This week we will continue learning about the celebration of Easter. The children will be involved in lots of Easter crafts and will be listening to different Easter stories. We will also have an egg and spoon race, an easter egg hunt and will be making chocolate Easter nests. The children will talk about all of the things they have learned about Easter and will talk about what they are looking forward to over the Easter break.
This week the children will be assessed on their reading and writing of sounds and words that they have been taught so far. They will then be assigned a new phonic group for after the holiday. We are looking for the children to recognise all of the sounds they have been taught so far and to be able to read these sounds in words.
This week we will be recapping shapes and their properties.
The children break up from school for two weeks on Friday. We hope you have a wonderful break and that you and your child get the opportunity to relax and recharge for the summer term. We will see you after the holiday for a short but busy half term
This week we will be introducing the children to the celebration of Easter. We will talk about all of the other celebrations we have looked at and find out why Christians celebrate Easter. The children will learn about the Easter story as well as how people celebrate and will compare this to how other festivals are celebrated looking at similarities and differences. They will be involved in a range of Easter activities across the week and will also have the opportunity to taste hot cross buns!
This week will be the children’s last week of phonics before their next assessment. They will be tested on the sounds they have been taught as well as how they segment and blend these sounds to read words. Continue to practice all of the sounds sent home which can be found at the front of the online book and continue to read very night. Remember to log in to Oxford owl to do the reading activities on there also. Below are some additional videos to help support learning at home
This week in Maths, children will develop their conceptual subitising skills and start to recognise the groups in numbers to 10. Children use conceptual subitising to identify a whole quantity within 10 by subitising the smaller groups that make up that number. This skill will support children to develop mental images for addition and subtraction, which helps children to move away from counting on and counting back. You could prompt your child to recognise a number by grouping it into smaller sets and then saying each amount before confirming the whole number.
The children have all been given one ticket as an entry into the Easter chocolate raffle. If you would like to purchase extra tickets then please send in money in an envelope so that your child can purchase additional tickets. The draw will take place on the last day of term. Each ticket is 50p. Good luck!
This week we will continue with our Spring topic and will be focusing on life cycles. The children will learn about the life cycles of a butterfly, frog and hen. The will understand how the process is a cycle and happens again over and over. When our and about encourage your child to look for signs of Spring and see if they can see any butterflies or frogs in the environment.
The children have all now been introduced to all of their set one sounds and many of them are learning their set two sounds. Continue to practice all of the sounds. These can be found at the front of the online reading book and your child has been sent home with a copy of all of the sounds. If you have misplaced the sounds then speak to your child’s class teacher so that they can print you off a new set. Continue to read and go through the sounds every night and remember to do the online activities on Oxford Owl if your child has log in details on the front of their diary. Below are some more blending activities for you to do with your child.
This week the children will explore different representations of 9 and 10. As in previous blocks, the focus is on finding the representations rather than making them. they will match the verbal number names to numerals and quantities. The children will count to 10 using objects in different arrangements by touching each object as they count. They should recognise that the final number they say is the quantity in that set.
Key questions
• Where can you see 9/10?
• How many ways can you find 9/10?
• How many are there altogether?
The children are loving the resources in our creative area and are making some wonderful models. We are always in need of junk modelling materials. Please save us your recycling (no glass jars please) and send them in for the children to use in their model making.
This week we will be looking at the story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ to start our work on Spring. We will be focusing on growing and the children will plant their own bean to grow their own beanstalk. We will send these home in a few weeks for your child to continue looking after. Please send in photos of your child’s beanstalk as it continues to grow. We will be talking about the conditions needed to help a plant grow and will be discussing the changes to the seed as they grow.
Last week the children had a focus on oral hygiene. Your child was given a toothbrush and some information about how to keep their teeth healthy. Please ensure your child brushes their teeth every morning and every night before going to bed. We also talked about foods and drinks that are not good for our teeth and contribute towards decay. Please try to make healthy choices for your child and limit the amount of sugary foods and drinks that you give to them. Water bottles for school should only contain water as juice should only be drank with a meal. Please only send water in your child’s water bottle.
The majority of children now have log in details on the front of their diary for set activities/ books on Oxford owl. Please log in throughout the week to do these reading activities with your child. Once you have finished the book you can click on Fred the Frog to go back to all previous books read so that books can be reread over and over to help with your child’s reading fluency. Continue practising the letter sounds that have been sent home with your child since they started their reading journey in September and make 3, 4 and 5 sound words with them to develop their blending skills.
In Maths this week, the children are introduced to the concept of doubling and they learn that this means ‘twice as many’. They will be given opportunities to see a range of visual representations of doubles and to find them in patterns, in pictures and in arrangements of manipulatives. Books involving doubles are a good way to introduce this concept. It is important for children to build on this skill over time using smaller numbers first. You could prompt your child to notice doubles by playing games such as dominoes, where children can use their previous knowledge to match the same number of dots. Model finding doubles, for example, on a dice: “There are 3 here and 3 here, so double 3 makes 6!”
