Dinner today 30th November

Today we enjoyed tuna pasta and mixed vegetables along with pitta bread. Pudding was a scrummy sponge cake and custard!!

Ho Ho Ho......

So Christmas offically starts in school tomorrow.....we can't wait!! We already have some very excited children - just wait until they find out about the 'TOP SECRET' Trip!!! :)

and then..........welly hell began!!

I've never seen anything like it!!! We know the cloakroom is not the biggest and we also know that the children are only 4 and 5 - but if you could talk to them about trying to look after their belongings and at least hanging up their coats and keeping their wellies together. If any of you have any suggestions as to how we could make things better in the cloakroom - then please let us know.......... :0)

Playing in the snow!!!

As you can see we had lots of fun!!! :)

Bad weather openings

Please keep checking this blog if you are concerned about the school being closed - we will keep the blog updated if there are any changes to the normal school hours.

OUTSIDE SNOW PLAY!!!

Just a quick reminder that we will be taking the children outside to play in the snow whenever possible, so can we request that children bring to school a change of suitable footwear to wear in these artic conditions; such as snow boots or wellies. They need to be wrapped up warm in a winter coat, scarf, hat and gloves so they can play outside safely, stay warm and keep their hands and feet warm whilst touching and playing in the snow!!

We want to be able to take ALL the children outside to have fun, but the children do require suitable clothing or a change of footwear for us to do so!!

Thanks
The Reception Team

Dinner Today 29th November

The children worked up quite an appetite as we had been playing out in the snow just before lunch. Today we had pepperoni pizza, wedges peas, sweetcorn and carrots. Along with garlic bread and followed by a strawberry muller corner yoghurt.

Clubs

Please note that all clubs will be cancelled this week due to the weather. We would like to ensure that all staff and pupils are able to arrive at school and get home safely and would appreciate your support in this matter. Thank you.

Weekly Overview 29th November 2010

We hope you have all enjoyed the snow this weekend...don't forget to wrap up warm in case we get to play out tomorrow (unless it's just ice!). Wellies are welcome, although please remember to put names in them - otherwise it will be welly hell!!! We have spoke to the children about looking after their bits and bobs, such as gloves, hats and scarves - the best advice is to stick them down the sleeve of their coat before they hang it up!

So...this week:

During Phonics sessions this week we will be practicing all the things we have been learning. We will recap all the sounds taught and all the tricky words, I, go, to, the, no, he, she, we, be, me as well as some high frequency words too. We will continue practicing blending and segmenting - we are getting really good at this!!

This week will see the beginning of our Christmas activities. We will be reading the story of the First Christmas and setting up a role area like a stable for them to retell the story! If you have any nice Christmas stories at home we would love to read them in school!

Our main numeracy focus this week will be 2D shape we will recap, circle, square, rectangle, triangle, hexagon, pentagon and we will introduce octagon too. We will be making patterns with the shapes to print on large sheets of paper that will become the wrapping paper in our Christmas workshop. We will also continue to focus on counting and number, making sure children are counting accurately.

Our topic now turns towards Christmas and this week we will be talking about Christmas traditions at home and how we celebrate Christmas- we will also be putting up our trees on Wednesday!!

Concert practice starts in earnest this week - with our first proper run through on Thursday afternoon. If your child has lines to learn then please keep practicing!! If you are having difficultly with costumes - please see us as soon as possible:)

So heres hoping for another great week - let's hope we don't get stuck in all week because of the ice!!

The Reception Team

Christmas Fayre

I just wanted to say it was lovely to see you all supporting us at our Christmas fayre today, there was a real buzz in the building and my children Corey and Poppy had a great time and it was their first visit to Methley Primary school and they had a lovely time too!!

See you all on Monday!!

Miss Skidmore

SNOW!!

Enjoy the snow.......if we get any!! ;0)

Christmas Cards

Today we sent out a letter explaining that we are supporting Oxfam this year and will be helping to look after our planet. This year in Reception could we ask that you do not purchase cards for the children, instead it will be much nicer if the children design their own very special 'class' card for either Athens or New York class. We have sent home a blank card along with the letter for your child to use for this purpose. These cards will be displayed in the classroom for all the children to admire and we feel that this will be promoting a more creative approach to Christmas.

