Reception

This term… Summer term- here we go! I cannot believe we are already at the final term of Reception. I am hoping that we will be blessed with lots of lovely weather, and be able to make the best use of our outdoor area in the sunshine throughout these final few months. This half-term our umbrella theme is All Creatures Great and Small, which is split into three sub-themes of; In the Vegetable Patch, Minibeasts and Animals. To kick us off, we will be looking at the story “Oliver’s Vegetables” and exploring healthy foods. Hopefully with some green-fingered children, we will investigate how plants, vegetables and fruits grow. Our non-fiction focus will include the life-cycle of a tomato, and we will use this term to start growing items to help brighten up our outdoor classroom. Next, during our “Minibeasts” theme, we will use stories such as “Superworm!” and “What the Ladybird Heard” to support our learning. The children will have plenty of opportunities to get out and about, with forest schools being the perfect opportunity to explore natural habitats and build bug hotels. Our final theme of the half-term is Animals where we will look at classic stories such as “Dear Zoo”. We are hopeful that by this time our tadpoles will have started turning into frogs! Next half-term our umbrella theme is Fun in the Sun, which is split into three sub-themes of Dinosaurs, Caring for the World and Sun, Sea and Sand. After half-term, we will start with a Dinosaurs topic; looking at stories such as “Harry and his Bucketful of Dinosaurs” and “The Girl and the Dinosaur”. I know we have some dinosaur experts in the class, so I am really looking forward to this one. We will travel back through time, create our own fossils and investigate our favourite pre-historic creatures. Next up, we will look at texts such as “10 Things I Can Do To Help My World” and “Clean Up” with a focus on recycling throughout our penultimate theme of Caring for the World. Our final theme of Sun, Sea and Sand we will get a chance to explore the oceans and become pirates with books such as “Rainbow Fish” and “The Night Pirates”. In RE, we use the Emmanuel Project scheme of learning. Our unit is Incarnation within Christianity. We will be learning and reflecting on the question “What Makes Every Single Person Unique and Precious?”; thinking about what makes us special and how Christians feel loved by God. All of our topics within RE are linked to another faith. This half-term we will briefly look at a Hindu story “Hindus Celebrating at Raksha Bandhan”. After half-term we will focus on creation throughout Christianity, looking at “How Can We Care For Our World?” with a final link to “Tu Be Shevat: The Jewish Birthday of Trees”. In PE, we are lucky enough to have Coach Malloy with us during our sessions on a Thursday morning. Please ensure that all PE kit items are clearly named. Every Friday the children will now take part in a forest school session. The children will need to come to school in appropriate clothing (please see the letter, or ask a member of the EYFS team if in doubt). These clothes will be worn all day.

How you can help at home…

• Continue all that you have been doing!
• Encourage your child to use their imagination – to make up story based games with their toys, to pretend, to dress up, to paint and draw etc.
• Encourage your child to play physically – to run, ride a bike, climb, swing, catch etc.
• Encourage your child to read signs, symbols and labels.
• Share books regularly with your child.
• Help your child to learn to go to the toilet independently, and to wash and dry their hands.
• Play counting games with your child.
• Encourage your child to experiment with reading and writing their own name.
• Encourage your child to do things independently – e.g. getting dressed, tidying things away etc.
• Show a real interest in your child’s learning at school- talk to them about their day.
• Give your child some quiet time to reflect positively on their day.
• Ensure your child has as much sleep as they need – school can be a tiring place!
• Encourage your child to make friends at school – invite other children round to play.
• Continue to talk about school positively and enthusiastically.

The children will be assessed on their phonological awareness over the year and, when ready, given sounds, words and texts to complement their reading ability. These should be read as independently as possible, but should be read out loud to an adult who is able to support if necessary. These should be practised at least twice, once for sound/ word recognition and once for comprehension.

Reading is of vital importance, if your child is confident enough to begin reading simple stories then please support and encourage this as regularly as possible both with school books and home books.

There are still so many benefits to sharing stories; read to your child, whenever and wherever you can. I am always happy for children to borrow books from school, as long as they are taken good care of. Start thinking about how to incorporate reading into your everyday life; reading road signs, cooking instructions, shopping lists or even subtitles on their favourite TV show.

Red Words

I am so grateful to all your support at home with phonics and reading, please keep up all that you are doing – it really does make such a difference. Some parents/carers were asking if you could have a list of the “red words” (these are words that cannot be sounded out, and must be recognised at sight). At school, we use a technique called say-spell-say. This is where the child will say the word, then spell it out using letter names, finally saying the word again, for example; the- T H E- the.
Below is a list of the red words that you may find useful. This is not by any means an expectation of something to do outside of school, but I know that a lot of you were eager to have them to practice at home.

I

no

the

to

go

into

put

puts

he

she

we

me

be

you

your

are

was

all

they

my

said

have

love

loves

so

do

some

come

one

were

 

Remember…

Our Forest School day is Friday.

Our PE day is Thursday.

Water bottles need to be taken home daily for cleaning and refilling. This should be filled with water only please. This is particularly important during these summer months.

For those hotter days, please ensure that your child has a hat and is wearing sun-cream.

A gentle reminder that toys are not permitted in school.

Thank you for your continued support.

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The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the ‘curriculum’ of the Reception year. The EYFS framework sets out key learning goals for your child’s early development which, if achieved, provide the 'foundations' for all later learning and successes, focusing on developing every child's skills through, playing and exploring, active learning, creating and thinking critically through 7 areas of learning and development:

The 3 Prime Areas of the EYFS are:

• Communication and language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development. 

The 4 Specific Areas of the EYFS are:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design

We help our Reception children to work towards the Early Learning Goals which are the Knowledge, Skills and Understanding children should have at the end of their first academic year at school. Our work involves ongoing assessment and reporting to parents and/or carers as well as considering our children’s Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements. 

 

A copy of our timetable is below, but it will evolve as we move through the year and may change from time to time. 

 

reception maths booklet 2023.pdf