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.
Have a lovely week
The Reception Team