Welcome back from Lilac and Willow, we hope you had a lovely half term. It has been another busy and fun filled week in Reception.
This week:
The children learnt about the history of Bonfire Night and why we celebrate with fireworks and a bonfire. We heard the story of Guy Fawkes and his Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. The children discovered that Guy Fawkes didn’t end up carrying out his plot however as King James I captured him and his accomplices. The King decided that on the 5th November every year from that day we would remember the Gunpowder Plot and how Guy Fawkes’ plan failed. Every year we burn bonfires and put a model of Guy Fawkes on top. We light fireworks and sparklers to celebrate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot. We also spent time this week using our senses to describe how fireworks look, move and sound. The children we encouraged to make marks for meaning and use initial sounds to write descriptive words such as zip, bang and pop. They created some fantastic firework pictures using various materials including chalk and glitter.
In phonics, the children were introduced to some very friendly monsters who will be helping them to learn all of the different letters and sounds.
This week, we have been learning the following sounds: s, a, t, p. In each session, the children are shown real life objects or photos of objects that contain the daily sound. They are then shown the grapheme (letter), taught how to pronounce the sound, learn an action to associate with the sound and then sing a song or say a sentence containing the daily sound. The children then practised making words using the sounds learnt this week. All of the adults are so proud of how hard the children are working and sounding out (segmenting) and blending the sounds – well done Reception!
In Maths this week, the children were learning about counting using the 1:1 principle. This involves children assigning one number name to each object that is being counted. We model this to the child by moving each object to ensure that each object is only counted once. We also learnt about different ways of representing numbers 1, 2 and 3.
The children have been introduced to some of the songs from our Christmas Nativity ‘The Sleepy Shepherd’. Over the coming weeks we will share more songs with them as well as giving you more information.
Next week:
- We will be learning all about the Hindu festival of Diwali.
- We will be commemorating Remembrance Day on Wednesday 11th November as well as celebrating Children in Need on Friday 13th
- In Phonics, we will learn new graphemes i and n as well as recap the graphemes s, a, t and p learned last week.
- In Maths we will be comparing numbers 1, 2 and 3 using the vocabulary of one more, one less and the same.
Supporting your child at home:
- Look for things around your house that begin with s, a, t or p and encourage your child to say the sound.
- Encourage your child to draw a range of fireworks as a way of helping support their pencil control?
- Keep a weather chart for a week. Draw a picture to show what the weather is like each day.
- Encourage your child to help you with shopping or making a simple recipe by counting and collecting objects using the 1:1 principle e.g. Can you get 2 apples? Can you put 2 spoons of cocoa into the bowl?
Any other information:
- NURSERY RHYME WEEK BEGINNING 16th NOVEMBER – We are taking part in National Nursery Rhyme week and as such you should have received a Parentmail about the children coming to school dressed as a Nursery Rhyme character on Friday 20th If you have any questions, please let us know.
- READING – You should have received a set of phonic flash cards (for you to cut up and use), a letter about supporting your child with learning monster phonics and a story book to share with your child. On the inside front cover of your child’s reading book, we have stuck some ideas of the sorts of questions you could ask your child when reading and some suggestions for supporting pre-reading skills. Please could you ensure you record in your child’s reading record each time you read with them and ensure your child’s book bag is in school every day. A member of staff will listen to your child read their school book once every other week, and all children’s books will be changed every week. To ensure this can happen its important books and records are in school every day.
- JUNK MODELLING – Thank you so much for all of the junk you have provided to us, it is always very much appreciated. Please keep it coming!
Thank you for your continued support, we hope you enjoy your weekend!
Mrs Fisher and Mr French
Willow and Lilac Class Teachers
