Sink or Float

We have been learning about the concept of sinking and floating within our transport topic. We used plasticine and rolled it up into a ball, we noticed that the plasticine sank because the ball was solid. We were then given the challenge to change the shape of the plasticine so that it would float. We noticed that this shape needed to be like a boat. It needed to be hollow to float. 

Holy Spirit Day

Today we listened to the story of the Holy Spirit and discussed why it is so important to us.  To help us understand the importance we played a game with balloons. First we tried to catch uninflated balloons and we found this quite difficult. We then tried the same activity with balloons filled with air, this was much easier.  We discussed that the uninflated balloon was more difficult because it was not as powerful as the inflated balloon. When people don’t have the Holy Spirit in their lives, they’re like the uninflated balloon—weak and powerless. But when we become Christians, we’re like the inflated balloon; we have the powerful Holy Spirit living inside us. He fills us with power and courage, so we can do important things. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us because he loves us and wants us to be able to be strong and courageous.

Buckingham Railway Centre

Reception were lucky to visit the railway centre as a part of our transport topic. We saw many different types of trains and learnt about all the different uses these trains had, such as the travelling post office. We enjoyed a real steam train ride and imagined what it would be like to travel many years ago. We noticed that the train travelled a lot slower compared to the trains we travel in now.

Traffic Pollution

We have been learning about what effect transport has on the world. All different types of transport emit smoke into the air and make the earth very sad. We noticed that the more cars there are on the road, the more smoke there will be. Today we went to the back gate and tallied how many cars, people walking and bikes went past on the road. We then recorded our findings using the graph tool on the computers.

Watching Cress Seeds Grow

During Lent we planted cress seeds in cotton wool to gain a greater understanding of how things grow.  Lent is a time when the family of Jesus tries to grow in a special way: to grow ‘inside’. You cannot see the growing happen, but it does. Reception discussed that people grow in goodness, kindness and helpfulness and this happens ‘inside’ them. Lent is also a special time when the family of Jesus think about him and how he grew. They try to grow more like him.

Science Day

We had a lot of fun during Science Day. We made bubbly potions by mixing vinegar, baking soda and bicarbonate of soda together. We had a competition to see who could melt the ice the quickest and we observed colours being mixed together by paper towels.

World Book Day

For World Book Day we came dressed in some fantastic costumes and brought in our books to read to the class. Throughout the day we visited each of the Key stage 1 classes to read a story and to do an activity based on the book. In Miss Ingram’s room we read the story ‘King Pig’ by Nick Bland. This story is about a king who is not very nice to his followers. We then each created our own King crowns and wrote about how we would do things differently to King Pig to appreciate our followers, for example building houses for them to rest, using our kind words and inviting them into the castle for a party.

Lent

During this period of Lent we have learnt to Pray, Give and Fast. We read a story about Jesus being sent into the desert to prepare for what is going to happen. He comes across Satan, who tests him to give in to temptation. Before the beginning of the story Miss Ingram gave each child a sweetie. As the story finished we spoke about how during Lent we try to give something up and not be tempted; to understand what Jesus went through during his time in the desert.  It was very tempting to eat the sweets, however nobody was tempted and we put the sweets on the prayer cloth instead.

Chinese New Year

In Reception we celebrated Chinese New Year. We created our very own dragons and learnt a new dragon dance. We read the story of the Great Race to learn why we celebrate a different animal each year. At the end of the week we came dressed in red, as this symbolises good luck and fortune in China. We then had a delicious Chinese lunch with fried rice, noodles, sweet and sour chicken and prawn crackers. Yum!

Our First School Trip

As a part of our toys topic we went on our first school trip and visited the Build a Bear Workshop and the MK Gallery. We learnt how a teddy bear was made and worked together to make our own. We named our teddy Everest. We then went to the MK Gallery where they introduced us to the new driverless cars we have in Milton Keynes. In groups we then created our own driverless cars made with sails. Each group raced the cars using balloon pumps to make them move.

Instrument Sounds

We have been making our own instruments from junk materials. We explored the different ways each of the instruments made sounds. Some of the instruments needed shaking, some strumming and some hitting. We recorded the sounds each instrument made with small microphones and played back these sounds.

Judaism Week

We were lucky to have Mrs. Elijah visit our class to tell us the story of the miracle of Hanukkah. She showed us special objects Jewish people use such as a menorah and a dreidel. Mrs. Elijah then told us about the importance of the Menorah candle. Each of the eight candles are lit to remind us that the candle stayed alight for 8 days to help rebuild the temple. We made our own menorahs using play dough and candles. 

Maths Investigations

This week we have been learning about length; longest and shortest. We had a competition was to find the longest twig and the shortest twig. Once we all found a twig we compared them, saying whether our twig was longer or shorter than the other twigs. We then stood in order from the longest twig to the shortest twig.

Autumn Walk

We went on an autumn walk around the school. We spoke about what happens in autumn, such as the leaves falling from the sky and turning different colours. We each found our favourite leaves and explained why we liked them. We used our senses when walking; what we could see, feel, hear and smell.

No Pens' Day

We had a fantastic day on No Pens’ Day. We began our day with a performance in front of the school. We sang and acted out “Miss Polly had a Dolly”. We then helped plant some bulbs into our new garden. We really enjoyed getting our hands dirty. We also had a visit from the firefighters and they showed us all of the equipment in their truck and how it is used. 

Baptism

We have been learning the importance of being welcomed. We learnt that a baptism is where a person is welcomed into God’s family. We first listened to a story about a baby named Mathew, who was baptised and welcomed into the church. We then role played baptisms in small groups.

Handa’s Surprise Fruit Tasting

This week we have been learning about healthy foods. We read the story ‘Handa’s Surpise’ and we learnt that she is from Kenya. In the story Handa tries to guess what her friend’s favourite fruit is. We tasted exotic fruits mentioned in the book to choose our favourite fruit. Kiwi fruit was the most popular and we also really loved nectarine.