Welcome to Reception!

Every week this page will be updated with information about what we have been doing for that week. There will be recaps of the learning, activities recommended to try at home, phonics videos to watch with your child and photographs of the children learning at school. We recommend that you check the website weekly and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask your child's class teacher.

Week 7

Week beginning 16.10.23

It has been a very busy last week in Reception before half term. It was lovely to meet with parents during the learning reviews this week and discuss with you how the children have settled into school life. Thank you to everyone for attending. Should you have any fquestions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

With the weather getting colder and wetter, please ensure that your child has a spare change of clothes in school.

Forest school

The first Monday back Cherry class have forest school. Please ensure your child has wellies and waterproofs in school. Please see the emailed letter for more details and dates.

Phonics

In phonics we have been learnt the sounds x, qu, sh, and ch. Please continue to practice the sounds at home with your child using the sheet provided. Here are this week’s phonics videos for you to watch at home together.

Please note these videos will expire after 3 weeks.

Maths

In maths this week we have been finding and describing patterns. We have identified patterns on animals, clothes and in the environment around us. We have talked about colours and shapes within these patterns and even created our own patterned socks!

Wider Curriculum

We welcomed Mr K our school caretaker into Hazel Class and Cherry Class this week. He brought his toolbox with him and he gave us a demonstration of how the tools work. We talked about when the tools might be needed and how to stay safe when using them. We also read the story ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and discussed why the straw and stick houses were blown down, but the brick house was not. We explored other materials such as metal, glass, stone, wood and fabric and evaluated whether they would make good materials to build a house.

We had lots of fun learning about ‘responsibility’ this week. We talked about what this means and how we can be successful showing it. Everyone had the ‘responsibility’ of looking after a cube for the afternoon. We all explored different ways to do this and many of us still had our cube when it  was time to go home! Well done Reception!

Makaton

Our new Makaton signs this week was ‘toilet’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

This half term has been very busy and all the children have been brilliant settling into school life and learning all of the new routines. We are so proud of how much they have learnt already! We would like to thank you for all your support in your children’s learning. We are collecting cardboard boxes for our learning the first week back. If you have any please could you bring them in. Have a lovely and safe half term and we look forward to seeing you all back on Monday 30^th October. Happy Half Term!

Week 6

Week beginning 9.10.23

Reception have had another amazing and busy week! On Friday we got to entertain all of our grown ups in our fabulous Harvest Festival assembly. We loved sharing our songs with you all. Thank you for coming.

From next week it looks like the weather is going to be starting to get colder. Please make sure your child has a coat in school everyday. Reception spend a lot of time outside so they must be wrapped up warm! When needed please send in warm hats and gloves. Please ensure these are named - including both gloves!

Forest school

Hazel Class had lots of fun building dens at forest school on Monday. They demonstrated excellent team work and made some very sturdy dens, which they enjoyed hiding in.

Phonics

In phonics we have been learnt the sounds j, v, y, w and z. Please continue to practice the sounds at home with your child using the sheet provided. Here are this week’s phonics videos for you to watch at home together.

Please note these videos will expire after 3 weeks.

Maths

In maths, the children have been learning to add and take away. We used counters to help us add and take away and we also looked at the different ways we can make 5 looking carefully at the 2 parts.

e.g. 3 + 2 = 5

       1 + 4 = 5

Wider Curriculum

In topic, we thought about homes. We discussed how homes can look different and explored a wide range of homes. We then thought about our own homes and drew pictures of what they look like. 
The children had great fun making and eating sandwiches. We talked about using a knife safely and using it to spread and cut. We also enjoyed eating them afterwards!

We continued to learn about ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ and this week we acted out the story and retold it using key phrases. We also looked in depth at the different places the family walk through and thought about interesting words we could use to describe each place.

Makaton

Our new Makaton signs this week was ‘help’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

We hope your child has enjoyed this week as much as we have. Have a lovely weekend! We look forwards to seeing you for our final week of term next week and to meet all the grown ups for our learning reviews.

Week 5
Week beginning 2.10.23

Reception have had another busy week. Tomorrow is inset day; therefore, school is closed to children. We have noticed some children are not bringing their books into school daily, please ensure that these are left in bags so they can be changed, and the children can read with an adult in school.

Phonics

In phonics we have been learnt the sounds e,l,h,r. Please continue to practice the sounds at home with your child using the sheet provided, this sheet does not need to be returned to school. Here are this week’s phonics videos for you to watch at home together.

Please note these videos will expire after 3 weeks.

Maths

In maths, we have continued to use the words more, most, few, fewer and fewest. We have been using the sentence stems:

_ is more than _.

_is fewer than _.

Wider Curriculum

This week we went on a walk around our local area. We saw lots of different features such as houses, traffic lights, numbers, and signs. We used our senses to discover what we could see, hear, smell and touch. We have been looking at other places we would like to explore and what we would need to bring with us.

We acted out ‘We are Going on a Bear Hunt’ story and discussed what we like and do not like about the story.

