ACORN CLASS - RECEPTION
The class teachers in Reception in the summer term are Mrs O'Shea, Mrs Morris and Ms Raybould . .Acorn Class is supported in their learning and play by Miss Ballard and also Mrs Grimshaw, both very experienced supporting children to feel settled and achieve thier best learning.
Mrs O'Shea, Mrs Morris and Ms Raybould are passionate about supporting children who have a life-long love of reading and who enjoy their time at school. In Acorn, we weave the environment and outdoor learning throughout learning opportunities. Continuous Provision takes place daily to engage and encourage children to explore their learning.
Throughout the year we work on developing the confidence of every child, making sure they feel part of both the classroom but also that of the school community. This is achieved through integrated playtimes, where they are able to mix with the entire school. We are also very proud of the Year 6 Buddy Scheme where each child in matched with a child in our oldest year group. Their role is to support them in settling into school as a friendly mentor, encourage them in their learning and spend with them during lunch and play times. This helps our children in Reception settle into routines and life at school.
We use the Little Wandle phonics scheme and the books in Reception are regularly updated with Collins Big
Cat reading books which support reading development from Reception and into Year 1 and 2, and we have now expanded the school collection to include books for children in Years 3 and 4. We aim to make every child see reading is something to do for pleasure with books suitable to their reading level and supporting engagement and reading for pleasure.
In Acorn Class we learn primarily through play. Children initiate lots of their own learning around topics. These topics are carefully planned to give our children freedom of choice, whilst still meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
This year we have the exciting opportunity to work alongside Elm Class (Year 1 and 2), giving us a more free-flow approach. In the morning we are joined by Year 1 for an English lesson before we have the opportunity for them to join us in expoloration and learning. In the afternoons we have our topic focused learning together before we move into Continuous Provision. This means we have the support of the older children during learning activities
Below gives a flavour of learning in our Reception class
Term 5: Ticket to ride
This term we are focusing on transport in its many varieties. We always use books as a stimulous for learning. Some of the texts we will be sharing and basing our learning on are below. We will continue to make marks and record our ideas using lots of different writing opportunities.
In Maths we will be focusing on shape and pattern.
In knowledge and understanding of the world which includes Religious Education we will be looking at special places in different religions.
In Personal Social and Emotional Development we will be looking at our families.
In Art we will be looking at art in nature and particularly investigating colour and pattern.
We will have two sessions of PE a week and we are particularly looking forward to some enrichment days in this subject which will include golf, netball and dance as well as developing skills.
As always we will continue to spend lots of time outside learning from our environment and planting vegetables in the school garden.
Term 4: Come outside! Books
Throughout the term we use a range of picture books to help us with our learning. We are going to be using the book Mr Wolf's Pancakes by Jan Fearnly for the first week back to help us celebrate Pancake Day.
For our topic of Come Outside! We will be using a range of books, including Oliver's Vegetables by Vivian French, When will it be Spring? by Catherine Walters, The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle, and The Seedling that didn't want to grow by Britta Teckentrup and Tadpoles Promise by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross. These books will support our learning on a range of different learning areas, such as the seasons, life cycles and weather as well as give us the perfect opportunity to get back into our outdoor area after a cold winter.
Maths
We follow the White Rose Maths Scheme. This term our focus is 'Building 9 and 10' where we will be focusing on numbers to 10. This will include looking at composition, number bonds (what numbers we need to add to create the total), ordering, pattern recognition and comparing.
Towards the end of term we will be looking at 2D and 3D shapes and how we can use and recognise these in our every day lives- both at school and at home..
The brilliant thing in Early Years about maths is that it truly is all around us - in puzzles, in our drawings, in stories and in our play.
Key Instant Recall facts
KIRFs are designed to support the development of mental maths skills that underpin much of the maths work in our school.
Science
We have been learning about the weather and seasonal change, alongside Elm class. We have looked at temperature, wind and rain. We used thermometers to measure the temperature of different containters of water (which was linked to our learning about hot and cold colours as the red water was cold!). We also made our own anenometers which we took out on to the playground to measure the wind - we had to count how many turns it made in 10 seconds which then told us the wind speed. We also made our own rain gauges by cutting the top off of bottles, turning the top upside down and using it as a funnel for the water to fall in. We marked the starting place of the water so that we can then measure the increase in water.
Buddies
Each child in Reception is paired with a child in Year 6, who becomes their 'buddy'. Before children start school their buddies send them a card to welcome them to the St Michael's community. When we are in school the buddies act as a great support for the Reception children as every week they come down to join us in the classroom and share stories and to share some of their experiences with us, such as teaching us new games or showing us how to do new things.
Throughout the year these relationships are maintained and children get to develop a great bond with their buddy and love it when they see them at playtime!
