Our new theme for learning this half term is Amazing Animals and each week we will be focusing on a different type of animal. This week we have begun our explorations with wild animals and the books 'Dear Zoo' and 'Rumble in the Jungle.' The children have produced some fantastic writing as they have written their own page for a Dear Zoo book, selecting their own animal to include. They have used their phonics knowledge to spell the words and have written some amazing sentences! 
In our Maths learning the children have explored different patterns linked to animal prints. We have also found out about doubling numbers and have been trying to solve problems using doubles. 

Wow! We are so proud of the children in the Robins this week as there has been so much independent writing! The children have been inspired to write independently in our continuous provision, applying the skills they have learnt during our Read Write Inc sessions.
Some children have chosen to draw pictures and write labels to match, some have written sentences about animals linked to our weekly theme and some have even written their own stories! As we have so many budding authors, we have taught the children how to make their own books to extend their interests. We cannot wait to see what writing can be produced next week! 

Today we celebrated the end of our stories topic with an exciting day of bedtime stories. All the children and staff came to school in their pyjamas and we enjoyed snuggling up and reading our favourite stories by torch light. Miss McGinnes' favourite story is Tiddler by Julia Donaldson and she read it to the class as well as to Miss Clementson's class. At the end of the day, we snuggled up and enjoyed The Gruffalo's Child while eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate. 
We love stories in Reception! What is your favourite book? 

Today we have had some very exciting visitors from the Escafeld Medieval Society. They came to help us with our learning about the story of Robin Hood. We had a visit from The Sheriff of Nottingham and Little John among others. 
The children got to experience and hold some real weapons including different sized swords, axes, a mace, chain mail and shields. They were amazed to find out how heavy they are. The Sheriff of Nottingham told us about how he would have used them including using his sword to eat his food! 
We then had a go at archery in the hall using real bow and arrows! The children tried so hard to hit the target and enjoyed cheering each other on, 
Finally we were able to watch a battle between the characters. We had such an exciting day and learnt so much about life long ago! It was very different from our life today.