Reception Curriculum Letter Autumn 2

            

Dear Parents and carers,                                                                                           Term: Autumn 2

The first half term has flown by! The children have settled in well, made friends, learnt the routines and expectations of the setting. Along with this we have started our phonics and maths lessons. The children are retaining the sounds that have been taught well but keep on practicing those sounds, Fred talk and green words at home.

This half term we will be reading a selection of stories during our topic sessions. These stories will include: Funny Bones, Room on a Broom, Elmer, Monster’s Bedtime, Whatever Next, Aliens Love Underpants and Stickman. We will also be looking at celebrations, including Diwali, Bonfire Night, birthdays and Christmas. Below are some of the things we will be focussing on this term.

Communication and Language
We will be encouraging the children to speak in full sentences to express themselves. We will be using our talk to organise, sequence and clarify our thinking, ideas, feelings and events. Providing children with experiences such as bonfires and trips, we will recount these experiences.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
We will continue to work on our expectations in the setting as well as turn taking and sharing resources, revisiting them on a regular basis. The children will be encouraged to take into account what others say and their ideas within their play.

Physical Development
This term there will be a big focus on fine motor activities to strengthen our hand and finger muscles for writing. These are all of the ‘fiddly’ activities you will see around the classrooms, such as threading, using tweezers, cutting etc. Of course we will still be working on our gross motor skills in the outdoor areas and during PE lessons.

Maths
We will continue with our number of the week, working up to ten at the end of term. Perhaps you could go on a number hunt at home or out and about. The children will work on number recognition and representing the number in different ways. This will deepen the children’s number sense and basic maths skills. We will also be looking finding one more or less than a given number and combining two groups of objects to find the total. We will start looking at shapes and money as well this term.

Literacy
We will continue with our daily RWI lessons, focussing on learning and reading new sounds. We have begun using magnetic boards to practice our blending skills during RWI lessons. There will be lots of Fred Talk and green word practice too. We will be applying our phonics knowledge both within our play and in our topic lessons. We will be writing potions, shopping lists, invitations, lists and labelling pictures. Initially our focus is to hear and write the initial sound in words, but we will be practising segmenting CVC words as well.

Key Dates

Monday 9th December	Reception Nativity 2.00pm
Tuesday 10th December	Reception Nativity 9.15am
Friday 13th December	Christmas Jumper Day  Bedtime Stories (after school, more information to follow)
Monday 16th December	Apple trip to Lidl
Tuesday 17th December	Aspen trip to Lidl
Thursday 18th December	Alder trip to Lidl
Thursday 19th December	Christmas Party Day
Friday 20th December	Last day of term

Messages:

• Please ensure your child has a named set of spare clothes on their peg at all times.
• All uniform should be labelled with your child’s name. 
• Please can toys from home stay at home. We have lots in school and it saves toys being lost or broken. 
• We ask that your child’s reading book is in school on their reading day each week so it can be changed and your child read with.


If you have any questions or concerns please speak to your class teacher. f you would like to contact a member of the EYFS team via email the address is: eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk

Kind regards,
The Reception Team

How to make Play-dough!

The play-dough area is always a popular area in the Reception classrooms. Play-dough provides children with a means to be creative and imaginative. It is also fantastic for developing fine motor skills and strengthening fingers for writing. The children have enjoyed helping the adults to make play-dough at the beginning of every week. But it is now their turn!

The recipe has been turned into an easy to follow recipe for the children, using pictures and simple words. The children are now beginning to independently make their own portion of play-dough by following these simple steps. The children have loved making their own play-dough, showing a real sense of achievement. And getting the right amount of water is proving quite the challenge.

As we continue to develop our play-dough making skills we will begin to add herbs, spices, colours, glitter and scents to our play-dough mixes.

"It's so sticky!"Charlie 

"I'm making a Halloween pancake." Elkah 

"Just a little bit of oil. Careful it comes out quick!" Georgia 

If you want to make play-dough at home, below is our recipe for a small portion! 

• 1 scoop of salt 
• 2 scoops of plain flour 
• 1 drop of oil 
• Add water until desired consistency 
• Mix and knead it together
• Play! 

Creativity in the Construction Area

The Reception children have had a wonderful time working together to build the most imaginative and amazing models in the Construction area, from princess castles to a McDonald Drive Through! Working collaboratively together, the children have shown reciprocity when selecting resources and planning their models. It has been fantastic to see how resilient the children are when models accidentally collapse too!

The construction area allows the children to develop their creativity, communicating their views, sharing and representing their ideas. It is through creativity, that children begin to make sense of their world, make connections with others and show resilience.

Fariha: "It's a princess castle."
Kamari: "This is a mmm for McDonald's."
Jessica: "Can I have cake and a milkshake."
Adra: "We made a house, look we built more."

11.10.19 Reception Awards

The children in Reception have been working really hard, both at school and at home. We are very proud of all their achievements and below are the children who received certificates last week.

Aspen
Resilience- Rosie
Happy Teacher- Lainey-Rae
E for Excellence - Flynn

Apple
Reciprocity- Merlyn
Reflectiveness - Eesa
Happy Teacher- Eason
E for Excellence - Kiara

Alder

Keep up the good work!

