The Great Big Book of Families
This week we’ve been reading The Great Big Book of Families. (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.) Through the book, we have explored and celebrated the variety of families. Children had lots of suggestions about what makes a family.
What is a family?
People who live in the same house.
People don’t have to live in the same house.
They love each other.
Grandma and Grandad because they can live in your house.
In the writing area, we drew our families and we used loose parts to make the faces of people in our families.
Help at home: Family photos
Thank you for sending your family photos. There’s still time to email one if you haven’t had the chance yet. Over the next few weeks, we will also be thinking about our homes. To help support our discussions and art project, please send in one picture of your front door. You can email photos to scholesreception@spherefederation.org
Maths
We’ve been using our subitising skills in maths this week. When subitising, we can say how many there are in a small group by ‘just looking’ and knowing without needing to count.
We used counters to create our own arrangements of 2 and 3 and sorted pictures into groups showing 1, 2 and 3.
Phonics
This week, we have learnt the phonemes (the sounds a letter makes) s,a,t and p.
During our phonics learning, we listened carefully to the initial sound in a word and sorted objects into those that started with ‘s’ and those that didn’t.
In Reception, we learn to say the pure sounds that letters make, so for ‘s’, we say ‘ssss’ rather than ‘suh’. To hear the pronunciation for each letter, you might like to watch this short video clip of the letters we’ll be learning this half term.
Help at home: Look out for a ‘learn at home’ sheet which recaps the phonics learning from the week. Please look at this with your child and complete the activities.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will learn a new poem and will recite this poem every day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Chop Chop.
Chop Chop
Chop, Chop, Choppity Chop.
Cut off the bottom and cut off the top.
What there is left, we put in the pot.
Chop, Chop, Choppity Chop
And here are a few other snap shots of our learning this week.
eBooks
Next week, you will be issued your first eBook to share with your child. Your login details and reading record will be sent home soon. Please let us know if you do not have access to a device to read at home, as we have iPads for loan at the school office.
Please read with your child each week. As teachers, we have access to reading reports. We will be giving out certificates in class to celebrate your child’s reading at home.
Reception Baseline Assessment
Within the first 6 weeks of Reception, your child will participate in the reception baseline assessment.
“The RBA is a short, interactive and practical assessment of your child’s early literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills when they begin school, using materials that most children of your child’s age will be familiar with. It became statutory for all schools from September 2021.”
Click here to find out more.
‘Welcome to Reception’ meeting
Thank you to those parents/carers who were able to attend our ‘Welcome to Reception’ presentation on Thursday evening. We hope you found it informative.
If you were unable to attend or would like to re-visit the subjects we discussed, please click here to be taken to a PDF version of the slides used in the presentation.
Settling
All of the children are now in full-time and are continuing to settle in, get to know each other and learn our daily routines. We’ve had lots of fun exploring our learning this week. Take a look at what we’ve been up to:
PE; Foot-Tech
The children really enjoyed their first Foot-Tech and teacher-led PE sessions.
Each Wednesday and Friday, Reception will take part in a range of fun activities and games. In Early Years, our PE lessons have a key focus on developing the fundamentals of movement and ensuring that children are continuously engaged and active throughout.
Help at home; Family photos
Next week, we will be continue to think about our families. To help support our discussions, please send in one picture of your family together. We will keep the photograph on display, so please send photos you are happy for us to keep. You can also email photos to the email address below.
Thank you to parents and carers who have already provided these.
PE Days
Please send your child to school in their PE kit on Wednesday and Friday.
Swimming kits are not yet needed, we will send a message out when you need to start sending the kit and a list of dates that your child will be swimming.
Here is a link to our uniform policy.
Wellies and spare clothes
Don’t forget to bring your school wellies and a bag of spare uniform/PE kit, including underwear and socks to keep in school. Thank you to parents and carers who have already provided these.
Dates for your diary
This year we will be offering various opportunities for you to find out more about Early Years at school.
There will be after school meetings with your child’s teacher.
There’ll be stay and learn sessions where you can come into school and be part of a lesson and then find out how you can help at home.
Then, opportunities to pop into school to share your child’s learning journey book with them.
We hope that you can join us for as many of these sessions as possible.
