Welcome to Reception.
Our Teachers are Mrs Dumont and Miss Young and our Teaching Assistants are Mrs Wonnacott and Mrs Panta.
Nov 282025
Not I!
This week in topic have been focusing on the story ‘The Little Red Hen’. At the start of the week we read the story and thought about new vocabulary that we had not heard of before e.g. ‘mill’, ‘wheat’ and ‘grain’. We then followed a simple recipe to create our own bread rolls. We then thought about where food comes from and how it gets to our supermarkets.
Phonics lessons this week have focused on reviewing all the phase 2 and 3 sounds that we have learnt so far. We have continued to practise segmenting and blending for reading and writing. We have spent time looking closely at words to see if we could spot one of our digraph or trigraph sounds before reading the word. We have also looked at the structure of sentences, including the use of full stops and capital letters.
In Maths we have spent time learning counting songs to 10. We have then recapped skills such as counting objects, ordering numbers to 5 and identifying that numbers can be made of parts and whole.
Our Nativity play is coming along nicely, please continue to practise your child’s line with them and encourage them to use a clear, loud voice. Below are some songs for the children to listen and to and practise at home!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJQqOzkcHjg (from 9seconds-1min20)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-OF7KGyDis (from the start-26seconds)
Key Points
- Please can we remind parents again to supply your child with a change of underwear, socks/tights and trousers in their school bags. We have no spare school clothes left to change your children into if they have an accident. Also if you have borrowed any clothes, please can you return them.
- Next week we are making penguin crafts using toilet roll/kitchen roll holders and egg boxes. If you have any of these at home please could you bring them in for us to use at school.
- Any junk modelling items please!
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Nov 262025
Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum!
Our story focus this week in topic has been ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. We have really enjoyed reading some different versions of these stories and comparing the story events and characters. We looked at the life cycle of a bean and then planted some of our own. We have put these on the classroom windows so that we can observe any changes. The children came up with some amazing ideas to create their very own beanstalks in discovery time.
In Phonics we have learnt the new sounds ai, ee, igh and oa. We discussed how ‘igh’ is a trigraph because it has three letters to make one sound. We practised using these sounds when segmenting and blending words for reading and writing. We also continue to recap all of the sounds and ‘harder to read and write words’ that we have learnt so far.
In Maths we have been focusing on composition. Through practical experience, we looked a whole can be made up of smaller parts. We looked at the different parts of toys, the human body and animals. We then moved on to looking at the parts and whole of numbers using the Numberblocks and cubes e.g. 3 is the whole, 2 is a part and 1 is a part.
Key Points
- Over the next few weeks please practise your child’s Nativity line as much as possible so they are confident to say this independently.
Nov 142025
I’ll Huff and Puff and Blow Your House Down!
In our traditional tales topic this week we have focused on the story ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We started the week thinking about all the traditional tales we already knew that have a wolf character in them. We then read different versions of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ stories to compare the similarities and differences. We also chose one of our favourite characters to draw and add simple labels to and created some wanted posters to find the wolf!
In discovery time the children loved making new houses for the three little pigs in lots of different ways, for example junk modelling, construction bricks, natural resources and duplo. In the creation station we enjoyed making our own versions of the third little pigs stew for the wolf to fall into.
We had two other themes that we focused on this week. We spoke about what Remembrance Day is and why we have the two minute silence. Then in discovery time, we made our own poppy pictures. Our other theme was Friendship Friday as it was Anti-bullying week. We discussed how to be a good friend and what we can do with our kind hands. Each class made a different poster to focus on this.
In Phonics we have introduced the new digraphs ch, th, ng, nk. We have been segmenting and blending for reading and writing. We are starting to focus on developing the children’s writing and using the skills taught to hear the sounds in order. We have also discussed the importance of reading back our writing to check for any mistakes. We then looked at sentence structure and discussed full stops and capital letters.
PE this week was a little different… We had Jamie (Kye and Braydon’s Dad) deliver a fantastic session teaching us all about how to be healthy! He taught us there are 3 main things we need to do: exercise, eat well and sleep. Thank you so much Jamie – we loved it!
