Reception
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Welcome to Reception!
Please read the sections of the website below for details about what we are learning about in the different areas of the curriculum this half term. We hope you enjoy reading our class page, where topic, literacy and mathematics information will be updated ready for the start of each half-term and the Reception blog will be updated fortnightly on a Friday. As always, there will be lots of photographs uploaded after all the exciting activities and events we get up to!
The Reception team for this year will be:
Mrs Swift ( Assistant Headteacher and Early Years Leader) - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
Miss Duggleby- Letheren- Alternate Wednesday afternoons, Thursday and Friday
Mrs Wilson (Teaching assistant) - Monday all day, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings
Mrs Bolton (Teaching assistant) - Monday- Friday mornings and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday all day
Mrs Wilson (Learning support assistant)- Monday to Friday
Mrs Questa- (HLTA)- Monday afternoon (covering Mrs Swift's leadership time)
Mrs Swift is the Early Years Leader and will be teaching on Monday and Tuesday all day and Wednesday morning and every other Wednesday afternoon. Miss Duggleby- Letheren teaches every other Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday. Mrs Wilson is the teaching assistant every morning and Monday afternoon. Mrs Bolton is the teaching assistant in our class every morning and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons, her focus will be on developing language and communication with the children in the different areas of learning, doing focused learning with the children and small group interventions. On Monday afternoons Mrs Swift is out of class doing lots of exciting leadership jobs for Reception and the whole school and so Mrs Questa will be teaching Music on this afternoon. This may seem a complicated schedule at first with lots of new names, but the children soon know who is teaching them and on which days. Sometimes there may be reasons that Mrs Swift and Miss Duggleby - Letheren need to be out of class for some extra time due to training or carrying out different roles across school, so we may change days occasionally or there may be another member of staff teaching the children. If this is the case, we will always talk to the children about it so they know who will be teaching them.
Welcome to Spring 2
We hope you had a lovely holiday and a well deserved rest! This half term we will be continuing our topic 'Frozen'. We will be continuing with Phase 3 of Little Wandle and really consolidating our learning of our phase 3 sounds and tricky words. Please encourage the children to start writing some sentences independently at home, as this will really help them at school. Please also continue to work through Numbots as this really helps with number fluency.
Please see the different sections of the website for more information about what we will be learning.
Our PE day for this half term will be Friday.
The team in Reception believe that the classroom is the third teacher and so we spend lots of time setting out the areas of provision and we can't wait for you to start exploring them! We believe that the there should be the same types of provision both indoors and outdoors so that your child can learn in the environment that suits them best. Our provision promotes choice, independence and cooperation it is organised in a way that enables children to develop key communication, language, literacy and mathematical skills at every opportunity, whether this be independently or with scaffolding from an adult.
We believe that learning in Early Years is a partnership between home and school. We really value your input into your children's learning and see parents as partners in this. You know your children the best and you will be able to tell us lots about their learning and development outside of school, which really helps us to build up a full and rounded picture of the children. With this in mind, our classroom door is always open. Any queries that you may have are hugely valued, so please do not hesitate to contact any member of the school team and we will be happy to arrange a meeting. We use tapestry all the time to update you with your child's learning and you can also update us with any exciting things you have been doing or key milestones in your child's development that you would like us to be aware of. We also use Tapestry to send out reminders and information, so it is useful to download the app on your phone or check the website regularly.
Please see the different sections of the web page below for more details of our learning this half term
Upcoming events
Thursday 26th February- School trip to The Deep
Thursday 5th March- World Book Day
Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th March- Parents Evenings
Wednesday 1st April- Parent event in Reception- PM- more details to follow
Reception Blog
This section will be updated fortnightly on a Friday so please keep checking back for updates.
Autumn 1 Blogs
Happy Harvest! 😊
Firstly, we have to say the most ENORMOUS well done to all the children in Reception for their amazing performance of Big, Red Combine Harvester at the Harvest festivals this week. We appreciate that it must feel incredibly daunting for them faced with a hall packed full of grown-ups watching them, but WOW, did they impress us! There were so many big smiles and some absolutely fantastic singing! We really are SO proud of you all Reception! J
Much of our topic learning has been based around Harvest and Autumn. We have found out about farming, Harvest and how it has changed from past to present. The children have loved our focus stories The Little Red Hen and Oliver’s Vegetables, particularly retelling the stories using our small world tuff trays this week. They have been carefully observing the changes that are happening in our natural world in the new season of autumn.
