Welcome to class RLR!

RLR 2024-2025

Exploring 2d shapes 

In Maths we have been learning about 2d shapes and their properties. We have enjoyed a range of activities including creating drawings with the 2d shapes, matching shapes and creating shape pictures. On our 2d shape pictures we included circles, triangles, squares, oblongs, hexagons and diamonds. We spoke about the shapes and their properties as we explored during our Maths lesson. We are now Super Shape Experts!

Searching for Spring🌸

In RE, we have been on a Spring walk to search for the signs of Spring. On the field we spotted new buds on the trees, blossom, new seedlings, beautiful green leaves, a nest up high in the trees and birds flying in the sky. We even spotted a ladybug and counted it's spots before releasing it back into the grass. Spring is definitely on the way!

Planting seeds

We have enjoyed planting seeds in Science. We talked about what a plant needs to grow, learning all about soil, sunlight and water. We planted sunflower seeds and broad beans. We are very excited to watch them grow and measure how tall they are going to be!

World Book Day!

In class we have celebrated World Book Day. We came to school dressed up as one of our favourite characters from a story. We enjoyed lots of fun activities throughout the day including designing our own book cover, parading our costumes and designing bookmarks. We enjoyed listening to lots of stories throughout the day with our friends. 

Chinese New Year

In class, we celebrated Chinese New Year (the lunar new year), which started on 29th January where the year changes from the Year of the Dragon to the Year of the Snake. We read the story of 'The Great Race' and found out about the Chinese Zodiac.
We have celebrated by making lanterns, exploring the Chinese sensory tray, painting Chinese symbols, dressing up in traditional chinese clothing, making chinese food in the outdoor mud kitchen and sharing Chinese food.

We created houses for the Three Little Pigs. We used a range of materials and tools to create the perfect strong house to be safe away from the Big Bad Wolf!

Watercolour snowflakes 

We mixed Science with Art this week and we created beautiful winter snowflakes. We spoke about snowflakes all being special and unique. We used the glue and spreaders to create a snowflake on the paper and then sprinkled the salt over the glue. We then added different coloured watercolours to the salt and watched as they were absorbed by the salt. The end results of our unique snowflakes were beautiful!

A wonderful Nativity performance 

We performed our Nativity 'Wriggly Nativity' to our parents/carers and we were amazing! We all sang our hearts out and said our lines in loud, clear voices. The grown ups were very impressed with our singing and dancing and everyone enjoyed the fabulous performance. 

Winter Wonderland 

We enjoyed a magical trip to the Winter Wonderland at West Boldon Lodge. We arrived and were greeted by the elves who took us to their special cabin. We began our day by making a Santa hat which meant we were ready for Elf training. We then went to the magical forest where we had to find the missing pieces of the jigsaws. We enjoyed toasted marshmallows around the campfire and sang christmas songs. After this, we went inside and constructed beautiful snowmen decorations to take home and enjoyed a hot chocolate. Finally, we went to meet Santa who said that we were all on this nice list! We shared a story with Santa and received some treats to bring back to school.

What a baby needs 

We spoke about all of the things that a baby needs and compared it to the stuff that we need as children and adults. We sorted the pictures into the correct column and discussed the items as we glued them down. 

What happened to The Gingerbread Man?

We had a really fun week in class this week! On Tuesday morning, we came to school to find that the Gingerbread Man had escaped from the oven and we watched CCTV from the classroom of him running out of the door with his biscuit friends. We were all so shocked! We had very important tasks to do to help find out where the Gingerbread Man had gone. We had to write write down the action word from the picture, using our phonics knowledge of sounds and our amazing use of Fred Fingers. We created Wanted posters to help find him and put them up around school. We created bridges using mixed materials to help him cross the river. At the end of the day, we found the cheeky Gingerbread Man hiding in the sparkly box under the desk!

A visit from the School Nursing Team

This week, we have had a visit from the School Nursing Team. They spoke to us about how to keep our healthy. First we took part in a game, where we all passed the ball with germs on (glitter) and we could see how easily the germs were spreading around the class. We spoke about how lots of germs can be spread around and how to 'Catch it, bin it, kill it' with our coughs and sneezes. We learned about the importance of washing our hands (and even learnt a song!) with warm water and soap to kill the germs at different parts of the day, for example after going to the toilet, before we eat food and if we are dirty. The Nurses also spoke to us about brushing our teeth and how we can keep our teeth healthy; by brushing them twice a day and choosing healthy food and drinks. 

