Our children would like to wish all our wonderful parents a Happy Mother's Day on Sunday!

This week: 24th - 28th March

Nearly the end of our Spring Term with only one week left before the Easter break and I know we say it frequently, but we really don’t know where the time goes! It is hard to believe that our children only have one term left before they will be going into Year 1. 

It was the last session yesterday for Tots on Tyres, and we are immensely proud of our children and how they have progressed, with many now riding without stabilisers, setting off without assistance, and all children making progress from their starting points. Well done to all, and please continue this progress with your children at home as the weather starts improving. Getting out in the fresh air on bikes is definitely good for wellbeing and quality family time. 
For those taking part in Forest School this half term, the last session will be next Tuesday, so please bring all your things into school on Tuesday. It is also our fundraising April Fools Break the Rules day on Tuesday. This is for Pre School and Reception only, and please break as many of the rules on the flyer as possible, so we can raise much needed funds for school, and resources for the children. One of the rules is no nail polish, but we’ll add to this no fake tattoos also if your child would rather do that. Obviously we know these aren’t easily removable so it is okay for fake tattoos to still be visible for the remaining days up until the Easter break. 
Next week is Creative Arts week so the children will be taking part in lots of creative activities which started this week with some Bollywood dancing which the children really enjoyed. The art gallery is open in the school hall on Thursday where you can come in, view and purchase your child’s artwork. They did some fabulous pieces so please do come along. 
There will be no spelling homework this weekend, but please ensure half termly scrapbook homework is handed in by Monday at the latest, as we will share this next week in class. As always, photos and videos can be sent to the Reception email address; we always enjoy seeing what each other has been up to. 
Don’t forget also the early finish on the last day of term, next Friday. Have a lovely weekend everyone, and Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday. 😊

 The Reception Team

This week: 17th - 21st March

This week has been a busy week in Reception, we continued to complete our assessments across reading, writing and maths then we consolidated our learning. We have continued to learn our phonics and the children have been focusing our ear and air. This is quite a tricky concept especially when the children are implementing this into their writing, next week we will continue with these sounds to gain some confidence and to support the children in implementing these into there writing. The children are making good progress with there independent reading of the tricky words and next week we will focus on give, live and said.

It has been STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) week this week in Reception, and the children have really enjoyed getting stuck into their different activities.  We started of the week looking at bridges and the different types of materials that could be used to build a strong bridge. We have also introduced our children to our new construction area in the classroom. The children are able to use their imagination to express their creative thinking – we are sure the children are going to love exploring this area over the coming weeks.

Finally in our topic this week we have created some transient art pieces by using natural outdoor materials to create butterflies.

The children have also continued with their ‘tots on tyres’ session, we are seeing the children improve each week and it would be beneficial for you to continue this at home.

On Thursday we celebrated French day. The children had the opportunity to come dressed in red, white and blue and we also had a special lunch menu. In the afternoon we had a special visitor Camembear who introduced the children to some French words such as Bonjour, salut au-revoir si-vous-plait, merci,

Have a good weekend everyone.

The Reception Team

This week: 10th - 14th March

This week we have continued our learning about growth and change, with a particular focus on our ducklings.  We've looked at the life cycle of a duck, how we take care of our animals, we learned the names of different baby animals and we also recapped on the life cycle of a butterfly.  This week has been British Science week, with the theme of change and adapt, so after recapping on how a butterfly changes throughout its life cycle, we all made our own rainbow paper chain caterpillars! We have enjoyed holding our ducklings this week also, as well as observing the changes they are going through as they grow.  In groups, we have created large collages of our ducklings, and some of us have made smaller ones.  We've continued to work on our biking skills this week also, and all children are making good progress!  Many are now riding pedal bikes without stabilizers.

This week has been assessment week, where we have carried out small tasks in maths, reading and writing to see how much the children have progressed.  We are proud of the children for working hard and making good progress in key areas of their learning.  As we are now nearing the end of the Spring Term and only have one more term to go in Reception, we keep reminding the children that we are working towards being Year 1 ready in all areas of our learning and behaviour.  We appreciate your continued support with home tasks such as spelling and reading.  Please ensure you write at least 3 comments in your child's yellow reading diary every week, as we have noticed that this has tailed off somewhat since half term and some children haven't got a comment in their diary for home reading for a good number of weeks.  It is vital that regular home reading continues whilst the children are so young because this is when the greatest gains are often made, which makes reading in later year groups much easier for the children.

Have a good weekend everyone.

The Reception Team

This week: Monday 3rd March

We have had a busy 2^nd week back at school this week from parents evening, pancake day, world book days and a very special delivery on Monday part of our growth and change topic. We had some duckling eggs delivered, the children were able to observe the growth and change of the eggs and we were very lucky to have two little ducklings!

We have named our newest members of Reception Ant & Dec.

This weekend the ducks will be going home with Mrs Bell and she will update the blog on Monday with the fun they have had. Next week the children will be encouraging the ducks to take their first swim and also hold the ducks.

This week we have continued with our Tot’s on Tyres, the children have grown so much on confidence in the space of a week sand have all made super progress, many of the children are now starting to gain the core strength to balance on the bike. We again will continue this over the coming weeks. Please could you all keep this up at home as this is a fundamental skill and this will highly support each child’s confidence.

Thank you for all of our parents who came to parents evening this week, it was lovely to see you all and to also share the progress of your child. Please can you all continue to read regularly and also complete the weekly and termly homework.  

Have a lovely weekend.

The Reception Team.

