Author: Katie Blowers

We are continuing our topic of superheroes this week . We will be learning about real life superheroes like Florence Nightingale. We will listen to superhero stories and learn what qualities superheroes have. We will also share our own amazing super talents. We will finish our topic on Friday with a superhero dress up day. A separate letter will be sent out regarding this.

RKB Assembly

Please join us on Wednesday 29th April at 9.00am for our superheroes assembly.

In Maths, this week, children will build on their understanding as they explore the change structure of addition (augmentation) by adding more. The focus for this step is on increasing a quantity by a given amount, while continuing to work within 10 Children will use real objects to see that the quantity of a group can be changed by adding more. The ‘first, then, now’ structure is a very effective way to help build their understanding by creating mathematical stories in meaningful contexts. At first, children may need to re-count all the items (for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) to see how many they have altogether. When they are ready, support them to count on instead (for example, 4, 5, 6, 7). Encourage children to enact and represent number stories using ten frames, number tracks and their fingers. ​

The children are working really hard in their new groups. It is lovely to hear the children reading and writing so well. Please continue to support your child at home to practice reading the book and completing the online quiz on Oxford Owl.

Parent’s Meetings

Parent’s meetings will be held this week; RMT’s will be on Monday and Wednesday and RKB’s will be on Wednesday and Thursday. Please book an appointment to see your child’s Teacher if you haven’t already.

Have a great week.

The Reception Team

This week, we will be celebrating Chinese New Year. 2026 is the year of the horse. We will be learning about the story of Chinese New Year and how people celebrate this festival. We will be making crafts, acting out the story, learning about ordinality of numbers, doing Chinese dancing, learning songs and tasting some Chinese foods. We will be trying noodles, rice, prawn crackers and chilli sauce. Please advise of us any allergies your child has or if your child is unable to try the different foods.

In Maths, we will be learning about capacity and mass​. The comparison of quantities is something that children begin to do as babies. When comparing, children notice attributes and begin to understand differences and similarities. The activities this week will focus on further developing this innate skill as the children are encouraged to focus exclusively on the numerosity of sets, without being diverted by colour, shape or size. They will then be encouraged to notice when quantities are equal or unequal, and will begin to consider how they can manipulate the number of objects in 2 sets to make them equal.​

Language is a key focus and adults will need to reinforce the language of ‘more than’, ‘fewer than’ and ‘an equal number’ to describe how many objects there are in each set. ‘Fewer than’ is used rather than ‘less than’, as the focus is on countable things. ​

In phonics, the children will be assessed on their phonics progress in readiness for their new groups after half term. We look forward to seeing the progress they have made. Please continue to support your child by listening to them read their reading sheets, books and accessing any phonics homework set online. All the work the children do at home helps to consolidate the learning they have done in school and is essential for their progress.

Please remember we break up for half term on Friday 13th February and return on Monday the 23rd February.

We are missing some Tonies toys from school, an Elsa, Aladdin and Jungle book characters. Please can you check if your child has taken them home accidently.

Thank you for your continued support.

Have a great week.

The Reception Team

In Maths, the children will consolidate their understanding of the composition of 5. Composing and decomposing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 5 can be made of 3 and 2. The children will deepen their understanding of a ‘whole’ being made up of smaller parts through practical experience, in this case moving frogs from a log to a pool in a nursery rhyme. The children will also revisit the concept of cardinality – the idea that the last number in the count tells us how many things there are altogether. They will continue to be provided with opportunities to hear, join in with and develop their knowledge of the counting sequence and to become secure enough with their counting skills to be able to count out a set of objects from a larger set, remembering the ‘stopping number’ and knowing that this means they have selected the correct number. The children will also be given opportunities to practise counting beyond 20.

The children are working hard to plug any gaps in their sound knowledge and are learning new sounds. When working with your child at home continue to go through the sound cards and if you notice they are stuck on a particular sound then please spend some time going over this. Continue to read the ditty sheets or book in your child’s bag and don’t forget to go on line to do the work on Oxford Owl that has been set by your child’s Phonics teacher. All groups except Mrs Alford’s should now have online work set. Mrs Alford’s group will have QR codes in their diary for videos that they need to watch to help with their blending.

In topic this week, we will be reading the story of the Billy Goat’s Gruff. We will retell the story using sequencing cards, make a story map, discuss the character’s feelings at different points of the story. We will be also be making bridges out of different construction and acting out the story.

Friday the 30th January is a Teacher training day and school will be closed for pupils that day.

