PRE-RECEPTION
What a busy first week back we have had!
The children have loved learning about our new topic planting and growing. We have also started to grow bean and cress seeds and we discussed what seeds need to grow into healthy plants. The children have been very careful when we water them.
LITERACY
We have introduced the traditional tale Jack and the Beanstalk into our Literacy lessons to support our topic. Through this book, we have talked about meeting strangers and making good choices, learnt songs to accompany the story and taken part in some drama activities. We even had a giant beanstalk appear in the classroom!
PHONICS
In Phonics, we have taught the children to pronounce the sound ‘r’ phoneme (sound) using the rhyme ‘Show me your teeth to make a rrrr sound rrrrr’. Please feel free to watch the Little Wandle ‘Phase 2 sounds taught in Reception Autumn 1’ video (at 27 seconds) to listen to the pure sound being demonstrated.
MATHS
In Maths, we have continued to work on the cardinal principle (understanding that the final number they say when counting in order is the whole amount) and composition of number. We have encouraged the children to use sentences to discuss the amounts. Our focus this week was the number 6. For example, “There are 3 red counters and 3 blue counters. There are 6 altogether.”
PSHE
In our Jigsaw PSHE lesson we discussed and named some of the different parts of our bodies using the song Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.
Next week, we will continue to look at our topic, growing and planting:
- introducing the ‘h’ sound in Phonics
- continuing to explore Jack and the Beanstalk in Literacy
- continuing to on the number 6 in Maths
RECEPTION
It has been lovely welcoming the children back after the half term break, they have returned refreshed, excited and ready for a new term of learning!
Understanding the World
We have launched our new topic for this term, growth. We began by looking at how you plant seeds. The children really enjoyed exploring what seeds need to help them grow.
Literacy
In Literacy, we have been learning how to write instructions. After planting our seeds, we thought carefully about each step and used bossy instructions to write clear instructions. The children worked brilliantly, breaking the process into simple, easy to follow stages. They used their phonic skills to record their sentences. We encouraged them to read them back once they had recorded them.
Phonics
This week we revisited our phase 3 phonemes: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, oo, ow, oi, and ear. We also reviewed a selection of tricky words from phases 2 and 3. The children practised reading and writing sentences using these sounds, such as: “We put the rabbit down on the carpet”.
Maths
This week we began our unit on building 9 and 10. We explored how to represent these numbers using different objects and pictures, compared the two numbers, and practised conceptual subitising—recognising numbers by seeing smaller groups within a whole. This skill helps children form mental images that support addition and subtraction, allowing them to move beyond counting on their fingers.
Expressive Arts and Design
Our classroom is looking wonderfully bright and colourful! The children have been creating beautiful observational paintings of spring plants. They looked closely at the shapes and colours in the flowers before adding detail and gentle shading using watercolours. Their artwork is truly impressive.
