We really value the help that you can give your child with their learning and self-help skills.
Please take the time to teach your child to:
- dress/undress themselves
- fasten their own coat
- use a knife and fork
- use the toilet properly, e.g. wipe themselves, flush the toilet, wash and dry their own hands
- use a tissue to wipe their own nose and to throw the tissue into the bin
- tidy up their own toys
- say “please” and “thank you”
Please also try to spend more time talking with your child. Reducing the time spent watching television and/or playing on a tablet will help your child develop better speaking and listening skills.
Autumn Term
Communication and Language
- Understanding how to listen carefully and why listening is important.
- Describing events in some detail
- Engaging in story times.
- Use newly learnt vocabulary through the day
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Making friends, playing co-operatively
- Sharing and taking turns
- Naming different emotions and knowing what makes them feel happy/sad/angry etc and being able to consider the feelings of others
- Learning and following the class rules
- Becoming independent, choosing activities independently
- Tidying up after themselves
- Developing self-confidence to speak in a group
Physical Development
- Gross motor skills:
- Running, jumping, hopping, skipping, balancing and climbing
- Develop ball skills: throwing, catching, kicking, passing, batting, and aiming.
- Develop their core muscle strength for good posture when sitting on the floor or at a table.
- Fine motor skills:
- Using the tripod pencil grip when holding writing tools
- Pencil control, e.g. beginning to use anticlockwise movement
- Cutting with scissors
- Developing finger strength through Finger Gym activities e.g. threading, tweezers, small construction (Lego)
- Using cutlery to eat their food independently
- Writing their name
Literacy
- Listening to stories and talking about the pictures and what has been read.
- Developing an awareness of rhyme e.g. cat, mat, hat
- Recognising print in the environment e.g. signs, posters, magazines
- Knowing the first sounds in words e.g. dog, book
- Recognising and writing their names
- Writing lower case letters
- Hearing and saying sounds in words (oral blending and segmenting) e.g. p-i-n, s-a-t
- Recognising letters and their sounds
- Beginning to read simple words
- Recognising tricky (common exception) words
Maths
- Explore the composition of numbers to 5
- Recognising and creating repeating patterns e.g. red/blue/red/blue
- Comparing groups of objects, knowing more or fewer
- Understanding one more than, one fewer than a number.
- Naming a describing basic shapes e.g. square, triangle, round, straight.
- Using and understanding positional language, e.g. in, on, under, over, behind.
Understanding the World
- Talk about members of their immediate family and community.
- Finding out about autumn and winter seasons
- Find out about autumn religious festivals
- Finding out about different living things
- Planting seeds indoors, looking at changes to materials through cooking, melting etc.
Expressive Arts and Design
- Moving and dancing to music
- Playing musical instruments, developing a sense of rhythm
- Sing in a group or on their own, increasingly matching the pitch and following the melody.
- Draw and paint giving meaning to the marks they make
- Creating models and collages using different tools and materials
- Using imagination in role play, small world play art and crafts
Characteristics of Learning
- Develop a positive attitude towards learning new things
- Explore their environment with enthusiasm and independence
- Concentrate on their activities for longer periods of time
- Keep on trying when they come across a problem
- Use their imagination and talk about what they are thinking
- Try different methods if things don’t work the first time
Spring Term
We will continue to send out phonics information in the home learning folders. Please spend some time helping your child to learn the new phonemes and tricky words. The activities we send home are a continuation of what your child has been learning in class. Please write a comment about your child’s progress with their home learning in the folder, this information is very helpful for your child’s class teacher.
This term, the children who are beginning to read by themselves will bring home a phonics reading book once per week, as well as a book from the library for you to share.
Please take some time to teach your child how to fasten their own coats and to put on their own gloves and scarves if they can’t manage this independently. Some children are still finding it difficult to use a knife and fork to cut up their food and to feed themselves at lunchtimes, the mealtime staff cannot do this for the children, so please teach your child to do this for themselves.
Communication and Language
- Articulating ideas and thoughts in well-formed sentences
- Using talk to help work out problems and organise thinking
- Retelling a story, once they have developed a deep familiarity with the text
- Listening and talking about non-fiction texts to develop familiarity with new knowledge and vocabulary
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Making new friends and trying new activities
- Showing resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge
- Showing sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings
- Managing their own needs, such as dressing, toileting, and healthy food choices
Physical Development
Gross motor skills:
- Developing overall body strength, co-ordination, balance and agility needed to successfully engage with physical activities such as dance, climbing and sports
- Combining different movements with ease and fluency
- Developing confidence, competence, precision and accuracy when engaging in activities that involve a ball
Fine motor skills:
- Beginning to use anticlockwise movement and retrace vertical lines when writing
- Forming lowercase letters correctly
- Developing competence using tools, such as knives, forks, spoons, scissors
Literacy
- Describing main story settings, events and principal characters in stories
- Enjoying an increasing range of books
- Jolly Phonics: recognising letters and their sounds (refer to Tapestry and home learning folders)
- Reading and spelling some tricky words
- Beginning to read words and simple sentences
- Spelling simple words and beginning to write short sentences
Maths
- Recognising numbers 0-10
- Counting beyond 10
- In practical activities and discussion, beginning to use the vocabulary involved in adding and subtracting
- Subitise numbers to 5
- Automatically recall number bonds to 5
- Using language related to time, e.g. morning, afternoon, evening, yesterday, today, tomorrow
- Compare length, weight and capacity
- Recognise and recreate patterns
- Talk about shapes and their properties, e.g. curved, point, sides, corners
Understanding the world
- Past and Present
- Talk about how they have changed since they were babies
- Compare characters from stories, including figures from the past
- People, Culture and Communities
- Recognise people have different beliefs and celebrate special times in different ways- (Lunar New Year, Ramadam, Eid)
- The World
- Finding out about similarities and differences in the natural world around them
- Recognise some environments that are different to the one in which they live
Expressive Arts and Design
- Listening attentively, move to and talk about music
- Learn about beat, pulse, rhythm
- Learning new songs linked to the topic
- Learning about the work of an artist and use their ideas to create their own artwork.
