Reception

Welcome to Reception's Learning Page

MEET THE TEAM

Mrs Littlewood

Mrs Dalby (Maternity Leave)

Miss Hunter

Miss McLoud

Miss Harrison

Mrs Wilson

Our main driver project this half term is:

This seasonal project provides opportunities for outdoor learning and teaches children how to care for the plants and animals in their local environment and how to stay safe in the sun..

Support your child at home by:

🌱 1. Communication & Language
Sunflower storytelling: Ask your child to describe how a sunflower grows (seed → plant → flower).
Weather talk: Chat about sunny days—What do we wear? How does it feel?
Listening game: “Simon Says” with sun-themed actions (shine, grow, stretch).

🌻 2. Physical Development
Sunflower yoga/stretching: Stretch up tall like a sunflower growing toward the sun.
Fine motor: Thread yellow beads or pasta to make a “sunflower necklace.”
Outdoor play: Running, jumping, or balancing in the sunshine.

🌞 3. Personal, Social & Emotional Development
Feelings sunshine: Draw a sun and write or draw things that make your child happy.
Caring for plants: Water a plant daily and talk about responsibility.
Turn-taking games: Simple board games or ball games.

🌼 4. Literacy
Sunflower letter hunt: Hide letters around the room and find them.
Mark making: Draw or paint sunflowers and try writing “sun,” “flower,” or their name.
Story time: Read books about plants, summer, or sunshine.

🌿 5. Mathematics
Counting petals: Draw a sunflower and count or add petals.
Sorting seeds: Sort seeds or small objects by size or colour.
Measuring growth: If planting seeds, measure how tall they grow over time.

🌻 6. Understanding the World
Planting seeds: Grow real sunflowers and observe changes daily.
Sun exploration: Talk about day vs night and why we need the sun.
Weather chart: Track sunny/cloudy days.

🎨 7. Expressive Arts & Design
Sunflower crafts: Use paper plates, paint, or natural materials to make sunflowers.
Music & movement: Dance like flowers moving in the wind.
Role play: Pretend to be gardeners or weather reporters.

🌟 Bonus Ideas
Make a sunshine sensory tray (yellow rice, scoops, toy flowers).
Go on a nature walk to spot flowers and sunshine.
Create a sunflower life cycle chart together.

Children can access home learning activities by logging onto Seesaw. These are updated on a regular basis and support learning that is taking place in the classroom.

Our companion project is:

This project teaches children about natural phenomena, including shadows, reflections and echoes. They explore how shadows are formed and how they can change.

Support your child at home by:

🌟 1. Communication & Language
Shadow talk: Shine a torch and ask your child to describe the shadow (big, small, long, wiggly).
Question time: “Why do shadows change?” “Where did it go?”
Listening game: Give instructions like “Make your shadow jump!”

🏃‍♂️ 2. Physical Development
Shadow chasing: Try to step on each other’s shadows outside.
Fine motor: Trace around shadows of toys or hands.
Movement game: Copy shadow shapes (stretch tall, curl small).

😊 3. Personal, Social & Emotional Development
Feelings reflection: Look in a mirror and talk about emotions (happy, sad, surprised).
Confidence play: Perform a “shadow show” for family.
Turn-taking: Take turns making shadow shapes.

📚 4. Literacy
Shadow storytelling: Use hand shadows to create a simple story.
Mark making: Draw shadows you see outside.
Word building: Write simple words like “sun,” “dark,” “light.”

🔢 5. Mathematics
Size comparison: Which shadow is bigger/smaller?
Shape hunt: Find circle, square, triangle shapes in shadows.
Time observation: Look at how shadows move during the day.

🌍 6. Understanding the World
Light & dark exploration: Use torches in a dark room to make shadows.
Mirror play: Explore reflections using mirrors or shiny objects.
Outdoor observation: Notice shadows in the morning vs afternoon.

🎨 7. Expressive Arts & Design
Shadow art: Trace toy shadows and colour them in.
Reflection painting: Fold paper with paint to make symmetrical pictures.
Shadow puppets: Create puppets and put on a mini show.

✨ Bonus Ideas
Make a shadow theatre using a box and torch.
Use water to explore reflections outside.
Go on a shadow hunt walk and spot interesting shapes.

Again, don't forget to look out for the fun, weekly activities on Seesaw and also look what we have been up to in class on class dojo.

Maths

Here is our overview for this term:

Key books that we'd recommend that will support your child(ren's) understanding in this terms maths:

• Zero is the Leaves on the Tree by Betsy Franco • None the Number by Oliver Jeffers • Anno’s Counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno • I Spy Numbers by Jean Marzollo • The Ugly Five by Julia Donaldson • Five Small Stars by Elizabeth Matterson and Madge Bugden • Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson • Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen • Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll Walsh • A Beach for Albert by Eleanor May • Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Browne • Sidney the Silly Who Only Eats 6 by M.W. Penn • Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore • 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle • Kipper’s Toybox by Mick Inkpen • Quack and Count by Keith Baker • Simon Sock by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet

Literacy

This half term we will be focusing on:

Giving meanings to marks as they draw.
Recognising and writing own name.
Writing recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.
Forming lower-case and capital letters correctly.
Reading simple phrases and sentences made up of words with known letter–sound correspondences and, where necessary, a few exception words.
Reading individual letters by saying the sounds for them.
Using one-handed tools and equipment, for example, making snips in paper with scissors.
Using a comfortable grip with good control when holding pens and pencils.
Drawing story maps.
Using phonic knowledge to write captions and sentences.
Using stories to create opportunities for writing across the areas of provision.
Re-reading what they have written to check that it makes sense.
Writing short sentences with words with known sound-letter correspondences using a capital letter and full stop.

Reading and Phonics

We are continuing our ELS phonics journey. Your child has learnt all the phase 2 sounds and is now learning the phase 3 sounds now.

We will continue recognising phase 2 and 3 sounds segmenting words with sounds we have learnt, then blending the sounds together.

We will continue to practice to read the harder to read and spell words daily.

Books are changed every Friday and we ask that children practice reading at least four times a week.

Check out the following links to help at home:

How to pronounce pure sounds

How to blend words to read

This grapheme sheet and harder to spell and read words have been sent home but click the button below to see it online.

Key Days:

Both Reception classes will be doing PE on a Friday this half term.

Reading books will need to be returned by Thursday in order to send out a new book on a Friday. Please ensure you bring your child's reading book to school every day to support reading in school.

Grapheme Sheet for Parents

Grapheme Sheet for Parents

Harder to Read and Spell Words

Here is our Reception Class Charter challenge sheet. You can also download a copy by clicking on the image.

Download all the Charters as a PDF file