Category: Reception Blog

This week, it has been great to see how well the children are settling into Reception and becoming more confident with the rules and routines of the day. They have also been building positive relationships with their peers and adults, which has enabled them to build confidence inside their learning environments. We are continuing to encourage children to build independence, such as, getting their jumpers and coats on/off and persevering with tasks they may find difficult. Try and enforce this at home, too, as it is a key skill the children will be learning throughout the year.

In phonics this week, we will be introducing the sounds ‘m’ ‘a’ and ‘t’. Children will be introduced to each sound at the start of the session, focusing on what it sounds like, looks like and then learning how to write it down. Remember to keep reading to your child at home, it makes a huge impact on their reading progress. The children will not be sent home with a reading book yet, until they have learned the sufficient phonics sounds to be able to blend.

In maths this week, we will be continuing to play maths games and singing songs and dancing. We will also be reading stories with numbers and counting, to reinforce the language used in maths. You can access maths games at home on www.topmarks.co.uk.

In the wider curriculum, we will be introducing our theme ‘Being Me’. The children will be discussing who is in their family and what makes them special. We will also be discussing feelings and encouraging the children to describe how they are feeling, using the appropriate language. Reinforcing to the children that their feelings are heard and validated, will help them regulate their emotions as they progress throughout Reception.

Thank you to everyone who has very kindly donated this last week, to our 50p fund. Any contribution is a huge help to us!

Have a fabulous week!

The Reception team

Well done to this weeks Head Teacher Award winners.

This week we will be continuing to settle the children into the setting and will be reinforcing the rules. Now that all of the children are in, we need to learn how to use the environment with more people. The children’s independence will be encouraged and we ask that you support this at home by encouraging your child to try and dress them selves, put on their own shoes and socks, put on their own coat, eat with a knife and fork and use the toilet by themselves. This will help to make your child more confident in Reception as they will not be relying on an adult all of the time to assist them.

This week we are beginning to introduce the children to our Read, Write Inc phonics program. The children have been learning some signs and actions that will help them with their learning and are being introduced to how the lessons will begin to work. We will send out more information to you in the weeks to come which will explain to you how you can support your child at home with their phonics and reading. The children will not yet take home a reading book as they haven’t yet been taught the relevant phonics to enable them to blend sounds together to read. We ask that you continue to read books daily to your child to develop their love of stories. Don’t forget to talk about the story and the pictures and allow your child the opportunity to talk about what they are seeing and hearing.

In Maths this week we are singing different number songs and are playing a range of simple maths games so the staff can get to understand each child’s mathematical starting point. Singing number songs at home such as ‘5 little speckled frogs and 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive’ will help reinforce what we are doing in school. You could also play simple counting or matching games.

This week we will also begin the Governments national baseline assessment with all of the children. This will be done during the child’s day and will be some simple games and activities done on a 1:1 basis. The children will not know they are sitting an assessment so please don’t worry.

Thank you to those parents who have contributed to our weekly 50p fund. This enables us to enhance the curriculum by providing consumable resources that we would otherwise be unable to purchase throughout the year. Previously the money has been spent on a range of things such as food for tasting sessions, baking ingredients, enhancements to follow the children’s interests such as decorations and themed items, a weekly treat for the children, to help support parties and celebrations and many more things. All contributions are greatly received.

Now that the weather is beginning to change we ask that all children come to school in a waterproof coat every day. Can you also please name all of your children’s clothing and personal items as we already have some things that have not been named.

If you need to contact your child’s teacher for any reason then please email us on:

[email protected]

[email protected]

The last week of the school year!

In phonics this week, the children will be practising the skills they have learned over the past year, by working through reading and writing activities. The children will also be writing an account of their trip to the farm, using ‘first’ ‘next’ ‘then’ ‘finally’. We will also be singing our favourite phonics songs and reflecting on our learning over the past year.

In maths this week, the children will be completing maths activities and challenges. They will also be singing their favourite maths songs, and reflecting on their learning.

On Tuesday 13th July, the children will be partaking in Sports Day. We will be staying in our class bubbles and all of the children will be participating in different sports activities. Unfortunately, due to the current guidelines, parents and carers will not be able to attend, however, we will be taking photographs and uploading them onto Teams, for you to have a look at.

On Wednesday 14th July, the children will be spending an hour of the morning transitioning into Year 1. They will have the opportunity to meet their new teacher, spend time in their classroom and meet their new classmates. Some children have shown signs of being quite anxious about transition, so the more positive conversations at home, the better.

We would like to express our upmost gratitude to all of the parents and carers, this past year. It has been a challenging year for all, but with your support and hard work, we have been able to ensure the children have had an enriching, joyful year in Reception. We have absolutely loved getting to know all of the children and being able to watch them grow and flourish, as well as they have done. We wish them all the best in Year 1 and hope their transition will be enjoyable and exciting for them. We will miss them all!

Have a fantastic summer break!

The Reception team

Please have a look through the Reception Induction presentation for those children starting in September 2021

This week in phonics we are learning ccvc words. We will be practicing writing these and using them in a sentence. We will continue to revise all phase 3 sounds and tricky words by playing interactive games and using flashcards.

In Maths this week we are revising repeating patterns and comparing lengths. We are also continuing our work on addition and subtraction and numeral recognition to 20.

For our wider curriculum we are carrying on our theme of Summer and looking at summer safety.

Friday is our Ash end farm visit which we are all looking forward to! Please remember to pack a disposable lunch for your child with their name and class on. Children are expected to wear school uniform and will need a coat and can wear wellies if preferred. If it is forecast to be a hot day please put sun cream on your child before school.

Please remember to log in to your child’s Reading Wise account and read with them as much as you can! Even 10 minutes per day makes a huge difference to their reading progress.

Have a fabulous week!

The Reception team

In phonics this week, we will be focusing on reading and writing CVCC words (consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant). We will be doing this by writing the first part of the word and then asking the children to finish it. For example, writing ‘ten’ and adding the ‘t’ to make ‘tent’. We will also be playing phonics games and using phoneme frames to support our learning.

In maths this week, we are learning how we can add different numbers together, in different ways, to get to a higher number. We will be reading ‘Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs’, ‘Mr Gumpy’s Outing’ and ‘How Many Legs?’ this week, to support our learning. The children will be finding all the ways we can make 12, but using the animal’s legs to help them.

We will also be introducing measurement of length and weight, this week. The children will be creating their own bridges and investigating who has made the longest and strongest bridge. They will be using items around the classroom, such as, pencils and blocks, to measure this.

In the wider curriculum, we will be introducing the season of summer. We will be asking the children what they know about the summer time? How is it different to the other seasons? We will also be singing our seasons song that the children love!

Please remember to log in to your child’s Reading Wise account and read with them as much as you can! Even 10 minutes per day makes a huge difference to their reading progress.

Have a fabulous week!

The Reception team

This week in phonics we are continuing our work on phase 3 strategies and applying our knowledge to reading and writing. We will also practice our tricky words and play a variety of phonics games.

In maths this week we are introducing odd and even numbers. We will be playing games outside, creating pictures and securing our understanding of odd and even in a variety of different ways.

In our wider curriculum we are moving on to explore animal habitats and nocturnal and diurnal animals. We will be looking at how these animals have adapted to their habitat and how they differ from each other.

Have a fantastic week! The Reception team