Welcome back to school and the start of the summer term in Reception!  We hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable Easter break.

This week the children went on their first proper school trip – proper in the sense that it was on an actual coach!  We went to lovely Godstone Farm in Surrey where the children enjoyed a day packed full of fun activities.  A huge thank you to the mums and dads who gave up their time to come with us.

• First, we took a tractor ride across the farm.
• Then we ventured into the woods to learn how to make huge spider webs; we were shown how to wind string around large wooden frames and then we had a go ourselves.
• Next we had the chance to meet and touch a cockerel, a chick, a rabbit and an 84-year-old tortoise!
• After lunch we learnt about what happens to wool on its way from a sheep’s back to a coloured ball ready for use and we had a go at weaving.
• Finally, we watched four delightful pigs race around a ready-made track and cheered on our favourites!

Here are some photos from the day:

If you fancy challenging yourself this weekend, here are some ideas for a weekend challenge:

• Can you draw a map to show where the tractor went when it took us for a ride? Draw/write what you saw on the ride.
• Can you remember how to make your own spider web? Draw a picture of a web and write a set of instructions to explain what to do, or make your own frame out of sticks and wind string around it.
• Can you draw a picture of one of the animals we met and write a sentence about your picture?
• Can you draw a story map to show what happens to wool: start with a sheep and finish with a ball of wool – what happens in between?
• Have an obstacle race with a friend, a brother or sister or even a grown-up!  Can you write down who came 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.  Can you time the race and write down the times different people took to complete the course?

This week, we completed our Lenten Project.  Each class at St. Matthew’s completes a sponsored challenge during Lent to raise money for charity.  In Reception, our challenge is to complete the route taken by Rosie the Hen (in the story of Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins).  We complete the route five times.

The playground was set up to resemble the different parts of the story and the children were encouraged to remember both the sequence of the story as well as the meaning of the prepositions used to tell the tale (across the yard, around the pond, over the haystack, past the mill, through the fence, under the beehives).  They took their challenge very seriously and kept track of how many times they had completed the course on their tick sheets.  Well done Reception!  Now don’t forget to collect in all your sponsorship money!

One of the charities we are collecting money for is the Lunchbowl Network which provides food for the orphaned children living in Kibera in Nairobi.    We watched a video of the children in Kibera and tried hard to imagine what it might feel like to have very little food. We thought about just how lucky we are to have families, food and a school full of friends to learn with everyday.  Feeling thankful, the children each wrote a prayer to say thank you for something they appreciate having in their life.  They also printed some beautiful Easter eggs using pom poms dipped in paint.

We also found time to learn the final sound on the Phase 3 sound mat which is the digraph ‘er’ as in ‘ladder’ and ‘hammer’.  This digraph makes the same sound as ‘ur’ (which we have already learnt) but it is made up of different graphemes (letters).

To distinguish ‘er’ from ‘ur’, we decided to come up with a new action for ‘er’.  Our action is to walk our fingers upwards as if walking up a ladder.

Next term, we will be spending lots of time making sure the children feel confident with all of the phase 2 and 3 sounds.  If you have time over the Easter holidays, please spend some time going over the phase 3 sounds and actions.  Try being a digraph detective: listen out for digraphs in different words (can you say if the sound is at the beginning, in the middle or at the end?) or see if you can spot any of them in stories or on signs when you are out and about.

Our Star of the Week did a fantastic job of filling up the number bag with lots of pictures representing the number 7.  Our next number of the week has been chosen as number:

We finished the week, and the term, with our Easter Service in St. Matthew’s Church. Listening to the prayers read by some of the older children gave us all another reminder of just how thankful we are for the lives we have been blessed with.  Mother Helen led the Service and the Reception children did a super job of joining in with all of the singing.

Back in the classroom, we took a moment to say goodbye to one of our classmates who will be moving house and school during the Easter holiday.  We are very thankful for his friendship and wish him and his family all the very best in their next adventure!  A huge thank you to one of our lovely mums who organised a school T-shirt for the children to sign and present to him as a leaving gift.

The children have all worked so hard this term, made super progress and grown up so much.  We would like to thank all the parents for your continuing support and encouragement and we wish everyone a very happy and restful Easter!