Reception M & W 2023 - 2024

Reception Newsletter April 2024

RM – Miss Millington, Mrs Landell

RW - Miss Woodcock, Ms Ward

We also have Miss Nicholson and Miss Dunlop 

Welcome to Summer 1! 

We hope you all had a lovely Easter break and we are looking forward to starting a new chapter with our learning!

This half term our main topic is Animals.  During this topic the children will consider similarities and differences between humans and animals.  Building on Nursery knowledge they will secure their understanding of the difference between ‘Domestic and Wild’ animals and how to group them. As part of our investigation children will begin to understand that some animals are endangered and reinforce the importance of caring for all living things and our world.  This will lead into their knowledge of ‘extinct’ animals - dinosaurs and what this means.  They will excavate their own fossils and learn the different dinosaur names along with the people that have helped us learn all about dinosaurs - palaeontologists. 

These learning experiences will be supported by our two main literacy texts “Penguins, National Geographic Kids’ an information text and the story  “T-Veg by Smriti Prasadam- Halls. ” During our nonfiction Penguin book the children will learn all about the contrasting environment that a penguin lives in. We will also use the text to learn lots of different facts about penguins and then write our own penguin fact files! We will become Palaeontologists and learn all about Dinosaurs when we read our next story “T-Veg.” and learn the difference between herbivores and carnivores.  Children will also be continuing to notice changes in their immediate environment now that the weather's getting warmer. We will start to see the seeds that we planted last half term start to grow and be able to see some flowering plants as well as pick and eat some of the food that we started to grow! 

In mathematics the children will be building their knowledge on numbers beyond 5 looking at the composition of 7 investigating part/part/whole relations. They will confidently count beyond 20 and subitise increasingly complex arrangements. They will also consolidate their knowledge of 3D shapes naming and talking about their properties and beagle to tell simple times on a clock. 

Phonics

Summer 1 Phase 4

Short vowels with adjacent consonants 
• CVCC CCVC CCVCC CCCVC CCCVCC 
• longer words and compound words
• words ending in sufxes:
–ing, –ed /t/, –ed /id/ /ed/, –est
New tricky words: said so have like some come love do were here little 
says there when what one out today

A few quick reminders...

Each week each class awards 2 pupils the 'Star of the week' certificate and 'The citizen of the week' certificate. Children who receive the star of the week certificate are mentioned on the schools weekly newsletter. The certificates will be given out to the pupils in the closest celebration assembly held in the studio at 9am so keep an eye for this term's dates! If your child has been awarded a certificate you are welcome to come to the celebration assembly to see them receive it.

Please remember that the final assembly  is open to all parents to come and celebrate the children's work and achievements over the half term!

Homework: We would just like to remind you about homework. We appreciate that life is busy, but helping your child at home is vital for their learning. Each Friday, your child will be sent home with a book for enjoyment that they have chosen. There will also be some literacy/ phonics and maths homework. Please ensure that the homework bag is returned by the following Thursday morning. The homework is designed to be no more that ten minutes long, but it is good for the children to revisit the concepts of the maths and literacy we send home. They will also be allocated an e-book that they have been reading in their ‘reading practice’ groups in school - this is for them to try and read to you and answer questions, you will have received a letter informing you of the log in details you need.

Reading books – please make sure you listen to your child read each night. Talk about the pictures, help the children to read the words that are in the book and please make comments in the reading log.

Phonics - please practise the letters/words that are sent home on the little wandle phonics sheet, this is really helping the children develop their phonics skills and decoding words when reading. It is also important to keep practising the reading book you have on the Collins reading app. We read three times a week with your child and you are then given the book to practise the following week.

Maths – there is also maths homework each week which reflects the work we have done in school during the week. Please complete that as this re-enforces the learning that is taking place in school.

Attendance and Punctuality – if your child is not in school on time or off school altogether, they miss out on so much learning – please make sure your child is in school, on time, every day.

Drop off and pick up- Please enter by the Myrtle Street entrance and walk your child up onto the EYFS playground where you will see a class teacher stood ready to welcome them into the classroom. From the week commencing 12th September, the school day will be from 8.45am to 3.10pm.

Outdoor play- please make sure your child has suitable clothing, waterproof coat, wellies, sunhat, gloves, etc.  We go outside every day rain or shine.

P.E-  will be run by city in the community on a Wednesday afternoon. Children do not need to come to school in an P.E kit however please make sure they have suitable footwear on that day. 

Rainbow Challenge - In Reception a key priority is for us to support children to become independent, confident and resilient learners. We consciously spend the first weeks building positive relationships and creating a fun and safe space that the children both enjoy and feel comfortable in. Continuing on from nursery they will be encouraged to display independence and take ownership over their learning through the use of the ‘Rainbow Challenge’. For those pupils and parents who are new to school the ‘Rainbow challenge’ is used by the children during their ‘continuous provision time or extended learning’ which occurs after adult input lessons.  The classroom is broken up into areas such as construction, roleplay or reading and each represents a different colour of the rainbow. Children are encouraged to explore their whole environment throughout the week and in doing so gain a coloured lollipop stick for each area they have engaged with. If they complete the Rainbow they are rewarded with a sticker at the end of the week.

Please remember to put names in all clothes, shoes, bags, lunch boxes, etc.

Other useful websites-

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ 

https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/

https://tapestryjournal.com/

 https://www.dentalhealthcareeoe.nhs.uk/services/oral-health-improvement/early-years 

Thank you for all your support!

Reception Team