Category: Reception Blog

This week we have followed on from last weeks work on growing and changing and where in the world we come from. We have looked at some of the different countries where our families came from and this week we are looking at different types of houses around the world. We are looking to see how they are different and similar to our homes, as well as the different climates. Talk about the type of house you live in and why we need homes to help support the work in class. If you have family members that live in different parts of the world then you could show this on a map. The children have loved looking at google earth and looking at the different places around the world https://earth.google.com/web/

In Phonics this week the children are continuing in their new groups. The children are being introduced to new phonemes and are working at reading and writing these phonemes in words using ‘special friends, Fred talk, read the word’. Continue to encourage this process when your child is reading to you. Remember to read every night and throughout the week – read their bookbag book and the online book and quiz. Those children making the most progress with their phonics are the ones reading regularly at home. Please also log in to Reading wise for the children to practise their phonic skills. They should aim to do this for 5 minutes each day ( log ins are your child’s reading diary) https://app.readingwise.com/

This week in Maths we have started to look at simple division and multiplication. The children will be sharing amounts equally between different numbers of groups as well as sorting amounts into equal groups. This could be reinforced at home by getting your child to sort items between 2 plates and asking them to get groups of – e.g. 3 groups of 3 sweets.

As the weather is warming up, can we remind all parents that children should have sun cream applied before your child comes into school in the morning. They can bring in cream to put on later in the day, but must be able to apply this themselves as staff are not permitted to apply sun cream. Children should also have a hat and a refillable bottle of water (no juice please as this is unhealthy for young children’s teeth)

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In phonics this week, the children will be starting in their new phonics groups. We would like to say a big well done to the children, who are all making progress in their learning. They have been working so hard and it shows in their reading and writing. Many of the children will be learning new sounds in the coming weeks and writing longer pieces of work. Although it is coming to the end of the year, we would still urge all the children to keep up with their reading at home, as it gives them a great start to the new year, in September.

In maths this week, we will be introducing the children to doubling. The children will be playing various games such as, doubling dominoes and the doubling barrier game to hook their learning. We will also be getting creative with our maths learning this week, by painting their own doubled butterflies. They will paint a number of spots on one side of their butterfly and then fold it in half to print the doubled amount on the other side.

In the wider curriculum this week, we will be learning about changes and the human life-cycle, which will link onto our transition work for the next coming weeks. The children will be discussing each stage of their lives and the changes they go through. We will be looking at their baby photos and talking about the things they can do now, as a child, to when they were a baby. We will also be discussing where the children and their families came from around the world. Thank you to all of you who have sent in the photos already! We will be sharing the photos tomorrow, so if they could be sent by the end of today, would be great!

As the weather is getting warmer this week, can we remind all parents that children should be coming into school with appropriate summer clothing, sun hats and full bottles of water. The reception staff are not permitted to apply sun cream to the children, so they will need to come into school with it already applied. If you would like to send sun cream into school with your child, they must be able to apply it themselves.

Have a fabulous week!

The reception team

We would like to welcome the children back from their half term break! We hope you have all had a lovely time celebrating the Jubilee and the children have had a well deserved rest, before the final stretch of the year!

In phonics this week, the children will be assessed on the progress they have made throughout the last 6 weeks. Their phonics teacher will be carrying out the assessments to determine whether they will be moving up a group, or staying where they are. For the rest of the week, the children will be continuing their usual phonics lessons and will be placed in their new phonics groups, next week. We continue to ask you all to keep supporting your children’s reading at home, as this makes a huge difference on their progression.

In maths this week, we will also be assessing the children’s learning and how far they have progressed throughout our scheme of work. This will help with our end of year assessments and any gaps that need to be filled, going forward.

In the wider curriculum this week, we will be learning all about summer. The children will be recapping on their previous learning and the different changes we have seen throughout the seasons. We will be discussing what we notice in the summer time and the fun activities we can enjoy during this season, such as, barbeques, picnics and trips to the beach. The children will be walking around the school grounds and finding the different signs of summer. We will be comparing what we notice, from when we had our spring walk. At the end of the week, we will be learning about we can keep safe in summer, by applying sun cream on sunny days and wearing sunhats and glasses.

We hope you have a lovely, summery week!

