Blackfell Primary School

Our First Week in Reception!

A big welcome to all our new Reception children! The children have been very busy in reception doing lots of different activities to  help them with the ‘transition’ into their ‘new setting’.

They have explored all areas ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ and have shown adults how well they are beginning to share toys, take turns and  learn through their play.

We think the children have settled into their ‘new environment’ very well.

They have maintained previous friendships and have made lots of ‘new’ friends too! We are very proud of them all! Well done!

We are chatterboxes!

The children made a chatterbox during the summer break with the help of their families. They have all had a super time sharing their chatterboxes with the class and then each other. It was a great way of learning new things about each other and making new friendships. Well done everyone!

Booktime!

What a super time we had in our library today. We all received a special gift. Every year children in Reception receive a free book from 'Booktime' to share and enjoy with their family and friends. This is to promote a love of reading for pleasure by encouraging families to have fun sharing the books together. Inside our special packs was a book called...

The Bumblebear'. We enjoyed finding out lots of facts about books and then shared our book with our friends to try and spot things like... the title, the blurb, the book time logo, capital letters, familiar words, exclamation marks, full stops, speech marks, question marks and ellipses. Enjoy sharing and reading your books together.

1, 2, 3... little acorns...

Squirrel! Can you see them? We certainly can and Reception look great as 'little acorns'. They performed the song ‘1,2,3 little acorns’  to celebrate ‘Harvest time’ in assembly. They practised the song in class and made an acorn autumn headband to wear using a range of materials. The whole school came to watch them perform their song along with some actions. It was their first time on stage this year and they all did really well, showing how confident they all were on this special occasion. They all helped others by donating food to go to Washington food bank. They also enjoyed watching other year groups performing and they joined in singing some more songs. What a great way to celebrate harvest time!

Well done everyone!

Helpful Hedgehogs!

We have been busy making hedgehog bread We mixed the ingredients together then we kneaded our ball of dough. We then shaped our dough to make it look like a hedgehog. Next we created it’s spikes using different techniques, we used the prongs of a fork by pushing it into the dough then pulling it backwards to get spikes or we used our fingers by pinching the dough and pulled it up. We buttered our bread and some of us had ‘strawberry’ jam or ‘marmalade’ on as well. We ate our bread whilst watching a lovely story about a hedgehog, it was delicious and we even had a little treat… a lovely crispy cake hedgehog! What a great way to end our Autumn activities!

Anti-Bullying Week 2017!

Elmer!

As part of Anti-Bullying week we have been listening to the story of 'Elmer' This also introduced us to patterns and we took part in a range of activities to develop learning all about different patterns along with building on our friendships and developing our personal, social and emotional skills. We made some fantastic patchwork 'Elmers' using the dough and in the construction area showing how creative we are. We also used the '2d' shapes to create 'Elmer' and some of us are beginning to use our phonic knowledge to write about him. We also learned how 'Elmer' was different and unique just like we all are. We now understand the message that Anti-Bullying week was promoting... that we are ...

'All Different' All Equal'! Take a look at some of the other activities we took part in during this week!

Well done everyone!

Deck the Halls!

We were so excited when the Christmas tree arrived. Some of us donated a bauble and went into the hall to help decorate the tree. It looks lovely all lit up in our hall.

The Nativity!

It's Christmas production time again and Nursery and Reception children were first to take to the stage to  begin our Christmas celebrations. They told the traditional story... simply called 'The Nativity' and they all looked fantastic in their costumes and performed brilliantly in front of a packed hall of parents and carers over two performances. The children all had a part to play and worked hard rehearsing the story and to learn their lines. They did really well to remember when to go on and off the stage to  and enjoyed singing a range of songs to accompany the story. Well done to each and everyone of them for being brave little superstars! Everyone is so proud of them all!

Our Super Skeletons!

We made these super skeletons when we did our 'Funny Bones' topic. We decided they would make a great calendars to take home to our families at Christmas. We used our imaginations and our creative skills to make our own skeleton and  used a variety of different materials to represent all of our bones in our body. This helped us learn more about our skeleton and how our bones help us move  to do lots of different activities … Every day!

Look at our super skeletons! We really do have ‘Funny Bones’. We hope our families love them as much as we do!

Handmade Christmas Cards!

We are still very busy preparing for Christmas here in reception. We have been busy creating our Christmas cards. We used our hands to create our festive characters then used a range of materials to add their features. We think they are great and all unique just like us!

Well done reception!

Delicious Dinners!

In reception we enjoy choosing our dinner. First thing on a morning we look at the pictures to see what is for dinner each day and put our peg pictures in one of the boxes. At lunchtime we line up in the correct order and go to collect our knives and forks. We wait to be served our chosen meal then choose from a selection of desserts. We always remember to say 'please' and 'thank you' to our lovely kitchen staff too. We have more choices to make when we arrive at the salad bar to add some more healthy options to our meal. We sit down then finally choose a drink. We chat to our friends while we eat our 'Delicious Dinners'. Well done Everyone!

