Rufford Park Primary School

22.7.21

Hello!

We’ve come to our final blog post for the year. This week, we’ve been enjoying the weather and our last chance to play together before Summer and September come calling. We even had a paddle on Thursday afternoon! Please look out for “Last Day of Reception” photos on Tapestry tomorrow.

We have sent home a letter for out Extreme Reading Challenge. The challenge is for children to read in as many different and interesting places as possible over summer. They can tick off the list or add their own. The class with the most forms returned in September will receive £100 to spend on their class library. Click here for a copy of the letter. Happy Reading and Good luck!

If you are looking for additional reading or new book ideas over the summer, the guide on the link below may be a good place to start: https://www.booksfortopics.com/branching-out

We’d like to say a big thank you for all of your support over this year. It has been a challenging one at times, but we are very proud of how well they have done this year and how robust they have been to manage all the changes. We would also like to say thank you for the gifts and cards we have received – they are very much appreciated.

We have really enjoyed having your children this year. They can see us around school but grown-ups are always welcome to stop by and say hello too.

We wish you a safe and restful Summer!

Take Care and See you soon!

Apple Class Team

19.7.21

The disco this afternoon was a great success! Children loved dancing and taking part in some fun games. Thanks to the Friends of Rufford Park for organising this event.

16.07.21

Hello !

It has been a beautiful week weather wise and so we have made the most of our outdoor area.

Our story this week has been The Bad-Tempered Ladybird by Eric Carle. Through this we explored our Maths theme of telling the time. We have thought about the sequence of events during our school day, and the vocabulary associated with time. We have introduced the idea of o'clock to the children. The children really enjoyed this song. hip hop around the clock

In Literacy we wrote sentences about the story and have also written sentences “All About Me” for our new teachers next year. We enjoyed our visits to our new classes – Lime Tree and Pear Tree classes and completed work at the tables. The children were excited to see their new classrooms!

In Phonics we learnt the tricky words what and out and have continued to learn to read and write polysyllabic words.

Some of the challenges around the classroom have included painting and crafting minibeasts and counting minibeasts. The children are now independent when completing these challenges and so ready for their next step in school, well done Apples!

Next week is our last week of the school year! It is hard to believe that a whole year has passed with this lovely group. On Monday we have our disco in the afternoon (during school time) and so the children can wear their own clothes for the day, so that they are disco ready! Please be mindful that we will be working in the classroom and outdoor area as normal in the morning, so clothes need to be practical.

9.07.21

Hello! 

This week has been another busy one! This week we have been reading Superworm by Julia Donaldson and making out own stories about minibeast superheroes! We have also had fun looking at 2D and 3D shapes and making Tangrams in Maths. In Phonics, we have been recapping our tricky words and learning how to read two syllable words such as 'handstand' and 'hotpot'.

On Thursday, we took part in a Sports Day. We had a go at Sprint races, Sack races and Egg and Spoon Races. It's the first time we have done those races and we had alot of fun learning how to compete and be good sports. We had a great time and the children had a great attitude, cheering on their classmates. We would like to give a big thank you to Mr Will and Mr Spence for organising it for us and helping us start and end races. We ended our Sports Day with a big roll down the hill at the end. See our gallery for a selection of pictures!

On Friday, the children will have a transition morning where they spend some time with their Year 1 teacher for next year. Mr Spence (Year 1/2 Lime) and Miss Atkinson (Year 1 Pear) are looking forward to meeting you and getting to know you better!

This year, we are taking part in a Summer Reading Challenge – Sign up Saturday 10^th July!

The Summer Reading Challenge encourages children aged 4 -11 to enjoy the benefits of reading for pleasure and prevent the summer reading ‘dip’. This year, even more than in any other year, it is important to encourage pupils to be reading over the summer. The Challenge is for children to borrow and read six books over the summer at their local library. This year the theme is all about nature and will inspire children to think about how they can look after their planet whilst helping to maintain their reading level over the summer holidays. Once they have read their sixth book, they complete the challenge and will be awarded a certificate and gold medal, which they can proudly take to school in September.

Children and their parents can go to their local library or online and sign up this Saturday to start their Summer Reading Challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPf0dGrYCv4

https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

 More information here: Summer Reading Challenge Word Document

We wish you a safe weekend!

Apple Tree Class

2.7.21

A few pictures from our Fun Day. We really enjoyed all the activities planned by FORP-  a big thank you to them for organising such a lovely day!

1.7.21

Reception Blog

A shorter but busy week!

Our snail theme has continued this week. We have learnt about the life cycle of a snail and had a visit from a giant snail called Gary!  Many thanks to Noah for bringing him into class for the day.  The children really enjoyed observing him and we were all very gentle with him.

We have read the story The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson. We discussed the many stories we know by this author, and which are our favourites. You can find out more about her books here.

The children wrote messages to the whale in snail slime (glitter gel pens) and thought about the different settings that the whale visits on his journey. We have continued to think about our world and how we can care for it. We talked about who needs water and how precious it is. Here is a story all about our impact on the oceans.  A Whale's Tale

 In Maths we have been thinking about the distance a snail might travel and as we saw when watching Gary, the saying “as slow as a snail” is not always accurate; he made some very speedy moves!

 In our outdoor area we sent cars down ramps and measured the distance they travelled. We also practised throwing bean bags, balls and paper aeroplanes and used the language of distance; near, nearest, further, furthest. In the water tray we have revisited the language of capacity.

On Friday we have our Fun Day led by the Friends of Rufford Park. We are looking forward to taking part in the fun!

Next week - more minibeast fun, Sports Day and a transition visit to new classes.

Have a lovely weekend!

Apple Team

Reception Class Blog

25.06.21

This week, we have been continuing our minibeast and creepy crawlies work by learning all about Snails! We have been labelling snails in literacy and learning some fascinating new facts. Did you know that snails have a radula? This means that they have a tongue covered in sharp tiny teeth to cut up food. We've also been reading non-fiction books about snails and getting our classroom ready for our snail visitors. We've been handling and observing snails in their tank, pointing out their eyes, foot and tentacles and describing what they are for. As you can see in our Gallery, the snails have been extremely friendly. The children have been very sensible with the snails and have been making sure they have plenty of lettuce, leaves and water. We will be sad to see our guests leave when we release them at the end of the week.

We have also been inspired to make Matisse snail spirals out of lego, loose parts and in our craft area. With the weather being brighter, we have also enjoyed making our own water features outdoors.

In Phonics, we have been continuing our Phase 4 work, writing out sentences with longer words in. This week's tricky words are said and have.

In Maths, we have been working on subtracting by counting back on our fingers or using a number-line. The children have really enjoyed using the number-lines to jump back. Click here for a printable version if you'd like to play at home. 

For homework, we have sent home a Maths game involving addition and subtraction and we will be sending home a mini non-fiction book for children to create their own fact book. They may want to write what they know about snails or can choose something else - as long as it is in full sentences!

 HOUSEKEEPING

Next week (wc 28/06/21) Monday 28th June is a Training Day so school is closed to all pupils. Also, both red and green apples will be doing P.E. on Tuesday (29th June) and Wednesday (30th June) and taking part in a "Fun Day on Friday (2nd July) so will need to come to school wearing their P.E. kits on these three days.

