This week, Reception have been busy diving into the fascinating world of the ocean and its amazing animals!

We began by learning about plastic pollution and the harmful effects it can have on marine life. The children were shocked to discover that sea animals can become tangled in plastic, causing them to become strangulated, and that some animals accidentally swallow plastic, which can make them very poorly and even cause them to die. We discussed ways that we can help to protect our oceans and keep them clean for all the wonderful creatures that live there. We understand that we must recycle our plastic and put our little in the bin to avoid it being put into our oceans. 

In our art area, we explored different shades of blue while painting ocean waves. The children enjoyed experimenting with white paint and discovered how adding it to blue created lighter shades, helping them to create beautiful ocean scenes. We also used our printing skills to create a variety of sea creatures. Celery was used to print scales onto our Rainbow Fish, while bubble wrap was used to create textured starfish prints.  The children also made starfish using Cheerios, carefully arranging them to create a realistic bumpy texture.

Our malleable area became an underwater paradise as we worked together to create a coral reef using colourful pasta shapes, clay and blue rice.  The children also created ocean animals out of clay, using a range of tools to carefully shape their creations and add patterns and textures to their animals' bodies.

In our science learning, we investigated which materials would be best for making a boat. We thought carefully about the properties of different materials, discussing whether they were rigid, flexible, waterproof or not waterproof. We then explored floating and sinking, testing a range of objects and learning that objects which float stay on top of the water, while objects which sink move down through the water until they reach the bottom.

During our morning writing sessions, the children impressed us with their super sentences about ocean animals and the wonderful things that can be seen beneath the waves. They worked hard to use their phonics knowledge to write independently.

In maths, we used shells to explore odd and even numbers by sharing them into buckets. The children enjoyed investigating number patterns and explaining their thinking.

It has been a fantastic topic full of creativity, investigation and discovery. We are so proud of all the wonderful learning that has taken place as Reception explored life beneath the waves! 🌊🌊🌊🌊