This week: 24th - 28th February

Our first week back after half term and it has flown by! This week, we have started our learning on growing and changing, beginning with looking at human life cycles and how we change as we grow through each stage.  The children have listened really well and are mostly able to name the different stages.  We have talked about what we can do in different stages of our life cycle and also looked towards the future and what we might be able to do as adults that we can't do now, like cook a meal, buy things (we talked about the difference between buying what we need like food and buying something that we want but don't necessarily need) and go to work to earn money.  Some of us shared what job we would like to do when we get older, often following in the footsteps of mummy or daddy's job....electrician, police officer and doctor just to name a few. ☺

In Literacy, we have started looking at another traditional tale, this time The 3 Billy Goats Gruff.  The children have really enjoyed this story; we've labelled the troll in our writing this week and next week we will think of our own sentence from a picture of the story and attempt to write this down using our phonics knowledge.  Next week in phonics we will move on to the phonemes ur & ow and spellings will be sent out tonight to reflect these.  In Maths, we have been learning about the concepts of 'more' and 'less', understanding the order of the numbers and whether each is more or less than another number.  We have also looked at 'one more' and 'one less' and it is a concept the children tend to find tricky, so do keep practising this at home.  We will continue this focus in Maths next week, along with using our fingers to show the numbers 6-9 quickly.  We don't want the children counting 8 fingers, for example, we want them to show it on their fingers instantly, knowing that the 5 and 3 pattern makes 8; 5 on one hand and 3 on the other.

Our first TOTs on Tyres session on Thursday was also really good - the children showed perseverance and resilience if they were finding it tricky and a good number of children began riding a bike without stabilisers.  All children should be proud of the progress they made during their session.

Next week, it is parents' evening on Tuesday, so we will see many of you then.  On Thursday it is World Book Day so children can come in dressed as their favourite book character, or in their PJs or just in something they are comfortable in, so as to be inclusive for all.  An APP message has been sent out about this.  We have an exciting surprise for the children on Monday, so hopefully next week, they will tell you all about it.  Thank you to all those who have sent in a picture for Mother's Day - if you haven't, please do so as soon as possible, by emailing your picture to reception@lostockhallcps.co.uk.  Thank you!  And have a fantastic weekend everyone.

The Reception Team

This week: 10th - 14th February

Wow and that is a wrap for our Spring term 1. 

This week the children have been really busy, they had a visit from Sean Perkins. The children loved listening to his stories and how he became an author. This was such a lovely treat for the children to actually see someone who has written a story. 

In English this week we continued with our topic of ‘The 3 Little Pigs’ we set the children a little challenge for them to think of their own independent sentence. The children worked extremely hard to think of a sentence then to  ensure they included capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. 

In Maths this week we have been ordering numerals to 10 with a particular focus on the ‘5 and a bit pattern’ for example this is seeing 6 as 5 and 1. The children worked really hard in ordering and number recognition. 

The children have really enjoyed sharing their half termly homework this week.  When the children started school, they were given a colourful scrapbook to record their half termly homework in.  Each half term, we issue a new homework sheet, with a list of different tasks to do, that you can choose from.  Children are to choose one task from each section to complete and homework can be stuck into the homework book or pictures and / or videos emailed to the reception email address if you prefer.  Homework is shared with the class either way, and children really enjoy having their special time to talk about what they have done at home.  If we don't receive any homework back either via the email or stuck in books, then children have nothing to share and we do want all children to take part and not feel like they have missed out when they see their peers sharing their homework.  The next half termly homework will be sent out on the Friday in the first week back after half term, so please look out for this in book bags.   Thank you in anticipation of your continued support with this.

Children are really ready for a break now, however, It is important to keep up with regular reading during the school holidays, because we do find that, at this age, children can take a step backwards quite easily if they aren't doing something regularly, and particularly reading.  To give them the best possible start in Year 1, it is important that by the end of the Reception year, most children are sight reading the majority of words in their reading books.  So please continue to support this during the half term week.

Thank you for your continued support.  Have a good week everyone.

The Reception Team

This week: 3rd - 7th February 

We are heading into our last week of our Spring 1 term. The children are definitely getting ready for a little break. We have talked with the children this week about us now getting ourselves Year 1 ready.  In that, many of the things we do from this point on, will be to prepare ourselves for our next step into Year 1, to make sure we are as ready as we can be.  A big part of this is building on independence, in our work but also in our personal and organisational skills.  On that note, there are a few children who are not yet managing to fasten up their own coats, so any practice at home would be helpful.

This week has been learning all about the winter season. The children have enjoyed going on a winter walk around school spotting changes and using a checklist to find lots of signs of winter. The children have also been exploring ice and using different materials to melt ice. The children have also been looking at various artic animals and creating pieces of art ready for our open art evening. There will be more information to come regarding this.

In phonics this week we have been learning the oo and oo, this quiet a tricky concept as the phoneme makes two sounds. Next week we will be looking at ‘ar and or’ sound. We have also continued to learn our tricky words and we have now included dad, but and went. Please can you continue to use the cards we sent home at the beginning of the year to support the learning and fluency of sight reading these words.

We have sent home a little slip in the homework books for you to send in a picture of you and your child, please read the message and send through the picture by Friday 28^th February ready for our next little project.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Reception Team

This week: 27th - 31st Jan

January complete already, and only two weeks until half term...time really does fly! It was great to see so many of you at our Communication and Language workshop this week, and I know the children really enjoyed sharing a story with you.

