Reception Elm

Hello and welcome to Elm class web page.

In our classroom, you will find

Mrs Mountney

Mrs Margrove

Mrs Ali-Shah

                                       Miss Smith

If you have any questions please feel free to speak to a member of staff at the beginning or end of the day.

In Elm class our P.E lessons are on a Wednesday morning and a Friday afternoon. Please ensure P.E kits are in school on these days and all items are clearly labelled.

Library sessions are on a Monday so please ensure the children have their books in their drawers ready to change on Monday morning. They will be able to choose from a wide range of fiction or non-fiction books.

We use the outside area as our second classroom so please make sure the children bring suitable clothing as they will be outside whatever the weather. If possible please leave wellies (named) in school as we have a digging area, water wall and mud kitchen that the children have daily access to.

What we are learning: 

WC: 16.7

As we enter our very last week in Elm class we would firstly like to say a very big thank you to all our parents. This year has been a real partnership and we couldn't have achieved what we have without your help. We wish you a wonderful 6-week break and look forward to welcoming you back in year one!  

We would also like to say a big thank you to all our volunteers this year: Mrs Jeffrey and Miss Lucas. Thank you for helping us each week with our learning.  

Finally, we would like to say a huge well done and thank you to all 30 members of Elm class! It had been an absolute pleasure to teach you and watch you grow. Your attitude towards learning and giving things a go is so commendable. Have lots of fun on your 6-week break and stay safe. We will see you in year one!

From Mrs Mountney, Mrs Margrove, Miss Smith and Mrs  Ali-Shah

Some key dates for the last week: 

Monday: sports day ( 9.30am) please ensure P.E kit is in school, children have a hat and water bottle. 

Wednesday: beach party (children to bring sensible clothes and footwear in a named carrier bag) 

Friday: school finishes at 1.45 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

What we are learning: 9.7.18

Last week the children really enjoyed learning about pirates and sharing their facts with the rest of the class. We made eye patches and swords using junk modelling which resulted in lots of role play. After dipping scrunched up paper into tea and baking it in the oven to make it look old we made our own treasure maps. We thought carefully about the other features to include on our maps, a forest to hide in and look out for pirates or a bottomless lake. They had lots of fun using small world pirates to follow the trail to the treasure. 

This week we will be continuing with the pirate theme and the children will be acting out their own pirate adventure story before writing it for others to read. 

In Numberland they will be using directional language to direct a partner to the resources that they want to use in their gardens. Why not have a go at this at home? You and your child need to take on the role of either the robot or the person giving directions. Where will your directions take each other?

Monday 9th July 5.30-7.00 is open evening and we would love you to come and see our learning and in particular the artwork we have produced. You will also be able to visit the science fair that is on display in the hall and will showcase the investigations that took place across the school during science week.

Story of the week: Pirates Love Underpants

Maths table: measuring worms 

Finger gym table:  drill and bolts

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag 

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning: 

WC: 25.6

A special thank you to all the parents that supported us last week. Without your hard work and support the children really wouldn't have had such a great week. The children were a real credit to us on our school trip and had a wonderful time. Don't forget we are selling a class photo of our trip for £1 please speak to a member of staff if you are interested in this. 

This week we will be continuing our work on saving the earth. We will be completing a different experiment each day, so look out in the morning to see what we have been up to! 

In Numberland we will be re-visiting all the different vocabulary we have learnt this year. The children will be set challenges involving doubles, halves, patterns, one more and one less that they have to complete. Can they explain to you what each word means?    

Story of the week: The World Came to my Place Today

Maths table: ordering in 5's and 10's 

Finger gym table:  wooden blocks

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag 

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning- wc: 18.6.18

We found out the exciting news this week of what class the children are going to be in next year, and who their new teacher is going to be. Now we know this, we will begin to talk about transition as part of our everyday routine. This will help ensure that the children are feeling confident when it is time to move up. Don't forget we are holding a meeting on Monday 25th June at 7.30 where you will find out lots more information about your child moving to year one. 

