Our Learning > Our Classes

Hello from Lilac and Willow, it has been another wonderful week in Reception.

This week

The children have enjoyed learning about different types of houses and homes and talking about which type of home they live in.  We started our week by learning some names of various houses including: bungalow, detached, semi-detached, terraced and flats.  To help the children remember their names and their features we played a game called Houses and Homes.  When the children heard a different house name, they had to make different actions.

We spent some time looking at what buildings would have looked like in the past. We looked at a recent photograph of Hitchin Market Square and a painting by Samuel Lucas from 1840. The children then made observations and comparisons, talking about what was the same and what was different

In Phonics we learnt the sounds o,c,k,ck and the tricky words: to, into, go, no, the.  We continued to practise segmenting and blending for reading.

We are following White Rose Maths and this week we have been cementing our repeating pattern work and looking at the composition of the numbers 1,2 and 3. We explained what subitising was and have been practising this skill up to 3.

Next week

• We will continue to explore the season of Autumn and notice the changes happening all around us
• We will learn about what happens at Harvest time
• We will enjoy our own Reception Harvest Festival in class- singing songs and eating some soup and bread
• We are looking forward to our Monster Phonics dress up day on Friday 20^th October
• In phonics we will be having a consolidation week and practising the key skills for reading
• In maths we continue on our White rose Maths scheme; ‘It’s Me; 1,2,3’ and look in more detail at subitising, as well as positional language.

Supporting your child at home

• When reading with your child, why not try asking the following questions:
  – (Whilst looking at the front cover) What do you think the story is about?
  – (Whilst looking at the illustrations) How do you think that character feels, and why?
  – (Pausing halfway through the story) What do you think will happen next?
  – (At the end of the story) Which was your favourite part, and why?
• Look for repeating patterns around your home, on clothes and other fabrics. You could also have a go at making a repeated patterns using natural resources outside.

Any other information

• We have sent home a reading activity. Please encourage your child to segment the words- saying all of the sounds and then blend together to hear the word- they can then match the word to the picture. Please encourage them to do the blending, with some gentle support if they need a boost. Many of the children need practise with blending, this is a key skill they need to develop.
• Please can you ensure that your child’s reading record is in school every day.
• Please ensure that your child has a coat and water bottle in school every day! Many children are still coming with no coat ion the rain. We go out in all weathers so please dress your child appropriately.
• Parents Evening. We look forward to seeing you for our first Parents Evenings. This will be a brief opportunity for teachers to share with you how your child has settled into life at Samuel Lucas. They are taking place on: Tuesday 17^th October 4-7pm and Thursday 19^th October 3:30pm-6:30pm
• Friday 20^th October 2023 is Monster Phonics dress up day. Please send your child into school dressed either as one of the Monster Phonics Monster characters (these can be found on the handouts we sent home and on the website) or in the colour of a Monster Phonics monster.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Fisher and Mrs Murrell