Have a Happy Weekend!

Apple Class Team

17.06.21

Another Gruffalo themed week….

This week we have built on the children’s experiences during our trip to Nell Bank last Friday. View some more pictures below.

We have thought about the Gruffalo’s habitat and learnt a little more about which creatures like to live in the places we visited at Nell Bank. In provision we have been writing recipes for Gruffalo crumble, adding prickles to the Gruffalo’s back and drawing and describing our own terrible beasts. Outside we have been building houses for little brown mouse and going on minibeast hunts in our garden.

The children are becoming confident with all the criteria for writing sentences. In our writing books we wrote some sentences recounting our visit, listing our favourite activities.  Pond dipping, bug hunting, water play, lunch and “all of it” seemed to be popular choices for what to write! Thank you for all your support with sentence work at home, we love seeing the children’s work on Tapestry.

We have continued our work on phase 4 phonics and the children are now using the sounds we have learned to read and write longer words. This week’s tricky words are little, come and some.

In Maths we have been counting on to find the total. We played some games building towers as well as adding people to a bus to work out addition problems. Click here for ideas for maths at home.

Have a happy weekend!

Apple Class Team

Reception Class Blog

Hello!

We've had a very busy first week back. Our topic for the week has been The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. We've had fun painting Gruffalo pictures, completing jigsaws and other Gruffalo and minibeast related challenges.

In Maths we have been using Spinderella by Julia Donaldson to practise counting and sorting spider toys into 2s, 5s and 10s. Please practise this way of counting by rote and in groups with your children at home. Perhaps they can count 2ps or 5ps?

We ended our week with a Trip to Nell Bank on Friday! We had a wonderful time searching for the Gruffalo. In the morning, we set out to find characters from the story in the woodland and had a hunt for some minibeasts under logpile houses! We also learned how to pond-dip and tried to catch some newts and water snails. We found the Gruffalo and he ran away from our little brown mouse when he heard the words "Gruffalo Crumble!" After lunch, we made Gruffalo Crumble using twigs, purple prickles, leaves and stones and made homes for the little brown mouse and his friends. We also had the chance to play in Nell Bank's fantastic water area (and got a tad soggy in the process). Everyone had a brilliant day and the children were beautifully behaved throughout. The did Rufford Park Primary very proud! A photo gallery will follow soon.

We have set some Super Sentence Homework and a slip home inviting your child to write some sentences about the Nell Bank visit and what they enjoyed about the day.

Have a Great Weekend!

Apple Class Team

28.05.21

Happy holidays !

Here are a few pictures from this week.

Have a lovely  week in the sunshine.

27.05.21

A fun and foodie themed week in Apple Class

This week seems to have flown by, often the way as we approach a holiday and are finishing  off topics.  

We have listened to the story Oliver’s Vegetables, a story about a little boy who does not think he likes any vegetables except chips! You will be glad to know that all the children thought he wasn’t very healthy and so wrote Oliver some letters telling him of their favourite fruits and vegetables to try.

We had a tasting session so that we could describe different fruits and vegetables. We used lots of vocabulary around tasting and food and learnt the word scrumptious as part of this work.

 Our tricky word to learn this week is like, the sentence homework this week is to write about our likes and dislikes. We have now completed our recap of the phase 3 sounds and words in phonics and there is a checklist  in book bags for your reference.

In maths we have been sharing and halving, we have used food and objects to halve amounts and share fairly. The children have been using playdough and the weighing scales to work out how to ensure amounts are equal. Here is a fun clip to watch about sharing. Cookie monster sharing clip

In other areas we have been singing and thinking about what makes us all special. Below is a clip of us singing A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.

Tomorrow we have our 'Make the rules day' - we are all very excited! A lovely way to end a busy and productive half term.

Enjoy the half term break – we are even promised a return of some sunshine!

Apple Class Team.

Reception Class Blog

21.05.21

This week, we have been reading the traditional story of The Enormous Turnip and writing story sentences about the tale. We've used repeated story refrains such as "the turnip grew and grew" and "they pulled and pulled" as part of our oral storytelling and sentence work. We've been drawing portraits of the characters and sorting fruits from vegetables in our curiosity area.

In our garden, we've had fun spotting snails and worms - this has generated alot of discussion and interest and we will be planning more on minibeasts next half term.

We've also made musical instruments this week - thank you to all of our grown ups for sending us your junk modelling items from home. The children have really enjoyed making different types of musical instruments, from stringed instruments (using elastic bands) and shakers (using beads). Have a look at our gallery below to see some of our super musical creations. Apple Class have also continued to look at what is safe to go inside our bodies (including medicines) and how we can check whether or not something is safe before we eat or drink it.

In squiggle while you wiggle, we have been practicing "the hook" and the "under hook". In apple class we call it "candy canes" on top and "anchors" on the bottom. We've been applying our squiggle knowlegde to making shapes and lines using oil pastels on black paper. Have a look at the photos to see some spectacular examples.

In phonics, we have practiced the oi and ow digraphs alongside our tricky words. Please keep visiting phase 2 and 3 tricky words at home - if you would like another word list, please ask your child's teacher.

During Maths, we have been weighing and comparing vegetables. We have been saying whether one vegetable is heavier or lighter than another and have been using our estimating skills to weigh the objects using cubes on a scale. We have also been looking at the number 19 and discovered that this is an odd number because it cannot be shared. We have been looking at odd and even numbers up to 10 using the numicon to see whether they are "odd blocks" or "even tops". We have also been building odd and even towers and sharing amounts to check whether a number is odd or even.

Next week, we will be continuing our healthy eating theme by looking at the story Oliver's Vegetables by Alison Bartlett and Vivian French.

As always, we wish you a safe weekend and have our fingers crossed for better weather!

All the best

Apple Class Team

13.5.21

Another gigantic week in Apple Class!

Our focus story has been The Giant of Jum, a lovely story about a kindly giant who likes to eat cake.  After much discussion we decided that we needed to keep the giant healthy and so have been writing recipes for vegetable soup and practising chopping vegetables with tools in our outside area. We have also been practising using some new vocabulary as part of our Literacy work; ask the children to use these words in sentences: ferocious, gigantic and spectacular.

In our garden we have had a fruit and veg shop where the children have continued to work on their understanding of coins and recognising a variety of fruits and vegetables.

In Maths we have been measuring giant footprints and comparing them to our own feet using the language associated with this (shorter, shortest, longer, longest). We have been sorting shoes into pairs and putting in the correct size box as well as ordering according to their length. 18 is our number of the week, another number who likes to make rectangles and arrays.

In phonics we have revisited the digraphs ur and er and continue to work on confident recognition and writing of the tricky words. Sing a lovely tricky words song here

Next week we plan on making some simple musical instruments and so are asking for junk materials such as plastic bottles, tubs, cardboard tubes, plastic lids and smallish cardboard boxes. If you have any of these things in your recycling bin, we would be grateful if you can send them clean and washed into school. Thank you as always for your continued support.

Have a super weekend!

Apple Class Team

 07.05.21

Hello from Reception!