As a school we have decided that we would like to collect donations for the charity Oxfam, so any monies that you would have spent on cards you could donate to our chosen charity.

If you would like to make a donation then please put it in an envelope with your child's name and class clearly marked; labelled Christmas card donation and hand it in to one of the adults in in the Reception base.

Thanks again...

The Reception Team

Dinner today 26th November

The children were all very excited today as they chatted away about the Methley Christmas fayre over lunch. We had fish, chips and beans followed by chocolate pudding and custard yum!!

Dinner today 25th November

Well good news for Henry today Mr Oulton... today we did have chicken pie, green beans and sweetcorn along with new potatoes and everyone loves the chicken pie as mrs Foster says it is delicious, a firm favourite. The children are becomming experts at serving their own vegetables and we all polished off an ice cream for pudding.

looking forward to Friday's meal....

A slight change to the TOP SECRET Trip

After much discussion we have decided to make a slight change to the SECRET trip to Abbey House museum on Friday 10th December. We are now going to have our dinner at school as normal and set off at 12:15pm. This will just mean things will be a little simpler when we get there and the children can get straight on with the important business of meeting Father Christmas!! We still plan to be back around 3:30-3:45pm.

We would just like to thank you all for keeping this secret - much appreciated!! :)

Nativity Concert!!

Just to confirm and remind you that Reception will be performing their Christmas Nativity on Tuesday 14th December at 2:30pm in the hall!! Miss Skidmore and I (AKA Steven Spielberg and James Cameron!!!) have sorted out the cast list today and we will be letting the children know tomorrow. We will be sending home lines for some of the children to learn at home - don't worry they are quite simple...honest! We are also going to need a little help with the costume department - so a letter will be going home before the weekend about that too! We would like to thank you in advance for your support with this:)

The Reception Team

Dinner today 24th November (this time next month....)

Dinner today was Roast Beef, Roast potatoes, Sweetcorn and Green Beans. This was followed by a home made biscuit!!

Parental Contribution to the profile

We discussed at curriculum evening earlier this month how you as parents could make contributions to your child's profile. Thank you to all parents who have contributed so far - your observations have been great! For those that couldn't make curriculum evening don't worry all we be explained...........

Since your child started school in September I am sure there have been many moments when they have amazed you with something that they have learned....if this is the case then we would like to know!! In the cloakroom there are some yellow sheets hung up in a plastic wallet. Please take one and simply write what happened and what your child said or did and then hand it back to a member of staff. We can then assess it against the FSP scales and file it in their folder. You can write as many of these as you wish - there is no limit!! We look forward to reading your contributions!! :)

The Reception Team

Dinner today was

Pasta Bolognese with broccoli and carrots followed by rice pudding!!

The children all did really well serving their own vegetables - well done!! :)

Dinner today 22nd November

Today we have all enjoyed sausage, mash, sweetcorn and peas along with green beans, yorkshire pudding and gravy!! Topped off with sponge pudding and custard.

Tommorow is very exciting as the children will be having a go at serving themselves from the tables, from our new stylish and cool to touch serving dishes. They will be supported to do this by the teachers and adults in the dinning hall, but its the next step in their independence around meal times so watch this space!!

Weekly Overview 22nd November 'Space'

TOPIC
This week we will be venturing on a journey into space. The children will be learning about the planets, moon, stars and the solar system. We will watch Neil Armstrong land on the moon and create our own space pictures and models. If you have any old cardboard tubes to donate to our cause, they would be great for making spaceships and rockets.
This topic leads on from our light and dark theme. We will be exploring what it would be like in space, what would we see and hear? Can we live in space? What would we need to wear?
How do we know what is out in space beyond our world? Who lives in space?
We will be investigating and exploring these concepts and allowing the children to role-play in our fabulous space costumes - they will have a fabulous week!!!

