Welcome to Reception J
Teacher: Mrs Jones
Teaching Assistants: Mrs Clements and Miss Nelson
Homework will be given every Friday and expected to be returned by the following Monday.
P.E. is every Tuesday, please ensure that your child is dressed in their PE kit on this day.
Words of the Week – we are introducing our children to new vocabulary each week, please ask your child what these words are, what they mean and encourage your child to use them as often as possible when speaking.
Each week your child will have the opportunity to bring home a ‘library book’ from our classroom. These books are for you and your child to share and enjoy together.
There are a wide variety of story books, information books and rhyming books for your child to choose from. There are also a number of books that contain just pictures and no words.
After reading your child’s library book together, talk about what has happened at the beginning, in the middle and end of the story. Can your child retell the story or answer questions about what has happened? (Talking about the story will help to develop your child’s speaking and listening skills and will get them ready for reading and writing stories independently as the progress further up the school).
There is no set day for your child to change his/her library book – just get them to bring it back to school when you have finished with it and they can choose another to take home the same day.
We love to read in our school and believe,
‘The more that your read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go’.
A child
A book
A read
A chat
That is the way the mind grows,
Not with a test, but a tale….
Michael Rosen
We have a lot of fun in our class – have a look at our year so far J
We had so much fun retelling these traditional tales and well know stories to our friends on World Book Day!
Did you know that remembering the order of a story is key to understanding? Good readers can anticipate the next part of a story, which helps beginning readers to form good guesses about unfamiliar words and advanced readers to learn to read more quickly J
Additionally, being able to put information in a sequence is also an important part of problem-solving in all subject areas.
We love books and we love stories in Reception so it was a real treat having our friends from Year 3 coming into our class to share their favourite books with us! We really did think that our Year 3 ‘reading buddies’ were amazing and we can’t wait for them to come again and share some more stories!
Not only did we enjoy listening to stories that were read to us on World Book Day but we also had a go at writing our own stories too! Our teachers and our friends loved listening to our stories as we read our writing back to them – definitely some future authors in the making in Reception J J
 |
Kung Hei Fat Choi
Mrs Nugent came to visit and explained to us how she and her family celebrate Chinese New Year. We watched a video about how Chinese New Year is celebrated in Liverpool and learnt about the lunar new year story and why each new year is named after an animal.
Some our class had been to China Town at the weekend to see the dragons, lions and unicorns and were very keen to tell us all about what they had seen! We made our own Chinese lanterns and paper chain dragons as well as some lucky red envelopes too!
J Kung Hei Fat Choi J
We have been learning all about Remembrance Day. We have found out that it is on 11th November and that it marks the day World War One ended (at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, in 1918).
People wear poppies and hold a two-minute silence to remember the people who have died in wars.
“We will remember them”.
 |
 |
Sometimes we like to work on our own or co-operate with others,
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Getting our fingers ready for writing…
We’ve been very busy exercising our hands and fingers with lots of messy play in Reception – we’ve also had a lot of fun and laughter along the way too! Messy play uses the hands and fingers, which promotes fine motor skill development. It encourages finger dexterity, hand and shoulder strength – skills all necessary for handwriting in the future. Messy play also helps with body balance and spatial awareness, enhancing gross motor skills.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Fun in our Outdoor Area
Playing adventurously motivates children to extend their own boundaries, to explore a little further, to develop a disposition to persist at something and see challenges as problems to enjoy rather than things to fear (it can also be a lot of fun!)
We’ve really enjoyed making ramps for our bikes, cars and scooters in our outdoor area – we shot down the ramp so fast! We’ve also been busy building our own obstacle courses out of the wooden block play construction pieces – we had to really concentrate hard to ensure that we kept our balance!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
J Reception J J
Welcome to Reception J! We’ve had a fantastic first day in our new class – look at all of those smiling faces J
We’ve all had a lot of fun exploring our learning environment and making new friends – an amazing start to our school year J
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Some useful information for the year ahead...
Reception Curriculum Map 2021-2022
Reception Home Learning Lockdown Timetable
How to login to Google Classroom
Keep up to date with our latest news and suggested activities using our Twitter pages
and
Every pupil from Nursery to Year 6 has a user name and password for Education City. This enables children to continue their learning at home, playing fun activities linked to what they have been working on in class. If you you have misplaced your password or login details, please get touch and we can reissue them J
NumBots is a curriculum inspired programme that adopts the best teaching practises to take children from counting on their fingers, to adding and subtracting two digit numbers. The programme is primarily aimed at children between 5-7 years old.