We are now into May and have enjoyed exploring outside this week. We have some "Log Dogs" which have been very popular with the children. Our "Log Dogs" have been spoiled with lots of attention, sharing, walks and dressing up and have made for some lovely role play. Have a look at our gallery below for some "Log Dog" pictures!

We have also sent home our Beanstalk plants with the children this week so they can continue to grow and be cared for at home. We've reminded the children to give them a little water and sunlight. Please let us know how they grow on Tapestry!

 In Literacy we have enjoyed writing sentences about Jack and the Beanstalk and have been working hard to include finger spaces, capital letters in the right places and ending sentences with a full stop. Please continue this super work in the Sentence Books at home - a new task will be sent out on Friday and you can upload work to Tapestry when completed.

In Phonics our sounds have been or and ar and our tricky words are and you. 

In our Music session, we have been learning "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong. The video link is here if you'd like to practice or sing together at home: What a wonderful world

Our number of the week has been 17, and this week we have been learning how to subtract single digit numbers. The children have been counting back on fingers or removing beans from a set and using vocabulary such as "minus", "subtract" or "take away". We have also worked hard to learn the '-' symbol and use them in number sentences.

Next week, we will be continuing our Giant Topic as we read The Giant of Jum by Elli Woodard.

Enjoy the weekend and stay safe!

Apple Class Team 

29.04.21

Hello 

This week we have seen a return to normal British weather - warm coats and jumpers have made a re-appearance, but it has not dampened the children's enthusiasm for playing outdoors!

It has been another busy week with Parents' Evenings being held on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was lovely having face to face meetings during our video calls, and we hope you found them useful.

 In Literacy we have enjoyed listening to the Jack and the Beanstalk story, taking part in some hot seating and writing speech bubbles as the characters.

In Phonics our sounds have been oa and igh and our tricky words her and all. This week there will not be phonics homework as we are now setting sentence writing for homework; a new sentence book will come home on Friday. You can find out more information on a memo on Tapestry.

We have planted some beans and thought about what seeds need in order to grow and have our fingers crossed that they will grow into beanstalks just like those in the story, if not quite as quickly!

We have continued to think about what is beautiful in our world and what we see in our local environment. The children have enjoyed telling us about their experiences of nature. Here is a lovely clip that we shared with the children. What a wonderful world

Wonders of nature

Our number of the week has been 16, and the children have been busy building square numbers 1,4,9 and 16 with multilink cubes. We have also been re-capping our 2D shape knowledge - we heard some super vocabulary!

A reminder that Monday is a Bank Holiday, so school is closed to all children and staff.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Apple Class Team

Reception Class Blog

23.04.21

Hello!

What beautiful weather we have had to start our summer term off! We have made the most of it by taking our learning outside – you may have noticed the additions to our garden area. We have also welcomed two new children to our class who have settled in beautifully. Well done to Apple Class for welcoming our new friends so nicely.

 This week  our themes have been Gardens and Flowers. In Literacy we have been working on the nursery rhyme Mary, Mary, quite contrary. We have learnt the rhyme and made up our own versions. We have been encouraging the children to talk about their favourite rhymes and songs.

Reading and singing nursery rhymes is a great way to develop the children’s understanding of rhyme. BBC Nursery Rhymes 

In Phonics we have been revisiting the sounds ai and ee and our tricky words to learn are my and they. Thankyou for your ongoing support with reading books and homework.

Our Maths work has been about the number 15. We found out about the Step Squad -  1,2,3,4,5 and how they add together to make 15. We have worked on writing addition number sentences and begun to count in 5’s looking at the patterns in the numbers. Here is a fun song to sing. Counting in fives

In our outside area we set up a flower shop where the children practised using the language of money - pence and pounds and not dollars! They enjoyed being the shop keepers and customers; we have had some lovely role play.

In other areas the children have been printing and painting flowers, designing gardens with small world resources and using the peg boards to make designs of flowers - this is great for developing fine motor skills. We have discussed the parts of a flower and how we can look after our environment. It has been a busy and productive week !

The children  are now in the routine of completing the challenges around the class working independently. Well done to all ! 

Next week - Jack and the Beanstalk

Have a super weekend in the sunshine!

Apple Class Team

01.04.21

Hello!

We've had another busy and fun-filled week for our Easter topic in Reception.  We have also introduced challenges to encourage the children to play and complete activities in different areas of the classroom. The children have discussed the Easter Story and have had lots of fun doing Easter-themed activities such as making Easter cards and going on a tricky word Easter Egg hunt in our garden. We've read the story of 'The Ugly Duckling' by Hans Christian Anderson and done some work on adjectives to describe the duckling and swan. We have also shared some Easter egg chocolate in class!

School will re-open on Monday 19th April for the Summer Term. We will be in touch shortly to arrange Virtual Parents Evenings for Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th April (our second week back). Please look out for letters and Tapestry updates to book an appointment after the Easter holidays.

Appeal: We have started an Early Writing programme called "Squiggle while you Wiggle". This involves the children developing gross and fine motor skills to aid writing and pencil control. We are on the lookout for old reams of wallpaper to use for our squiggle work so please send them in if you have any at home!

Art Exhibition Deadline: On Monday 26th April, applications for the Young Artists’ Summer Show will be closing so Easter is the last opportunity to submit work. Please note the exhibition is only open to children aged 5 and over. The Young Artists' Summer Show is run by the Royal Academy of Arts. They believe art is about expressing yourself in a way that comes naturally to you. There are no rules, your submission can be created using any art materials you like. You could paint, sketch or even sculpt! If you're thinking about creating something for the exhibition but aren't sure how to get started, why not set aside some time this Eater Holiday to get your creative juices flowing? All great art starts somewhere! For more information about the exhibition and ideas about how to get started please visit Our Information Page Here. Submissions are open until 26 April 2021.

We hope you have a great Easter and look forward to seeing you in two weeks! We'd like to thank our Parents and Carers again for their support and efforts during this time. Please upload anything you get up to over Easter on Tapestry and complete homework and reading books with your child.

Stay safe and we'll see you soon!

Best Wishes

Apple Class Team

25.03.21

We have had another lovely week in Apple Class and the children continue to be settled and happy. The weather has been kind and we have enjoyed the bursts of Spring sunshine.

We have continued with our traditional tales’ theme, with this week's story being 'The Gingerbread Man'. The children have written sentences and drawn pictures, baked Gingerbread men, made collages and used their sense of smell to explore fresh and powdered ginger. They enjoyed re- telling the story using the repetitive phrasing. They have thought about alternative ways for the Gingerbread Man to cross the river and decided that log rafts, rope swings and stepping stones would be safer than travelling by fox!

In Maths our number of the week has been 13 - unlucky for some! The children worked together to represent it using cubes, Numicon and on 10's frames. We have also played dice games working on the language of more and less. In Phonics our sounds have been the digraphs ch and sh and our tricky words are be and was. A homework sheet around these words and sounds is in book bags today; thank you for your continued support with this and the children's reading at home.

In other areas we have been thinking about the animals in the Gingerbread Man story. This led to some vocabulary work on animals and their young - naming and matching them up. It is a good time of year to be spotting lambs, chicks and other baby animals when you are out and about. Perhaps you can practise some of the trickier names such as foal, calf and goslings.

