Reception

Monday 6th July  

Good morning, 

We have come to the last week of Reception. How is this possible, I ask myself? It is at this time of year that I can't help becoming nostalgic, so sorry in advance!  

The learning this week is linked to transition and thinking about moving onto Year 1. We will also think about what a lovely time we have all had in Reception class. Our class have had an unusual reception year but I have no doubt that they will be more resilient because of it. I can't wait to see what a great time they have in Year 1.

I will be sending the children home with their learning journeys and books on Wednesday. We will provide them with a carrier bag, that has been quarantined for 72 hours, to put their things in. If you are learning at home these will be available to collect at the office from Thursday onward. The school is still open week beginning 13th July to collect items. 

Could I kindly ask you to return any reading books (all children were sent home with 5), library books and homework packs that you may still have? They can be dropped off in the box in the school foyer labelled Reception. Thank you in advance. 

Have a great last week. 
Best wishes,
Mrs Crilly

Monday 29th June

Good morning everyone. We are now at the two week countdown till the end of the school year. As such, we will continue to discuss the transition to Year 1 with the children. We have welcomed back more Reception class this week into Moles or Hedgehogs. If you are continuing to learn at home, I hope you have been enjoying the pirate activities. The children at school have enjoyed the pirate activities and so we will continue the topic for another week. This week our story is called Pirate Pete by Nick Sharratt.  

Have a great week. 
 

Best wishes, 
Mrs Crilly

Monday 22nd June

Good morning, and welcome to Pirate week. Aarggghhh, aaaarggghhhh me hearties! I have uploaded all the work you will need this week and really hope you enjoy all the pirate activities.  

As you will now know Reception will be finishing on the 9th July to allow Years 2-4 to come in to school. I am sad that we will have less time with our Hedgehogs and Moles but know they are ready to fly off to Year 1. You will begin to see more transition activities in the planning over the coming weeks to help support the children to feel ready for this new adventure.  

Hope you enjoy the lovely weather this week. 
Best wishes, 
Mrs Crilly 
 

Monday 15th June

Another busy week and I think we are all getting used to our new way of working. The children are adapting to having less resources and we have found they are using their imaginations more. The children enjoyed learning about camouflage this week. They also spent a lot of time discussing sharks and that is where we took our inspiration for our learning this week. This week we will be reading the story Shark in the Park by Nick Sharratt. We are looking forward to seeing a few more children back this week. If you are not yet back then we hope you have fun with the learning this week and are keeping safe.

We have enjoyed reading with the children this week. If we move your child to a new book level, then I will send you a message on Google classroom and will add the next level onto Rising stars. Please let me know if your child needs more books on Rising Stars. 

It was really lovely to see some of the octopus' that were created this week.  If you are learning at home, please send in some work from the week by Friday at 3. 

Best wishes,
Mrs Crilly and the Reception Team

Friday 5th June

Wow, what a first week back and I think it is the most unusual of my whole career! The children have risen to the challenge magnificently and have quickly got used to all the changes. We have been so proud of how the children coped coming in to the 'new normal' and it has been so lovely to see their smiling faces once again. I have added a few photos of the children at play in their bubbles onto Google classroom.  Saying that, we understand each families circumstances are different and that you will each have considered carefully what is best for your child and family. We are supportive of whatever you choose to do and only look forward to when we can all be back together. 

Next week, teachers at school will begin one-to-one reading with children again. We will use a clear visor to ensure safety and have attached a picture so the children are not surprised or shocked. Also there are pictures of each staff member in full PPE gear. We have not had to don this in school yet as all the first aid has been very minor but we will put it on should their be a need (toilet accidents or first aid). Feel free to have a little giggle at our expense!

Our topic for this week is Mister Seahorse. We chose this because the children have been chatting about camouflage and it has some great examples of under the sea camouflage. I hope you have fun this week!

Parents of children learning at home: Apologies for last week's Google classroom. I didn't set it up as an assignment which is why you had trouble uploading. I have set it up correctly this week, fingers crossed. Thank you to all who have emailed their children's work. It let's me see if the activities are supportive and brings a smile to my face every time I read one. I have loved seeing the beautiful Rainbow Fish that have been created this week, really wonderful! 