It has been lovely over the last week with the change in the weather. The children have loved being outside in the sunshine. Although the weather has improved we do still ask that your child brings a waterproof coat into school every day even if there is no rain forecasted. The weather often changes throughout the day and your child spends a good portion of the day outside. If their coat stays on their peg all day that’s fine but it means they have it if it becomes cold or wet.
This week we will continue with our topic of people who help us with a particular focus on dentists. We will be talking about the importance of oral hygiene and the children will learn how to brush their teeth correctly. We ask that you support this at home by helping your child brush their teeth both in the morning and before bed- it is recommend that an adult supports brushing until a child is at least 7 years of age. The children will learn about the impact that a high sugar diet has on our teeth and will learn about foods and drinks that are healthy for our teeth and will help to prevent tooth decay. This would be a good time to book a dental appointment for your child to have their teeth checked. In discussions last week a number of children said they had never been to the dentist! It is really important that you have your child’s teeth checked every 6 months.
The children all started in their new phonic groups last week. They will continue to recap on any gaps they may have with sounds and will learn new phonic sounds when ready. Once your child has learned all of the set one sounds with special friends they will be working on blending those sounds in 3 and 4 sound words such as sh-o-p, s-t-o-p etc. Use the letter sound flashcards that have been sent home with your child to make 3 then 4 sound words and see if they can do special friend i.e. sh, fred talk i.e. sh-o-p read the word i.e. shop. Those children who are competent with this are now learning set 2 sounds and these will be sent home with your child. Continue to read the book or ditty sheets that your child brings home on a Friday and don’t forget to log on to Oxford owl if your child has log in details on the front of their diary. There are some videos to watch for extra phonic practise.
This week, the children will consolidate their understanding of the composition of numbers by investigating the numbers within 7 and 8. Composing and de-composing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 7 can be made of 5 and 2. The children will deepen their understanding of a whole being made up of smaller parts through games and practical experiences, such as investigating the number of ducks on a pond. They will begin to recognise that numbers can be made by combining parts in different ways, and will be encouraged to make links by considering similarities and differences in the various ways of making 7 and 8. A key focus will be on partitioning 7 and 8 (splitting it into parts) and thinking about the missing part.
It is world book day on Thursday 6th March. Children can come in dressed as a book character. Please do not go to additional expense for a costume. A blue dress and headband would make a Matilda costume, a blue T-Shirt and bandage around the head would make a good Mr Bump costume or children can just come in wearing pyjamas for the polar express or bring their favourite bedtime reading book. If struggling for a costume please speak to a member of the Reception team.
Welcome back from the half term break. We hope you had a lovely break and the children had the opportunity to rest. We have a busy half term ahead and will be moving the children’s learning forward. All of the rules should now be embedded and the children will be expected to show increased independence. Please encourage this at home so we are working together and have the same expectations. We will be reminding the children of our school values of Respect, Responsibility, Resilience and Kindness and will be expecting this in everything they do.
This week we are beginning our topic on People who help us. The children will be learning about different jobs in our community and what their role entails. We will be talking about how these people help us and how they are important to society. The children will act out roles and be involved in a range of activities to help support their learning. Talk to your child about the people that help them and discuss who they should speak to if they need help with different problems.
The children will move into their new phonics group this week following on from their assessments before the half term break. The children will either be learning new sounds or consolidating the sounds already taught with a focus on reading CCVC or CVCC words. With your sound cards at home practise reading these words e.g. stop, chimp etc. Your child will bring their new reading book or activity home on Friday. Remember if your child has log in details for Oxford owl then they can click on Fred Frog and reread any of their past books. Below are some more videos to help practise blending.
This week, the children will continue to engage with activities that draw attention to the purpose of counting – to find out ‘how many’ objects there are. 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. A key focus this week will be to consolidate the ‘stable order principle’ – rehearsing the order of the first 10 numbers and understanding that the position that each number holds in our number sequence does not change. While working with numbers to 10, the children will develop their understanding of the ordinal aspect by consolidating their understanding that each number has a value of ‘1 more’ than the previous number
This week we are focusing on the story ‘Aliens Love Underpants’. We will read and sequence the story and will also identify the rhyming words in the story. We will design our own underpants and will write a letter to the aliens. Throughout the week we will do different challenges based around the story such as making our own rocket and naming an alien. We will also be doing some pants work where we talk about how our pants are private and we should not be silly with our pants. This would be a great time to talk to your child about keeping their pant area private.
This week the children will be assessed on all of the sounds they have been taught so far and how well they are doing with their blending of sounds to read words. The results will then be used to see if children are ready to move on to the next stage of the reading scheme or whether they need further consolidation on what they have already learned. Continue to practice the sounds and go through the activities sent home with your child. There are also some blending activities below to provide further practice.
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 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.
Over the last few weeks we have had a few children using inappropriate language. The staff have spoken to all of the children explaining how these words shouldn’t be used by children and should never be used in school. Please talk to your child about the use of inappropriate words and how they need to make the right choice and not use language they know they should not use. Please also be mindful of the language that you use when around your child as they listen to everything that is said and like to emulate what their parents say. Your help would be greatly appreciated with this matter.
