Autumn 1

Welcome to Reception!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and your children are ready to start their first term in Reception! The Reception Team are very excited to work with you and your wonderful children.

Each half-term, we add a page to the school website to inform you of some of the learning that is planned for your child. The page is divided into the 7 areas of the curriculum.

Our topics this term will develop as the term progresses based on the children’s interests but we will start with finding out about ourselves and looking at traditional tales.

We can’t wait to start sharing all of the learning and progress with you on Tapestry.

Communication Language and Literacy

This is such an important area for your child and we love to talk! As children develop speaking and listening skills, they're building the foundations for literacy and learning. They are also learning key skills like how to express themselves and make friends.

Our role play area is set up as a home corner where the children can cook meals for each other and talk to their new friends with a familiar setting. The children will talk about themselves, their families, their likes, dislikes and favourite things. We will enjoy lots of bear stories and have a teddy bear picnic where the children will be able to bring a special cuddly from home for the day.

The children will be learning about rhymes and pre-reading skills this half term. The children will bring a library book home for you to share with your child. We are really looking to promote a real enjoyment of books so anything you can do to support this will be helpful (there is nothing like a good bedtime story!). As the term progresses we will introduce different sounds. We will place the sounds we are looking at in your child’s book bag. Once children are confident with their sounds we will send home a reading book but in the meantime we will be sending books home from our class library, please feel free to change them as you need to as part of the morning routine.

The children will start daily sessions of dough disco, to strengthen their muscles and prepare them for writing. We will start phonics straight away and have fun playing phonics games together. There will be lots of writing opportunities for the children in their play to write shopping lists, cards and letters to friends and family. The children will practise writing their name and begin to learn letters of the alphabet and how to form them correctly.

The book we will focus on is ‘The Little Red Hen’. We will begin by learning the story off by heart and by practising it out loud together and with actions. Gradually, the children will be able to follow a story map of the story and retell it in a group or to a partner. We hope to perform this to you in our first Parent and Carer engagement session where you will be invited in to class.

Vocabulary: me, myself, ourselves, similar, different, same, family, home, like, dislike, alphabet, role play, picnic, brother, sister, twin, cousin, aunty, uncle.

Mathematics

There will again be lots of activities involving maths for the children inside and outside. We will be singing lots of songs to make counting and maths fun. The children will explore: matching, recognising patterns, numbers to 5, counting, partitioning numbers to 5

Vocabulary: count, pattern, match, difference, more, less, next, after, before, same.

Physical Development

Inside the children will be able to choose well planned activities to improve their fine motor skills for example with threading or painting. As the children begin to use writing apparatus, we will practise a correct grip and careful letter formation. Using a range of multi-sensory approaches to make this accessible and exciting. Each day, the children will have a playtime together outside on the hill where they can run, skip, hop, jump, ride the trikes and practise balancing. In addition to this they have access to our outdoor area throughout the day and also PE sessions in the hall where we will start the term with dance and apparatus.

PE in Reception will take place on Wednesday's initially in small groups.  Children with long hair will need to have it tied back for safety reasons. Any earrings (studs only are allowed in school) will also have to be removed (by the child) or covered with a plaster (which must be supplied from home). Ideally earrings could just be removed on Wednesdays.

Your child will require the following PE kit (Clearly named):

• Plain white t shirt
• Black shorts

Vocabulary: balance, travel, hop, stretch, squeeze, skip, jump, PE, body, movement, heart-beat, strong, healthy, unhealthy.  

Understanding the world

On a daily basis we will be talking about the weather, seasonal changes and encouraging the children to notice how the temperature, sky or trees have changed. In groups, the children will have the chance to meet a real hen and chicks.  We will make some bread like the little red hen did in the story.  We will look at how bread is made.  We will go on a tour of the school and investigate the dinner hall and field in preparation for lunchtimes.  As part of our daily snack time, we will look at where different fruits come from around the world and observe the different fruits and vegetables. Linked to some of our art work, the children will start to observe and paint pumpkins and conkers.

Vocabulary: autumn, change, look, cold, hot, windy, breezy, cloudy, harvest, acorn, conkers, horse chestnut, temperature, weather.

Expressive Arts and Design

Each week in Art sessions, the children will experiment with different mediums to mark make starting with wax crayons, then pencil, pencil crayons, felts, pastels and paints.

The children will make self-portraits by learning how to draw their faces and to look carefully at their features. They can paint pictures of themselves and their family to display in the classroom. When acting out the story of The Little Red Hen, they will make puppets and masks to retell the story. .

Vocabulary: draw, paint, look, mirror, squeeze, stretch, strokes, pencil, crayon, paintbrush, mix, nose, nostrils, ears, eyes, eyebrows.

Personal Social Emotional Development

It is essential to us all that the children feel happy and safe. We will be supporting the children with learning all of our routines. We will play lots of getting to know you games and encouraging the children to explore all of the different areas and activities. In Reception, we learn through play and provide a variety of activities linked to the children’s interests. We can adapt and add to the provision all the time and we will always involve the children so that they are confident and have a voice in their learning. Through painting self-portraits, circle times, continuous play, role play, picnics for example, the children will become more self-confident and independent. Also, as the routines are established, the children will learn to be great listeners and to share and take turns. They will learn to: always try their best, know that everyone makes mistakes and to never give up.

Vocabulary: Listen, independent, confident, brave, mistake, try, share, take turns

TAPESTRY

We use an online system to report on your child’s progress, this is called Tapestry. This will give you access to all photographs and observations we make about your child. You will shortly receive an e-mail to set up a login and password, please look out for this, it is not junk! 

USEFUL WEBSITES

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/topics/zf44jxs/videos/1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Early-Years.html

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm

http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/

Finally, I would like to wish you all a fantastic half-term, the Reception Team will be working hard to ensure your children settle well into school and are happy. Please always feel free to ask any questions, no matter how small.