the three billy goats gruff

The children in Reception have been listening to a new story this week: “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”. They were fantastic at talking about the good and bad choices the troll made in the story and enjoyed describing the troll using words like: green, grumpy, fat, huge and horrible. Towards the end of the week, as the children became familiar with the story, they used their first story map to help retell the story. In class, the children had an opportunity to use puppets to tell the story independently; mix colours to paint their own goats and build a bridge using wooden blocks and tongs.

forest school session 1

Today the children in Reception had their first ever forest school. The session was full of seasonal wonder as the children explored the changing environment of autumn. They excitedly discovered and identified leaves in shades of orange, green, yellow, brown, red, and gold, describing them as big or small. They played a game by exploring the forest school area and then listened to the phrase ‘1,2,3 where are you?, and the children stopped and called back to T- “1,2,3 I’m here”. Then they gathered around the campfire area by walking safely. The children were introduced to Hazel the Campfire Fairy, who reminded everyone how to stay safe around the fire. Together, they sang a song and walked around the campfire with Hazel, reinforcing their understanding of fire safety through music and movement. The children gathered around to sing, reflect, and keep warm together—a perfect ending to a magical autumn experience in Forest School. 

A dress with pockets

For the last two weeks, the children in Reception have been listening to the story “A Dress with Pockets”. During their carpet sessions, the children have been discussing their favourite clothes and what they like to wear for parties, school and other occasions. They have drawn pictures of their favourite clothes and created their own clothes in the creative area. In our first Understanding of the World lesson, the children looked at clothes that people used to wear in the past and compared them to clothes they wear now. Across the classes, the children continued to explore things from the past by playing with some old toys, creating old vehicles and talking about what they did in Nursery using pictures from Tapestry. 

The Colour monster goes to school

The children in Reception were very excited to find a trail of footprints across the classrooms, leading to the hall. They thought that a dinosaur had entered the classroom but found out that it was actually the Colour Monster. During their carpet sessions, the children helped the Colour Monster pack a bag for school and practise turn-taking with his friends. They even showed the Colour Monster the different areas of the classroom and playground to help him remember where to go. The children discussed how they felt coming to school and participated in a range of Colour Monster activities, including: sorting the emotion pompoms; painting Colour Monsters and making feelings potions. 

first week!

The children in Reception have had a fantastic start to their first year at Hazelwood Schools. They have really impressed the adults with their behaviour for learning and enthusiasm. The children have spent the week exploring the different areas of the classrooms and playgrounds and learning how to look after the resources in each area. Their favourite activities this week included: building an obstacle course; digging for treasure in the sand; making play-dough cupcakes and going on a bear hunt. The children listened to the story "The Kissing Hand" and recognised how Chester Raccoon felt on his first day of school in the story. They compared this to their own feelings and discussed how making new friends and playing with new toys made them feel less nervous and more excited! Well done, Reception!