This week, we've enjoyed learning all about Chinese New Year, this year being the year of the snake.  We've learned about the story of the Great Race which decided the 12 animals that would be included in the Chinese Zodiac, we've learned about the celebrations that take place for Chinese New Year, we've made our own Chinese lanterns, enjoyed role playing in the Chinese restaurant (including dressing up), tried some Chinese food and taken part in a dragon dance. It's been a busy buy enjoyable week.  This week, we've also concluded our writing on The Gingerbread Man, and have decorated (and enjoyed eating!) our own gingerbread men.  This proved to be an excellent activity for fine motor skills and building up the strength in fingers, because the children used icing in small tubes which they first had to twist to get the lid off (a task in itself!) and then had to use strong finger muscles to squeeze the icing out into the right place.  So this is an excellent activity to do at home if you feel your child needs to develop the strength in their fingers and their pencil control.  It's a fun activity to do but serves a good purpose at the same time.

In phonics this week, we've recapped on the 'ch' and 'sh' phonemes.  Next week, we will move on to the 'oo' phoneme which makes two sounds - the long 'oo' as in 'room' and the short 'oo' as in 'good'.  We will teach both.  Please continue to support handwriting/spelling homework - a little and often approach words the best - 10 minutes, writing each word out once, every day.  This works much better than trying to learn all spellings on a Wednesday night before it is due on a Thursday.  It helps children retain the spellings much better with a 'little and often' approach because they are exposed to them more regularly which helps build and strengthen those connections in the brain.

In Maths this week, we have been focusing on numbers 6 and 7 with the '5 and a bit' pattern, which we will continue to learn and focus on throughout the year.  It is important that children learn numbers 6-9 as '5 and a bit' (e.g. seeing 6 as 5 and 1, or seeing 7 as 5 and 2 etc) and are used to showing these numbers rapidly on their fingers without counting.  This will help them make connections and develop their learning easier and quicker as they move up through school.

Next week in English we will move on to our next traditional tale, The Three Little Pigs.  We will be trying to learn a simple version of this story off by heart and will complete some writing about the story.  In Maths, we will be looking a 'more than' and 'fewer than'.

Thank you to everyone who has sent in a home picture - the display is looking fab.  

Have a good weekend everyone.

The Reception Team

Art competition

Please see details below of the art competition this month - Amazon voucher to be won!

This week: 20th - 24th January

In phonics, we have been learning the 'igh' and 'oa' phonemes this week.  'igh' is a trigraph, because it is 3 letters that make one sound together, and 'oa' is a digraph because it is 2 letters that make one sound together.  Mrs Bell's group have been learning the 'ch' and 'sh' phonemes this week.  Hopefully children will have been practising their words / phonemes this week (little and often each day is best, maybe 15 minutes each night to copy them out), ready for their spelling challenge today.  Next week, we will recap the 'ch' and 'sh' phonemes, so spelling will be based upon these.  We also continue to learn our key words.  Next week, we will add the words all, was & mum to the words we read each day.  Please practise reading and spelling these words at home on your child's whiteboard.

In Maths, we have been consolidating number bonds to 5.  It is important that children know 3 + 2 and 4 + 1 make 5 off by heart, as well as being able to identify that if they had 5 and took 2 away then they would be left with 3.  They need to be able to recall this information as number facts rather than using practical equipment each time.  We've done lots of work in school using practical equipment, so that children understand the concept, so now it is important that the children know these number facts by heart.

This week the children enjoyed taking part in an athletic festival. The children took part in various games which involved the children running, jumping and working as a team. The children really enjoyed the different activities. Thank you to Mr Law and Mr Jardine for arranging the festival, the children have been working on running and jumping in our PE lessons and we have noticed lots of improvement which was fantastic to see.

Next week we will be looking at the Chinese New Year celebration and trying some Chinese food.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Reception Team.

This week: 13th - 17th January

This week we have been learning all about homes and buildings from the past and present.  We have used these terms with the children, trying to develop their understanding of the tricky concept of time and how things change gradually over time.  Quite a difficult concept for 4 and 5 year olds, but the children have done really well this week, making observations about homes in the past and how they were different to our homes today.  A few of the children have recognised items (that we have now decorated our home corner with) from the past from the homes of their own grandparents and have commented on this, so please do carry on these conversations with the children about how things used to be in our homes from the past and how things have changed.

We are developing the display next to our home corner, and would like to include a section about our own homes, so please do send in any pictures of your homes, possibly with the children / family in the picture too!  You could send in any pictures you've already got or take a picture and send it in to: reception@lostockhallcps.co.uk and we will print them off.

We continue to develop our sentence writing in English and the children are developing their skills in this area.  We have started learning the vowels digraphs in phonics, this week learning the 'ai' and 'ee' phonemes, so we ask for your support in going over these phonemes at home and reading/spelling words with these phonemes in.  On Friday this week, we will be sending home the first spellings, so handwriting homework will change slightly going forward - there is a letter in handwriting homework book explaining the changes so do read this.  Next week, we will be learning the igh and oa phonemes, so spelling/handwriting homework will be linked to these phonemes.  Next week, we will be learning to read the key words we, are & you.

A couple of reminders:

• Children should be reading their reading books every day and yellow reading diaries should be written in / signed at least 3 times per week.  Now the phonemes we are learning are becoming trickier, children will find their reading books more challenging so regular home reading is essential.  Thank you for your support with this.
• Children need to bring in a fruit snack every day for morning break  

Thank you for your continued support.  Have a good weekend everyone.

The Reception Team

This week: 6^th – 10^th January

Happy New Year to all our families. ☺ This week has gone so quick and we are working hard on getting back into school routines.  The children have come back with a good attitude after Christmas and have been keen to tell us all they have been doing over the holidays.