We have a very busy week ahead, so it has been broken down into days to make it a little more simple: 

Monday: Start of 'Heal the Earth Week' and visit from Chip the storyteller. Children will also be upcycling different things ready to sell to you on Friday!  

Tuesday: Our school trip (normal collection and pick up time).

Wednesday: Art lessons delivered by some of our very talented parents.

Thursday: Write letters to the zoo to say thank you.

Friday: The children will be setting up a stall outside their classroom from 3 pm onwards to sell their products to you. We are asking for any donations, which will go towards the end of year party and we will also be giving a contribution to water aid. 

Story of the week: The Beauty Contest at the zoo

Maths table: 3D shape sorting

Finger gym table:  artist studio- paint a zoo animal 

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag 

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning - WC: 11.6

We did some fantastic learning last week all about bridges. We looked carefully at images of different types of bridges from around the world then had a go at making our own using clay. They are very impressive and you can see photographs of them below or come and see them in the classroom. 

We have special visitors on Tuesday as the dental hygiene team will be in to talk to us about how we can keep our teeth clean.

We will also be completing some top secret work for Fathers day this week! We can't tell you much but don't forget you are invited into our Friday assembly where you will be able to have a sneaky peek at what we have been up to. 

During Numberland the children will be exploring shapes. We will re-cap all the 2D shapes before moving on to the 3D Shapes and using the correct language to describe them.

Story of the week: Noah's Ark

Maths table: missing number challenge 

Finger gym table:  bridge making

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag 

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning - WC: 4.6

Welcome to the last term! We are still learning about water this term and we have lots of exciting projects planned.  

This week we will be learning all about bridges. The children will have the chance to paint a bridge of their choice and make one using clay. During PE lessons they will be getting used to sports day. This week they will learn how to take part in a relay race.  

We will also be reading 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' and writing about our favourite part of the story. We are so good at sounding out our words now so our focus this term will be spelling the tricky words that we have learnt. Your child should have a list of tricky words in the back of their reading record, it's their current words that they are learning to spell correctly.

During Numberland the children will be exploring shapes. We will re-cap all the 2D shapes before moving on to the 3D Shapes and using the correct language to describe them.

Story of the week: Three billy goats gruff

Maths table: missing numbers    

Finger gym table:  Can you make a bridge?

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag 

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning: 

WC: 20.5

The children have really enjoyed our work on the rainbow fish. They have produced some amazing clay fish which you can see in the photos above and on display in the classroom. They are very proud of them.

This week we will be learning all about washing! We will be looking at some differences in washing equipment and how they have changed over the years. If you have any old washing equipment please feel free to bring it in and share it with us.

The children will be learning about the story "Mrs Wishy Washy" and writing their own sentences about the story. They will be working on spelling tricky words and sounding out words correctly.  

We will be continuing our Numberland theme. The children will be visiting Numberland with the goal of showing us exactly what the know! They will be able to show us their understanding of pattern, shape, addition, subtraction by the way that they present their gardens to us. 

Story of the week: Royal Wedding

Maths table: Numberland houses    

Finger gym table:  what can you build? 

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag (oo objects)

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning: 13.5.18

The children had lots of fun learning about swimming pools and water. They had some great ideas on how we could help keep our rivers and seas free from pollution and how we could help children who are not lucky enough to drink clean water. We will be coming back to these ideas later in the term. Their swimming pools look amazing and they rose to the challenge of thinking of their own ideas! 

This week we will be learning all about the story ‘Rainbow Fish’. You can watch the story below this text. The children will be using adjectives to describe the fish and helping to make a large rainbow fish for our classroom. They will also be taking part in a rainbow fish hunt outside! The children will each have a fish laminated which they can write a sentence on about the story. This will then be hidden ready for someone else to find and read! 