In Maths, the children have been consolidating their learning about subitising, as well as learning about time with a times of the day/ daily routine focus.
In our phonics sessions, as well as learning lots of new sounds, we have been focusing even more on blending and are so proud that many children are now able to blend orally. Any extra practise at home would be much appreciated.
We hope that you all you all have a restful weekend, ready for the final push week before a VERY well-deserved holiday. Their first half term of Reception is nearly complete!
The Reception Team J
Super-busy superheroes! J
Well, what a busy couple of weeks we have had in Reception! We know some of the children will be starting to get a little tired now (as they realise that they have to come to school EVERY day!), but once they get into the classroom with their friends and all our fantastic equipment, they settle quickly and have so much fun!
Last week, our main focus was learning about our school RESPECT Code. Firstly, the children learnt about what the letters in RESPECT stand for and what these words mean – Resilience, Equality, Service, Positivity, Empathy, Choices, Togetherness. The children then worked in groups to paint a large drawing of a school pupil in their uniform, and talked about what one of the words means. For example, for Equality, one child gave the example, “Be kind, treat everybody the same”. These RESPECT Code pupils are now displayed on our Learning Journey wall. We then read the children a story to introduce them to all the ‘superhero’ characteristics (Christian Values) of our school. For example, we used The Smartest Giant in Town to learn about Generosity, The Lion inside for Courage and The Hare and the Tortoise for Perseverance. We have been trying hard ever since to remember all these tricky words, what they mean and match them to the symbols (or superhero badges!). The children seem to absolutely love listening to all our stories, all of which we have re-read, and many have been trying really hard to put their hands up and answer questions about them. The have enjoyed hunting for the badges around the classroom this week and sticking them onto 10s frames!
This week, we have introduced the children to our school Vision – We are family, All are welcome, You are loved. WE have talked about what these special words means and the children have listened to our Bible stories that the whole school uses to link with our Vision.
We are family – The Lost (Prodigal) Son
All are welcome – Jesus Welcomes the Children
You are loved – The Good Samaritan
As well as all this, we have been continuing with our Little Wandle phonics and have been learning to say, recognise and write s, a, t, p, I, n, m, d, g, o, c, k. The children are really beginning to settle into the routines of the phonics lessons. Understanding when they need to listen, to ‘copy me’, to ‘sound talk’ and try very hard to blend the sounds into words. They really enjoy the various games that we play to support them in their learning.
This week we have also started Maths and our focus has been on both subitising and sorting – both essential early mathematical skills as we’ll explain during our upcoming Maths information evening. On top of this, they’ve started looking at our school computers in Computing, practised travelling in different ways in PE, made a model of their face form clay and of course has lots of fun playing in both the classroom and our outdoor area… …it’s no surprise they’re feeling tired!
We hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!
The Reception Team J
What a GREAT start!
Wow! What an BUSY first full week the children have had in our new Reception Class! As the week has progressed, they have all began to really settle into school life and the many routines and rules that we have. We are proud of them trying hard to come into school independently and trying be grown up when saying goodbye - we appreciate your support with this.
We have been practising at getting ready in the cloakroom quietly and independently. Our lines walking into, out of and through school at all those tricky transition times, are now becoming quiet and calm, and it’s helping everyone to feel settled and ready to learn and play. They have even mastered lining up in register order already!
At lunchtime, the children are lining up well and taking their lunch to the table independently. Many seem to love school dinners already!
Whilst listening to stories and when learning on the carpet, many children are trying hard to sit smartly, listen carefully and stay focused, with many keen to answer questions. We will continue to keep working on this every day and really appreciate your support with this too.
We have also been really impressed by their play. Many children have been making new friends or strengthening existing friendships, playing together, talking, sharing and helping each other. It has been a joy to observe so much imaginary play around many areas of our provision – this really is one of the foundations for so much learning they will do in the future.
As well as all this, the children have been doing lots of special ‘jobs’ with the adults in Reception – showing us what they already know about sounds, writing, shapes and so on. They have all enjoyed learning some playdough skills with Mrs Bolton and have helped to create collage Colour Monsters in small groups. Our focus story this week has been The Colour Monster which helps the children to learn about and understand their emotions – please see Tapestry posts for photos and details of these activities. They even helped to create a fresh wormery in our outdoor area and were so excited to put the worms in themselves. You could try asking them to tell you some interesting facts about worms!