 This week we have started a topic on houses and homes.  We have been talking about our own homes (and we are encouraging children to talk in full sentences, modelling to them how to articulate their thoughts, rather than just speaking in words and phrases), making models of houses, building and painting houses.  We have opened up our new pop up role play area: the building site, the children enjoyed building houses, bridges and walls. The children loved using the spirit level to make sure the buildings were level. We will have this set up this next week for the children to access independently.

In phonics, we have recapped on the digraphs ch, sh, th & ng.  Next week we will move on to the first of the vowel digraphs ai & ee.  Children will now find phonics a little trickier so supporting at home by writing simple words with these digraphs in (e.g. rain, feet, mail, peel etc) on the home learning whiteboards you have will really pay dividends and ensure the children gain more confidence at school.   

In Maths, we have continued our subitising skills (recognising how many without counting) up to 5, and we are now starting to see smaller amounts within - e.g. seeing 2 and 2 and knowing there are 4, or seeing 2 and 3 and knowing there are 5 altogether.   

Have a good weekend everyone.

The Reception Team

This week: 16th - 20th December

And that's a wrap!  Our children have lasted a whole 8 weeks this half term and with all the excitement and busy-ness of the last few weeks, they have done really well and are now more than ready for a well deserved rest.  This week we have really enjoyed our Christmas party, where all the children showed off their fabulous dance moves and showed us their increasing levels of maturity as we dealt with not winning every game that they played, and sometimes not even winning at all.  A life skill that is hard to learn when you're only 4 and 5 years old, but all the children did really well and we are very proud of them.  We even had a visit from Santa at the end which was really exciting.

The Santa Dash this morning was also a huge success and enjoyed by all, especially as it gave the older and younger children time together as the Year 6 children partnered up with our Reception children to help them make their way round the track.  We had lots of smiles and enthusiastic participants. ☺

We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you for all the lovely and very generous gifts and cards we have received this week.  We do hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas with friends and family and we wish you all a happy new year too - see you all in 2025!

The Reception Team

Week commencing 9^th December 2023

We have continued learning about the Nativity story this week and the children have continued to enjoy re-enacting the story in our calm corner which is currently our stable.  We have really enjoyed singing our Christmas songs such as Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  Whilst the children were fairly confident with the words of Jingle Bells, we found that not many children knew Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, which surprised us!  We'll carry on singing it at school so the children can become more familiar, and perhaps children could have a go at singing it at home too, or at any of the Christmas festivities you may be attending as families.

We have also started sharing the wonderful termly homework that children have completed and are super impressed so far!  We will continue to share this next week.  In Phonics, we have started to learn digraphs ch, sh & th and ng.  Please go over these digraphs at home as children often take a little longer to become secure in recognising these.  Continue going over the key word flashcards that we sent home too, so children are confident in recognising them by sight.

The children enjoyed coming to school this week in there Christmas jumpers and loved having a Christmas lunch whilst singing our Christmas songs.

Next week will be our last week, and Christmas party day on Wednesday, so please send children dressed in their fabulous Christmas clothes, but something sensible too as it will still be cold outside and children need to be able to be independent in terms of going to the toilet themselves etc. 

As we head into our last week before our Christmas break, we would like to remind parents that school finishes on Friday 20^th December at 1:15pm and there is no after school club on this day.

Enjoy your weekend everyone. ☺

The Reception Team

This week: 2nd - 6th December

December already!  And some very excited children talking about their elves and lead up to Christmas activities.  This week, we have started learning about the Nativity story and the idea of being kind and giving to others, not just in terms of gifts but in terms of how we can help others and be a good friend and be kind.  We want our children to look beyond the idea of Christmas being about just getting new toys.  We have started our Advent calendars this week as we tie it into doing our daily calendar where we look at what day it is, what number date, what month, what the weather is like and what season it is.  It would be beneficial to have these conversations with your children on the way to school, because building this kind of knowledge into a daily routine means they will learn about the days of the week, months of the year and seasons much more naturally.

In phonics, we have moved on to the digraph 'qu' and will begin looking at 'ch', 'sh', 'th' and 'ng' before Christmas.  Please, please practise these at home along with doing your daily reading because the children will find them harder to grasp at first.  We have now issued everyone with their login details for their Phonics Bug account, where you can access extra online books so hopefully you have found this useful.

We will continue with our Christmas activities next week, which will involve lots of dressing up and role play (the Nativity but also Santa, an elf and reindeer!), making our Christmas cards, making our calendars, painting and singing!  We will also have our Christmas party, Christmas dinner and Christmas jumper day so lots to look forward to.  We have been really trying hard also with our junk modelling skills with some children already bringing home some wonderful creations.

Half termly homework is due in on Monday so we will begin looking at this next week.  There will be no handwriting homework now until after Christmas but please continue with daily reading as it is really making a difference.

Have a good weekend everyone.