In Maths this week we have been learning about ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’. We started the week by comparing amounts of objects. We then introduced the children to ‘numicon’ and how this can be used to compare amounts. The children are becoming confident in using our stem sentences to help them reason and explain. An example of our stem sentence ‘5 is more than 3’ and ‘2 is fewer than 3’.
We hope you have a lovely weekend!
Reception Team 🙂
Nov 072025
Run Run As Fast As You Can!
Welcome back Apple and Lime Class!
At the beginning of this half term we will be learning about traditional tales. This week we focused on the story of ‘The Gingerbread Man’ and looked at different versions to make comparisons. We also retold the story using story maps and thought about what the characters might say in speech bubbles.
As a surprise for the children, we had arranged for the firefighters to visit us! The children got the opportunity to look around the fire engine and discover the various equipment and how it is used.
The Reception children also followed instructions to make their own Gingerbread Men. We weighed out the ingredients and mixed them together to make the dough. We were very lucky the Gingerbread Men did not run away after they were cooked in the oven! The children of course loved giving their Gingerbread Men the taste test after baking.
This week in Maths we have been learning some number songs linked to the number 5. We then deepened our understanding of 5 as a quantity by linking the number itself to the 5 fingers on one hand. We also began to explore ways to represent numbers to 5 using both their fingers and the Hungarian number pattern.
In Phonics we have learnt the new phase 3 sounds y, z, zz, qu, and ch. We practised using the rhymes to help us to form these letters. The children enjoyed thinking about all the words they could think of that included these sounds. We also practised the skills of segmenting and blending for reading and writing. As we are now learning more phonics sounds, please make sure you continue to practise and recap the ones we have already learnt at home. The harder to read and spell words this week were ‘we’, ‘be’ and ‘me’.
Nativity
In your reading records, you will find your child’s line/s to learn for the nativity. If there is no line, it is because your child didn’t want to speak but don’t worry, they still have an important role to play!
The children have a few songs to learn for the performance. If you are able to support your child to practice and learn the words to these songs at home, it would be much appreciated.
The songs are:
- Little donkey
- Twinkle twinkle
- Away in a manger (First verse only)
- Jingle Bells (Chorus only)
- When santa got stuck up the chimney
- Rudolph the red nose reindeer (Chorus only)
- We wish you a merry christmas
Key Points
- If your child has a line to say in the christmas Nativity show this will be inside your yellow reading records. Please practise this with your child at home.
- Next week we will be focusing on the story ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We would be grateful for any sticks or straw to help us to make houses.
- Please continue to read with your children daily at home. This only needs to be a couple of pages and then please record that you have read in the yellow reading records.
Have a great weekend!
Reception Team
Oct 242025
999 Emergency!
In Maths this week, we have been comparing quantities of objects. The activities this week will focus on developing this innate skill as children are encouraged to look carefully and use the language of comparison to describe sets of objects that they can see. Language is a key focus and adults will model the language of ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’ to describe how many objects there are in each set. ‘Fewer than’ is used rather than ‘less than’ because the focus is on countable things.
In Phonics we have continued to learn the final Phase 2 phonics sounds, l, ll, f and ff as well as begin learning Phase 3 sounds j, v, w and x. We have practised writing these using the letter rhymes to help us. We have also thought about words that start with these initial sounds. The new ‘harder to read and spell words’ for this week were ‘as’ and ‘his’ as well as ‘buses’, ‘he’ and ‘she’. The children are really becoming confident in using their robot arms to segment and blend words for reading and writing.
In topic this week we have continued to learn about ‘people who help us’. We have enjoyed learning more about police officers and firefighters and how they can help to keep us safe. We also discussed which number we needed to call if we ever needed the emergency services to help us. We discussed people who help us at school. We could name so many people in school, such as the teachers, Mrs Stray, Lani, our lunch time staff, and Mr Edwards as our caretaker.
Key Points
- Please make sure your reading books and yellow diaries are in the trays outside the classroom each day. This will help the adults when checking books and to see if they need to be changed.
- Please bring back school library books on a Friday so that they can be changed for a new one.
- As it is getting colder please make sure your child has a coat in school every day and they are ready for all types of weather.
- Please make sure your child’s school uniform, coats, shoes and PE have their names in.
We hope you have a lovely week!
