Welcome to Autumn 2!
We hope that you all had an enjoyable and restful half term holiday. It has been a busy and exciting first term of school for Reception. We have loved getting to know the children and have been very impressed with how quickly the children have settled and developed new relationships with staff and their peers.
Autumn 2 is always a very exciting half term in school as we have lots of fun exploring our new topics and preparing for our Nativity in December. Our topics this half term are Celebrations and Space, which the children always thoroughly enjoy. This half term we will be reading stories including; ‘Whatever Next’ and ‘8 Little Planets’ linked to our Space topic. We will be finding out what it is like in space and learning about the planets. We will also be learning about the Christmas Story and enjoying various Christmas themed activities and crafts as part of our Christmas topic.
'To infinity and Beyond!'
Autumn 2 Learning
Communication and Language
As part of our ‘Talk for Writing’ work we will be retelling stories using story language as well as listening to and responding to different stories. We will be taking part in discussions as well as understanding how to listen carefully and why this is important.
PSED
This half term we will be focusing on 'Building Relationships'. Through this we will be exploring our families as well as other people that are special to us, both at home and in the community. We will also be learning about building new strategies for sharing and cooperating with others to build constructive and respectful relationships.
Physical Development
We will be developing our fine motor skills with our finger challenges so we can hold our pencil correctly to help form our letters.
In our PE lessons this half term we will welcome outside providers to focus on both ball skills and balance bike sessions. These will build our gross motor skills as we develop our control and spacial awareness, as well as core stability.
Literacy
In phonics we will learn the graphemes: /ff/ /ll/ /ss//j/ /v/ /w/ /x/ /y/ /z/ /zz/ /qu/ /ch/ /sh/ /th/ /ng/nk/. We will also learn to read new tricky words: as, and, has, his, her, go, no, to, into, we, me, be. This term we will be reading stories including ‘Whatever Next’ and ‘The Gingerbread Man’.We will be making story maps, following the sequence of beginning, middle and end. We will also be continuing our work on 'Drawing Club' this half term, where children will be developing their vocabulary, sharing ideas, collaborating, having conversations and writing at the cusp of their confidence.
Understanding the World
We will share our own experiences of bonfire night celebrations and talk about fire safety.We will be finding out what it is like in space and learning about the planets.We will also be learning about Christmas celebrations through stories, role play and songs.
Expressive Arts & Design
We will start the term learning about bonfire night, creating firework pictures using a range of media. We will also be listening to and responding to different styles of music using a range of instruments.
PE
This half term we are very excited to be working with sports coaches for our PE lessons. One of our weekly lessons will be with Lee Sterry Sports Coaching focusing on fundamental movement and team games : attacking and defending/ playing co-operatively as a team. Our other weekly session will be working with PE Sports Service working on Balanceability sessions using our school balance bikes.
Reading
The children are already off to a flying start with their reading. Thank you so much for your support in listening to them read regularly. Your help with this makes a big difference and we really appreciate your support. Book change days will stay the same for this half term (Sent home on a Thursday -Back in school on Monday). If any parents/carers have any spare time and would like to volunteer to listen to children reading in school, we would be delighted to welcome you! Please speak to Miss Storey, Miss Elvin or Miss Burns if this is something you feel you could support us with.
We will send home the Autumn 2 Grapheme sheet for this half term. Please continue to reinforce new phonemes/graphemes that we have taught at school at home.
Christmas Show Costumes
We are very excited about our upcoming Christmas Nativity Performance in December! As we now have 90 children in Reception, we are currently sourcing additional costumes for the show. If you have any of the following costumes at home, or know someone who would be willing to make some for us, we would be extremely grateful. Please let Miss Storey know as soon as possible if you are able to help. Costumes we need: Angels Shepherds Sheep
Star of the Week
We are very excited to be starting Star of the Week this half term. Star of the Week time is always a special part of the Reception day and, as well as being very enjoyable, gives children the opportunity to develop their speaking and listening skills. Your child's date for Star of the Week has been posted onto Tapestry.
Dates for your Diary
- 26.11.25 - Ladybird trip to Northern Stage (AM)
- 27.11.25 - Honeybees and Caterpillars trip to Northern Stage (PM)
- 12.12.25 - Reception Christmas Show
- 16.12.25 - Honeybee's festive Stay and Play (9-10am)
- 17.12.25 - Ladybird's festive Stay and Play (9-10am)
- 18.12.25 - Caterpillar's festive Stay and Play (9-10am)
We are usually available before and after school should you need to speak with us. You can catch us on the door most days or you can contact the office to make an appointment if you need to talk to us privately or at length. Thank you for your continued support, we look forward to having a successful half term.
Best Wishes,
Miss Storey, Miss Burns and Miss Elvin
Credits:
Created with images by Hide_Studio - "Beautiful Fireworks on the sky background." • Rawpixel.com - "Woman holding a smiley face icon" • chalongrat - "colorful colored pencil and white paper on wooden background" • deagreez - "Creative collage picture young man funky dancer positive mood ballet scales platform balance geometry figures drawing background" • Ievgenii Meyer - "Christmas living room with Christmas tree and gifts under it" • anatoliy_gleb - "Happy child riding balance bike. Male toddler kid in helmet learning to ride on run bicycle at skate park." • peshkova - "Сoncert stage with spot lights" • Volodymyr - "Gold star trophy isolated on black. 3d illustration 3D render"