What have we been learning about in Reception this week?
Monday 14th – Friday 18thMay 2012
This week we have been learning about spiders!
So what have we been doing in class this week?
Personal, Social and Emotional Development/ Religious Education
This week we have been learning about spiders, for PSE we created our own ‘Friendship Web’.
Friendship Web
The children sat in a circle and an adult threw a ball of string to a named child ... the adult held on to one end and threw the ball of string to the next child. The next child then chose the next person and kept hold of their piece of the 'web' and threw the ball of string to the next child.This activity encouraged the children to participate in a group activity that taught them how to communicate their feelings, and pick out positive characteristics in people.
When the each selected person caught the ball of string, the person who threw it to them, said something they like about them.
Religious Education
We read the Bible story of Noah’s Ark and discussed how God may have felt about the people on Earth ignoring his word. We talked about appreciating living things and living our lives by the word of God.
Communication, Language and Literacy
We have been continuing to make sure that the children are confident in all elements of Phase 4 Letters and Sounds.
By the end of Phase Four your child should:
- Give the sound when shown any Phase Two and Phase Three grapheme;
- Find any Phase Two and Phase Three grapheme, from a display, when given the sound;
- Be able to blend and read words containing adjacent consonants;
- Be able to segment and spell words containing adjacent consonants;
- Be able to read the tricky words some, one, said, come, do, so, were, when,have, there, out, like, little, what;
- Be able to spell the tricky words he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all, are
- Write each letter, usually correctly.
Reading
We have been continuing to practise our flashcards and reading books.
Writing
This week in letters and sounds we have practised:
Spelling these tricky words independently: he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all, are
Games to have a go at:
Spelling Tricky Words – (Planet Explorer tes iboard) -
Sentence substitution - (phonics play)
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
We havebeen:
- Using everyday language related to time
- Telling the time (‘o’ clock, half past, quarter to and quarter past)
See if your child can tell the time on your clocks at home!
Time Games
- Hickory Dickory Clock -
- What time is it? E-book -
- Cambridge clock -
- What’s the time?
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
We have been researching spiders:
- What do they eat?
- What do they do?
- Where do they live?
- Looking at non-fiction books/websites
Cooking–We have had a great time making chocolate marshmallow spiders!! The children loved eating them!
Ingredients: Marshmallows, cooking chocolate, silver balls (edible), liquorice laces
Instructions:
- Melt the cooking chocolate.
- Dip a marshmallow into the chocolate and cover it!
- Place the marshmallow on a plate/tray.
- Put 8 legs (liquorice laces) on the spider.
- Finish off, by adding 2 silver balls for eyes.
- Leave the chocolate to set.
- Eat your yummy spiders!!
Creative Development
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
We shared the story of:The Very Busy Spider.
After sharing the story, we talked about the main character.
Was it right that she should have ignored her friends?
Could her web have waited for another day?
Look back at the pictures in the book and talk about the way the web starts off small and grows bigger and bigger as it nears completion.
We then sang some spider songs and rhymes:
The Big Black Spider
The big black spider
Made a web on the tree.
It was big and round,
You would agree.
She might catch a bug,
She might catch a bee.
But the big black spider,
Can not catch me!
Singasongofspiders
Tune: “Sing A Song of Six Pense”
Sing a song of spiders,
Up in a tree.
Six shinny spiders,
Sliding down by me.
When they came near,
I began to run.
Sitting under spiders
Isn’t lots of fun!
Busy Spider
Tune: "This Old Man"
Busy Spider, he made one
Great big web on a drum,
With a spin, spin, spin
'Round and 'round he goes.
He puts on, quite a show.
Busy Spider, he made two
Great big webs on some shoes.
With a spin, spin, spin
'Round and 'round he goes.
He puts on, quite a show.
Busy Spider, he made three
Great big webs on a tree.
With a spin, spin, spin,
'Round and 'round he goes.
He puts on quite a show.
Busy Spider, he made four
Great big webs on the door.
With a spin, spin, spin,
'Round and 'round he goes.
When he sleeps, no one knows!
Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider
And sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away!
I'm a Little Spider
(tune: Little Teapot)
I'm a little spider, watch me spin.
If you'll be my dinner,
I'll let you come in.
Then I'll build my web
to hold you tight,
And gobble you up in one big bite!
There's A Spider On the Floor
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.
Who could ask for any more
Than a spider on the floor?
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.
There's a spider on my leg, on my leg.
There's a spider on my leg, on my leg.
Oh it's really really big
This old spider on my leg.
There's a spider on my leg, on my leg.
Now the spider's on my stomach, on my stomach.
Now the spider's on my stomach, on my stomach.
Oh he's just a dumb old lummock
This old spider on my stomach.
Now the spider's on my stomach, on my stomach.
Now the spider's on my head, on my head.
Now the spider's on my head, on my head.
Oh I wish that I were dead,
I've got a spider on my head!
Now the spider's on my head, on my head.
Don’t forget: Pirate Day on Monday 21st May!
You can come dressed up as a pirate!
Exciting butterfly news!
On Wednesday and Thursday this week, we had 9 butterflies hatch out of their chrysalis. The children have been so excited to meet our new butterflies and have been brilliant at caring for them. We have released them all on the school field, ready for their new ‘butterfly lives’. We are waiting for one more butterfly to nibble its way out of its chrysalis! I’m sure that it won’t be long before it makes an appearance!
What can you do to help at home?
- Go through the weekly letters and sounds sheets and activities with your child (make sure you revisit previous weekly sounds letters, to make sure your child still knows the previous sounds).
- Practise flashcards regularly throughout the week.
- Practise reading books on lots of occasions during the week. Encourage your child to have a go at reading some of the words in their bedtime stories or words on signs and posters when you are out!
- Get your child to keep writing regularly at home (form letters correctly).
- Keep revisiting previous websites and activities from previous ‘weekly learning letters’.
- Share lots of books and stories together.
- Spend time speaking together in English (if this is not your home language).
- Collect together ‘bits and pieces’ to send into school for your child’s Learning
Story! (Pictures, photos, tickets, etc)