This week we will be focusing on the story of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. The children will be hearing the story, sequencing the story, acting it out as well as creating our own story based on the Three Billy Goats Gruff. Across the week the children will be involved in a range of activities that focus on the story and will be trying to build their own bridges for the goats to go over. Talk about the story with your child. Can they retell the story? Encourage them to use different voices for the different characters. maybe have a look at any other traditional tales you may have at home and compare the stories. Do any of the other stories have 3 main characters?
Please continue to regularly go through all of the sounds that have been sent home with your child. Put the sounds together to make CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant)words for them to blend and read. If your child is confident with CVC words then move on to words containing CCVC or CVCC words such as ‘stop’ and ‘tuft’. Below are some more blending videos that your child can try to support their blending skills.
In Maths this week, the children will continue to engage with activities that develop their understanding of composition, or the numbers within numbers. A key focus will be on exploring ways to represent numbers using the Hungarian number pattern (die pattern). These key representations will help to underline the ‘5-ness’ of 5, and provide structures that will support exploration of its composition and its relationships with other numbers. The children will secure their understanding of the pairs of numbers that make 5, and then use double dice frames to begin to explore 6 and 7 as numbers that are composed of ‘5 and a bit’. When the children can compose and flexibly decompose numbers mentally, they will become more fluent in their knowledge of number bonds and will be able to use these to become efficient when calculating in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
This week is Children’s Mental Health week. Across the school children will be involved in activities related to their own mental health. In Reception we will be focusing on the emotion of ‘Joy’ and will be discussing all the ways that we can find joy to help us feel happy and what to do if we are not very happy. This a great time to check in with your own child and see how they are feeling. Take time to sit together away from technology and any other distractions and ask them what makes them feel joyful and what you can do to help them feel joy in their life.
This week the children will be learning all about the Lunar/Chinese new year. This year is the year of the snake. The children will learn all about the celebration, why it is celebrated and how people celebrate it. The children will be involved in a range of different activities where they will explore story, song, dance and decorations. They will have the opportunity to taste some Chinese food and will make their own decoration. You may like to support this learning at home by talking about the celebration and asking them what they have learned and could even have some Chinese food. We would love to see the children exploring the celebration at home so don’t forget to send in any photos to [email protected] or [email protected].
The children are all working hard on their blending in phonics with the sounds they already know as well as being introduced to new sounds. Continue to go through all of the sounds at home and try to do the reading activity or book that is sent home on a Friday every evening. Don’t forget to sign your child’s diary when you hear them read or do the activity with them. If your child has log in details for Oxford Owl on the front of their diary then don’t forget to log in and for your child to do those activities also. Below are some blending videos that you may wish to do with your child.
The children had a wonderful day last week when we had our Frozen day. They all looked fantastic in their ‘Frozen’ inspired outfits and joined in with a range of different activities. The children have learned lots of facts over the last few weeks about winter and have been talking about differences to the season of Autumn that they have learned about previously. We hope they have talked about these with you and shared some of their knowledge. Below are some photos from the day.
We are looking forward to a fun week celebrating the lunar new year . Have a lovely week
This week we will continue with our topic of winter with a focus on story structure. The children will be hearing the story ‘The Snow Queen’ and will be thinking about the characters, setting and plot. They will sequence the story and will also help to retell the story using a story map designed together. We will then use the ideas to help us map out our own winter story and use the map to tell the story. Encourage your child to retell stories that they are familiar with. It is a great way for your child to think about a story and to begin to understand story structure. You could also encourage your child to change parts of the story. They could maybe suggest a different ending or could retell their own similar story with different characters or a different problem or adventure.
The children are all working really well in their new phonic groups. They are now beginning to apply the sounds they have learned when not only reading but also writing. We are working hard on writing words and simple captions. The children are learning how to use their Fred fingers to help them spell out words that they wish to write. Below are some videos that you could watch and join in with, with your child to help them with their spelling of words using the sounds they know.
This week, the children will continue to engage with activities that draw attention to the purpose of counting – to find out ‘how many’ objects there are. The children will also revisit the concept of cardinality – 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.
A key focus this week will be the stable order principle – rehearsing the order of the first 5 numbers and understanding that the position each number holds in our number sequence does not change. While continuing to work with numbers to 5, the children will develop their understanding of the ordinal aspect by investigating the difference in value of consecutive whole numbers. They will spend time discovering that each number has a value of 1 more than the previous number. Using blocks and squares to order quantities from 1 to 5 will help to embed this key understanding.
Although, linguistically, they bear little relation to our number names in English, the children will hear ordinal numbers (first, second, etc.) alongside these ordering activities and as part of classroom routines. Using representations of quantity alongside these ordinal numbers will help to embed understanding.
To conclude our topic on winter we will be celebrating with a ‘Frozen’ day on Friday 24th January 2025. This is a day where the children can come into school wearing something the depicts frost/ ice/ winter. This could be something as simple as wearing winter colours, sparkles or ‘Frozen’ dressing up clothes, from the film. Feel free to express the term ‘frozen’ however you wish. Please do not go out and buy anything special, coming to school dressed in blue would be more than okay. If you are struggling please speak to a member of the team and we will help with an outfit. We will have different Frozen themed activities across the day and look forward to seeing all the children in their chilly frosty outfits.
