Reception Rules!
Rationale: After becoming settled and familiar with the classroom routines, a new member of the class arrives. Her name is Flora the Flamingo and she is unsure how to behave at school. The children are challenged to teach Flora how to be a responsible, kind and friendly member of the class. During the project, they will learn the four key Reception Rules alongside our CIRCLE values. They will show their parents how to learn in Reception through a stay and play session and how to be an amazing St Mark's pupil, where Reception does indeed 'rule'!
Hook: New class member Flora arrives in a hot air balloon in the playground.
Mrs Wright found a hot air balloon crashed in the playground. As it was raining she brought it into the hall. Together we discovered there was a flamingo inside! The note told us that her name is Flora and asked if she could stay with us. We have promised to teach her how to be a Reception pupil.
Flora told us about her home and we shared with her about ours. We then made models of our homes.
Walking feet
Mrs Jones found Flora running in the corridor. She had fallen over. We learnt our first rule 'walking feet'.
Looking after our things
We came back from lunch to find Flora sitting with some broken toys. She decided to play at lunchtime and did not look after the toys. We taught Flora the rule 'looking after our things'.
Miss Jackson found Flora playing in the toilets. She made a mess which we tidied up.
Flora played again at lunchtime and did not tidy up. We helped show her where everything lives on the shelves.
Kind hands and feet
Flora said her friends did not want to play with her as she had been hitting and kicking them. We taught Flora the rule 'kind hands and feet' so she could play safely with her friends.
Gentle words
Flora did not say please and thank you at lunchtime. She also shouted at her friends and was unkind. We learnt the rule 'gentle words' which helps us to speak kindly to our friends.
Birdworld
Having learnt our Reception Rules, we went to Birdworld to practise them and to see Flora's family. We had a fantastic time seeing all the birds and playing in the play area.
Making crispy cakes
We followed instructions to make crispy cakes to share at our parent stay and play. We spoke about how the chocolate melted in the microwave.
Stay and play outcome
We invited our parents to come to a stay and play so we could show them our classroom and teach them our Reception Rules.
Home learning
We made chatterboxes at home of our favourite things. We then shared them with our friends and answered their questions.