reception

Owl

Welcome to Owl

Owl is one of our two Reception classes taught by Miss C Clayton.  Did you know Miss  Clayton loves to spend time baking cakes?

THINGS TO CELEBRATE

Imagine being 4 years old and starting ‘big’ school. Imagine walking through large iron gates, onto a huge grey space with your adult and being greeted by smiling people that you have never seen before. Imagine leaving your adult, being asked to walk through a door and spending hours with these smiling people. This is exactly what the children in Owl class had to do this September!

Settling into ‘big’ school is a daunting process at the best of times but so much more tricky for our children this year. They did not have the opportunity, in the Summer term, whilst still at pre-school to spend time with the adults at school and visit school. SEND children often accompany their key worker for the first few sessions too. However the children were not to be daunted by this! We heard that many of the children had role played at home, wearing their school uniforms and carrying their book bags we had posted through their front doors. The children came to school, eager and smart in their new school uniforms, entering with smiling faces (we had very few tears). They talked to the adults, bravely let the adults join in with their play and took part with enthusiasm with all the activities we asked them to do. Owl team are so incredibly proud of the way the children settled so quickly, becoming independent and confident such as short space of time.

The children in Owl class are very open, happy and a joy to be with. They are so eager to learn and tell us their ideas and observations. The children have genuine interest and want to talk. Naturally curious, they are learning that we really value how inquisitive they are! In turn, they are responding to questions we might ask of them, questions such as ‘I wonder if…’, ‘How do you know?’ They are beginning to make connections and links.

We enjoy being with the children and seeing how they interpret some of the activities we have placed in the setting. The children often use objects in the setting, imagining the object is something else. I would like to celebrate that more and more we are adding to or changing what we provide throughout the week, as children are showing us more of their interests and identities.

The Owls worked very hard to practise songs and actions for our nativity. The children enjoyed dressing up in their costumes, becoming angels, wise men, camels ……. We had very little time to rehearse with only two short 20 minute sessions in the hall and produced our fabulous performance! What superstars!

Our learning

In order to learn, it is super important to listen with care! We spent much time during the first few weeks learning to listen carefully. We started by playing lots of listening games. We also listened to noises, noises in the environment and noises of animals! We played and responded to musical sounds. We ‘tuned’ in our ears. We also worked on listening to instructions carefully. We began by listening and responding to simple and routine instructions. This also helped us to become independent. 

We have learnt our phonic sounds. We have learnt the sounds to 21 letters in Phase 2! We have learnt how these letters look and are starting to write these letters. Some of the letters are really tricky to form but we haven’t given up! We have learnt that words have letters in them and that if we ‘sound’ out the word we might be able to hear the sounds of the letters in words. This is really tricky – hearing the first sound, then the middle sound and finally the last sound. The children in Owl class began taking reading books home and used their phonic knowledge to start to read with their adults at home. Most of the children quickly learnt to read and write their own name.

We have loved learning stories. We began with the ‘Owl Babies’ story and then moved onto traditional tales. We stand in a story telling circle, sprinkle some magic story telling dust and walk through a magic mirror into story telling land! Once there we use props and actions to tell our story. The children know the words and join in, becoming story tellers. They have become very adept at walking on the spot, the action to the words ‘and he walked and walked and walked’! They really enjoyed re-telling the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs’. They

were able to become the wolf and blow down the three little pigs houses. The children often re-told these stories, using the props, with their friends in the story telling corner.

We have used our story telling technique to support our maths. When looking at the number 5, the children made take away stories to help them understand the concept of ‘take away’ or ‘one fewer’. We started by using Evie’s story. Her story began, “There were 5 people. They were walking down the road going into the shop. I person got cross and went for a walk on their own, then there were 4.” We acted out Evie’s story, even the person getting cross and walking off! This prompted lots of other take away stories.

 Owl class have worked hard on aspects of PHSE. It’s important to think carefully about how we are with other people and put this into practise. We have looked at what makes a good friend and how to be a good friend. We have thought about what we are thankful for. Sometimes when you are little, it’s really hard to recognise your emotions and learn how to control them. We have looked at some emotions and read ‘The Colour Monster’ book.

Things you need to know

PE Days

Monday & Thursday

Home learning

 • Reading for Pleasure Book(s) – Your child will bring a book(s)     home they would like you to read to them.
• Little Wandle Book   – This book your child will read to you to   develop their fluency and accuracy. It will focus on the sounds they have learnt in their phonics lessons.
• Learning Task – This task will be optional. The curriculum area which it focuses on will vary each week based on the needs of the children in the year group.

Our Topic

Autumn Term- Super Heroes & Happily Ever After (Traditional Tales)

Spring Term- Space & Our Wonderful World

Summer Term- Dinosaurs/mini-beasts in Little Paxton & Animals and their Habitats