Reception Team
Oct 102025
People Who Help Us!
In Maths this week, the children have built on their subitising skills. They have continued to use ‘perceptual’ subitising – instant recognition – by saying the number of sounds that they can hear, such as claps or drum beats, without needing to count. They were encouraged to look closely at small quantities and observe whether the quantity has changed or only the arrangement.
In Phonics this week we have taught the digraph sound ‘h’ and ‘b’. We then spent the week recapping the Phase 2 sounds and practising the skills to segment and blend these for reading and writing. We have also been reading some short sentences and identifying any ‘harder to read and spell words’ within them.
This week we have started our topic of ‘People who help us’. We have discussed who are ‘people who help us’. We had many amazing ideas from the children. We then focused on the role of doctors, nurses and dentists and how they can help us. Some children also shared their own experiences. When learning about dentists we discussed how to keep our teeth healthy and why this is so important.
Key Points
- We are still learning about ‘People who help us’ until the end of the term. If there are any other volunteers that would like to come in and talk about their jobs, it would be greatly appreciated!
- We are also looking for any parents that could help with additional reading in Reception. If you could spare some time to help please let one of the Reception team know.
- Please could you ensure your child has a spare set of clothes at school, including underwear and socks , to change into if they have an accident or get wet outside.
Oct 032025
All About Friendships!
In Phonics we have taught the sounds u, r, ss and h. We have continued to segment and blend words for reading and writing. We have also enjoyed thinking of words that start with these initial sounds. The ‘harder to read and spell words’ this week were ‘into’ and ‘go’. We were practising to use these within sentences.
In Maths, the children will explore how numbers can be composed of 1s and, from this, begin to investigate the composition of 3 and 4. Composing and decomposing numbers involves children investigating part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2. The children will learn from practical experience that a ‘whole’ is made up of smaller parts and is, therefore, bigger than its parts. We will start to learn about weight and capacity, using the vocabulary heavier and lighter.
This week in Reception we have been focusing on friendships. We have read the story ‘We are friends’ and discussed the importance of being kind to others with both our words and our actions. We then read the story ‘Have you filled a bucket today?’. This story helped us to think about kind and unkind actions and how it will make others feel. We will continue to focus on friendships and how our actions can impact relationships.
In PE this week, our theme was our senses. We focused on running and changing directions. We practised using smaller steps, looking around us and then turning to a new direction through different games.
Next week, our topic is ‘People Who Help Us’ and we are having a couple of surprise visitors on Monday and Tuesday.
Key Points
- Just a reminder that the Phase 2 phonics sounds that we are covering this term are stuck into your child’s yellow reading record. On the school website you will be able to find a video that shows how we teach Phonics, including how we pronounce the pure sounds.
- Please put your child’s name in their uniform, PE kits and on their water bottles.
- Bring reading books and reading records every day and put them into the drawer. If you are unsure, please ask.
We hope you have a lovely weekend,
Reception Team
Sep 262025
Homes and Houses!
This week in Reception, we have encouraged the children to engage with activities that draw attention to the purpose of counting – to find out ‘how many’ objects there are. They have used subitising to identify the number in a set; they will now develop their counting skills to enable them to identify how many there are in a set that cannot be subitised. This connects subitising and counting to cardinality whereby the last number in the count tells us ‘how many’ things there are altogether. Using a ‘circling’ gesture to indicate all of the objects in a set will support children to develop an understanding of cardinality. They will also practise developing 1:1 correspondence, by counting numbers at the same time as moving or tagging the objects. We also learnt two new shapes this week (rectangle and triangle) and went on a shape hunt around the classroom.
In Phonics we have introduced the sounds c, k, ck, e and their corresponding rhymes. The children have enjoyed thinking of different words that start with these initial sounds. We have also been continuing to segment and blend simple words using our robot arms. It would be great if you could continue to encourage your children to use robot arms when reading at home.
This week’s topic focus has been about homes all around the world. We have enjoyed reading books and looking at pictures of different homes. We have then thought about why some homes are built differently and use alternative materials in different countries. The children then choose one of the houses they had learnt about to have a go at drawing.
