Autumn 1: week 5
Literacy
This week our focus was We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. We had lots of fun using the actions to retell the story. We even made our own binoculars and used them for our sensory bear hunt on Wednesday.
Help at home: The family came across some obstacles on their journey. Can your child remember them?
Maths
This week, we’ve explored how numbers can be composed of 1s.
Throughout the week, we’ve been collecting groups of 2, 3 and 4 objects to help us understand that a ‘whole’ is made up of smaller parts.
On Tuesday, we helped the three bears find collections of 3 things for their picnic. We used the stem sentence: 1 and 1 and 1 makes 3 each time we found a collection of 3 things.
Help at home: Can you make collections of objects at home? Remember the objects don’t always have to be the same!
Independent learning
Here’s a snapshot of some of the learning we’ve been doing in the areas of provision.
Home learning challenge
Reminders!
- Don’t forget to come to our Phase 2 phonics Stay & Learn and coffee morning on Monday 9am.
- Library books need to be returned every Tuesday.
- eBooks are assigned every Thursday. To celebrate your child’s reading skills, make sure you listen to your child read their eBook daily.
- Reading records and phonics home learning books need to be returned every Thursday.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will learn a new poem and will recite this poem every day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Breezy Weather.
Breezy Weather
Breezy weather. Freezy weather.
When the leaves fall, we all fall together.
Breezy weather. Freezy weather.
When the wind blows, we huddle together.
Here’s a video of us performing the poem. Apologies about the shaky camerawork – I can’t record and do actions at the same time!
Autumn 1: Week 3
You might be thinking what your child is doing at school on a regular basis. Here’s a snapshot of what a typical day might look like in Reception at Moortown Primary School. 
Maths
This week, we’ve focussed on perceptual subitising (recognising the number of objects without counting) up to 3. We’ve been learning how to use our fast eyes when looking at small sets of objects.
Help at home: Can you say how many conkers there are without counting?
Poetry Basket
Every week, we’ll learn a new poem. Throughout the week, we’ll rehearse it, practise the actions and talk about the poem. On Fridays, we’ll perform our poem for you to watch at home.
Here’s our first poem…
Every Friday, your child will bring a paper copy of the poem home for you to keep practising at home.
Reading practice
Reading daily at home is an essential part of your child’s reading journey. Click here to watch a useful video about how to use a wordless book at home with your child. If you have any issues logging onto Collins eBooks, please let me know. Please make sure your write in your child’s reading record and return it every Thursday.
Finally, thank you to all the parents/carers who attended the Reception welcome meeting on Tuesday. It was great to see so many of you. As always, if you have any questions or would like to share any home learning please use our Reception email moortowneyfs@spherefederation.org.
Welcome to Reception meeting
It was great to see so many of you at the ‘Welcome to Reception’ meeting this week. For those of you who were unable to attend, please find attached the PowerPoint shared at the meeting.
Reading with Year 5
This afternoon, our Reception children enjoyed a special reading session with Year 5 pupils. The older children took the lead, sharing stories and reading aloud, while the younger ones listened with excitement. It was a lovely opportunity for both year groups to connect – building confidence, friendship, and a shared love of reading.
Autumn 1: Week 2
We’ve had a fantastic week getting to know each other and our new routines. I’ve been super impressed with their fantastic listening skills and how good they already are at “3, 2, 1 stop”.
Morning drop off
Our cloakroom is very small and can feel very overwhelming. We want to make sure all our children feel safe and have a happy and healthy start to their school day. Therefore, from Monday, your child will line up in the playdough and come into the classroom independently. This will also allow a prompt start to learning and encourage independence. Please wait with your child in the playground until a member of the Reception team opens the gate.
Phonics
This week, we’ve started our phase 2 phonics sessions. We’ve been trying really hard to form the graphemes (a ‘symbol’ of a phoneme –it’s a letter or group of letters representing a sound and we use the letter names for this) and pronounce the phonemes (The smallest unit of sound you can hear in a word. For example, ‘sat’ has three phonemes: ‘s’, ‘a’ and ‘t’) correctly.
If you’re unsure on how to pronounce the phonemes, there are some really useful videos on the Little Wandle parent page.
Phonics home learning
Today, your child has come home with their first phonics home learning sheet and a phonics home learning book.
Please make sure you return your child’s phonics home learning book every Thursday so we can add new graphemes and tricky words.
PE
PE starts next Friday. Please make sure your child comes to school in their PE kit. Our Uniform policy has a really helpful PE kit guide if you need some help!
Families
I look forward to seeing you all at the second Welcome to Reception meeting on Monday at 6pm.
Best start in life
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has written a letter to parents with a focus on ensuring children have the best start in life. It signposts parents to the best start in life website – there’s information on Best Start Family Hubs and support with your child’s early health and learning.
Welcome to Reception
A reminder that our ‘Welcome to Reception’ meeting is on Monday 15 September, 2025 at 6pm. This is held at school.
Following our first welcome session, this is an opportunity to find out some basic ‘need to knows’ about life in Reception.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Reception Baseline Assessment
Autumn 1: Week 1
This week, we welcomed some of our Reception children. You all looked super smart in your new red uniforms and your shiny new school shoes! We’ve had a busy few days getting to know each other and exploring in the areas of provision. We’re looking forward to welcoming the rest of the children next week!
Reminder!
Don’t forget to attend our Welcome to Reception at 6pm on Monday 15 September. You’ll find out some basic ‘need to knows’ about life in Reception. They’ll also be a chance for you to ask any questions.
Reception email
Learning doesn’t just happen in school! Therefore, we love it when parents send in any ‘WOW’ moments. Please use the Reception email when sending in any photos.
moortowneyfs@spherefederation.org
Dates for your diary