Phonics
We will Continue practicing all phase 2 sounds so far along with the new sounds: y z, zz qu.
We will be teaching the children to read the tricky words he, she and to spell the tricky words the and to as well as Practise reading captions and sentences with the keywords and he,
she, no, go, I, the, to these will be added to your flashcards this week in the children's reading diaries!! We will be reading space books including some lovely stories 'whatever next' and 'QPootle 5', where the children will hear language we would associate with space.

Numeracy
We will be still be working on recognising and forming our teen numbers. This week we will be introducing money, identifying coins and their values, using numicon to support their understanding. We will be setting up a Santa's workshop at the end of the week with a till and money for them to play with which will contain items for sale that the children have made and priced up themselves; so any old Argos or toy catalogues you have at home to donate would be great for the children to get ideas for creating their toy factory.

Seal
Next weeks seal statement is 'I can encourage someone to behave and do the right things'. the children will be talking about making the right choices and what their understanding of right and wrong and how they can help their friends in class.

We cannot believe we will be setting up Santa's workshop already and soon it will be time for our Christmas play... its all very exciting.

Watch this space...................

The Reception Team

Top Secret Trip

The TOP SECRET trip is on Friday 10th December!!

TOP SECRET!! TOP SECRET!!

Dear Parents and Carers

We are excited to announce that we have organised a very special trip to The Kirkstall Abbey House museum to see Father Christmas!! We will have a 2 hour workshop there, where we will take part in some Christmas craft activities and then make our way to the Grotto to see Father Christmas and get a little present from him!!! We will be leaving school via coach at approximately 10:30am and we will arrive in time for us to have our dinner before we go and meet Father Christmas!! The workshop is booked between 1pm and 3pm and we will leave the museum at around 3:15pm, which will mean that we will expect to arrive back at school at approximately 3:45pm.

On the day your child will need:

• To wear their school uniform.
and
• A packed lunch – in a carrier bag please so it is fully disposable (we don’t want them to carry it around all day!)

I’m sure you will understand that your child is going to find this trip very exciting!! We would like to ask you NOT to mention it to your children yet – as we don’t want them getting too giddy too soon – we will let them know on the Monday before we go, so they will still have 4 sleeps to get excited – thank you for your cooperation with this.

Yours in Learning

Mrs Foster and Miss Skidmore

The above is a copy of the letter that will be going out on Monday - just thought we would let you know what's coming!! ;-)

Dinner Today 19th November

Dinner today was:

Fish fingers, Chips and Beans

Pudding was:

Chocolate sponge and Chocolate custard!

Dinner Today 18th November

Dinner today was:

Meatballs with Pasta, caulifower and mixed veg!

Pudding was:

Sponge and custard!

NEW CHOIR BLOG!!

Just for you parents that have older children in school - there is a new choir blog on the main school page - I've just posted a link to the youngvoices website to help them learn the dance moves - please help and spread the word - Thank you!!

Dinner time 16th November

Well, the children tucked into a lovely lasagne with garlic bread, green beans and carrots today. Followed by a jam sponge and custard!! We do love our custard..... lol.

It's nice to see some new additions to our 'hot meals' this week these blogs must be making you all want a school dinner!!

Keywords and Sound tags

Hi, Just a quick note to let you all know that we will be sending home a selection of keywords and 'tricky' words (these are the ones that cannot be sounded out), for the children to try and learn/ memorise to support their reading. We will add to these when required, as your child progresses through the bands.

We may also put in a selection of sounds we need your child to secure before we move onto a new set of sounds. As your child starts to secure these sounds a new set will replace them.

So, If you find a tag with sounds or keywords on them in your child's bookbag over the next few weeks, could you please spend a few minutes a day just flashing them to your child until they can start to recognise them by sight. This will help support your child's reading and phonic development going forward - Thankyou!!

The Reception Team

Dinner 15th November

Welcome back!! Nice to see you all this morning and at least it was not raining. Today we had creamy bacon pasta twists with cheese, french stick, peas and sweetcorn alongwith a crunchy scrummy apple pie and crumble with custard!! Are you jealous.....?!

