Autumn term in Reception
In Reception we our current topic is 'Super me'! We will be finding out more about our families, our pets and the activities we like to. We will be enjoying Harvest festival later in September and as part of our Agents of Change programme we will be learning more about how we can be kind and helpful towards others. In the early stages of the term, we have been learning about our class, our new friends and the feelings we have. We have painted self portraits, drawn pictures of ourselves and enjoyed 'The Colour Monster' story which has helped us to explore our feelings through colour.
We have enjoyed welcoming our new Reception intake this term! Our class activities have very much been centred around establishing class relationships and routines, as well as providing opportunities to try new things, nurturing a sense of self confidence and resilience – our children have done us so proud! Our ‘Weekly Wonder’ questions have centred around examining how we have similarities and differences, both physically, and in our likes and dislikes, and how we can express our feelings to others. Our reading of books such as ‘Starting School’ by Allan Ahlberg, ‘Hello Friend’ by Rebecca Cobb and ‘The Colour Monster’ by Anna Llenas have supported this learning beautifully. We have painted self portraits, created feelings jars and worked on collaborative pieces of art. We have been busy!
Each week in reception we focus on a different weekly wonder question, this is an excellent opportunity for children to begin thinking about and sharing their thoughts and ideas with their peers and teachers. The weekly wonder is a starting point, allowing conversations and interactions to begin. Related stories are shared, allowing plenty of opportunity for children to showcase their listening skills, new vocabulary is discussed, and children are able to ask and answer questions to better understand the stories and how these relate to them.
Our weekly wonder questions have included, ‘Who is in our class?’ and ‘How are we feeling?’, we have shared a range of stories about starting school and The colour monster. The children have been extremely engaged. Some highlights from the last couple of weeks have been watching the children role playing with mini me puppets as they get to know each other, sharing their names and what they enjoy doing with their new friends, discussing the feeling of the day during a circle time activity and constructing places that make them happy. It has been delightful hearing the children communicating, ‘My family make me happy’ ‘I feel happy going to the zoo and seeing the dinosaurs’ ‘I feel happy in the morning when I am going to rugby, on Saturdays I think..’