The children may have told you about a new activity in class.... Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle. Find out more 

It is an Early Writing Program created by Shonette Bason.   Shonette Bason is considered the Mary Poppins of motivation for Early Writing and we are thoroughly enjoying it. It uses dance and large movements to help children develop the fine muscle control they need for writing. They learn a new gross motor movement to a piece of music and then translate these movements large scale onto paper and other materials. Ask the children to show you some of their moves  - it is a very good work out!

Next week - Easter activities.

Just a reminder that next week is only 4 days as we break up for the Easter holidays on Thursday 1st April for 2 weeks. 

Have a super weekend!

Apple Class Staff

12.03.21

A HUGE well done to the children for settling back into school so well after such a long time off school. We have been so impressed by how well the children have remembered all our routines and expectations . It has been lovely to have a busy classroom and to see all the children enjoying playing together again.

This week we have been listening to and retelling the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The children have made story maps and acted out the story using puppets and peg dolls. We have heard some super story language!

In Maths our number of the week has been number 11. We are beginning to understand that it is made up of one ten and one more. We have also been looking again at repeating patterns. We unpacked Grandma’s basket and described all the packages using the vocabulary of 3D shapes.

We have also started an exciting new writing activity called squiggle while you wiggle! The children have really enjoyed learning the actions and then translating these movements to large pieces of paper.

Reading will come home today and should be returned next Friday; thank you for all your support with the children’s reading and phonics during lockdown it is greatly appreciated.

Have a lovely weekend !

Best wishes

Apple class Team

08.3.21

It was so lovely to see the children back together, playing happily :-)

04.03.21

We are really looking forward to everyone returning and having our full class of Apples back!

It has been another busy week of home learning and learning in school, with today being World Book Day. We hope you have enjoyed the stories we have sent. Did you spot which adults were reading the masked reader story?Masked Reader story.

 The £1 Book Tokens will be given out on Monday and will be honoured beyond the 28^th of March for when non-essential shops reopen.

Just a few housekeeping reminders for our return to school on Monday.

 School day times are:

Start of day - 8.50am

End of day - 3.10pm

Please can only one adult drop off or pick up, and face coverings must be worn on site.

Book bags can be brought to school and reading books should also be returned on Monday.

P.E days are Wednesday for Green Apples, and Fridays for Red Apples, children can wear P.E kit on their P.E day.

Have a super weekend everyone, looking forward to seeing you all next week !

Best wishes

 Apple Class Team

Reception Class Blog 2020-2021

26.02.21

Welcome back! We hope that everyone had a super, well-rested half term! We judged our Valentines Bake-off competition and the winning creations can be found in the gallery below. I think we can all agree the bakes look delicious and we wish we could have tasted them!

We’ve been busy this week and have started our Traditional Tales unit with the story of “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”. We’ve really enjoyed building bridges and making story maps and have seen our home learners make bridges out of anything from plastic to chocolate!

We love seeing your work on Tapestry – don’t forget to upload what you get up to!

Focus for next week's learning will be:

Maths - Number 10 and subtraction

English – Writing speech bubbles and story sentences for “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”

Phonics – Recapping Phase 3 digraphs and trigraphs and tricky words. We will be demonstrating recap games so that you can practice the sounds that your child may be struggling with.

Teams Meetings - This week we will be holding one Teams session per class.

Red Apples – Mrs Deen

Wednesday 3^rd March:  Catch up with Mrs Deen 1:00 -1:30

Green Apples – Mrs Millen

Tuesday 2^nd March:  Catch up 10:00 -10:30

World Book Day

On Thursday the 4th March, we will be celebrating World Book Day! World Book Day is a celebration of reading, authors, illustrators and books. It’s designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.

Due to COVID and safety restrictions, we will not be dressing up as a book character in school* on that day. Instead, we will be asking our key worker children to bring one favourite book into school to show the class.

*This was later changed to make dressing up for world book day optional but unfortunately, this wasn't updated on the website. We apologise for any confusion caused and made sure we had costumes available for those who came to school without them.

For our home learners, we would like to invite the children to share their favourite book via Tapestry during the week. We would love it if you posted a picture of your child with their favourite book and tell us why you love the book so much! You may even want to dress up as a character from the book or re-create the front cover (see images).

Mrs Mace will go first: "One of my favourite children's books is 'Oi Frog!' by Kes Gray and Jim Field. It's a rhyming book that makes me laugh every time I read it to my children. It's a favourite go-to book in our house! We will be sharing "Oi Frog!" with you all later on this week."

The World Book Day website has some lovely ideas for crafts, colouring in sheets and games for you to do at home with your child if you wish. The preschool or nursery pages are perhaps more suited to four and five year olds but I have included some links for preschool activities/primary books and information for families below:

Resources: https://www.worldbookday.com/resources/

Recommended Reading list for Reception: Reading List Ideas

Watch this space for other World Book Day surprises and ideas from Apple Class. We will be in touch about £1 World Book Day tokens in due course.

We look forward to seeing your World Book Day posts!

Please get in touch if you have any questions.

All the best for a safe weekend!

Apple Class Team

Reception Class Blog 2020-2021

12.02.21

Happy almost half term! I'm sure you are relieved that there is no home learning next week! We survived the craziest and strangest of half terms including some snowy weather! Thank you for all your hard work at home, we know that it is not easy. It has been a new adventure for all of us and your efforts continue to be appreciated. 

Our theme this week has been Chinese New Year Celebrations. Click the link for our fun at school. Dragon dance

Half Term Fun

On Tapestry, we have some Half Term fun ideas if parents are at a loose end. Ideas include celebrating Chinese New Years on 12th February, ideas for Shrove Tuesday on the 16th and many more. We are planning a Valentines Bake Off if you fancy getting involved in some baking fun too! You are not expected to do any of the activities - they are just here if you were wanting to do something. So use what you would like (or not) and have fun. You don't have to upload the things you do (unless you want to or unless it is for the bake off competition).

Follow this link to see the memo and download some Half Term ideas: Half Term Fun

Art Exhibition

At Rufford Park we have signed up to a very exciting online art exhibition this year called the Young Artists’ Summer Show which is run by the Royal Academy of Arts. We would like as many of you as possible to get involved and submit your work! Reception pupils - please note that this exhibition is currently only open for children aged 5 and over.

The Young Artists' Summer Show love seeing your personality, imagination, thoughts and feelings shine through your artwork. They believe art is about expressing yourself in a way that comes naturally to you. There are no rules, your submission can be created using any art materials you like. You could paint, sketch or even sculpt!

If you're thinking about creating something for the exhibition but aren't sure how to get started, why not set aside some time this half-term to get your creative juices flowing? All great art starts somewhere! For more information about the exhibition and ideas about how to get started please visit https://www.ruffordparkprimary.org.uk/information/curriculum/art-dt/royal-academy-of-arts-young-artists-summer-show. 

Submission and consent forms must be completed and can be sent to us via Tapestry. Submissions are open until 26 April 2021.

