Reception

Spring Term

Friday 28th February 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a wonderful week in Reception. We have seen so much determination and resilience from the children this week with their ILT projects, and of course, many brilliant blue moments too! We already can’t wait to share these with you on your child’s next Tapestry summary. As you may have already seen, both Ella and Elizabeth have shared your child’s Spring 1 Tapestry summaries where we have discussed your child’s ILT and maths progress. Please read this with your child. It is incredibly useful when the children are familiar with their new targets and it is always lovely when they get to hear all the lovely things we have written about them!

Community and Literacy

Something very strange has been happening around school this week – we believe the goblins might be up to mischief! One child discovered an egg buried in some leaves near to our playground. As part of our continued community focus, we ventured through the portal again into the Enchanted Forest. This time, not only did we gain our powers, but the children also noticed their bodies changing as they stepped through! Some found their skin turning silver, others discovered they could float, and some even grew tails and extra legs! It has been a magical experience which we can’t wait to explore more.

Next week, this adventure will inspire our writing, as the children will describe their experiences of going through the portal and how they transformed. Can your child tell you what happened to them when they went through? We are so excited to see where their imaginations take them!

Maths

This week we have been focusing on doubles to 10. These are two of the same number added together to make a total. We like to play a game called quick fire doubles. The children are encouraged to hold their hands behind their back. When they hear a number, they pull their hands in front of them and show the double. Can your child demonstrate how we play this game at home? How quickly can they fire their doubles?

We have also been learning about the number 15. The children have been exploring its position on the number line and discussing how it fits into our counting sequence. We have also been looking closely at the place value of number 15, understanding that it is made of one 10 and 5 ones. This has helped us to deepen our understanding of how numbers are built and how they relate to each other. We are finding that the children can find it tricky when counting beyond 13. The teen numbers are difficult ones to remember. Please find below some ideas you could use to consolidate this learning further at home.

Counting Train

How to Play:

• Line up toy trains, cars, or blocks in a long row.
• Number each one (write on sticky notes if needed).
• Start at 1 and count along, encouraging the children to keep going beyond 20.
• Mix up some of the numbers and get the children to put them back in order.

Jump and Count

How to Play:

• Set up a hopscotch grid with numbers going beyond 20.
• Children jump from number to number while saying them out loud.
• Make it fun by using different movements (e.g. hop like a bunny, stomp like a dinosaur).

Counting with a Puppet or Teddy

How to Play:

• Use a puppet or teddy that “forgets” numbers after 10.
• The children must help the puppet count correctly by saying the numbers aloud.
• Sometimes the puppet can make mistakes (e.g. skipping 13) and the children must correct it.

Phonics

This week we have learnt the long sound ‘ar’ as in ‘car’ and ‘star’. As well as learning to read the sounds, the children have also been busy applying them to some of their writing. They are encouraged to use their fingers to segment (sound out) the word before writing this down. Can your child write the words: start, part, art?

As well as applying the ‘ar’ sound, we have consolidated the ch, sh, th, ai, ee, igh, oa and oo sounds. It is particularly tricky at times to distinguish between those sounds that appear quite similar. The children are doing a great job with this so far.

We have also consolidated the tricky words: all and are. These are words that cannot be sounded out and they must be recognised by sight. As always, the phonics play online resource is available for your child to use to reinforce their learning at home.  There are also lots of engaging activities shared both online and in previous newsletters if you wanted to have a more active approach to learning these words with your child.

Handwriting

We have begun to learn the formation of the ‘One armed robot’ letters. This week we have ‘r, and ‘n’. This tends to be one of the most challenging letter formation groups for the children. We encourage the children to start at the top of the letter and form their way down to the line, rather than starting from the bottom. We are starting to get the hang of it now!     

Reading Fridays Reminder

Each Friday we will either start or end the day with a half hour slot to come and enjoy sharing books with the children. This week, we had our very first morning stay and read. The children had a great time and enjoyed sharing their love of reading. Next week, we will have a come and read at the end of the day. This will continue to alternate through the rest of the year. Stay and reads will be 9-9.30 and come and reads will be 2.40 – 3.10. If you drop your child off and want to stay, we will just ask that you let us safely register and settle the children before coming into class. If you come and read, we would ask that you leave at 3.10, even if you are collecting, to allow us to safely get the children ready for home time. You do not need to tell us in advance if you are attending. If you do attend, you will just enjoy sharing/reading stories to your child. It should be a lot of fun.

World Book Day – 06.03.25

World Book Day will take place next Thursday. The children are invited to express how they like to read in what they wear for the day. For example, they may choose to wear their PJs because they love to snuggle up with a book at night or they may want to wear comfy clothes because they enjoy curling up on the sofa. They may have clothes that celebrate books they enjoy or they might want to decorate a T shirt to celebrate their favourite reading. There will be a special World Book Day themed Wake Up, Shake Up at 8.30am and we would like to invite all parents to join in the fun by attending one of the open reading sessions in school. Classrooms will be open from 8.45 – 9.15 for parents to come in and read with your child. You may like to join our “Read Your Way” dress up theme too! School will also be open from 3.00 in the afternoon for parents who are unable to make the first session to again, share a story session with your child. Parents are welcome to move between classrooms using the outside doors if you have more than one child in school during our open reading sessions. We can’t wait to celebrate with you all!

If you have any queries or things to celebrate then please do not hesitate to email us. You can reach us at the following email address: reception@newlaithes.co.uk

Kind regards,

The Reception Team

Elizabeth, Ella, Natalie, Justine, Sophie and Halima