Category: Reception Blog

We would like to offer a huge welcome to all of our Reception children and their families. The children have all settled in wonderfully and have had a great start to the year. We are currently working hard on becoming familiar with the routines and expectations and how to work happily together. The children are making friends and exploring the setting well and learning how to tidy away after themselves. Please talk to your child about their day and encourage them to talk through any incidents that may have occurred or they may be worried about. Encourage them to think about what they can do to help e.g. speak to an adult, ask somebody to play or come back to a resource later if somebody is already using it. We also ask that you encourage your child to do things for themselves at home such as tidying away their toys, putting on their own coats and shoes, eating with cutlery and wiping themselves when they go to the toilet. They will be expected to do these things for themselves in school so expecting them to do it at home also will help them to become confident and independent.

This week the children will be starting on their Phonics program. They will be introduced to new sounds and how to hear these sounds to make words. At the end of the week your child will bring home the letter sounds they have learned. Please go through these letter sounds with your child every day to help them learn them. These letters will be your child’s reading homework over the next half term. As they bring home more sounds, add them to the pack and rehearse all of the sounds. Once they have the first 6 sounds they can begin to build simple words. put two or three of the cards together for your child to say each sound and blend the word e.g. a-t, s-i-t, m-a-t. The link below shows a parents guide on our phonics program and how it works. Something that also helps your child is using Fred talk to give instructions e.g. go and get your b-a-g, put on your s-o-c-ks.

This week we will be starting our Math’s program. The children will use the simple sorting skills they have developed so far to now explore different sorting techniques. We will be encouraging the children to sort objects and discuss how they have sorted them. We will be focusing on sorting according to type and thinking about different ways we can sort items. This could be supported at home by getting your child to sort items from around the house. They could sort their toys according to size, colour, type or could think of their own way to sort their toys.

Please provide your child with a named waterproof coat with a hood every day and a water bottle only containing water please. The government ask that children only drink water or milk throughout the day to help reduce the risk of tooth decay. Coventry currently has a very high number of children who have severe tooth decay and juice in bottles can make this wose as it sticks to the teeth. We also request that children of Reception age no longer use a dummy as this again can encourage not only tooth decay but also speech problems which can prove extremely difficult to rectify. Can we also please remind you to label all of your child’s uniform including their shoes, coats, bags and water bottles. If items are named we have more chance of returning them to the correct child.

If you would like to speak to a member of the team at the start or end of the day can we ask that you please wait to the side while the staff member is welcoming or dismissing the children. Once we have ensured all children are safely with an adult we will then gladly speak with you. Alternatively please send us an email and we will respond as soon as we are able to on: [email protected] or [email protected]

Have a lovely week

The Reception Team

This week, our topic will be on pirates. This is really fun topic whereby the children will learn all about what pirates did, what they wore, how they talked and we will be doing a variety of creative activities. We will also being sharing pirate stories.

In Maths, the children will focus on counting verbally beyond 20 and on the process of counting and numerical patterns. We will be playing a variety of counting on games and taking part in activities involving numbers beyond 20. We will be designing, playing and sharing our own counting on games.

In phonics, the children will be continuing to consolidate their set 1 and 2 sounds, with some groups moving on to set 3 sounds. Please continue to support your child to complete their online learning and reading their books ready for the phonics assessments which will determine their groups as they move to year 1.

Transition Morning

On Wednesday the 1st July the children will spend the morning in their new classrooms meeting their Teacher.

Whilst the weather continues to stay warm please continue to send your child with a water bottle, hat and sun cream.

Have a great week.

The Reception Team

This week we will be beginning to do some work on our Transition into Year 1. Over the next few weeks we will be talking about the changes to come and will be helping the children to prepare for this future change. We will start this work exploring how they have already changed from when they were a baby up until how they are now. We will talk about the human life cycle, which links into the work we did in the Spring term on animal life cycles. The children will identify what they were able to do as a baby and what they can now do. They will also think about what they will be able to do as they grow older. Please send in a photo of your child as a baby to [email protected]. We will be doing some work where we will see if we can identify who each baby is and use the photos to identify changes that have occurred. Talk to your child about the year they have had and all of the amazing things they are learned to do. Help them to identify the things that they will continue to learn over the year ahead to help them prepare and get excited about Year 1.

The children are all working hard in their phonic groups and are busy reviewing sounds already learned as well as learning new sounds. Please continue to go over the sounds at the front of the online reading books to check which sounds your child is confident on and which sounds they need further practice on. Your child’s online book is the book they have read three times in school the week before, They should be able to read this book fluently and should be encouraged to read with a readers voice adding expression and intonation to their voice as they read. Below are some extra videos to help support the learning in school.

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/eKGsRn2F/Am29V0Ol

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/UVuz2onC/bcfmU0vc

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/lSUi4Acb/K38NMToV

Previously, children experienced creating maps to represent well-known routes and places. This week, children move on from these real-life scenarios and focus more on interpreting story situations. To support children’s imaginative thinking and develop their ability to adapt scenarios depending on their interests, create scenarios and ask questions about them such as, “What if Red Riding Hood didn’t go straight to Grandma’s house?” Encourage your child to make up their own role-play stories using a variety of items. They can then develop maps and enact their adventures using the mathematical language of map making, position, direction and spatial reasoning.

