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

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

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:  31.3.25

Our handwriting letters this week are: revision week

Letters we have practised:

i/ l / t / h / b / p / r / n/ m/ c / o / d/ a / g / q

This week will be reading facts and information about a range of sea creatures using an animal encyclopedia and a range of non-fiction texts.

We will begin the week by comparing the book to some of the previous stories we have read in class and ask the children to say whether the animal encyclopedia is fiction or a non-fiction text.

A fiction book, is a made up story

A non-fiction book, has facts and information.

We will look at  the features of a non-fiction book:

• contents page
• index page
• page headings
• pictures with labels
• glossary

In class we will model how to use these pages.

In each lesson we will focus on a different sea creature depending on the children’s interests e.g. sharks, jellyfish, whales, turtles, dolphins, sea horses, rays.

For example:

We will learn some facts and write some sentences:

• A shark is a fish.
• A fish has gills.
• A crab has claws and pincers.
• Turtles have beaks not teeth.

We will draw and label a sea creature.

For example:

We will think about how to find out facts about a sea creature:

• read a non-fiction book about sea creatures
• Go to the library and find a non-fiction book about sea creatures
• Use the internet to find out some facts.
• Ask an expert
• Visit a museum or aquarium
• Watch a documentary about sea creatures

The children really enjoy learning about animals and becoming knowledgeable about them. They like to recall facts and this usually sparks their interest and eagerness to write.

We will end the weeks lessons by:

• Recalling the names of the five oceans – Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, Arctic.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6BE4VcYngQ

• Thinking about occupations that link to the ocean
• Thinking about the human impact on our oceans and as a result the sea creatures

Supporting your child at home:

Ask your child to choose sea creature to research.

Think about how you will research this animal:

• read a non-fiction book about sea creatures
• Go to the library and find a non-fiction book about sea creatures
• Use the internet to find out some facts.
• Ask an expert
• Visit a museum or aquarium
• Watch a documentary about sea creatures

Encourage your children to write some facts about their chosen sea creature.

Your child could  make their own information books or a poster.

Next week in English:

We will be reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jnr and Eric Carle.

Maths

Week commencing: 31.3.25 

Over the next few weeks in maths we will be learning to take away and subtract, focusing on numbers within 5.

The Early Learning Goal states, that by the end of the year, children must be able to automatically recall some subtraction facts up to 5. 

We will begin by subtracting practically and use the language of subtraction.

In lessons we will explain that when we subtract the total will get smaller because we are taking some away. This needs to be made explicit to the children and reinforced, children often find it harder to subtract than to add.

We will explain that subtraction is the opposite of addition, some children may begin to see the links between the two e.g. 2 + 1 = 3  and  3 – 1 = 2.

The children will be taught a range of strategies:

• subtracting using objects and fingers
• subtracting by crossing out
• subtracting by counting back on a number line
• subtracting mentally by using knowledge of other number facts

e.g. if 3+ 2 = 5  then  I know 5 – 3 = 2 or 5 – 2 = 3

Children will be encouraged to use the strategy they feel more confident with, this may change as they develop their subtraction skills.

The mathematical vocabulary for subtraction is:

• subtract
• take away
• minus
• less/ less than

We will use all of these words with the children and encourage them to develop their mathematical vocabulary.

We will be writing number sentences e.g. 5 - 3 = 2,  to show how we record a subtraction, however children in Reception do not need to be able to write a number sentence at this stage.

Some children will be ready to understand that when we write a subtraction number sentence, the first number must be bigger unlike in addition where the numbers can be written in any order.

For example:

Addition can be done in any order.

3 + 2 = 5

2 + 3 = 5

When we subtract, we must start with the larger number.

5 – 3 = 2

5 – 2 = 3

We cannot write:

3 - 5 =   or   2 – 5 =

Once the children are confident with subtracting we will work on developing their knowledge of subtraction facts and help them to recall some facts independently.

Subtraction facts:

5 – 0 = 5              4 – 0 = 4          3 – 0 = 3           2 – 0 = 2         1 – 0 = 1

5 – 1 = 4              4 – 1 = 3          3 – 1 = 2           2 – 1 = 1         1 – 1 = 0

5 – 2 = 3              4 – 2 = 2          3 – 2 = 1           2 – 2 = 0

5 – 3 = 2              4 – 3 = 1          3 – 3 = 0

5 – 4 = 1              4 – 4 = 0

5 – 5 = 0

Look below for how to support your child with learning some subtraction facts by teaching them some quick wins!

Supporting your child at home:

Practice subtracting with your child at home.

What strategy are they using? Do they have a preference?

Can your child record their subtracting in some way? E.g. by crossing out pictures they have drawn or by writing numbers.

Can your child recall some subtraction facts?

Here are some quick wins:

• taking away zero from a number - the answer will be the same as the starting number e.g. 4 - 0 = 4 /  5 - 0 = 5
• taking away the same number - the answer will always equal zero

      e.g. 4 - 4 = 0 / 3 - 3 = 0

• 'take away 1' is the same as '1 less than a number', the answer will be the number before the starting number  e.g. 2 - 1 = 1/  one less than 2 is 1

      5 - 1 = 4 / one less than 5 is 4

We will be teaching the children these strategies in class.

Are they making links between addition facts and subtraction facts to help them know the answer?

For example:

• If 3 + 2 = 5  then  I know 5 – 3 = 2 or 5 – 2 = 3

• If 3 + 1 = 4 then  I know 4 – 1 = 3 or 4 – 3 = 1

• If 2 + 1 = 3  then  I know 3 – 2 = 1 or 3 – 1 = 2

Next week in maths:

We will continue subtracting and developing the children’s knowledge and confidence with recalling subtraction facts.