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, Miss Nikki Burton and Mrs Diane Brook.
This term our topic is called ‘Ourselves’. We will be learning about ourselves, where we live, who we live with and all aspects relating to friendships and personal care. Your child will be working on a range of practical activities planned to help them gain confidence in themselves and towards others.
In Literacy we will be primarily working on Speaking and Listening 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 experiment with language. We will be thinking about how stories begin and end and the language used, especially in fairy tales and nursery rhymes. We will be starting the Monster Phonics scheme of synthetic phonics straight away and learning 4 / 5 sounds a week and learning how to blend them and read whole words. We use the Monster Phonics Reading Scheme in school and your child will be starting their reading journey. Some books will be sent home to read together to promote your children’s love of reading. Some books have no words in them and this gives the children opportunities to make their own stories up from the pictures. This is the first, and very important stage of reading and should be encouraged.
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. To begin with we will be using Numicon to create an in depth understanding of numbers to 10. The children find this highly engaging in Reception. We will be sorting and naming 2D and 3D shapes and looking for them in the environment when on shape walks.
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)