Our first P.E lesson!

We had so much fun in our first P.E lesson. We listened to instructions then practised getting the parachute up into the air. We played fruit salad and we were all an apple, banana or a pear and when our fruit was shouted out we had to run underneath and change places with our friends before the parachute fell on us. This was so much fun and made us laugh. Next we had to try and balance a ball on the parachute without it falling through the hole. We added more balls and pretended we were at sea. We had a calm sea then a rough sea and had fun catching the balls as they bounced off the waves. These games all involved team work and skill. We used lots of energy and had a really good time and can’t wait to use the parachute again! 

Promoting Healthy Teeth!

The children in Reception have been learning the importance of dental hygiene and how to brush and look after their teeth.  We learned how to be tooth defenders and looked at a poster carefully to find out how many stages there are to brush our teeth. We pretended to be dentists and checked one another's teeth. We also talked about different types of food and which are good and bad for our teeth.  As part of raising the profile of healthy teeth and the importance of visiting the dentist on a regular basis the children were given a free toothbrush and toothpaste to take home.  Happy brushing boys and girls!

Autumn Fun!

We have had so much fun this Autumn. We have been doing so many activities surrounding the story 'The helpful hedgehog'. We have made homes and hedgehogs using the small and large construction blocks, built campfires and obstacle courses. We have been developing our creative skills by painting autumn pictures and posters for the fruit and vegetable shop which we have enjoyed playing in and we had lots of natural materials left over from our Autumn walk so we used them to create more hedgehogs.  retold the story in the small world tray. We have been counting, matching and recognising numbers in a range of ways and lots more. Take a look to see what else we have been doing this very busy Autumn Time!

Funny Bones!

We listened to the story ‘Funny Bones’ then we began to investigate all the areas in our indoor and outdoor environment. We have been so busy… We used the outline of a body in the construction area and worked together sharing our ideas of how to use the blocks to represent parts of our bodies, we also used the large blocks outside to create some fantastic skeletons. We have painted and drawn skeletons and some of us have been using our phonic knowledge to label our body parts hearing and writing initial sounds or writing some of the sounds in a word in the correct sequence. We have created skeletons using the dough, retold the story in the small world and in the role play area. We counted out how many bones we could find in the sand and practised recognising and ordering numbers and so much more. Take a look at what we have been learning. We have used our imaginations, worked as a team and  learned so much about our bodies and we now know some of the correct names for our bones.

Well done reception! You are all working so hard!

Decorating Biscuits!

We have been decorating biscuits to sell at our cake sale to help raise money for children in need. We mixed up some yellow icing and spread it over our digestive biscuit. We then added smarties or colourful sprinkles for Pudsey's spots. We along with everyone else who contributed in making or donating cakes and biscuits for this year's event hope to make lots of money to help other children. Well done everyone!

Lily and the little Snow Bear!

We were so excited to begin our Christmas festivities with a trip to the theatre to watch ‘Lily and the little Snow Bear’ at Washington Art Centre. The bus arrived and we all got on and we enjoyed chatting and singing with our friends on the way. When we arrived we were greeted at the door and led inside to enjoy colouring in some pictures while we waited to go in. Soon it was time to go into the theatre and we took to our seats and waited for the show to begin. We loved watching the story unfold as the actors came on to the stage and began to tell the story. Lily was a little girl who loved exploring and her grandpa enjoyed making things for her in his workshop. One day Lily finds some little footprints in the snow and a magical adventure unfolds as she finds a ‘Lost Little Snow Bear’. She develops a magical friendship with him then sets herself the task of reuniting him with his mother. She encounters lots of problems along the way as well as meeting lots of different characters on her journey through the mountains until she eventually finds 'The Little Snow Bear’s Mother'. Lily is so happy that she has helped the two 'Snow Bears' reunite and that ‘The Little Snow Bear’ is safe once more with his mother.

What a magical tale to watch at this special time of year and to teach children that family is so important.

We all loved this magical tale of enchantment! 

Christmas Dinner and Christmas Jumper Day!

The ‘ladies’ in the kitchen worked hard to cook a traditional ‘Christmas’ dinner for the whole school to enjoy. Everyone enjoyed sharing this special occasion with friends and staff. The children all enjoyed pulling crackers, telling jokes, listening to Christmas music and talking about their delicious food. And don’t they all look festive in their Christmas Jumpers!!

Thank you to all the kitchen staff for our lovely Christmas dinner!

It's party time!

We had a fantastic time at our Christmas party. We dressed up in our best party clothes and danced to music, played party games and had lots of fun with our friends. A special guest arrived too...It was Santa Claus! We were so excited to see him and he gave us all a lovely present to take home. Later we had some party food...It was really nice. We then we went back in the hall to dance again to our favourite songs. What a brilliant time we all had. It was just the best time ever!!

