Poetry basket: Let’s put on our mittens
This week’s poem is called Let’s put on our mittens.
It’s perfectly timed with the freezing temperatures this week!
We’ve been focussing on a couple of words in particular: snug/snuggly and mittens.
Happy New Year to all of our wonderful Reception families! We hope you had a lovely break and are feeling refreshed, recharged, and ready for an exciting half-term ahead!
Living & Learning
On Monday, we talked about how we can respect ourselves. Mrs Boulton shared lots of different examples of how we can look after our bodies, make good choices, and feel proud of who we are. Some of the children were eager to share how they respect themselves.
Ar – I respect myself when I don’t want to play someone’s game and I choose a different game to play with different people or I sit by myself.
Fin – I wear my helmet when I ride my bike.
Oy – I hold the railings when I walk to school to keep myself safe.
Meh – I respect myself when I cross the road and wait for the green light.
Maths
This week, we’ve been using our “fast eyes” to practise subitising (recognising quantities without counting) using more complex dot arrangements. The children looked carefully at the dots, took a “picture” with their eyes, closed their eyes, and then explained what they saw. We used spatial language to describe the arrangements, for example:
“There are 3 dots on the top and 2 dots on the bottom.”
Help at home:
Draw some linear and paired dot arrangements similar to the ones below for numbers 3 to 6.
Ask your child to:
- Take a picture with their eyes
- Close their eyes
- Explain the arrangement
They could even try drawing it in the air.
Literacy
Our focus story for the first two weeks is Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. On Wednesday, we talked about what we would do if we found a penguin. Some of the children’s ideas were:
If I found a penguin, I would…
Give it a hug
Ask Mummy to draw a map to help the penguin find its home
Make a cold area in the house
Help the penguin find its mummy
Be a good friend to the penguin
We’ve also been learning about Antarctica. We located England and Antarctica on a map, watched a clip from Frozen Planet, and discussed the differences between the climate in England and Antarctica.
Our word of the week was iceberg. We looked at pictures of icebergs and talked about what an iceberg is.
Help at home:
Ask your child if they can remember what an iceberg is.
Next week, we’re looking forward to learning more about winter and colder regions.
Take a look at some of this week’s winter learning in the areas of provision.
Reminder
- Library session has moved to Fridays
Please make sure your child’s library book is returned every Friday. - Every Thursday, we write in your child’s reading record. Please make sure you write a comment in your child’s reading record for us to celebrate in school.
- Phonics Phase 3 Stay & Learn – Wednesday 4th February
9:00–9:20am – Phase 3 phonics presentation
9:25–10:00am – Watch a Phase 3 phonics lesson
Due to limited space, one adult per child may attend.
Fire and ice
Autumn 2: Week 7
What a busy final week we’ve had in Reception! We’re so proud of all the Reception children for their fantastic singing — they’re all shining stars. Thank you to everyone who came to watch. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
On Monday, your child should have brought home a bag of reindeer food. The food is environmentally friendly. It is made from bird seed, porridge oats and sultanas. Don’t forget to sprinkle it outside on Christmas Eve for the hungry reindeers to enjoy.
Yesterday, we had lots of fun using the Christmas photobooth.
Things you could be doing to support learning over the Christmas holidays:
- Continue to read your eBooks together.
- Practise saying and writing the Phase 2 graphemes. Use the Little Wandle letter formation phrases to help.
- Practise reading all of the Phase 2 tricky words in your red phonics home-learning book.
- To support counting, involve your child in setting the table — How many forks? How many knives?
- To support fine motor skills, encourage your child to help an adult cut up vegetables.
- To support communication and language, make sure you have daily chats with your child. Regular interactions help to develop language skills.
Finally, we hope you have a happy and healthy break. Enjoy spending some quality time with friends and family.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of the Reception Team!
Autumn 2: Week 6
Literacy
This week, we have been learning all about The Christmas Story. We used actions to help us remember the events, and the children really enjoyed joining in. Click here to watch us.
We wrote our own sentences about a scene from The Christmas Story. The children used their segmenting skills to write the sounds they could hear. In Reception, we encourage them to try writing by themselves. Sometimes you will see words spelled phonetically – this is absolutely fine. It helps the children become confident, enthusiastic writers!
On Tuesday, we had great fun decorating the Christmas tree in the hall. It now looks wonderfully festive and ready for next week’s Christmas performances and parties!
Here’s a snapshot of some of the Christmas challenges we’ve been completing this week.
