Reception Class Newsletter – Autumn Term
Reception Class Newsletter November 2017
Dear Parents and carers,
We hope you had an enjoyable half-term. It was lovely meeting you at parents evening.
We have another busy and exciting time ahead of us in the lead up to Christmas. Our over-riding topic is festivals and the seasons. We have been enjoying finishing our learning about the festival of Diwali and Bonfire night and this week we will be thinking about the symbol of the poppy. Of course, we will also take ideas from the children about where the interests lie.
Here is an outline of the key skills we wish to develop:
| Communication and Language | Children listen attentively in a range of situations.
Children listen to stories accurately anticipating key events. Children follow instructions involving several ideas or actions. Children express themselves effectively. |
| Personal, Social and Emotional Development | Children are confident to speak within a familiar group.
They talk about their ideas. Children talk about how they and others show feelings. Children talk about their own and others’ behaviour, and its consequences. They know that some behavior is unacceptable. They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity. |
| Physical Development | Children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements.
They confidently in a range of ways safely negotiating space. They handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing. Children know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet and how to stay healthy. They manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently. |
| Literacy | Children use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately.
They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read. Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. |
| Mathematics | Children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20.
They place numbers in order. Children can say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money. They recognise, create and describe patterns. |
| Understanding the World | Children know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities and traditions.
Children talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members. Children recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools. |
| Expressive Arts and Design | Children sing songs and experiment with ways of changing them.
Children make music and experiment with ways of changing it. Children dance and experiment with ways of changing their dance. Children safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques experimenting with colour and design. |
Reading Books – some children have been issued with a reading book and diary. Please listen to your child read and discuss the story with them, then write in the diary so we know you have read with them. Please make sure they have their books in the plastic wallet in their school bag every day.
Sound Books – just before half term, the children came home with a sound book. This is for you to support them at home with sounding out and blending. You can use the book as flash cards and ask your child to say the sound with the action or you can take them apart to make short words to read. Please make sure they also have this in their bag so that we can add the new phonemes and digraphs as we learn them.
Tapestry – this is now up and running. You should have received an email with a link allowing you to see your child’s learning journey. Please do comment on their observations. Thank you to those parents who have already activated their account.
Snack Money – thank you very much for the snack money for the first part of the Autumn term. Please would you be kind enough to send in £7 for this half-term in CASH only in a labelled envelope. We would now very much like to invite those parents who have offered their help to assist with snack time to start coming in on their regular day. This makes a huge difference to us so thank you in advance. Please see Mrs Course or Mrs Berrett to finalise which day of the week you are able to come in.
Monday morning help? Any parents who have been through the appropriate safeguarding checks and have met with Ms Allsop, we would be really grateful for some admin’ help on a Monday morning if you are able to. We fully understand those with younger children and who work are unable. But if you were free, we have many jobs to do on Mondays and it would be wonderful if you were able to help.
Forest School – the children have been outstanding in the woods and are getting much from their outdoor environment. First, a polite reminder that this is Mr Cooke’s garden and he has asked that the children don’t play on the swing and that we don’t park in front of his two garages please. In addition, please note that all the land we use for forest school is Mr Cooke’s private garden. We are extremely lucky that he allows the school to use his land. Therefore, we must not take advantage of this and respect his privacy, especially at weekends.
As it gets colder, please do not drop the children at the forest too early as they can get quite cold before we have set off on our way to the wood. Perhaps they could wait in the warmth of the car?
On your return to forest school, all children must return via the main entrance and office and not through the gate onto the playground.
We have started sending a forest school bag home with individual children. This shows a selection for photos from our adventures in the wood. This is for your child to sit with you and talk about what we have been doing. We do love it when parents and family comment in the book. Please write a post it note or on a little piece of paper and stick it in the book. The bag and book should then be returned the next day so that another child can bring it home. Many thanks.
If you are late collecting your child from school, please go the office where your child will be waiting and not onto the playground.
