Welcome to Reception! We are 'St Mary's' class. 

Autumn 1 2021

The Reception Team

The Reception Teachers are: Mrs Farrell and Mrs Collins. 

Learning support staff are: Mrs Murphy and Miss Neale.

The Early Years (Nursery and Reception classes) gate opens at 8:30am and closes at 8.40am.  If your child is late you will need to enter the school through the school office. Please ensure your child arrives promptly to school each day. At the end of the day, the doors open at 2.40pm. Please arrive on time to collect your child. 

Remote Learning in Reception

Should it be needed for individual cases, information regarding remote learning can be found on our class Sway page on the school website under the Parents tab and then Home Learning Support. This folder contains learning activities for pupils who are absent for a few days as they are currently isolating awaiting test results (if well enough to access) or siblings of pupils who are required to isolate.

If the whole year group or an individual child needs to isolate for the recommended 10 days then we will contact you with further details about teaching and learning at home. This longer term learning will be delivered through Seesaw.

There are also many home learning resources and support further down this class page.

Our Learning in Autumn 

This term we shall guide and progress the children in all 7 inter-connected areas of learning and development within the new and updated EYFS Framework.

These 7 areas are:

Communication and Language (Listening, Attention and Understanding, Speaking)

Personal, Social and Emotional Development (Self-Regulation, Managing Self and Building Relationships)

Physical Development (Gross Motor Skills and Fine Motor Skills)

Literacy (Comprehension, Word Reading and Writing)

Maths (Number and Numerical Pattern)

Understanding the World (Past and Present, People, Culture and Communities and The Natural World)  

Expressive Arts and Design (Creating with Materials and Being Imaginative and Expressive)

We monitor the children's progression through adult and child daily interactions, observations during whole class, group, individual teaching and during continuous provision. 

Our Autumn topic is: 1,2,3 Good to be Me​

Daily activities to complete with your child-

• Daily writing practice - please encourage your child to practise writing their first name, encouraging them to use an upper case letter for their initial and lower case letters for the other letters. Please share any writing on Seesaw or Tapestry. 
• Daily reading practice - please continue to engage with daily reading with your child; this could be through singing rhymes, poems and songs also as well as reading stories. It is really beneficial to read aloud to your child each day. This will prepare them to succeed as a reader. Bedtime stories are so valuable to encourage good future reading habits with your child. Reading Eggs is a highly recommended resource, so please take full advantage of your school subscription. Please practise recognition of the Phase 2 sounds and Phase 2 tricky words also. 
• Daily number/counting practice -  Counting up to 5, 10 or 20. Sing number songs and rhymes. Using mathematical language such 'more' and 'less'-this could be done when playing or when preparing food together. Go on a number hunt around the home or outdoors-focus on identifying numerals 0-5. Order numerals to 5 and then 10. 

Maths

In Maths we will be focusing on counting objects, actions and sounds, ordering and recognising numerals to 5, subitising (instantly recognise small quantities), singing counting songs and number rhymes and read stories that involve counting, comparing and ordering, one to one correspondence. We will be sorting and matching, creating patterns and finding them around us. 

Literacy

In literacy, we will consolidate the listening skills the children have learnt in Phase 1 of Letters and Sounds, specifically, hearing initial sounds in words and segmenting and blending the sounds in simple words. We shall then move swiftly onto Phase 2 of Letters and Sounds where children will learn to recognise, practise the formation of and apply the sounds in this phase. We move through the programme by daily phonics sessions where children have the chance to read and write the sounds. 

For more detailed information on the phonics phases please see the Letters and Sounds website (https://www.letters-and-sounds.com/).  We will be doing lots of mark making in a variety of contexts and for varied purposes, encouraging the use of the letter formation as we learn them.  We will be working hard on our speaking and listening skills, having paired discussions with our 'talk partners', telling our news and sharing lots of stories and rhymes.  We will be using the Tales Toolkit approach ( https://talestoolkit.com/) to support shared narratives and independent story telling.

RSE

This term we will teach RSE, using the scheme Ten Ten - Life to the Full. Below is an overview of the lesson objectives your child will cover over the Autumn term.

EYFS – 

PE

PE (Physical Education) in Reception will start after the October half term. We plan for it to take place each Friday outdoors on the astro turf pitch. Therefore, after the October half term, your child will arrive to school in their PE kits each Friday. They will not need their standard school uniform on this day as they will stay in their PE kits all day.

As in line with our school uniform policy, your child’s PE kit should be as follows:

• Plain navy joggers (no brands or logos).
• A pair of trainers (velcro trainers if they cannot tie their laces independently).
• Your child can wear their usual white polo shirt and navy school jumper on a Friday. The school uniform shop in Heaton Moor sells St Mary’s PE hoodies. These are permitted to be worn on a Friday but please do not feel that you have to purchase one as the normal school jumper is fine.