Thank you to all that completed the home task last week telling us where your relatives live. The display in the corridor is looking brilliant. If you didn’t include a photo with your form it would be great if you could bring one in this week. Please speak to a member of staff if printing is a problem. 

Hopefully this week the children have come home talking about outdoor Numberland which is now up and running. The children really impressed us with how good they were at reading subtraction suns and counting back from different numbers to find the answers. This week the children will be visiting Numberland with the goal of showing us exactly what the know! They will be able to show us their understanding of pattern, shape, addition, subtraction by the way that they present their gardens to us. 

Story of the week: Rainbow Fish

Maths table: addition sentences  

Finger gym table: writing a message in a bottle

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag 

Circle table: this will change each day

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

What we are learning: 7.5.18

We hope you have enjoyed the bank holiday weekend. The boats that the children made last week were extremely impressive. They were very proud of what they had made and enjoyed racing them in the water tray. This prompted lots of discussion about different materials and which would float and which would sink. 

This week we will be learning all about swimming pools. The children will be finding out what happens when we go to a swimming pool and how we can stay safe. They will even be making their very own swimming pool on Tuesday and Wednesday out of re-claimed materials. If you have any plastic containers or material to support this please could you bring them in, all donations will be greatly received. 

Please remember that the home task for this week is to complete the form telling us who your child know that lives somewhere else. We can't wait to make a wonderful display in our corridor showing the rest of the school how well travelled Reception children are! 

In Numberland the children really enjoyed using the outdoor Numberland area to support their learning. Each garden had different starting amounts in them and the children had lots of fun counting on and placing the correct amount in their garden. This week they will be doing the opposite and counting back from the biggest number in order to find out how many they have to take away. This is a tricky job so you could practise counting back starting from different numbers on your way to and from school.  

Story of the week: Mr Gumpy's Boat Ride  

Maths table: count on from the number card   

Finger gym table:  cutting skills- making bunting for our new role play area

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag 

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning: 30.4.18

The children enjoyed learning new facts and making their own sea creatures. Can they tell you one fact that they have learnt about each sea creature?

This week we will be learning about ponds, rivers and lakes. The children will even be making their own bridge in our outside area! Inside they will be writing their own stories thinking of their own character, a setting (pond, river or lake) where a problem occurs and then a way of solving this problem. We are also currently developing storyland so watch this space. 

Please remember that the home task for this week is to bring in things (by Monday or Tuesday) so that they can make their own boats which they will then be testing in the water! 

In Numberland the children will be having a go at counting on from a given number in order to find out how many more objects they need to put in their garden. The number card will be selected at random and they will be using their addition skills to find the total. This can also be reversed so that they have to count back to find the answer. 

Story of the week: Pirate Pete

Maths table: cutting Numicon playdough shapes in half 

Finger gym table: Superhero masks

Literacy table: long ladder letter formation

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning- WC: 23.4

The children were absolutely amazing helping to solve the mystery of where Elm Bear had gone. They were so motivated and creative in their approach and their wanted posters (take a look at them below) were especially impressive. We were absolutely thrilled to receive a parcel on a Friday from Elm Bear who also arrived back at school after lunch. The parcel contained the ingredients for making sandwiches and we had a picnic with Elm Bear in the afternoon. We are glad he is back.

This week we will introduce our new topic: water. For the first 3 days we will split the children into 6 groups and they will complete a carousel of different activities linked to  crabs, jellyfish, sharks, octopuses, starfish and seahorses. The children will be learning some information about each sea creature. Writing what they have learnt in sentences and producing some art work linked to this. We can’t wait to display all their beautiful work. 

In Numberland we have another problem! We are not allowed to use the number path to get into Numberland as zero has gone on holiday! Therefore the children need to make their own number lines in order to enter Numberland. They will be writing their numbers in either 2’s, 5’s or 10’s. Once they have completed this they can enter Numberland! 

