Welcome to Reception.
Our Teachers are Mrs Dumont and Miss Reynolds and our Teaching Assistants are Mrs Wonnacott and Miss Chaudhry.
Dec 082023
Christmas Lists!
This week in Maths we recapped measuring objects using the key vocabulary of longer, longest, shorter and shortest. We then introduced measuring objects using non-standard units such as uni-fix cubes. The children loved investigating how long objects were around the classroom. We counted the cubes 1-1 and then compared their lengths focusing on longest and shortest. Some of the children even measured themselves!
In Phonics this week we have spent time recapping all of the phase 2 and phase 3 sounds that we have covered over the Autumn term. Our main focus has been on using our knowledge of these sounds to segment and blend words for reading and writing. The children have all become really good at using robot arms to help them when segmenting and blending.
In topic we have started to focus on the story ‘A letter to Santa’. We thought about how Santa receives all the letters that children write to him every year. We then drew and labelled our own Christmas lists.
In PE we have focused on ball skills when working with a partner. We practised rolling, bouncing, throwing and catching the balls and they key skill of accuracy.
Reminders
- Reception’s Christmas Nativity show is on Tuesday 12th December. Please make your way down to the theatre after soft start.
- Christmas Lunch with Festive Jumpers on Wednesday 13th December.
- The visit to the pantomime is on Thursday 14th December.
- Please bring back school library books on Thursdays so that your child can choose a new book when we visit the library on Friday.
Have a great weekend!
The Reception Team 🙂
Nov 242023
Have you filled a bucket today?
In Phonics this week we have learnt the phase 3 sounds ai, ee, igh, oa.
- A digraph is a two-letter grapheme, a combination of two letters representing only one sound.
- A trigraph is a three-letter grapheme, a combination of three letters representing one sound, like igh in the word sigh.
In Maths this week, the children have built on their understanding of the composition of numbers by investigating the composition of 3, 4 and 5. Composing and de-composing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2. Through practical experience, we focused on consolidating their understanding of a whole being made up of smaller parts.
Our text focus in literacy has been ‘Have you filled a bucket today?’. This book looks at ‘bucket filling’ and ‘bucket dipping’ these are metaphors for understanding the effects of our actions and words on the feelings of others. For example, you can make yourself happy by making other people happy, and by accepting kindness from others. As a class wrote our own ideas on how we can fill other peoples buckets- these are the actions and words we are trying to do every day to show kindness and help to make others feel happy. We also looked at how we can dip into other peoples buckets- these are the actions and words that we are trying really hard to avoid.
Key points
- If you child requires any outfits for the Nativity play then you will find this inside of your yellow reading diaries.
- On Friday we all visited the school library. The children can keep these books until Thursday when they need to return them.
- Please continue to read at least 4 times a week. The books will be changed after they have read the book 4 times and a comment is made. Please also focus on the children’s understanding of the book as well as the reading.
- We would love to invite any ‘Mystery Visitors’ into Reception- This could be to share a story to the class, talk about your job/hobbies or to share a skill you might have. Please speak to one of the Reception teachers if you would like to volunteer!
Nov 172023
Nocturnal Animals!
Happy Friday!
This week we have been learning all about nocturnal animals. We firstly read the story ‘Owl Babies’ and then a range of non-fiction books. The children then had a go at making and writing their own non-fiction books all about nocturnal animals. They created a front cover and then wrote one fact about the animal. We also spent time talking about capital letters, full stops and finger spaces.
In Phonics this week we have been focusing on some new digraphs sh, th, ng and nk. We enjoyed thinking of words with these sounds in and making sentences that included these words. We have had a big focus on forming letters correctly. We would hugely appreciate support with letter formation at home and name writing.
In Maths we have begun to explore composition by focusing on the concept of ‘wholes’ and ‘parts’. We investigated our own bodies and familiar toys to understand that whole things are often made up of smaller parts and that a whole is, therefore, bigger than its parts.
In PE this week we started to focus on ball skills- rolling, dropping and catching and throwing up and catching. This is another skill that the children would benefit from practising at home as it is a key early years focus.
Please continue to practise any lines in your reading diaries for the Nativity play. We will send out a message next week about any costume items you may need.
Thank you,
The Reception Team
Nov 102023
Diwali celebration
What a busy and exciting week we have had in Reception!
