Welcome to Reception

Miss Ashington and Mrs Dinnis 

We look forward to welcoming you back for our Summer 2 term.

Topic - 'Space'

Reception Curriculum – Summer 2:

We are excited to announce that our Reception pupils will be embarking on an exciting journey through space in the coming weeks! Our curriculum will be filled with engaging activities and learning experiences that will ignite your child's curiosity and imagination.

Throughout this space-themed unit, our young learners will explore various aspects of the solar system, including planets, stars and space travel. They will participate in hands-on activities, such as creating their own planets using papier-mâché, designing and building rocket ships and role-playing as astronauts.

We will also incorporate space-related themes into our literacy and numeracy lessons. Children will learn space vocabulary, engage in storytelling sessions about space adventures, and solve space-themed math problems. Through these activities, we aim to develop their language skills, critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

We encourage you to get involved in your child's learning experience by discussing space-related topics at home, reading space-themed books together and exploring the night sky. This will reinforce the concepts taught in class and foster a love for learning about space.

We look forward to seeing our young learners grow and develop their knowledge and understanding of space. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer for our space-themed activities, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

Thank you for your continued support and cooperation.

Prior Knowledge and Key vocabulary:

Alien Astronaut Space Planets Rockets Stars Spacesuit Gravity –

I can name the planet I live on. –

I can talk about aliens. –

I know that people have gone into space. –

I can talk about the sun and moon – day/night –

I can name some things you see in space -I know that astronauts wear special suits

Key questions:

 1 Are there aliens in space?

 2 What is an astronaut?

3 What does an astronaut do?

4 How do people get into space?

5 Why is the sun important ?

6. What are the planet names?

To support your child’s learning journey, here are some activities you can do together:

- Practice Phase 3 Tricky Words (bookmarks have been sent home)

- Share stories and read together

- Encourage independence in self-care tasks 

- Provide fun fine motor activities (e.g., playdough, threading, painting with small brushes, building with LEGO)

- Create opportunities for writing in practical contexts (e.g. shopping lists)

- Recognise numbers up to 20 with composition of the numbers e.g. how many ways can you make the number 5?

- Add and subtract using objects, then on a number line and finally in their heads and counting on.

- Practice identifying 2D shapes and knowing some 3D shapes (cone, cube, sphere, cylinder), understanding the difference between solid 3D shapes and flat 2D shapes.

Reminders:

Scooter day:

Tuesday – Hedgehogs and Rabbits

Wednesday – Badgers and Foxes

Thursday – Owls and Squirrels

Homework

Homework will be assigned on a weekly basis and will primarily focus on developing writing independence. These tasks will be light and manageable, designed to prepare the children for the challenges of the upcoming year. Please see email detailing homework this term. 

Important dates this term: 

Monday & Friday - Changing reading book

Friday - Homework sent out and to be returned the following week

Thursday - PE kit - Children will now be attending school in their PE kits on this day. 

Thank you for your continued support in making this term a successful and enriching experience for our children! Together, we can inspire a love of learning and exploration.

Focus Areas This Term:

During Summer, much of our learning will centre around developing communication skills, Literacy and Mathematics.  Children will be encouraged to to develop their social skills and build friendships through play and group activities. This term is all about helping children develop their writing skills and finding confidence in independent work in a warm, supportive environment.

 This half term our focus for PSHE is 'Changing me'

During the year Jigsaw Jenie helps us with our personal, social and emotional understanding. This term in our PSHE lessons, we will focus on building transition and change. Through our Jigsaw unit on Changing me, children will engage in several key topics designed to foster emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills.

Children are encouraged to think about how they have changed from being a baby and what may change for them in the future. They consolidate the names and functions of some of the main parts of the body and discuss how these have changed. They learn that our bodies change as we get older in lots of different ways. Children understand that change can bring about positive and negative feelings and that sharing these can help. They also consider the role that memories can have in managing change.