It really has been week of new learning for both the children and adults in Reception as we’ve started our new phonics scheme – Little Wandle. The children have loved learning the ‘copy me’ sign and our Ready for Phonics song. Every day we have introduced a new phoneme (sound) and its grapheme (how it is written), using interactive teaching techniques and games. Then today, we practised everything we have learnt through the week, with so many children mastering all 4 GPCs (Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondence) s, a, t, p, which is fantastic. We look forward to seeing you at the Little Wandle information meeting on Wednesday evening.
We are very excited about our new class and can’t wait for all the learning, play and fun in the year ahead! We imagine the children are going to be rather tired after their first full week in school and having already learnt SO much!
Wishing you all a relaxing and happy weekend.
The Reception Team 😊
Autumn 2 Blogs
Christmas is all around us!
A HUGE well done to all the children on their brilliant performances in our Christmas play this week. We are so proud of them for performing in front of such big audiences for three days running. We hope you loved it as much as we did!
They also enjoyed their first school church service at St Oswald’s with Reverend Carolyn 😊
As well as being super stars on stage, the children have continued to try hard with their learning this week. In phonics we have begun Phase 3 and the children have done so well learning 3 new digraphs ai, ee and oa and even a trigraph- igh!
In RE, we have continued to keep recapping and questioning the children about the Christmas story, all linked to our overarching Enquiry Question – Why do Christians perform Nativity plays at Christmas? They have thought carefully about the key questions – Why is Jesus so important to Christians? and How can we help other people at Christmas? The children have learnt so much and we have been impressed with their empathy and deep thinking.
As well as this, following on from reading our all-time favourite Christmas story – Father Christmas Needs a Wee! - we have been finding out about Christmas traditions from around the world.
Thank you so much for all the lovely Christmas cards and very generous gift vouchers.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
The Reception Team 😊
Autumn 2 - Week 4
World Nursery Rhyme Week!
We had a great time a couple of weeks ago learning and practising our five focus nursery rhymes. We will, of course, continue with our Rhyme of the Week going forwards. This class really do just love singing! 😊
Phonics and Maths
At this very busy time of year, we know it’s tricky at both home and school, to keep up with the basics, but it is so important the children keep practising. We have introduced several more digraphs (2 letters 1 sound) over the past couple of weeks, with many children also reading and writing CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words independently and confidently. We have also learnt a LOT of tricky words already and regular exposure and constant practise of these really is the key. In Maths, the children have learnt in depth about the number 3, as well as starting to explore 2D (flat) shapes, beginning with circles and triangles.
Superhero Day!
A huge thank to you all for attending our Parent Sharing Afternoon. We know the children loved having you in our classroom and it was such a joy to see you all talking and learning together. The children (and Mrs Swift – watch that aim!) are very excited to test out their inventions next week – let’s hope they are all egg-cellent!
And finally…Christmas is coming!
After spending a couple of weeks learning the songs, we are now in the thick of rehearsals for our Christmas play! There’s a lot of work still to do, but it’s so lovely to see the children performing and celebrating this wonderful time of year together J
Have a fab weekend!
The Reception Team J
Such a lot of new learning!
Wow! Reception have been ‘on fire’ with their learning over the past couple of weeks!
Last week, we had a special RE focus week, covering our first unit God/ Creation with the enquiry question Why is the word ‘God’ so important to Christians? The children listened well to The Creation Story from the Bible and have learnt so much about what Christians believe about how the world began. We are so pleased that so many children are now sharing their thoughts and ideas during whole class learning time.
On Monday, we celebrated Odd Socks Day for Anti-Bullying Week, starting by learning about what bullying is - when someone does something unkind ‘several/ lots of times on purpose’. We talked about how everyone needs to show courage, to ‘speak up’ and use their ‘power for good’ to promote friendship and stop bullying. We looked at all our odd socks and talked about how we are all different and unique. We read several books about friendship, worries and bullying, including The Rainbow Club. We then drew a picture of how to be a good friend.
On Tuesday, we learnt about why we wear poppies using a Reception-appropriate PowerPoint, short cBeebies animation and a beautiful story called Where the Poppies Now Grow. The children were really interested in learning more about the past and we focused on how much courage the soldiers must have shown. In small groups, the children looked closely at artefacts from World Wars 1 and 2, such as uniform, helmets and medical kits. They were really interested and especially liked trying on the helmet! They also enjoyed making paper plate poppies whilst continuing to discuss historical facts.
