Welcome to the
Foundation Stage
Mrs Heeley and Mrs Lawson are the class teachers. Mrs Heeley teaches all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Mrs Lawson teaches Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday. Teaching assistants in the class are Mrs Rachel Crofts, Mrs Nikki Cooper and Mrs Diane Brook.
This term our topic is DISCOVERY. We will be learning about many different things including technology, and adventure. It will be a topic that is heavily science based and your child will be working on a range of practical activities planned to help them gain confidence in themselves and solve group problems. We will be working outside as much as possible so we would be grateful if you could send your child with warm clothing and a pair of labelled wellies. We will be continuing to build constructive and respectful relationships with our friends throughout this term. We will be increasing our independence, becoming more outgoing with unfamiliar people in the safe context of our primary school community. We will also be taking part in a number of activities and literacy texts that explore friendships and feelings.
In Literacy we will be primarily working on speaking, listening and understanding activities to enable your child to have emerging self-confidence to speak to others about wants and interests. We will be listening to stories with increasing attention and begin to explore friendships, thoughts and feelings. We will be thinking about how to extend our vocabulary through literacy texts and discussions. We will be looking at both fiction and non-fiction texts and finding out how to access information from an information book.
We will also be focusing on writing and print in the environment. Children will be encouraged to form letters correctly and blend the letters to make real and made-up words. The children will be encouraged to use their learnt phonics knowledge to put their spoken word into written text. We will be continuing the Monster Phonics scheme of synthetic phonics and learning 4 sounds a week. We use the Monster Phonics Reading Scheme in school and reading books will be changed every Friday. To enable us to change please can all reading books and book bags be brought into school each Wednesday to allow us time to read with each child in school and reallocate the books on Friday.
In Maths we will be singing number rhymes and playing lots of number games. We will be rote counting to 10 and beyond and counting out up to 10 objects pointing to and counting each object individually. We will continue to use the White Rose Maths scheme as a stimulus for many of our maths lessons. We will also be learning about capacity and using the vocabulary of full, half full and empty. We will be using positional language correctly. We will be sorting and naming 2D and 3D shapes and looking for them in the environment when on shape walks. We will also be solving practical problems involving numbers including addition, subtraction and sharing into equal groups.
In Reception and KS1 we use the Monster Phonics scheme of synthetic phonics straight away. We learn 4 / 5 sounds a week and learning how to blend them and read whole words. This term we will be focusing on writing simple sentences using our phonics knowledge so far. Please find the top 100 High Frequency Words and the Monster Phonics Graphemes attached to refer to at home. We use the Monster Phonics Reading Scheme in school and your child will be continuing their reading journey. Some books will be sent home to read together to promote your children’s love of reading. We will also be introducing your child to the 'Reading Challenge' which can be completed at home with your favourite books.
In Reception we love to make use of our fantastic outdoor areas. We take part in regular outdoor learning opportunities with our specialist outdoor lead 'Taylor Made Outdoor Learning'. Outdoor learning sessions are bespoke to our Reception children, led by Rosie Taylor and her dog Maggie. All children get to experience bush craft skills, orienteering, learning about the natural world, firepit activities and various creative outdoor projects. All of the sessions help to enhance our curriculum and teach the children valuable safety skills and knowledge about our natural environment.
Please look at the school's Twitter feed as Reception post many pictures and videos.
Helpful Websites to use at home
www.activelearnprimary.co.uk (Bug Club - Online Reading Site - Please use your individual log in details)
www.letters-and-sounds.com (Please use Phase 1 or 2 activities)
www.crickweb.co.uk/Early-Years.html
www.ictgames.com (you can then choose literacy or numeracy)
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/early-years/
https://go.educationcity.com (please use individual log in details)