Nursery and Reception 

Class teachers:

Miss Hoggart. Mrs Wood and Mrs Ward

Teaching assistants:

Mrs Agus and Mrs Brindley

Autumn Term

Special people in my life

Our topic this term is ‘Special People in My Life’ Your child has brought home a concept organiser with more detail about this topic. The children will be developing their comparison skills through this topic. We will be looking at similarities and difference between themselves and others and similarities and differences between their families.

This topic links with our curriculum themes about:

· Diversity

· Human Rights and Responsibilities.

Our Class Texts

In our reading lessons, we will be reading the traditional stories of Guess How Much I Love You and Leaf Man. When we read these stories we always talk about the cover, the author and the illustrator before we start reading. We will be learning to tell the story with actions from memory using a story map. This is to enable the children to re-tell the story quickly so that when they are ready for writing they know what to write about.

Phonics

Phase One Phonics is taught within Nursery. The children are taught;

· General sound discrimination

· Rhythm and rhyme

· Alliteration

· Voice Sounds

· Oral Blending and Segmenting

In Nursery the children will be developing their listening skills through rhyming and initial sound activities.

The children in Reception will start their Read, Write, Inc. lessons, applying their phonic knowledge and skills at various different levels. Information about what your child is working on will be sent in their reading packets.

How you can help at home:

Practise pronouncing the pure sounds: Remember no ‘fuh’ and ‘luh’!

Practise saying the set 1 sounds at speed.

Read favourite stories over and over again

Listen to them read consonant vowel consonant (CVC) words, paper ditties or their take home Phonics storybooks (depending on their RWI group)

Have fun with Fred Talk e.g. “what a tidy r-oo-m!”

j-a-m jam, c-a-t cat, p-e-n pen, sh-o-p shop

Useful videos and websites for phonics:

• How to pronounce the pure sounds - Watch our https://www.ruthmiskin.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkXcabDUg7Q

• Read Write Inc. Phonics – Parent/Carer Films
• Free e-books for home reading: https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/
• Phonics Play – Phonics Games https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources

Writing:

Nursery:

In Nursery we are encouraging the children to develop their mark making skills.

Reception:

In Reception we will be developing our mark making skills. Through continuous provision we will be encouraging children to write their names. Through Read, Write, Inc. and handwriting sessions we will be focusing on writing letters that are formed correctly.

Maths:

Nursery:

Nursery will be focusing on their basic number skills by practising their touch counting though continuous provision and adult led groups. We will also be focusing on our 2D shapes.

Reception:

We will be looking at developing our touch counting skills. We will also be focusing on the composition of single digit numbers. We will be exploring the names and properties of 2d shapes and will be looking at creating repeating patterns and amending mistakes in patterns.

• BBC Bitesize -Early years resources for learning at home

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zks4kmn

• White Rose Maths – Parents & Pupilshttps://whiterosemaths.com/
• Top Marks – Interactive maths gameshttps://www.topmarks.co.uk/
• BBC iPlayer – Numberblockshttps://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b08bzfnh/numberblocks

PE days: 

The children in Reception will take part in PE on a Monday.

For each session, children will need to come to school in their PE kit, including pumps/trainers, dark tracksuit bottoms or shorts and a white t-shirt.

RE

In RE, the children will be looking at special people in their life both at home and in school. We will also be exploring what a role model is and being able to identify role models in the community.

Homework: 

We expect that the children in Reception practice the set 1 sounds and practice Fred talking (help your child to say the pure sounds as quickly as they can and then blend the sounds together to say the whole word e.g. l-e-g leg, p-e-n pen) at least three times a week. To help your child develop their reading please share stories and listen to them read simple consonant vowel consonant words, paper ditty or their book (depending on their RWI group)

For topic, the children will be set a piece of homework each half term. The purpose of this is for children to be creative and have fun working on a project with their parent/carer. This homework will usually be set at the start of the half term and the deadline will be within the last week of half term.

Home school books:

Your child will have a home/school book in their reading packers. Please use this to record all homework that has been completed weekly. This should be brought to school every day.

Learning through Play:

Children?s play reflects their wide ranging and varied interests and preoccupations. We believe that playing with peers is important for children?s development. Through play our children explore and develop learning experiences, which help them make sense of the world. They practise and build up ideas, and learn how to control themselves and understand the need for rules. They have the opportunity to think creatively alongside other children and they communicate with others as they investigate and solve problems.

Metacognition and Self-Regulation: 

It is important that children develop their skills of metacognition and self-regulation. Put simply, this means that we encourage the children to think about how they learn, not just what they learn.

During the time that children in Early Years can choose their own learning during ‘Plan, Do, Review’ sessions the children tell us what area they are going to work in and what learning they are going to do in there. At the end of the session the children share their learning with a group of children. The group of children are encouraged to ask them questions about the work they have done. We also encourage the children to think about the schools learning powers that they have used when completing their chosen task.

How you can help your child at home:

Encourage your child to have a try at fastening their own coats before doing it for them. You can always start the zip off and let your child finish fastening it.
Teach your child to use a knife and fork so that they can be more independent at dinner times.
Support your child in tidying their own toys away. This is something that they need to be able to do at school. We encourage children to put something back once they have finished with it. We also expect them to help tidy the classroom and outdoor area when we have finished the session.
It is important that your child learns how to hold a pencil correctly. Once they have learnt the wrong way to do it, it is really difficult to undo. As soon as they are ready encourage them to use a tripod grip when mark making so that they are ready for writing and forming letters.