions and labelled them.
In Maths, we have explored with the number 3 and had a hunt for the number three around our environment and practiced representing 3 on our fingers. We explored that the number three is made up of two and one, and practiced writing number sentences.
We have had lots of lovely activities happening this week. Reception had a Halloween party, the children loved dressing up as scary characters and showing off their dance moves. On Thursday we also had a Harvest stay and play session with our parents and grandparents were we completed lots of wonderful autumnal activities and crafts. We loved sharing our classroom with our families.
Have a lovely half term break, see you all on Monday 6th November.
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 16th October 2023
This week Reception read The Little Red Hen by Jonathan Allen. We have sequenced the story from beginning to end, and we joined in with the repeated refrains in the book. We received a special letter from the Little Red Hen asking us to make pizzas and write an ingredients list. We had fantastic afternoon weighing the flour, rolling the dough and adding our toppings. We hope they enjoyed eating them after school. The children spoke about the importance of washing their hands before cooking and eating. In our Literacy books we will be writing ingredients lists, using our segmenting skills from phonics.
In Maths, have looked at the composition of numbers, meaning what they are made up of. For example, 4 is the whole number, it’s parts can be 2 and 2 or 3 and 1. The children used part-whole diagrams to represent their whole numbers and how they can be made.
We learnt all about the Christian celebration of the Harvest festival. We discussed how it is celebrated by offering food to those in need. We have also found out lots about the the work that farmers do during Harvest when we read our non fiction texts.
The children performed a short phonics assembly for their families this week. They enjoyed showcasing what we have learnt in phonics.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley & Miss Cardwell x
W/C 9th October 2023
This week Reception read In Every House, on Every Street by Jess Hitchman. We have looked at different types of houses, the rooms in a house and what they’re used for. The children discussed their favourite rooms in their house, lots of us like our bedrooms for playing and relaxing. We have drawn pictures of our own houses and labelled them applying our phonics knowledge
We had a walk around our local community this afternoon, looking at different types of houses. The children spotted, terraced, semi-detached, and detached houses and also bungalows and apartments. I am so proud of how well the children walked around, keeping themselves safe with super listening.
In Maths we have been learning all about the number 2. We learnt that one and another one makes two and looked at part-part whole diagrams to show how we make the number 2. The children have learnt that a pair is two of something. We read the story of Noah’s Ark and went on a animal pair hunt around the hall to find the pairs.
The children have used Google Maps to navigate their way around Haydock, we even found some our own homes. This lead to the children becoming interested in designing their own maps. Outside, we have used natural objects to create our own houses out of sticks, stones and leaves. We made sure they each had four walls, a roof, a door and some windows.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley, Miss Cardwell & Ms Burrows x
W/C 2nd October 2023
This week Reception read Super Duper You by Sophie Henn. We have discussed all the things that make us unique and wonderful. The children loved sharing pictures of how they're grown from babies, to toddlers and now. We have also learnt a new word - 'aspire' and discussed what occupations we desire to have when we grow up.
In Maths we have been grouping colours together and counting objects. It is easier to count when we line objects up and touch them as we count to keep on track. We have also looked at groups of more and less and challenged ourselves to find one more than a number.
We have enjoyed painting pictures of our aspirations and playing in the sand and water. There has been lots of effective learning has been taking place in provision.
The children learnt about lots of inspirational people such has Stephen Hawkins, Mother Theresa and Mo Farrah. We also learnt about Tessa Sanderson, the first black female in Great Britain to win a gold medal for javelin throwing in the olympics.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley, Miss Cardwell & Ms Burrows x
W/C 25th September 2023
This week Reception have read Giraffes Can't Dance. We discussed the things that we are good at and the things that we aren't good at yet and that we need to practice to get better. The children have loved writing invitations and exploring with the musical instruments and dancing just like Gerald in our story. Reception have had an exciting delivery one morning. Gerald invited us to a Jungle Dance! He must have seen our wonderful dance moves.
The story mentions lots of different dance styles. The children loved exploring with the different types of dancing from the story. We watched videos of the Waltz, Cha-Cha, Rock and Roll and the Tango. The Rock and Roll was definitely our favourite.
We have been very creative with recyclable materials, creating our own musical instruments. We have lots of shakers, drums and guitars. The children used them to create their own music when they attended the Jungle Dance in the afternoon. Our Jungle Dance was so much fun, we enjoyed showing off our dance moves to each other. We have some fantastic dancers in our class.
In Maths, our special number of the week is number. We went on a number hunt outside and found lots of number 1’s hidden in our environment. Can you find any number 1’s at home? The children created their first piece of work in their Maths books this week. Creating posters to show everything that have learnt about the number one.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley, Miss Cardwell & Ms Burrows x
W/C 18th September 2023
This week Reception have learnt all about families. The children enjoyed sharing pictures with each other. Some of us have big families with lots of cousins and some of us have smaller families. We discussed that all families are different but they are all filled with love. The children drew pictures of their family members in the writing books and tried to label them.
We started our phonics lessons this week and the children have been fantastic. We have learnt the phonemes; s, a, t and p. The children have enjoyed searching for things around the classroom beginning with those phonemes and also practicing forming the letters on whiteboards.
In Maths we have focused on our counting skills. We learnt that we can subitise for small amounts. The children have also been introduced to Numbots this week and are eager to practice their counting and number skills at home.
During PSHE, the children discussed their feelings and what strategies they can use if they are feeling sad or angry. The children enjoyed playing a sorting game with different emotions. In Music we were very creative as we explored how to use our bodies to make sound as we played pass the rhythm around the circle.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley, Miss Cardwell & Ms Burrows x
W/C 11th September 2023
It was wonderful to have all of the children together in Reception this week for full days. It can be a big change from Nursery, I’m sure there will be lots of tired children after a fun and busy week of play and learning.
We began the week discussing what rules we want to have in class to make sure it is a lovely place for us to be. We discussed the rewards and consequences and the children painted their hands yellow as a promise to follow them. Our rules are; be kind, share our toys, use our manners, good listening, super sitting, walking feet inside.
This week we have read The Way I Feel. We have looked at lots of different emotions and discussed how things make us feel. We have learnt some new emotions such as frustrated and disappointed and discussed that feelings don’t last long, they come and go. The children have painted their own self portraits, using mirrors to look at our skin, hair and eye colour. In Maths, we have practiced our counting with nursery rhymes this week. The children really enjoyed acting them out and singing along. We also had our first PE lesson this week, the children shown brilliant independence getting changed and taking part in their lesson.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Morley, Miss Cardwell & Ms Burrows x
Reception Notice Board
Welcome to Reception
Little Wandle Parent Presentation
Autumn 1 Phonics
Autumn 2 Parent Overview
Phonics Autumn 2
Spring 1 Overview
Spring 1 Phonics
Spring 2 Overview