–Welcome to Reception
An invitation to this event was emailed to you back in July but here is a reminder.
Come into school to find out some basic “need to knows” about life in Reception.
19.09.24 – 6pm – 6.30pm
– Stay and learn sessions
This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about the Early Years Curriculum and watch your child learning in school.
Phonics Phase 2 and coffee morning – 10.10.24 9am-10am
Number 1- 13.11.24 9am-10am
Phonics Phase 3- 14.01.25 9am-10am
Fine Motor and coffee morning- 03.02.25 9am-10am
World Book Day- 06.03.24 9am-10am
Number 2 – 18.03.25 9am-10am
– Learning Journey Drop In’s
An opportunity to “drop into” school and share your child’s learning journal with them.
Learning Journey Drop in 1 – 03.12.24 and 05.12.24 Times – 8.45 am-9.15am and 3.15pm-3.45pm
Learning Journey drop in 2 – 28.03.25 and 01.04.25 Times – 8.45 am-9.15am and 3.15pm-3.45pm
Learning Journey drop in 3– 08.07.25 and 10.07.25 Times – 8.45 am-9.15am and 3.15pm-3.45pm
Welcome to Reception!
Welcome to Reception!
We’ve welcomed our first two groups of children into class this week. We are so proud of how everyone is settling in, getting to know their new classrooms and their new friends.
Here is a little sneek peek of the classrooms, for the children starting on Monday- we can’t wait for you to join us!
The teachers have been busy playing in different areas of the classroom- Who can you see? Where are they playing?
PE Days
PE will start next week. Please send your child to school in their PE kit on Wednesday and Friday.
Swimming kits are not yet needed, we will send a message out when you need to start sending the kit and a list of dates that your child will be swimming.
Wellies and spare clothes
Don’t forget to bring your school wellies and a bag of spare clothes/underwear to keep in school. Thank you to parents and carers who have already provided these.
Family photo
We will soon be talking and learning about different families. To support our learning, please send in a photo of your child with their family. You can send in a copy of your photo or email it to:
scholesreception@spherefederation.org
Dates for your diary
This year we will be offering various opportunities for you to find out more about Early Years at school.
There will be after school meetings with your child’s teacher.
There’ll be stay and learn sessions where you can come into school and be part of a lesson and then find out how you can help at home.
Then, opportunities to pop into school to share your child’s learning journey book with them.
We hope that you can join us for as many of these sessions as possible.
–Welcome to Reception
An invitation to this event was emailed to you back in July but here is a reminder.
Come into school to find out some basic “need to knows” about life in Reception.
19.09.24 – 6pm – 6.30pm
– Stay and learn sessions
This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about the Early Years Curriculum and watch your child learning in school.
Phonics Phase 2 and coffee morning – 10.10.24 9am-10am
Number 1- 13.11.24 9am-10am
Phonics Phase 3- 14.01.25 9am-10am
Fine Motor and coffee morning- 03.02.25 9am-10am
World Book Day- 06.03.24 9am-10am
Number 2 – 18.03.25 9am-10am
– Learning Journey Drop In’s
An opportunity to “drop into” school and share your child’s learning journal with them.
Learning Journey Drop in 1 – 03.12.24 and 05.12.24 Times – 8.45 am-9.15am and 3.15pm-3.45pm
Learning Journey drop in 2 – 28.03.25 and 01.04.25 Times – 8.45 am-9.15am and 3.15pm-3.45pm
Learning Journey drop in 3– 08.07.25 and 10.07.25 Times – 8.45 am-9.15am and 3.15pm-3.45pm
Please note that a paper copy of these dates will also be sent home next week.
The finale!
Wow what a fun-filled last week we’ve enjoyed together!
The Beach Party
On Thursday, the weather was kind to us and we had a beautiful beach party. It was so much fun!
The Selfie Station
The children have enjoyed being in charge of taking the photos this week- take a look out our selfie-station snaps!
The Reception team would like to thank you all for your partnership and support this year. We’ve had a truly wonderful year and are so proud of all of the children. We wish you all the best as your child moves up to year one and continues their learning journey at Scholes (Elmet) Primary School. Have a happy and healthy Summer and we’ll see you in September!
