Reception - Praise Certificates!

Hello everyone,

Most weeks at school we have a praise assembly. This is a chance to praise all the positive determination, effort and attainment of the children in each class through the school! Mrs. Howell and myself look out for these children through the week and then when it is time for praise assembly they will come out to the front to show, or tell, the school what they have achieved that week! 

Children who come out are then given a praise certificate - shown above. 

It is fantastic to share these achievements with children and for this to then be shared at home too! 

Reception team

Reception - Farm Trip Cancelled!

Hello everyone,

A quick message to repeat the board from earlier on outside the classroom. The farm trip has been cancelled for tomorrow morning. This is due to an inaccessible path up to the farm - which has been exasperated by the rain. We will attempt to rearrange this trip soon - watch this space! Please send children to school in their uniform tomorrow. Thank you.

Reception team

Reception - Farm Trip on Thursday!

Hi all,

As you are all hopefully aware, we will be embarking on our first trip in reception this Thursday! We are off to the farm! This will tie in very nicely with our current topic of Autumn and Harvest. There will be lots of learning about what happens on a farm at this time of the year - we might even get to see a combine harvester!! 

We will be walking up to the farm on Thursday morning after registration. Please could children be wearing some play trousers and their school top/cardigan. Most wellies are already in school so these can be put on on the morning! Could we also ask that all children have a coat in school - just in case! Snacks and drinks will still be needed - fruit will be provided as usual too. 

Thank you to the parents that have offered to walk up with us so far! Please let us know if you are free! Thank you!

Finally, a reminder about this Friday - you are invited in to school from 9.20am to watch our Harvest Assembly with years 1 & 2 - please head to the school office.

Reception team

Reception - Phonics This Week!

Hi all,

Another week has passed and we have been continuing with our phonics learning in school! Below is the list of the sounds that we have learnt this week and the corresponding actions.

'i' - as in igloo - Pretend to be a mouse by wriggling fingers at end of whiskers and squeak i, i, i

'n' - as in nan - Make a noise, as if you are a plane hold arms out and say n, n, n.

'm' - as in mum - Rub tummy as if seeing tasty food and say m, m, m.

Also this week we have begun practicing blending skills. This is the process where we sound out a word i.e 'm-a-p' and then we blend it back together again: 'map'. You can play simple games to practice this; Simon says - Simon says touch your n-o-se, speak in code, giving instructions in sounds i.e. 'go and get your c-oa-t. The more practice and repitition children have with this, the quicker they will be able to pick up the skill. 

Any questions, please come and ask. There will be the opportunity to attend a phonics workshop soon - more information to follow.

Reception team

Reception - Harvest, Autumn and Singing!

Hello everyone,

We have started our first proper topic this week. We began by talking about what we already know regarding Autumn - there is a lot of great knowledge out there! I encourage you all to keep looking and speaking about the changes that are going to be occuring around us over the coming weeks - leaves falling, colder, shorter days and of course the upcoming festivals. 

We have our Harvest Celebration in school next Friday but are already busy preparing for this! This week we have been making, next week we will be cooking and throughout all of this we are going to be singing our hearts out! We are going to be singing one song with years 1 & 2 and performing something by ourselves as well. We have been practicing the 'Paint Box' song that we will sing with years 1 & 2 this week! If you would like to practice this song at home there is a link below.... it may well bring back some nostalgic memories of your own school days!

Reception team

Reception - Show and Tell!

Hello everyone,

Today we began another one of the reception traditions: the first child was chosen for Show and Tell! Congratulations Olivia! The purpose of  this is for every child to be given the time to bring in one thing from home that they would like to show the rest of the class. This can be anything! We have had favourite toys, gadgets, family photos, things that have been found in the garden, books, home learning, teddies... the list is endless and pretty much whatever goes - if children are happy to talk about it. 

This does mean that from tomorrow we will be encouraging children to only bring in their toys when it is their turn for show and tell - all children that bring home toys in to school will be encouraged to place them into their trays for safekeeping. 

You will be able to see your child wearing one of the show and tell rosettes when it is their turn - pictured above. Please can we ask that these come back in to school with your child the following day. They can wear these in school.

Lastly, thank you to everyone that came along to the parent information session this morning. If you have any questions following on from this please don't hesitate to come and see us! 

Reception team

Reception - Phonics & Parent information

Hello everyone,

This week we began our phonics learning! This is the main method that we will use to teach children how to read and ultimately write to begin with. Each week we will cover new sounds until all of them are covered - there are 44 in total! Each week I will pop the sounds that we have been learning on to a blog so you can practice them at home, and maybe spot them out and about! With each sound we learn there is a mnemonic that goes along with it to aid memory - here is a link to all of the actions being demonstrated as well as some other phonics tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVyry9jpVjI  This week we have been learning these sounds:

's' - as in snake - weave hands like a snake

'a' - as in ant - pretend ants are crawling up your arm.

't' - as in tennis - pretend you are watching a tennis match and move your head from side to side as if you are watching the ball go back and forth.

'p' - as in pig - pretend you are blowing out a candle on a cake by holding up a finger in front of your mouth and puffing out. 

