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The Reception team would like to wish you all a very happy new year. We all hope you had a wonderful break over the Christmas period. Thank you for all of the very kind cards and gifts, it is very much appreciated.

We have started the term learning all about Winter. We are focusing on the change of season and are encouraging the children to recognise the changes. The children are learning about what happens in the winter months and have been taking about how to dress appropriately for the weather. You could support this learning at home especially when experiencing frost and ice and encourage your child to share their ideas and understanding of the weather, how they should dress and how the weather feels.

We have started our new phonics groups this week. The children were assessed on the sounds they know and their ability to blend the sounds to make words. They will continue to work on the sounds they are finding tricky as well as learning new sounds. The children are working hard on blending the sounds to read simple words. Continue to practise the letter sounds at home every night. The set 1 sounds were sent home previously with your child. If you have misplaced these then please speak to a member of staff so we can send another set home. If your child is on a reading book you will find all of the sounds they are learning at the front of the books. Be sure to go through these every time your child reads. Remember the children need repetition to become fluent readers. Reading once a week will not encourage fluency. All of the children will have on line activities to do each week. Some children will be using QR codes to access videos while the rest of the children will have work set on oxford owl ( log ins are attached to the reading diary). Again please read the online book more than once. You can access the book again by clicking on Fred frog.

In Maths this week we are looking at all the ways to make 5. The children are exploring different ways of recognising amounts and ways to make 5 without counting. By the children knowing what makes up 5 they will gain a deeper understanding of number for when they move onto place value and larger numbers as they move through the school. You could support your child by getting them to share the different ways to make 5. Ask questions such as ‘ if I have 5 sweets and I eat 2, how many are left?’ Your child should be able to answer ‘3’ as they have learned that 2 and 3 make 5 without the need to use practical aids. If they are struggling then use practical aids to show them.

Can we remind all parents that children should only be bringing water in their water bottles and not squash. We have a duty of care to protect the children’s oral hygiene and the expectation is that between meals only milk or water should be drank. Squash should only be drank during meals. This is to protect your child’s dental health. We appreciate your help and support with this.

Next week we will be concluding our winter Topic with a ‘Frozen’ day. Look out for a letter this week explaining what we are doing.

Have a great week

The Reception Team

This week we are continuing on with our work on celebrations with a focus on celebrating ourselves and others. We will be talking about our similarities and differences and will be talking about the things we like and are good at. We will focus on finding what we can celebrate about each other with reference to our school value of ‘Kindness’. We think it is important to find the good in everyone and to celebrate differences. The children will be thinking about others and will be talking kindly about each other.

The children are all working well with their phonics. They have settled in their new group and are progressing with their sounds. Please continue to go over all phoneme cards that we have sent home and put the cards together to make CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words. If your child is confident with these then start to look at CCVC words such as t-r-a-p or CVCC words such as s-e-n-t. Please aim to spend at least 5 minutes every day doing this. If your child has brought a book or ditty sheet home please hear them read every night and sign the diary to show your child has read. We will collect the reading diaries and books on a Wednesday so that reading teachers can collect the books in and administer the book for the next week. These will go home on a Friday. Please do not worry if your child is not on a reading book yet as they need to be confidently blending before they move on to the next stage.

In Maths this week we are continuing with ‘It’s me 1, 2, 3’. The children are gaining a deep understanding of the numbers to 3 knowing how the numbers are made up and being able to subitise (recognising the amount without the need to count in a variety of forms). We have been looking at more and less and being able to identify what is 1 more or 1 less than 1, 2, 3. We will have a big focus on the children looking at amounts and saying what they see, Looking for groups of 1, 2 and 3.

Please remember to bring back library books on a Friday so that the children can choose a new book to take home and share with you throughout the week. Reading to your child with expression and enthusiasm will help develop a love of reading and will be something they want to be able to do themselves. It has been lovely hearing all of the lovely comments from parents at our parents consultation meetings about how your children are using their phonics at home and are keen to read and write.

On Friday this week we will be having a minutes silence to commemorate all those that have died in war. We will discuss with the children in a simple way about why this is remembered and link it to our work on celebrations and how we often celebrate things we want to remember.