Reception Weekly Newsletter

Term: Summer 2 Date 01.07.13

This week, we will be concluding our Summer topic, ‘Buckets and Spades’, as next week we will start our transition unit. Our focus of learning this week is ‘Water’. Your child will be taking part in the following activities within the seven areas of development (activities are subject to change, depending on the children’s interests; however, the skills remain the same):

Personal, Social and Emotional Development.
Organising new tidy up teams for this week.
WATER SAFETY – Discussing appropriate behaviour near water/ dirty water, clean water etc…

Communication and Language 
Introduce our theme for the week – WATER. Whole class - Brainstorm what we know about water. Understanding water conservation – where children can identify the importance of water in their lives. 

Physical
Exploring our outside area.

Literacy
The children need to be bringing in their reading books daily. We praise the children who regularly read at home to an adult and have a reward system in place. 
Name writing using chalks, pens, paint brushes, foam etc…
Following on from discussions about water, encourage children to make booklets and posters about saving water.
We will be continuing our daily Read Write Inc sessions.

Maths.
Discuss with the children how much water they think they use when brushing teeth, going to the toilet etc….Capacity activity outside – guessing how many cups of water to fill containers and recording on laminated sheets.

Understanding of the World
Using the posters, discuss water cycles. Encourage children to use correct vocab – evaporation, precipitation and condensation. Look at poster with the children, and discuss the journey of the water.

Expressive Arts and Design
Enjoying our daily dance warm up to the ‘5 a day’ fitness programme. 
Role play – Under the sea. Home corner.
Children to paint different parts of the water cycle: sun, sea, river, rain, reservoir and a pipe leading to a tap. Can the children sequence their pictures to form the water cycle?

Messages:
Please follow Broadford on facebook (remember to press the ‘like’ button) and twitter. We update the Early Years blog regularly with photos and information.
Show and tell this week should be linked to the theme of ‘Water’.
Date for your Diary:
On Wednesday 3rd July, we are inviting Parents to come and have a picnic with us at lunchtime from 12 noon until 1pm. Children should have a packed lunch on Wednesday.
Sports’ Day – Tuesday 9th July. We are aiming for a 9.15am start.
Wednesday 10th July – sharing assembly - 9.00am start
Friday 19th July – Reception Graduation at 2.00pm.

Ways to help at home:
Sharing books to encourage story language and imagination.
Playing letters and sounds phase 2 and phase 3 games on the computer.
Encourage your children to use the correct pencil grip using ‘froggy fingers’.
Looking at shapes around the home: cereal boxes, tins of food, clocks, doors, windows etc…. try and discuss how many sides, corners, faces they have.

Homework this half term is ‘Summer Fun’. You might decide to make a poster about keeping safe in the sun, the importance of drinking water or the water cycle. You could make a poster about holidays you have been on or days out to the seaside or maybe a poster about now and then, comparing days out long ago to now. If you are feeling creative maybe you could do some sand art. As usual, you have until the end of term to complete your homework.

Thank you for your continued support.