Thursday 28th May

Happy half term everyone! We are very thankful that the sun is out and shining so brightly!  I hope you have managed to find some fun activities on the 'half term activities' shield on the class pages or just enjoyed a well deserved break?

Last week we were busy in school getting the class ready for school opening to more children, on Monday 1st June.  I have attached a PowerPoint that I would like you to go through with your child beforehand.  I will use the same PowerPoint and will go through it with the children when they return. We will be taking every care to make sure children resettle into class and would appreciate any information you have as to how your child has been feeling about the return to school. At the end of the PowerPoint is a little message for the parents/carers to reply to via email. Your child is allowed to bring in a photo of something special into school and these will be displayed in class.  Their family photos are also still up to reassure children. 
 
I will be uploading the work to Google classroom and the class page for you. If you are home schooling still, please send me a piece of work every Friday. I have also provided lessons for Friday as we will not be in school on this day. All the work set for Friday links to the story of the week.   

Best wishes, 

Mrs Crilly  
 

Monday 18th May

Good morning everyone,
I hope you enjoyed receiving your sunflower seeds and they are safely planted in pots. I wonder whose will grow the tallest? I want to say a huge thank you to all parents for the amazing learning you have supported your children with. The emails I have received show the way each family is making the learning really personal to themselves and they help to keep the Reception teams spirits up. Apologies if you have not received an email in response, I do try to reply to everyone. This week I would like you to ask your child to pick their favourite story to base their learning around. You could recommend your child picks a favourite bedtime story e.g. Bear Hunt, The Hungry Caterpillar, Aliens Love Underpants. This should lead to high levels of concentration as they will be leading the learning themselves. I will read one of my favourite stories to the children on the Monday video session so if they cannot think of a story you could base it on my favourite. It would be lovely if they could collect the learning for this week together so they can share it with their new key group upon their return. 

This week 3 of the tadpoles turned into froglets and It was very exciting to see them hopping around on the rocks! I have uploaded a video for you to see. Tomorrow I will take the froglets back to the school swimming pool to rejoin their froglet friends.  

With the news that we may be able to return to school on June 1st we are looking forward to welcoming the children back. School will look and feel very different but we will support the children to settle into the new routine. The children (and grown ups) have shown such resilience over the last 2 months I am positive we will rise to the challenge. I will continue to upload the home learning grid to both Google classroom and the class page but I will not be uploading Google classroom videos as I will be teaching. Children at school will be taught what is uploaded for home learning. 

I hope you enjoy your learning this week and look forward to seeing what you get up to. 

Best wishes,
Mrs Crilly

P.S Don't forget to check the garden for slugs!

Monday 11th May

I hope you had a lovely bank holiday and managed to enjoy some VE day celebrations? I have enjoyed looking at the photos that some of you have sent in already. I am so glad that the sunshine has come back and we have enjoyed being out in the garden again this week. My daughter found a rope swing in the woods so she was very excited to try it out. Have you found anything unexpected on your walks?

Well done for another great week of home learning.  I hope you enjoyed the story of The Very Busy Spider and finding out some interesting facts about spiders. This week we will be revisiting planting to see if anything has changed with the seeds you planted when we learnt about Jack and the Beanstalk. Mrs Perry also has a lovely surprise in store for you coming through your letterbox. She wanted to make sure you knew we were all thinking of you and looking forward to when we can all be back together again. I hope you enjoy receiving your post, I know I always do! Big thank you to Mrs Perry for organising everything.

**Seed packet instructions are on Google classroom classwork page.

Keep up all the great learning and I look forward to being able to put more of you on the Rainbow and Pot of Gold this week! 

Best wishes,
Mrs Crilly

4th May 2020

Good morning everyone and I hope you've had a great week. My family have found this week a little tricky because of the weather but we did go out splashing in puddles a few times and then enjoyed some hot chocolate when we got home. I wonder if you went on any wet weather walks? My children have played with lots of their toys inside, including playdough and magnet tiles. 

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It has been so nice to see all of your lovely work sent in and to read how you are all getting on. I love how you all use your individual ideas to make the learning unique to you. Mrs Perry has also enjoyed looking at your work on Google classroom and has been impressed with how much effort you've all been putting into your work. I am impressed that Mrs Perry has made it onto Google classroom! This week I hope you enjoy learning about The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.

