Reception - New Half-Term Tomorrow!

Hello all,

I hope you have all had a good chance to recharge your batteries and enjoy yourselves over the last week. We look forward to seeing you all back in school tomorrow to start our next topic and to continue with the brilliant learning that has already begun to take place. Some things to look forward to this half term:

1. Gruffalo Topic
2. Trip to Thorncombe Woods
3. Another joint morning with Pre-school
4. Bonfire night
5. Class Dojo!?
6. Class assembly
7. Christmas and all things Christmassy! 
8. Technology day

If some of those things don't make sense, don't worry! All will be explained through this half term! 

Reception team

Reception - Phonics

Hi all,

The weekly sounds blast! Below are the sounds we have learnt this week! 

'r' - as in rat - Pretend you are a dog tearing up a piece of paper saying rrr, rrr, rrr

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

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

We have continued practicing the tricky words the, I, no, go, to, into

Reception team

Reception - Soup Making!

Hello all,

Today we began making soup as a cooking activity for the week - this will also link in to our topic of Autumn too! We looked at the different ingredients we can put in to vegetable soup before children got to cut them all up! Today we used pumpkin, potatoes, carrots and onion. We then all sat and had a try once it was ready! Well done to lots of children for giving something new a try! More soup to be made later in the week.

Reception team

Reception - Phonic Sounds and Tricky Words

Good morning everyone! 

This week we have learnt two new sounds. But as well as this we have started learning the first set of tricky words - these are words that cannot be sounded out so we have to learn them by sight. We do this by repeatedly exposing children to the words so that they can pick up on the letters in the words and the 'shape' of the word. Below are all the sounds and words:

'e' - as in egg - pretend you are cracking an egg into a frying pan saying e, e, e

'u' - as in umbrella - Pretend you are putting up an umbrella saying u, u, u

Tricky words and actions:

'the' - close hands like your finishing a story 'THE end'

'to' - hold both index fingers up apart from each other - then bring them together.

'no' - shake finger

'go' - walk fingers along your palm

'I' - point to your eye

'into' - hands together pretending to dive into a pool.

Last quick reminder that the phonics session are tomorrow! It would be great to have as many of you there as possible! They are at 9am and 3pm.

Reception team

Reception - Group Reading Books!

Hello everyone,

As you may be aware, we began sending home group reading books this week and I thought a blog explaining them may be useful!

Each week from now on your child will come home with a different group reading book - we take in their current book and swap it for a new one - occasionally you may see a book twice through the year. This will mean that we think a bit more practice with a particular sound would be beneficial. 

The books come in 3 types - you may receive any through the year: 

1. Sound book - These books tackle the phonic sounds that we have been given. They usually include potential questions and or games to support you at home. 

2. Pictures book - these will contain no written words for the children to read but will be great at getting children talking about stories - a very important skill! Some come with questions/ideas, others are well told traditional tales. 

3. Story./information books - these will contain the sounds that we have covered in school.

The emphasis for all of these types of book is for your child to take the lead and have a go themselves! Please may we insist that children bring their books to school each day in their book bag - we do change group reading days and we make use of individual reading time throughout the week.

 You may also notice the reading record (below) that has come home this week too! This acts as a link between home and school for the purposes of reading. We will write in to this every week when we read with your child - you are also free to write in as many things as you like, that you read at home. There is a great section in the middle of these records that covers phonics and you and your child may find useful for home learning.

If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to come and speak to us! We are massively appreciative of all the support you put in at home! The more children experience learning something, the better they will become at it.

Lastly, if you haven't already seen receptions 'Introducing...' display in the main corridor, feel free to go and see it! We are also putting all the home learning projects out there too! Thank you

Reception team

Reception - 'What's the Point?'

In order to inspire our young learners and to enable them to understand how their literacy skills are so important, we are launching a "What's the point" project! 

It's simple - please could you send a photograph of yourself or a family member using literacy skills in the work place (writing as well as reading). Your child's class teacher will aim to show a different one before literacy lessons to spark discussion and to contextualise writing as well as inspiring them to foster a love for writing. We would also like to display these picture as well as use them on blogs and on the school Facebook page, so please make the teacher aware if you do not wish this to happen with your photograph.