We introduced Reception to junk modelling. We spent time thinking about what we would like to make and the materials and resources that we might need to create these. We challenged the children to make junk model homes for our small world area. Children can access the junk modelling resources in discovery time, any junk modelling and recycling that you have at home would be greatly appreciated.
Key Points
- We are in need of both girls and boys pants and socks if anyone has them going spare.
- In the next few weeks we will be learning about ‘People who help us’. If you or anyone you know is a doctor, nurse, paramedic, dentist, firefighter, police officer etc.. please let us know. We would love you to come in and talk about your role to the children.
Sep 192025
Imagination Galore!
This week in Reception we have continued to have a big focus on learning the school rules and routines, including making good learning choices in the indoor and outdoor environments.
In topic this week we have been thinking about our families and discussing how all families are different. All of the Reception team have shown the children their own families and the children seemed to be surprised that their teachers had families and pets at home. The children then shared and talked about their own family photos in front of the class. We then thought about how we could ask each other relevant questions. Some children have have done some lovely drawings of their families which have been put on display within the classrooms. We have also thought about the different homes that we all live in and introduced the children to the vocabulary ‘flat’, ‘house’ and ‘bungalow’.
In phonics we have recapped last weeks phonics sounds. We then introduced the sounds d, m, g, o. We have practised using the rhymes to write the letters in the air and then had a go on paper. We have also introduced ‘harder to read and spell words’, these are words that cannot be segmented and blended. These words are ‘a’, ‘I’, ‘the’, ‘no’, ‘put’ and ‘of’. Please read every day with your child at home where they get the opportunity to practise the sounds and harder to read words we have been looking at in class. Please record each time you read in the yellow diaries with comments to explain how your child has read and understood their book.
In Maths this week, we have focused on subitising to 3, and using their fingers to show the numbers in different ways. We also introduced 2D shapes, focusing on a circle and a square. The children went around the classroom to find items that show the two shapes.
This week we had our first PE lesson in the hall! We focused this week on being able to undress and dress ourselves independently. If you could practise this at home that would be much appreciated! In PE we then played a range of whole class games, allowing the children to get used to the space.
Both Reception classes joined Miss Dore this week for a music lesson. We had lots of fun singing familiar nursery rhymes and listening to some different instruments.
Key Points
- Please send in a family photo with your child if you have not yet done this.
- PE is on Mondays so please make sure your child has a kit on their peg every week.
- Please could the children bring their reading books and diaries every day so they can be read with and checked by an adult. Each day, please take them out of the book bags and place them in the top trays outside the classroom. If you are unsure, please ask.
Donation wanted:Mud Kitchen! Our old one is now broken and we are making do, however we would love to have a new/recycled one. If you know of anyone who may be able to make or donate one, please let us know.
Thank you so much for the donations so far, we really appreciate it!
Have a lovely weekend,
Reception Team
Sep 122025
Welcome to Alban City!
What a lovely first full week it has been for Reception!
The children have been super excited and eager to explore their new classrooms. We have played lots of games, spoken about how we feel starting school and even started our phonics lessons. The phonics sounds we have learnt so far are s, a. t, p, i, n.
Don’t forget:
- bring PE kits in and place them on pegs.
- bring a water bottle every day.
- bring wellies in.
- Please ensure all uniform, PE kits, wellies and water bottles are named.
- We are going to be making junk model houses and people next week, if anyone is able to bring in any materials for junk modelling it would be much appreciated. We would particularly like toilet rolls!
- Unfortunately our mud kitchen is broken, if anybody is able to build or donate a mud kitchen we would greatly appreciate it.
On Friday you will see reading books and reading records appear in your child’s book bag. It would be great if you could read with your child every day and write it into their reading records. Reading books will only be changed once it has been read 3 or 4 times.
At the front of your child’s reading record you will see there is a copy of all the phase 2 phonic sound that we are covering this term, these also show you the rhymes that we use in class to support the children to not only learn the sound but also how to form the letter correctly. It will benefit the children greatly if you could practice these sound at home. It is very important that we use pure sounds when we are pronouncing the sounds and supporting them to segment and blend for reading and writing. To support you as parents there is a video on the school website under ‘our curriculum’ then ‘phonics.
Have a restful weekend everyone!
Reception Team🙂