Dates for your diary:
- Thursday 9th November – FOC Film Night
- Friday 10th November – School Photographs
- Friday 17th November – Forest School / Children in Need dress in spots!
- Friday 24th November – Non-uniform day in exchange for bottles and chocolates for the Christmas Fair.
- Friday 1st December – Forest School and Christmas Fair (after school)
- Thursday 7th December – Reception Class visit to Santa at Audley End
- Thursday 14th December – Reception Class Nativity am
We hope that you have found this newsletter informative. Please do not hesitate to speak to us or contact us via the office with any questions.
Many thanks for being such supportive parents.
Mrs Course and Mrs Berrett.
Reception Class Newsletter September 2017
Welcome to the Autumn term! The children are settling in well and have been enjoying sharing their Chatterboxes with us and their friends. The children have loved meeting their Year 6 buddy too. We have really enjoyed meeting our new families and the familiar faces! This newsletter outlines our plans for this half-term.
Literacy
This term we will be looking at stories and rhymes with familiar settings and predictable and repetitive patterns, simple non-fiction texts and signs, labels, captions, lists and instructions. The children will begin to learn their sounds and how to write them and will bring home sound cards so that you as parents can support them and see the action that accompanies each sound. We use the Letters and Sounds Scheme supported by Jolly Phonics. All the actions and songs can be found online. As the children are felt to be ready they will be started on our reading scheme and given words to learn to read. Please write in their Reading Record Book each time you hear them read at home, commenting on any successes or problems. In the mean-time, all children are welcome to borrow one book from our class collection on a daily basis.
Poetry Journals
We are trying to build up a bank of poems and rhymes that the children learn by heart. We hope that you will support us in this by singing, chanting or saying the poem at home on a daily basis so that we can develop a repertoire that will reinforce the link between rhyme, reading and spelling. The children will bring home their Poetry Journal each Monday in their bag or reading folder. Please keep the journal in the folder or bag so that we can add a new poem each week. Children can draw a picture to go with the poem if they wish.
Numeracy
We will be focussing on counting, recognising numbers and reciting number rhymes. We will be finding out about shapes, patterns and measurement and using numbers to sort objects and solve problems. Please reinforce counting as much as possible at home by counting as you go up and down the stairs etc and pointing out the written digits as you are out and about.
Topic
Our theme for this half term is What do I know about me? / People who help us. After half-term, the theme will be Autumn – the season and it’s festivals. This will give us many opportunities to develop our Communication and Language skills as we talk about our families, the things we like, the things we can do and how we are all different. Our role play area will be set up as a Baby Clinic / Hospital so we can learn about how we have grown and changed as part of Understanding the World. Our Expressive Arts and Design work will be developed through singing songs about ourselves, dancing to music and playing some percussion instruments. We will also be drawing pictures of our families. As we explore the different things we can do with our bodies we will be improving our fine and gross motor skills and our Physical Development. Throughout the term we will be focussing on our Personal, Social and Emotional development as we think about what makes each of us special and learning to work together successfully. The Golden Rules will support us develop confidence, to make relationships and to manage feelings and behaviour. We will explore each rule in turn. For your information they are;
We are kind and helpful, we look after property, we listen, we are honest, we are gentle and we work hard.
P.E.
Physical Development is one of the core areas of the EYFS curriculum. We are active as much as possible daily – fine motor skills will be practiced daily, we run every day and climb as much as possible to strengthen our arms and hands. As well as this we have two focussed PE lessons each week.
Our P.E. days are Tuesday and Thursday. Please make sure your child has their kit with them (including plimsolls for when we go outside). All items should be named. P.E. kit can stay in school all the time and we will send it home for washing at half-term. After half-term, we hope to be having an outdoor session with Mr Dyce so the children may need tracksuit bottoms and a jumper to wear.