We would like to say a huge thank you for all your feedback regarding the recent 'open day' and we will try and accommodate refreshments next time. We agree that watching a numeracy or phonics session would be useful so as Mrs foster has already said, we will get our thinking caps on for next time. If you have any other comments to make about our open day then we look forward to hearing from you, so we can make the experience as useful as possible for up and coming 'open days' We are also looking forward to collecting in all those fabulous parental contributions to your child's profiles, the contributions handed in so far have been fantastic - Thanks!!

THE RECEPTION TEAM.

WEEKLY OVERVIEW - 15th November ' SHADOWS'

TOPIC - 'Let it shine'

This week we will be continuing with our topic 'Let it shine' by looking at how shadows are formed, discovering if shadows can move and how they move. We will be measuring shadows, drawing around our own shadows and then creating shadow puppets for our own class puppet show at end of the week.

PHONICS

We will continue to practice all phase 2 sounds we have learned so far and then we will be introducing the new sounds j,v,w,x we will be looking at the name of the letters as well as the sounds they make. We will be practising blending to read words, segmentation to spell words
and revising high-frequency words such as mum, dad, is, it, in, on, can and the trying to
read sentences using the letters we have introduced this week. The tricky words we will be going over this week will be is no, go, I, the.

NUMERACY

We will continue to use numicon to help support the children to understand the value of a teen numbers. Introducing place value by investigating that teen numbers always have 1 ten along with various units, using numicon as a visual tool to explain this. We will be practising our number formation, looking closely at the discrimination of our numbers (making sure we get our numbers the correct way round). Counting in 2's, 10's and forwards and backwards in 1's. We will be combining two groups of numbers to create a larger number. Recognising and ordering numbers 1 to 20. In Numeracy linked to our topic we will be touching on time sequencing the days of the week and months of the year and linking this learning to the seasons.

SEAL

We will be discussing how to be a good friend and how we should refuse to join in with unkind behaviour, and the tools we can use to deal with difficult situations.

Singing

We will be learning our Christmas songs ready for our Christmas concert and practising some of our old favourites (not the Boa Constrictor song)....

It sounds like we will be having another action packed week, we are glad you all had a good time at our open day we certainly enjoyed having you all in for the day!! See you Monday morning!!

The Reception Team

Today!!

WOW! What a day!! It was really great to see so many of you at school day - we have all really enjoyed it and I know the children have loved having you there to play. We hope you enjoyed it too and got the chance to look at your child's profile. If you weren't able to join us today then you can pop in anytime for a quick chat and look at their folders whenever is convenient for you.

We would love your comments and feedback on today...what you enjoyed the most? Is there anything that you would like us to consider for next time? (Refreshments maybe - my mouth was a bit dry by the end of the day!!) Any comments at all would be appreciated!!

Anyway we hope you have a fab weekend and we will see you all on Monday for another action packed week!!! :0)

The Reception Team

OPEN DAY.....It's tomorrow!!

Don't forget it's Open Day tomorrow - morning session is from 9:00-11:30am and the afternoon session is from 1:00-3:30pm. You are very welcome to stay for the whole session either am or pm - although it also fine just pop in - whichever suits you best!!

We shall look forward to seeing you there - don't forget to wrap up warm and lets hope it's not too windy :/

The Reception Team

Dinner 11th November

Dinner today was meatballs in a tomato sauce, pasta and vegetables. We had garlic bread and a bakewell tart and the traditional custard!! The children's manners are improving and they are waiting until everyone is served before tucking in!!

'Poppy Day'

Just a quick reminder, the children will have the opportunity to buy a Poppy on Thursday 11th and Friday 12th of November this week. If you want your child to buy one then they will need to bring in a small donation, in an envelope clearly labelled with their name and class so that when the poppy sellers from Year 5/6 come around your child will be able to purchase their very own Poppy.