Each week there will be a different group of sounds and as we delve further into phonics there will be High Frequency words and tricky words! 

Lastly, a quick reminder that the reception parent information session is on Monday morning! It will be in the school hall from 9.00am until roughly 9.30am. Lots of information will be shared. Look forward to seeing you there! Enjoy the weekend! 

Reception team

Reception - Outdoors & Jumpers

Hello everyone,

Firstly, over the last couple of days every child has been able to begin working in our outdoors area! We were shifting mud around and trimming some of the plants and bushes that are dying back now as the weather gets colder! We found some wildlife too! 

As the weeks go on we will continue to work in the reception outdoor area as well as begin exploring other areas of the school grounds! Thank you to everyone that has bought in their wet clothes so far! 

Secondly, we have had a few jumpers and cardigans left in school that are unnamed. There have also been a few named jumpers that have gone missing. Please could we ask you to check to see if you have your child's jumper or have gotten mixed up with another. Please label everything that comes in to school so we can make sure that everyone has their own belongings at the end of the day. Thank you.

Reception team

Reception - Outdoor clothes

Hello everyone,

Today, half the class had their first taste of the outdoor learning that we will be doing this year! The other half will go tomorrow. Whilst the weather wasn't too bad today, it might not be long before it turns colder and wetter! Please could we ask for the following to be in school every day - as we do change days some weeks and go on trips.

• Coat (please bring in another coat if you want to keep one coat clean from mud and bugs!)
• Wellies
• Over-trousers
• All-in-one overalls (you won't then need over-trousers as well)
• Hats/Gloves

All of this can be kept in school on the other side of the cloakroom. You will notice that we tried to place everything that we already had in school over there today! Of course, if you're planning to go somewhere over the weekend and need your wellies you can take them home! Please could we ask for all the clothes you bring in to be named please! If you have any questions please come and see us. 

Reception team

Reception - Early Bird's & Caterpillars

Hello everyone,

As we get ready for our first full week in school we are continuing to put in place the systems and routines that will remain all year! A big part of that we will start tomorrow morning with Early Bird's. These are set activities that we will expect all children to come in to in the morning and 'have a go' at between 8.45-9.00am - up until we stop for the register. These will change each day through the week so everyone will get the chance to have a go at each activity. Parents are welcome to stay with children whilst they're doing their Early Bird activity.

Every child has been put into one of these groups: Stick Man, Gruffalo, Elmer, Mr. Bump or Hungry Caterpillar. Children were told on Friday which group they were in and we had a practice at going to their activity for a few minutes. There will be cards around the classroom where each group will be but if anyone has any questions please come and ask us.

Another system that we began last week was the use of our Caterpillars! You may have noticed it on the cupboard door in the classroom. This will make up part of our reward system for showing great citizenship qualities: Caring, Considerate, Conscientious, Confident, Communicative, Cooperative & Courteous. Each child moves their caterpillar towards the blue circles and will then place a sticker by their name on the class chart. Every 3 stickers children will get a prize! We already had our first handful of children reaching the blue on Friday! As I mentioned before, this makes up part of our reward system. The other half - Class Dojo - will be introduced this week to children and I will pop up another blog about this too! Again, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to come and ask us! 

Reception team

Reception - Wow! Moments

Hello everyone,

As we appear to be settling in I would like to take this opportunity to remind you about Wow! Moments. This is our way at school of keeping in touch with all the brilliant things that you and your children do at home! They look like the above picture and can be found pinned up in the classroom by the drinks and snack trays! We will pop a couple of Wow! Moments in your child's tray for you to get started with! 

Remember that you can write pretty much anything that your child has achieved on a Wow! Moment. You can't write too many of them either! We will read all of them out in class and they will then go to Mr. Spracklen! If you need any ideas or have any questions about Wow! Moments, please don't hesitate to come and speak to us. 

Reception team

Reception - First day in Reception!!

Hello everyone! 

Firstly, welcome to the reception blog... we hope that you will find this a useful form of communication between school and home. However, we don't intend to replace the human touch and if there is ever ANYTHING that you are unsure about, please come and ask us! No such thing as a silly question. 

Now, down to business. What an incredible group of children we have this year! On the first day alone Mrs. Howell and myself have been privy to all sorts of summer adventures, interesting thoughts and wonderful smiles! We are looking forward to this year - lots. The brilliant Autumn term lays ahead of us and for the rest of this week we are going to be solely focused on getting your children settled in to their classroom. We have introduced some of the rules and high expectations that we have of the children in school; starting with how to show you are ready to learn! Ask your child to 'Give You 5'. As well as slapping your hand, they should also be able demonstrate to you some, or all, of the 5 things we can do when we're ready to learn. 

There will be lots of new information and routines explained over the next couple of weeks. This will all be placed on the blog so you are fully aware of how we work at the Prince of Wales. 

The first date to pass along to you all is that of the parent information session. This will be on Monday 18th September at 9.00am in the school hall. You are all welcome to come to this after drop-off on the day! It is a useful slot to explain in depth what we are going to be doing this term.

Reception team