The children are currently enjoying making models with recycled materials. We are always happy for any donations of empty cardboard boxes and containers that they can use to make models. Please send them in to us rather than throwing away so we can keep our supplies stocked and ready to be used.

Have lovely week

The Reception Team

This week we will be focusing on ‘Oracy’. Research shows that the quality of a child’s early language development is a powerful predictor of their future academic success and life chances. The research is clear that those children who are supported to develop strong language skills in their earliest years are more likely to succeed in school and work and lead happier lives. We will be developing oracy this week by encouraging the children to read familiar Nursery rhymes as well as performing a series of poems linked to our healthy living topic. We want the children to be confident in speaking out and using their own voice. We will encourage the children to act out stories using puppets as well as acting out roles using different props. Encourage your child to join in with stories when reading to them and sing/say some familiar nursery rhymes such as ‘Twinkle Twinkl little star, Humpty Dumpty, Incy Wincy Spider, Little Miss Muffet etc. Try to do these without the use of technology so children are not relying on watching a screen but are engaged in the activity and using their own memory to say/sing the rhyme.

In Math’s this week, children will build on the learning from previous steps by now manipulating shapes. Children will explore moving, turning, rotating and flipping shapes to fit into the spaces provided. In this small step, tangram pieces are introduced for the first time and children will use their previous knowledge of positional language and now progress to explaining more complex shape arrangements.

This week the children will be assessed on the sounds they have been learning over the past few weeks. Once assessed children will be moved into their new groups for the final time this academic year. Continue to go over the sounds your child has been taught so far this year and put the sounds into words to ensure your child is able to read the sounds within words confidently. Below are some extra blending video’s to help develop this skill.

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/8gRbHSOb/LsOysl9W

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/osBNOofd/M2EHTp0j

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/8psGyYdk/N2rzy2SZ

This Thursday we will be celebrating Cultural diversity in our school with a cultures day. We would love your child to come in to school dressed in the colours associated with where in the world you and your family come from. This could be national dress or coming in, dressed in the colours of your country’s flag. If you come from a different part of the world (non UK) then please send in a little note about where you are from and anything we may find interesting (or feel free to email this information). We will be looking at a world map and marking on the different parts of the world our families are from. We are looking forward to learning all about the wonderful parts of the world that the children in our classes come from.

We break up this Friday for the half term break. Please encourage your child to be active over the break and not rely on an increased use of technology. They have done lots of work over the last few weeks on Healthy living and on how they can stay healthy. One of the things we have talked about is reducing the time spent on technology and being more active so you could talk about this with them. Thank you to those parents who have sent in photo’s of their child enjoying fruit kebabs at home. The children loved making fruit kebabs in school and were really enthusiastic about the activity. Your child could make simple kebabs at home with a cocktail stick or kebab stick or my just putting cut up fruit in a bowl. This is a great way to get them enjoying different types of fruit.

Have a lovely half term break and we will see you back in school on Monday 1st June for our final few weeks of your child’s Reception Year!

The Reception Team

We would like to congratulate all of our Coventry City fans and hope you had a lovely weekend celebrating our historical promotion to the premier league after 25 long years. If you have any photos of your child celebrating then please send them in in to us so that we can show the rest of the class and give your child the opportunity to share how they celebrated.

This week we will be starting our topic on healthy living. The children will be learning all about how to lead a healthy lifestyle. We will be focusing on healthy and unhealthy foods and how exercise helps us to stay healthy. Please talk with your child about their food and about making healthy food choices. Encourage your child to help you make their food and allow them to say if the food is healthy or unhealthy. Can we also remind parents once again that water bottles sent into school should only contain water. Government guidelines on oral hygiene recommend only water for children to drink between meals as juice and squash stick to children’s teeth and lead to tooth decay, even those stating no sugar.

The children are all working well in their phonic groups with most of the children having now been taught their set 2 sounds of ay, ee, igh, ow, oo, oo, ar, or, air, ir, ou and oy. Please continue to go over these sounds regularly and make sure your child can read these words fluently. Add the sounds to the set 1 sounds already learned and see if your child can read words such as sheep, fight, part etc. Below there are some videos to help with reading words with these sounds.

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/TwloHLIK/GMp93n2E

https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/GpJvGejf/OTVVTlbQ

In maths this week the children will build on their understanding as they explore the change structure of subtraction (reduction) by taking away. Children will have experience of taking away objects in everyday life and this is built on by focusing on taking away more than 1 object. The focus is on decreasing a quantity by a given amount, while continuing to work within 10. You could encourage your child to use real objects to see that the quantity of a group can be changed by taking some away. Prompt them to remove the items and then count or subitise to see how many are left. The ‘first, then, now’ structure is an effective way to help build their understanding by creating mathematical stories in meaningful contexts. An important element of the Maths Early Learning Goal is that your child can say their number bonds to 5 and knows the corresponding subtraction fact. Below is our number bonds song for extra practice.

We have had some lovely sunny weather recently and are hopeful that the weather has taken a turn for the better. Please remember to send your child into school with a named hat and a botte of water (not squash) each day. We also ask that your child brings in a waterproof coat or jacket with a hood even on the sunniest of days as the weather often changes throughout the day and the children spend a substantial part of the day outside.

Enjoy your week

The Reception Team

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