Story of the week: The Rainbow Fish

Maths table: doubles 

Finger gym table: Make a home for a chick using dough and cocktail sticks   

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag (ar objects)

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning: 16.4

We hope you have had a lovely, relaxing Easter break and are ready for the new summer term! Our topic this term is Water which we will be introducing to the children next week.

This week we have a problem to solve...... Elm Bear has gone missing! He has left us some clues and we are going to write wanted posters, letters and postcards to help find him. We look forward to seeing what suggestions the children come up with. We will even be painting pictures of Elm in the hope that someone will recognise him! 

We are also having a big focus on letter formation this week. Please see Mrs Mountney if you would like to know which letters your child will be practising. 

In Numberland we will continue to explore doubles and halves. We will be doubling every number and then halving it. The children are starting to be able to recall doubles to 10 mentally now as well. Feel free to watch the doubles video's below. The children really enjoy singing along to both these songs in the class. We will also be recording our doubles on whiteboards. 

Story of the week: The Tiger who came to tea 

Maths table: ordering bottles according to their capacity    

Finger gym table: make a house for a chick using playdough and cocktail sticks  

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag 

Circle table: letter formation

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

What we are learning: 26.3

The children have had a great week learning about the life cycle of a butterfly and made some amazing doubles butterflies by printing with Numicon on their wings. They are on display in the corridor just outside reception and look impressive. We had lots of fun investigating doubles, using our fingers for numbers up to double 5. We will be continuing with this work this week and be incorporating halving using practical resources.

We will be learning about Easter this week and be trying lots of different crafts including making an Easter basket, printing with Easter shapes and weighing Easter egg.

Please note that school finishes on Thursday 29th March at 1.45pm

Children return to school on Tuesday 17th April

Story of the week:  Going on an Egg Hunt

Maths table: weighing Easter eggs

Finger gym table: printing with Easter shapes

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag (or objects)

Circle table: this will change each day

Due to some technical difficulties I have been unable to upload the presentation from the maths workshop. It is available on Ash class web page.

What we are learning: 19.3

Thank you to all the parents and families that came to watch Elm class assembly on Thursday morning. The children were amazing and Mrs Margrove and I are very proud of them.

The children have had a great week learning about caterpillars and both their fiction and non-fiction sentences were very impressive. Why not ask them to tell you 2 facts that they have learned about caterpillars, I'm sure you will be wowed with their new knowledge!

This week we will be building on what we have been learning about and exploring butterflies. The children will be learning about the lifecycle of a butterfly and then having a go at putting each key phase in the correct order.  They will also be writing sentences to explain what they have learnt. 

In our Maths sessions, children will have the chance to explore capacity using water. They will be discussing if their container is full up, half full, nearly empty or empty as they play alongside their friends. We will also continue to explore weight with the large scales outdoors and a challenge in the tuff spot later in the week. 

We look forward to seeing you all at our Maths workshop this Thursday at 9.10am

Story of the week:  The Very Hungry Caterpillar 

Maths table: 1 more, 1 less   

Finger gym table: balancing hearts

Literacy table: guess what is in the feely bag (or objects)

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning: 12.3

The children worked really hard last week to make some special Mother's Day gifts and were really excited when they took them home on Friday. We hope they enjoyed sharing them with you.

This week we will be learning all about caterpillars. We will be reading ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ along with looking at non-fiction books to learn all about these little creatures. We will then be writing sentences of our own about what we have learnt. We are working really hard at the moment to remember our finger spaces and form our letters correctly.

Last week in Maths we focused on finding one more to numbers to 10 and this week we will be finding one less from any number to 10. The houses in Numberland will have a sign on which will tell the children that they need to find one less. At home, you could ask your child some quick fire questions e.g. what is 7 and one less. How many can they get right out of ten? In addition to this, we will also be using the large outdoor scales to weigh different objects and to use the language of heavy, light and balanced to describe what we have found out.

This week is Elm class assembly on Thursday morning at 9.00. Please come and join us and find out what we have been learning about.

