A school Trip to the Railway Museum
The National Railway Museum
On Wednesday, we had a fantastic time at The National Railway Museum. We were so excited to go on on our first ever school trip – especially travelling by coach! All the grown ups were super impressed with how well-behaved the children were. Well done, Reception class.
We enjoyed looking at different trains and making comparisons of old and new. We had lots of fun watching the miniature railway and it led to lots of great discussions about trains, tunnels and transport. We even played a game of spotting Mrs Kendrew and Mrs Rippon at the miniature station! We also had fun sitting on the Japanese Bullet train.
To end our wonderful visit, we drew our favourite train of the day!
The Hundred Decker Rocket
We’ve been reading The Hundred Decker Rocket, by Mike Smith.
The story inspired lots of discussion around keeping our planet clean and why this is important.
In our writing, we designed our very own rocket deck that we will be making next week- this is where we need your help…
Please send your child into school with an empty shoebox next week. The children will be creating their very own deck, based on their designs.
Have a happy and healthy week and thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Mrs. Small and Mr. Smith
The Train Ride
What a busy first week back it has been for team Reception! Our topic this half term is Let’s Go, Let’s Grow and our first focus book was The Train Ride by June Crebbin.
Our word of the week has been destination– the place someone is going.
We have also been historians this week and sorted out old and new trains. We looked at pictures of the early steam locomotive- Robert Stephenson’s Rocket. We compared it to the trains we use today.
Phonics
Spring 2 week 1 has been a review of phase 3 sounds: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, oo, ow, oi, ear, in words and sentences. We review tricky words daily.
Tricky words can be just that-tricky! We’ve previously introduced a few fun games you can play at home to practice tricky words.
Help at home– Play Bingo with your child using the game sent home, we love playing this game in school.
Reminders and Messages
Wednesday 5th March- Class Trip to The National Railway Museum.
World Book Day 2024- Thursday 06 March Please join us in the classroom, where you can relax and read books with your child. We’d also like your child to share their favourite book with their friends. Please send your child into school with their favourite book and please ensure the book is named. As stated on the school calendar, this not a dressing up year.
Have a happy and healthy week and thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Mrs. Small and Mr. Smith.
Supertato
Our focus book this week has been Supertato by Sue Hendra.
Our new word of the week was: mischievous. A perfect word to describe the small, green villain in our story!
Phonics
Spring 1 week 5 has focused on reading longer words, by using the chunking method (segmenting and blending longer words one syllable at a time, i.e. “s-u-n, sun, s-e-t, set, sun, set, sunset”)
Ask your child to show you how they ‘chunk-it-up’
Reception parent/carer survey
At St James’ Primary School, we’re always keen to hear your views. We hope that you let us know any questions, comments and concerns (as well as causes for celebration!) whenever these crop up, but we like to gather the views more generally so we can keep reviewing and improving what we do.
This short survey is just for you to think about your child’s experiences in our Reception class. (There’s another annual survey at the end of the year for all parents/carers.) It’ll only take a few minutes or so. You’ve plenty of time to do this – the deadline is Friday 28 February 2025.
We can’t guarantee to meet the needs and wants of every parent / carer, but we do assure you that we consider all the points raised and aim to act on specific points that are raised by many, or a useful idea raised by just a few.
Previously, based on your feedback, for example, we alternated the days Stay and Learns were held – to give all parents an opportunity to attend.
Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. We’re looking forward to reading your views.
The Magic Paintbrush
This week our focus book has been The Magic Paintbrush by Julia Donaldson.
We talked about what we would paint if we had a magic paintbrush and wrote down our ideas.
We’ve be learning about Lunar New Year and have enjoyed making our own dragon in the workshop area that we showed in our whole school celebration assembly on Friday. We’ve also used our funky fingers to make snakes to mark the start of the year of the snake.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. This week’s poem is A Little House.
I’m going to build a little house,
With windows big and bright,
And chimneys tall with curling smoke,
Drifting out of sight.
In winter when the snowflakes fall,
Or when I hear a storm,
I’ll go and sit in my little house,
Where I’ll be snug and warm.
We also recited this in our assembly and impressed the whole school with our wonderful prosody.
Phonics
Spring 1 week 2 has focused on our final sounds of phase 3: air, er
We’ve learnt the tricky words; are, sure, pure
Tricky words are words that should be read by sight
Have a happy and healthy week and thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Mrs. Small and Mr. Smith.
