Welcome to Reception - Buttercup Class!

Staff in Buttercup Class:

Please contact us with any questions or concerns using the office email:

Office@st-nicholas-birchington.kent.sch.uk

What will we learn in term 6?

Our topic this term is 'Creep, Crawl and Wriggle' This term we will explore and talk about the minibeasts and look closely at where they live. We will especially look closely at bees and caterpillars/butterflies. We will use magnifying glasses to look carefully at the minibeasts and cameras or tablets to take photographs too. We will have fun searching in trees, under rocks and in leaf litter and soil for minibeasts. We will explore the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and be storytellers too. In maths we will continue to explore 2d and 3d shapes as well as broadening our number and problem solvings skills and knowledge. We will have a go at addition and take away challenegs too. In RE with Tessa and Tom we will contiue to share stories from Tessa and Tom's friends from other faiths.

What did we learn in term 5?

Our topic this term was 'Do cows drink milk?' This term we explored where our food comes from, how it is grown and produced and looked at how farms and the machinery used has changed over time. We explored the story of The Little Red Hen whilst paying particilar attention to the production of bread and we even had a go at making our own bread too. In maths we continued to explore 2d and 3d shapes as well as broadening our number and problem solvings skills and knowledge. In RE with Tessa and Tom we met some of Tessa and Tom's friends from other faiths and explored thier beliefs and shared stories that are special to them.

What did we learn in term 4?

Our topic was 'Who are you going to call?' This term we explored and learnt about different people who help us and what their roles are. We hadlots of guests come to visit us at school including a vet, firefighter and a police officier. We ventured out on a trip to explore 'Little Seaside Town' where we took on different roles of people who help us. We continued with our Forest Friday outdoor learning as well as enjoying an Anna Outdoors Forest School session too. We continued our number journey and began to explore numbers beyind 5. Our letters and sounds phonic learning broadened as we explored more triagraph and diagraph sounds. In RE with Tessa and Tom we explored Salvation and The Easter Story.

What did we learn in term 3?

Our topic was 'Will you read me a story?' During this term we explored a range of stories including traditional and fairy tales. We explored a range of questions including was the Big Bad Wolf really so bad? How many bowls of porridge did Goldilocks eat? alongside exploring the charcaters and using adjevtices to describe them. We designed and made our own gingerbread men but one of them escaped!!!! He went off around the world visiting different landmarks and sent us postcards from London, France and even China!

 We continued our letters and sounds journey. We explored numbers 1-5 and began to investigate concepts such as more than, less than alongside addition and subtraction. We had a go at writing our own number sentences too.

We explored and celebrate The Chinese New Year with a party and tasted lots of different Chinese foods.

What did we learn in term 2?

Our topic was 'Why do squirrels hide thier nuts?' During this term we explored the seasons of autumn and winter and the seasonal changes that happen with animals, trees, flowers and plants as well as thinking about what clothes we should wear at these times in the year. We explored and shared a range of Percy the Park Keeper books and helped Percy with some of his jobs too! We discussed hibernation and identified animals which hibernate and explored the reasons why. We continued our letters and sounds journey. We explored numbers 1-5 and began to investigate concepts such as more than, less than alongside addition and subtraction. We explored the story Dear Zoo and we become storytellers; retelling the story, creating our own actions for the different parts of the story and then we will had a go at being authors to create our own story 'Dear Percy'. We also explored and celebrated the Christmas festival and created a Nativity play to performed it for our grown ups at home.

Self Isolation And Distance Home Learning

If the need arises for you and your family to isolate home learning resources are available below for you to explore at home with your child. These resources reflect our current topic/themes and learning focuses.

We are always happy to help, so if you have a question or query how big or small feel free to contact us using the offices email:

office@st-nicholas-birchington.kent.sch.uk

Continuous Daily Learning Activities:

* 15 minutes daily reading/sharing stories and books. For further reading resources and material please explore:

  https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/ 

* phonic/sound recap of the sounds already taught

* number recognition cards and counting

* playing games/puzzles and turn taking activities

* name recognition and writing

Learning activity ideas to try at home/in the garden

These ideas can be repeated and changed slightly as you progress through the term

• Making sentences- When making a sentence you can simplify it or make it trickier by following these stage:

1) Chop and make the sentence. Pick a tricky word for them to practise and scribe afterwards.

2) Chop and make the sentence. Place lines for each word and get your child to copy the sentence. Read it back.

3) Chop and make the sentence. Hide the sentence. Place lines for each word and get your child to copy the sentence. Read it back.

4) Say the sentence several times in various voices (posh, loud, whisper). Independently scribe sentence. Look at errors at end and try and encourage child to detect errors/omitted sounds.

• Number making- Can you make a number?

1) Place number of objects from around the house on the numeral.

2) Roll a dice and get the number card.

3) Use Lego blocks- what different ways can you make a number?

E.g. to make three- use 2 blue blocks and 1 red block or three red blocks......keep exploring!

4) Spot the mistake- Place an incorrect number of objects to a numeral. Can they spot it and explain why it is wrong?

• Shape hunt

1) Place random post-its around the room with shapes on. Can they match them to the shape?

2) Find objects around the house with those shapes.

3) Guess my shape.... it has three sides....locate the image!

Cutting Skills Activities

When engaging in cutting skills activities please encourage your child to use our 'thumbs on top' approach.

What did we learn in term 1?

Our topic was 'Friends'. We got to know each other and made new friends. We shared lots of friendship themed stories. We supported and helped eachother to settle into our new routines and agreed some rules for our learning and playing environments.  We t riedhard to recognise our own names and our friends names, had a go at mark making and writing our own names. We began our Letters and Sounds phonic journey, explored numerals 1-5 and what each numeral represents whilst engaging in some problem solving activities. We also observed some seasonal changes and explored our outdoor environment...together we made a beautiful friendship garden.

Useful websites or Apps:

http://www.teachhandwriting.co.uk/index.html

Cambug (an app that is good for phonics)

https://readingeggs.co.uk/ (good for phonics and online reading activities/books)

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ (free subscription currently)

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ (lots of games for all subject areas)

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/ (free subscription currently - Early Years Interactive Pack and other resources for all subject areas)

https://www.abcya.com/ (games for all subject areas)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberblocks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/alphablocks

https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga (great for yoga and mindfulness)

Dates To Remember

26th May - Sports Day

27th May - Jubilee Celebrations

What does our curriculum look like?

In Reception we select topics to suit the children’s interests. Through finding out what the children are interested in we can tailor the curriculum accordingly. We follow the EYFS

Statutory Curriculum which you can see below:

Here is an overview of what is expected within the strands, it is a useful tool for understanding the profile:

Are there any trips/events planned?

Wednesday 10th March 2021- Police visit (socially distanced).

How does our classroom look?

How do we reward children in Buttercup Class?

We believe in positive praise and always seek opportunities to reward the children. The children start the day on the “sunflower” and if they do something special they are rewarded by being put onto the “honey pot”. They then receive a sticker and share their achievements with the class.