In Phonics this week we have covered the sounds y, z, zz, qu and ch. We have practised the formation of these sounds using the rhymes, we have been segmenting and blending words that include these sounds for reading and writing.
In Maths we have been focusing on comparing amounts. We have used the key vocabulary ‘more than’, ‘fewer than’ and ‘an equal number’ to describe how many objects there are in each set. As the focus this week is on countable things, ‘fewer than’ is used rather than ‘less than’ and ‘more than’ is used rather than ‘greater than’. Please remember you all have a Numbots login where the children will be able to practise the skills they are learning within class. If you are unsure of your login please let us know and we can sort this for you.
This weeks Literacy lessons have been all about the celebration of Diwali. We have read stories and watched short video clips about how and why Diwali is celebrated. We discussed the similarities and differences between different religious celebrations. We also created our own Diva lamps using clay. We manipulated the clay into the shape of a Diva and then decorated using paints and a range of craft resources. On Friday we looked at Remembrance day and we all watched a simple video that explained why we have Remembrance day each year. Here is a link to this video if you would like to watch it at home with your child https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/poppies. The children were full of questions and keen to find out more.
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We have started to practise our Christmas Nativity this week. Please check in your child’s yellow diary to see if they have any lines to practise. It would be greatly appreciated if you could support your child in learning their line at home.
Next Tuesday we will be visiting the school library. The children will be able to choose one book to take home for the week. Please return them to school the following Tuesday to enable your child to swap their book over.
Thank you for all of your support.
The Reception Team
Nov 032023
Return to school
The Reception team are really proud of how well all of the children have returned and settled back into school.
Our text focus this week has been on ‘Stickman’. We have enjoyed reading and retelling the story using actions, pictures and words. The children all thought of a new object that Stickman could be turned into. We then drew these and segmented the words to add labels.
In Phonics we have started learning our ‘Phase 3 sounds’ and covered the sounds j, v, w and x. The new sound mat has been stuck into your yellow reading diaries. We are now really encouraging the children to use all of the phonetic sounds that we have taught them during discovery time, for example adding labels to a model or writing a menu in the cafe. Please check the classroom phonics board to see what sounds have been covered within lessons.
In Maths this week have have focused on deepening their understanding of 5 as a quantity by linking the number itself to the 5 fingers on one hand. The children also began to explore ways to represent numbers to 5 using both their fingers and a die frame. On Friday we also recapped length, looking at long, longer and longest and short, shorter and shortest.
A few reminders from the Reception team
- Please could you put your reading book and diaries into the top coloured tray outside of the classroom everyday.
- Please try to read with your child daily and write a comment into the yellow diary. We will change the books twice a week.
- Please can you provide spare pants and socks in your child’s PE bag for any accidents
- Please name all clothing including gloves and hats if you can.
Thank you for all of continued support as it makes a huge difference.
Enjoy your weekend!
The Reception Team
Oct 202023
Happy Half Term!
What an amazing first half term in Reception! Well done to all of our children that have settled so well into their new school and routines.
We have had another busy week this week!
In Literacy we have been focusing on the text ‘A Pipkin of Pepper’. Before starting to read we made story predictions using the front cover and story title. As we read through we then discussed the similarities and differences between this story and ‘Pumpkin Soup’. We then created our own ‘yuck soup’ with different ingredients. We drew these and then added labels. We used our sound mats to support with letter formation.
In Maths this week we have focused on comparison and have introduced the vocabulary ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’ to describe sets of objects that they can see.
In Phonics this week we continued to recap all of the Phase 2 sounds we have already learnt. We practised reading CVC words and simple sentences. We also practised segmenting words using our robot arms to write labels.
Have a lovely half term break!
The Reception Team
Oct 132023
Pumpkin Soup!
‘Pumpkin Soup’ has been the text focus in Reception this week. We started off the week by drawing and writing story predictions. We then made a list of ingredients that we would need to make our own pumpkin soup. We followed simple instructions to chop and prepare the vegetables for the soup. Once the soup was made, we all had a taste and shared what we either enjoyed about making the soup or what we thought about the taste.
In Maths this week we continued practising subitising numbers to 4. We used our fingers to show how many we could see and then discussed how we could show that number in many different ways. We also discussed how different things can be counted such as sounds.