The Reception Team

Half termly homework

We've had a couple of enquiries about Tapestry because it was mentioned on the bottom of the homework.  Apologies, Tapestry is an old app that we don't use anymore.  Please put homework in the homework book or send pictures and videos to the reception email: reception@lostockhallcps.co.uk

The Reception Team

This week: 25th - 29th November

G'day mate!  This week, we've continued our Around the World topic and started learning about Australia.  We have learnt that Australia is on the opposite side of the world to us and when we have winter, they have summer!  So at Christmas it is hot and sometimes people who live in Australia will spend Christmas day on the beach.  We also listened to a traditional Aboriginal dance from Australia, to the sound of the didgeridoo which we decided produces quite a low sound.  We looked at the Australia flag and saw that our flag, the Union Jack, was also part of their flag.  We also looked at some pictures of school children and saw that they wear a uniform, just like we do, but that a sun hat was part of their uniform and this is something we don't need because it is not as hot here as it is in Australia.  We also talked about the animals we might also find in Australia such as a koala and a kangaroo and we linked this to our English topic this week. We have been encouraging the children to write simple sentences using our tricky words but also emphasising the importance of using capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. Some children wrote some super sentences! 

In Maths this week, we have been looking at different ways we can make 5. We have been encouraging children to make 5 with 2 different coloured cubes. Next week we will be moving on to look at part whole models and finding parts of a puzzle to make a whole. 

Thank you for your continued support with handwriting homework and with reading. Whilst your child is completing this at home, please can you encourage them to write on the line, taking there time and thinking about the formation of each letter. You may notice that some children may find doing it too much in one setting or they loose concentration towards then end, if this is the case bring them back to it later. 

Have a great weekend everybody.

The Reception Team x

This week: 18th - 22nd November

This week, we have continued our journey round the globe and learned about the continent of Africa.  We have looked at Africa on a map and on the globe and have seen how all the countries within Africa fit together, a bit like a big jigsaw puzzle!  We have also looked on Google Earth and observed how the top of Africa looks a sandy colour but the middle looks a deep green colour, showing the vegetation and forests.  We have been practising our mouse skills on the computer, colouring in a map of South Africa and have enjoyed learning an African call and response song.  In the finger gym, we have been making beautiful African style bracelets and we have also been learning about animals we might find in the wild in Africa and comparing this to what we might find in the wild in our own country.  It took a while at first to grasp that we wouldn't find elephants or zebras wandering round in the wild in our own country but we would be more likely to see foxes or squirrels, but we got there in the end! Here is the link to the 'A Lion has a Tail' call and response song that we have enjoyed learning this week, if children would like to have a go at home: A Lion has a Tail...just click on the link and it will take you to the video.

In phonics this week, we have looked at x, y and z/zz, which finishes off all our single sounds.  Next week, we will recap before moving on the week after to digraphs.  We will start with qu, followed by consonant digraphs ch, sh, th & ng.  After this, will be our vowel digraphs and trigraphs in Phase 3.  Children do find these harder to learn and grasp so as much support as possible at home going over these phonemes when we are learning them will definitely help.  Next week we will introduce 3 more key words: got, not & his.  In English, we have been sentence writing based on the book Monkey Puzzle, and in Maths, we have been consolidating our understanding of numbers to 5.

Next week, we will continue our journey round the globe and look at Australia, the land down under!  In English, we will continue our sentence writing based on the book A Koala Who Could.  Have a great weekend everyone.

The Reception Team

This week: Monday 11th November - Friday 15th November

This week, we have started our learning about other countries around the world.  We have started by looking at India - looking at where India is on the globe (and that it is much bigger than our country), looking at the Indian flag, what the weather is like there (and that they have a monsoon season with lots of rain), the types of food that are popular in India, the clothing and we have also learnt about a popular celebration / festival in India (and the UK) at this time of year - Diwali, the festival of light.  We have read books on Diwali, made some rangoli patterns with coloured sand, learnt about the story of Rama and Sita and also made some clay diya lamps to light on Sunday, the 12th, Diwali.  We also tried some traditional Indian food this week, and children did so well with this; we were impressed with how open the children were to trying different types of foods - some completely cleared their plates!  We tried poppadoms with mango chutney, pilau rice, Chapatis and onion bhajis.  Finally, we observed a short period of silence and listened to The Last Post, aiming to understand why this piece of music is a sombre piece of music because of what it stood for - the children were really respectful whilst listening.  This is a difficult concept for our children to understand at a young age but it is important that we begin discussing with them what poppy day is all about. 

We will also move on to looking at another place in the world next week, this time the continent of Africa.  We will learn an African dance, look at some African instruments, African dress, lifestyle, weather and where it is on the globe.  We will begin to look at the similarities and differences to our own lives.

This week we have also completed our assessments, the children have taken part in small tasks to show us what fantastic progress they have made this term, and considering the fact that many children weren't yet able to write their name at the start of Reception, there are many children now who can write words and even simple sentences independently, so we are so proud of the progress the children have made.  The children are also starting to find reading a little bit easier, so thank you for all your support at home.  The aim by the end of the Reception year is to have children reading age appropriate books fluently, to give them a good head start for Year 1.  The children have also made fantastic progress in Maths, and we will build on this in the coming weeks before Christmas as we begin looking at how numbers 2-5 are made in different ways.  We want the children to become fluent in number composition up to 5 at least (e.g. knowing that 4 can be made from 3 and 1, 1 and 3 or 2 and 2 and also knowing that if you took 3 away from 4 you would be left with 1 etc).

Have a good weekend everyone.  Thank you for your continued support.

The Reception Team

This week: 4th - 8th November

This week we have been learning all about people who help us.  We have looked at the different roles such as paramedics and the police, and how they might help us.  We have talked about how we get help if we need it in an emergency by calling 999 and asking for the service we need.  We have taken part in role play and some of us have painted a picture of either a firefighter, paramedic or the policeman or woman.  We have also looked at how to stay safe on bonfire night, which was enjoyed by many this week.