We will be learning about Remembrance day and Reception will be joining the whole school for a two minute silence at 11.00 am, and be listening to the '2 minute silence charity song' which has an accompanying 'silent' video. We will be making Poppy's and learning about their significance, looking at old world war photos and listening to the song 'The last post' which is traditionally played to introduce the two minute silence in remembrance day ceremonies, that marks the final farewell. You can hear the song for yourselves at http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/remembrance/index.htm#last and read lots of other information about 'Poppy Day'.

Open Day

The weather forecast for Friday is not looking great..:-(
However we are not going to let this stop us having a great day!! Please come prepared for all weather conditions - a waterproof coat would great so you can still enjoy the outside area with your child!!

We should take heed of Billy Connelly's mantra:

'There's no such thing as BAD weather, just the wrong clothes!!'

A quick note from Athens class!!

Just to let you know that I will not be in class first thing in the morning when you come in. Miss Hyde is having her first observed lesson by Miss Bellido who is Trinity and All Saints school based tutor. This will mean that I will go and cover Miss Bellido's class for the first hour... in YEAR 3!! If you read this tonight, please let your child know where I am and who Miss Bellido is as I haven't mentioned it too them and I like them to know what's going on. (You don't have to tell them why Miss Bellido is there - just that she's coming down to see what exciting things are happening in Reception!!!) Many thanks!! :)

Dinner today 10th November

Dinner today was:

Burger, wedges, peas and carrots

Pudding was fruit crumble and custard

I enjoyed my dinnertime chat today - we some how ended up taking about dog dirt on the way to school - lovely mealtime debate about how people should pick it up and not leave it on the pavement - hear hear!! ;0)

Dinner today 9th November

Dinner today was:

Roast Pork, Roast Potatoes, Carrots and Green Beans

The vegetarian option was macaroni cheese!!

Pudding was Sponge and Custard

First curriculum evening

Hi, can we just say a huge thank you to everyone who attended tonight, it was great to see you all!! We are really looking forward to reading your contributions to your child's profile over the coming weeks/months and we are sure you will agree that this is a fabulous opportunity for you to put your very own stamp on your child's profile. We believe your input is extremely valuable.

Thanks again!!

The Reception Team

Dinner 8th November

Well what a rainy day we have had, the children really looked forward to their lunch today a nice break from the classroom. We had fish, mash and peas or beans along with bread and a warming apple crumble and good old wholesome custard Yum!!

Week Beginning 8th November 2011

Another exciting week ahead - I just can't believe how fast time is going!! We are all really looking forward to open day on Friday and really hope that you will all be able to join us! We will be setting up lots of exciting activities for you to do with your children and they will all be based around the different SMARTS that we all are. We know that the children touched on the SMARTS last year in Nursery and open day will be a great refresher for them and help to get them ready to join in whole school SMART WORKING WEDNESDAY after Christmas - we will give you more information nearer the time as to how this will work.

Don't forget our curriculum evenings this week too!! Lots of information for you about how the Foundation Stage Profile works and your child's profile and also information about Numeracy in Reception and things that you can do home! Monday's Curriculum Evening starts at 4:30pm and Thursday's starts at 4:45pm please arrive at the main office - where will be there to let you in!!

OK, so this week.... we will be continuing with our 'Let It Shine' topic and looking at difference between day and night as well as looking at different light sources. We have set up a very exciting 'Dark Den' outside in one of the houses - and the children will be able to experience the dark and use lots of torches and light equipment in there. If your child has anything that lights up - they can bring them into school for us to look at - but please be warned that accidents will happen so don't send anything in that is very precious!! We will also be reading the story - This is the Bear and the Scary Night and other night time stories.

As Thursday is poppy day - will also be talking to your children about this and what it means. I have seen a box of poppies in the office and I'm sure your child will have the opportunity to buy and poppy at some point - we will keep you posted about how and when!!!

Phonics will be a recap week as we have finished all the sounds at phase 2 - we will be practicing all the sounds that we have learned and practicing our blending and segmenting. We have learned the 5 tricky words at phase 2 - I go to the no - why don't you ask your child if they can read them?

Numeracy this week will be continuing with calculating and looking at finding 1 more using Numicon. We also be continuing to practice reading and forming our teens numbers!