                    Press here to access the website - health for kids.

The EYFS framework includes Seven Areas of Learning that are equally important and inter-connected. Three areas are particularly important for sparking enthusiasm for learning and forming relationships.

The Prime Areas of Learning:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development

The prime areas are strengthened and applied through four Specific Areas of Learning:

• Literacy
• Maths
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning
In addition to addressing all seven Areas of Learning, our curriculum is designed to promote the Characteristics of Effective Learning. These characteristics describe how the children will learn. These learning behaviours are particularly important in the EYFS because they build the foundations for children to be lifelong learners. The characteristics are:
     

• Playing and Exploring - Engagement
• Active Learning - Motivation
• Creating and Thinking Critically - Thinking

Planning and assessment

We offer the children in Reception a ‘hands-on’ play-based curriculum, both indoors and outdoors, throughout the day. Planning can be intentional, responsive, or anticipatory. It is flexible and can change in response to children’s ideas and interests. Planning may also be linked to events in the community or around the world.

“Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, relate to others, set their own goals and solve problems. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults.” 

                                 Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

In addition to the activities planned by the adults, the children are offered plenty of opportunities to direct their own learning.

All children starting Reception will take part in the Reception Baseline Assessment.  Please see the information for parents document produced by the DfE below to explain the process.

At the end of the Reception Year children will be assessed for the EYFS Profile. Each of the seven areas will be further broken down into the following categories.

To practise phonics, the children can access Mr Thorne’s Phonics on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MrTsPhonics/playlists This is free of charge and the 5 minute videos will give the children a reminder of the sounds they have already learnt but would also enable them to start learning about sounds that are to come in Year 1 if they wanted to. Games can be accessed on https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ and https://www.phonicsbloom.com/ Additional resources are also available below, covering all of the phonics taught so far.

Maths games can be accessed free of charge via Top Marks: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ The children could also continue to practise number formation, ensuring numbers are correctly orientated, and do practical addition and subtraction, for example using Cheerios for counting. There are also resources below revisiting learning the children have covered this year.

If you need to support your child with toilet training, below are some useful links to get them started. Current advice is to teach your child the skill of using a potty and not waiting for the child to be ready.

To help your child be school ready and get the best start to their education, please follow the link below which supports families through interactive games and conversation starters:

https://www.beststartinlife.gov.uk/school-readiness

https://www.facebook.com/SolihullHVs

https://eric.org.uk/potty-training/

https://www.solgrid.org.uk/eyc/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2024/04/037-NW-Toilettraining-December23.pdf

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/babys-development/potty-training-and-bedwetting/how-to-potty-train/#close

Dental Hygiene:

In EYFS, we teach about dental hygiene. The children learn the value of good brushing and how to use toothpaste to fight tooth decay. The Colgate Tooth Defenders help us to learn how to keep ourselves healthy and even give us our own toothbrush and toothpaste to take home!

The Tooth Defenders would like us to complete our brushing chart to make sure that we keep our teeth and gums healthy.

If you need any support for your child or any tips on keeping teeth clean, please see our documents below to help you. Also start taking your child to the dentist….it is never too early to start!

https://startingreception.co.uk/toothbrushing/

Support for potty training

Parent support for children starting school

Advice for parents on screen time

Snow day school closure:

Snow Day Home Learning

If we have a snow day, here are some simple activities you can enjoy with your child to keep their learning going at home:

• Phonics & Reading: Practice reading and writing the tricky words for your child’s current phonics phase. You can extend this by encouraging them to use tricky words in short sentences. Please also revisit the personalised phonics targets sent home last term. Enjoy some shared reading together and remember to record this in their reading book.

• Maths: Support your child in practicing number formation to 10. You can also explore simple addition number sentences using the + and = symbols.

• Understanding the World Make the most of the snowy weather—build snowmen, explore outside, and chat about how snow is formed and what happens when it melts.