Reception 2024/2025 

Below you will find the presentations from the Welcome to Reception evening back in the summer term. 

Quick links:

Letters and Information

Nativity Performances 

Nativity performances will take place in the main hall. Please see dates/times below:

Tuesday 10th December 

RP - 9:00am 

RS - 9.40am 

Wednesday 11th December 

RH - 9.00am 

RF - 9.40am 

Reception Trip - Kingsdown Methodist Church 

Our next challenge question in Reception will be: ‘Why is it so cold in winter?’ As part of this challenge, the children will be exploring the seasons and the celebrations that take place during the winter months.

To enhance their learning experience, we will be taking the children to Kingsdown Methodist Church, where they will have the opportunity to view a collection of nativity scenes from around the world. This annual trip is a cherished tradition for Reception pupils. During the visit, the children will also sing one of their nativity songs.

We would greatly appreciate parental support to help supervise the pupils during the trip. Thank you to those who have already expressed interest! If you can support, please let your child’s class teacher know or add your name to the volunteer list outside the classrooms. For those volunteering for the first time this school year, please ensure you complete the online volunteer pack beforehand. Link to volunteer pack

Trip details:

• Date: Tuesday 17th December 2023
  • RP: 9:10am – 10:30am
  • RF: 9:55am – 11:15am
  • RH: 1:10pm – 2:30pm
  • RS: 1:55pm – 3:15pm
  •  

Further information in the letter below. 

Cooking contribution 2024-25

In Reception we offer the opportunity for the children to participate in cooking activities throughout the year. In year 1 onwards pupils will have regularly cooking lessons in the school house. 

An annual voluntary contribution of £13.00 has been added to MCAS to cover the cost of ingredients for these Reception sessions.  This fee covers sessions for the whole school year, from September 2024 until July 2025.

This fee is voluntary, however, without the support of our parents, we will be unable to provide an opportunity such as this for our pupils.

To make payment, please log into your MCAS account. The fee, located within the Clubs section, is now available to be added to your basket.

Thanks so much! 

Forest School

RH – Tuesday am

RF – Friday pm

RP – Tues pm

RS – Friday am

Please bring your child’s wellington boots to school and place them on the coat trolley, outside their classroom.

Remember to write on your child’s name on their boots.

We will only use the boots if the forest is muddy.

Please make sure your child has a coat or rain coat with them on Forest School day in case it rains.

Thank you,

The Reception Team

Coats, Hats, Scarves and Gloves

As the weather changes and the children start to wear coats, hats, scarves and gloves, here are a few reminders and polite requests:

• Please name all items of clothing. (There are 120 children in Reception!)
• Teach your child how to put on their coat and gloves (mittens are best at this age for many) etc.
• Remind your child to look after their belongings.

Thank you.

The Reception Team

Purple Mash

Dear Parents,

We are thrilled to inform you that your child has access to a fantastic range of online resources on Purple Mash.

Over the year, your child will be introduced to various activities on Purple Mash by their class teacher.

Through this they will learn to independently use the interactive white board.

To explore these enriching materials, simply use your child's login, which you can find in their reading record. 

There are numerous engaging tasks linked to what we are covering in class, scroll down to find out what we are learning this week.

Below there is also a parent guide from the Purple Mini Mash team.

Happy exploring!

The Reception Team

Reading in Reception

At Fielding we follow the Read Write Inc programme.

We do a phonics assessment with each child, this provides us with your child’s reading level.

Your child will receive a reading book.

The type of ‘book’ your child receives will depend on their phonic knowledge.

Some children will focus on learning the sounds of the alphabet.

Some children will receive a sound blending book to help develop their blending skills.

Some children will receive a book called ‘My Phonics Book’. A letter will be sent home with information of how this works.

Some children will receive a reading book.

In addition to this, your child will choose their own picture book.

Your child is not expected to read this book, this book is to be shared with an adult for enjoyment.

All books will be changed once a week.

Please make sure your child brings their book bag to school every day.

Please make sure that you always have the following inside your child’s book bag:

• picture book
• reading book
• reading record

Please look through the reading record, there is lots of useful information inside.

Please sign the reading record every week and write a comment about how your child is progressing with their reading.

This is really important for the class teacher to see in school.

Key words

On page 22 there is the list of key words that the children need to learn to read over the year. Please help your child to learn these words.

Once your child has started on Red level books,we will write what key word list your child is on in their reading record.

Home Learning 

Every Friday, your child will receive some phonics home learning from their phonics teacher. This must be done at home and does not need to be returned to school.

If you have any further questions please talk to your class teacher.

Warm wishes,

The Reception Team

RSHE Lesson

In our RSHE lesson we discussed the NSPCC’s PANTS rules.

These are designed to teach pupils how to stay safe from sexual abuse, without giving explicit information or telling scary stories or even using the term “sexual abuse”.

