Reception Weekly Blog (21.11.25)

Date: 21st Nov 2025 @ 3:14pm

Reception Weekly Blog

What a wonderful week it has been – and definitely a much colder one! The children have embraced every activity with enthusiasm, curiosity, and plenty of smiles.

We began the week with a Superhero theme and a visit to our very own doctor’s surgery. The children thoroughly enjoyed ‘treating’ one another, applying bandages and slings, and taking on the roles of doctors, nurses, and patients. Their imaginative play was fantastic to watch – we may have some future actors in our midst!

Our focus in RE was Jesus and his miracles. We explored well-loved stories such as turning water into wine, walking on water, and feeding the five thousand.
We also introduced the children to Fred Fingers to support early writing. Fred Fingers helps children pinch the sounds they need in words before writing them down. You can watch the video below to see the technique in action and have a go at home with words such as:

• cat
• dog
• red
• up
• in
• shop
• chip
• thin
• quick

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/search-resources/?search_term=Fred+Fingers

On Wednesday, we continued learning about the real-life superheroes who help us every day. The children discovered more about doctors, nurses, and paramedics and were particularly fascinated by how X-ray machines work. We talked about how these professionals do everything they can to look after us.

Thursday morning brought a surprise – our first experience of ice in the ROLA this year! A sheet of ice had formed overnight, and the children were amazed to touch it, explore the cracks, and notice the shapes created when it broke. We wondered together whether it would all melt by home time.

Before we knew it, Friday had arrived. We shifted our focus to the animals that help us, especially assistance dogs. The children learnt how these incredible dogs support people with a range of medical needs, offering companionship, independence, and safety.

This week in Maths, we have been getting to know Number 5. The children practised subitising 4 and 5 and explaining the smaller groups they could see within these numbers, such as 3 and 2 or 2 and 2. We explored one more and one less, sang Five Little Speckled Frogs, and used five frames in provision to represent what happens in the song. The children also loved using currant buns in a baker’s shop role play to deepen their understanding.
We have been working with part–whole diagrams to spot number bonds within 5, and we look forward to continuing this next week before introducing Number 6 the following week.

Today we sent home the first set of red words in your child’s reading folder. Red (or tricky) words are common exception words that cannot be sounded out using phonics and must be learnt by sight. We call them red/tricky words because if the children try to ‘Fred Talk’ them, they won’t sound quite right – making it “tricky to Fred a red”.

We absolutely love sharing your good news. Please email us at [email protected] with any updates, no matter how big or small – we always enjoy hearing from you.

Have a wonderful weekend,
The Reception Team