In Phonics we have covered the last Phase 2 sounds h, b, f, ff, l, ll. We segmented words using our robot arms and then blended together with a clap. It would be really beneficial for all the children to practise this at home when reading or writing at home.
Reception loved becoming superheroes within our PE lesson. We pretended the colours on the parachute were different superhero capes. We played games such as colour swap, mushroom and bug in a rug.
The Reception children are currently really enjoying making junk models. Any donations such as cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and lids would be great!
Have a lovely weekend!
The Reception Team 🙂
Oct 062023
Baking Bread!
It has been a very busy week in Reception!
‘The Little Red Hen’ has been our focus text this week in Literacy. We enjoyed reading and comparing different versions. We took turns to retell the story to the class using our puppet show. We then learnt about why we use instructions and how to follow them. We then followed some instructions to make our very own bread rolls. We used our senses to explore and describe the bread after they had been baked. They were a big success in the taste test! We then learnt about the process of making flour and how it gets to our supermarkets.
In Phonics this week we have been practising the Phase 2 sounds we have already learnt. We have been reading these within words and short sentences. We have also been using our robot arms to segment simple CVC words for spelling.
In Maths we have been focusing on composition. We looked at the different ways the numbers 3 and 4 could be made up of smaller parts e.g. ‘1 and 1 and 1 makes 3’, ‘3 and 1 makes 4’. On Friday we introduced Reception to ‘weight’. We used the balance scales to investigate what objects were ‘heavy’ and ‘light’.
In PE we practised moving our bodies into different shapes such as a star, tuck and straight shape. We then played a game of follow the leader. Each pair took turns to choose different travelling actions as they moved around the hall.
Thank you again to all of the amazing donations we have received so far. The children have loved having some new resources to explore in their Discovery time.
Enjoy your weekend!
The Reception Team 🙂
Sep 292023
We’re Going On a Leaf Hunt!
In Phonics this week we have learnt the sounds ck, e, u and r. We have also covered the Harder to Read/Spell words into, t and go. We have been practising blending to read sounds in words. We have also started to segment words to hear sounds in order for writing.
In Maths this week we have focused on counting, cardinality and ordinality. We learnt different ways of counting objects for example 1-1 correspondence and moving objects into a line as they are counting. On Friday we looked at the 2D shapes triangle and rectangle. We talked about the properties of these shapes and how a rectangle differs to a square.
In PE we thought about mythical creatures and then we became fairies, dragons and unicorns . We then practised helping our fairies to fly by throwing and catching bean bags in different ways.
In Literacy we focused on the story ‘We’re Going On a Leaf Hunt’ and different signs of Autumn. At the end of the week the children then created their own version of the story. We had some amazing ideas such as We’re going on a shark hunt, a mermaid hunt, an alien hunt and jungle animal hunt. Then the children were asked to hear and write the initial sounds for each picture they drew. If your children are choosing to draw at home please encourage them to segment the sounds within words for writing. The sound mat is in the front of the yellow reading diary to support with writing and formation.
Sep 222023
We’re Going On a Bear Hunt!
We have had another very busy week in Reception.
In Phonics this week we have learnt the sounds g, o, c, k. We have also covered the Harder to Read/Spell words put, of and is. We have been practising blending to read sounds in words. We have also started to segment words to hear sounds in order for writing. Thank you to everyone that made it to the Phonics Meeting on Thursday. If you were unable to make it, there is information on the school website to support you or please ask the Reception teachers if you have any questions.
In Maths this week we introduced ‘subitising’ numbers to 3- Recognising the number of objects without needing to count them. We also started to learn about circles and squares and the properties of these 2D shapes. The children enjoyed becoming shape detectors in the classroom.
In Literacy we have focused on the story ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’. We have listened to the story, acted out the story and retold it as a story map.
In PE we became pirates on ships, we focused on using the space around us and listening carefully and following instructions.
One of our teacher-led tasks this week was to follow a simple recipe to make our own playdough. We then used our hands and a variety of tools to run our playdough into many different and wonderful creations.
Reading books will be changed when your child has read 4 times and this has been written in their yellow books. Please can you place the reading book and diary into the coloured reading books and diaries trays outside of your classroom. This will ensure your book will be changed.
Thank you to all of the Wishlist donations that we have already received. The children will benefit greatly from all of these resources.
Have a great weekend!
The Reception Team