Welcome to Reception Class

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.”

(Psalm 127:3)

Meet the staff

Class Teacher - Miss Laidler
Teaching Assistants - Miss Campbell, Miss Hart & Mrs Hallam
PPA Cover Teachers - Mrs Jobbins

Life in Reception

We have busy days filled with play, singing, laughter and discovery.

We are delighted to have you as part of our class and school family. 

Here at St Joseph's we aim to create a warm, happy and secure learning environment centred around play and discovery. We plan our curriculum and environment carefully to ensure that our children feel safe, secure and confident whilst learning skills and knowledge in a way which is meaningful to them.

During your child's time in reception, they will take part in a variety of activities and play-based experiences which aim to challenge, foster a love of learning and inspire their natural curiosity. We play outdoors in all weathers and we will regularly come home messy after a busy day in the mud kitchen, creation station and play dough area!

To find out about the Reception curriculum, please visit our Early Years page. 

If you need to speak to me or have any queries, please email: reception@stjosephscatholicprimary.org or speak to the office and book an appointment. 

I am really looking forward to working with you all this year. 

Miss Laidler 

Key Information:

• P.E. days are on a Wednesday and Friday. Please send your child to school in their kit on these days. 
   
• Reading books will be changed on a Friday.
   
• Your child receives free milk until their 5th birthday. If your child wants milk, please register at this link: Cool Milk - the UK's leading school and nursery milk supplier

Spring Term Learning

We learned about Palm Sunday. We learned the phrase ‘Hosanna to the King!’, made our own palm leaves and learned the song ‘We have a King…’.

We then took it in turns to be Jesus, the disciples and the donkey so we could act out the story of Palm Sunday together. 

We have been learning the story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. We used props to act out the story and then some of us found some giant’s clothes and dared to try them on! We found giant footprints and made some wanted posters, just in case one was on the loose! We then planted our own beans to create our own beanstalks.

We have been learning about different life cycles. We then learned about the different stages of human life by looking at our own history. We looked at baby photos and talked about the differences between us now and when we were little. We also looked at the similarities and differences between all of us. We loved playing ‘Guess the Baby’ and trying to work out which baby picture belonged to which child!

During World Book Week, we had a lovely time taking part in shared reading with our Year 3 and Year 6 friends.

We have been learning about The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We sequenced the story and learned about the life cycle of a butterfly. We then tasted all of the fruit from the story and used our senses to talk about how it looked, felt, what it smelled like, sounded like and finally tasted like. We enjoyed eating the fruit and expanding our vocabulary. We learned new words such as: segment, pith, skin, bitter, sweet and sour.

We have been learning about spring and growing. We have been pretending to be gardeners, comparing and matching flowers and doing some observational drawings of flowers. We used paint to create our own spring pictures and then practised writing some cvc words to match our pictures. 🌸🌷🌼

For Shrove Tuesday, we explored making pancakes, designing pancakes and then eating pancakes! We had a lovely time…the chocolate topping was definitely our favourite!

For Children’s Mental Health week, we learned about relaxation and meditation. We learned that yoga is a great way to help us relax. We learned different breathing techniques and then practised some yoga poses. 
We then read ‘The Invisible String’ and drew a picture of ourselves. We linked our pictures together using string to show the love we have for each other.

We have been learning about cold places. We learned about penguins and visited Lotherton Hall to see them in real life!

Catherine from Tiny Tales and Tunes came to visit us to deliver a story telling workshop about the book ‘Lost and Found’. We explored music, movement, storytelling and had a lovely time! 

In P.E. this half-term, we have been exploring dance and movement. We have been practising controlling both large scale and smaller movements by changing the shape of our bodies. We have explored a range of nursery rhymes and practised behaving like the characters: Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill and the mouse from Hickory Dickory Dock. 
 

We have been practising our performing skills by performing our sequences to our friends. We are developing our evaluation skills by thinking about the things our friends do really well - such as “I liked how they froze when the clock struck one!”