Spring 2

We are now looking towards the next half term. Below in the Gallery is an overview for the first two weeks of Spring 2 for after half term. Our topic is going to be traditional stories and these two weeks will focus around ‘The Three Billy Goats.’ Activities and worksheets will be attached to go with the learning videos. If you require these printing out for you please get in touch and we will arrange a collection.

You can download the timetable in Word document form here: Spring 2 Teaching Timetable

                                                                                      PDF Form here: Spring 2 Timetable pdf

 We will be in touch at the beginning of Week 1 to arrange Teams Meetings. In the meantime, if you need help or would like to speak to a member of the Reception Team please use Tapestry to get in touch.

Please also remember to practise reading books and online reading books:

www.connect.collins.co.uk/school/teacherlogin.aspx
username: parents@harpercollins.co.uk password: Parents!21

www.oxfordowl.co.uk
username: greenandredapples password: reception

Children attending school full time – please remember to upload sound book and number homework onto Tapestry and continue with reading at home – see above log ins

Children attending school part time – please remember to complete the home learning highlighted for the days that your child is not at school, watching the related videos on Tapestry and then upload it please.

Have a restful half term and we will see you in Spring 2!

Apple Class Team

05.02.21

Hello! We’ve had yet another eventful week with snow! We also had penguins visit our classroom and maybe the snow tempted them to stay. We have written some super sentences about penguins and have found out about the life cycle of a penguin. We’ve also met Number 9 and learned how to write it. We have started to learn that 9, like 1 and 4, can make a ‘square’.

We love seeing your work on Tapestry – don’t forget to upload what you get up to!

Focus for next week's learning will be:

Maths - Number 9 and bonds to 9, money and coin recognition

Topic – Chinese New Year

English – The Great Race Story (The story of the Chinese Zodiac)

Phonics - new sounds are ow (as in cow), oi (as in boil), er (as in sister) and tricky words all/are

Teams Meetings

Next week, we are running two Teams sessions for a catch-up, games and a story. For Red Apples we are offering an afternoon session with Mrs Deen and a morning one with Mrs Mace. Mrs Millen’s will host one session at 10:00 on Tuesday 9^th February. You need only attend one session and can respond by RSVPing or commenting/liking the event. Please have your whiteboards and pens handy and we will inform you in the event details if you need anything else.

Red Apples – Mrs Deen and Mrs Mace

Wednesday 10th Feb:  Catch up with Mrs Deen 1:00 -1:30

Thursday 11th Feb:     Catch up with Mrs Mace 10:30 -11:00

Green Apples – Mrs Millen

Tuesday 9th Feb:  Catch up 10:00 -10:30

Please get in touch if you have any questions.

Have a lovely and safe weekend!

Apple Class Team

29.01.21

Hello! We have enjoyed seeing your work on Tapestry this week! Especially your penguin work and work on our new sounds. We've also seen some excellent 3D shape hunts and doubling. Keep it up!

Focus for next week's learning will be:

Maths - Number 9 and bonds to 9, ordering numbers

Topic - Penguin crafts and finding out about their life cycles

English - writing sentences about penguins

Phonics - new sounds are oa (as in boat), oo (as in food and good), ar (as in part), ur (as in purse) and tricky words you/they

Teams Meetings

Next week, please see your class timetable and choose which maths and phonics sessions you wish to attend. Please respond by RSVPing or commenting/liking the event. Like last time, the phonics/maths and activities will be repeated so please make sure you only choose one maths and one phonics. Whiteboards and pens are expected for each session and we will inform you in the event details if you need anything else.

Reminders- Please be aware that we may have to reschedule/cancel sessions if numbers are too low because we are not allowed to have one-to-one meetings with children due to privacy and protection policies. We politely ask that children are dressed appropriately for Teams lessons. Please get in touch if you have any questions.

Red Apples – Mrs Deen and Mrs Mace

Tuesday 2nd Feb:   Maths 2:00 – 2:30  (Mrs Deen)

Wednesday 3rd Feb: Maths   11:00 – 11:30 (Mrs Deen)    &      Phonics  2:00 – 2:30  (Mrs Mace)

Thursday 4th Feb:     Phonics 11:00 -11:30  (Mrs Mace)

Green Apples - Mrs Millen

Monday 1st Feb:  Phonics    10:00 – 10:30

Tuesday 2nd Feb:  Maths  1:00 – 1:30

We look forward to seeing you next week!

Stay Safe!

Apple Class Team

22.01.21

Hello!

It's been another busy week and we have loved seeing your photos and videos. It's been great to see you keeping up with your phonics and trying to write words and sentences with new sounds and tricky words in. 

We saw some more of you on Teams this week and will be checking in with you again this week via Tapestry, Teams or phone. Just to make you aware, if we call, it may come up as 'unknown' or 'no caller ID' as we are often working from home. Please keep adding to Tapestry as we are giving feedback and looking at the children's work and learning. We love seeing what you're getting up to!

Teams Meetings

Next week, we are inviting your child to participate in two live catch-up sessions: one for maths and one for phonics. Red and Green Apple classes will inform you of their timetable via teams and a memo on Tapestry. We would like you to choose which maths and phonics sessions you wish to attend and respond by RSVPing or commenting/liking the event on Teams. This way we can get an idea of numbers for each session. The phonics/maths and activities will be repeated so please make sure you only choose one maths and one phonics.

Please be aware that we may have to reschedule/cancel sessions if numbers are too low because we are not allowed to have one-to-one meetings with children due to privacy and protection policies. Whiteboards and pens are expected for each session and politely ask that children are dressed appropriately. We will inform you in the event details if you need anything else for that particular lesson.

When accessing TEAMS, please make sure that you have logged in or accessed it with your child's email (see the card in your packs) as that is where invites will go. We are not using parent email addresses for Teams.

Remember that work can be accessed via Tapestry or Microsoft Teams and resources for next week (Week 4) are now available (files -> class materials -> week 4).

Please get in touch if you have any questions and we will be happy to help.

Focus for next week's learning will be:

Maths - Number 8 and bonds to 8, Doubling numbers to 6, Halving numbers to 10

Topic - Melting and Freezing and All about Penguins

Phonics - new sounds are ai (as in rain), ee (as in need), or (as in corn), igh (as in fight) nd tricky words be/was

Have a safe weekend and we look forward to checking in with you next week!

Apple Class Team

15.01.21

We hope you are all keeping well and would like to give a big thank you for your continued support. It’s been quite a week with another snow day! We hope you have managed to enjoy the snow and time with your families. Miss Burrows has set us a snow challenge: Can you build a snowman and read a book to it? Maybe you could build yourself as a snowman (like Miss Burrows has done in the gallery) or decorate your snowman with clothes? We'd love to see what you get up to on Tapestry.

It was lovely to see some of you on our TEAMS meetings this week and chat to you and your grown-ups on the phone. We will try to call anyone we haven’t been able to get hold of again – just to make you aware, it may come up as Unknown number/No Caller ID. We're planning to see you all via Teams for another check in session next week. We will let you know the time early next week.

Please continue to upload you child’s learning on Tapestry. We have also made our videos and resources available to view via Microsoft TEAMS. Select your class team, find the ‘files’ tab at the top and you should be able to access 'class materials' from there. Videos for this week (Week 3) will be there, as will resources from Weeks 1 and 2 if you need them.