Have a great week.

The Reception Team

This week we will continue our topic of Winter. We will be comparing the different seasons, discussing the changes in weather, clothes and changes in our environment. We will be exploring ice and seeing what happens when we use paint, water and salt on it. We will use our senses to write a class poem together about Winter.

This week in maths, the children will use their perceptual subitising skills (seeing the quantity without counting) in increasingly complex arrangements, moving from dots in a line and arrangements of 2, to a focus on standard dice arrangements. For larger quantities, the children will begin to use skills of conceptual subitising, beginning to quickly see the sub-groups within these larger numbers. A key focus will be on developing skills of visualising; the children will be encouraged to look carefully at arrangements of dots and then to close their eyes and explain what they saw. Using spatial language to describe sub-groups within these arrangements will deepen the children’s understanding of part–whole relations and allow them to further consider composition (the numbers within numbers).
This week, the children will be encouraged to continue representing quantities in different ways, including by showing amounts on 1 hand ‘all at once’. There will also be a new focus on the symbolic representation of number and the children will work on their recognition of numerals to 5, matching numerals to correct quantities in various games.
Towards the end of the week, the children will use a number track (with numbers placed in equal spaces in ascending order) to play dice-based games. Playing games with dice will consolidate the children’s understanding of the stable order of numbers and allow them to link the numbers on a track to the quantities on a die.

The children are working hard in their new phonics groups. Please check your child’s homework as they will bring home either a reading book, Ditty sheets or will have a QR code with videos to watch. Please continue to do this work each night and sign the diary to say you have heard your child read. More children will now also have reading work set on line on Oxford Owl for you to do together. The reading teacher for your child will let you know in the diary if this applies to your child. If your child has already been accessing Oxford Owl then they will continue to do so.

Have a great week.

The Reception Team

One more week to go!

We have a busy week this week full of Christmas activities and fun!

On Wednesday, it’s our Christmas party. Please provide your child with a small plate of snacks which is just for them. They will have their lunch as usual. Please label it with their name. We will also be having a visit from Father Christmas where the children will be receiving a gift.

Please continue to practise phonics sounds over the holidays. See QR code for some word time fun and see the links to practise some number songs.

http://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/M98BmbqO/NLkOot2H

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=d638ad346cf968d15d996c84bdcddf4fc69ef3b5c7bf22e5059c16149e8a8062JmltdHM9MTc2NTMyNDgwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=0f318a2a-2da8-6da0-24ec-9c9a2ce66c54&u=a1L3ZpZGVvcy9yaXZlcnZpZXcvcmVsYXRlZHZpZGVvP3E9amFjaytoYXJ0bWFubitjb3VudCt0bysyMCYmbWlkPUFFRkQ4MkVEMTc1Nzk2RTM1RTdCQUVGRDgyRUQxNzU3OTZFMzVFN0ImRk9STT1WQU1HWkM

Friday 19th is the last day of term. We return to school on Tuesday 6th January.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The Reception Team

This week, the children will be fully embracing Christmas. We will be writing cards, making Christmas lists, making Christmas crafts and reading Christmas stories.

We will be continuing to practise their Nativity play. If your child comes home with some words to learn for the Nativity in their reading diary then please practise these regularly so your child knows them and can read them from memory. We will not require you to provide a costume for the Nativity. We have all of the costumes in school so please do not go out and buy any costumes. Details on how to purchase tickets will be sent out to you nearer the time.

The children are all making great progress with their phonics. Thank you to all those parents who are hearing their child read or accessing the online videos. Remember to sign the diary every time your child reads and add a little comment to say how they are getting on or what you have done together. Please find some additional blending videos that you can watch together to help support the learning at home.

http://schools.ruthmiskin.com/resources/vc-pathways/295778/jGWalzfZ4fRKxtNQ

In Maths this week, the children will begin to explore composition by focusing on the preliminary skills: the concept of ‘wholes’ and ‘parts’. By investigating their own bodies and familiar toys they will begin to understand that whole things are often made up of smaller parts and that a whole is, therefore, bigger than its parts.

The children will then build 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, they will consolidate their understanding of a whole being made up of smaller parts. They will begin to recognise that numbers can be made by combining parts in different ways. A key focus will be the spatial arrangements that can be made with different combinations of the same number of objects.

With the weather so cold now please remember to send the children with named hats and gloves. We are encouraging the children to put the gloves in their pockets and hats in their sleeves to avoid these items becoming lost.