In our English, we have started to introduce the concept of a sentence and continue to focus on letter formation.  In Maths, we have started to learn about 'more' and 'fewer' and children often find the concept of 'fewer' trickier.  Another tricky concept tends to be 'how many more?' when they can recognise which group has more.  In Phonics, we have now finished Phase 2 and have started to look at the first few phonemes in Phase 3 - j, v, w. 

Next week we will carry out some assessments to see how much progress the children have made since starting in September and how much they have retained.  We will carry out a phonics assessment to identify the phonemes the children know as well as a key word assessment to see how many they can read.  Once we have collated this information, we will send it home for parents.  

Next week we will also begin our trip around the world and look at our first country - India, which will involve trying some Indian food next week.  It is also Anti-Bullying week next week and odd socks day on Tuesday, so please send your child into school on Tuesday with the whackiest odd socks you can find!  The aim is to celebrate our differences.

We were really impressed with handwriting homework this week, so thank you for continuing to support this, as well as reading each night.  We are noticing that after the excitement of Halloween and Bonfire Night that we still have some tired children in school, which can impact both behaviour and learning, so please ensure children are managing to get enough sleep at night and going to bed early.  If this is something you need to come and speak to us about, please do so.

Have a great weekend everyone.

The Reception Team

This week: 28th - 1st November 

Our first week back after half term this week, and what a busy one it's been!  The children were keen to talk about what they had done in the holidays and what activities they have been doing leading up to Halloween.  We've had some very excited children this week!  Please try and endeavour to encourage children to bed early in the coming weeks, as learning is tiring work and all the excitement (and sugar!) of Halloween has taken it out of some of them, so lots of early nights would do the world of good. ☺  We are so so proud of how the children have come back into school after the half term break - lots of smiles and children ready to get back into their learning again which is wonderful.

In English this week we have read the story 'I Planted a Pumpkin' and we have started to write simple/short sentences for those that are ready.  We will continue to focus on using our phonics knowledge to spell words, correct letter formation, a good tripod grip and pencil control and also now using spaces between our words when writing a short sentence.  In our key words, we have been practising the first 16: and, to, the, no, go, I, into, her, is, it, as, at, can, get, up, me.  Please do practise these at home too to support your child in becoming much more familiar with these.

Please read as much as you can with your child at home, because, even if it seems difficult now if children are still struggling to blend, it will pay dividends in the end.  When you have read with your child at home please ensure that you write in the yellow reading diary each time you and please aim to read at least 3 times per week.  Comments don't have to be really long, but it does give us a good idea as to how children are getting on with their reading at home.  We do check comments in diaries at least once a week and we can help and support your child if they are finding some parts tricky at home.
In our topic this week we have been using our senses to investigate our school grounds and see what we can see, hear and feel in different areas.  The children really enjoyed looking at how our school grounds have changed over the last 15 years or so by using Google Earth and creating our own maps in groups of the school grounds, using items that we have found on our sensory walk. Lots of children really enjoyed looking at the school and the changes they could see and were keen to see how there houses/ streets have changed over the years.

In Maths this week we have looked at the composition of 4 and the different ways in which we can see four. The children used green squares to show four and became much more confident on subitising 4.

This week some of the children in Mrs Bell's class finished their last session of forest school. The children have loved to play, explore and discover our outdoor areas whilst getting a little bit dirty 😊

Next week a new group of children will start their sessions with Miss Jones and Miss Goldsmith. Please ensure that your child brings in their kit each Friday from next week – The children this includes will have received a letter before half term.

Have a lovely weekend!

The Reception Team xx

This week: 14th - 18th October

And that's a wrap!  Our first half term in Reception complete and I think the children are all ready for a well deserved week of downtime with their families.  It was wonderful to see so many of you at parent's evening and to hear such positive comments about how the children have progressed so much over the last 7 weeks.  The children are beginning to form positive relationships with each other more now and it is lovely to watch and listen to the conversations they have with each other.

This week, we have been learning all about looking after ourselves, from learning about the roles of doctors and nurses (and the children have absolutely loved our healthcare pop-up role play - so much so that we might have to keep this going after half term!), to learning about healthy eating, exercise, washing our hands properly and looking after our teeth properly.

We have also opened two more of our new areas in the classroom this week - our home corner (domestic role play) and our small world and building area.  So far, the children have really enjoyed playing in these areas and we have seen some great creations and role play, the children really engrossed in their play.

In English, we have continued to look at initial sounds and some children have now moved on to identifying the end sound in words too.  That middle vowel sound (e.g. the 'a' in 'cat' for example) is always the trickiest to hear, but we are now getting more and more children who are able to segment and spell a full CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) word, using the phonics knowledge that they have learnt.  Please, please keep reading at home with your children (each day is preferential for good progress) and practising all the Phase 2 sounds on the sound mat we handed out in home learning packs.  In Maths, we have been investigating simple patterns (colour patterns to begin with) and have also been looking at the composition of numbers to 4.

After half term we will move on to beginning to write very simple/short sentences for those that are ready.  We will continue to focus on using our phonics knowledge to spell words, correct letter formation, a good tripod grip and pencil control and also now using spaces between our words when writing a short sentence.  In our key words, we will be practising the first 16: and, to, the, no, go, I, into, her, is, it, as, at, can, get, up, me.  Please do practise these at home too.

In our topic, we will be using our senses to investigate our school grounds and see what we can see, hear and feel in different areas.  We will also be looking at how our school grounds have changed over the last 15 years or so and creating our own maps in groups of the school grounds, using items that we have found on our sensory walk.

There will be no homework over the half term break, other than to keep reading and working on those blending skills.  Happy half term everyone - thank you for your continued support as always.

