Reception Sun Bears class
Welcome to Sun Bears Class, our wonderful EYFS learning community where every child is encouraged to shine, grow and thrive.
Our class teacher is Mrs Grassby and our support staff are Miss May, Mrs Sims and Miss Baldwin. Together, we create a warm, nurturing and exciting environment where children feel safe, valued and inspired to learn.
In Sun Bears, we learn through our Catholic Social Teaching value of Solidarity, understanding that when we work together, greater things can happen. We encourage children to show kindness to others and to themselves in all that they do, while learning how to be a good friend to Jesus.
This is supported by our whole-school values of kindness, resilience and respect, which are woven through every part of life in Sun Bears.
We strongly believe that when children feel safe, secure and happy, they are able to learn and flourish. In Sun Bears, we are passionate about taking learning at the children’s pace, ensuring that every new skill and experience builds upon what they already know and can do. By valuing each child’s individual journey, we help them to expand their knowledge and develop their skills to the very best of their personal ability.
Each day, the children develop their phonics, literacy and maths skills through engaging and purposeful learning opportunities. We also have lots of fun learning through play during our ‘learning choices’ — child-initiated learning time where children can explore, create, investigate and follow their own interests as much as possible.
We believe children learn best through meaningful, real-life experiences. Throughout our time in Sun Bears, we enjoy visits to the local café, the post office, parks and even the farm, helping to bring learning to life in exciting and memorable ways.
In everything we do, we encourage independence, problem solving and creativity, helping children to become confident learners who are curious about the world around them.
Most importantly, we have lots of fun and make wonderful memories together along the way!
Sun Bears – Our First Term at Big School!
The children (and parents!) have been absolutely amazing during their first term at big school! They have settled in beautifully and, although they are understandably very tired, they have made a smooth transition into primary school, with lots of smiles and giggles along the way.
This term, we have focused on building strong relationships, both between the children and between the children and staff. We have loved getting to know one another and have spent time learning our new rules and routines, as well as understanding why these are so important in helping us all to stay safe and happy at school.
Phonics
We have got off to a flying start with phonics! The children have begun learning their sounds and are now starting to blend them together to read simple words. A huge well done to all the parents who have supported this learning at home – it really does make such a difference to the children’s knowledge, confidence and progress!
We have also started sending reading books home and enjoying reading together in small groups at school. The children are learning to think carefully about the stories they hear, using their developing oracy skills to share predictions and explain their ideas. They are becoming little detectives, looking for clues in the pictures and using what they hear in the story to explain their thoughts and ideas.
Maths
In maths, we have been learning all about subitising – using our quick, clever eyes to recognise amounts of up to three without needing to count each object individually!
We have also explored bigger and smaller, heavier and lighter, capacity and repeating patterns. We have sung lots of number songs and enjoyed practising how to count carefully and accurately. The children have also been exploring different ways to make counting easier, such as moving objects around or putting them in an organised order.
Literacy and Topic
We have enjoyed exploring lots of wonderful books this term, including Dear Zoo, Pete the Cat, The Colour of Us, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Three Little Pigs.
The children have enjoyed going on tours around the school, meeting all the staff and learning about the important jobs they do to help us. We have also explored our feelings and talked about how different parts of the school can make us feel.
We have painted self-portraits using mirrors to look closely at our own features and made stick houses in which to draw our families. We have also learnt about the many different types of families and homes around the world, celebrating the things that make us all special and unique.
One of our absolute highlights has been retelling The Three Little Pigs! The children have loved bringing the story to life and creating their own characters to help the wolf. We rounded off this topic with a very exciting experiment using a fan to investigate the properties of straw, sticks and bricks. There was lots of excitement as we discovered which materials were the strongest!
Looking Ahead
We have had so much fun becoming part of our new Sun Bears family, and we are incredibly proud of how well the children have settled into school life. They have worked so hard, grown in confidence and made so many lovely memories already.
A huge thank you to all our wonderful families for your support, encouragement and partnership during this very special first term. It has been a joy to see the children grow and flourish, and we are very much looking forward to all the exciting learning, adventures and giggles that next term will bring! 😊
Maths Resources
https://nrich.maths.org/early-years/number-activitieshttps://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zhtf3j6https://ictgames.com/https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b08bzfnh/numberblocks
Phonics Resources
https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b01cz0p1/alphablocks
https://www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/fishy-phonics?phase=2
https://www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/odd-sound-out?phase=2#google_vignette