Our SEAL statement this week is, 'I know what is right and I can stand up for myself and others'. This is the start of a new theme called 'Say No to Bullying'!!!

Miss Skidmore and I will both be out of school on Tuesday afternoon at the local EYFS moderation meeting. This is a great opportunity for us to meet other Reception teachers in the area and moderate examples of work together, which will ensure that our judgments about your children and accurate and fair! New York class will be covered by Mrs Rymer and Mrs Goddard and Athens Class will be covered by Miss Russell and Miss Fotopoulou.

We are all really looking forward to this week and can't wait to see you at the curriculum evening and open day!!

See you all tomorrow!

The Reception Team

Dinner Today 5th November

Dinner today was as follows:

Sizzling Bangers with chips and mixed Veg!!

Pudding was:

Exploding Sponge and Custard!!

Curriculum Evenings

It has been brought to our attention that there is a mistake on the newsletter that went out today - our apologies for this but we are only human.

To confirm curriculum evenings next week will be:

Monday 8th November 2010 at 4:30pm until 5:30pm

Thursday 11th November 2010 at 4:45pm until 5:45pm

Thank You

The Reception Team

TUFTY

Hi guys,

For all you Tufty fans out there here is a picture of him from the Royal society for the prevention of Accidents website. Tommorrow we will be meeting Wellephant!!

Dinner 4th November

Today we had a filling chicken pie, sweetcorn, new potatoes and gravy. Followed by strawberry, wibbly, wobbly Jelly OR yoghurt fruit corners.

Fire Engine!!!

We had a surprise visit from Rothwell Fire Station today!! We had asked them to come and see us although even we didn't know it was today!!!! It was a great surprise and the children loved it. 'Dave the Firfighter' came into the classroom and talked to the children about what they do and showed us all the special clothes and equipment they use. Miss Skidmore was a great sport and got dressed up in all the gear - I think she secretly liked it - the children certainly did!! We then went out to have a look at the engine and the Firfighters let all the children have a look inside where they sit and some of the children got to have a go with hose!! They finished their visit by sounding the siren - which again the children thought was great!!! This lead us very nicely into taking to children about Bonfire and Firework safety and the important job that that Firefighters do to keep us safe!!
Enjoy the photos!!!

Parents evening

Just confirm we are NOT holding parent consultations this time - we are having our Open Day on Friday the 12th instead. This will give you an opportunity to have a chat with us about your child and have a look at their profile so far!

Clubs

Just a quick reminder that as it is Parent Consultations next week there will be NO clubs happening. Thanks.

Dinner 2nd November

Well, what a great first day back, it is like we have never been away!!
Today we all had spaghetti bolognaise, green vegetables and carrots along with bread. Followed by one of my favourites rice pudding and jam.

Week Beginning 2nd November

Welcome back!! Have you missed us? We hope you have all had a great half term and are ready for a very exciting half term leading up to Christmas!! As usual it's action packed, with Curriculum evening, Open Day and a TOP SECRET trip in December - which is very exciting....watch this space!!!

This week we begin our new topic 'Let It Shine!!' where we will begin with Bonfire Night! The children will learn about the Guy Fawkes story and have the opportunity to create some amazing bonfire and firework pictures as well as having a go at making their own 'Guy'!! We also have a big focus, as Miss Skidmore has already mentioned, on bonfire and firework safety. I'm afraid 'Tufty' has retired so Welliphant will be stepping in!!

Phonics will continue with a Phase 2 recap and introducing the children to the digraphs 'ss' 'ff' 'll' - Miss Hyde will be teaching Phonics in Athens class this week - she has planned some exciting activities which I'm sure are going to great!

This week in Numeracy we will be beginning to look more closely at calculating using numicon. We we also begin a big push on recognising and forming our teens numbers - so you can practice these at home too!!

We will be sending home a newsletter this week with lots more information for you - in particular about our curriculum evenings next week and of course our first open day on the 12th!

See you all in the morning bright and early - we can wait to hear about your exciting week off and what you got up to on Halloween!!

Thank You

The Reception Team