Thank you in advance for your support in this fun project - the children will really enjoy seeing your pictures!!!!!

Mrs. Johnson - Literacy coordinator

Reception - Parents evening Sign Up

Good evening everyone,

Just a very quick blog to say that if you haven't already noticed then there is a sign up sheet just outside the reception classroom door for you to sign up for a parents evening slot! These have been spread over 3 evenings this year so hopefully there will be something for everyone! If you cannot make any of the times advertised, please come and see me and we can arrange something! Thank you.

Reception team

Reception - This Week...

Hello everyone,

We'v had a busy week this week! We had our joint morning with Pre School on Monday (see previous blog). On Thursday we had our photo taken by the Dorset Echo! This will be in the paper in a couple of weeks - we will let you know when to buy it!

A big thank you to all of those who had 'Wacky Hair' yesterday - and for the wonderful donations you gave towards Weldmar Hospice! We had a special visitor yesterday afternoon to come and say thank you to all the children!

We've had our first home learning project in (picture above)! Looks superb hanging on the wall!If you want to have a go at this you have another couple of weeks to bring in your name displayed in any way you would like to!

We have also now booked our date for our trip to Thorncombe woods - 1st November - A letter will be coming home next week. We will need permission to take your child on this trip. As always, if anyone would like to come along and help please let us know!

Thank you also to everyone that has bought back their slips stating their interest in the phonics workshop on 16th October! Everyone is invited and welcome to come along at either 9.00am or 3.00pm.

Reception team

Reception - Phonic Sounds

Hi all,

I realise that I didn't place the sounds on to a blog that we covered last week! So here is a bumper edition that will include both last weeks sounds as well as this weeks! A letter went out today about a phonics workshop that will take place in school on 16th October! There are 2 slots - 9.00am & 3.00pm - so if you can't make one, hopefully you will be able to make the other! You do not have to attend both - unless you are particularly keen! We will only be half an hour and you will hopefully leave feeling more knowledgeable about phonics! Anyway, back to the sounds we have been learning!

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

'g' - as in gate - Spiral hand down, as if water going down the drain, and say g, g, g

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

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

'k' - as in kick - Same sound and action as 'c' but we teach the 2 written graphemes. 

I have had a few queries about reading books too! I can share that we will begin sending group reading books home next week! More to follow about this! 

Reception team

Reception - Joint Morning With Pre School...

Hello everyone,

We began the week with a rather special morning with our Pre School! You may remember last year that your child came over to the reception class to participate in some activities!? Well, a whole year has gone and instead of being the Pre School children, your child is in reception! And they handled themselves wonderfully for the whole morning!

We focused on our topic of Autumn and had 4 activities running throughout the morning!

We made some stick men of our own after searching for sticks & twigs.

We went on a scavenger hunt and found all sorts of things!

There was some conker rolling going on!

 And some printing to decorate around some Autumn poems.

All-in-all it was a fantastic morning! Thank you to all the reception and pre school children! There will be another one in the near future.

Reception team

Reception - Home Learning Project

Hello everyone,

Firstly, a big well done to the reception children for their efforts on Friday in the Harvest Assembly! We hope you enjoyed it! 

Every half-term there will be an opportunity to participate in the home learning project for that half-term. This is not compulsory but we do encourage as many of you to take part as possible. Firstly, because it is good for children to see that learning can happen anyhwhere - not just at school; and as children progress through their schooling, home learning will become a more integral part of their learning. Secondly, we hope its fun! 

This half-terms project is one that we have carried out for a few years in reception. It is to present your name in as creative way as you can think of! It could be written, made from cutlery, cheerios or tissue paper! Pretty much anything is acceptable as long as we can make out your child's name. Bonus points for including surnames! Naturally, we will present some prizes for the names that we think are the most creatively made. Bringing pictures in from home is absolutely fine! The deadline for this is Friday 20th October. Get creating! 

Reception team