PRE-RECEPTION
It has been a pleasure to welcome the children back for the final half-term of the academic year. It is hard to believe that the year is nearly over and so many of the children will be moving on to their Reception class in September.
This week we have been learning all about space. Our new book, ‘Whatever Next’, has been a great success with the children. They looked at the front cover of the book and predicted what they thought the book would be about. Many of the children correctly predicted it was about an adventure in space. We have introduced a space station into the classroom to encourage the children’s imagination and creativity. The children made rock cakes, that may have made it home on Wednesday and they looked at recipes to help with following instructions.
Maths
In Maths this week, we have revisited composition of number (how larger numbers are made up of smaller numbers). We used aliens to work out groups we could put them into.
Phonics
In Phonics, we have begun to identify the final sound in words. Our target sounds were ‘ck’ and ‘x’. We are also working on segmenting CVC words to give the children a good foundation for their writing in Reception.
PSHE
In our Jigsaw PSHE lesson, we began by singing ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes’. We then added different body parts that the children suggested. We then thought about how each body part helps us. For example, your fingers help you to do jigsaw puzzles and your feet help you to run. We talked about how we can show respect for ourselves by looking after our bodies. For example, washing our hands to keep them clean. We looked at the resources from the NSPCC pants campaign.
RECEPTION
Understanding the World
This week we have been exploring summer. First, we briefly recapped our knowledge of other seasons before exploring what happens in summer. Then, we talked about using our five senses to help us describe the signs of summer, comparing this to the other seasons.
Literacy
At the beginning of the week, the children enjoyed sharing their half term homework with the rest of the class. They confidently talked about what their favourite book was and why. In our teacher led activity this week the children wrote full sentences about summer. As an additional challenge, we encouraged them to use the word ‘because’.
Phonics
This week, during Phonics, we focused on vowel sounds, CVCC, and CCVC words. This including reading words such as growl, float, storm and boast. In our daily phonic sessions, we continued to read a sentence and then write it, as well focusing on three spellings. Additionally, we reminded the children to check and make sure it is a good sentence by including a capital letter, finger spaces and punctuation.
Maths
This week, we have started the block ‘visualise, build and map.’ The focus of this week’s learning begins by returning to the concept of repeating patterns. Children have deepened their understanding of different patterns and have begun to develop a secure knowledge of pattern rules and the ability to verbalise their thinking and explain it to others.
Find out more about Early Years here.
