Category: Reception Blog

As we are coming to the last full week of the academic year, the children will be assessed on their phonics progress and this will be used to group them for the September start. For the rest of the week, the children will be doing whole class phonics lessons, which will consist of reading, writing and phonics games. All reading records and any phonics materials need to be returned this week, so the staff can audit and sort resources over the holidays, for the next academic year. Online work will still be assigned to the children over the holidays, which will be a fantastic start for them when they return to school in September.

In maths this week, we will be learning about maps and how we can instruct directions. The children will be creating their own maps based on stories, their route to school and a treasure map! At the end of the week, the children will be completing different maze activities and using their direction skills, that they have learned throughout the week. There will be no set maths homework over the holidays, however, implementing maths in your day-to-day activities can be a great way to enhance learning. Simply counting objects, using maths vocabulary or playing maths games, for their screen time, are great ways to do this, over the summer break.

This week’s theme is all about transition. We will be reading ‘Jake’s First Day’ and discussing the emotions and feelings Jake has before he starts his new class. We will talk about how his feelings change throughout the story and that the worries he had before starting, turned out ok in the end. We will be sharing the children’s own worries and feelings about going up to year 1 and answering any questions they may have. The children will be painting self-portraits to coincide with our transition theme and we will discuss how they have changed since starting reception.

As the weather is getting warmer and warmer, a reminder that children should be coming to school with a sun hat, full water bottle and sun cream applied. The children can bring in their sun cream, but will need to apply it themselves for the afternoon busy time.

Have a fabulous week,

The reception team

The children will be in their final week of Read Write Inc phonics, this week, until they return in September. They will be continuing with their structured lessons of reading and writing and will be sent home with their phonics book, on Friday. All of the phonics books, library books and any other school resources need to be returned next week, ready for the fresh year, in September. We will be adding Oxford Owl and Reading Wise resources online, throughout the holidays, so please continue to access these and enable the children to read as much as they can.

In maths this week, the children will be learning about different lengths and how we can measure objects using different resources. The children will be given a chart of classroom objects and they will be comparing measurements, using pencils. They will be using their prediction skills to guess how many pencils will be needed for each object and then testing their predictions. The children will also be exploring different objects to make their own boat and what they can use to make it float successfully. We will then be adding cubes to see which boat holds the most, before sinking.

In the wider curriculum this week, we will be looking at rhyming stories and exploring rhyming words. We will be reading different stories and creating our own rhyming strings. The children will also be creating their musical instruments throughout the week, which they had planned at home. They will be reflecting on what went well and what could be improved on, when making their instrument. All of the children will then have the opportunity to play their instruments, at the end of the week.

Have a great week!

The reception team

In phonics this week, the children will be continuing their learning in their new phonics groups. The children will be focusing on reading and writing, using the new sounds they have learned, throughout the week. Encourage your child to keep reading at home and accessing their online homework. The more they are exposed to stories and regular reading, the better they will progress and become a confident reader, going forward.

In maths this week, the children will be learning about odd and even. They will be exploring the different ways we can differentiate between even and odd numbers. We will be taking our learning outside this week, by playing the odd and even game. The children will run around on the playground and when they hear ‘stop’, they find a partner. Does everyone have a partner? Is their someone who is the odd one out? The children will also be listening to the story ‘One Odd Day’ and creating their own ‘Odd Day’ picture.

In the wider curriculum this week, we will be learning about different habitats and what animals might live there. The children will be discussing how different animals are adapted to their habitats and how this might have changed throughout time. By the end of the week, we will be focusing on mini-beasts and exploring the school environment to hunt for them and their habitats.

A reminder that Reception’s Sports Day is on Thursday 7th July at 9am. If all of the children can come into school wearing their P.E kits and ensure they have a full bottle of water.

Have a fantastic week!

The Reception team

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!