It is officially Christmas time in Reception! We have been busy over the last few weeks getting ready for Christmas. The children have all performed in our Christmas Nativity, Whoops-A-Daisy-Angel and all excelled at learning their lines, songs and actions, including how to sign using Makaton. We are so proud of all the children and applaud them for all their hard work and enthusiasm in making our Christmas Nativity such a special one. The children also made the most of the snowy weather this week. We wrapped up warm and worked together to build a fantastic snowman. The children also enjoyed making patterns in the snow using sticks and loved making snow angels. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the parents and carers for attending our Nativity and for all your support this term. Happy Christmas from all of us!

Our topic this half term is 'Delicious' and in our literacy lessons the children have been looking at recipe books and learning about the features of non-fiction texts. We have been writing a set of instructions for a Chocolate Mug Cake and of course once we had done this, we had to make the Mug Cake! The children were fantastic at following our set of instructions, and all agreed our cake was delicious! 

This week the Reception Classes have been investigating the change in the seasons. They have been taking part in nature hunts at forest school and during child-initiated learning. They have enjoyed learning about the features of Autumn including the changes in the colour of leaves. They have enjoyed exploring conkers and pinecones in the investigation areas and exploring Autumn colours in the creative area. The children have explored a range of art activities including leaf rubbing, making hedgehogs using pinecones and Autumn leaf painting. 

In Reception We Are Investigators! 

The children in Reception had great fun recently when parents joined them for an early morning reading event in the school hall. The hall was transformed into a colourful, comfy reading zone and parents and children settled down to share story books together. They were also able to share croissants, biscuits and juice. Before the reading began parents were able to listen to a presentation from Mrs. Herbaut reminding them how crucial it is that children learn to read at an early age. The help parents can provide at home is invaluable. It was great to see families sharing books together and having fun. At Roebuck Academy we are readers!

This week in Reception we have started using the Write Stuff literacy scheme in our literacy lessons. Our story this week was Pigs Might Fly by Johnathon Emmett. Each day we began our lessons by looking at clues inside the Meaningful Moment Bag and each day the clues referred to a different part of the story. Next, the children then built up the vocabulary they could use in their writing with the help of Grandma Fantastic. Finally, they used the new words they had learnt in their writing. The children were proud of the writing they produced. At Roebuck Academy we are writers!

The children in reception have been using their detective skills out and about in the local area. Each day a small group walked the area around the school looking for the buildings and features that are important in our community. The children were amazed to see how many buildings there were and how they are used by the people who live locally. During the walk there were lots of opportunities for questions and to extend the children's vocabulary. 

Returning to school the children were able to use the photographs we took as a stimulus for their writing. We also used the photographs as part of our Forest School activity. We hung the photos we took around the wood and the children had to stop at each photo and tell each other how the environment in the photographs was different to the environment in the woods. At Roebuck Academy we are geographers.