We are asking, as a school, that parents send in one piece of work by Friday 3.30. I look forward to seeing how the children get on this week and I will get back to everyone by the following Friday. Thank you for all the positive feedback about the videos on Google classroom and I'm glad they are helping the children with their learning. If your child needs extra reading books on Rising Stars or Getepic please let me know. I do check them but obviously there is a lot to keep track of. 

Best wishes and stay safe, 

Mrs Crilly

27th April 2020

Good morning everyone and I hoped you all enjoyed learning about Jack? From the emails your families have sent me it certainly looked like it. I was amazed by the effort you are putting in and I especially loved seeing the baddies that you created. Keep up all the hard work!

This week I did some baking with my children and we watched, with fascination, as one of the tadpoles grew its front legs. The tadpoles were starting to look hungry so I did some research and discovered they like to eat boiled eggs. They look a lot happier now and my book said it would help the rest to start growing their legs.

I've also been watching my potato's grow in my garden and that inspired our next story, Supertato! This week I would like you to send me pictures of the mathematics you have been doing as well as your models and pictures of course. 

Google classroom should working from Monday morning (fingers crossed). Again please let me know if the videos are helpful so that I can feed into next week. 

Reading levels: I have used my knowledge of where the children were when we left school to assign them books on Rising Stars and GetEpic. If you feel your child is able to read 100% of the book on the first try then I am happy to reassess their level. Please send me a short video of them reading a new book from their current book band and I can 'virtually assess' them. Also if the books are too tricky for them then I can give the level below. Remember at the correct reading level they will be able to read 90-95% of the words independently (sounding out is allowed). 

Have a great week and look out for all those evil peas!

Mrs Crilly and Reception Team

20th April 2020 

Dear children,

I hope you all had a good Easter and that the Easter bunny still managed to come to your house?  What an unusual Easter it was! Thank goodness for all this lovely weather. My family has spent a lot of time baking and my favourites were the Easter nests that we made. We enjoy going for bike rides and long walks through the woods. Last week we built a den together and named it Bluebell Cottage. How have you kept yourselves busy?

The tadpoles are getting bigger and some of them are starting to grow back legs. I have attached a picture and I wonder if you can spot all four tadpoles? What will they be called when they have legs?

I miss seeing you all at school and all our interesting chats. That is why I loved seeing the pictures of what you have been doing. Can you send me a picture of your writing this week? Remember not to ask for too much help from your parents! Use your robot arms to sound the words out and don't forget your capital letters and full stops. 

Have a lovely week and I hope you enjoy learning about Jack!

Dear parents,

Our topic for this term is 'Down At The Bottom of My Garden' and our learning this week will be linked to the story of Jack and The Beanstalk. I have changed the format of the home learning to mirror how the children would learn in class. I would appreciate any feedback on which activities were most successful and I can then feed this into next week.

Next week (27th April) our learning will move onto Google classrooms and you will be receiving a separate 'how to' guide about this. There will also be an explanation guide to getepic.com to provide additional leveled reading books. I will assign reading books to the children at an appropriate level. If this level seems too easy or challenging please let me know through email. 

I am wondering how much help the children are asking for with their writing? At school we encourage them to be as independent as possible, even if their work ends up 'spelt wrong'. I have included a handout that may be helpful if your child is struggling with their writing. 

I hope you all have another safe and healthy week. 

Mrs Crilly and all the Reception team

Home School Week 1 27.3.2020

Dear children,

I hope you have all been very good for your families and listening to everything they are asking you to do? I'd love to see some of the writing you have all been doing. Perhaps you could ask your parents to email the schoolsout@stmarys698.herts.sch.uk address to show me.  

At my house we have started each day with a PE lesson. On Tuesday we joined Joe Wickes for his PE lesson on youtube. It made my muscles ache a lot, so we have also tried out some gentler forms of exercise. We have tried https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga which we found really fun. As well as learning the frozen dance to 'Into the Unknown'. Salma requested this one!