We are superstars!

Look at us! We were all 'superstars' at the end of our first week in reception. We received a 'superstar' certificate and we were very proud of ourselves. Well done to everyone in reception!

Our first visit to the library!

We were so excited to visit our new key stage one library. We all set off to the library to choose a book. We listened to the rules about how to behave in the library and chose our books quietly. We enjoyed sharing our books with our friends and found each others books funny and interesting. We can’t wait to visit again to choose another book to take home to share with our family.

Books are fun!!

Happy Families!

We have been so busy doing lots of different activities surrounding our theme 'Happy Families'. We have been investigating shape and size in some of our areas and had fun learning the names of '2d' shapes and using them to create ourselves, family members or friends. We have been developing our counting skills and recognising numbers too. We have been enjoying developing our mark making  skills by drawing, painting and practising to write our names using a variety of mark making implements. We are enjoying investigating our outdoor environment and have found some creatures that live there. We are continuing to build up role play ideas and develop new friendships. We are one big 'Happy Family'!    

Autumn Adventures!

We had a fun filled Autumn adventure. We went outside looking for all signs of autumn around our school grounds. We talked about the seasonal changes that happen at Autumn time and went outside eager to find and collect as many of the changes as we could. We looked everywhere and enjoyed filling our bags with lots of interesting things. We noticed how the leaves were different beautiful autumn colours and looked at the patterns on them. We found berries, twigs and helicopters which we now know are from the sycamore tree. We also spotted a flock of birds migrating to a hotter country. We  listened carefully to the noises we heard when we walked through the piles of leaves and stood on twigs in our nature garden too. The sun was shining and helped to make  our 'Autumn adventure' so much more colourful and bright. What a lovely time we had! We can now spot all the signs of change at AUTUMN TIME!

The Skeleton Dance!

We  have had a funny fun packed P.E lesson this week. We have been learning how to do... ‘The Skeleton Dance’. We watched the skeleton dance to the song ‘Dem bones’ then we learned the song and all the different movements. We had so much fun learning which bones were connected to each other and how our skeleton works. We thought it was funny shaking our hands to the left then to the right, in the air and then out of sight before doing a funny wiggle. What a great way to learn all about our ‘Funny Bones’. 

Children in Need 2017

Pudsey Headbands

It's Pudsey time again! We made a Pudsey headband using two or three colours of paint and a variety of materials to represent his spots in preparation for children in need. We have had fun learning how to make

repeating patterns.

Celebrating and Helping...

Children In Need!

We have been learning the importance of helping others and what 'we' could do to help. So on Friday 17th November We came to school dressed in our 'Pudsey' accsessories. We put on our 'Pudsey' ears we had made in class and went to the cake sale to buy a delicious treat to eat back in class with our friends. Some of us bought a toy from the nearly new stall and couldn't wait to take it home to play with it. We thought this was a brilliant way of raising money alongside the cake sale. We had more 'fun' on the afternoon when we went to the disco to enjoy having a dance and sing songs with our special friends. Thank you to all the children, parents, carers and friends for your kind donations of cakes, biscuits and toys and for helping us have a great time to help others on this very special day!

Well done everyone!

Snowman Jars!

We have been making a 'snowman' using a glass jar. We covered it in glue the rolled it in faux snow. We then decided which materials we needed for his eyes, nose and mouth. Finally we put a colour changing tea-light inside and put his lid back on for his hat. We displayed them in class and they look lovely when they are all lit up. We can't wait to take them home to light up Christmas!  

Christmas in the Classroom!

We have been so busy doing so many jobs in Reception leading up to Christmas. We used all the areas to  show off all of our creative skills. We had so much fun and we were able to represent all of our great ideas in so many different ways. Take a look at some of the Christmas themed activities we have been doing. We have been working so hard and now need a well deserved Christmas holiday with our families!

Well done to each and everyone of you! You have all worked so hard. We hope you all have a 'Happy Christmas' and a 'Happy New Year!'

From all the staff in foundation stage!

We all met Santa Claus!

When Santa Claus arrived at our Christmas party we couldn’t believe our eyes. We went in pairs to talk to him and he told us he had been watching us all. He asked us if we had been good all year and if we had worked hard in class. He asked us what we might like for Christmas and he told us he would do his best to get the things we asked for although sometimes it might be difficult to get everything. He explained how busy he has been and how he has such a lot to do to get ready for that special night. We all received a present off him and thanked him. It was so exciting and magical to meet him and we can’t wait to jump into bed on Christmas Eve and hope Santa and his reindeers leave us some lovely presents…. Thank you SANTA!! We even sang our Reindeer song to him and he really enjoyed it. What a surprise it was meeting Santa Claus himself!