The Reception team

The reception team would like to say a HUGE thank you to all of the families that helped raise sponsorship money for the school. We were astounded to see how generous people have been! The children did absolutely amazing on their wheels day. They rode round the playground sensibly and safely and all of them managed to finish their 10 laps. Another huge well done to Mrs Dalton and the children that completed theirs, yesterday. It must have been daunting to ride without their classmates, but they were fantastic. Super well done all round!

In phonics this week, the children will be continuing their learning in their phonics groups. A big well done to some of the children that have moved up to books this week. All of the staff are very proud of them. Please, keep reading and writing as much as you can at home. It makes a huge difference to their progress going forward.

In maths this week, we are moving on from addition and onto subtraction using first, then, now stories. The children will be using the stories to deepen their understanding of subtraction and what happens when we take away. We will start the week by playing the take away game. The children all start with 10 cubes and will take it in turns to take away 1, 2 or 3 away. The child that avoids taking the last cube is the winner! It is a simple and fun game to play at home, too. By the end of the week, the children will be working out the unknown first and then in their subtraction stories.

In the wider curriculum this week, we will be celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee! The children will be learning about the Queen’s life and her impressive reign. They will be creating their own crowns, which they will wear to our Jubilee celebration, on Friday. Remember, children can come into school wearing red, white and blue on the Friday and will need to bring in their own party plate of food, with their name clearly labelled.

Have a fabulous week and half term break!

The reception team

In phonics this week, the children will be returning to their phonics groups. They will be continuing the reading and writing activities specified to their levels of learning. Well done to all of the children that accessed their Reading Wise homework, over the weekend. If you could return your reading records to your class teacher on Wednesday, the children will be sent home their usual Read Write Inc reading resources, on Friday.

In maths this week, we are going to be learning how to add more. The children will be using ‘First, Then, Now’ stories to support their learning and understanding. At the start of the week, we will be working out how many we have at the end of our stories. As we progress through the week, the children will be learning ways to work out how many we had first and how many we added to get the final amount. We will be playing games and using concrete resources to support the learning and understanding of addition.

In the wider curriculum this week, we are continuing with our theme of ‘Healthy Me’. This week, we are going to be focusing on different types of healthy food groups and how we can also keep our minds healthy. The children will be taking part in some mindfulness activities and learning different strategies to use when feeling sad, cross, worried etc. They will also be learning breathing exercises, which they can use at home or out and about. To finish our ‘Healthy Me’ theme, the children will be taking part in the sponsored wheels day on Friday. They will be given a lap card which will be stamped each lap they finish. Good luck to all of the children and fingers crossed for a nice sunny day!

We hope you all have a fabulous week!

The reception team

Due to KS2 SAT’s we will not be doing Read Write Inc this week. The children will be doing a range of reading, writing and spelling activities in their class. The class teachers will also be hearing each individual child read to assess how well they are doing with their reading. Please continue to read every night at home. We are noticing some children are only reading their online book once and some children are not logging on regularly. The children should be able to read these books fluently as they have read them several times in school. If your child is still sounding out every word then they need extra practise. Your child will not bring home reading books this week and there will not be an online book set. Instead they will have their log in details to log in to ‘Readingwise’, a phonic spelling and reading programme. Please log in each day and encourage your child to spend 5 minutes a day on Readingwise to help support them in their phonics work in school. A letter will come home on Friday explaining everything.

This week in Maths we will be looking at capacity – identifying which container holds more and making estimates on how many cubes fit in each container. We will also be working on shape patterns and tangrams where we have to fit shapes inside another shape. We will be going over our number bonds to 5 and 10 and will continue to work on numbers to 20. Keep practising these important skills regularly.

This week we have started our ‘Healthy Me’ topic. We will be learning about the different ways to be healthy and how we can be healthy. We will be learning about healthy foods and at the end of the week we will be making healthy fruit kebabs. We will also be learning about how we keep our bodies healthy through exercise and will experience some different types of exercise and the effects it has on our bodies. Please support us at home by talking about food choices with your child and encourage them to eat and drink healthy foods.

