We have had lots of fun in Reception this week celebrating Chinese New Year. The children have learnt all about how
Chinese people prepare for Chinese New Year, how they celebrate Chinese New Year and why they celebrate. The children have loved the Chinese Zodiac story and they thought it was very funny that they were born in the year of the goat or the year of the horse. The children have also learnt that this year of the rat!

The children have also enjoyed painting dragons. They concentrated very well and they selected their own colours carefully as well as trying to stay within the lines. Some children preferred to paint their own dragons as well!

Some children chose to thread numbers from 1 to 10 and 1 to 20 using coloured beads and some children sequenced numbers on the computers. Some children chose to sequence the animals in the order that they crossed the river and other children chose to make a dragon out of 2D shapes. Everybody practised their adding this week. They used the Chinese part, part, whole model to create, solve and record their own addition sums.

Lots of children have also worked extremely hard making their own Chinese dragons on the workshop table. The children worked independently and showed great perseverance. They were also very imaginative and creative.

However some children chose to make dragons out of play dough. These dragons were all very different and also very creatively designed.

While some children preferred to make a large dragon outside using a wide selection of resources. This dragon has a head, a body, a long tail, some wings, some arms with claws and fire coming out of his mouth!

The children have also enjoyed following Chinese traditions this week and they prepared our classroom for Chinese New Year. They have loved washing and cleaning!

The children have also had fun trying to use chop sticks this week to pick up pom poms and pasta. They have realised that it is quite a skill and that eating your dinner with chop sticks must be quite tricky!

The children have been fascinated with the lion, unicorn and dragon dances so we decided to create a dragon dance of our own. The children loved this so much that they are going to create some more dragon dances and music of their own next week in discovery time!

This week the children have been trying to persuade Goldilocks to eat her vegetables. They have continued making their own healthy dinners using a variety of different materials on the workshop table. The children have been fantastic at choosing their own resources. They have really thought hard about the colour and shape of each piece of food. Their dinners look delicious!

The children have also been on a trip to Sainsbury’s to buy the ingredients to make Goldilocks some vegetable dinners. The Bumble Bees family group wanted to make Goldilocks a carrot cake and some carrot and potato soup and the Honey Bees family group wanted to make Goldilocks a cheese and potato pie.

Ten children went to Sainsbury’s yesterday. They went to Sainsbury’s on the Number 50 bus, they selected the ingredients for the carrot cake, carrot and potato soup and the cheese and potato pie. They scanned the food and paid at the self-checkout, and they came back to school on the school minibus.

The children also entertained the customers at Sainsbury’s as they sang the Alphabet Rap and played improvised drums whilst they waited for the minibus!

Back in the classroom the children have been adding up carrots using the part, part, whole model.

And they have been writing about which vegetables they like and don’t like.

The children have also enjoyed playing imaginatively in our class farm shop, taking on the role of the cashier and the customer. The children have played cooperatively in the role play area to act out a narrative.

And of course they have helped cooked the carrot cake, the carrot and potato soup and the cheese and potato pie!

The best bit of the week has to have been eating our healthy meals. The children thought the vegetable dishes were delicious!

This week we have also started our topic on healthy eating. The children began the week with a brainstorm about what they already know about healthy eating and what they would like to know. They also brainstormed what they would like to learn about and what activities they would like to do within our healthy eating topic. The children’s ideas are now going to direct how and what we teach over the coming weeks.

Following the brainstorm the children have spent a lot of time thinking about what types of foods are healthy and what types of foods are unhealthy. The children then sorted play food in different ways according to our categories. The children then wrote about their favourite meals using their phonic knowledge.

Some children also chose to draw their favourite meals on the iPad and they thought carefully about the colours they were using in their pictures.

The children also made healthy meals at the workshop table. The children decided upon their own meal choices, chose their own resources and manipulated them, thinking carefully about the colour, shape and size of each food item. The children were great thinkodactyls!

The children also learnt this week about the importance of exercise. In our family groups the children devised their own exercise routines. They were very enthusiastic about this and the routines were quite complex and energetic! The children also enjoyed demonstrating their routines to their friends. Enjoy the videos!

Group 1

Group 2

This week in Maths the children have been learning about 2D shapes. Through play the children have been learning the names and the properties of different shapes. For example, some children have sponge painted repeating shape patterns.

Some children have sorted and classified shapes in different ways.

Some children have created pictures out of shapes and described the shapes they have used.

Some children have made shapes on the geoboards with elastic bands.

Some children enjoyed cutting out 2D shapes in the play dough and cooking them in the microwave!

And other children have had lots of fun building models and identifying the different shapes within their construction play.