- Exploring a variety of art materials to express their ideas and feelings
- Developing storylines in their pretend play
Characteristics of Learning
- Initiating activities
- Showing a ‘can do’ attitude
- Taking a risk, engaging in new experiences, and learning by trial and error
- Maintaining focus on an activity for a period of time
- Persisting with an activity when challenges occur
Summer Term
The Reception timetable will remain the same for first half of the summer term. The children will continue to have whole class topic, phonics, maths and story/singing sessions, with small group adult led and free-flow activities in between these times.
During the second half of the summer term, we will be preparing the children for the transition to year 1. The children will be spending more time in their base classrooms, and they will be expected to participate in teacher-directed activities, as a whole class, for short periods of time. The children will still have the opportunity to choose their own activities during free-flow time and they will have daily access to the outdoor classroom.
PE lessons
We will be starting PE lessons after the May half term. A separate letter will be sent home to inform you about the PE kit required nearer the time.
The Early Learning Goals
As explained during the February parent consultations, we will be assessing your child against the Early Learning Goals in June. These set out expectations for the end of the Reception year and help prepare your child for the learning in Year 1.
The support you give your child at home is extremely important and will enable their progress towards these goals.
Home Learning
We will continue to send out home learning activities each week, along with suggested activities on Tapestry to help your child achieve the Early Learning Goals. It is important for you to take some time to help your child with these activities. We have found the children who have completed their home learning on a regular basis are more likely to achieve the Early Learning Goals.
It has been lovely to see Tapestry observations and examples of work your children have been creating at home. Thank you to those parents who have made the effort.
As always, remember, less TV/Tablet/Smartphone time and more talking time!
Characteristics of Learning
- Being confident in finding tools, materials and resources they need for a particular project or idea.
- Talking about / reviewing what they’ve done if things haven’t worked first time.
- Developing ‘intrinsic motivation’: achieving things for themselves as opposed to adult praise.
- Concentrating on activities for longer periods of time without being
- easily distracted. Persisting with an activity, even if they find it difficult.
Communication and Language
- Being confident in finding tools, materials and resources they need for a particular project or idea.
- Talking about / reviewing what they’ve done if things haven’t worked first time.
- Developing ‘intrinsic motivation’: achieving things for themselves as opposed to adult praise.
- Concentrating on activities for longer periods of time without being
- easily distracted. Persisting with an activity, even if they find it difficult.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Being confident to try new activities and show independence, resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge.
- Explaining the reasons for rules, know right from wrong and try to behave accordingly.
- Making healthy food choices and dressing/undressing by themselves for PE.
- Show sensitivity to their own and to others’ needs.
Physical Development
Gross motor skills:
- Confidently and skillfully use a range of large and small apparatus indoors and outside.
- Develop the overall body strength, co-ordination, balance and agility needed to engage successfully in PE lessons. i.e. ball skills, dance, gymnastics, games
Fine motor skills
- Use a range of small tools with increasing control, including scissors and cutlery.
- Showing more accuracy and care when drawing.
- Forming letters correctly using an effective pencil grip.
Literacy
Reading
- Reading simple phrases and sentences made up of words with known letter–sound correspondences and reading some tricky words.
- Re-reading books to build up their confidence in word reading, their fluency and their understanding and enjoyment.
- Being able to talk about what they have read and what has been read to them.
Writing
- Spelling words by identifying the sounds and then writing the sound with letter/s.
- Writing simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.
Maths
- Understanding number bonds up to 10.
- Adding and subtracting using fingers, objects, Numicon, pictorial representations (tens frames, part, part, whole)
- Understanding doubling up to 10.Halving and sharing equal quantities within 10.
- Verbally counting beyond 20, understanding teen numbers.
- Writing numerals 0-10
Understanding of the World
- Recognising some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries.
- Knowing some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country.
- Exploring the natural world around them, making observations of animals, plants, seasons and the changing states of matter.
Expressive Arts and Design
- Singing songs, making music and dancing and experimenting with ways of changing them. Performing to an audience.
- Exploring a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
- Representing their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role play and stories.
Other Information
- Please make sure you read the parents notices and weekly key words situated by your child’s class entrance door.
- Please take time to look at your child’s online Tapestry Journal and send a reply if possible. If you cannot access your account, please tell a member of staff as soon as possible.
- Please check your child’s book bag every day for important letters and new reading/library books.
- Please regularly check Arbor and the school website for information such as school letters, newsletters, events etc.