If you have any questions please do ask and we will do our very best to answer them.

Focus for next week's learning will be:

Maths – 2D and 3D Shapes and the Number 8
Literacy- Writing Sentences based on ‘Lost and Found’
Phonics - new sounds are ch, sh, th and ng, new words are we/me
Understanding the world- Creating a Polar Bear picture on Purple Mash and completing our split-pin polar bears

We will provide videos to support learning in these areas as per this week and there are some resources in the week 3 pack.

Best wishes for a happy weekend!

Apple Class Team

9.1.21

We hope you are all keeping well and that things are going well at home. It has been lovely to hear from you and see the pictures and videos that you have uploaded, they really do make us smile!
We really hope that we haven't bombarded you this week with all the information that we have sent, and realise that many of you are trying to juggle work and home schooling. However there are expectations around the amount of home learning we have to deliver. Equally in Reception year at this stage, play is still an important part of our curriculum so directed activities at home need only be short.
If you have any questions please do ask and we will do our very best to answer them.

Focus for next week's learning will be:

Maths - Number bonds to 7, and counting to 20
Literacy- Writing news in writing books
Phonics - new sounds are y, qu, z, zz, new words are he/she
Understanding the world- Finding out about polar bears and their habitats

We will provide videos to support learning in these areas as per this week and there are some resources in the week 2 pack.
We also plan to see you all via Teams for a check in session too, we will let you know a time early next week.
We hope you have enjoyed the snow today and best wishes for a happy weekend!

Apple Class Team.

17.12.20

We have been counting down to Christmas on our advent calendars over the last few weeks and now here we are at the beginning of the holidays ! This week we have had  a very festive time what with our party, the panto, as well as Christmas dinner on our last day. Rumour has it that we may also have  a surprise visit from a special visitor before the end of term.

 It is hard to believe that we have come to the end of another half term. The children have worked and played hard this term and will be ready for a holiday !

Next term we look forward to beginning the new year with a  Winter themed topic. We will be finding out about penguins and polar bears and the places that they inhabit around the world. We will also be beginning work on our new set of sounds and the children will bring home a new sound book  after the holidays. They are looking forward to the new challenges ! Thank you in advance of your continued support with the reading books that have been sent home this week.

A reminder that Spring term begins on Tuesday 5th January 2021.

We would like to say a huge thankyou for all the cards and gifts that we have received in the build up to Christmas; they are really appreciated by all members of the team.

 We wish you and your families a very happy and healthy Christmas and New Year and think the children do this best, so click below for a message from them.

Merry Christmas !

Christmas singalong

16.12.20  Party time!

Just a quick update with some pictures from today's party.  We had a fantastic time with all the children joining in the games brilliantly.

They were great at pin the nose on Rudolph, pass the parcel, musical statues, treasure hunt and sleeping lions. We were especially impressed by the children's cool dance moves!

Well done Apples!  Click below for a few clips.

sleepy lions

 party fun

waking lions

party food

11.12.20

Hello!

This week we have been busy making Christmas cards and calendars to go out next week for our families.  We have also started to learn about the story of the Nativity and why it is a special story to tell at Christmas time.

In Phonics, our sounds this week have been u, r, h and b. We have been practising writing them and learning the names of the capital letters. As part of our handwriting, we have been practising drawing diagonal lines and circles. We put our skills to the test by drawing our own Christmas trees on big paper!

In Maths, we have been looking at 3D shapes and trying to name cylinder, cube, cuboid, sphere and cone. Can you spot some 3D shapes around your house? Let us know what you find on Tapestry.

In PE, we have been doing laps around the school (approx. one mile) as part of our PTA fundraiser “Rufford Races to Lapland”. The aim is for the school to collectively “walk” the distance from Rufford Park Primary to Lapland by December 13^th. We haven’t quite reached our target yet but Reception were keen to do their part! The children were fantastic. The weather didn’t seem to put them off and everyone tried their best.

Friday 11^th December also marked our Christmas Jumper Day; a festive fundraising initiative for Save the Children. Save the Children aims to improve the lives of children through better healthcare, education and economic opportunities. We designed our own Christmas jumpers and I hope you’ll agree, we looked very festive indeed!

We hope that everyone has a safe weekend and we look forward to seeing you on our last week of term! 

Reminder: Reception Christmas Party on Wednesday 16th December. The children can come in non-uniform but we ask that weather-appropriate footwear be worn (no sandals or open-toed shoes please) and no "best" clothes. Voluntary contributions of £1 per child to cover party food would be most welcome.

Best wishes

The Reception Team

3.12.20

Hello !

This week we have begun to get festive in Apple Tree Class! On Tuesday to mark the start of Advent we put up our advent calendars and Christmas decorations around the Reception classroom. The children really enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree and made a very good job of it!

We had a special visit from Mr Cooke this week. The children all enjoyed chatting to him and showing him where they like to play and learn in the classroom.

 We have continued with our consolidation work with Phase 2 phonics; the children are becoming much more confident with the tricky words, so thank you for your support with these at home, it really does help! We have been working to improve our motor skills when writing. We have been working on a large scale drawing lots of patterns, lines and curves as well as working on the formation of individual letters.

In Maths this week it has been all about number six - number bonds to six, six o'clock, using different coins to make six, six eggs in a box. We have been focusing on dice practicing recognizing the spots without counting. We have played lots of games with dice; the children especially enjoyed beating the the adults when playing Snakes and Ladders!  We have added a simple version of the game to book bags this week, board games are a really good way to practice many Maths skills. We have also been talking about the 3D shape name for a dice, we have opened up nets of cubes and looked at the faces. The children enjoyed making their own dice at the craft table.

In other areas we have continued with our hibernation theme and found out which animals hibernate when winter approaches. We read a story called "Don't hog the hedge"  which is all about a hedgehog who is not keen on sharing his home for the winter. Click here to listen and watch it. This led to a lovely discussion about sharing and kindness during our circle time. Click here and here for some songs and animation on this theme.

The children have also been using a variety of tools  to make a jointed animal. They are becoming much more independent with scissors, staplers, split pins, hole punches and tape. 

House keeping:

As the weather turns colder thank you for wrapping the children up and providing well labelled hats, gloves and scarves. If we do see some of the forecast snow it would be good for the children to bring some wellies to school as we are able to play and learn outside whatever the weather!

We will have some Christmas celebrations including a party in the last week of term, details of which will follow next week via Tapestry.

Best wishes for a lovely weekend! 

Apple Class Team

27.11.20

Hello!

We've had another busy week in Reception. This week our theme has been all about hedgehogs. We read a story called "It was a cold, dark night" about a hedgehog named Ned who wanted a home to hibernate in. We've made our own story-maps and created hedgehogs using leaves. We have also been trying to make hedgehog homes and houses in our creative area. We have also talked about how to help hedgehogs that may visit our gardens by doing things such as clearing litter, leaving out catfood and water and checking piles of leaves.

In maths, we have been learning how to subitise numbers up to five. Subitise means to know how many is there without counting. We have been practicing this using dice, objects and counters on tens frames. We have also been using the five speckled frogs song to practice making sums up to five.

