Sounds this week

Hello everyone,

We are really pushing on with our phonics and hopefully you are beginning to see this at  home. All the children will receive their new group reading book this week. Can we please ask that everyone brings in their book bag and pops it into their tray. We will be sending home sound pots in the next week or so, so please look out for these also. More explanation will follow. Whilst we are still covering sounds this week we are also having a bit of a focus on tricky words. Today the children came up with some actions to help them remember the first group of tricky words and I've put these below as well. 

Sounds this week:

'f' as in fog - Let hands gently come together as if a ball was deflating and say f f f f f f.

'l' as in log - Pretend to lick a lollipop and say l l l l l l.

'h' as in hot - Hold hand in front of mouth panting as if you are out of breath and say h, h, h

'b' as in bat - Pretend to hit a ball with a bat and say b, b, b.

Tricky words being covered at the moment:

I - point to your eye.

the - hands together (palm up) as if you're closing a book and saying THE end.

go - fingers walking across your hand

to - hold 2 fingers up

no - shake finger

I hope these are useful. This will signal the end of the first group of sounds. We will be starting the next group of sounds the week after next - next week will be a consolidating week.

Reception  team

This week...

Hello everyone,

Firstly, a quick reminder that tomorrow will be the individual school photos. There should hopefully be a form for you to order yours within the next few weeks.

This week we are carrying on looking at the Very Hungry Caterpillar book and we will be making fruit smoothies this week using some of the fruits that the caterpillar munches his way through in the story.

In literacy this week we're going to be retelling the story and attempting to sequence the story correctly. This will hopefully allow children to begin to get familiar with the days of the week as well. In maths this week we are going to be looking at sorting objects by different criteria as well as continuing to look at what number is one more and one less than any given number (up to 10). If you get any chances to practise this at home please take them! To get you in a mathsy state of mind see if you can have a go at this problem:

My coat has three different buttons.

 

Sometimes, I do them up starting with the top button.  Sometimes, I start somewhere else.

 

How many ways can you find to do up my coat?

 

How will you remember them?

 

Do you think there are any more?  How do you know?

Feel free to bring your answers in on a Wow! Moment.

Reception team

Coats and jumpers

Hello everyone,

As the we push on into the year and the weather gets colder we like to still allow the children outside as much as possible. Whilst we do have some spare coats and jumpers we would be very grateful if you could send children in with a coat and/or jumper. Thank you.

Reception team

POWSA AGM Thursday 23rd October 7.45pm

We know AGMs are not terribly exciting but POWSA does fantastic work raising funds for the school and developing our sense of community. We need new ideas and new faces and new enthusiasm to join our friendly committee of committed parents. We welcome especially parents of new Reception children. Our AGM is on Thursday 23rd October in the staffroom at 7.45pm. Please come along, meet new friends, help the school!

Group reading books and sounds

Hello everyone,

Today the first 2 groups of children had a group reading session with an adult where they were given their own book. The books have been placed in a plastic wallet with a yellow band at the top. We would kindly ask that only group reading books live in this wallet. Some of the books given out this week contain pictures in order to get children talking about books and creating their own story to an extent. Other children will have a book that contains sounds - hopefully children will be able to tell you what they are! There are also some books that contain full words - I would like to reiterate that I believe your child should be able to read this story to you instead of the other way around - your voice finally gets a rest! If you have any queries regarding your child's book please come and speak to one of us. Not all groups will have a book yet but they will by Thursday. 

We are pressing on with our phonics lessons and today we covered our first digraph (a sound with 2 letters in it - ck). The other sounds we are covering this week are.

'e' - as in egg - Pretend to tap an egg on the side of a bowl and crack it into

the bowl, saying eh, eh, eh.

'u' - as in umbrella - Pretend to be putting up an umbrella and say u, u, u

'r' - as in rug - Pretend to be a lion roaring, hold out your hands and say rrrrrr.

The reason we are covering slightly fewer sounds this week is because we had a surprise  visit from the local Echo to take the receptions class picture. This should be appearing in the next few weeks and we will let you know when this is the case. 

Reception team.

A Very Hungry Caterpillar

Hello everyone! 

Thank you very much for the multitude of ways you have all come up with for name writing! Please continue to bring them in as we'll be looking at names until the end of the week.

Today we started our new topic: The Hungry Caterpillar. We looked at the story and the children were all very knowledgeable about caterpillars and butterflies. This week in literacy we are going to be focusing on how to hold your pencil effectively and writing children's name cursively. Cursive writing is a style of joined writing and can take a little longer to get to grips with. We therefore start early to ensure lots of practise. Below is an example of each letter written cursively. 

We will be covering each letter in school with the children and how to form them. 

In maths this week we are thinking about counting objects accurately and what number is 'one more than' a given number. We'll also be painting some butterfly pictures and looking at symmetry in relation to this. 

Name writing challenge!!

Hello everyone,

This week the children were asked to have a go at independently writing their name, I thought we could turn this into a bit of a competition and ask you at home to come up with the most interesting way to write your name! Some possible ideas could be...

Using chalk on a wall/floor

Writing it in some shaving foam

Using different colours/pens etc.

Using paint 

Please feel free to bring in pictures if it isn't possible to bring the wall in. Let's see if we can get everyone in the class to have a go at writing their own name! 

Reception team

Sounds Glorious Sounds!

