Autumn 2

After the October holidays the Reception classes began the half term by investigating the topic of Halloween. They looked at the story Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and decided they would like their own potion lab in the classroom where they would be able to mix up and make their own witches and wizards potions. The children also really enjoyed the book Funny Bones by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. They loved hearing about the funny

things the skeletons got up to and in class really enjoyed learning a scary Skeleton Dance.

In November the Door of Mercy came to visit our school. The teachers talked to the children about what the Door of Mercy represents and they all thought about how they could show mercy to others. When the door arrived in school all of the children went into the hall and walked through it the very special door. As the children walked through the door, they thought about all the things they could do to help other people and placed their special

hearts they had made into the basket along with the KS1 children.

The children also learnt about Remembrance Day. They watched a special video explaining what Remembrance Day is and then each made their own poppy for Remembrance Day. On the 11th November the children joined in with two minutes silence along with the rest of the school. The children were all very kind and considerate during these two minutes and

the teachers were extremely proud of them.

The second half term was action packed as the children began learning the special story of the very first Christmas. They started work on their Nativity songs and were each given a special speaking part. The children worked extremely hard to make sure they knew all of their lines and all of the words and actions to the songs. They practised in the hall and really enjoyed putting on a dress rehearsal for the other classes in school before the big day. The children put on two performances of their Christmas Play to their families and

were absolutely fantastic in both shows! The staff were beaming with pride afterwards and were sure their families were too!

On Thursday 8th December the Reception children were extremely excited to go on a very special visit to Stockley Farm. During the visit the children acted out the Nativity in a real life stable with a real life donkey! They enjoyed a festive tractor ride, made Christmas

decorations and reindeer food, and even got to meet Father Christmas. All of the children had a wonderful time meeting all the different animals including Gladys the pig and Duncan

the 27 year old, Shetland pony. It was a fantastic day out!

This term the children also welcomed two very cheeky Christmas elves into Reception. It has been very interesting to see what Buddy and Buttons have been getting up to. The

elves even helped the classes to go on a Gingerbread man hunt around the school and as a treat when they found him, the children all had a drink of hot chocolate and a

gingerbread cookie.

It has definitely been a very busy term for everyone in Reception and we hope everyone has a big rest over the Christmas Holidays.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all the Reception Children and Staff!