Christmas events happening next week
Reception, Year 1 & Year 2 – Christmas Production: Wriggly Nativity
Tuesday 16 December – 2:15pm–3:00pm
Wednesday 17 December – 9:30am–10:00am
Thursday 18 December – Christmas Lunch
Friday 19 December – Non-uniform Day & Christmas Party
Leeds Rhinos festive match
The annual Wetherby Whaler Boxing Day Challenge against Wakefield Trinity is back again this year; and alongside the match children and families can experience family friendly festive fun as Father Christmas will once again take over game day proceedings before returning to the North Pole.
The match day will also feature Santa’s elves and a sing along with Frozen Princesses Anna and Elsa. Plus children can also take part in our half time snowball fight lead by a certain Christmas loathing Grinch!
Use the link to find out more and purchase tickets.
Poetry Basket: Wise Old Owl
This week’s poem is called Wise old owl.
One of the words in the poem that we’ve spent time talking about and learning is wise.
The class performed with an enthusiasm the owl would no doubt have admired – though perhaps not the level of dignity he had in mind!
Autumn 2: Week 5
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our role-play area. The children had great fun being elves and decorating the area ready for Christmas.
Owl Babies
This week, we have been reading Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. We remembered key phrases from the story and used actions to help us retell it. The children really enjoyed bringing the characters to life through movement and expression.
Check out our fluffy baby owls!
Phonics
This week, we revisited all of the Phase 2 phonemes and continued to build confidence in recognising and using them. We also practised reading words with the ‘s’ at the end. We talked about how it can change a word to mean “more than one.”
Help at home: Can your child blend (read) and segment (write) the following words?
ships, bags, cats, pots, cups, pins, digs
Tricky Words
We have now learnt all of the Phase 2 tricky words. These words can be challenging because they can’t be fully sounded out using phonics. Instead, the children learn to recognise them by sight. They have been working hard and are becoming increasingly confident at spotting these words in their reading.
Help at Home
Have fun finding tricky words around your house!
How to play:
• Write the Phase 2 tricky words on pieces of paper.
• Stick them up around your house.
• Go on a hunt! How many can you find? Don’t forget to read them aloud.
• You could even turn it into a race with someone at home.
Thank you to all the parents and carers who came to the Learning Journey drop-ins this week. We hope you enjoyed looking through your child’s book and seeing the amazing progress they have made in their first term at school.
Have a happy and healthy weekend.
Poetry Picnic: Mice
This week’s poem is called Mice.
One of the words in the poem that we’ve spent time talking about and learning is nibble. Hope you enjoy the performance!
Autumn 2: Week 4
Focus story/literacy learning
This week, we’ve been reading How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers. Together, we sequenced the story and talked about what happened at the beginning, middle, and end.
In the middle of the story, the boy sees a reflection of a star in the water. Reflection was our word of the week. We used mirrors to help us understand what a reflection is. The children had lots of fun pulling funny faces and discovering how reflections work!
On Wednesday, we learned about star constellations. After looking at some pictures of different star constellations, we had a go at drawing our own.
Art
Last Friday, Mrs Boulton created a mini art gallery to introduce this half-term’s featured artist, Howardena Pindell. The children spent time looking closely at some of her artwork and talking about the colours and patterns they could see.
This week, we used hole punchers, soft pads, and paint to create our own representations inspired by Pindell’s style. The children really enjoyed experimenting overlapping the colours.
Maths: Composition
We developed our understanding of the composition of numbers by investigating the composition of 3, 4 and 5. We consolidated our understanding of a whole being made up of smaller parts by using cubes to compose and de-compose numbers. We also introduced the part–part–whole model to the children.
We played the hats game to help us understand the parts of 3, 4 and 5.
How many children are holding a hat? (part)
How many children are not holding a hat? (part)
How many are there altogether? (whole)
We watched the Numberblocks Stampoline video and had a go at printing our own Stampoline patterns of 4. We also used double-sided counters to explore the compositions of 3, 4, and 5. The children enjoyed investigating the different ways these numbers can be made.
Help at home: Draw, paint or create your own Stampoline patterns at home.
Here’s a collage of some more amazing learning that’s happened in our classroom this week.
Christmas is coming!
We’ve started to practise the Christmas songs for our Christmas performance. We can’t wait for you to come and watch us sing on Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 December.
Reminders
– Learning journey drop in’s – Monday 01 or Thursday 04 December
3.00 – 3.30pm Thank you for signing up!
– The cold weather is here! Please make sure your child comes to school wearing a suitable coat.