Reception

Welcome to Reception's Learning Page

MEET THE TEAM

Mrs Fox

Mrs Littlewood

Mrs Dalby

Miss Harrison

Mrs Wilson

Our main driver project this half term is:

The Big Wide World project teaches children about the global community to which they belong and explores how living things, communities and climates differ around the world.

Support your child at home by:

🗣️ Communication and Language
Look at a map or globe and talk about different countries – “Where do penguins live?”, “Where is the Eiffel Tower?”

Storytelling Across the Globe: Read and retell traditional tales from other cultures (e.g. Anansi the Spider, Handa’s Surprise).

🧠 Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Look at photos or drawings of family members on a world map to show where relatives come from or live.

✍️ Literacy

Travel Tickets & Passports: Create pretend passports or tickets for imaginative journeys – great for writing and mark-making.

🔢 Mathematics

Size and Shape Around the World: Look at buildings or homes from different cultures and compare shapes and sizes (e.g. igloos vs. skyscrapers).

🌿 Understanding the World
Continents and Countries: Use a world map to explore where places are – even if just identifying land and sea.

Cultural Discovery: Learn about foods, celebrations, clothes, or traditions from around the world.

🎨 Expressive Arts and Design
Flag Making: Create flags from different countries using coloured paper, paint or crayons.

💪 Physical Development
Travel-Themed Obstacle Course: Set up a “journey” around the living room or garden – climb a “mountain”, jump over a “river”, crawl through a “jungle”.

Pack the Suitcase Game: Practise fine motor skills by folding clothes or picking travel items to “pack” for an imaginary trip.

Children can access home learning activities by logging onto Seesaw. These are updated on a regular basis and support learning that is taking place in the classroom.

Our companion project is:

This project teaches children about water, including floating and sinking, freezing and melting, and why it is important for living things to stay hydrated.

Support your child at home by:

🗣️ Communication and Language
Read water-themed books like "The Rainbow Fish", "Commotion in the Ocean", or "Tiddler".

Talk About Water: Discuss where water comes from, how we use it, and why it's important.

🧠 Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Caring for Water: Talk about not wasting water and why we need to look after oceans, rivers, and sea creatures.

Role Play: Set up a car wash, a tea party.

✍️ Literacy

Name Writing in Water: Use a paintbrush and water to "write" names outside on a dry path or wall.

🔢 Mathematics
Capacity Play: Use cups, jugs, and bowls to explore full, empty, half-full. Let children pour and compare amounts.

Floating & Sinking: Predict which objects will float or sink and then test them.

Counting Drops: Use a pipette or spoon to count how many drops it takes to fill a small container.

🌍 Understanding the World
Track rainy days on a chart.

: Add food colouring or bubbles to water and mix to see changes.

🎨 Expressive Arts and Design
Bubble Art: Mix paint with bubble solution and blow onto paper with a straw.

Rain Sticks or Shakers: Create instruments inspired by the sound of rain or ocean waves.

Underwater Collage: Use blue paper, foil, and sea creature cutouts to make a sea scene.

💪 Physical Development
Pouring Practice: Pouring water between containers helps develop hand-eye coordination.

Water Painting Outdoors: Use rollers, brushes, or sponges to paint fences or patios with water.

Sponge Squeeze: Strengthen fine motor skills by squeezing water from a sponge into a bowl.

Again, don't forget to look out for the fun, weekly activities on Seesaw and also look what we have been up to in class on class dojo.

Maths

Here is our overview for this term:

This half term we will be focusing on:

Count forwards and backwards from 0-20.
Build and notice patterns with numbers 0-20.
Subitize from numbers 0-20.
Find and make different representations of numbers 0-20.
Recognize and match amount using numbers 0-20.
Increase a quantity by a given amount, while continuing to work within 20.
See and understand that a quantity of a group can be changed by adding more.
See and understand that a quantity of a group can be changed by taking some away.
Explore sharing and grouping objects.
Play with and build doubles.

Key books that we'd recommend that will support your child(ren's) understanding in this terms maths:

• Zero is the Leaves on the Tree by Betsy Franco • None the Number by Oliver Jeffers • Anno’s Counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno • I Spy Numbers by Jean Marzollo • The Ugly Five by Julia Donaldson • Five Small Stars by Elizabeth Matterson and Madge Bugden • Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson • Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen • Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll Walsh • A Beach for Albert by Eleanor May • Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Browne • Sidney the Silly Who Only Eats 6 by M.W. Penn • Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore • 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle • Kipper’s Toybox by Mick Inkpen • Quack and Count by Keith Baker • Simon Sock by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet

Literacy

This half term we will be focusing on:

Giving meanings to marks as they draw.
Recognising and writing own name.
Writing recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.
Forming lower-case and capital letters correctly.
Reading simple phrases and sentences made up of words with known letter–sound correspondences and, where necessary, a few exception words.
Reading individual letters by saying the sounds for them.
Using one-handed tools and equipment, for example, making snips in paper with scissors.
Using a comfortable grip with good control when holding pens and pencils.
Drawing story maps.
Using phonic knowledge to write captions and sentences.
Using stories to create opportunities for writing across the areas of provision.
Re-reading what they have written to check that it makes sense.
Writing short sentences with words with known sound-letter correspondences using a capital letter and full stop.

Reading and Phonics

We are continuing our ELS phonics journey. Your child is learning the phase 3 and 4 sounds.

This half term we will be learning all about recognising phase 3 sounds segmenting words with sounds we have learnt, then blending the sounds together.

We will continue to practice to read the harder to read and spell words daily. These have also been sent home with any phonics gaps for your child to practice. Books are changed every Friday and we ask that children practice reading at least four times a week.

Check out the following links to help at home:

How to pronounce pure sounds

How to blend words to read

This grapheme sheet and harder to spell and read words have been sent home but click the button below to see it online.

Key Days:

Both Reception classes will be doing PE on a Friday this half term.

Reading books will need to be returned by Thursday in order to send out a new book on Friday. Please ensure you bring your child's their reading book to school every day to support reading in school.

Grapheme Sheet for Parents

Harder to Read and Spell Words

Grapheme Sheet for Parents

Here is our Reception Class Charter challenge sheet. You can also download a copy by clicking on the image.

Download all the Charters as a PDF file