Penguin Huddle
In our literacy lessons this week, we enjoyed reading Penguin Huddle by Ross Montgomery. In the story, the penguins huddled together during an icy storm but it was so cold that they got stuck together and couldn’t break free!
Our word of the week has been: huddle.
We located the UK and the Antarctic on a map and found their locations on a globe. We then talked about how they compared to find similarities and differences.
Maths -composition
This week, children consolidated their understanding of the composition of 5 using the familiar rhyme ‘5 Little Speckled Frogs.’ By singing the rhyme and moving the frogs during each verse, children investigated part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 5 can be made of 3 and 2.
Phonics
Spring 1 week 3 has focused on the digraphs ur, ow, oi and the trigraph ear.
We’ve learnt the tricky words; my, by, all. Tricky words are words that should be read by sight. We have also played Tricky Word Bingo this week, which was great fun.
Help at home: please go through the home learning sheet with your child.
Have a happy and healthy week and thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Mr. Smith.
Lost and Found
We have had another fantastic week looking at our focus book Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers.
Our word of the week has been climate and we have been geographers. We have looked at the globe again and talked about the equator being the hot line.
Phonics
Spring 1 week 2 has focused on the digraphs oo, oo, ar, or
We’ve learnt the tricky words; was, you, they
Tricky words are words that should be read by sight.
In class we have also been
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called I can build a snowman
I can build a snowman,
I can build it high.
I can build a snowman,
Up into the sky.
Maths; the staircase pattern
In Maths, we’ve been looking at counting and ordinality- specifically, the ‘one more’ relationship that creates ‘the staircase pattern’.
We were introduced to the concept by the Numberblocks, before moving on to create our own staircase patterns in small groups.
Have a happy and healthy week and thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Mr. Smith.
Lost and Found
Our story this week has been Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers and the weather has certainly helped us learn about cold climates.
In the story, a boy finds a penguin at his door and goes on an adventure to try to find his home, as he thought he was lost. Just like the boy, we explored and learnt about where penguins live and extended our vocabulary by learning a new word: iceberg. We used the globe to find Antarctica and enjoyed finding other interesting places.
“I have found my name Savannah!”
“When I’m big I’m going to go to Tokyo with my dad, I want to see the tall buildings!”
Phonics
We have begun learning our Phase 3 sounds. This week, we have learnt four new digraphs/trigraphs ai,ee,igh,oa.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Let’s Put on Our Mittens.
Let’s put on our mittens,
and button up our coats.
Wrap our scarves snuggly around our throats.
Pull on our shoes and fasten the straps.
And tie on tightly our warm woollen hats.
Open the door, and out we go.
Out, into the soft and feathery snow.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Maths – super subitising!
This week we have been practising our subitising skills. This means, we have been looking and saying how many objects we can see – without counting one by one.
Notices
Stay and Learn – Tuesday 14 January 2.20pm – 3pm
Our Stay and Learn sessions are a chance to find out more about your child’s journey through Reception. You can observe some teaching and learning, and pick up some tips to support your child at home. This session is all about Phonics (phase 3).
Happy New Year
Happy New Year everyone! This half term our theme is Fire and Ice.
Our first focus book is Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers.
Our word of the week this week is iceberg and we will be exploring freezing water and making ice. We will use a globe to help us to find the land and the sea and make our own Antarctic themed tough tray. We definitely have a great fun filled week ahead!
If you have any photos from the Christmas break or from the snow today please send them to: stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
We can’t wait to see you all tomorrow,
Mrs Kendrew, Mrs Rippon, Mr Smith and Mrs Small
The Christmas Story
Christingle
The children enjoyed making Christingles last week, we talked about the different parts to the Christingle and what they all mean.
Help at home: ask your child if they can tell you about the Christingle?
This week our focus book is The Christmas Story.
Our word of the week is Nativity.
We’re so excited to be sharing our nativity story with our grown ups this week, we’ve polished off our star costumes and are definitely ready to shine in our performances on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Phonics
This week in our phonics we will be focusing on our tricky words, please look out for a set in your child’s book bags to learn over the Christmas break.
Send your photos to: stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Have a happy and healthy week and thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Miss. Feldman and Mr. Smith.