Remembrance Day

This week we have been learning all about the importance of Remembrance Day. We spoke about how the brave soldiers and servicemen/women fought in the wars to protect our country. We discussed the reason why we wear poppies, to remember the brave servicemen/women and their families who fought to keep our country safe. We created our own poppy biscuits and enjoyed making lots of poppy crafts.

Bonfire Night 

We created a Bonfire Night shared collage. We used lots of different tools and resources to achieve different effects of fireworks. Isn't it wonderful!

Potion Making 

We enjoyed making our very own magic potions. We thought of our own spells and what the magic potion would do. 

Harvest festival

We enjoyed singing harvest songs and eating our delicious soup that we had prepared. We celebrated with our families and teachers.

Harvest Soup

We have began preparing our harvest soup ready for our harvest soup celebration with our grownups. We spoke about hygiene and the importance of washing our hands to remove the germs. We also discussed how to be safe with the cutting utensils. We used the knives, peelers and cutters to prepare the carrots, potatoes, onions, leeks and turnip.

Favourite vegetable pictogram

In Maths, we made a pictogram of our favourite vegetables. We spoke about the different vegetables and then chose our favourite one. Once we had all added our favourite vegetable to be pictogram, we counted each one and identified the most popular vegetables and the least popular vegetables. 

Creating a pattern

In Maths this week, we are using some of the vegetables to create a repeated pattern. We were practicing describing our patterns and could say which vegetable was next in the pattern. Some of us tried creating and describing a pattern with a two step in it.

Following instructions 

We used our good listening skills to follow step-by-step instructions to draw a giraffe. 

Initial sounds

This week in Literacy, we began by drawing parts or characters from the story. We then used our super listening ears to see if we could hear initial sounds in the words. We then found them on the soundmat and copied them down, taking extra care with  our letter formation. How amazing are our pieces of writing!

Sorting buttons 

This week in Maths, we have been investigating ways that we can sort buttons. We explored ways that they could be sorted such as by colour, shape, size or pattern.

Our terrrrrrrrific trip!

We had a fantastic day on our first school trip to The Customs House to see a production of The Tiger Who Came to Tea. We got to sing, dance and join in with the performance. We travelled on a coach making sure we put our seatbelts on. We then walked to the local Cafe, Craft and Coffee for an afternoon tea of sandwiches, cakes, brownies, fruit, sprinkled chocolate breadsticks and juice. We had an amazing day!

Ordering the story

We have really impressed Mrs Raeburn with our recall of the story this week. We remembered the main parts (and more!) of the story and were confident in putting the pictures in the correct order. We were able to discuss what was happening at each stage of the story, using the pictures as prompts when needed.

Afternoon Tea

We have enjoyed roleplaying in our afternoon tea tuff tray. We have used the china tea set and the food to create a afternoon tea for the tiger and for our friends to enjoy. Whilst doing this, we have been recalling the main parts of the story and we all remembered that the tiger had ate all the sandwiches, buns and cakes so we made sure we had plenty on our tuff tray set up!

Exploring the tuff tray

We have enjoyed exploring the forest tuff tray this week. We have used the tuff tray to act out parts of the story with our peers, using the props to support our imaginative play. 

Creating our class owl family

We were inspired to create our own RLR owl family after reading the story. We used playdough and a mixture of craft materials to create owls. We spoke about the differences between humans and birds as we created the owls. Aren't they amazing!

Elmer the Elephant

We have been reading the story 'Elmer the Elephant' this week. We have spoke about the importance of us all being unique and why this should be celebrated. We have created patchwork patterns using the 2Simple program and created self portraits, discussing ways in which we are unique!

First week in Reception

We have had a fantastic first week in our new classroom. We have explored all of the areas and have settled into our new routine very well! We have enjoyed meeting all of our new friends in RLR. We are going to have an amazing year!