Stanningley Primary School

Reception enjoyed writing about the caterpillars we had in Early Years. They described what happened and what they saw.

In maths this half term, Nursery have continued focusing on their mastery of numbers to 10 - recognising the digit, giving examples of the value and ordering numbers in a range of contexts. Reception have been working on the value of 10, learning how 10 frames work, practising number bonds and looking at a part part whole model for addition. In the play provision the children have been exploring shape, looking at the properties of shapes and talk about their features. There's lots of excellent and exciting learning taking place every day!

The hot weather has inspired lots of waterplay in the outside area. The children have enjoyed learning and experimenting while cooling down!

The children proudly completed our annual Race For Life which took place on 15th June 2018. Each child collected sponsorship money to help raise money for our four chosen cancer charities; The Maia Mouse Foundation, Everyman, Wills Way and Candlelighters. Nursery and Reception class ran two lengths of Stanningley Park to complete their challenge, before being rewarded with a medal and a drink. A day to be proud of for everyone - well done!

The children of Early Years all took part in Stanningley Primary School's sports day on 20th June 2018. The nursery children went first, all completing a range of races including the egg and spoon race, a quoit race and an obstacle course. Reception took part in the whole school sports day, they wore their team colours, before racing against their peers. The coloured teams spread across all year groups and completed the sack race, egg and spoon race and fancy dress race to name a few. All the children were brilliant and proudly collected stickers showing their placing. The highlight for some children was the parent race - well done to everyone!

On June 27th, Early Years went on their summer trip to Temple Newsam farm. Nursery and Reception children arrived at the farm with staff and parent helpers. The children were all excited to meet 4-day-old piglets, cows, calves, sheep, donkeys and ducks. The children were able to sit on a tractor and try their hand at milking a cow! It was a lovely day enjoyed by all and there were many tired children and adults on the way home!

We have been lucky enough to have some tadpoles from a local pond. They have also grown quickly and we are observing them closely as they begin to develop tiny legs. They swim very fast and they like to feed on the toots of the pond weed that is floating in their tank.

We learnt about the life cycle of the butterfly and we watched our own caterpillars grow, change into chrysalis’s and finally butterflies. When our butterflies hatched they stayed for a few days with us so that we could enjoy looking at their beautiful wings. We noticed that they were symmetrical and we looked closely at the patterns and colours on their wings. When it was time for them to leave, we took them outside and waved goodbye as they flew into our garden.

We have waited as our chicks have incubated for 21 days. They started to hatch and it was very exciting to watch the tiny chicks pushing through the egg shells. Once hatched and with fluffy feathers, our chicks could venture in their new home. We have watched them run and feed and they have grown so fast that we have observed them getting stronger each day. Soon they will have a new outdoor home and we look forward to seeing pictures of them when they are fully grown.

Oliver’s Vegetables was the starting point for us to learn about healthy eating. We have identified lots of different fruits and vegetables and we have looked at them closely using magnifying glasses. We have chopped up fruits and vegetables and we have used our senses to smell and taste them. Colin, Julie and Adam came to share their poem and song about Oliver’s love for chips. We looked at the vegetables that Oliver found in Grandpa’s garden, we copied the actions for the song and learnt some of the words from the poem. We even made chips! First we washed the potatoes Then we peeled them using the very sharp peelers, Next we chopped them using the safety knives And then we waited whilst they cooked in Miss Holgate’s ‘health cooker’. The best bit was next….Finally we tasted the chips! And we know why Oliver liked them so much. Every day we have some healthy fruit or veg and we try to be super milk drinkers too!

Making snowballs was great fun, hitting the target was tricky! Some children even managed to add up a score of three snowballs that had hit the target.

Who Sank the boat We have enjoyed the story of Who Sank the Boat and through this story we have gained an understanding of weight, capacity, floating and sinking. We have made boats of our own and discovered that shells and dishes are also perfect for setting animals afloat. We have replayed the story and added sounds and actions. The builders tray was a good base for a small beach and the big boat allowed us to go on imaginary adventures as we sang Row, Row, Row The Boat with lots of changing verses!

When it snowed we put on our warm clothes and went to explore outside. We filled small containers with snow and we brought them inside. We made predictions using our knowledge and understanding of heat but it was a surprise to discover that a full container of snow only resulted in a partly filled container of water. Some children wanted to pack the snow into the containers with more force to increase the amount of snow. Do you think this resulted in a full container of water after it had melted?

We listened to the story of Mrs Pirate’s shopping list, the children in nursery listened to the rhyming words and tried to make other things rhyme. The reception children wrote lists that Mrs Pirate could buy carefully segmenting the words and listening to the sounds they could hear. The children also learnt that when they write lists we write the words under each other and not across the page. The children in nursery also listened to the story Five Minutes More and made marks to represent the list of jobs that the captain gave his rough, tough, noise pirates.

