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Reception

Welcome to Reception’s Webpage.

The staff in Reception are Mrs Fernando, Miss Wilds and Mrs Walsh.

Contact us at: YRclass@greenfields.herts.sch.uk

Reception Routines

  • Soft start: The doors open at 8.45am to enable children to take part in busy finger activities and choose their lunch independently. The doors close promptly at 8.55am and the register is taken.
  • Books: Please read with your children at least 4 times each week and sign their reading records. Children will receive one-two books each week. Look at the front cover of your child’s reading log to remind you which day they need to bring their books in.
  • PE: every Thursday

Clothing: We would be really grateful if you could make sure that all clothing has your child’s name on it please.

Forest Schools:

  • We are delighted that we can offer Forest School learning in Nursery and Reception.  The children will take part in these activities every week, throughout the academic year.  This is a long term, learner led approach, offering children time, freedom and space to learn at their own pace, through open ended play. Forest School offers learners practical experiences and the opportunity to take supported risks, led by a qualified Forest School practitioner, which are appropriate to the environment and to themselves, such as den building, fire lighting and tool work. The natural environment provides resources and opportunities to learn and embed lifelong social skills, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners.

Reception Topics

  • Autumn 1: The topic for the first half-term is ‘All about Me.’ The children will be thinking about themselves and how they fit into their family and the school community.
  • Autumn 2: The topic for the second half-term is ‘Let’s Celebrate.’ We will be learning about different celebrations – the birth of a baby, birthdays, Guy Fawkes, Diwali, Remembrance Day, Christmas and Hannukah.
  • Spring 1: The topic for the first half-term is ‘Dinosaurs’. The children will learn about different dinosaurs and that there were herbivores and carnivores. We will learn how they fit into our timeline.
  • Spring 2: The topic is ‘Growing’. The children will learn about how we change as we get older.  We look at similarities and differences between each other and we grow plants and flowers and look at the life cycle of a plant.
  • Summer 1: The topic for the first half-term is ‘Traditional Tales’. We will be reading some classic tales and doing lots of retelling and writing around the stories.
  • Summer 2: The topic for the second half-term is ‘Journeys’. We will be learning about new and old forms of transport, their similarities and differences, taking a magical book journey through different forms of transport.

The documents below will give you more information about learning in Reception.

Reception Blog

  • Jan 192023

    19th January 2023 – Reptile Visit

    Today we had a visit from a ball python and a tortoise. The children were truly amazed at them. Almost all of the children stroked the snake and the tortoise. They were all very inquisitive and asked lots of questions. We found out that the snake is called Monster and lives in a vivarium. It’s favourite place to sleep is under a log in the vivarium. It likes to be picked up. Monster uses it’s tongue to smell. The children noticed how the snake put its tongue out when they went near to stroke it gently. We found out that Monster eats mice and eats every two weeks. The children noticed that it’s skin was smooth. The snake has rougher skin underneath it’s body. We put the snake in the tuff tray and watched how it moves. We saw how it moves in an s shape. The children really loved the snake. The tortoise’s name is Sid. It lives in a tank. The children noticed that the shell was very hard and it’s legs and head were bumpy and rough. We found out it eats salad. We put it in the tuff tray and watched how it moves. It was quite quick and we could hear its claws scuttle along the tray. The children noticed that it can make its head hide in its shell. The children thought it did this if it was scared. We talked about how dinosaurs were a type of reptile and this is what their skin could have felt and looked like. We also discussed that the snake is a carnivore and the tortoise is a herbivore. We then talked about how dinosaurs were herbivores and carnivores and the types of food that they ate.

     

     

  • Nov 262022

    Kipper’s Birthday (Friday 25th November 2022)

    We have thoroughly enjoyed Kipper’s Birthday today. The best moment was when the children realised that Kipper was actually coming. The children were so happy when Kipper came into the classroom and we were able to stroke him and talk with his owner. The children had such a wonderful time. We did everything on our list of things to do at the party. We gave Kipper a present and cards, sang him Happy Birthday and had birthday cake, we ate party food, played party games, played with balloons and said thank you for coming to the party. This certainly was a special occasion and one the children will never forget.

  • Oct 242022

    Halloween Fun!

