Learning about 5

We have been investigating the number 5 this week.

The children were given 5 connecting cubes and encouraged to explore the different shapes they could make.

They built stairs with the cubes to look at the pattern of one more and used Numicon to find the different ways of making 5.

 

This week in Reception

As we head towards this very different Christmas, we are thinking of ideas to make this time as festive as possible.

Literacy

We are reading the traditional story, ‘The Gingerbread Man’. The children will be retelling the story and taking part in lots of gingerbread themed activities-our roleplay area has become a gingerbread bakery!

Phonics

This week we are recapping Phase 2 and focussing on ‘tricky words’.

The tricky words learnt so far are the, to, I, no, go, into.

We will be encouraging the children to use these words in their independent writing.

Watch this useful parents and carers guide to tricky words here.

(This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.)

Maths

We will investigate the number 5 through number rhymes and stories including 5 currant buns and 5 little ducks.

The children will be introduced to the link between counting forwards and the one more pattern and counting back and the one less pattern.

 

This week

Literacy

This week we are reading the story ‘Rosie’s Walk’ by Pat Hutchins. The children will learn to retell the story using a story map. As their phonics knowledge increases we will be encouraging them to write labels and captions for their drawings.

Phonics

We have completed Phase 2 of ‘Letters and Sounds’ and will spend this week consolidating and reviewing this learning. The phonemes we have learnt so far are:

set 1: s a t p

set 2: i n m d

set 3: g o c k ck

set 4: e u r h

set 5: f ff b bb l ss

If you have any questions please email me [email protected]

Don’t forget there are some really good games on Phonicsplay

username: sphere

password: spher3

Here is a guide for helping you to say the sounds correctly.

Maths

We are continuing to learn all about the number 4 and will learn that 4 is a square number.

Using the book ‘Rosie’s Walk’ the children will make an obstacle course and describe where they are using positional language.

We’ve just signed up to Numbots.  This is a great app and website for practising counting and addition and subtraction facts. Your child can use it at home too – they will be given their login details this week.

 

Shapes

The children have taken part in lots of activities to learn about different shapes and their properties. They have learnt the names of basic 2D shapes and looked at the differences between them.

Being able to physically see the difference between a shape with three sides and one with five helps with number sense.

Why not go on a shape hunt at home? Where can they see circles, triangles, squares and rectangles?

Don’t forget to send photos to [email protected]

Our learning this week

Literacy

This week we are taking part in World Nursery Rhyme Week.

The initiative, which was launched in 2013, promotes the importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood development and education with a particular focus on how nursery rhymes boost early language and literacy skills.

We will be learning a familiar nursery rhyme each day and listening to rhyming books and poems.

Singing nursery rhymes is a wonderful activity you can enjoy doing together at home. You can access all of the free resources at: www.worldnurseryrhymeweek.com

Phonics

This week’s phonemes are b, f, ff, l, ll. We will also be learning to read the tricky words I, no, go.

PhonicsPlay is a great website that we often use in our phonics lessons.

The games are a fun way to practise reading sounds, real words, alien words and sentences.

The games are organised into the Letters and Sounds phases.  Reception are learning Phase 2 sounds.

Login details are Sphere (user name) and Spher3 (password).

Maths

This week we are learning about shape. Why not go on a shape hunt around your home?

Isolating at home?

Here is some home learning for when you can’t be with us at school.

Remember to send pictures of your child’s home learning to [email protected]

Phonics

We have been learning e, u, r this week.

Sing along to these Jolly Phonics songs.

(This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.

https://youtu.be/4VknD1I0Zc4

Literacy

We are reading the story ‘Owl Babies’.

Listen to the story here.

Draw some of the events from the story and label your pictures using your phonic knowledge.

Maths

We are continuing to learn about the number 3.

Count out 1,2, or 3 objects and then use a cloth to hide them. Can your child show how many are hidden using their fingers? Add one more object to the hidden group. How many are there now? What happens if you take one out?

Please send photos of your learning.

This week in Reception

This week in Phonics we are learning the phonemes c,k,ck,e,u,r. The children will know that two letters that make one sound (ck) is called a digraph.

We will learn our first ‘tricky words’ the and to. These are words that can’t be read using phonics. The children will need to recognise them by sight.

It’s great to see so many children gaining confidence and using their phonic knowledge to ‘have a go’ at writing.

Our story this week is ‘Owl Babies’ by Martin Waddell. The children have been retelling the story using story maps and story language such as, first, then, next and finally.

They have been making their own ‘owl babies’.

 

A busy week so far!

The children have returned to school confidently and ready to learn! We have been really impressed with their learning attitude and behaviour.

In maths, we read a book called ‘The button box’ and the children had a great time looking through my mum’s button tin!

We discussed what the button might be from and what it was made of.

We then sorted them using different criteria.

We have read lots of books with a witch theme and the children have written recipes for potions and witch’s soup.

There was  great excitement when we discovered a real spider in the classroom! The children then designed and built a ‘spider house.’