The programme compliments what your child is learning in school and focusses on securing any gaps in their knowledge, before moving them onto the next challenge. This self paced journey improves children’s confidence and means they are fully prepared to tackle each new topic.
We recommend playing for at least 3 minutes a day, 4 or 5 days a week. NumBots is available to play via our website or mobile app, so your child will be able to learn maths at home or on-the-go, whenever suits your family.
Pupils will need a user name and password for NumBots. This enables children to continue their learning at home, playing fun activities linked to what they have been working on in class. If you you have misplaced your password or login details, please get touch and we can reissue them J
Thinkuknow is an education programme from NCA-CEOP, a UK organisation which protects children both online and offline.
The Thinkuknow websites offers advice about how to help keey your child safe when they’re playing on a phone, tablet or computer. As well as advice, the website also offter a series of short age appropriate activities to do at home with your child linked to online safety.
Thinkuknow Parents Support Tools – home activity worksheets, early-years
Phonics
For information about how we teach Phonics in school and how you can support your child at home please Click here for the Phonics Page
Some information on how we say the phonemes (sounds) to help our children learn to read and write.
There is more helpful advice as well as useful tips on learning to read with phonics on the Oxford Owl website:
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/learn-to-read-phonics/
There are some useful phonic video lessons for children to watch too (in school we start off working on Phase 2 and progress through to Phases 3 and 4)
Twinkl Live Lessons Phase 2 Phonics
and
Twinkl Live Lessons Phase 3 Phonics
and
Twinkl Live Lessons Phase 4 Phonics
Phonics Play is a website that we use regularly to support our daily phonic lessons in class and there are lots of fun and engaging games for you to play online at home. (To begin with we focus heavily on Phases 1 and 2 but as the year progresses, we move on to Phases 3 and 4.) Many of the games are free to access on this site (we only use the free ones in class).
https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/
Phonics Bloom is another website that we use regularly in class (we especially love playing the ‘Yes/No Yeti’ game in Reception and if you give the game a go, I’m sure the children will amaze you with their confident, independent reading of the captions J) Many of the games are free to access on this site (we only use the free ones in class) and again we focus on Phases 1 and 2 to begin with before moving on to Phases 3 and 4 as the year progresses.
https://www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/list/phonics-games-phase-3
Boom Boom Shake the Alphabet
We love singing and dancing along to this cool rap song! It has been helping us to learn the letter names and sounds (remember to look at the letters on the screen though as you sing and dance Reception…) J
Reading
A class account for ‘Oxford Owl’ has been set so that your child can continue to read at home. The ebooks are free and are from the same reading scheme (Oxford Reading Tree) that we use in school and for home reading.
On the web page go to the pink/purple ‘My class login’ button and insert the username and password:
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/please-log-in?open_loginbox=true
Username: recjones
Password: Stanley
Teach your monster to read is free game that make learning to read fun. It covers everything from letters and sounds to reading in full sentences and it complements all the synthetic phonics that we have been learning in class. The computer version in 100% free (there is a small charge to sign up on your tablet or phone though) and you only need an email address to register.
We use this programme in class and all children have their own login in details to ensure that their reading journey is tailored to their individual needs. If you you have misplaced your password or login details, please get touch and we can reissue them J
https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/
Corma Beanstalk are working with Very UK, to bring you a series of online Storytime sessions. There are some brilliant books featured and they are being read by some very familiar faces.
Each week a new story will be available, and each one will also be accompanied by some top tips to help make sharing books fun and engaging!
Oak National Academy is a new collection of high-quality lessons and online resources. Backed by the Government, it has been created in response to the coronavirus lockdown.
Their online classrooms offer free access to great teachers, delivering video lessons, quizzes and worksheets. Available at Reception, primary and secondary levels, it covers a range of subjects. All of the lessons are ordered so your child can learn along a clear plan. New lessons and resources are provided each week to ensure continuity and continued progression.
https://www.thenational.academy/online-classroom/reception#subjects
Some useful videos from BBC Children in Need. Dr Radha shares her top tips on looking after your wellbeing.
BBC children in Need – Dr Radha’s Wellbeing Tips
Many little things light up hungry little minds. Children take everything in, and even the smallest things you do with them can make a big difference.
Children love it when you chat, play and read with them, even when they’re too young to understand everything. Whatever the time and wherever you are, you can turn almost anything into a game and every little thing you do together will help set them up nicely for their return to school.
We understand that due to the coronavirus outbreak, you and your children are spending more time at home and you might be looking for a bit more inspiration for things to do. Start by trying some of these simple, fun activities.
Family Zone is full of free activities and ideas to keep your child busy at home, whilst also benefiting reading, writing and language development.
