Thrift Farm

Reception visited Thrift Farm as part of our ‘Animals and Minibeasts’ topic. We had a wonderful day exploring the farm. We were able to feed some of the larger animals and stroke the smaller ones! We found out lots of information about how to look after the animals, what they like to eat and see how much work goes into running a farm!  After a lovely picnic, we had great fun in the park and ended our day on the huge bouncy pillow!

Beautiful Butterflies

We were very lucky to have some very hungry little caterpillars in our classroom. We learned lots about the lifecycle of a butterfly and watched the caterpillars very carefully as they grew bigger and they made their cocoons.  Finally, they emerged as beautiful butterflies! After observing and feeding them for a few days, we released them so they could start the lifecycle all over again.

Minibeasts

We went out to the field to explore and look for mini beasts for the start of our new topic. We turned over logs and looked very carefully. We spotted lots of mini beasts that were on our lists and a few that were not! We were very excited to find a very big snail as we have been watching them closely in our classroom.

Chinese New Year

Reception enjoyed a wonderful week learning about the Chinese New Year celebrations.  We created our own beautiful Chinese lanterns, made Happy Chinese New Year cards and made an amazing Chinese dragon head and body to use for our fantastic dragon dancing in the hall!  We also ended our week with a delicious Chinese feast.

Local Walk

Reception went on their first trip out on a local walk to look at homes and buildings in our local area. We had such a lovely time and spotted lots of different kinds of homes, shops and even a church. On the way back to school, a little robot also came along, trying to find its way!  When we got back to school, we drew amazing maps to show the way we went, and all the buildings that we spotted on our walk.

Feast Day

We had a wonderful day of celebrating in Reception. We learned lots about St Thomas Aquinas and each made a beautiful bookmark to help us remember that he said, “The things that we love tell us what we are.” We drew pictures on our bookmarks to show the people that we love, like our families and our friends, and those who help us to grow and to be good people, just like St Thomas Aquinas did for others. We made and decorated our classroom with lovely paper chains and made party hats to wear while we sang, danced and celebrated. We ended our special day with our very own feast!

People Who Help Us

To begin our topic about People Who Help Us and real-life super heroes, we had a very special visit from PC McInerney! He talked to us about his super job and all the things he does to help keep us all safe. He even let us try on his special police hats and we found out just how heavy his handcuffs really are! We asked lots of questions and found out lots of new information.

We are enjoying lots of role play as Police Officers in our classroom and doing lots of investigating. After sharing our story ‘Supertato’, we all went on a hunt to find out what happened to our very own Supertato, who mysteriously disappeared at lunchtime. We looked for clues and finally found him stuck in a tree! We think that the evil pea put him there, so we are still investigating this crime!

First Week

We had a wonderful first week in Reception! We settled in beautifully in our new classroom and took part in lots of new, exciting activities.  These included sitting beautifully in our groups on the carpet and showing our best listening, visiting and exploring our school chapel and library, going on a shape hunt in our classroom and our very special first meditation. We are so proud of all the children after a lovely first week at St Thomas Aquinas.