In Newsday Tuesday and on Wednesday afternoon, we focused on becoming historians again and finding out why we celebrate Bonfire Night. The children were fascinated by The Gunpowder Plot story – they couldn’t believe people wanted to blow up the king! They were very glad that the plot failed! Groups of children then furthered their historical skills by looking closely at artefacts such as a lantern, a pickaxe (for digging the tunnel), a felt hat and helmet. Again, they particularly enjoyed trying on the clothes and hats!
In Maths, it’s been all about the number 2! We have been exploring the many ways that 2 can be represented: the numeral, 2 cubes or 2 of any object, Numberblock 2, Numicon 2, a huge variety of ways using our fingers and so on. Remember, 1 and another 1 is 2!
Finally, today we have celebrated Children in Need by wearing yellow, spots or non-uniform. The children watched several video clips about real children in need, whether through illness, disability or poverty. We supported the children to understand how our money raised can help these children and encouraged them to think of other ways such as treating everyone with respect, giving away toys or clothes you no longer need, donations to food banks or simply by making someone feel welcome with kind words or a smile.
One more thing…the Christmas singing practice has started! 😊
What a start to the half term! It’s non-stop from here on in!
Have a lovely weekend.
The Reception Team 😊
Spring 1 Blogs
A well-earned rest…!
The final 2 weeks of the half term have flown by!
The children have continued to love our Geography learning, finding out about human and physical features and even following maps whilst on our expedition around Collingham.
On NSPCC Number Day, the children loved dressing differently and creating huge collaborative number posters in groups.
This week has been Children’s Mental Health Week. Using the theme of This is My Place, the children created a map of things that are special to them. This linked perfectly with our Geography learning and school RESPECT Code and Christian Values.
In Maths, we have been super busy continuing to learn about number 5, addition and even subtraction! The children have continued to learn about shapes, focusing now on 3D (chunky/ solid) shapes.
They continue to wow us with their phonics, handwriting, spelling and writing skills throughout the week and we are so thrilled that so many children are choosing to write independently in our provision. We’ve even had lists and some stories this week! 😊
We think the children definitely deserve a big rest and we hope that you all have a relaxing holiday.
The Reception Team 😊
What a lot of learning and play!
Despite the cold and wet weather, sniffles and general tiredness that comes with this time of year, the children have tried hard to remain super focused on their learning and make some really good progress.
Many children are now confident with many of the Phase 3 digraphs and trigraphs that we have been learning in phonics and we are delighted that some children are now choosing to write independently during their play, such as labels on their drawings and maps, lists of words or notes/ cards for family. Please continue to encourage any independent writing at home, whether it’s labels on drawings or objects, shopping lists, writing words or a diary in their own notebook (for example, I went to the shop). Anything like this will really help to improve their confidence during our writing sessions as well as during their play.
The children have continued to show great enthusiasm for maths this half term, focusing on numbers 5 and now addition – using 5 frames, Numicon and part-part-whole models to support their learning. They are also enjoying learning about 2D (flat) shapes, their names, properties and how they can be combined to make other shapes, just like numbers. This week we have begun learning about 3D (chunky/ solid) shapes. Again, any practise at home would add to their confidence in these areas.
During our topic learning, we have started to answer the question Where is our school? by using maps and atlases to learn about the countries of the UK, where Collingham is located, the differences between villages, towns and cities, and human and physical features. The children love this geography-based learning and are very excited for our fieldwork expedition around Collingham next week! They are developing a real thirst for knowledge and love of learning. 😊
Have a lovely weekend!
The Reception Team 😊
Winter is whizzing by!
How can we have been back for 2 weeks already! The time is absolutely whizzing by in school, perhaps because we’ve been so busy!
Last week, our focus story was Noah’s Ark from the Bible. The children have listened to and discussed the version in our children’s Bible, focusing on important and perhaps new language such as Ark, flood and promise. We have also read other versions of the story and the children have enjoyed playing with Noah’s Ark small world toys. The children even thought about a new year promise that they could make such as tidying their playroom or going to sleep on their own – this might be useful to discuss at home! 😊
This week, we have begun our main topic for this term – Frozen! The children started by exploring what winter is like in our school grounds here in Collingham. After that, we discussed hibernation and migration and will continue to recap these concepts next week. We had great fun making bird feeders which we hope will attract lots of birds to your garden this weekend. Don’t forget to do some bird spotting or counting for the Big Bird Watch next weekend and tell us about what you’ve done for homework!