We start the lesson by introducing the children to a character called Pantosaurus.

We show the children this clip:

NSPCC Pantosaurus (2 mins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SzbMEVYiyg&t=120s

This is a film featuring NSPCC’s  friendly mascot Pantosaurus.

His catchy song covers the main points of PANTS and  introduce the topic to the children.

In the lesson, children learnt about the ‘PANTS’ acrostic, which stands for:

• Privates are private.
• Always remember your body belongs to you.
• No means no.
• Talk about secrets that upset you.
• Speak up, someone can help.

The lesson is fully age-appropriate.

The Talk PANTS campaign helps teachers and parents of 4-11 year-olds keep their children safe from abuse. Like the Green Cross Code, it takes a potentially tricky subject and gives teachers and parents the tools to talk about it in an engaging and age-appropriate way.

Learning in Reception

English 

Week commencing: 9.12.24

Our lessons this week will focus on the story of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs.

We will start by looking at key features of a book - title, author, illustrator.

We will talk about the front cover, back cover and blurb.

We will ask the question: Is this a fiction or non-fiction book? 

The Early Learning Goal in Literacy for reading requires the children to be able to understand the five key concepts about print:

• print has meaning
• print can have different purposes
• we read English text from left to right and from top to bottom
• the names of the different parts of a book
• page sequencing

The children will have a go at predicting the story. A prediction is a sensible guess, using clues from the title and front cover.

After looking at the book, we will talk about this book not having any text and how the pictures tell the story.

As a class we will make up our own sentences for the pictures and have a go at telling the story in our own words.

We will use a ‘Story S’ to remind children that stories have a beginning, middle and an end.

We will also ask children to think about the characters, setting and plot in the story. This follows on from our learning in the previous weeks on Helicopter stories.

On Friday 13th December the children will have the opportunity to watch the animation of 'The Snowman' with their class. They will be drawing on comparisons with the book and how the stories are slightly different. 

Supporting your child at home: 

Talk about the story with your child.

What can your child tell you about the little boy and the snowman.

Do they have a favourite part of the story?

Can they re-tell the story in their own words?

If you do not have this story at home or are not familiar with it, any story will do.

These are all important skills that the children need to learn.

The Early Learning Goal in Literacy for comprehension requires the children to be able to:

• Pay attention and responds to the pictures or the words
• Repeat words and phrases from familiar stories
• Ask questions about the book
• Makes comments and shares their own ideas
• Develop play around favourite stories using props
• Engage in extended conversations about stories, learning new vocabulary

Next week in English:

Our lessons will focus on Christmas stories and poems.

Maths

Week commencing: 9.12.24 & 16.12.24

For the next two weeks in maths we are going to explore matching and sorting.

First we will look at matching objects and learn how objects must look the same in order to match. 

We will look at and discuss a range of items, then agree whether they match or do not match.

Then we will starting thinking about how we can sort a range of objects. 

With the children we will say:

'Sorting means we put objects in groups following a rule'.

We will look at the objects and think about what is the same e.g. colour, shape, size, pattern ? 

We will then sort the items and talk about the different sets/groups. 

We will identify the criteria that we used to sort the objects and model how to do this, for example:

* I have sorted these cubes by colour, these cubes are green, these cubes are red etc. 

* I have put all the circles together in a set and the squares together in another set.

*I have sorted these objects into 'socks' and 'not socks'. 

Children enjoy sorting because it is a visual and practical activity. 

Children tend to find sorting by colour the easiest, however we will look at different ways of sorting and encourage the children to think of their own criteria.

Some children will enjoy the challenge of trying work out the criteria, in class we will play 'Guess My Rule'.

We will also make errors, so children have the opportunity to explain why something should not be in that set or group.

Supporting your child at home: 

Have a go at sorting some objects at home.

Talk about what criteria you used to sort, play 'Guess My Rule'.

Use objects your child is interested in to help engage and motivate them to talk about their sorting.

Keep learning addition facts up to 5!

      1

0 + 1 = 1                

1 + 0 = 1   

      2

0 + 2 = 2

1 + 1 = 2

2 + 0 = 2     

      3

0 + 3 = 3

1 + 2 = 3

2 + 1 = 3

3 + 0 = 3

       4

0 + 4 = 4

1 + 3 = 4

2 + 2 = 4

3 + 1 = 4

4 + 0 = 4

      5

0 + 5 = 5

1 + 4 = 5

2 + 3 = 5

3 + 2 = 5

4 + 1 = 5

5 + 0 = 5                                                                  

Begin making and talking about ways of making  1,2 ,3 4, or 5. 

Remember, at this age children do not need to write a number sentence.

For example, your child can make 5 using objects and describe how they have made the different amounts for example:

"I have one bear and four dinosaurs. One and four makes five."

"I have two red cars and three blue cars. Two and three makes five."

Next week in maths:

We will continue learning about sorting.