The children in Reception have started reading Errol’s Garden written by Jullian Gibbs, the book links cross curriculum with their Topic where they have been learning about plants and flowers. In the story the young boy Errol is planning a rooftop garden and the children in Reception decided to do the same! Just like Errol they had to do their research before they could start planning. The first part of the week the children focused on building their vocabulary of different flowers, trees and vegetables.

Some of the children even took their research outside in search of ideas for their gardens and discovering new flowers. The children put their writing skills to use to write a list or mind map of things they wanted to include in dream garden. Then on Friday, with their written plans in hand, the children produced carefully labelled pictures of how they dream garden would look. In Reception they do like to put their own touch on things, with the children adding things such as pink glittery trees and shark pools to create these gorgeous gardens.

There has been great improvement in the children’s letter formation, they have all worked so hard practising at home and at school to produce clear readable handwriting. Along with development in their segmenting and spelling skills, the children are finding increasing enjoyment from their writing.