In Maths, the children have continued to consolidate their learning about number 4, working out all the ways that 4 is composed (2 + 2, 3 + 1 etc). We have also continued learning about 2D (flat) shapes, with a focus on the 4-sided shapes, square and rectangle. They loved watching the Numberblocks Flatland programme and finding out about some other 4-sided shapes – trapezium, rhombus, kite, dart and, Miss DL’s favourite, parallelogram! Lots more on this next week, as well as number 5!
In Phonics, the children have been trying hard to remember all our Phase 3 sounds and were excited to learn another trigraph (3 letters 1 sound) this week – ear. Many children are becoming more fluent when reading and we love how their prosody (expression to give meaning to the words) is developing. Regular practise at home really does help both these skills and gives them so much confidence when reading in school. We have also been working super hard on our handwriting, ensuring that all letters are formed correctly (using the formation phrases), with some children now even able to write on the lines on their whiteboards and in their books – fantastic! Again, any writing at home is such a help for them – shopping lists, labels on drawings/ on toys/ on anything (!), cards, word lists, playing school and so on! Please encourage correct letter formation if they are writing at home. 😊
Have a lovely weekend and happy bird spotting!
The Reception Team 😊
Useful Starting School links
If you haven't done so already, you may find watching some of these programmes or playing these games with your child a good way to get them ready for and excited about school. We can't wait for them to start!
My First Day at School - Game
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zhtcvk7/articles/znc9vk7?collection=starting-school-curation
cBeebies Ready for school - TV programmes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05bvjjt
Starting School with cBeebies - Various
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/curations/starting-school-curation
Rhyme of the Week
Our Rhyme of the Week will be added every Friday for you to enjoy with your child.
Autumn 1 Rhymes
Autumn 2 Rhymes
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2-little-dickie-birds
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- advent-rhyme download_for_offline
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- hey-diddle-diddle download_for_offline
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- hickory-dickory-dock download_for_offline
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- humpty-dumpty download_for_offline
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- i-hear-thunder download_for_offline
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- incy-wincy-spider download_for_offline
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- sing-a-song-of-sixpence download_for_offline
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- the-12-days-of-christmas download_for_offline
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- the-pirate-song download_for_offline
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Spring 1 Rhymes
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core-poem-lunchtime
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- jack-and-jill download_for_offline
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- mary-mary-quite-contrary download_for_offline
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- miss-molly-had-a-dolly download_for_offline
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- one-two-buckle-my-shoe download_for_offline
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- pat-a-cake download_for_offline
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- ring-a-ring-a-roses download_for_offline
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Collective & Class Worship
As a Church of England school, staff and children take part in daily worship. We find this coming together, whether as a class or whole school, invaluable in their spiritual and philosophical development. It's incredible how such young children regularly astound us with their deep thinking and thought-provoking questions about themselves, life, the world, religions, the universe and beyond!
Once we settle into the school routine, the weekly worship timetable will be as follows:
Monday: Whole School Worship - Sets the theme for the week from our school RESPECT Code and challenges the children with a 'call to action' to live out that aspect throughout the week.
Tuesday: Class Worship 'Newsday Tuesday' - Keeping up with important and child-relevant current affairs, making links with our school Christian values and Global Christianity.
Wednesday: Whole School Worship – Explores our Christian values using stories, drama or poetry - Led alternate weeks by teaching staff and Reverend Carolyn.
Thursday: Class Worship 'BIG Questions Thursday' – Think about and discuss possible answers to a wide range of thought-provoking questions such as: Why should we look after the world? What do you see and how do you feel when you look at the sky? Are toys or friends more important and why? Make links to our school Christian values and RESPECT Code.
Friday: Whole School Worship - Celebrating the successes of the week, including certificates linked to our school Christian values and RESPECT Code.
We will regularly post details about the content of Class Worship on Tapestry.
An overview of the Early Years Curriculum
Early Learning Goals
/docs/Class_Pages/Reception/early-learning-goals-parent-and-carers-guide.pdf
Characteristics of Effective Learning
Characteristics of effective learning
Preparing for school
RESPECT code, Lifelong learner poster and Curriculum drivers
Reception mathematics vocabulary
Core Stories
Core Poems
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core-poems
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- look-after-your-friends-song-lyrics download_for_offline
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- lunchtime-and-peter-piper download_for_offline
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- polly-put-the-kettle-on download_for_offline
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- reception-charanga-20-nursery-rhymes-off-by-heart download_for_offline
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- t-t-12224-hey-diddle-diddle-nursery-rhyme-poster ver 1 download_for_offline
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- look-after-your-friends-song-lyrics download_for_offline
- jack-and-jill download_for_offline
- advent-rhyme download_for_offline