Welcome to RM - Magical Monkeys

Summer 2 

Summer 1

We had some special visitors in RM and the children have been fantastic at looking after them. When the eggs arrived we researched which animals come from eggs and then the children made predictions about what they thought was in the eggs; they suggested things like chicks, crocodiles and turtles etc. We explored different lifecycles including butterflies, humans and hens. When the chicks hatched the children enjoyed looking after them and exploring how they changed. 

Spring 2

Spring 1 

This half term our concept is all about 'choices' and our key question is 'What is a choice?'

The children explored what it's like to celebrate Lunar New Year. We looked at similarities and differences to our own New Year celebrations. We made Chinese lanterns, practised writing messages using the Chinese alphabet, and explored Chinese numbers. In the afternoon we tried Chinese foods, tasting noodles, rice, prawn crackers and sauces. Yummy! 

The children would like me to share some of the things that they have learned about Lunar New Year: 

"For Lunar New Year they clean up their house". 

"They have a special meal to celebrate".

"Red means good luck". 

"They wear new clothes".

Here are some of the things the children said about the food and the day:

"We learned a dragon dance".

"I enjoyed making the lanterns".

"The cracker and the spicy sauce was yummy".

"It is spicy, it make my lips tingle".

Autumn 2

^{Our concept this half term is 'difference'. Over the next few weeks we will be exploring the question 'Can we be the same and also have differences?'.}

^{We look forward to sharing our findings.}

This week, we had two special visitors and they asked us to decorate our classroom. The children have enjoyed working in Santa's workshop, where they have designed and made their own wrapping paper, made parcels and wrote labels.

Diwali celebrations

This week we are exploring the festival of Diwali. We have enjoyed listening to the story of Rama and Sita and Dipal's Diwali. We made mehndi patterns on handprints on our creative area, made rangoli patterns on our investigation area and created diva lamps using clay.

Autumn 1

^{Our concept this half term is 'identity'. Over the next few weeks we will be exploring the question} 

^{'Is everyone unique?'.}

^{We look forward to sharing our findings.}

Characteristics of effective learning in the EYFS

Characteristics of effective learning define how children learn, rather than what they learn. The three characteristics of effective learning identified by the EYFS are: 

• playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’;
• active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
• creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.

At Ellison we explore these through the use of different animals, helping the children to remember and demonstrate the different characteristics in their learning and play.

Our classroom is full of...

Proud peacocks.

Concentrating crocodiles.

Choosing chimps.

Clever chameleons.

Persevering parrots.

Experimenting eagles.

I know rhinos.

Exploring elephants.

Linky snakes.

Keep an eye on the section below to see how we explore these in our setting.

What a fantastic week we have had! Mrs Manser, Miss Woods and I are very proud of all the children in RM, they have settled really well into the Ellison family already!

This half term we will be learning about the children through our concept, "Identity". Please keep visiting our class page to see our pictures and see what exciting things we have been learning about. 

Thank you  

Mrs Martin, Mrs Manser and Miss Woods

Please see below for useful websites

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Summer 2

Our main concept this half term is exploration. 

Our continuous concepts are: location, place and chronology.

We will explore the following question: What similarities and differences do you notice between...?

Summer 1

Our concepts this half term:  Life and Nature

We will explore the following key questions:

What will our world look like if..? What does life look like?

Spring 

This half term we have been exploring our focus concepts of growth and change and the following key questions: When we grow do we change? Do all things grow? Why do we grow up/ why do we change? Do some things stay the same when we grow? Why can’t I stay the same? Will I be the same person when I grow up or a different one?

Mrs Manser, Miss Burton and I are very proud of all the children in RM, they have settled really well into the Ellison family already!

This half term we will be learning about the children through our concept, "Identity". Please keep visiting our class page to see our pictures and see what exciting things we have been learning about. 

Thank you  

  Mrs Martin, Mrs Manser and Miss Burton 

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Please find the previous Reception classes webpages below.

The eggs have arrived!!!

Welcome to Autumn 2 

RM have settled back into school really well; we are very proud!

Our new concept this half term is difference and we are so excited about our new learning!

As part of our celebration of curriculum golden time, reception enjoyed creating their own 'Picasso portraits'. They used three self portrait photographs which explored different angles of their features, to then create a portrait in the style of Pablo Picasso. We talked about and explored his use of warm, vibrant colours as well his cooler, hues of colours within his artwork.

Well done reception- remember that we are all artists.

Mrs Manser and I are very proud of all the children in RM, they have settled really well into the Ellison family already!

This half term we will be learning about the children through our concept, "Identity". Please keep visiting our class page to see our pictures and see what exciting things we have been learning about. 

Thank you  

  Mrs Martin and Mrs Manser 

Helpful Links and Documents