Cygnus - Reflect and Review

Dear Reception and Nursery families

This week we have been thinking about our own local support and community in school and our community in Oxford. 

We had a discussion about social justice this week and asked the children what they felt was unjust locally and what we could or should do to change that. 

The children came up with some great ideas. They felt it was difficult to be at the park when no-one would play with them and wondered if older children could look after the younger children more and help them join in with play. They were all very worried about litter and how it affected their environment and the environment of animals too. They all felt we should be doing more to get rid of litter and stop people from dropping it. 

Drawing club featured the book ‘Last stop on Market Street’ by Matt De La Pena. The story is about a boy and his Nana going to help run a soup kitchen after church. The children imagined where the bus could take them on a journey and tried mapping their own journeys to school. Vocabulary this week: community, help, magic, rhythm, support, beautiful and bus.

The Reception children have been practising doubles again this week, this time in the context of odd and even numbers.The children were great at spotting doubles in the classroom and at spotting odd and even numbers. We also explored 3D shape with the help of the Numberblocks  

Numberblocks - Series 6: Can We Have Our Ball Back? - BBC iPlayer

and challenged the children to find or make some of the shapes in the classroom and outside. 

Nursery have been focused on the concept of one fewer. We have used the rhyme ‘Five little ducks’ to help us with our thinking about this and the children have been playing with the rubber ducks during water play and making them go swimming ‘over the hills and far away.’

Big 3 and Me this week was about being by ourselves. We learned the British sign language signs for safe, lonely and tired. The lesson aimed to promote the idea of trying to do some things by yourself and sometimes enjoying the feeling of independence. The animals set the challenge: Enjoy making, playing or learning by yourself this week. 

Nursery class enjoyed their outdoor learning in forest school. 

Reception dad’s, we hope you enjoyed the Father’s day forest school this week. If you couldn’t make it and would still like to come along to a forest school afternoon on one of the other Fridays this term, please contact school to let us know. 

In week 4 we will be talking about journeys around the world. If you and your family have travelled somewhere and can share with the class we’d love a photo and some information for our discussion on 25th June. Please email the Early Years email account or send in information into class. 

Next week at a glance

Next week we will be thinking about journeys to other places in the world. 

Our personal, social and emotional health focus will be ‘Understanding others’.

Dates for your diary: 

Outdoor learning dates this term: 19th June (Father’s day forest school), 26th June, 3rd July (Reception children only). Nursery children will be having outdoor learning on Wednesday afternoons. 

23rd June - School class photos 

26th June - Rescheduled Zoolab visit to the school.

8th July - Sports day and family picnic. 

10th July - Last day with current teachers.

13th-17th July - Transition week.

17th July - Last day of Term 1pm finish. 

Notices:

The Reception children are now all reading books in phonics and will be bringing new books home every week. Please make sure they always have their reading books in their books bags and bring the bags to school every day. The day we change books will change depending on the timetable. 

Children need a pair of indoor shoes/plimsoles to change into to come into the classroom and a spare set of clothes, including pants and socks, for any accidents. These should be brought to school every day please. 

All nursery children should have wellies for outdoor play. 

Please make sure the children have a waterproof coat every day. We have outdoor play as often as possible and we need to be ready for changes in the weather. 

Please make sure the children have a sunhat/cap at school and their own sunscreen to use at school. 

If your child is going home with someone else, please make sure you email the school office to advise us of the change: office@nhps.org.uk 

Best wishes

The Reception Team