Reception Newsletter 04.10.2019
This week
Thank you for your support in encouraging the children to come in by themselves. They are managing all our school routines really well now and have even been to a whole school assembly this week.
In our phonics learning, we have been thinking about rhyming words and have played lots of games, including pairs and odd one out. We have also been thinking about initial sounds, so playing I spy at home would be good reinforcement. If you say the initial sound, encourage your child to think of three things it could be around the room before saying whether they are right or not. We did this in the classroom this week and they were great at finding quite obscure items!
For maths, we have been practising counting to 20 and thinking about carefully counting one by one when counting objects, especially those that can’t be moved (e.g dots on a dice). Any counting you can do at home would be supportive-not just objects, but claps, stairs in the house, jumps, footsteps etc.. and playing board games with a dice is excellent practice too.
Language Link
We use a program called Language Link to assess the children’s spoken language and understanding on entry to school, so that we can put any early interventions in place if needed. The children work 1:1 with an adult for 15 minutes selecting the right picture that matches the spoken instructions. As this takes a lot of adult time, we are often supported in this by other familiar adults in the school, so if your child tells you they have been doing some learning on the computer with someone then this is probably what they mean. The results of this assessment will be discussed at parents evening.
Next week
We will be thinking about splitting words into their component sounds (segmenting). This is in preparation for learning individual letter sounds, and practising how to form each letter correctly which will start the week after.
In maths, we will be looking at more counting and really understanding what the numbers 1-5 mean. The maths document that we will do our Reception planning from this year can be found here:
https://whiterosemaths.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/SoLs/RECEPTION/Reception-Autumn.pdf
It uses a mastery approach to mathematical learning so that children have a real understanding of early number before they move on to bigger numbers and calculation.
Harvest: Tuesday 8th October
In the morning, we will be baking bread with our buddies and then we will share harvest lunch together. At 1.30 we will go up to church to join in the school harvest celebration and Reception parents are warmly invited. If your child usually goes home on a Tuesday afternoon, they may stay to the church service if you wish. Any parent who wants to take their child home after church may do so rather than coming back at 3.15, but if you have siblings at school, you may wish to do a normal pick up at 3.15. I will leave a whiteboard outside the classroom gate on Monday morning and you can write your child’s name by the correct pick up time: 1.15, after church (approximately 2.15) or 3.15. Children will still have to come back to school to collect their things after church, so pick up will be at the classroom gate.
Parents evenings coming up
“How to support your child with their learning” will take place on Thursday 17th October at 7pm in the Reception classroom. More details next week.
School parents evening: This will take place on Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd October in the hall. Parents have a 10 minute slot with me to discuss how your child has settled in and to raise any questions or queries you may have. Please keep an eye out for an email from Mrs Cooper telling you when and where the sheets are available to sign up for a time slot.
Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or queries: ag@stjohnsprimary.org
Have a lovely weekend with your families,
Alice Greening