Tapestry Online Learning Journal

This year, we will use Tapestry, an online learning journal, in Nursery and Reception. Tapestry is a program which allows all children in our Reception classes to have a personal on-line learning journal which records photographs, observations and comments to build up a record of your child’s experiences during their time with us. 

You will have secure access (via email address and password) to your child’s individual Learning Journal and, in addition to viewing our contributions, we encourage you to add to it by uploading photos and comments, or commenting on observations made by us. The safeguarding of our children is very important to us. Everything that is added to Tapestry will only be viewed by school staff using the program, and also yourself, using your own log in. You will only have access to your child’s Learning Journal and this cannot be seen by other parents. It is crucial that you do not share photos or videos from your child’s learning journal on social media or through other online platforms.

Tapestry will be a wonderful way of additional communication between staff and parents; enabling you to view your child’s experiences and comment on the posts, as well as share what you have been up to at home with school.

During the first term you will receive an email (the email you registered for Parentmail with) enabling you to log onto your account.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Home Learning

Book bags and reading books need to be returned each Wednesday. We will return them to you by the following Friday. During the first term you will receive your QR code to access our Seesaw home learning page. We normally use Seesaw just for maths home learning, but feel free to upload any other learning your child engages with.  The children love to share their home learning with the other children each Wednesday morning. They especially like to watch video clips of their friend's learning at home. Please see a member of staff as soon as possible if you are having any problems accessing your Seesaw account.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to speak to a member of the Reception Team. 

Many thanks for your continued support

The Reception Team

Phonics websites

Mr Mc is doing fun and interactive daily phonics lessons for children age 4-5. He focuses on new digraphs and has lots of different ways to revisit already learnt sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTcZnvuTeovlznioLRo0GOA/videos

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk

https://monsterphonics.com/games/

http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/phase-3-games.html

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/5-7-years/letters-and-sounds

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/literacy.html

https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/alphablocks

Phonics apps

Jolly Phonics Lessons

Meet the alphablocks

Read with phonics games

First words sampler

Teach your monster to read

Maths websites

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=16&AgeGroup=1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/topics/numeracy

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberblocks

Maths Apps

Kids counting

Maths Tree

Bugs and Numbers

Busy things

Maths ages 3-5

Maths YouTube videos

Jack Hartman

https://www.youtube.com/user/JackHartmann

Monkey floss counting backwards from 20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hD26XpuUCc

2D shape song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTeqUejf3D0

3D shape song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cg-Uc556-Q

Numberjacks

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWKuiktSh-V3E4ysPU0VC3Q

Numberblocks

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPlwvN0w4qFSP1FllALB92w

Counting by 10s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gmEe0-_ex8

Counting by 5s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ4jV14Oz5I

El Nombre for number formation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB6RGn7x4ks

Money song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFzAU3u06Ps

The Early Years Framework

As you may already be aware, the DFE (Department for Education) have introduced a new EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) framework, commencing September 2021.  Your child will follow the updated EYFS framework and will work towards the final assessment at the end of the Reception year, using the new ELGs (Early Learning Goals). These goals are short statements that teachers assess your child against at the end of the year.  The 7 main areas of learning remain the same. These are;

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Expressive Arts and Design
• Understanding the World

As part of the changes to the new framework, it also means that there is less emphasis on recording paperwork, meaning we, as adults, can spend more time with your child getting to know them and having those quality interactions. The new framework is also more aligned with the KS1 curriculum, further ensuring your child’s educational journey from Reception to KS1 is building upon previous knowledge. See the attached link below for the statements that your child will be assessed against at the end of Reception. We have also provide a link below to the Development Matters 2021 document, which outlines the principles behind the new framework.

Partnership with Parents

• It is important for parents and early years settings to have a strong and respectful partnership. This sets the scene for children to thrive in the early years.
• This includes listening regularly to parents and giving parents clear information about their child's progress.
• The help that parents give their children at home has a very significant impact on their learning.
• Some children get less support for their learning at home than others. By knowing and understanding all children and their families, we will offer extra help to those who need it most.
• It is important to encourage all parents to chat, play and read with their children.

Useful Information for parents from the NSPCC

Positive parenting (nspcc.org.uk)

Look Say Sing Play: to build your baby’s brain every day (nspcc.org.uk)

Handle with care: How to keep your baby safe (nspcc.org.uk)

Talking about difficult topics | NSPCC

Helping Your Child Cope with Your Divorce or Separation | NSPCC

Online Safety for Children - Tips & Guides | NSPCC

Useful Information for parents from Early Education

Babies - learning starts from the first day.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Children as artists.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Going out to play and learn (3).pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Helping children cope with change.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Helping children with their behaviour.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Making their mark - children's early writing.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Maths is Everywhere.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Questions and answers.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Science all around.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

The road to reading.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Toddlers and very early learning.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Useful Information for parents from BBC/CBeebies

Grown-ups - for parents and carers - CBeebies - BBC

Tips and clips for good oral hygiene and teeth brushing