    We have had a wonderful week of Halloween fun in Reception. The children have thoroughly enjoyed our spooky role play area, making potions, designing their own scary pumpkin head and making Halloween treats.  We had a Halloween story in the spooky house, to create an ambience we made the classroom dark and lit the pumpkin that we carved together. We talked about fire safety and that an adult should light a candle. The children had such a lot of fun and we did lots of learning.

     

  • Oct 042022

    September – Remembering our Queen!

    What a start to the year! The children are beginning to settle in and are really happy and making new friends. We have started off the year by paying our respects to Queen Elizabeth II. We looked at an information book about the Queen and also looked at photos from some Newspapers. We found out different information about her and the children spent some time creating a collage, drawing pictures, making timelines and talking about her. They have produced some really lovely work and they were so respectful when listening to information. We also watched the video clip of the Queen having tea with Paddington Bear and then we made marmalade sandwiches.

     

  • Jun 052022

    Jubilee celebrations (week beginning 23rd May 2022)

    What an amazing week! This week  and we have been learning about our Queen and where she lives. We have been busy writing about London landmarks, making landmarks and buildings in the construction area, designing and making crowns fit for a king or queen, painting Union Jacks and red buses, getting ready for our street party by making bunting using red, white and blue, making sandwiches, decorating biscuits, designing party plates and having an absolute blast with our school Jubilee celebration.

  • Jun 052022

    Summer 1 snapshot!

    This half-term has really been busy and  jam packed full of learning and experiences. We finished our growth and change topic and then went on to learning Traditional Tales. We have been busy chefs as usual making a healthy salad, fruit salad, Gingerbread Men (they didn’t run away – thank goodness!), cupcakes for Grandma (Little Red Riding Hood), and troll jelly (The Three Billy Goats Gruff).  We have been learning about healthy and unhealthy food and looking after our bodies. We have been putting our subitising skills to great use learning about the whole and parts and using a whole part model.

  • Apr 052022

    Easter Bonnets

    As tradition we celebrated the end of the Spring term with our Easter Bonnet parade. The children paraded around the hall proudly wearing their Easter Bonnets. We had some really lovely bonnets and the children loved the other children looking at them as they walked around the hall. Here’s to the end of the Spring term and looking forward to what the Summer term will bring!

  • Apr 052022

    March – Chick madness!!

    During this month we have had some excitement to say the least! We were very lucky to receive an incubator and 11 eggs. We waited patiently and with great excitement and a few days later witnessed the hatching of the eggs. We were so lucky that we had 10 healthy chicks. We had to leave the chicks in the incubator for 24 hours so that they dried out and then carefully put them in the brooder box. We got the brooder box ready for our new friends by laying newspaper down, putting a layer of wood shavings, fill their food and water bowls. Once the chicks were ready to go inside the brooder box we had to be even more patient to wait to handle them. They had to get used to their new home and we loved watching them. We found out all about what happens inside the egg before they hatch and what changes would occur as they grow. We were amazed at how quickly they changed over a week and noticed what was changing. We wrote about the chicks and looked at non-fiction books to find out information. We loved handling the chicks and we were so gentle and caring with them. I think that in reception we have a few chick whisperers!!!

     

  • Feb 142022

    Digging up the past…

    This week in Reception we have been finding out about Palaeontologists. We found out that they dig for fossils using special tools. We turned our role play area into an excavation site and used tools to find fossils. Throughout the week we have found different dinosaur bones and we even made our own fossils using clay. We made fossil pictures using fossil stamps and art straws. At the end of the week we even made fossil biscuits. We have thoroughly enjoyed our dinosaur topic this half term and have learnt so much!

  • Feb 052022

    This week in Reception…..

    We have been finding out about the landscape that the dinosaurs lived on. We found out that there were lots of active volcanoes.  The children wanted to know what was inside them, how they erupted, are there still volcanoes now and how the dinosaurs died. We watched some videos and used a Non-Fiction text to find out this information. The children were absolutely fascinated and captivated by what they heard and saw. We started off by finding out what the children already knew and what they wanted to find out. We learned some new vocabulary and have been using this throughout the week. We learned the words magma, lava, liquid rock, eruption/erupt and explode/explosion. We carried out two experiments to show what happens when volcanoes erupt. We did the Coke and Mentos experiment and used bicarbonate of soda, red food colouring and vinegar for the other experiment. We have also been painting volcanoes and writing about what happened in our experiments and information we found out about volcanoes.