Christmas week
It’s been a very busy exciting last week in Reception.
At the start of the week, the children enjoyed doing some Christmas activities…
Making reindeer food.
We hope you remember to sprinkle your magical reindeer food outside on Christmas Eve.
Having fun (and getting very sticky!) making Christmas decorations.
On Wednesday, Miss Feldman kindly brought in some freshly baked Gingerbread Men for us to decorate.
After decorating our Gingerbread Men, it was time to sit down for Christmas dinner. It was lovely to see the children enjoying their Christmas dinner, laughing together, and pulling crackers with their friends.
After eating our Christmas dinner, the excitement continued… it was time to PARTY! We were amazed at the children’s dance moves. They popped, boogied, and danced the afternoon away.
After some party games, we sat down to eat our party food and watched a video from Santa.
Finally, we hope you have a happy and healthy Christmas. Enjoy spending some quality time with friends and family.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year from all of the Reception Team!
Christmas Dinner
What an amazing Christmas dinner we have all had together. The kitchen staff have been beavering away so that we could enjoy our traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings (plus vegetarian option!) 
We all enjoyed sharing a joke or fact from our Christmas crackers.
It was great to celebrate as a whole school family.
Some of our nursery children joined us too!
Key Stage 2 all made party hats to dazzle us with. You may even spot a few sporting a moustache.
So thank you to our amazing staff!
This week’s bible story
Perseverance despite circumstances: Daniel 6:1-28 (omit verse 24)
Read the story of Daniel (omit verse 24 for younger or sensitive children)
Daniel was captured, along with many more of God’s people, and taken to live in a foreign country. In this country, they had different traditions and customs and it was not acceptable to worship God. But Daniel chose to continue serving God. Even though it meant that he was risking death, Daniel knelt down and honoured God by praying three times a day.
When the king discovered that Daniel was breaking the law by praying to God, he had Daniel thrown into a den of hungry lions. God stood by Daniel and rewarded his unwavering commitment to righteousness by protecting him from being eaten by the lions.
Reflection:
Do you think Daniel was lazy, or a hard worker?
When Daniel found out that he would be thrown into a lion’s den if he continued to pray, what did he do?
Why do you think Daniel continued to kneel down to pray instead of praying quietly in his head so that others could not see that he was praying?
How did God reward Daniel’s perseverance?
Prayer:
Dear God,
We can often end up in situations when life feels hard or difficult or when we feel we are out on a limb compared to everyone else.
Help us to persevere when times are tough.
Amen
Christmas production and Christingle
The Christmas production is live!
Make sure you scroll down our class news page to watch it. Well done to all the Reception children. You really were the STARS of the show!
Christingle
On Tuesday, we made our Christingles. We talked about the different parts and what they mean.
The orange represents the world.
The candle represents Jesus being the light of the world.
The raisins represent God’s creations in the four seasons.
The red tape represents the blood of Jesus when he died on the cross.
The children were fantastic at following instructions when making their own Christingles.
Yesterday, we walked to St James’ Parish Church to join the rest of the school at the Christingle service. You wouldn’t;t have thought it was their first time because they were all so sensible – well done Reception! A big thank you to the four Reception parents that helped us get there and back in one piece.
Talk to your child about the Christingle service and see if they can remember the meaning.
Next week…
Wednesday 15 December
Christmas party day
Your child can wear non-uniform.
&
Christmas dinner day
Your child will be bringing home lots of lovely Christmas things on Wednesday. Please make sure your child brings a labelled carrier bag by Wednesday 15 December.
Home-Link Challenge
Have a lovely weekend! See you next week for a jam-packed fun Christmas week.
Christmas Production 2021
Our Christmas Production 2021
Hump the camel
We are so proud of all the children for their FANTASTIC singing, acting and dancing. We hope you enjoy the Christmas production as much as we do!
This week’s bible story
The persistent widow: Luke 18:1-8
Have you ever used pester power to get what you want? When you keep on asking and asking and asking until the person relents and gives in? Jesus once told a story about pester power, but it didn’t feature a parent and a child. The two people in Jesus’ story were a judge and a widow. Read the story to find out what happened.
Reflection:
Have you ever pestered God? reflect on your own experiences of prayer. Were their prayers denied because of any of the reasons like in the story?
Even though some prayers appear not to work, Christians believe that God is always at work in their lives, although this may be hard to see.
Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you for being a God who listens to our prayers.
Help us to keep praying to you even when it seems that our prayers are not being answered.
May we never forget that, like a loving parent, you only want what is best for us.
Amen
Ice, maths and chilli challenges
It was a chilly one Monday morning!
The children were amazed at how thick the ice was on our tuff trays. After lunch, we brought the ice inside and decided to do some ice painting.
Chilli challenge number 3
The Christmas cards are ready!
These will be coming home with the calendars.
Chilli challenge number 4
The children explored navigating Bee-Bots around the mat to get to one of the Christmas pictures. They had lots of fun watching the Bee-Bots move in different directions.
The Naughty Elf has been very cheeky!
On Wednesday, we found him doing snow angels in the flour.
On Thursday, he was swinging off the Christmas covered in toilet paper!
I wonder what he’ll be doing tomorrow…
Fantastic maths!
