Week 32 in Class Ra

Class: Reception Year: 2023 - 2024

This week in Ra we have been learning all about meerkats and the Kalahari Desert. We have been reading the book Meerkat Mail by Emily Gravett. At the start of the week we had a very important parcel arrive in Reception. The parcel was from the Kalahari Desert and inside was Sunny the meerkat. We located Botswana and the Kalahari Desert on Google Maps and then located Holmes Chapel. We spoke about how we could get between the two places and what type of transport we would need. The children compared the Kalahari Desert to Holmes Chapel and discussed why they are different. We looked at the features of Holmes Chapel and spoke about where we enjoy to go in Holmes Chapel. This helped us write a postcard from Holmes Chapel to Sunny to tell him all about where we live. We all enjoyed meeting Sunny the meerkat and having him in our classroom.

In Literacy this week we wrote postcards to Sunny telling him about Holmes Chapel and places we enjoy to go. The children wrote about the park, Costa coffee and the primary school. On Friday we looked at the postcards in the story. He spoke about how Sunny feels when he decides to leave home and then why he might want to go back home. We discussed what Sunny could do if he visited Holmes Chapel and the places the children would show him.

In P.E this week the children have practised the egg and spoon race in preparation for sports day!

On Thursday we also practised our cutting skills by carefully using a knife to cut up fruit. We then used the fruit to make fruit kebabs, which the children took home to enjoy!

In Maths this week we have focused on ordinality. We considered where numbers to 10 are in relation to each other. Through practical activities and games, the children have used their reasoning skills about numbers and thought carefully about which is more or less. They have used linear number tracks to play games that encourage them to compare numbers that are far apart, near and next to each other. (For example, 10 is a lot more than 2 but 5 is only 1 more than 4.)

On Friday we went on a flower hunt and we found daisies, buttercups and dandelions. The children then drew a picture of a daisy and used oil pastels to colour it in.

This week’s VIP has been Olivia. Olivia is a kind and happy member of our class! Well done Olivia!