In phonics, we have recapped the sounds i,n,m,d and have been reading and writing CVC words that contain these sounds such as 'man' and 'din'. We are also making super progress with our blending and segmenting. For homework this week, we are sending home a very popular "ghost game". To play the game, practice taking turns to pull out a tricky word card from a bag/box. If you pull out a tricky word, say it before putting it back. If you pull out the picture of the ghost, shout “BOO!” Keep going as long as you like or until all of the tricky words have been said.

In PE, we have been doing dances relating to the Seasons. Green Apples had a go at Autumn and Red Apples enjoyed creating movements to music for Spring and Summer.

We are pleased to say that children can now visit our school library and choose a book to take home over the weekend. As we are quarantining their reading books over the weekend, we thought our children may enjoy having a new book to share at home. Library books are coming home today and can be handed in on Monday to quarantine during the week. Please let an adult know if you have any issues or would like to keep the book for longer. We will have a record of which books the children will have borrowed.

In summary
Reading books: In on Friday, new ones go home on Monday
Library Books: Go home Friday, handed in on Monday.

 Housekeeping: As the weather is getting colder, please do what you can to make sure that your child has suitable (and labelled) outerwear and footwear to facilitate outdoor play.

We are still short on spare underwear, tights and socks. If you have any spares we would be really grateful if you could donate them.

Next week, we will be continuing our work on hibernating animals. 

Best wishes!

Apple Class Team

Reception Class Blog

19.11.20

This week we have continued with our seasonal theme. We have read a beautifully illustrated book  called Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert.

Click the link to listen to the story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvAK2hxNFrY.

The children have discovered  some new vocabulary  as the character goes on his journey.

The children have drawn pictures of him in their Literacy books and used their developing phonics knowledge to label him. They have used leaves to print with and enjoyed making little leaf men stick characters.

Other books have included Tree - seasons come, seasons go by Britta Teckentrup, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBY5hKCybk0 a journey through the seasons, look out for an owl peeping through all the pages!

In Phonics we have continued to work with the phase  2 sounds, developing our blending and segmenting skills for reading and writing.

Most children now have a reading book or a reading booklet. We are giving out new books on Mondays and keeping them in school over the weekend so that they can be  quarantined. Please can you add a few notes to the reading record book so that we know the children have read. This is valuable information for us when matching books to the children's needs.

Maths this week has been all about number 5, as well as ordering numbers and finding missing numbers in a sequence. We have also worked on recognising the Numicon pieces and matching to the correct numbers.

On Monday the we enjoyed an outdoor P.E session with a visiting P.E coach . The children worked on simple football skills which they thoroughly enjoyed. The  children's behaviour and listening skills  were excellent ! Today the children finish for the weekend as tomorrow is a teacher training day. 

Next week we are thinking about hedgehogs and hibernation.

Enjoy an extended weekend!

Apple Class Team 

Reception Class Blog

12.11.20

This week we have been finding out all about Autumn and seasonal changes. On Monday we went on a leaf hunt around our grounds, it was a typical murky November day but we thoroughly enjoyed our crunch and squelch through the leaves. We made collections of leaves and spotted the different trees in our grounds. When we got back to class the children used the vocabulary to talk about the objects using those all important sentences when speaking ! 

Our focus book has been 'We're going on a leaf hunt' - a patterned story which the children could join in with. They enjoyed playing with some props from the story in the reading area.

In Mathematics we have focused on consolidating the number 4 and on pattern. The children have been making patterns with lots of natural objects and with many other resources too. What patterns can you spot in or around your home ? 

In Phonics we have been working on blending and segmenting with the phase 2 sounds- learning to read! We have played games and activities to develop these skills. 

This week for homework we have provided a set of flash cards for you to use at home with your child. You can use these to reinforce recognition of the sounds and also to build words. There is  a video of ideas and activities on Tapestry to support you or click the link below.

Phonics Homework- blending and segmenting

A few house keeping items....

Next week we will all have our P.E session on Monday afternoon (16.11.20). 

BOTH Red and Green Apples should wear P.E kit on that day instead of their normal P.E days, we will be outside weather permitting so joggers and jumpers and sturdy shoes are essential. 

On Friday next week school is closed to the children for a Teacher training day.

And finally we are very short of spare clothing for when the children have the odd accident. If you have any spare tights, socks and pants we would be really grateful if you could donate them.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Have a lovely weekend!

Apple Class Team

Reception Class Blog

5.11.20

We have had a lovely first week back !

The children have all been happy to be back and see their friends and explore the classroom provision. They have quickly settled back into the routines and have been busy moving on with their learning.

This week we have had a Halloween and Bonfire theme going on in the classroom. The children enjoyed sharing their pictures and telling us all about their holidays, thank you for uploading photographs to Tapestry, there were some impressive Halloween costumes and it's lovely to see that you managed to get out and about despite the weather!

In Maths this week we found out all about the number four; 4 sides on a square or rectangle, ways to make 4pence, ways of making 4, 4 o clock etc. We have also worked on finding one more than an amount and knowing numbers in sequence when counting aloud.

In Phonics we have learnt our final set of Phase 2 sounds h,b,l,f as well as the digraphs ll,ff,ss. Each day as we introduced a new sound we had themed activities for the children; on 'h' day we played hopscotch and made Halloween hats, on 'b' day we played bat and ball and sampled some bread and butter, on 'l' day we had a lollipop shop, on 'f' day we went fishing in the water tray and made some collage fish at the craft table. Our tricky words are the and I.

The homework sheets with the QR codes for the Jolly songs will be in book bags on Friday along with a checklist of all the sounds and words covered this term. Your support with these sounds and words is greatly appreciated!

Our focus books have been Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper , two seasonal stories which the children have enjoyed listening to and talking about as well as playing with some props in the book area and small world area. We have also been working on hearing rhyme in words and creating rhyming strings. When reading stories at home can your child spot any rhyming words or finish the end of a rhyming phrase?

In other areas the children have enjoyed making Firework pictures  with glittery paint and on the Purple Mash computer program as well as playing in the themed provision. There are some photos below.

Next week - patterns in nature, a late Autumn walk and some lovely Autumnal stories.

Have a happy weekend!  

21.10.20

This week we have continued our work on Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. We have drawn the bears, made our own story maps, created paint bears using forks and even had a go at making Bear Toast! We used chocolate spread, buttons, bananas and raisins and really enjoyed ourselves!

In Maths, we have ordered the bears and numberblocks by height and size and have been practicing recognising and ordering numbers. We've had lots of fun using the cubes to measure different items.

In Phonics, we have been learning the sounds ck, e,u, and r. We've been practicing writing them and finding objects that have these sounds in. We have also been learning new tricky words no and go. We will be sending sound homework home as usual along with a few other activities and games to play over half term should you wish to keep practicing phonics with your child. Please feel free to add this to Tapestry if you wish!

We have been really pleased with how well the children have settled in over this half term. They're into the swing of things and have grasped our rules and routines. We would like to thank parents and carers for their support and look forward to Autumn 2!

We'd love to know what you get up to over half term so please feel free to add any photos and videos to Tapestry.

Everyone in Apple Class wishes you a lovely, safe half term.

See you soon!