House Groups
Each child at Clavering School is in a House Group – named after a person of local significance. There are 5 houses, each house has a colour and children can earn house points for good behaviour, good manners and hard work. Children will be in the same house group as their siblings.
| Ludgate | Yellow | Theo, Bella, Oscar, George S, Luke, Max |
| Oliver | Orange | Rosie, Samuel, Harry P, Rose, Cooper, Charlie |
| Saville | Blue | Toby, Teddy, Ava, Luna, Rowan, Jack |
| Wales | Green | Morgan, Harry F, Florence, Tommy, Darcie, Ellie |
| Wymarc | Red | Elliot, Ernie, George K, Camden, William |
Snack
We provide a healthy snack each morning for children in reception. We ask for a donation of £1 per week to cover the cost of this. If you prefer, you can pay for the half term, £7, cash only please. Please ensure that all money comes to school on a Monday in an envelope with your child’s name, the purpose of the payment and the amount clearly marked. Please inform us in writing of any special dietary needs or allergies. Many thanks to those of you who have already sent in snack money with the children. Children receive the Government funded free snacks in the afternoons.
We warmly invite parents if you are able to commit, to help us with our lovely social snack time. This takes place every morning from 10.30-11.15. It involves helping to prepare snack and then washing up afterwards. This is a lovely way to see what we are up to in class. If you are able to help please let us know as soon as possible. The school will need to make sure all the necessary checks are in place for this.
Tapestry – we are having a few technological teething problems in setting this up. Please bear with us and we will inform you as soon as we are up and running. Be assured, we have taken lots of photos and are filling their hard copy learning journeys already!
Bits and Pieces:
- All the children at Clavering School are encouraged to drink water. It is school policy that they only drink water. The children bring a named water bottle each day and take it home at the end of the day to be washed and re-filled.
- We try to go outside everyday even if it is raining; please make sure your child brings a coat to school so that they can have some fresh air and exercise.
- Please return the forms from your induction pack as soon as possible – intimate care, all about me, the technology survey and any proud clouds.
- We discourage children from bringing toys from home to school (unless it is in connection with our topic); they get very upset if special toys are lost or damaged so we would appreciate your support in this.
- As mentioned at the Induction Meeting, we will be visiting Snail Wood on a regular basis for our Forest School sessions. On Forest School days we request that children are brought directly to Snail Wood and collected from there at 11.30. More information about this will be available at the Meet the Teacher evening on 21st September. Forest School dates:
Friday 13th October, 3rd November, 17th November, 1st December, 15th December
- Please check your child’s Friday Folder for messages and information and return it on Monday even if you have nothing to put in it.
- Please make sure all clothing and school bags are clearly named.
- If your child is to be collected at the end of the school day by somebody else, please let the school know by telling the teacher on the gate in the morning, ringing / emailing the office or a note in their school bag. In addition, if your child is to go home on the bus / Oliver’s Lodge / Willows, please inform us of those days.
- Part-time – the children can get very tired and there is the option of them going home for this term only on a Tuesday and Thursday at 1.15pm. There is also the option of Friday afternoon if we feel that it is needed. We will keep you informed if we feel that the part-time option would suit your child.
- Parents Evening – Tuesday 17th October / Wednesday 18th October.
- Reception Nativity – Thursday 14th December am.
Ways you can help at home:
- Encourage independence – dressing, using the toilet etc
- Read with your child as often as possible.
- Sing songs and rhymes and count and search for numbers around them.
- Fun mark-making / writing opportunities – making patterns in bath bubbles or sticks in the mud.
- Fine motor skills – threading, squeezing playdough, tweezering. Big arm movements painting with brush and water making rainbows on the ground or a fence. All fun but a vital precursor to writing.
Great idea – we have noticed that some of the children are struggling to work out which shoe to put on which foot! We have discovered a great idea – cutting a big sticker in half and sticking them in their shoes.
We hope this letter has answered any questions you may have, but please don’t hesitate to speak to either of us if there is anything you don’t understand or are concerned about.
Best wishes for a successful term,
Alison Course and Wendy Berrett.
