Welcome to Reception!

Important information:

Physical Education

PE days are Wednesdays and Fridays. Children will need their PE kits on these days. Please put your child's PE kit in a bag and leave on their peg in school. 

Reading Books
Please ensure that your child brings their reading book every Friday.

Books will be collected on Fridays and new books will be given out on Mondays. Please ensure your child has their reading diary signed to say they have read to an adult. Please try to listen to your child reading for at least 5-10 minutes each day.
Sharing a book at bedtime or reading a story to your child will help them develop a love for reading!

If you have any questions about Reception and the things we do, please come and talk to either Miss Webster, Mrs Richards (on Fridays), Miss Paterson or Miss Gardener.

Quarry Mount turned into a cinema today! We were all given an admission ticket and made our way into the main cinema hall. We then watched a preview of our film ‘Cars’. In the afternoon, we watched the film in class with popcorn/treats. This was a fantastic hook for our transport topic for this half term.

• Autumn 2 Curriculum Letter Reception.docx
• Autumn 2 Topic Homework.docx

In our Literacy lessons, we use Talk4Writing and focus on different text types to help us develop our skills. This week, we have read the picture book, 'Hug' by Jez Alborough. The children learn the model text to perform aloud using actions. This will help children develop confidence in speaking and retelling stories. Children should use the pictures in the story map to remind them what comes next. Here is a video to help the children practice at home.

• Autumn 1 Curriculum Letter Reception.docx
• Autumn 1 Topic Homework.docx

Preschool Reading

Children can learn a lot about reading even before they come to school and are formally taught. Young children learn about reading when

• they see people reading books, magazines, newspapers etc.
• they notice print in the environment
• they have their own books
• they are read to regularly and can talk about the story and predict what might happen
• they are encouraged to look at books and try to read for themselves
• they say rhymes and poems off by heart and sing songs

Starting School

We would like children coming into school to

• have had stories read to them
• have enjoyed sharing books with others
• have handled books on their own
• have an awareness of print around them
• have some idea of what reading and writing is
• have had the opportunity to draw and write with various materials
• have confidence and look forward to learning to read

Strategies used in teaching a child to read

Children use many strategies when reading. Phonics or ‘sounding’ a word out is the most important stage and we teach a scheme of work for synthetic phonics in our Reception class as recommended by the ‘Rose Report.’ Children also learn to use visual memory, that is looking at a word and remembering it. Children also learn when reading a good story. If the story makes sense and holds his/her interest the child can gather clues from the text and the pictures, making logical guesses about unknown vocabulary.

Helping your child progress with reading

Once children have started to read they will make better progress if you can help them by reading with them daily.

Helping Your Child with Maths

Activities to do at home

• counting in 1’s, 2’s, 5’s and  10’s
• number activities in everyday situations e.g. How many buttons are on your coat ?; Pass me 5 apples; What number is on that house?
• traditional games like Snakes and Ladders, Ludo and Dominoes are an invaluable and fun way to learn
• looking for relationships and patterns in numbers
• using ‘mathematical’ words e.g. long, longer, longest, tall, short, narrow, more than, less than etc
• recognising and naming shapes
• using the language of position e.g. under, over, above, between, next to, below, behind, in front of etc..

Helping Your Child with Writing

Children usually experiment with their own pretend writing first and this should be encouraged. Children are making marks at this stage but often to them they are writing. Ask your child to read back their writing to you and give them lots of praise, don’t tell them it is wrong or ‘just scribble.’ Young children learn writing when:

• they see people writing
• people share and discuss writing with them
• there are opportunities for children to join in writing with adults. Can they help write the shopping list?
• the child does some writing which is praised by the adult
• the child’s efforts (even pretend writing) are taken seriously

A young child encouraged in this way will soon be ready to form letters correctly and will develop a love of writing which will stay with them throughout their learning.

Activities to do at Home

• colouring books, dot to dots, tracing over patterns
• Activities which encourage a pincer grip (finger and thumb) like picking up small objects with plastic tweezers
• large arm movements especially anti clockwise such as waving flags and swirling ribbons
• painting
• make a name card for your child to copy
• as children progress write birthday cards together, shopping lists, invitations, thankyou letters, so that writing is shown to have a purpose.
• play simple word games
• Look at word with your child

In Reception, when children first learn their letter sounds they are taught to form their letters correctly. We will send out more information about this in the first half term.

Websites to help support your childs learning;

www.phonicsplay.co.uk

www.ictgames.com

http://www.numberjacks.co.uk/kids/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/games/alphablocks-games
www.oxfordowl.co.uk
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=37

Recommended Books to help with Maths;

• Dinosaur Dig! by Penny Dale – This inventive counting story manages to combine diggers, dinosaurs and counting.
• Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury – Illustrated beautifully by the illustrator of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, this story is ideal for young children.
• One Ted Falls Out of Bed by Julia Donaldson and Anna Currey – This magical story by the author of The Gruffalo has a counting theme and rhyming text. It’s all about the fun that toys have while children are fast asleep.
• One Mole Digging A Hole by Julia Donaldson and Nick Sharratt – Another counting, rhyming story by children’s favourite, Julia Donaldson. From moles digging holes to parrots pulling up carrots, the wacky and wonderful illustrations by Nick Sharratt are sure to make counting fun!

Books to enjoy at home include:

• Julia Donaldson books- The Scarecrow's Wedding, Room on a Broom, The Grufffalo, A Squash and a Squeeze and many more.
• Nick Butterworth books- " Percy the Park Keeper Stories"
• Mike Inkpen books- Kipper, The Blue Balloon, "Penguin small","Jasper's Beanstalk"
• Jill Murphy books - " All in one piece", " Five Minutes peace", and lots more about the elephant family.

A good website for buying books at discounted prices is www.thebookpeople.co.uk/schools

As the children have been settling into school life. We thought you might like to see them engaged in activities alongside their new friends.