What a great week we’ve had in Reception this week. Thank you to all the parents who were able to make the reading craft activity afternoon! It was lovely to have so many parents come in and get creative and share stories.
This week
We have continued with our ‘Once upon a time’ topic, focusing on The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We have been learning all about bridges and what they are used for. We have also linked it to our previous learning on materials and their properties; thinking about what materials would be good for making bridges. We have learnt the words ‘rigid’ and ‘flexible’ and used Venn diagrams to sort some materials out into these categories. The children then made bridges in pairs, using various junk modelling resources and working together to make it strong enough to take the weight of a small toy. In art, we looked at the artist Monet and his painting ‘Bridge over a Pond of Waterlilies’ 1899. The children then created their own paintings in the same style.
In our Talk for Writing sessions the children have taken it in turns to tell and act out their own versions of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We have got to know the story really well now and all of the children are able to retell the story using the repeated refrains ‘Who’s been eating my porridge?’, ‘Who’s been sitting in my chair?’ and ‘Who’s been sleeping in my bed?’ You could ask your child to tell you the story at home.
In Maths, the children were learning about making pairs and identifying odd and even numbers as well as learning how to combine 2 groups of objects as a means of addition.
We have been revisiting previously learnt digraphs in Phonics this week. A digraph is where 2 letter shapes come together to make one sound. So far, the digraphs we have learnt are: ff, ll, ss, qu, zz, ch, sh, th and th, ng, oo (long) and oo (short) ow, ee and ur.
We also learnt two new sounds ‘ee’ and ‘ur’. The children enjoyed the Monster Phonics version of Little Red Riding Hood which had lots of words containing our 2 new sounds. The children continued to practise applying their phonic knowledge to segment for writing and blend for reading. Great job Reception!
Next week
- Next week is Feeling Good Week. The children will be enjoying opportunities to take part in activities including Street Dance and we are having a visit from Ark Farm!
- We will continue our ‘Once upon a time’ topic and centre our learning around Cinderella
- In Phonics, we will be learning the digraphs ai and or as well as consolidating our previously learnt sounds in our reading and writing.
- In Talk for Writing, the children will continue to create their own adapted versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears
- In Maths, the children will be using vocabulary to compare height and length and begin to understand days of the week as a sequence for telling the time.
Supporting your child at home
- Read three times this week and record in your child’s reading record. We have collected the reading records in this weekend so that we can get up to date with the stamps for the reading challenge. You can still access the Monster Phonics reading books online.
- Please complete week 5 of the reading challenge which is to read a book outside. Take a photograph and add it to Tapestry so that we can give out the stamps and certificates for those children who have completed all 5 activities
Any other information
- Cinderella’s ball is on Friday 10th February in school time. Please could the children come to school dressed in their party clothes that day We will be having food, music and dancing. It should be a fun and exciting way to end our ‘Once upon a time’ topic.
