Welcome to Reception at Oldswinford C of E Primary

Where we ‘Believe, achieve and shine brighter together.’

The Reception team:

Mrs Preece (FSLion) with Mrs Hardy and

Mrs Terry (FSCrystal) with Mrs Harris.

This half term our focus will be on 'Let's Explore', within this topic we will start by We will start by looking at different things that we find in the garden. The children will plant some beans and watch them grow. We will also be developing our garden area and growing flowers and vegetables. We will look at the lifecycle of sunflowers and beans.

We will also be exploring the world, looking at where we live- Oldswinford, Stourbridge, England and the UK. We will then look at places that the children have been on holiday and discuss how they travelled there and what it was like. We will look at where these are on a map/ globe and will create flags for these countries. Next we will look closer at Australia including the animals, aboriginal artwork, the Great Barrier reef, an Australian Christmas and Australian landmarks. We hope to conclude our topic with a bbq themed treat.

We have also got our trip to Sycamore adventure on Friday 21st May.

Phonics

We will continue to practise reading and writing words and sentences using finger spaces, capital letters and full stops..

We will be consolidating the following sounds:- ch, sh, th, ng, ai, ee, igh and oa and tricky words:- he, she, we, me, be, was, my, you, her, they, all are. 

We will learn the following sounds:- oo, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er.

We will also learn the following tricky words:- some, one, said, come, do, so, were, when, have, there, out and like.

Maths

In maths we will be exploring complex patterns. We will also be learning 'To 20 and beyond', 'Adding and taking away' and 'Sharing and grouping', please see below for the small steps that are included:-

Explore 3D shapes

Step 5- Identify more complex patterns,

Step 6- Copy and continue patterns,

Step 7- Patterns in the environment.

To 20 and beyond

Step 1- Build numbers beyond 10 (10-13)

Step 2- Continue patterns beyond 10 (10-13)

Step 3- Build numbers beyond 10 (14-20)

Step 4- Continue patterns beyond 10 (14-20)

Step 5- Verbal counting beyond 20

Step 6- Verbal counting patterns

Sharing and grouping

Step 1- Explore sharing

Step 2- Sharing

Step 3- Explore grouping

Step 4- Grouping

Step 5- Even and odd sharing

How many now

Step 1- Add more

Step 2- How many did I add?

Step 3- Take away

Step 4- How many did I take away?

RE

Our question for this half term is:-

 What stories from different religions can help us in life?

Foundation Stage 

At Oldswinford C.E. Primary school we believe that the children’s time in Foundation Stage, the Reception class, is one of the most important times in their school life. This lays the foundation for their learning and development for the rest of their education. We work hard to nurture and care for the children and seek to make school an enjoyable and exciting place to be. Children will be able to free-flow through the two rooms and ‘middle area’ throughout most of the day with children from both classes so they can make great friendships.

Curriculum

There are seven main areas of learning which are split into prime areas of :

• Communication and language development
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development

Then we have ;

• Literacy
• Maths
• Understanding the world
• Expressive Arts and design

Each area of learning is implemented through planned, purposeful play. This takes place through a mixture of adult led and child initiated activities. Play is essential to help children relate to others, build their confidence, explore their surroundings, and think critically.

The progress the children make is assessed by 17 Early learning Goals.

What to expect in Reception

We have daily maths and phonics sessions as well as talk for writing and kinetic letters most days. We hope to put on a phonics workshop in the Autumn term to show some of what we do. There is a video below explaining how we teach maths at Oldwinford.

The children have two P.E. sessions each week, so please make sure the children have had their earrings removed on those days. These will be on a  Wednesday and Friday. 

All children learn at different rates so we differentiate our experiences so that everyone can learn effectively. Parents/Carers will be sent a dojo link so they can see weekly updates and photos of what the children are currently learning and experiencing. Always helpful when a child replies ‘we just played’, to a question about their day!

Please make sure a water bottle is sent into school each day.

Homework:

We do not set specific homework but there are ways you can support your child’s learning at home which we would always encourage.

• Putting their coats on and fastening them up.
• Going to the toilet and wiping themselves.
• Daily reading. We cannot emphasise the importance of daily reading enough. 
• Counting- children often need a little practice to count accurately moving their finger and saying the number at the same time can be challenging.
• Talking about concepts such as size and weight.
• Writing their name (not all in capital letters!)- we will send home a guide to letter formation.