Autumn Fest........."Read all about it!!!!"

Come and spend quality family time, wrapped up warm and cosy, enjoying wonderful stories, warming yourselves by a bonfire, listening to music, eating scrumptious jacket potatoes........if you want to bob for apples, enter a carved pumpkin into a competition or take part in some Autumn art then why not have a go too!!!!!!! There's lots of family fun to be had at POWSA's Brand New Autumn Fundraising event - "AUTUMN FEST"...........Look out for posters around the school, letters will follow with options to buy tickets and food attached! We would love to see you all there......... "Celebrating Autumn, celebrating Families and Supporting the School."

Maiden Castle Farm

Hello everyone,

Next Monday (30th September) reception will be off up to Maiden Castle Farm for their first visit! Could we please ask that children come to school on Monday with wellies and waterproof coats - just in case the weather in unfavourable. 

In line with our trip to the farm we will be preparing for the Harvest festival at the end of next week. We have already made our cake product to take but will be baking our bread product next week as well as finishing all of our art work. We will also be learning about the origins of Harvest.

Reception team 

Writing and Maths!

This week we have been paying special attention to the season of autumn and as the 

children are becoming very confident writers we have made a collaborative autumn poem, as a class, that describes autumn! It can be found on display outside the reception classroom (towards the ICT suite). Please feel free to come and have a look; it is not completely finished but should be by early next week! 

We had some fantastic words to describe autumn such as dark, chilly, falling leaves... If you can think of any more, come and tell us or have a go at writing it down and we can add it to our autumn tree! 

As well as that we have been focusing upon counting in maths and looking at what one more is than any given number. Next week we'll be concentrating on sequencing numbers in the correct order and counting games as well as introducing the concept of zero - hard work! 

We also had our first science club this lunchtime. The club is only open to reception and pre-school children and as the weeks go on we hope that all the children will have the opportunity to have a go at hypothesising and thinking about the 'Why' things happen question! 

Reception team

Adjustment

Sorry to be inaccurate but the phonics workshop is actually on Thursday 10th October, not the 1st October as was previously stated. 

Apologies

Reception team

Phonics workshop

Thank you for showing an interest in attending a phonics workshop - I can confirm that the date will be the Thursday 1st October at 9.00am in the hall. Please feel free to come along even if you did not sign up - the more the merrier! 

Thank you

Autumn has arrived!

We have started our autumn topic this week and we were all very impressed with the knowledge the children had of the changes happening all around them at this time of year! Yesterday, the children either had the opportunity to go and pick some apples from the school orchard OR hunt for some autumn debris that could be used in a natural art collage - its currently stapled onto the wall in reception so hopefully you'll be able to see a gradual progression! We have also started learning our harvest song today so apologies if children are singing it non-stop! I can't stop humming it. All the children will also have the chance to cook over the next two weeks - either an apple try bake or snail bread....

We are continuing with group reading this week and some children have had their sound pots changed to the next set of sounds - this should eventually be happening for all children. Could we ask that children bring in their book bags everyday with their group reading books, sound pots and home learning diaries please - they are used in school throughout the week. 

Reception team

A new week...

This week we will be beginning our Autumn topic. Over the next two weeks we will be looking at the season and how it differs from others. Why not encourage children to chat about the changes they can see happening all around them? 

We'll be beginning our build up to the schools harvest festival (Friday 4th October) and begin practising the song we will be singing! As well as singing, reception will be cooking, creating, writing and making! A very busy week ahead! There will also be a focus upon the origins of Harvest and the meaning behind it.   

Thank you for signing up to the phonics workshop session. We will hopefully have a date for you soon but I can say that it will be first thing in the morning (9.00am) so hopefully you will be able to attend! 

Cursive letter formation

Hello all,

Below is a link to a website that contains a fantastic resource for cursive letter letter formation. We will be using this with the children but I hope you also find it useful at home! You do have to sign up to the website but it is free and hassle free. Alternatively, I can put it onto a memory stick or attach it to an email. 

http://www.tes.co.uk/ResourceDetail.aspx?storyCode=3003266

The children have been having a great go at the obstacle course we built today! We'll be chatting about why exercise is so important for our bodies and how you can exercise in lots of different ways! 

Reception team

Maiden Castle Farm

We can now confirm that receptions first trip up Maiden Castle Farm will be on 30th September 2013 - the original date discussed on Monday's parent information session. 

We have had a few parent helpers offer their assistance but if you are available please come and tell us! The more the merrier! 

Group Reading

Hello everyone,

Today we started to do our group reading rota and the children have taken to it like ducks to water! 2 groups of children will have come home with books today in a yellow topped plastic wallet. We have gone through, some or all of, the books content in class, but we encourage children to read through the book at home either independently or with an adult. We will chat about it during the next group reading session! All the children should have a group reading book in their book-bags by the end of the week.

It is wonderful to see so many children coming in and saying they have gone through their sound pots at home! If you are becoming confident with the sounds in your pot, have a go at writing some of the letters in cursive! If you need any input with letter formation please ask and we will be more than willing to help! 

Reception team

The beginning of a new week

Next week will be the beginning of receptions 3rd full week at Prince of Wales and the key question we will be focussing upon is 'How are our bodies special?'. We'll be finding out about different parts of the body and what they're called, comparing our bodies and discovering body percussion! 

Here's a task, I wonder if any children can name 7 different body part names... The more obscure the better! Bring it in on a Wow! moment card or come and tell us on Monday! 

Whilst we're on Wow! moments, a massive thank you for all of them this week! It is fantastic to see the children working so hard at home! 

If anybody has any recyclable materials at home that they no longer need/want, please feel free to bring them into school... We'll find a good use for them.