Number 6 is our new focus number. We watched the Numberblock 6 video and talked about what 6 makes us think of.
“6 spots on a dice.”
“6 is the biggest number on the dice”
“6 spots on the wooden ladybird”
“2 and 2 and 2”
“5 and 1”
After the maths input, the children explored making an insect with 6 legs and 6 eyes. 
“2 legs on this side and 4 legs on this side.”
“3 legs here and 3 legs here”
“My insect has got 6 eyes. 2 and 2 and 2.”
“My insect has got 6 eyes and 6 legs.”
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5… I need one more leg.”
Some of the children played a track game using 10 hoops and a die. Before starting the game, they were asked to work together to make a track of 10 hoops. We observed some amazing counting and teamwork! The children took turns to roll the dice, subitise and move along their tracks.
“I need 2 more.”
“I need 3 more.”
“I need 3…I can still move because I got 2… Now I only need one to win.”
“I’m one more than you.”
“I think … could win because he only needs one more.”
Library Books
Your child will have a library book in their book bag. Please look after this book at return it next Thursday so your child can choose a new library book.
Finally, this week we’ve been reading The Christmas Story. To help us remember the story, we used some actions. Click here to watch us retell the story.
Home-Link Challenge
This week’s bible story
Today, we are thinking about Hanukah which is a Jewish festival. Have you ever been made to do something you didn’t want to do? In fact, you hated doing it?
How do you think David Beckham would feel if he had to do ballet? Or your headteacher if he or she had to dress up as a banana?
How do you think a Christian would feel if someone said to them at a Christmas nativity service, ‘You can’t worship Jesus, you’ve got to pray to the donkey?’
This is a story about when a whole country had to do things they didn’t want to, and how they reacted to it.
Reflection:
Quiet thought: How can you bring light to people today?
Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you that your light burns even longer than we hope for.
Help us to be light to others.
Amen.
Rainbow science, Matisse and Christmas
This week, we’ve had lots of fun being scientists. In Literacy, we read Potion Commotion by Peter Bently. After reading the story, we had a go at making a rainbow with Skittles. First, the children helped by placing the Skittles in a circle on the white plate. Before pouring the warm water onto the plate, we talked about making predictions and what that word means.
“I think it will make a rainbow.”
“I think the Skittles will turn white.”
“I think the water will turn purple.”
When the water was poured, the children observed carefully what was happening.
“Wow! It’s a rainbow.”
“The Skittles are turning white.”
“They are disappearing.”
After the experiment, the children wrote a sentence about what they saw.
On Tuesday, we had a go at another rainbow experiment. This time, we used felt tips, a piece of kitchen roll, and some water. We made predictions and then observed to see if we were right.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…
Who says it’s too early to put up the Christmas tree?
Writing Christmas wish lists.
Getting the home corner ready for Christmas.
Making cvc words using phoneme baubles.
Wrapping presents in Santa’s workshop.
The children have made their calendars. We used Matisse’s cut-outs as inspirations for our calendars. They will be bringing them home at the end of this half-term. Click here to see a sneak peek.
In maths, we finished learning all about the number 5. The children are fantastic at recalling number bonds to 5.
Making 5 using the balance scales.
The children put the Numicon pieces 5 in one side and had to work out which pieces could go in the other side to make it balance.
Using Christmas hats to help us with part-whole models.
How many children are wearing a hat?
How many children are not wearing a hat?
Drawing pictures that represent 5 inside a handprint.
Subitising arrangments of dots up to 5 and matching them with the correct numeral.
Using beanbags to help us with part-whole models.
Important!
- Next week, your child will start bringing home a library book. The children will choose a new book every week during library time. Please make sure this book is returned every Thursday.
- Due to us starting to use our new phonics scheme, we will be collecting all reading books on 13 December. The children will take home a library book to enjoy over the Christmas holidays.
Home-Link Challenge
Finally, thanks to all the parents that have brought in a star costume for the Christmas production. We look forward to posting the performance for you to enjoy watching at home with your child.
Have a lovely weekend!
This week’s bible story
Keep Going! Nehemiah 1: 1-7
Perseverance means keeping on trying and not giving up even when it is difficult.
If you’ve got some blocks, have a go at building a tower of twelve blocks. Was it easy? Now blindfold yourself and try again. Was it easier to do it when you were blindfolded or did it take more perseverance? Although the game was only a bit of fun, in life, it can sometimes be hard to keep going when things seem difficult or we feel discouraged. Our story today comes from the Old Testament part of the Bible. The Jewish people had not been listening to God, and they had been living in exile, away from their own homes. As the story starts, this situation is about to change. Read it carefully and see if you can work out why the people needed to have lots of perseverance and what helped them to keep going.
Reflection:
– In the story, what three things needed rebuilding?
– What kind of things discouraged the people from getting the building work done?
– What helped them to keep going?
None of us have to rebuild the walls around our towns and cities this week, but there might be some things that we are finding difficult or occasions when we feel like we want to give up.
Have a moment of silence as we think about the things that we are finding difficult or that we are worried about.
Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you that you always listen when we pray to you.
Thank you that you are always there.
Please help us to keep going when we find things hard.
Please help us to encourage others.
Amen.