November

November has been jam-packed with exploration and visitors! 

We welcomed Mel from NUSTEM, who showed us how to become glaciologists as we explored ice balls. Lydia from Groundworks joined us for a workshop where we made bird feeders from plastic bottles for our forest school. Our parents were also invited into school for a maths workshop, where we were able to demonstrate our subitising skills and much more. 

Our focus text is 'Dear Zoo' and we have loved telling the story with actions. We know the story well, creating story maps to retell the story and we even designed our own lift the flap page, just like the author Rod Campbell. We used junk materials to construct animal models and visited the animals of Edinburgh Zoo online. We have been looking at and using a map of the zoo to identify land, water and buildings. We drew our own maps of the zoo and some places that are familiar to us. We enjoyed using the Vex 123 robots and created our own model of the zoo using the Vex kit and other resources. 

November also marked anti-bullying week, which we celebrated by wearing odd socks and finding out about Elmer the elephant. We talked about how we can be kind to others with our words and actions, and made friendship bracelets for each other. 

We were surprised and happy when cold temperatures brought snow to Jarrow. We explored the snow outdoors and brought it inside to investigate further, making snowmen, slush drinks and snow paintings.

October

In October, we have continued to find out all about owls. We even had a surprise visit from three real owls! The falconers told us all about what they eat, where they live and how they grow. We had the opportunity to hold or stroke them, which we loved. 

Our focus text was 'The Little Red Hen' and we have been so interested in finding out about what life is like on a farm.  Just like the little red hen, we gathered some ingredients to make our own bread. We made a list of what we needed, then after we had baked it (and eaten it of course!), we created our own instructions in the form of a story map. 

We are working really hard on our physical development. As well as daily Dough Disco, Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle and outdoor play, we have been enjoying going to the hall for PE sessions. We have been learning to move safely and in a range of ways, such as jumping with two feet together.

We had our first visit to the library at Jarrow Focus to see Catherine the librarian, who read us some Autumn stories. We had time to look around the children's section of the library and we all picked a book to take back to class to share. 

Our families joined us for an Autumn stay and play session. We loved sharing our learning space with them and showing them some of the things we do in school. 

September

A huge welcome to Jarrow Cross to our Reception children and their families!

We have had a wonderful September getting to know each other and our learning environment. After looking at the story ‘Our Class is a Family’, we have been talking about how we are a new family and have shared ways that we will look after each other this year. We will be encouraging one another and building each other up in lots of different ways. Our Year Six buddies have been helping us to settle into school life and we have enjoyed our time with them outdoors at lunchtime.

Our pencils and paintbrushes have been busy creating self-portraits and we even used healthy fruit and vegetables in the style of the artist Guiseppe Arcimboldo to create representations of ourselves. We know that we are all special and unique. To support our physical development, we have been joining in with Dough Disco every day as well as Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle. Our PE sessions in the hall have also been helping us to move our balance safely and in a range of ways, as has our outdoor time. Forest School time is definitely one of our favourite times.

Our focus text is ‘Owl Babies’. We have been exploring the story in lots of different ways in our play so we are very familiar with it already. Now that we know all about the characters, settings and events of the story, we are beginning to perform it with actions. We would love to meet some real owls!