Welcome to Reception

Reception Spring 2 Newsletter

This half term, the children will learn about Traditional Tales. We will read a selection of different stories in class over the half term and will focus all of our learning around these. The children will also celebrate World Book Day and will be invited to come into school dressed up as their favourite character from a book. We will talk about these books and give the children the opportunity to discuss their character with the class. The children will also begin learning about the season of Spring and talk about the changes that are taking place outside.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

During the half term, the children will be presented with different challenges to complete in the different continuous provision areas of the classroom. Children will be encouraged to use their independence to do these. There will also be many opportunities this half term for the children to solve problems and use their creative thinking both in the classroom and in the outdoor setting. All of these skills will be linked to our learning about Traditional Tales. For example – Which material would be the strongest to build a house? How do you know?

Literacy

This half term we will be reviewing our knowledge of all of the sounds learnt so far. These sounds will include the different digraphs and trigraphs taught (these are two or three letters which make one sound such as ‘sh’ ‘th’ ‘igh’). We will recap all tricky words learnt so far and continue to practise writing simple sentences using capital letters and full stops.  At this stage we will be looking for children to leave gaps (finger spaces) between each word so that their writing can be read back easily by both themselves and others. This is essential for them to reach their early learning goal in this area. The children will then begin the next phase of the phonics programme. As part of this, the children will be introduced to a method to support their reading of more complex words. For example frog, clown, trip, jump, shelf. These words may also contain the digraphs and trigraphs previously learnt. The children will also be introduced to more new tricky words to add to the bank of words that they can now read fluently. This half term we will be reading a selection of different traditional tales including The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks and The Three Bears. Using these, we will continue ‘Talk for writing’, which is a method of storytelling that involves drawing a series of pictures to sequence the events of the story correctly. Using the story map as a prompt, we then orally retell the story using actions, full sentences and repeated language from the story.  This approach will help develop the children’s speech and language as well as their knowledge of story structure.

Mathematics

This half term, we will consolidate our learning of numbers to 10 including the composition of each number. This is understanding how a number is made up of two or more numbers. As part of this, the children will recall their knowledge of number bonds for numbers 0 – 5 and some to 10. We will practise counting forwards and backwards 0 – 20. The children will also practise counting groups of objects accurately and will match the number correctly to the quantity. We will also carry out lots of addition and subtraction activities in class related to our theme of traditional tales. The children will be encouraged to use the correct terminology linked to each method such as – add, take away, how many altogether, how many left. We will also compare the length, weight and capacity of different objects.  

Physical development

Your child’s gross and fine motor control should be developing well at this stage of the Reception year. They should be confident when travelling in and around their own space and should now be holding their pencil in a tripod grip. If your child still finds this a struggle, please keep supporting them with this at home. Activities may include play doh games, threading, tweezer activities, drawing and writing with pens, peg activities etc. We have regularly been practising our letter and number formation in class. Please support your child with this at home and model the correct formation, if you notice that your child is not forming their letters and numbers correctly.

Reading

Each child will take part in Guided Reading once a week. This is a group reading session where all children share the same book and will be taught a new reading skill. They will also continue to take home their own individual reading books this half term. Your child should be encouraged to read daily at home. Please also sign the planner when read at home. As well as a reading book, your child will take home sounds (digraphs/trigraphs) and tricky words to learn. Please support your child with their learning at home wherever possible.

Thank you for your continued support,

The Reception Team  

Take a look at a day in Reception...

The following are useful websites to support children's learning.