Reception News letter

Reception S News Letter

Spring Term 2019

School trip to the Storybarn Tuesday 14th May- children should have received a letter about this.

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to a new and exciting term. The children are doing so well and have been very busy. 

Literacy: We have really been enjoying reading different versions of The Three Little Pigs and have all performed our own versions of the story.  

We have made puppets and had class puppet shows. We are now making picture story maps and this week plan to write some sentences independently from the story.

The next book we will look at this term is My Brother, my Mum, My Dad by Anthony Browne, Other books studied will be, This is the Bear by Helen Craig and Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Browne.

Phonics: ‘Read Write Inc. phonic sessions are daily and your child will learn a different sound each day and will bring a handwriting sheet home. The children have been moved around into different groups  and your child will either be with Mrs Devey, Mrs Gosling, Mrs Ordish or  Mrs Mc Combs. They may be with children from the other  Reception class.  These groupings allow us to really hone in to individual needs and keep the groups for literacy small. There is a great clip on You Tube showing the programme we follow, it is called ‘Information for Parents: How to say the sounds.’ By Ruth Miskin, and really is worth a watch.  

Please don’t worry if your child brings a handwriting sheet home that they have already done, eg M. we continually practice the sound and the formation.

Can you please ensure your child is starting and finishing each letter in the correct place and that the orientation is correct (bad habits can be hard to undo!)

Please also encourage your child to write in lower case letters as opposed to capital letters.

Reading: We will change the reading books every Thursday. We are so proud of the way that the children are trying, they have worked hard learning their sounds, and are now blending and reading simple books. Please share a book for 10 minutes with your child every day if you can. Little and often really works well.

Speaking: The children will be encouraged to express themselves effectively, showing awareness of the listeners’ needs. They will be encouraged to use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future.

This term we will be focussing on Story Maps, this is simply mapping a story through pictures and then the children use the maps ( their own pictures to retell the story.)

This term we will be modelling  and involving  children in finding solutions to problems and conflicts, that may occur throughout the day. We will share stories in circle time about characters that follow or break rules, and the effects of their behaviour on others.

Our home school link books also provide regular opportunities for children to talk to their class about something they are interested in or have done.

Come And see-

Special People: The children will learn that there are special people in our lives who are there to help us. They will explore that on Sunday, in church, we meet people who do special jobs as we gather to celebrate the Good News of Jesus.

Meals: The children will talk about their experience and feelings about meals which are special to them. They will say what they wonder about why people share special meals and be encouraged to ask and respond to questions about meals which are special to them.

Change: The children will learn that we change and grow. They will also explore that Lent is a time to change in preparation for the celebration of Easter.

Expressive Arts and Design:

Your child will learn songs, make music and dance, and experiment with ways of changing them. We will be learning Scottish dancing as part of learning about Burns Night and dragon and ribbon dancing linked to Chinese New Year. We will be making a Chinese drum, Chinese dragons, blossom trees and Chinese lanterns over the next few weeks.

The children will be encouraged to represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and stories.

As part of our People who help us topic, our role play area has turned into a Mini Hospital! Thank you to Mr Wolstencroft who recently came in to talk to the children about his role as a nurse. The children enjoyed it and asked some interesting questions.

This term we are looking at things that are waterproof and things that are absorbent. You can help by continuing to encourage your child to ask questions about why things happen and how things work. The children will be learning about the link between food and tradition, when we ask why do we have Pancake Tuesday? The children will also be beginning to understand about food from other cultures and will be sampling some Chinese foods for Chinese New Year.  We will be designing and making healthy pizza faces and tasting haggis and learning about Burns Night.

Teh children will also be observing and learning to care for the birds in our local area. We plan to make some bird feeders using pipe cleaners and Cherrios!

Shape Space and Measures: The children will be using everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects to solve problems.  They will be taught to recognise, create and describe patterns as well as explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.

Number: You can help your child recognise numbers and shapes by working with them to find as many numbers and shapes in the environment. Playing games such as Snakes and Ladders or Pairs will also help number recognition. Singing counting songs e.g. Ten Green Bottles. Please also help them to recognise the names of coins. Using mathematical language such as more than, less than, e.g. ‘what is one less than 6?’ Addition and subtraction language such as, how many altogether, add, minus, subtract will help your child to extend their understanding of mathematical language. Playing a simple game by asking them to use their fingers to show you 5, 8, 3 etc. once they are confident with that game you can extend their understanding by asking them to show you double 3, half of 6 etc.

We are enjoying The Mathematical Fluency Project. The idea is that we fully explore a number each week, for example, when we started with the number one we explored 1p, £1, 1’oclock. 1 metre etc... We also link this to our shape work, so for example when we cover number 3 we look at triangles etc.…  We are finding that there is so much to explore we sometimes go beyond a week!

General Information.

Homework.

Please make sure book bags are brought in every day so the children can put any letters and homework safely away as well as be heard read. We would advise you to hear your child read every night. We send homework every Friday and we try and alternate it, one week will be numeracy and the next week will be literacy.  

Can I also remind you that all clothes, shoes and bags need your child’s name clearly marked on them.

Snack money remains at £1 a week for a healthy snack, baking and art activities. Thank you.

Thanks to those parents that made playdough and sent it back for us to use. The children love playing with the play dough; if anyone wants a recipe please ask.

Gentle Reminder  Please continue the Home/School Link Book This is a lovely opportunity for you to share your child’s news and achievements with us.

Volunteers needed! If you are interested in any of the following let us know…

• We need parent readers to come and hear the children read.
• If you are available to accompany us on any future school trips
• You may be handy at dress making, carpentry, art and design or have a skill/ hobby to show the children.

Please do come in and talk to me at the end of the day if you have any concerns, I am always available in the classroom, once all the children have been collected.

Thank you for your continued support.    

Mrs Smith – Class Teacher and Mrs McCombs -Teaching Assistant