Makaton

Our new Makaton sign this week was ‘help’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

Thank you to those who supported the walk around the local area this week. Next Friday (13.10.23), we will be performing our harvest festival assembly at 3pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

Have a lovely weekend!

Week 4

Week beginning 25.9.23

Reception have had another amazing busy week in Reception. The children looked fantastic on Monday dressed up for World Celebration Day! We had lots of fun exploring activities based on different cultures around the world.
On Thursday the fire engine came to visit. Our topic next term is marvellous machines, so we had a little preview of a marvellous machine and all the things that it can do. 

Today we were very lucky to have a visit from Megan Rix, who is a children’s author. She brought in her two dogs and we learnt about assistance dogs and sign language.

Phonics

In phonics we have been learnt the sounds c, k, u,b,f. Please continue to practice the sounds at home with your child using the sheet provided. Here are this week’s phonics videos for you to watch at home together.

Please note these videos will expire after 3 weeks.

Maths

In maths, the children have been learning to use the words more, most, few, fewer and fewest. We have been using the sentence stems:

_ is more than _.

_is fewer than _.

Wider Curriculum

We have looked at a world map this week and talked about the different countries around the world. We found places where we have been and some of the places that we would like to go to.

We discussed the characters in the story ‘We are Going on a Bear Hunt’ book this week. We spent some time looking at the last page of the book and wondered whether the bear may actually have been lonely and looking for some friends to play with.

Makaton

Our new Makaton signs this week were ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

Next week we are going on our walk around the local area. Please return your permission slip on Monday if you have not done already. We are looking for as many parent volunteers as possible, so please do let us know if you are able to come with us.

Have a lovely weekend!

Week 3

Week commencing 18th September

Reception have been very busy this week. The weather has been a lot more unsettled this week, which hasn't stopped us having fun outside! Please ensure your child has a coat everyday in school - even if the sun is shining in the moring!

Thank you to all of the parents that attended the Reading and Phonics Workshop on Thursday. The PowerPoint slides have been uploaded to the school website on the phonics curriculum page.

Phonics

In phonics we have been learning the sounds i, n, p, g and o. Please continue to practise the sounds at home with your child using the sheet provided. Here are this week’s phonics videos for you to watch at home together.

Please note these videos will expire after 3 weeks.

Maths

In maths, children have been learning how to represent numbers in different ways including collecting a given number of objects, drawing a given number of pictures or performing an action a given number of times.

Wider curriculum

As part of our topic ‘Let’s Explore’, we imagined our journey to school and drew a map to show what we saw along the way. We learned how to programme beebots and planned journeys for them to travel to different parts of Didcot.

In Literacy our learning has been focused on the story ‘The Hike’. We created flags that represented our likes and we brought them on our hike around the school.

Makaton

Our new Makaton sign this week was ‘goodbye’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

We hope your child has enjoyed this week as much as we have. Have a lovely weekend!

Week 2

Week beginning 11.9.23

Reception have been very busy during their first full week at school. Children have begun to bring home reading books; these books are wordless or have very few words but are very important to your child’s reading development. Please share the story and discuss what is happening in the pictures. Please use Boom Reader to log your child’s progress. Next week your child will also bring home a library book of their choice, both books will be changed weekly.

Forest school

Next week Hazel class have forest school on Monday. Please ensure your child has wellies and waterproofs in school. Cherry class will have forest school the following Monday. Please see the emailed letter for more details and dates.

Phonics

In phonics we have been learnt the sounds m,a,s,d,t. Please continue to practice the sounds at home with your child using the sheet provided. Here are this week’s phonics videos for you to watch at home together.

Please note these videos will expire after 3 weeks.

Maths

In maths, children have been learning about numbers 1-5, we have been exploring how numbers can be represented in different ways.

Topic

As part of our topic ‘Let’s Explore’, we went on a journey around the school and school grounds. We planned a route and saw lots of areas, animals and used our senses to discover what we could see, hear, smell and touch. We also said hello to the adults in school that help us!

In CLPE our learning has been focused on the story ‘The Hike’. We have used our sketchbooks to draw different objects in the outdoor area. We have also mapped out the outdoor area as a class.

Makaton

Our new Makaton sign this week was ‘hello’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

We hope your child has enjoyed this week as much as we have. Have a lovely weekend!

Week 1

Week beginning 4.9.23

Reception have had a great first few days at school. It has been lovely to meet everyone and the children have settled into their new classes and routines very well.

Please see below some pictures of the children from this week....

We have started teaching phonics this week. You should have received an email about a phonics workshop for parents on Thursday 21st September. If you have not received the email, please do let the school office know.

From Monday your child will be bringing home a sheet with the sound that they have learnt that day in phonics. This is for you to share with your child at home. You do not need to return it to school.

We hope your child has enjoyed this week as much as we have. I am sure they will all be very tired! We look forward to seeing you all back on Monday. Have a lovely weekend.