The weather is due to get a lot warmer over the next couple of weeks. Please make sure you apply sun cream to your child before they come to school. Staff are not allowed to put sun cream on your child so please apply a long lasting cream that should last them the day. We also ask that you provide a named sun hat and a bottle of water. As the British weather is so unpredictable we ask that even on sunny days your child brings a waterproof jacket so that they are protected if the weather changes.

Have a good week,

The Reception Team

The Reception children had great fun today being Superheroes!

We hope that you have all had a lovely bank holiday weekend and the children are back and ready to learn this week. In phonics, the children will be continuing their grouped learning activities. All of the groups will be reading, writing and practising their ‘special friends’. A reminder that the children will need to bring back their reading records on Wednesday and will be given new phonics material to read at home, on Friday. The phonics material sent home, is what the children have been doing that week, which will give you an idea of the level they are at with their reading and writing.

In maths this week, we are learning about numbers up to 20. The children will be ordering numbers to 20 and also representing them in different ways. At the end of the week, the children will be playing bingo with numbers to 20. They will be shown a picture card representing a number to 20, and they will need to stamp the numeral that matches. The first one to complete their bingo card wins!

In the wider curriculum this week, we will be continuing our learning on superheroes. This week, we will be focusing on real life superheroes, and people from the past that are still celebrated today. On Thursday, we will be learning about Florence Nightingale and why we could think of her as a real life superhero. A reminder, that Friday is our ‘Superhero Day’ and the children can come into school dressed as a fictional or real-life superhero! We are looking forward to seeing them all in their costumes and having a super day!

Have a fabulous week,

The Reception team

We would like to welcome all of the children back after their Easter break! It has been lovely to see their happy faces and excitement in returning back to school. We hope you have all had a lovely Easter, resting and spending time with family and friends.

In phonics this week, the children will be placed in their new groups. We are getting straight back into our Read Write Inc learning, which will consist of recapping sounds, reading, spelling and writing. Reading records and phonics homework will be sent out again on Friday and to be returned on Wednesday, the following week. Online homework will also be assigned again on Friday, to be completed by Wednesday. If your child has been sent home the same books as before we broke up for Easter, this means they have not moved phonics group, and will need more work to secure their learning.

In maths this week, we are looking at numbers above 10. Children will be looking at how we can represent numbers to 15 using different resources. Such as, ten frames, numicon and number fans. We will also be trying to identify different patterns in the numbers 11-20. At the end of the week, the children will be recapping their subtraction learning, by playing the subtraction game with a friend. Each pair will have counters and every time they roll the dice they need to take away that amount of counters. The first one with no counters left, wins!

In the wider curriculum this week, we are learning all about superheroes! We will be reading some stories about different superheroes and discussing what qualities a superhero has. At the end of each day, the children will be taking part in ‘superhero school’, where they will need to complete challenges each day, to become a superhero by the end of the week! On Friday, we will be creating our own class superhero and giving them the qualities a superhero must have, that we have discussed throughout the week.

Have a super week!

The reception team

We would like to say a big well done to all of the children for their hard work in phonics, this last term. They have worked amazingly hard, which shows in their phonics assessments, that took place last week. Most of the children have now been assessed and have been placed in their new phonics groups, ready for when we return after the Easter break. Therefore, our phonics learning will be as a whole class this week and this will consist of recapping sounds, playing phonics games and writing sentences about what we know about Easter.

As it is the last week till Easter, we are swapping our maths learning for lots of fun Easter activities. This week, the children will be creating their own Easter cards and writing them to someone special. We will also be creating Easter hats, which the children will be decorating themselves, using different materials. At the end of the week, the children will be going on an Easter hunt in our outside learning area, and making chocolate nests that they can take home and show you.

In the wider curriculum this week, we will be learning about Easter and why people celebrate Easter across the world. We will be discussing the story of Jesus resurrecting, and how this is an important part of Christian celebrations. We will also be discussing different traditions, focused around Easter, such as, family feasts, egg hunts and the Easter bunny.

A reminder that the children will not be sent home with any phonics homework or library books over Easter. If you could please make sure that all phonics books, reading records and library books are given in before Friday, and they will be sent out again when the children return after the Easter break.

The reception team would like to thank parents for their hard work and support throughout this term. Have a fabulous Easter break, you all deserve it!

The reception team