In mathematics, we have been exploring 0-5. We practised writing 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. We then found objects around our classroom to represent 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

We then began learning to find one more and one less than a given number within 5. We used our five frames to make quantities within five, and then explored adding one (more) and taking away one (less). We explored this in a real life context by role-playing getting on and off a bus.

To celebrate our learning about bears, we had our own Teddy Bear Day. We brought our favourite teddy into school and showed them all of the learning in Reception class! 
 

We then invited our parents/carers in to play for the afternoon and finished off the day by listening to some bear stories with our parents/carers. 

This half-term, we have been reading the story ‘Bear Snores On’ and have been learning about hibernation, winter and how animals survive colder temperatures. We have created our own bear den, sequenced pictures from the story and role-played using masks. Some of us were inspired to make our own bear masks. 

We celebrated the feast of the Epiphany by having a party. We made crowns, had some snacks and thought carefully about the gifts that we would give to Jesus.

Autumn Term Learning

During our mathematics sessions, we have been learning about patterns, sizes, shapes and numbers up to five. In provision, we enjoyed using the number fans to practise our whole-class learning, as well as use the resources to create pattern and shape.

We began getting ready for Christmas by learning some Christmas songs and dressing up!

During Advent, we practised our colouring and fine motor skills when we learned about the different candles. We also used green playdough with loose parts to make our own mini wreaths.

Reception made their very first Advent Wreath. We learned all about the candles, the circular shape, evergreen leaves and red berries. Every child put a piece of greenery into our wreath, and then we learnt a special song called ‘Light the Advent Candle’.

We have been learning about Remembrance Day and have been learning about the different ways we can remember people in Heaven. We started by learning about poppies and made our own. 

We learned all about Bonfire Night. 

We learned all about the different food people eat when they visit a firework display - including chocolate apples with sprinkles! We then learned about food hygiene and how to follow simple instructions by making our own.

We also used paintbrushes and cut up kitchen roll holders to make our own firework pictures. We finished off by learning the poem 'Remember, remember the 5th of November'. 

We took Reception class on their first ever school trip. We went to Middleton Park on a minibus driven by Mr Hutchinson! We played on the swings, slide, seesaw and then found acorns and leaves. Our behaviour was excellent, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. 

We read the story Pumpkin Soup and then Miss Laidler brought in some real pumpkins! We felt their weight, texture and looked at the colours. We had a really good try at drawing and colouring in our own pumpkins using real objects.

We learnt about the story of creation and talked about how God created all of us. We know that we are all made by God and are given gifts and talents.

We then went for an autumnal walk to look at God’s world. Whilst we were outside, we talked about seasonal changes and looked for leaves and twigs. We even found a large wiggly worm - one of God’s wonderful creatures!

In October, we began learning how to match different items. We found matching pairs of animals in Noah’s Ark, matching socks and then matching aliens. We enjoyed reading and learning about Noah and the ark, as well as Bob the Man on the Moon (who doesn’t believe in aliens!!).

In October, we enjoyed playing outside in our new protective outdoor play suits. We enjoyed getting wet, muddy and messy!  We developed our independence in getting dressed and waited patiently when we needed some help. 

As part of our work about seasonal changes, we used our tuff tray to investigate some autumn treasures: conkers, their shells and leaves. We practised using magnifying glasses to help us look at things in more detail. 

As part of Black History month, we have been learning about the astronaut Mae Jemison. We then made our own rockets and spaceships independently in our play. We painted pictures of Mae and read some stories about her too.

We made our own listening ears. We practised our cutting and sticking skills, then went for a walk with our teachers to listen for the different sounds in our school. We also explored our school and found out where everything is kept.

Our new reception children have settled in to school life brilliantly. We are so proud of them. They have been exploring our school and learning how to use the toys and equipment safely. They have started to make lots of new friends and are getting to know their teachers.