Apple Class Team

15.10.20

This week we have listened to and joined in with the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. We have learnt a song to go with the story as well as creating teddy bears on the Purple Mash program on the computer. Outside the children have enjoyed some messy play, playing with oats to make 'porridge' in different size bowls and with different size spoons. Our apologies if the children have come home a bit sticky at times!

In Maths we have found out all about the number 3; tricycles, 3 blind mice, the 3 little pigs, the different ways of making 3p, through the Number block 3 and about triangles. We have explored other 2D shapes and begun to recognize , name and talk about their properties. Perhaps you will spot some shapes in and around your homes.

We have also learned new sounds, g,o,c,k, how to write them and spotting things that start with these sounds. We are working on blending these sounds to make words. The new words we have learned are and, to and into. The sheet with these words and sounds will be in the children's bags on Friday as usual.

In P.E we have continued with our gymnastics, below is a video for you to enjoy. Its hard to believe this is only the third P.E session the children have taken part in!

Thank you for setting time aside to chat to us during our Parents evening calls. It was lovely to be able to share the super start all the children have made to their school life. One more week to half term and a well earned rest for them all !

Happy weekend to you all.

Apple Class Team

Reception Class Blog 2020-21

9.10.20

We have continued our theme on healthy foods by reading Handa's Surprise. We’ve tried some new fruits such as mango, passionfruit, papaya and physalis as well as some mango, blueberries and pineapple. The blueberries and mango were very popular and lots of children enjoyed the sweet papaya too! In PE we have started gymnastics and have been practicing travelling between mats in different ways (crawling, hopping, jumping) and making shapes with our bodies on the mats!

We have also learned new sounds: i, n, m and d and tricky words ‘it’ , ‘in’, and ‘is’. We have been practicing finding words and objects that start with these letters and blending the sounds we know together e.g. “p-i-n  pin!” Maybe you can practice listening out for these sounds and blending small words at home!

In maths we have further investigated the number two by matching pairs. We’ve also played games that involve using positional language. One of our favourite games was “Where’s Teddy?” where children had to describe where a bear was using positional language e.g. Teddy is beside the table, Teddy is behind the chair and under the blanket. The children also tried to give instructions for their friends and an adults. This game is a good one to practice at home using the following key vocabulary: under, on, in, beside, between, next to, behind, in front.

We also have a "50 Recommended Reads" booklist for Reception from booksfortopics.com. These are age-appropriate story and picture books that can be shared at story and bedtimes. The books are not compulsory but may give parents/carers ideas for Christmas and birthday presents! You can download the PDF using the link below:

Reception Recommended Reads Booklist (PDF)

More information about recommended reads for Reception can be found here:

https://www.booksfortopics.com/ 

https://www.thereaderteacher.com/

Next week, we look forward to chatting to parents/carers at our Parents Evenings on Monday 12th October and Wednesday 14^th October. If you have any enquiries about your appointment, please let a member of staff know.

Have a lovely weekend!

Apple Class Team

2.10.20

Another lovely week in Reception classes. We are now fully settled into the routines and the week has seemed to whizz by!

This week we had a 'School Dinner Hall' role play area. The children have enjoyed  cooking. serving dinners and even washing up!  We have talked about healthy foods and how they are important to keep us healthy. We have made some collage food plates with some delicious looking meals which are now proudly on show in our art gallery. In P.E we talked about how our bodies feel when we are being active.

We have started learning our Phase 2 sounds in Phonics. The children have enjoyed learning the songs and actions which accompany the sounds. The children have begun to learn to write the letters using the cursive style. The homework sheet shows the sounds that we have learned and has a QR code so that you can listen to the Jolly song at home. We have also learnt  a first word 'at' which you can practice with your child. Thank you so much for your support with this. In Maths we have focussed on Number 2 and finding more, less and fewer when looking at quantities and the children have completed activities using this vocabulary. 

Have a super weekend !

 25.09.20

We've had a great first week and the children are getting into the swing of things! We've enjoyed talking about our families and learning more about the families of our friends. We've made some great lollypop stick houses too. We've had our first P.E lesson this week which has been really exciting. We've done some listening and action games in the Hall and practiced using the space. The children have done brilliantly and really enjoyed their lesson.

Homework: Another sheet is coming home for Sound books today. We have been practicing holding a pencil using a tripod grip and a "drawbridge flip" so the children can do the "whoosh" joins when we begin learning letter sounds next week. Here is a link to a page with helpful videos for you to practice the tripod grip with your child at home

Tripod Grip Videos

On Monday, we will be learning all about the number 2 and an activity will be handed out for Maths homework books then. Please keep showing us your homework on Tapestry as we love seeing what you get up to and can give support if needed.

Housekeeping:

We'd also like to give a polite reminder that children are not allowed on the climbing frame and are not allowed to play with any equipment that they may pass before and after school. This really helps us to minimise general safety risks and maintain our COVID bubbles. As the Reception and Nursery yards are a walkway to the exit for the school, we ask that parents/carers leave the premises as soon as possible once their children have been collected.

For safety reasons, we also ask that children come into the cloakroom independently on a morning and not re-enter the playground or doorways once they have said goodbye to their parents/carers. Adults will be there to support them once they are inside the school building and can take messages from parents.

Bookbags - as we are starting to hand out homework and artwork, we ask that all children come with a labelled Rufford Park Bookbag. These are available from the office on request.

We appreciate all your help and support in Apple Class and thank you for your patience with these matters.

Best Wishes and a Happy Weekend to you all

Apple Class Team

17.09.20

Hello to all our new children and parents!

A warm welcome to Reception Apple classes and to Rufford Park Primary if you are new to our school. On this weekly blog we will aim to update you with news, information and photos of the children.

We have had a lovely first few days and the children have all had an explore of their new classroom and begun to meet new friends. Hopefully you have activated your child's Tapestry account so that you can see all the things that your child is doing whilst at school. 

This week has been all about settling the children into school and helping them to understand the routines. On Monday and Tuesday the children stayed for lunch at school  and all did very well, waiting in line to collect their lunch at the hatch and eating in the dining hall. The children are now in for full days and have settled in very well. We have enjoyed the late Summer sunshine and made the most of our lovely outside area. The children have particularly enjoyed the outdoor kitchen, thank you for the donations of herbs from Isabella's family, the children have thoroughly enjoyed snipping them with scissors and adding them to their soups and stews. They have  smelt delicious! Thank you also to Sophie's daddy for the cable reels, we are looking forward to using these creatively in our garden.

A few house keeping reminders:

Children need to wear P.E kit on their P.E day, Green Apples will do P.E on Wednesday and Red Apples will do P.E on Fridays. We will begin these sessions next week. P.E kit consists of blue joggers or shorts and a white t - shirt and trainers if possible (sturdy school shoes are fine also), the children can wear their school jumper. Weather dependent we will either use the Hall or the MUGA. 

Please can you support us by ensuring that ALL your child's clothing and footwear are clearly labelled and that they bring their book bag and water bottle daily. Book bags are available from the school office.

Next week we are finding out all about our families, we would love it if you could upload some pictures of your family to the Tapestry app so that we can discuss them with the children and add them to our home corner gallery. 

Best wishes 

Apple Class Team

Enter text...