Big Art for Little Artists

We are continuing to develop our lovely outdoor area in Nursery and have recently added a new painting station. Using some clear tarp as a surface the children have been creating their own masterpieces on a large scale. Having the opportunity to use vertical surfaces will support children to develop their physical skills (strengthening shoulders and elbows and developing core strength) and provide opportunities for children to cross the midline - this means the ability to perform a task on the opposite side of the body, moving from left to right for example. This ability plays a role in developing skills like writing, dressing and undressing and reading.

The children particularly enjoyed noticing what happens when two colours mix together and spent lots of time creating their own new colours. The paint washed away easily at the end leaving a blank canvas ready to be explored again the following day.

"I made a purple paint!" Pippa

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

This week the Nursery children have been discovering the story We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. After receiving a letter from the family in the book asking for their help to find the Bear.

With ‘thick oozy mud’ and a ‘swirling whirling snowstorm’ along the journey, the children were able to touch and feel their way through a sensory experience of the story. We are listening carefully to stories and encouraging children to talk about what is happening to develop their listening and language skills.

Opportunities to develop the children’s knowledge of the story were provided throughout the provision areas such as recreating the story in the Small World area.

"We can't go over it, we can't go under it..." Ayla

"I've been to the woods and I saw a squirrel and a duck" Ava

Nursery - Autumn Treasures

Now that Autumn has arrived we would love for your children to be on the look out for autumn treasures. If you find any crunchy leaves, conkers, acorns or other interesting objects please bring them into Nursery so we can share, explore and use them to create own pictures!

Reception write letters to Bill the owl!

After reading Owl Babies as our story of the week the Reception children decided to write letters to Bill the owl to cheer him up. The children discussed what they wanted to write to Bill and then headed to the writing area to put their ideas on paper. Some children drew pictures, others made marks. We used the sound mats to help us write the sounds we have been practising in RWI and we are beginning to hear and record the initial sounds in words. These are all important stages in becoming a writer. When the children were finished they put their letter in an envelope, stuck on a stamp and posted the letter to Bill!

"I'm going to be your friend. Love Elkah." Elkah 

"Don't be sad because your mummy might be there in a minute." Teddy 

"Here is a teddy bear" Paige 

Reception Stroke an Owl!

The Reception children were lucky enough to have a visit from the Animal Experience this week. As their experience of the half term the children were able to stroke an owl. This tied in nicely with our story of the week Owl Babies.

Kayleigh from the Animal Experience didn't just bring an Owl with her, but a range of other animals too! The children got the opportunity to see, touch, stroke and hold a meerkat, owl, lizard, snake, hedgehog and tortoise. The children listened and sat beautiful and found out lots about the animals, taking this change in routine in their stride.

The children all enjoyed the experience and there was lot of conversation throughout the day over our favourite animals. What was your child's favourite animal?

Georgia "How old is the hedgehog?"

Ali "Wow, the tortoise lives for 100 years."

Sophie "He's really spikey!"

Evie "The owl and hedgehog both come out at night."

Reception's Stay and Learn!

Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended Reception's phonics stay and learn yesterday! We definitely need some bigger classrooms. We hope you found it useful in how to support your child with phonics at home. The children were proud to show you what they have been learning at school and Fred the frog has become a firm favourite with the children.

A few fun ideas that will help your child develop their phonics knowledge!

• Play I-spy together 
• Listen for the initial sounds in words (d-d-dog)
• Play Fred says (Fred says touch your b-a-ck)
• Practice recognising sounds at speed 
• Turn the last word of a sentence into Fred talk for your child to guess (e.g. Let's get on the b-u-s). 
• Keep those fingers busy with fiddly activities! This will strengthen them for writing. 

Nursery: Rising to the top!

With the introduction of the kitcamp to the Nursery provision this year the children have been showcasing their creativity by building dens, forts and obstacle courses using the lightweight yet strong panels. The kitcamp consists of interlocking panels which the children can use to construct their designs and explore independently.  

It has been a real pleasure to watch the delight on the children’s faces when they first climb to the top of the kitcamp, a real sense of achievement! 

We plan to use our new kitcamp resource to support our storytelling skills. The focus story in Nursery is ‘We’re Going On a Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. You may find your children travelling over and under resources hunting for bears next week. There will be activities planned to support the children’s learning and understanding of the story and to develop their communication and language skills. 

"I did it myself!"Victoria

"Bend your legs and jump."Chloe 

Nursery's First Week

Now we have collated all GDPR forms we can share what the children have been busy doing in their first few weeks! We are very impressed with how well they have settled into their new environment.  They have already started to learn to make their own toast, have particularly enjoyed using our new kit camp resources outside and have had lots of lovely tea parties in the home corner and it's only the end of Week 2! It has been lovely to watch the children develop relationships with staff and also start to make friends and join in with other children in the setting.  

Thank you to all of the parents for supporting us to ensure the children have a smooth start to their Nursery year and for being patient at home time whilst staff learn new faces and names.

Reception Phonics Stay & Learn

Come and join us in the classroom! 

Phonics Stay & Learn Session

Thursday 10th October: 2-3pm

Parents/Carers are invited to join their child in the classroom this term for a phonics stay and learn session. There will be a chance to see how we teach phonics at school as well as lots of fun activities to try with your child. We look forward to seeing you!