Goodbye Miss Minter!

We were all sad to say goodbye to Miss Minter who left us today to take up a Nursery Nurse post at another school. We wish her the best of luck in her exciting new venture. We will all miss her, but I am sure that she will come back and visit.

Due to Miss Minter's department, Mrs Mahmood will now be working as a full time support between both Reception classes. We look forward to welcoming her back to the Foundation Stage full time again!

On behalf of all the Foundation Stage team we wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. We look forward to seeing you bright and refreshed on Monday 5th January.

Science - Senses Re-cap

To re-cap our work on the five senses we played some games which required us to use our senses.

Can you work out which sense we needed to use in each game?

Costumes for Christmas play

If you have not yet brought in a costume for your child for the Christmas play, please can you do so as soon as possible.

If you are having trouble finding something suitable, please have a chat with one of us and we will be happy to help / suggest alternatives.

Many thanks,

Mr. Merchant and Mrs. Currey

Homework

A big thank-you to all those who completed homework with their children this week. It was great to look through and see how well all the children are doing with their numbers. The numeracy hand in date for homework was Thursday 27th November so if you have not yet looked through the homework with your child please can you spend a few minutes doing so.

Please also remember that Literacy homework is reading with your child and also sound book work, where your child can write the sounds that we have been covering throughout the week and have a go at writing some of the words that start with them. They can also draw pictures of some of the objects that start with the sound.

If you have any questions about homework or anything else please do not hesitate to talk to your child's class teacher.

The next Reception homework will be going out in the Spring term. More information about what your child will be learning during the Spring term and how you can help them, will be given out at the Spring term class talk. The date for this will be announced after Christmas.

Anti-Bullying Week

This week was Anti-bullying week so we have been thinking about what bullying is, what we can do about it and how it might make us feel.

We learnt that if we are being bullied we should walk away and tell a teacher straight away.

We said that we would feel upset, sad and lonely if someone was being unkind to us all the time, so we thought about some ways that we could cheer someone up who was feeling unhappy.

Here are some of our ideas. Which of them do you think would cheer you up most? Can you think of any other ways that you could cheer someone up who was feeling unhappy?

- Give them a present.
- Give them a hug.
- Give them a kiss.
- Put on a clown show.
- Tell them a joke.
- Share something special with them.
- Play a game with them.
- Talk and listen to them.
- Invite them round your house.
- Make something for them.
- Write them a letter.
- Give them a smile.

Numeracy - One less than

This week RC and RM have been focusing on 'What is 1 less than a given number'. For example What is 1 less than 10, answer is 9 or practically if I have 10 toys and I put 1 toy away, How many toys do I have now ...9.

We have also been using frog masks and singing the song '5 Little Speckled Frogs sat on a speckled log ' to help us understand.

Five little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious grubs (yum,yum),

One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool,

Now there are four more speckled frogs - glub! glub!

Four little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious grubs (yum, yum),

One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool,

Now there are three more speckled frogs (glub, glub).

Three little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious grubs (yum, yum),

One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool,

Now there are two more speckled frogs (glub, glub)

Two little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious grubs (yum, yum),

One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool,

Now there is one more speckled frog (glub, glub).

One little speckled frog sat on a speckled log eating the most delicious grubs (yum, yum),

He jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool,

Now there are no more speckled frogs (glub, glub).

Sparkle Day

On the 7th of November everybody at Glade dressed up in sparkly clothes to help raise funds for the PAWS association who are always buying new resources for our school. Here are some of our most sparkly outfits. As you can see we really enjoyed dressing up.

Learning through play

In Reception we enjoy learning by exploring all the things around us.

Take a look at us at work in our classrooms and the outdoor area.

Diwali - The story of Rama and Sita

We learnt all about Diwali (the festival of light) and heard the exciting story of Rama and Sita. We thought about some of the characters in the story and used masks to act it out.

Click here to read the story of Rama and Sita.

Click here for a link to print off the masks to use at home with your child.

Shadows

As part of Science week we looked at the theme of light and dark. We learnt about some of the things that give us light (the sun, torches, candles, lights on our ceiling, lamps, projector etc) and that if something blocks a light source, then a shadow is formed. We had lots of fun making shadows outside. Ask your child if they can name the light source that we were blocking when we made shadows outside.

Owls

Glade Primary School recently had a fantastic time when we had a visit from some owls. The children enjoyed watching a display and finding out about the different types of owls that visited us. The children were lucky enough to have their photographs taken with the owls (which were avaliable to purchase on open evening).

In Reception we have been making owl collages and really enjoyed hearing the story 'The Owl Babies' and have learnt more about owl habitats.

Pumpkin Soup

Just before half term we were reading the book 'Pumpkin Soup' by Helen Cooper. On Thursday we made the soup. First we had to cut the pumpkin open. Then we had to take out all the flesh and put in a pan. After that we added some water, a little pinch of salt and pepper and finally we stirred the soup.

Later in the day we tasted the soup. Most of the children thought it tasted horrible.

What can you see?

This week in Reception, we started our topic on senses by looking at the sense of sight. We looked carefully at our eyes and learnt about how they work. We found out that all of our eyes are different colours. We learnt that the black dot in the middle of our eye is called the Pupil and the coloured part is called the Iris. The Iris is a muscle that moves the pupil to let more light or less light in.

Suleiman gave an excellent answer to the question, why do we have eyebrows and eyelashes. He knew that these are to protect our eyes from dirt and dust. We found out that the white part of our eyes is also for protection.

We played some games about how we might feel if we couldn't see. We found out that it was 'scary' and 'boring' not being able to see all the wonderful things around you. Some people in the class have glasses to help them to see better.

Next week we will be looking at the sense of sound. To help your child at home you can talk to them about the five senses and how important they are.