The Reception Team

This week: 7th - 11th October

Only one more week before the end of the first half term - it has really flown by and doesn't seem two minutes since the children were starting their first day in September.  By now, the children are coming into school much better and learning the routines of the school day.

This week has been Life Skills week, and we have enjoyed some workshops - on Monday, we had a visitor from HSBC bank, talking to the children about spending money and the difference between what we want and what we need.  The children found this concept quite tricky at first but listened really well as we discussed alternative things we could do if we didn't have enough money for certain things and also about the importance of saving too.  In a world where we do most of our spending online or with the tap of a card at the till, money is sometimes a difficult concept for Reception children to understand, so if you can, when you are out and about, try and give your children the experience of buying something small with coins or notes, helping them to understand how much something is and whether or not they have enough. 

On Wednesday, we had a visitor talking to the children all about mental wellbeing in a really child-friendly and interactive way.  We went on a journey to the Wellbeing Jungle where we met the Calm Crocodile who taught us the importance of a good sleep, the Chatty Parrot who taught us to talk about our feelings and the Soothing Monkey who taught us a slow breathing technique to deal with worries.

We have been also learning this week how to use a knife and fork correctly, practising putting on our coats and zipping them up ready for the colder weather.

In phonics this week we have continued to learn new sounds and have learnt u, r and h. Next week we will continue learning our sounds and some new tricky words.

Next week we have our parents evening and we are looking forward to seeing you all.

Have a lovely weekend and thank you for your continued support everyone.

The Reception Team

This week: 30th September - 4th October

This week we have continued the Ourselves topic, learning about how we can keep ourselves healthy, talking about ourselves and our families, starting to look at where we live in terms of our world and within our country (this will take some embedding because it's a difficult concept for the children to grasp at first) and also looking at feelings and emotions.  The children have enjoyed making fruity faces this week and eating them afterwards!  Please see pictures below.  We have also started to talk about the signs of Autumn when completing our daily calendar so do look out for the signs when out and about with your children, and talk about what you see or what you find.  Feel free to send the children in with any autumn treasures you find.  The children are now sitting for longer periods on the carpet as we continue to focus on good listening skills.  We have to get this right at an early age because if children don't have good listening skills, their learning will be hindered greatly.  This involves looking at the speaker, maintaining focus and concentration, responding to what has been said and also involves things like sitting in a sensible place on the carpet to avoid distractions.

In Literacy this week, we have read a book called The Leaf Thief which the children really enjoyed, and have focused on finding the initial sound of a word & some even went further to spell simple CVC words which is fantastic!  We continue to focus on building fine motor skills, good pencil grip and correct letter formation on a daily basis.  Next week, we will continue to focus on finding the initial sound and spelling simple words.  In phonics next week, we will learn the u, r & h phonemes and continue to learn to read our tricky words and, the & to, as well as introducing some new tricky words - no, go, I & into.  Please continue to read regularly with your children, practise these phonemes & tricky words and keep modelling and practising those blending skills, especially if your child isn't yet hearing that blend of sounds together to make words.  It will come - sometimes it just takes a bit longer.  In Maths this week, we have focused on good counting skills, and next week we will continue this as well as looking at basic mathematical patterns and continuing these.

Next week is Life Skills week, and we have a fun-filled week for the children, learning and developing skills needed for life, such as using cutlery, developing scissor skills, learning about money, learning about road safety and good mental health, all in a very child-friendly way.  We have also had a bit of a shuffle round in the classroom as we develop our classroom environment and introduce different areas of learning, which is always exciting.  On Wednesday, the Lancashire Evening Post came in to take the Reception starters class pictures, which will appear in the paper in the coming weeks - we aren't yet sure of the exact date, but last year's was around the 16th October.  It could be before this date though, so please keep your eyes and ears open just in case.

Have a good weekend everyone & thank you for your continued support.

The Reception Team

This week: 23rd - 27th September

What a beautiful end to our week after all this rain!  Let's hope for a bit more sunshine over the weekend.  This week in Reception class, we have continued to build upon and practise routines which the children are becoming much more familiar with now.  We are encouraging all our children to say good morning as they enter the classroom in a morning and use their pleases and thank yous throughout the day as it is important to instill these things at an early age.  We are also encouraging better listening in class time, ensuring children are looking and focused when someone is talking.

This week, we have moved to a more structured timetable, especially in the morning.  Children are now used to having their daily phonics session and so far, we have covered the phonemes s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o & c.  Next week we will cover phonemes k, ck & e.  We will also cover the first 3 tricky words by reading them as flashcards daily: and, the & to.

Please help your child by going over the phonemes we have covered with your child to ensure they can say the sound on sight, and by reading the above tricky words.  Now we have introduced worded reading books with the children, please ensure children are reading each night and that you are modelling that blend to them if they can't yet hear it.  The more practise they have and the more they hear that s-i-t says 'sit', the quicker they will develop this skill for themselves.  In Literacy this week, we have had a go at writing our own names and drawing a picture of ourselves.  The children are getting better at this skill, but some aren't yet able to write their own name, so please use the whiteboard and whiteboard pen provided in the home learning pack to practise this if your child isn't yet able to write their own name.  We will also continue to practise in school.  In Maths this week, we have foscused on the early numbers 2 & 3 and worked on spotting groups of 2 or 3 without having to count them.  We call this skill subitising and it is a skill we will develop further throughout the year.

