Reception Class News

Autumn 2: Week 1

Literacy
On Tuesday, we talked about why we celebrate Bonfire Night and what people do to celebrate. We also thought about how to stay safe. Here’s some of the children’s Bonfire Night safety tips:

• Stand back from the bonfire.
• Hold sparklers far away from your body.
• Put a sparkler into a carrot to hold the carrot.
• Don’t put sparklers in the bin—put them in some water instead.
• Only adults should light fireworks.

Help at home: Make a Bonfire Night safety poster with your adult or older sibling.

We also talked about Remembrance Day and why people wear a red poppy. We watched a short animation called Poppies. It allowed us to see what life was like for animals during the war.

Here’s a look at some of the exciting challenges we completed to support our learning…
Maths
This week, we’ve been engaging in activities that highlight the purpose of counting – finding out how many objects there are altogether. We’ve reinforced our understanding of cardinality, recognising that the last number we say when counting represents the total number of objects in the set.

A key focus has been deepening our understanding of the number 5 as a quantity. We’ve been linking the number to familiar representations, such as the five fingers on one hand. The children are also beginning to explore different ways to represent numbers up to 5, using both their fingers and the Hungarian number pattern (die frame).

On Wednesday, the children worked in pairs to collect 5 objects and place them on the fingers of their hand template. They were challenged to find:

• 5 objects that are all the same
• 5 that are the same but in different colours,
• 5 that are the same but in different sizes

This activity sparked lots of discussion and teamwork as they compared, sorted, and explained their choices. We saw fantastic mathematical thinking and collaboration throughout the session!

Help at home: Draw a hand on a piece of paper and collect 5 objects. Can you do some of the challenges with did in school?

Important!
If your child likes to have grapes in their packed lunch, please make sure they are cut in half lengthways. This helps reduce the risk of choking. Thank you for helping us keep everyone safe!
Reminders

• Odd Socks Day – Monday 10 November
  Children are invited to wear odd socks to school today, marking the fact we’re all different in some way.
• Children in Need: non-uniform day – Friday 14 November
• Maths stay and learn session – Tuesday 18 November

Anti-bullying day/Odd socks day Monday 10 November

Do you have a child due to start primary school in 2026?

A video and FAQ’s are available for more support and guidance with applications.

Light and dark!

Training day – Arty ideas !

We thought you’d enjoy hearing a little about what went on during our recent teacher training day! Part of the day was dedicated to developing our art knowledge and skills with our resident art teacher, Mrs Boulton.

Teachers got hands-on with paints, pastels and even soap! There was plenty of colour, laughter, and even a bit of friendly competition as we experimented with new techniques and ideas for upcoming art lessons.

The rest of the day focussed on other important areas too, including maths and inclusion. It was a full, productive day – and we left feeling ready and excited for the next half-term!

Autumn 1: Week 8

Diwali
This week, we explored the story Binny’s Diwali. We talked about what a festival is and discussed the similarities between different religious festivals. The children had lots of fun learning how families prepare for and celebrate Diwali.
Help at home: Can your child remember something about Diwali? If they’re unsure, here’s some key words to help them: food, decorations, fireworks.

For our writing activity, the children designed their own invitations to a Diwali celebration. They included some fantastic drawings and used recognisable letters in their writing—well done, everyone!
What else have we been up to?
We’ve been getting creative by making our own magic potions! The children used their imaginations to come up with exciting ingredients and then wrote lists to describe what they added to their mixtures. Fantastic mark-making and early writing practice!
In the maths area, we practised 1:1 correspondence by counting pom poms to match numerals up to 10.
One-to-one correspondence focuses on the actual counting of objects, and assigning numbers to objects in the correct order, as they are counted. This also helps children to understand that the numbers they are saying hold value.

The playdough challenge has been very popular this week! The children have really enjoyed using their fine motor skills and creativity to make colourful Diya lamps.

Another popular chilli challenge involved drawing detailed Mehndi patterns, We observed some fantastic concentration and careful mark-making.
Yesterday, the children worked in pairs to design and create some beautiful Rangoli patterns.
Reminders

• Marvellous Maths Stay and Learn Session
  Tuesday 18 November
  Come and join us for a fun, hands-on maths learning experience!
• WOW Moments
  Have you noticed something special or a new interest at home?
  Send photos or updates to: [email protected]
  We love sharing these in class!
• Daily Reading
  It’s important that your child reads daily at home. Please continue to read eBooks to support phonics skills and their library book to support love of reading.

Have a happy and healthy week. See you on Monday 3rd November!

Living and Learning: Me and my money themed week

Each class will have a collecting jar and children are encouraged to bring in 1ps and 2ps throughout the week. A trail will be created using all the money brought in at the end of the week.

Hotshots sponsorship event

On Friday 7 November, we will be holding a Hotshots sponsorship event, led by PE Partner. This involves each child having three chances to score a goal and their fastest speed recorded. All children will receive a certificate with their fastest shot speed and medals will be awarded for the fastest boy and girl in each class. Your child will be bringing home a sponsorship form for this event and money raised should be added to School Gateway by Friday 14 November.

Thank you for your support with these events.

 

Poetry Picnic

The fun, seasonal poem we’ve been learning this week is Five Little Pumpkins.

Hope you enjoy the (slightly raucous) performance!

Autumn 1: Week 7

Autumn
We’ve had a busy week doing lots of seasonal activities. After reading Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert, we looked closely at the beautiful leaf illustrations and used them as inspiration to talk about all the amazing changes we see in autumn.
We also began learning about hibernation and explored why some animals start to hibernate around October and November. We even made our own clay hedgehogs!
Help at home: Ask your child which animals hibernate and what they do to get ready for the colder months.

Maths
Our focus has been on using the language of ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’ to compare groups of objects. Since we’re working with countable items, we use fewer rather than less.

Help at home: Gary and Barney are still arguing! Can your child help them out? Use this sentence to compare: “___ has more/fewer ___ than ___.”
(For example: Gary has more apples than Barney.)
Phonics
We’ve been busy recapping all the graphemes we’ve learned so far. There are no new graphemes or phonics sheets this week or next. Please continue to use the phonics home learning book.

Here’s a snapshot of some of this week’s seasonal chilli challenges…

Poetry Picnic

The poem we’ve been learning this week is called Leaves Are Falling. They’ve really enjoyed this one and performed it with breezy gusto! The children loved joining in with the actions and exploring all the swirling, twirling movements of the autumn leaves.