Hello everyone, was a jam-packed week the children have had this week.
This week
We met the remaining Mr Men and Little Miss characters this week as we continued thinking about how to be effective learners. During the week, there have been lots of exciting and fun ways for children to demonstrate the skills required to be effective learners.
Mr Clever likes to think a lot and has his own ideas so we encouraged the children to think of how they could use the resources in our learning environment. We saw so many original and imaginative creations in the construction and creative areas, as well as fantastic stories being told in the small world area.
Little Miss Brainy likes to make links in her learning and will use all of the skills she has to solve a problem or complete a job. We were very impressed to see examples of this such as in the construction area building models on the carpet, as children used their fine motor skills to hold a pencil and draw a plan, then use their knowledge of shapes to choose the correct block and finally use their listening and communication skills to agree with their friend which blocks to use.
Mr Adventure likes to choose his own way of doing things. We set the children some challenges including choosing which art form to use when creating a still life picture, sorting objects into groups by choosing their own criteria and creating signs to use in class as reminders or prompts. The children were able to decide the best way to complete the challenges, whilst also showing some other characteristics such as having ideas like Mr Clever, using what they already know like Little Miss Curious and persevering like Mr Bump.
Mr Happy was the last character we met this week and he is always happy and proud of what he does.  We want the children to be proud of their achievements too but we must remember to always try our best in whatever we are doing. The challenges set included asking the children to create a piece of artwork, playing games and taking turns with friends, use the pre-writing practise from last week to produce their best writing.
By the end of these 2 weeks finding out about the Characteristics of Effective Learning, all of the adults in Reception felt like Mr Happy. We are so proud of how well the children have practised each new skill and how the refer to them throughout the day â well done Reception, great job!
In Phonics this week we have continuing working hard to develop and practise our listening skills.  We have also been revisiting other aspects of Phonics learnt so far including counting the number of syllables in words, finding rhyming pairs and creating rhyming strings e.g. cat, hat, mat, bat, identifying initial sounds in words oral blending and segmenting. The children have been doing so well acquiring these skills and are will have lots of opportunities to apply these skills as we move onto the next phase of Phonics, where they will learn letters and sounds.
In Maths this week, we continued to develop our maths vocabulary and understanding of how to make comparisons. To help embed the concept securely into the childrenâs memory, we reminded them of the STEM sentence used to explain comparing: âComparing means to say what is the same and what is different.â The children used words like long, longer and longest, short, shorter and shortest.
Our key text this week was âPolar Bear Polar Bear, What do you hear?â by Bill Martin. Throughout the story, there are repeated refrains in which each is animal is asked âWhat do you hearâ and they respond âI hear a (animal) (action) at me.â The children made links in their learning by recognised similarities and differences between this book and âBrown Bear Brown Bear, What do you see?â from last week. We very much enjoyed listening to the children join in with the various animal actions and sounds.
The children continued to practise their listening and performing skills in Music by following the songs and joining in with the actions for Mrs Davies. Mr. Smith enjoyed seeing the confidence of the children as they demonstrated key skills such as moving, balancing and jumping across different equipment â well done everyone!
We have been fortunate to have Year 6 buddies join the children during Busy Fingers first thing in the morning and at lunchtimes in the Dining Hall and on the playground. It has been lovely seeing them support the Reception children and to see the younger ones happy in their interactions with other school children.
Next week
- We will share the traditional tale Little Red Hen.
- We will be celebrating National Poetry Day by sharing poems with the children and trying to create our own simple rhyming poems.
- We will be taking a walk around our school grounds and beginning to think about reading and drawing simple maps.
- We will be learning about âthe Zones of Regulationâ and talking about the range of feelings that we experience.
- In Maths, we will be looking at repeating patterns.
- In Phonics, we will use and apply our prior knowledge to help us as we begin Phase 2 Phonics learning letters and sounds.
- In Music, the children will continue to join in with the actions and songs taught.
- In PE, the children will continue to practise some fundamental skills involved in travelling.
Supporting your child at home
- Talk to your child about the Characteristics of Effective Learning and encourage and praise them when they are like the Mr Men and Little Miss Characters e.g. âYou tried really hard and kept going like Mr Busy, well done!â
- As the colder weather draws near, practise with your child taking a coat on and off and trying to do the zip independently themselves first before seeking help.
- As part of your childâs physical development, practise catching and throwing balls of different sizes.
- To prepare the children for writing, ask them to âshow you what they know about lettersâ and encourage them to ascribe meaning to the marks they have made e.g. âWhat are you going to write?â, âCan you tell me aboutâŠ?â Model writing to your child, whenever possible, writing lists before you go to the shop, writing on a calendar etc.
Any other information
- LITERACY AND MATHS INFORMATION EVENING â Tuesday 5th October 6:30-7:15pm. Please come along to find out more about how Phonics, Reading, Writing and Maths are taught and ways in which you can support your childâs learning.
- READING BOOKS â Please can you ensure that your childâs reading record, wordless book and picture book are in school every day.
- COATS & WATER BOTTLES – Please ensure that your child has a coat and water bottle in school every day.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Fisher and Mr French
Willow and Lilac Class Teachers