Merry Xmas and happy New Year to you all

Last week of term! Reception have had lots of treats this week, from enjoying a 'Pyjama' party for collecting all their marbles, to watching the KS2 xmas performance and not forgetting the xmas party and teddy bears' picnic! It was great to see Father Christmas who stayed a while and even answered some children's questions - largely about his reindeer! Amelie's mum came in to tell the class all about Xmas in France, which the children really enjoyed too. Thanks to all parents and other carers for ALL your tremendous help and support this term. May we take this opportunity to wish you a very happy time at xmas and beyond and to give you advance notice of a walk we are planning for January to North Street which we hope will take place on Tues 17th and Thurs 19th (half the class each time). A letter will go out soon into the new term with further details.

Mice, birds and other delights

Reception you were brilliant! Reception performed their dances and sang their songs in our production of 'Cinderella' this week like true professionals. Thanks to all who came and supported us (and those who helped make the hats!). All your teachers are extremely proud of the way you joined in with such enthusiasm and enjoyment. We all enjoyed our Xmas lunch (cooked or packed)too. Next week we would be grateful if you could bring in a named carrier bag for all the work which will be going home.

Thinking about 'time' and Advent

This week was Mr Gruffydd's last week with us until he returns in the Spring. He taught us a song about the days of the week and we tried to remember the order they come in by playing a jumping game. At the end of this week we had our first Luckwell 'mix-up' session when all the classes mixed up and worked together to make decorations for the upstairs Hall. Don't forget your Teddy hats for Monday and any costumes that are outstanding!

A busy week

A busy if reasonably quiet week! We have continued to use our teddies to help us learn - this week thinking about 1 "more or less than" another number. Our teddies climbed up and down ladders to help us think! We have also (shhh!) started to learn the Mice and Bird Dance we will be performing during our Xmas production and have begun to learn the songs with great success!

If you go down to the woods ...

On Wednesday Reception had their first trip out to Leigh Woods. We had a fantastic time exploring there with Bill the Warden. We used our senses to explore the different leaves, trees and wildlife and came back laden with collections of things to look at, draw and play with. We have also drawn some maps of our walk around the woods. May we take this opportunity to say thank you again to our parent and grandparent helpers and to the children for their fabulous behaviour and enthusiastic interest. You were so brilliant that we have awarded the whole class 'Star of the Week' this week! Well done.

The 3 Bears

We've had fun this week starting our Teddy topic by inviting our own bears in to meet the class. We've used them to do some measuring, finding things 'taller and shorter' than them and to paint their portraits. We have enjoyed acting out the story of the 3 Bears and playing in their house in our role play cottage as well as in the bear cave in the classroom. Some of us made porridge and imagined we were the Bears in the story tasting it "too hot!" "Mmm, just right!" We even joined in with a 3 Bears Rap.Yeah!

Divali

This first week back we have been learning about the story behind the festival of Divali. Some children have acted out the story using masks and we have made diva lights and drawn some lovely firework pictures using coloured chalks. We even learnt how Indian people greet each other by bowing with our hands together and saying 'Namaste'. Next week our Teddies topic starts properly so please bring in those teddies if you haven't already.

Nursery Rhyme Extravaganza

Thank you all children, parents and anyone else who came and took part in our wonderful Nursery Rhyme performance on Thursday! Didn't you do well! Well done Reception also on coming to the end of your very first term at Luckwell in such style, and thanks to all our parents for your continued support too. Have a lovely holiday and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 1st November, full of all the interesting things you have done instead of coming to school!

Celso Paco from Mozambique

This week we were lucky again to have our regular visit from Celso Paco, a story teller and singer from Mozambique. The children listened and joined in with his stories and songs enthusiastically. Next week the children will be saying their names on MONDAY Assembly starting around 9 o'clock. We practised today and they were brilliant, so please try and come to watch them!

Full time

Congratulations Reception you have now completed your first full time week! This week we have been working with shapes, making pictures and models and talking about the different shapes we can see around us. On Friday we used the beautiful red apples from the tree in our garden to make stewed apple. We gathered the apples first, then peeled them (with adult help!), chopped them into small pieces and cooked them with some water and a little sugar. Nearly all of us tasted our hard work and the general opinion was "mmm, yummy!". We have also had Rikarda, a German student, helping us with our work this week. She goes home on Monday so we would like to say thank you and good luck for the future to her.

last week as part timers

Reception have completed the first 4 weeks as part timers at Luckwell. Next week, we are in for all day every day! We practised this a bit by staying for lunch and going out to play. We made 'hello' cards which have been given to our new class mates. Some of us are looking forward to meeting up with old friends and some of us are feeling a bit anxious about not knowing everyone. Don't worry! We will have lots of opportunities to get to know each other but just remember that it's even more important now to listen carefully so we know what to do!

Words that rhyme

We started our Literacy work this week by reading a favourite book 'Each Peach Pear Plum. We talked about our favourite pages and discovered some words that 'sound the same' - or rhyme. We played a game called Odd One Out, finding words that didn't belong in a sequence of rhyming ones. Clever stuff! This week we have chosen our first book to take home and share. Please remember to bring book bags in every day from now on! We also had our first PE lesson in the gigantic sports hall and learnt a game called 'Traffic Lights'.