There is just under 2 week left of school – two week of Reception, wah! The kids have been up to so much the past month, and learning so much. They can read, have proper conversations, and I love it when the other kids in Tyler’s class come and chat to me. I feel so happy, like I have connected with them. And it’s so cute the things they talk about, from favourite colours, to their shoes, to the planes in the sky and how it becomes night when the sun goes down. So many random topics!

At school they have been learning about the emergency services and the police, and we had to make a vehicle with junk material one weekend. Here is what we came up with – and only after I painted it did my mum point out that it was an American police car! Well, at least Tyler’s one was unique…

There was a non-uniform day towards the end of June to raise fund for the victims of the Grenfell disaster. And the following week they had their first school trip that was to Wooly Firs in Maidenhead. Tyler was very excited to get the ‘Apple’ coach. He said they picked flowers, and then their teddy bears had a picnic and he sat next to his best friend and his teacher for lunch.

I find lately that Tyler doesn’t really tell me anything new that he learns, and some days he’s been very moody. I may blame it on the heat – or perhaps he’s turning into a teenager early. All he says is that they did phonics, playing outside, playing inside, they have milk, he ate all his fish and chips (on Friday) and he had been talking about Assembly and singing this new song recently that goes “Hello, Bonjour, Konichiwa..” I was like, wow, they are learning languages??

It all made sense when I got a letter to say they were having a prizegiving and Tyler had won one. 10 children out of each form won a prize and we got to got to the prizegiving which was with Nursery, and listen to them sing their songs (so cute!!) Obviously I can’t share photos here, but it was really sweet – although Tyler’s friends were confused as to why I was there and not their mummies, and I later heard there were tears. It is a bit mean to the kids who don’t win anything, they are so young. But then if everyone was to win a prize in nursery and reception, that’s over 200 kids. I don’t know the answer. Do a sports day instead? But then I guess there would still be tears

Anyhoo, the prizewinners were sat to one side, and it was done form by form, with each child’s name being called and them having to shake hands with 3 teachers. When it came to Tyler’s turn, he went up when his name was called, but didn’t know how to do a handshake! He kept giving the wrong hand, then stepping back all confused. Funny boy! He then walked on to the stage holding up his certificate alongside the other winners. Tyler won ‘Inquisitive Explorer’ – which I presume means he asks lots of questions and wants to learn? Other prizes were ‘Most Confident Speaker’ ‘Magical Mathematic’ ‘Most improved in Literacy’ ‘Active Learner’ and I can’t remember the others.

This week was ‘Art Week’ and parents could come in for an Art session with their child. I jumped at the chance, I love seeing what they get up to in the classroom. Luckily Lily was sleeping, so I left her in the buggy on one side of the classroom, and got to doing some crafts with Tyler. There were paper plates, scissors, colouring pens, pva glue and crafty bits and bobs. We made a watermelon and a pineapple.

When Lily woke up, she was really excited to be in the classroom and to see Tyler. Then she started walking around – ahhh! That was really weird, like she was just a baby yesterday!

Now, I’ve always wondered how they learn Maths in Reception. Well I found out that day. See these little rectangle things that Lily is playing with in the photo above? They are magnetic. So you put two together on the whiteboard and count the circles to add it up. Clever, eh?

Today the whole class went on a trip to Tesco, as part of the ‘Farm to Fork’ scheme that’s to teach kids about where their food comes from. Tyler said they went around the fruit aisle and ticked a sheet off. I’m sure there was more to it, but he really enjoyed it nonetheless, saying to me “I LOVE Tesco!” – I’d go as far to say the Tesco is his version of what Woolworths meant to me. If only we had a school trip to Woolworths when I was at school. I’d loved to have learnt about where pic n mix came from 😉

There’s a school fete tomorrow and then a superheroes dress up day next week. I do like Summer Term, it’s like the fun term isn’t it!

How’s your child’s last few weeks of Summer Term going?

Sabrina x