The soft sounds session sheet of paper is still up on the parent board so please feel free to put your name up or inform us of your interest! We'll leave it up for the remainder of next week!

Reception team

What we're up to and a plea, together?!

We've been very busy this week, gardening, continuing phonics and beginning PE! Children are preparing the garden area outside reception ready for next years planting season. First plea - if any parents have any time available to come in and help some children to dig up the garden area by the gate coming into reception, please feel free! 

In phonics this week we've been looking at the sounds p, i, n, m, & d - I would just like to say how hard all the children have been working in phonics! I hope the sound pots are helping in this respect. 

Second plea... If anyone has any unused or old pots, pans, wooden/metal spoons, or for that matter musical instruments, we would happily give them a new home! We are hoping to set up a musical area outside the reception classroom where the children can fine tune their musical masterpieces! We would be extremely grateful! 

A quick reminder that the parent information session for reception is next Monday at 9.00am - if you are unable to attend, a newsletter will be going out on the 30th September containing all the information. 

Lastly, we will be beginning group reading next week, so as the week goes on your child will be coming home with a plastic wallet with a book inside - we will have looked at the book in school but we encourage children to read them at home too! 

Thank you! 

Reception team

Soft sounds session

As we are beginning to have daily phonics lessons and sending children home with sound pots, we would like to be as supportive as we can. Subsequently, we would like to offer a session to parents/carers about phonics and the 'soft sounds' that are used.

We are more than happy to be as flexible as needs be, so we would like to know if you would be interested and the best time to suit you. I will leave a sheet of paper near the parent board (near the cloakroom area) asking for a name and preferred time i.e. directly after school, before school etc. 

Mr. Gibson

Sound pots and home learning diaries

Hello all,

Tomorrow we will be sending your children home with 2 things:-

Firstly, a home learning diary - this is where we will begin writing in books that we have been reading in group reading (on the right page). Your children will also be introduced to the school library next week and spoken to about individual reading books (currently banded). It will be our responsibility to change the group reading books on a weekly basis but we encourage you and your child to change individual reading books whenever you deem it necessary. We would kindly ask that you take no more than 3 books at any given time. Please don't feel that it is only reading that needs to be included in the home learning diaries - feel free to add other activities as well as reading (on the left page).

Secondly, sound pots - We have already begun doing a daily phonics lesson and the children are really getting along well and highlighting different sounds that they see. We want to encourage children to carry  on doing this as much as possible as it is a crucial part of early reading, so we will be sending home a little pot with several small cards in them. We would encourage you to sit down with your child and ask them to sound out the different cards in random order and put them together to make 3 letter words. We don't intend for this to be a burden, 5 minutes every couple of days maximum! We will be changing the sounds in the pots regularly depending on what we are tackling in class. We will never send home sounds that the children have not covered in school! 

The first set of sounds will be s, a, t, p, i, n

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. 

Wow! Moments

We've had a fantastic few days in reception! All the children should be very proud of themselves, they've been brilliant - certainly a few tired people on Friday afternoon. 

We sent home Wow! Moments yesterday with the children so if you spot your children doing something new or creative or just reciting numbers, please write it down on to one of the slips and bring it in. We are hoping to display them on the board by the cloakroom area when they start coming in. If you're not sure what to write down please don't hesitate to ask one of the reception team, and if you need some more slips we will leave them by the door in a plastic wallet.

From next week we will also be sending children home with sound pots (I'll explain in a separate post) and home learning diaries so it would be great if you could send your children in to school with their book bag and put it into their trays - thank you.

Reception team

Sun hats

Just a quick note about bringing in sun hats and cream. It was quite a warm today and if Mr. Weather Forecaster can be believed it will be like it again tomorrow. Sun hats are fine to be brought in by the children but sun cream must have a slip to go with it, available from the office, simply stating that we are allowed to apply the cream.

Thank you

Welcome back to a new year!

We have had a great first day in reception. All the children settled in really quickly and were so enthusiastic! We began by making a Class Charter, outlining our rules and signing it with a hand print - the children loved getting their hands painted. 

We have begun our topic of Me, Myself and I, where we will be discussing all the fabulous things that the children can do! Our key question for the topic is 'What makes each of us similar and different?' 

A few children have also started to make their own Papier Mache mask and we intend to get all the children creating by next week! 

We will hopefully have some home learning opportunities up on the board by the cloakroom by the early part of next week.

Finally, the first reminder of probably many, the reception parent information session is on the 16th September at 9.00am - there will also be a newsletter going out to you on September 30th. 

We look forward to seeing you all again tomorrow! 

Day One!

Hello to everyone!

We hope you've had a fantastic summer and enjoyed the lovely sunshine that's been on offer. 

As I'm sure you're all aware, tomorrow is the first day of the new school year. Firstly, we would be grateful if you could come with your PE kits tomorrow please, as we will be having a PE lesson! 

We will be opening the doors at 8.45am tomorrow morning for you to come in and hang your coats, bags, PE kits and anything else up on your named peg hooks by the playground exit. You will then have a Teddy Job' to do! The rota for Teddy Jobs will be displayed on the cupboard door in the classroom and as you will see, each animal corresponds to a table and a specific job. 

There is also a parent information board, displaying plans, and a home learning board, that will contain different activities you could do and pictures of your work brought in from home, in the classroom.

We will also have a pile of 'Wow!' cards available for you to take home and fill in whenever you see your children do something new and adventurous! Please don't ever think we will get bored of receiving Wow! moments, because we will not! 

Myself, Mrs. Howell and Mrs. Collis will be on hand, so if you any questions please don't hesitate to ask. 

Enjoy the final evening of the summer holidays and we will see you tomorrow! 

Reception team