What do we do in Reception?
How many times has your son or daughter come out from school at the end of the day and told you that they’ve ‘done nothing’ or ‘just played’ all day? My daughter still does and she’s 8! So, we thought we’d add this page just to give you a little insight as to what goes on during their day at school. Over a week the children are given opportunties to work in a variety of situations – child led, teacher led, large group, small group etc. It’s probably quite difficult to explain in greater detail so please see our Routine/ Timetable section for more detailed information about each day.
As with Nursery, learning in Reception is ultimately play based. It has been proven time and time again that young children learn more readily during play, particularly of their own making. This form of child led play enables our children more opportunity to explore their own ideas and learning and also allows us more time to interact and work with individual/ smaller groups of children.
During free flow sessions the children choose an area in which they initially want to work – this is monitored to ensure a spread of areas over the week. Once in these areas the children now have more freedom to choose what they want to do. They also have the opportunity to move between areas more freely – hence ‘free-flow’. Obviously there is still a certain level of teacher direction and input as there are still specific things that we need them to learn – don’t worry we are still learning our words, numbers and sounds etc – just in more fun ways! Working in this way also allows far more scope for the children to develop socially – deciding what to play, who to play with, tidying away before leaving an area etc. Depending on our topic focus for the week, the children can also work on teacher chosen activities too in each area. For example during our Winter topic children were given white paper circles in the Craft area to make snowflakes and ‘match-the-snowmen’ games in the Numeracy area.
Here is a run down of our different areas, along with examples of the sorts of things they can do in each.
Language area – This area incorporates a reading area, a writing station, a listening area and a variety of language based games and equipment for the children to use freely or under direction.
Numeracy area – the children can choose from a variety of equipment relating to numbers, shape, pattern, early calculating skills etc. They can work on puzzles, play maths games, make patterned necklaces, do dot-to-dots etc – the list is endless really!
Shopping area – We use the shop in lots of situations – greengrocers, flower shop, toy shop etc, to extend the children’s knowledge of the world around them. The children will be able to encounter simple money problems and giving change etc. They will also be able to develop social skills by working together and taking turns – everyone wants to be the shop keeper!
Craft area – only limited by their imagination really!
Jigsaws and table toys – speaks for itself really doesn’t it? This area is particularly good for co-operation and social skills as we only have limited table area and eight children can choose it, so we need to make decisions as to what we get out!
Floor toys – again fairly obvious toys such as big bricks, construction, cars and train sets etc. As with the previous area, alot of social skills come into play here.
Computer area – the children are allowed free choice of program and usually have a thing or two to teach us! Most of our programs are chosen to develop skills learnt in other areas. We also have a focused ICT lesson in our school suite to teach particular skills.
Role play area – obviously very social based learning, but the children also have opportunities to write, read, dress themselves as well as work together! The theme of this area changes regularly. Previous themes have been a Doctor’s surgery, Chinese restaurant, flower shop, library, vets, airport – oh the places we go . . . !
Wet area - this incorporates sand and water play. The children need to have discussions and make decisions as to what they are playing with in each section. Again they are only limited by their imagination.
Tactile area – this involves lots of different activities which encourage the children to explore and investigate their world, such as playdough, gloop, pasta, sorting using tweezers, planting seeds, making paint potions – this list (again) is endless!
Small world area- this area provides the children with equipment to build ’small worlds’ such as dinosaurs, mini people, cars, space adventure, ponies, pirates etc. During this type of play, children have the opportunity to act out roles and engage in representational play. They also spend alot of time developing social skills as they ‘discuss’ who gets to be the T-Rex!
Performing area- The children have the opportunity to use the Cd player to listen (and sing along!) to a variety of music and songs. They also have access to instruments and puppets to use when performing shows for each other
Outdoor area - this is always popular! The children have the opportunity to work on similar things as inside, but on a larger scale. We have scooters, bikes, a tent, large bricks – all sorts really! One particular favourite is a very large cardboard box which can be used for whatever the imagination wishes . . . one box has been a television, the Tardis, a boat, a spaceship . . . their imaginations are unbelievable sometimes!
We hope that just gives you a little insight into what we do in Reception. However, this is obviously only one aspect of our school day – we do lots of other things too! It will also hopefully help you to understand why your little ones ( and us! ) are tired when they come home at the end of the day!!
As always, if you want any clarification or further details, please come and see us!