Pirates have provided the stimulus for lots of exciting learning this half term. We have listened to the story about the man who wanted to be a pirate! We followed his journey to the ocean and put messages in bottles just like he did. We made treasure maps and followed instruction to reach the x that marks the spot! We filled the chest with different kinds of treasure which we sorted and counted. We ships and flags in our design and technology area and outside we used the large blocks to make ships with planks to walk along. We listened to the sounds of the ocean and imagined exciting pirate adventures and we learnt some number songs which helped us to count forwards and backwards.

Learning the story of Noah’s ark helped us to understand matching and pairing. We learnt the names of lots of animals and we experimented making animal sounds to fit in with the story. We explored in the water tray and realised that some things sink and some things float. The children used the wooden bricks to design and construct an Ark for Noah and the animals and took photos of their finished design.

The children have been learning to use an I pad and take photos of their achievements or their friends. The children have been encouraged to use their knowledge to start up the camara app on the I pad and control the camera to focus on their chosen object. Some children were mini David Bailey's and took some lovely photos, others needed a little practice to hold the camera very still whilst taking the photo.

We have been working together making obstacle course outside. We have worked as team members sharing ideas with our friends and modifying our plans to make exciting and challenging pathways. Negotiating these obstacle courses helped develop our gross motor skills. We had to climb, jump and balance and even walk with great care along the thin planks so that we did not fall off. This creative play linked to our interest in pirates and we developed pirates ships out of our large bricks as well.

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with our friends, we enjoyed playing some party games and danced in the hall. We ate some lovely food, and even though Santa Claus was so busy he managed to call into see us and gave each of us a lovely gift.

We enjoyed making lots of Christmas crafts with our families at the nursery sparkle time. We sang the songs we had practised in nursery and danced with our adults to the Christmas songs. We decorated the biscuits we made whilst at nursery and we took home the wonderful things we made. We all had a magical time!

The weather became cold this month and we have discovered that water freezes and turns into ICE! This has provided us with lots of exciting exploration.

We have been printing with small branches from a pine tree and by pressing hard we created beautiful designs which we then used to make Christmas cards. We have also assembled sweets together to make lovely edible snowmen!

Snow AGAIN! We have experienced some unexpected snow this ear and it has been a wonderful time to explore. The temperature dropped below freezing or several days so we could all appreciate how our winter clothes keep us warm. The first snow fall was so dry that forming snow balls was tricky. Jake described the snow as ‘fluffy’ but the second snowfall was much wetter and we could build with it more easily. We even had fun being pulled round in sledges by our friends!

This year we decided the children would make a star decoration for a special adult to hang on their Christmas tree. The children worked together in a team of two or three and made the dough with a little help from an adult. we then cut them out using the star cutters and put them in the oven to dry. All you need is 1 cup of plain flour 1/2 cup of salt 1/2 cup of water Mix it all together and create the shapes you would like. Put it in the oven on a low heat until the shape is hard.

We read this story and learnt about the dark that is all around us. The children acted the story out within the dark bears cave in the discovery area, and made caves for their own bears using blocks and cloth both inside and out. The children used the lanterns to look at books just like big bear.

On a Thursday morning we visit the school library and borrow some books to share with our friends at school. The children look through the book boxes on the bus and choose a book they think they would like.

We were lucky to be donated a pumpkin for the children to explore. The children guessed what it would feel like and how many seeds they would be inside, we then cut it open and the children helped to scoop it out. We then asked the children to design a face they would like to carve on to it, and voted who's would be carved. We think they did a lovely job.

We are continuing to work on mastery in maths and working on different numbers. We looked closely at the number 2, and played a game making pairs of pictures. The children went on a hunt to find half a picture then found a friend and made a whole picture. As you can see from the pictures the excitement really grew, especially when one half a picture went missing!

A large box was left on the carpet in nursery! The children began playing games using the box as a prop climbing in a out using it as a den, a car and a pizza delivery place. The box was then taken outside where the children used it as part of their role play games. Mrs Pritchatt inspired the children by reading the story 'Not A Box'

Ann came to see us to help us to learn to stay safe at the side of the road. We listened to a story about a a boy called Sam which taught us to fasten our seat belt in a car. We also helped Ann create a picture by sticking stickers on a board to show how to be safe when crossing a road. We learnt some songs to help us remember to stay safe. Stop, Look, Listen Before you cross the road Stop, Look, Listen Before you cross the road Use you eyes and your ears Before you cross the road Stop, Look, Listen Before you cross the road

Harry is our Reception class friend, he likes to have stories read to him in the reading corner and lots of cuddles.

Our buddies from year 6 have helped us at lunch time. We have played outside in the big playground and had some wonderful things to eat.

The children in Early Years have settled in well during our first few weeks at school. We have been exploring all our areas of provision and learning about our routines throughout the day. We have made friends and learnt some amazing things along the way.