New classes in September
We welcomed the reception children on transition day and will continue planning times before we break up for summer for children to visit their new classes and adults who they will be with in September. All the teachers in Key Stage 1 are staying in the same places from September 2024. The children have been excited, apprehensive, happy and nervous – all at the same time! Feel free to pop over to say hello before we break up for the summer.
The fish who could wish
Water safety
This week, the Canal and River Trust came to visit. We talked about how to stay safe near water during the summer.
“Canals have tarmac next to them but rivers are more natural” Oliver said.
“You can ride on your bike but you must be careful near the water” Norah said.
“Go to swimming lessons or ask your Mummy to get your paddling pool” Mila said when talking about where we can safely swim in water.
“You have to go with a parent” Heidi said.
We learnt a new song about how to keep safe near rivers and canals.
“Hold hands. Two steps back. Hold hands. Two steps back. Hold hands. Two steps back. Let’s stay safe together.”
Stay Away From the Edge
Maths
This week, we have been exploring time. We have looked at analogue and digital clocks, sand timers and stop watches. The children enjoyed timing themselves to share resources in the classroom.
Help at home: What can you time yourself doing at home? What did you use to time yourself?
Send an email to scholesreception@spherefederation.org for an extra challenge brick!
Music
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we learn a new poem. We recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers.
This week’s poem is Dance
Check out some more learning we have achieved this week…
Scholes in Bloom
Some children went out to meet the Britain in Bloom judges this week. The winner of the ‘design a flowerbed’ competition came to talk about their design. We also told them about plants we have grown and our beautiful wildlife garden. We hope they were impressed!
The Snail and the Whale
The Snail and The Whale
We’ve been reading The Snail and The Whale, another book by one of our favourite authors, Julia Donaldson
We’ve been retelling the story in our own words and writing special blackboard messages, just like the snail trail messages in the story!
The book had some fantastic adventurous words to describe landscapes and actions. Our word of the week was humongous. We discussed the meaning of lots of other words too.
Can your child tell you what each of these words mean? They could use the images to remind them.
Maths
This week, we’ve re-visited the composition of 5 in various ways.
Transition
On Wednesday, the Reception children had a wonderful visit to their new Year 1 classroom. It was a delightful experience for the children as they met their new teacher and explored their future learning environment.
The children were excited and engaged, participating in fun activities to make them feel welcome and at ease. This visit was a positive step in helping the children transition smoothly into Year 1. They left with big smiles and lots of enthusiasm!
The dancing raisin experiment
Phonics
Summer 2 week 5 has focused on:
root word ending in: –er, –est
longer words
In provision, we’ve been reading words ending in –ed and sorting them by the sounds that –ed makes:
‘t’ final sound: jumped, helped, screeched etc.
‘id’ final sound: boasted, painted, printed etc.
Help at home; Sentence Substitution Throughout the school year, we’ve suggested lots of practical ways to explore phonics at home with easily made resources and games. There are also some great quality online phonics games. Sentence substitution is a great way to practise both reading and comprehension. The goal is to replace one word in the sentence, whilst ensuring that the sentence still makes sense. This is a free to access game on ‘Phonics Bloom’ Click here to play at home!
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers.
This week’s poem is Sliced Bread
The children enjoyed exploring synonyms for the word nice and came up with many alternatives, such as delightful and delicious. This sparked a lot of interest in changing and adapting various parts of the poem. Check out some of their new poems!
Nell Bank
On Friday, we set of on our trip to Nell Bank. We began by listening to a story about Pete who liked to be TIDY but maybe a little bit too much.
We worked together safely to clear up a big mess! During this activity, we explored ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle, and discussed what would happen to litter if it was left.
Afterwards, the children had the opportunity to go on a mini-beast hunt to help Pete find lots of worms. Following this, it was time to help Pete make a new home in the woods. One of their favourite parts of the day (outside of lunch, of course) was the water play area.
Meet your new teacher – transition day 2024
We welcomed a visit from the children who will be in our classes in September. All the teachers in Key Stage 1 are staying in the same places from September 2024. The children were excited, apprehensive, happy and nervous – all at the same time! Feel free to pop over to say hello before we break up for the summer.