Hello all,

Thank you to all the children that brought in their 7 different body part Wow! Moments today! We will be looking at the question 'What is special about our bodies?' all week so please carry on bringing them in. We have also put up our first display on the back wall of the reception classroom so please come and have a look. 

The children have been doing really well with phonics and from next week we will be sending children home with their first group reading book. The sounds we are covering this week are - 

'd' - as in dig - Beat hands up and down as if playing a drum and say d, d, d

'g' - as in god - Lifting a cup up to have a drink, and say g, g, g.

'o' - as in off - Pretend to turn the light switch on and off and say o, o; o, o

'c' - as in cup - Raise hands and snap fingers as if playing castanets and say ck, ck, ck.

'k' - as in kick - Same action as for 'c'

Children will also be coming home with a sound pot in the next week or so. More explanation will be given closer to the time. 

Reception team

This week...

Hello everyone,

A big well done to all the reception children for doing their first full week of school this week! Next week we will be focusing upon the question; what are the different parts of our bodies called. To help with this we will be putting together bits of bodies and inviting children to draw round each other and talk about what body parts are where. As well as  this we will be looking at body percussion and what sounds different parts of our body can make. We will look at Bobby McFerrin and some of the music he has produced based on body percussion. 

To help begin this I have a small challenge for you to try. 

Can you think of 7 different body parts? 

Please feel free to bring your answers in on a Wow! Moment. Add a drawing of the different body parts if you want to. 

We will also be starting our maths and literacy jobs this week. The children will work in a small group to complete both a maths and literacy job. The literacy this week will focus on how to hold a pencil effectively and then form some of the sounds we have covered. The maths will focus on orally counting up to 20 as well as putting some items in height or length order. 

A quick reminder that tomorrow morning is reception's parent information session so after drop-off please feel free to head into the hall and take a seat. 

Reception team

Sounds being covered this week

Hello everyone,

As promised, I shall give a list of the sounds we are going to be doing each week. Each sound has an action that goes with it that I will also list. The sounds this week are:

't' - as in tennis - the action is pretending to play tennis with your hand. 

'p' - as in pig - the action is pretending to blow out birthday candles whilst say p,p,p 

'i' - as in igloo - the action is pretending to be a mouse by wriggling fingers at end of nose and squeak i, i, i

'n' - as in not -  the action is making a noise, as if you are a plane, hold arms out and say nnnnnn.

'm' - as in map - the action is rubing your tummy as if seeing tasty food and saying mmmmmm.

We have had the first 2 groups of children cooking this week and I hope you have enjoyed eating the cookies. If your child has not brought cookies home today they will be doing so over the next couple of days. 

Lastly, if any children choose to bring their scooter or bike into school, there is a scooter pod in the reception playground (just round the corner from where you drop off). We are very keen to keep children active and will be having various events based on scooting/cycling to school throughout the year. 

Reception team

Me, Myself and I

Hello everyone,

Next week will be receptions first full week in school so please don't be surprised if your child is very tired at the end of the day! 

We started our topic on Friday:Me, Myself and I. Over the next few weeks we're going to be looking at what makes us special as well as who lives in our houses'. This week, every child will also be making some cookies that can be taken home.

We have also started our daily phonics lesson that will eventually lead into reading. The sounds we have covered so far are 's' and 'a'. As the weeks progress I will post a blog outlining what sounds we'll be covering so you can practise them at home if you wish to. 

We will also be sending your children home with a home school learning diary this week too, in order to start filling up those bookbags. We have a new design this year for reception and I will explain how these work in the parent information session next Monday (15th). We would be very grateful if all empty bookbags go into children's trays - thank you. 

Reception team

Wow! Moments and home learning...

Hello everyone,

A big well done to all the reception children for making it through their first day! There were some big yawns towards the end of the day. There was an awful lot to take on board today and we all thought that the children coped very well with it all. Your child was introduced to their  year 4 buddy and got to go into assembly with them. 

Tomorrow, we will be putting 2 Wow! Moments into each child's bookbag. These are to get you started. If you do anything at home that makes you think Wow! please write  it down and bring it into school. If you ever need any help with what to put on a Wow! Moment please come and ask us! Every Wow! Moment is shared with the class and put into your child's learning journey. If you ever need more Wow! Moments, they are available from the parent board (near the cloakroom).

We will also be having a Home Learning wall in the classroom. This is where any work that children bring in from home is put. Please feel free to being in anything that children have done at home and they feel proud of - simply colouring in a picture is fine! 

Reception team

The First Day of School!!

Hello everyone,

I hope you have all had a lovely summer and are raring to go for the new term! We certainly are. 

I thought it would be useful to mention what to bring into school tomorrow morning. Please do not worry if you forget anything, we won't tell you off! 

Coats, bags etc.

Bookbags

PE kits (our first PE lesson is on Friday).

Snack pots - filled with a healthy snack. 

Water bottle

Lunch boxes - if your child has not opted for a free school meal. 

(Phew!)

The reception classroom will open at 8.45am tomorrow morning and please feel free to come in with your child to hang their bags and coats up. Snack pots and drinks will need to come out of children's bags and go into the snack/water trays by the door. We would also like to get children into the habit of putting their bookbags into their trays - they may not have anything in for the first few days but this will soon change! 

Once this is all done each child will have a table to go to where they will have a job to do (Teddy Job) - throughout the week each child will get to do each job. The timetable will be up on the cupboard door as you head to the cloakroom. Please feel free to stay with your child until an adult claps their hands to get the children's attention.

We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow! 

Reception team