Welcome back to all our families. We hope you have had a wonderful Easter break with family and friends, full of fun and laughter and we look forward to hearing all about it.
Our topic this term is 'What happened to the....'. During this topic we will be exploring things from the past. We will be exploring dinosaurs, old and new toys ect.
We will be exploring our topic through each of our areas of learning and we will be providing parents with a newsletter on Class Dojo, showing our story of the half term (Super Six), text of the week, rhyme/song of the week, activities we will be doing and key vocabulary. This will give parents/carers the information they need to support their child further at home.
Class Dojo: At St Botolphs use class Dojo as a positive behaviour system, rewarding children for their amazing work. You will be able to see the points they earn and children will be able to redeem their points for prizes. We will also use Class Dojo to keep parents updated with different events happening at school and any exciting things that are happening in class. Parents can also contact the class teachers directly with any questions they have.
Tapestry: We will still be using Tapestry to show parents/ carers what the children have been doing that week in more detail in Maths. Please check this on a regular basis and when your child does wonderful things at home, you can post photographs or short videos on Tapestry for the teachers to see and comment on.
Our core value for Autumn 1 is Friendship and in Autumn 2 our value is Trust. We will explore these themes in our class worships.
PE: Once our PE day is confirmed, I will place a note on Dojo. Please make sure that both indoor and outdoor PE kits are provided. Please find a list of PE kit on the school website. We will not be doing PE for the first few weeks and we will put on Class Dojo the week before we start so you know when to start sending it into school.
Areas of Learning
Personal, Social and Emotion Development: We will be exploring and sharing different emotions during our circle time sessions each week. We will be beginning to understand ourselves and our feelings. During Christmas time this area will be developed more as we learn about ourselves and our family traditions.
Communication and Language: We will be practicing answering different styles of questions such as, how, why, who, what and when. We will be working towards following instructions from an adult. We will again take part in circle time sessions where we share our own thoughts or feelings with the other children in our class. These will form part of our PSHE weekly sessions.
Physical Development: The first part of this area of learning is gross motor skills, these are all the big movements such as climbing, negotiating space and ball skills. The children will practise most of these movements outside. The second part of this area is fine motor skills. We will participate in a daily Dough Disco session to develop muscle control in the fingers we use for writing. Pencil control is one of our top priories at this time year, the children need to practice this constantly.
Literacy: This area involves everything from listening and enjoying stories to recognising letters to writing letters and words. We will have key stories throughout the term that we will be looking, as well as a different rhyme or song each week. At this age the performance is the key element. Children will be expected to be able to not only recite their song/rhyme but understand the words and sentences within each one. The children will be beginning to hear initial and end sounds within words and beginning to write these down. We will be exploring lots of different story books which will be shared via Dojo.
Read, Write Inc: In our daily sessions, we learn new sounds and words, revisit old ones and practise our blending and segmenting skills. Read, Write Inc is based on practising what the children already know. It is a celebration, an opportunity for them to shine at home with their adult. We also practise writing letters and words daily. You can help by completing daily practise of new sounds and/or words at home.
Maths: In Reception, maths is taught through White Rose Maths. This scheme is all about supporting children and their understanding of numbers through using physical resources. Even though recognising numbers in an important aspect of maths, the key element in our new curriculum is learning about what makes a number and number, ie. three is three objects or one and two objects together. We will also give the children opportunities to learn about time, capacity and the comparison between different sizes. This term we will be focusing on the understanding and composition of the numbers to 10.
Understanding the World: This area is very knowledge based. We will be learning about history, geography, science and Religious Education. This term we will be exploring the history of our local area in both our history and geography sessions.
In History, we will be discussing old and new toys and how toys have changed over time. We will also be exploring Remembrance Day and Bonfire nights and why these are important parts of History. In Geography we will be exploring our local area and our school. We will be looking at and creating our own maps. Look out for different areas as we go through the term on newsletter on dojo so you can share your own knowledge with your child.
Expressive Arts and Design: This area explores music, songs, role play, construction, anything that involves creativity and imagination. We will be providing the children with lots of different opportunities to use their own ideas to create their own picture, structure or a whole new world. We will be exploring the harvest festival by doing observational drawings of fruits and vegetables. We will also be creating our own diva lamps for Diwali and making our own Christmas ornaments in December.
How you can help at home...
Homework: Homework will be sent home on a weekly basis. The dates and start times of this will be communicated via Dojo when the children are settled in to their new class and routines.
Our topics: Magical Me - To support your child in this topic please could you discuss your family history with your child. This will support them during the discussion we have in class.
Christmas - To support your child, please discuss the different routines that you share with your children over this festive period. More information around Christmas festivities will be communicated closer to the time.
British Weather: Please remember that the British weather does not always stay the same. If the weather is sunny on a morning, it does not mean the weather will always stay this way. If the weather is sunny, please send your child in a sun hat and apply sun cream before school when applicable. If the weather is cold, please send hats, scarves and gloves with names in. Please name any clothes or accessories that are sent to school to avoid any confusion or loss.
Your support in sending your child to school on time and regularly is vital to ensure that they receive the best quality education they can.
We are looking forward to a fantastic term together and would to take this opportunity to welcome you all to UFS. If you have any questions about anything this term, either come in and see us or please use Class Dojo and we will get back to your as soon as we can.
We are wondering where our journey will take us this term. Exciting times ahead!
Miss Kaye and the Reception Team