Before I left for the break I took home four tadpoles. They are now living in my kitchen, and my girls have named them Susan, Tommy, Lucy and Peter.

I will keep you updated as to how they are getting on.  Perhaps you could find out what tadpoles eat and let me know. 

Dear Parents,

I want you to know that I too have been home schooling my 7 year old.  It has taken a while, but we seem to have found a good routine. We complete all the home learning in the morning and then use the afternoon to play in the garden, plant seeds and yesterday we made meatballs. I am confident you have found a routine that works for you. However, If you need any help please get in touch.

It is important to your child's reading progress to continue reading their leveled book for 10 minutes every night. When you run out of leveled reading books sent from school, please register with OxfordOwl.co.uk. Registration is free, and you can choose your child's reading level from the levels drop down menu, then choose book band and your child's level. The school is looking into options for reading books after the Easter break. 

I will be putting up new home learning on Monday, 20th April, all being well.

A prayer for our class and our school:

Dear Jesus, thank you that you are with us all of the time - at home, at school, wherever we are. Please help us to remember you love each of us and help us to show that love to our family. Please heal all those people who are sick and give strength to doctors, nurses and hospital staff across our country and across the world. 

Amen

Have fun this week and keep safe. 

Mrs Crilly and the Reception team

Home learning

Today children were sent home with extra reading books and their home learning diary. If your child has been absent this week then there will be a named pack outside the school office tomorrow. Please also take 3 extra reading books, at your child's level,  from the Reception box.

I have uploaded the daily activities below and added website links that we would use in school.  If you do not have a printer or wish to save on printing, then please write the example in their green diary and complete the work in the book. I have over supplied activities so please don’t feel they all have to be completed. Use the resources in the way that suits your particular circumstances. 

Web links: 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2HYM9VXz9k Jolly phonics sounds video – sound of the day
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MVzXKfr6e8 – numbers to 20

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShqXL-zfLxY – numbers back from 20

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDQDyx59QY4 – 2D Shapes

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cg-Uc556-Q – 3D shapes

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amxVL9KUmq8 – counting in 5s

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yr-IuM4SEA – counting in 10s

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jOzhiACB68 – doubles to 10

• www.BusyThings.co.uk 
• www.phonicsplay.co.uk

As ever, PE and Sport is very important for the well-being of our children. Joe Wicks has some great Youtube videos to keep your child/children active in the house.  Why not start your day with a quick workout!

Best wishes from all the Reception team.

Mrs Crilly 

Week 4 – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

What a busy week we have had! The children have really been inspired by our class story. They enjoyed retelling the whole story and even wrote their own story maps. Other interests in class have been boats, including canal boats and ocean liners. The children were fascinated by the weather this week. They explored the wind by making their own kites and talked about their likes and dislikes of thunderstorms. The week ended in a teddy bears picnic and the children loved bringing their favourite teddy into school. The children have enjoyed learning our letter sounds this week. Try watching the jolly phonics songs for s,a,t,p   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Ql0tD0dcI 

Have a lovely weekend and don’t forget to go splashing in muddy puddles!

Week 5 – Oliver’s vegetables

Last week was filled with a lot of firsts and the children demonstrated a lot of bravery.  On Tuesday we tried a variety of vegetables including radishes, beetroot, sugar snap peas and baby sweetcorn. The children all tried their best and surprised us with how willing they were to try the new vegetables. We encouraged them to use this skill in the dinner hall when they met a new food. In the afternoon we went to Harvest assembly and the children sat so beautifully for the performances. Everyone commented on how well we had listened and behaved. On Wednesday we took our shoes, socks and ties off to do PE. The experience was brand new for some of our children and took a little getting used to. Next week we will be getting changed into our PE kits.  We painted our Christmas cards for parents to purchase and there were some amazing designs. We hope you will be very proud to purchase them and show off the children’s amazing art skills. Have a great week and keep up the great reading. 

Week 6 – Funny Bones

This week we have enjoyed the story of funny bones. The children acted out the story, pretending to be the big skeleton, little skeleton and dog skeleton and what acting skills they had! It was a busy week in the Reception class garden; we found lots of worms and then lots of seeds to plant. We had another successful PE lesson with children listening carefully to instructions and a fun game of traffic lights.