Story of the week: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Maths table: ordering objects by size

Finger gym table: threading leaves

Literacy table:  feely bag

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning: 5.3.18

The children all had a fabulous time at the library, they enjoyed looking at a range of different books and sharing them with each other. We were extremely proud of them and their behaviour and listening skills were excellent. They also walked back to school in a very sensible and careful manner so a big well done to each and everyone of them. Thank you to the parent helpers who came with us, helped us choose our books and kept us safe on the walk back to school.

This week we will be learning all about Mother’s Day. The children will be thinking about why they love their mum and what they do for them. We will also be making some very special presents for Mothering Sunday. On Friday there will be a special mother’s day assembly at 9.10am. 

In Maths we will be learning how to add one more or one less from any number to 10. The houses in Numberland will have a sign on which will tell the children if they need add one more or have one less. At home you could ask your child some quick fire questions e.g. what is 7 and one less. How many can they get right out of ten? 

In Literacy we will continue to practise writing sentences independently and spelling tricky words correctly as well as remembering finger spaces. I will also be reading individually with each child next week to make sure all tricky words and book levels are up to date. 

Story of the week: Supertato

Maths table: days of the week ordering

Finger gym table: tricky word eggs and tweezers

Literacy table: guess what is in the feeling bag (ee sounds)

Circle table: this will change each day

What we are learning: 26.2.18

The children have had so much fun learning all about Chinese New year. Why not ask them some questions about the story or the celebration as I am sure they will be able to remember. You could ask them why rats and cats are not friends or why the dog and pig did not win the race! As usual, they did us proud in the school assembly with their dragon dance on Friday, the children really did deserve a huge well done. 

This week we will focus on growing and world book day. We will be reading and writing about Jack and the Beanstalk (please see video below) and planting our own cress and beanstalks! Thursday is World Book Day and children will be able to bring their favourite book in from home (please ensure it is labelled). They will be sharing these with their friends and we will try and read as many of them as possible. 

We would also love any of your spare glass jars for our up and coming project. Please speak to a member of staff if you have any that you wouldn't mind donating.

 We will be using everyday language related to size this week. The children will be counting out different objects during their time in Numberland and then ordering them by size. 

Visit to Hitchin library: we will meet you and your child at the library from 8.45 onwards. Children will need to bring their library cards if they have one and their book bags as they will use it to carry their chosen library book back to school. Please ensure they are wearing comfortable shoes and suitable warm coats etc. You will need to choose their Wednesday lunch on Tuesday as well, please.

Finally a big thank you to all the parents who have agreed to help with the trip. We would still love some more adults to help walk back with us so please either speak to Mrs Margrove, Miss Smith or myself if you are free. 

Don't forget parents consultations are on Monday and Wednesday this week. 

Story of the week: Jack and the Beanstalk

Maths table: addition number sentences

Finger gym table: pom poms and chopsticks

Literacy table: guess what is in the feeling bag (oa sounds)

Circle table: this will change each day

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask

What we are learning:  19.2.18

Welcome back

We hope you have had a lovely half term and are feeling very rested. 

This week we are going to be learning all about Chinese New Year. We will be drawing our own dragons, making shakers and re-telling the story. The children will also be taking part in a special dragon dance in the hall on Friday at 9.10 we look forward to seeing you there.

In Literacy, the children will be using their special new finger space reminders to write sentences about the Chinese New Year story. We will also be tasting different Chinese food and then writing sentences about what is our favourite food and why.  

In Maths we will be learning how to use vocabulary related to time. The children will be taking part in races outside and then working our what position they have come. In addition to this, they will be timing each other to see how long it takes to complete the obstacle race whilst holding an ice cube!

Don't forget children need to have their library book in their drawer on Monday so that they can choose a new book. 

Story of the week: Chinese New Year

Maths table: 3D shape lotto 

Finger gym table: building a Lego marble maze 

Literacy table: guess what is in the feeling bag, ai words

Circle table: this will change each day