Author: Coundon Admin

Happy New Year to you all. We hope you have a happy and restful Christmas break with family and friends. The Reception staff would like to say a huge thankyou for the very kind cards and gifts that we received at the end of term. They were very much appreciated by us all.

The children have started their new phonics groups and are moving forward with learning new sounds and recapping the sounds previously taught. Most of the children will now have log in details to Oxford owl on the front of their reading diary. Please make sure your child goes on to Oxford owl to do the reading activities set and read any text that has been assigned to them by their phonics teacher. They have also been issued a book bag book or Ditty sheets to read at home. Please sign your child’s reading EVERY TIME they do a reading activity with you so that we can see how much they are reading at home. This will help us understand the children’s needs and why they may not be making the expected progress. Try to get into the habit of reading every night with your child as this is the only home work we expect of Reception children and it gets them into a good habit for moving through the school. If your child has QR codes in their diary please watch these videos with your child and encourage them to join in.

In maths we are continuing to work on deepening our understanding to 5. The children will be focusing on subitising amounts ( knowing how many are in a set without the need to count), finding more and less ( again without the need to count) and knowing the different ways to make 5. Below you will find a link to the Top Marks website where your child can play a range of games. Please focus just to 5 and see if your child can recognise the amounts without the need to count. Ask ‘What can you see and how can you see it?’ There is also a link to the numberbonds song to 5 that will help your child learn about the numbers that make 5.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=16&AgeGroup=1

The children have been learning all about Winter. We have talked about the signs of winter and the clothes that we need to wear. This week we will be looking at the changes that have taken place between the Autumn and the Winter. Can your child tell you how winter is different to Autumn? We will be doing a range of winter crafts and challenges such as making a bird feeder, making snowmen and even having a snowball fight with paper snowballs. When you are outside with your child ask them about what they can see and what they know about winter. The children should know about dressing for winter and should be encouraged to put their coat on by themselves and do it up and put their gloves on last. We ask the children to keep their gloves in their coat pockets and their hat in their coat sleeve so they are easily accessible. When hats and gloves are put into bags the children leave them there and do not wear them all day as they are not easily accessible. Please encourage your child to do this at home also so it becomes a habit.

Now that the children are settled in school we will begin to award a child from each class with a head teachers award each week. This award will go to a child displaying our school values of Respect, Responsibility, Resilience and Kindness, or demonstrating great effort, progress or behaviour. A letter will be sent out with the chosen child on a Friday inviting you as their parent/ guardian to attend a celebration assembly on the following Thursday at 2.45. It would be wonderful to see you there if your child has been chosen for the Head Teachers award so that you can share in their success.

Have a wonderful week

The Reception Team