Welcome back Reception! We hope you have had a wonderful half term! We have been blown away by all the Tapestry entries showcasing the fabulous learning that you have been taking part in over the October break. Thank you to all of the parents that have supported their children with learning about the Autumn season and also going above and beyond to practise number work in a range of creative ways. We have seen pumpkin counting, pattern making and lots of leaf pictures! 

This term our topic is called `It is good to be you!` This will allow the children to understand how everyone is special, begin to understand tolerance and explore a range of cultures and celebrations. We are also very excited about this term as we will begin learning the songs for our Christmas Nativity. In Maths, the children will begin to explore counting and number recognition but also take part in solving problems. The children will now split for phonics daily and consolidate their set 1 sounds and begin to read a selection of words with greater independence. We are looking forward to seeing how all of our children continue to flourish and grow this term. There will also be lots of experiences for Reception to to take part in, this will include our school trip and a range of visitors. 

The children have started the term learning about Bonfire night and why it is celebrated. We have had lots of activities where the children have been artists and created their own representations of fireworks using the printing techniques. They have also explore using marbles to create affects in the outdoor area, mixing colours in the water tray and using a range of mediums to create a bonfire. 

On Thursday the children had a special visit from the fire service. During this visit, they all learnt about how to keep safe during bonfire night but also how to keep safe at home or if they ever witness a fire. The children learnt how they must tell a grown up if they see a fire and the adults would then call 999. The firefighter described their role in the community and how they must wear personal protective equipment to keep them safe. After, they all had the opportunity to explore a fire engine and spot the different pieces of equipment. The children counted 4 ladders that are used during emergencies, giant scissors, hoses and the siren. Everyone enjoyed this visit. Their favourite part was getting the chance to sit inside the vehicle.

This week the children have started their teeth brushing programme. This programme is to support the children with understanding the importance of brushing and how to keep their teeth healthy. After lunch, the children will brush their teeth for two minutes. This is something they have really looked forward to and they enjoy listening to the teeth brushing song. 

The children loved visiting the local woods and were very excited to take part in their very first trip. When asked what their favourite part was, the children replied with `everything!`. During our visit to the woods, the children were able to draw upon their previous learning from last term about the season Autumn but also enjoyed the experience of travelling on a coach and walking in the beautiful surroundings. The songs on the bus home were also a highlight. Well done Reception! We are all very proud of you and you modelled our school core values wonderfully to the community. 

This week the children have been taking part in Anti-Bullying Week and on Monday they all wore odd socks to celebrate odd sock day. This year's theme was `One kind word.` For this, the children talked about how it is important to be kind but also spread kindness to make others happy. We created our own kindness chain by sharing all the wonderful things our friends are good at. We also talked about what bullying is and what we should do if this ever happens in our school. In our circle times, the children enjoyed creating a friendship potion and they discussed the qualities they think are important when finding a friend. 

For Children in Need this year, the children have all taken part in a sponsored mile to help raise money for children and their families who are less fortunate than ourselves. The children were fantastic and demonstrated resilience and enjoyed taking part. Some children even challenged themselves by jogging the final five laps. Well done Joy Class. We can't wait to find out how much money we have raised for the charity! 

Pudsey visited Joy Class on Thursday to say thank you for all of our wonderful donations. The children were so excited to see him and couldn't resist having their photo taken! 

This week the children are continuing their learning on the numbers 1,2 and 3 but applying their knowledge in the context of shape. Today the children went on a shape hunt around the school and outdoor area hunting for circles and triangles. We identified the number of sides and vertices that these shape have and identified them in the learning environment. We then explored the orientation of these shapes and asked the question `Is this still a triangle or circle?` During our shape search, we explored the shape of surfaces on 3D shapes.

In our Understanding of the World learning this week, the children have been scientists. For this they predicted what would happen to the sweets if warm water was added to the plate. The children thought that the colours would mix together because the sweets would get wet. They all observed the changes and learnt that the warm water dissolved the sugar on the sweets that caused the colours to run. Throughout their independent learning time, they saw how the sweets became smaller and smaller when left for a longer period of time.