Next week in English, we will be reading a story called The Leaf Thief and will focus on the skill of identifying the initial sound of a word (e.g. knowing that the word 'sock' begins with an 's' or the word 'leaf' begins with an 'l').  We will also be encouraging healthy eating by making our fruity faces - watch out for some pictures next week!

We do hope you all received the letter that went out this week about Reception reading and homework and hope this clarified a few things.  As always, any questions, please just ask.  We are grateful that parents are allowing us to get the children in first before coming to speak to us in a morning, as this does make things a lot easier.  

Have a good weekend everyone.

The Reception Team

This week: 16th - 20th September

Another week flown by and we are now nearly approaching the end of September. Our children continue to settle in well and learn their routines. We are getting stuck into the phonics learning now and have already covered s, a, t, p, i, n, m and d!  Please go over these phonemes at home and encourage your child to tell you the sound the letter makes as well as the action we do. Next week, we will be learning g, o, c and k and we will begin learning to read our key words, starting with the, to, no.  Please also practise these words at home.

This week, we have also sent home our first reading book alongside the yellow reading diary.  We have started with a wordless book this week, as the children are still consolidating their first phonemes.  Once they are more secure with the first phonemes we have taught them, we will start sending home worded books.  However, it is important that the children learn to blend sounds together as soon as possible, so they are able to access the worded books and read them independently.  That is, sounding out a word (e.g. s-a-t) by recognising the sounds the letters make, but then also being able to blend these 3 sounds together to read the word (in this case, 'sat').

Just a couple of notices - please can all fruit be named.  Either in a named bag or pot or if you can write on the skin (bananas, oranges), you can do that also.  We place all morning snacks into a basket for each class and children are responsible on the whole for finding their own morning snack out of the basket, as it encourages independence.  If there a number of apples / bananas un-named, it can prove a little tricky for the children finding their own snack, so everything named please.  Next week the weather is due to change so please can you ensure your child is coming to school with the correct attire as it is due to become cooler, it is also important for the children to be able to put their own coat on and fasten it up, so please practise this at home where possible.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Reception Team. x

This week: 9th - 13th September

Firstly, thank you to all the parents who attended our curriculum meeting this week. The children whose parents could not attend will receive a pack of resources in their reading packs today for you to refer to throughout the year We have also uploaded the power point below for you to refer to. If you have any questions please let us know.

We have had a wonderful week this week starting to learn our first set of phonemes in phonics this week: s, a, t. Next week we will also start to learn our next set of sounds: p, i and n. The children have started to form these letters which we will continue to practice in school. If you can start to use the wipe boards and pens we have provided that would be brilliant.

We have completed most of our Baseline assessments and the children have done really well settling in and following our daily routines.

Please can you all ensure that you label your child's morning snack so they can independently find there own snack from our basket. 

Next week we will be starting our PE lesson's please can you ensure that your child comes to school in their PE kit every Friday going forward. 

We have also sent out letters to those children who will be starting Forest School on Friday. Please can you ensure that your child brings to school the waterproofs, wellies and a change of clothing. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Reception Team x

Reception Curriculum Meeting - Weds 11th Sept

Thank you to the parents who came to join us for the Curriculum meeting last night - we hope it was useful in providing an insight into how children learn in Reception and how you can best support them at home.  Below is the powerpoint from the evening as promised.  If you have any questions, please come and speak to us.

The Reception Team

This week: 2nd - 6th September

The end of the first week already and the end of the induction programme for our new Reception children.  The children have all managed so well learning their new routines and showing a real independence.  There is a lot to learn as the children start school, so you might find they are more tired than usual, especially with the hotter weather as well.  We are proud of how they've all managed their first few days and taken everything in their stride.  

Next week will be full time hours - 8.45am until 3.20pm.  In a morning, the children have a ten minute window in which to come to school, so the back Reception door will be open from 8.45am until 8.55am.  If you find your child is getting upset on a morning and showing some separation anxiety, it may be better to leave it until nearer 8.55am to come to school, when the playground will be less busy and most of the children are already in class.

A few reminders:

-Please name all uniform - we've been taking jumpers and cardigans off with the warmer weather today and have had to put names in quite a few jumpers;

-Please also name shoes;

-Children will need to bring in their book bag, a named water bottle and a piece of fruit/veg in a named pot or bag (or just write on the skin of bananas and oranges);

-Please don't put water bottles in book bags because sometimes they can leak and in previous years, reading books have been spoiled due to water leaking on them;

-At the end of the day, please wave only when your child is at the front of the line, otherwise it can take time locating the right parent which slows things down;

-If you are sending someone different to pick your child up who we have not seen before, please ensure they know the password & ring school to let us know in advance;

-Please try and always stand in the same place when picking up so we get used to where to look - this does help speed up the process;

-If you want to speak to us in a morning, please stand to one side and allow us to get the children in first - getting the children in safely and happily in a morning is our main priority and it can get very congested around the door if there are lots of parents giving us message.  We will be available to speak to anyone that needs to, but please stand to one side and wait until after the majority of the children are in, then we will come and speak to you.  

Thank you for your co-operation with the above - I know it seems like a lot, but the sooner we get into routines, the better and the smoother things will run.  Next week we will be carrying out baseline assessments with the children to assess their starting point for school and allow us to plan future learning.  The children will not realise they are doing assessments, because they are just little, child-friendly activities with the teacher.

Have a good weekend everyone - we hope to see as many of you as possible at the Reception Curriculum meeting on Weds (11th September), starting at 5pm.  We will give everyone a home learning pack and discuss how we teach the children and how you can support at home to give the children the best possible start.

The Reception Team