Reception

Dear Parents,

Welcome back! We are looking forward to the term ahead and working closely with you all. In Reception we continue to use Tapestry to share learning at home, please check this regularly as this will also be used to update you on upcoming activities or events within the classroom, as well as being a fantastic tool for developing vocabulary by sharing memories from home. We are excited to continue this journey with you and work in partnership to help your children reach their full potential. 

Thank you for your continued support.

Miss Becky Greenow, Mrs Cantouris, Mrs Scrivens and Mrs Carter

Term 6 Curriculum information for parents

Curriculum Information Term 2

Monday 12^th December 2022

Hi Reception,

I hope you all had a super weekend enjoying all the snow we have had!

Please find below a description of some activities to do at home with parents and carers.

Phonics:

Please have a go at playing this online game: ‘Fishy Phonics’. Please click on ‘Set 5’ when prompted and use your blending and segmenting skills to read the words in the clouds, then fish the matching picture out of the river.

The link for the game is here: https://www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/fishy-phonics?phase=2#

Happy fishing!

Maths:

Create a number line to 10 on post-it notes or pieces of paper. Can you find some small items to count using your number line?

Small items might include: Lego, pencils, pens, crayons, paperclips, small teddies, leaves, cotton balls etc.

English:

Please read ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’. I have attached the PDF as a separate document. After reading, please talk to your parents/carers about:

• What happened in the story?
• Who were the main characters?
• Is there a moral/lesson to this story? Perhaps there is more than one…
• Can you draw a picture of either: the Grinch, Max, Cindy-Lou to bring to school?

Understanding the World

I would like you to have a go at creating your own map after a wonderful snowy walk. I have attached a story from YouTube for you to watch about maps and then using a piece of paper, create your own after your magical walk. 

With your parents/carers you could discuss:

• which ways did you go?
• what did you see?
• how could you represent what you saw on a map?

Please feel free to upload any pictures of you completing these activities onto Tapestry, Mrs Carter and I would love to see them!

I very much look forward to seeing you back at school soon!

Miss Jackson

Parents and Carers,

Here is a PowerPoint with all the sounds the children have been learning since the start of the year. At the start of each phonics lesson, the children shown approximately 12 of these sounds on flashcards and are asked to say the sounds together. This frequent exposure to different sounds really helps them with their grapheme recognition and their ability to quickly recall these sounds once learnt. It would be lovely if you could go over these sounds with your child at home too to help them even further. 

Below I have also attached some pronunciation videos to aid in articulation of the sounds. 

As well as identifying sounds and reading, writing is also a really important part of our phonics programme. In each of our lessons, either as part of the input or in the activity books after, the children are required to do some writing. The children are shown some pictures and are asked to write the word the picture shows. The writing sequence we use is as follows:

1) Identify what is being shown in the picture

2) Stretch the word so that all the sounds can be heard. 

3) Segment (saying each individual sound) using their robot arms. For example 'f-r-o-g' or 'c-a-sh'.

4) Count the sounds in the word using our fingers. How many are there?

5) Write the sounds. 

It would be very beneficial for your child to also practice these writing skills at home. Below I have included a list of words your child could try to write at home:

19.10.2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we draw to the close of our first term, I would like to thank you for all the support you have given the school and your child during this new and exciting transition. It has been wonderful getting to know your child individually and already seeing such great strides in their learning and adjustment to life in Reception.

I would like to take this opportunity to relay a few gentle reminders:

Bringing toys from home

Whilst we absolutely love to hear about all the wonderful toys the children have at home, we would kindly request that these toys do stay at home or are taken home once your child arrives at school. We understand that toys are expensive, and we would hate for them to become lost or broken whilst at school. If your child is bringing in toys as a transitional aid, we will collect these toys at the door during hand over and they will be returned to your child at the end of the day. This will prevent any loss, damage or distraction during their learning.

Breakfast before school

Breakfast is an incredibly important meal for children to start their day so they can be ready to learn. Recently, we have noticed more children coming into school eating their breakfast, which can be quite disruptive to their learning. We ask that, unless

circumstances are extraordinary, that breakfast is eaten at home. We recommend some of the following breakfast items:

• Toast (with jam, marmite, marmalade etc)
• Crumpets (with jam, marmite, marmalade etc)
• Cereal (Weetabix, Corn Flakes, Cheerios, Shreddies and other cereals low in sugar)
• Fruit
• Yoghurt

Naming clothing

Please could you ensure that all your child’s uniform and PE kit is named. We are aware that school uniform is not cheap, and we would hate for any items to get lost. This can be done using name labels which can be sewn or ironed, or by simply writing their name on the item in sharpie.

Forest School Clothing

As we move into the colder, wetter months of autumn and winter, please could you ensure that your child has waterproof clothing with them for Forest School. These can be stored in their PE bags or in a separate bag which can remain on their pegs throughout the week. Wearing these waterproofs will help prevent uniform from becoming wet or dirty.

We very much look forward to welcoming your child back into Reception on Monday 31^st October. Have a lovely half term!

Yours sincerely,

Miss Caitlin Jackson (Reception Class Teacher)

Mrs Sarah Carter (Reception Teaching Assistant)

Songs to support learning at home

Hello all,

I hope you are all safe and well. Mrs Carter and I are sorry that we did not get to wish you a fantastic half term, however, we hope each and every one of you knows how very proud we are of all you have achieved this term. We are very lucky to spend our days in such fantastic company. I have attached some activities below for you to enjoy together today or revisit over half term and would love to see some of these on Tapestry so we can share our learning, and our half term adventures when back at school.

Phonics

In phonics we have been practicing reading 2 syllable words. We learnt that a syllable is like a beat in a word. Practice clapping the syllables in your families names, can you count how many? I have attached todays PowerPoint for you to share at home. After half term we will be completing phonics assessments to identify any gaps and support children in learning. With this in mind I have attached an additional PowerPoint and links to songs focussed on specifically the sounds and tricky words we have learnt. It would be great to practice these regularly through the holidays if you are able, even something small, for example, listening to and watching the songs daily can really help the children remember their sounds. You can also access additional books through your Oxford owl login, sorry I could not change or add books before the half term.

Welcome to Reception Class 

2021-22

To develop your writing skills have a go at one of the activities below:

• help make dinner, chopping and mixing ingredients or spreading your own toast
• create your own playdough character and write a simple story or label to go with this
• plan and make a model using bricks or construction toys. Can you write a label?
• write a sentence about your day. What have you enjoyed most?

Remember to use your robot voice to segment the sounds in words when recording. Challenge youself by using finger spaces, capital letters and full stops.

In Reception we like to explore things that are current and relevant to the children. For English please enjoy and share the poem below. I have added a video and script. Can you think about any other Weather types we have explored? What new words can you use to describe the wind? Think about sounds, feelings and smells. What do you notice when you look out your window? Perhaps you might like to create some artwork to music using pens, crayons or paint, linking this to the wind and introducing swirly, fast, loud, whooshing and swooping movements as you move your paint brush/pen/pencil across the paper. Do you notice any colours mixing?

Maths

Get active and have a go at some number songs