Reception Blog
Welcome to the Reception Blog!
Every Friday we will be uploading a weekly overview of what we have learnt, and any exciting news we want to share with you.
19th December
What a fun final week to end our first term in Reception at Jupiter. The children have already shown so much growth and development since September and it is so nice to see their full personalities develop.
We have been busy with Christmas crafts and look forward to sharing these with you.
End of term - Friday 20th at 1:00pm
Have a lovely rest and time with your families.
Best wishes,
The Reception Team
13th December
Thank you to those parents and family members who were able to come and support our nativity performances. The children were very brave to stand and perform in front of the school and such a big audience. Well done!
In Maths, we have been working on counting or drawing a corresponding amount of objects to a given number and creating festive pictures following instructions.
It was nice to see so many of you attend the Christmas fair, if you would like to buy your child’s art work, this is still available for a gold coin donation at the end of the day from the classroom. The children have a great time on Christmas jumper day and enjoyed their Christmas lunch.
Please do read previous blog posts to look for the links to phonics videos and specific sound videos that you can use over the holidays, some specific emails will be sent out next week in regards to how to support your child at home over the two weeks.
We look forward to seeing you next Tuesday at 2:30 for carols on the Muga - we will be dismissing the children from the Muga and they will be leaving book bags and water bottles in school.
Remeber - school finishes next week on Friday 20th at 1:00pm.
Have a nice weekend, best wishes
The Reception Team
6th December 2024
We have been creating our own version of 'The Gingerbread Man' this week and have drawn out our own story maps. It has been amazing to hear the children tell the story of 'The Pizza Man' and 'The Chip Man'.
It would be great to use the story maps at home and ask your child to tell you the stories we have learnt.
We have also been busy practising our Nativity performance. We can’t wait to share it with you next week! The performances are on Tuesday and Wednesday, please remember that it is limited to 2 people per performance. Thank you.
Please could we ask that any emails or letters sent home are not shared across WhatsApp class groups. Some communication is specific to year groups and therefore has not been sent to certain families intentionally. Sharing an email that may have sent specifically for a sibling has caused some confusion.
Thank you for your support and best wishes.
The Reception Team
28th November 2024
This week we have begun innovating our class story and changed the main characters. Rabbit class is telling the story of 'Chip man' and Hedgehog class is telling ‘Gingerbread fox’. Next week, we will create a five sentence story with our new characters and the children will have a go at drawing their own story map and writing some of the characters.
In phonics, we are continuing to work on blending words by sounding them out and then reading the whole word. Below are some links to support blending at home.
Learning to blend:
6 - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/VzVYUopH/U93tnvLt
7 - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/3bY9pAkX/MFjjqVuH
8 - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/GyTgO2c0/BouN3m7L
9 - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/fBcfS3ol/k2TJCs6t
10 - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/LUcGHP4G/uMO4MS9O
We are also teaching special friends, these are two letters that go together to make one sound such as - sh, th, ch, qu, ng, nk, ck. You can use these videos at home to understand how we introduce and teach special friends.
sh - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/6kgjjact/h72CVP4w
th - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/AVnm2EvW/iagGgY4b
ch - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/cruGPQ5H/hzYzdhVY
qu - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/Sqkb2gEo/QpWqSqTf
ng - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/AyK27bhh/C4VP5kmq
nk - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/CWvsVzfJ/uxfnRZYB
ck - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/QdAQpJ6W/V0L95wg9
We have started to learn our nativity! Hopefully you have all had an email regarding costumes and one will follow shortly regarding tickets to the performances. We will be singing - Little Donkey, Away in a manger, It was on a starry night and We wish you a merry Christmas. If you want to help at home, you can play these songs when you drive to and from school or around the house.
Remember, school is closed on Monday 2nd December.
Best wishes
The Early Years Team
21st November 2024
This week we read the story ‘The Gingerbread Man’. In class, we drew pictures to represent the parts in the story and we call this a text map. Next week, we will be innovating the text and changing some of the main characters. See if you can use the picture below to tell the story at home.
In maths, we explored sharing and creating equal groups. We had to share out food at a teddy picnic and ensure each teddy had the same amount of items. We also made some repeating patterns using objects in our classrooms such as counters. See if you can make a repeating pattern at home, you could use your toys or even food items on your plate at dinner time.
The children have been learning about their senses and went on a walk in our Forest school area. As we were walking we thought about what we could see, hear, smell, touch or taste. We then created posters for each of our senses and put pictures to match.
Remember next week we are only in school for four days. School is shut on Friday 29th.
Best wishes
The Early Years Team
14th November 2024
This week we found out what happened to the gingerbread men! Mr Murray sent us a video, the video showed the gingerbread escaping from the oven! We think the syrup we added must have had some magic inside! We have been creating wanted posters and looking for clues such as pieces of icing or crumbs, as we want to find out where the gingerbread men went.
In our theme lesson we spoke about our favourite things such as favourite places, favourite lessons, favourite colours and favourite food. The children have drawn pictures and spoken to the adults about their drawings.
We continue to teach phonics every day, the video links from earlier blog posts should still work so please continue to watch these with your children.
On Monday, we spoke about why we were wearing odd socks and talked about how important it is to be kind with our words and our actions and to be respectful of those around us. On Friday, we will discuss children in need and how the money we raise will help so many people.
Reminders -
Monday 18th - 2:30pm Phonics talk in the lodge
Monday 18th - Please send your child in clothing for Forest School
Tuesday 19th - School photos
8th November 2024
The children have come back to school so well and it has been lovely to see them get straight back into routine. We have started our new Talk for Writing text; The Gingerbread Man. We made some biscuits in class, but when we went to take out our Gingerbread Men, they had gone! We are still not sure what happened! Hopefully we will find out next week.
Our Maths focus has been on accurate counting and using lots of counting songs. We learnt '5 Little Peas' and have also sung '5 Little Men in a Flying Saucer' and '5 Little Ducks'. We spoke about the importance of counting slowly and accurately, saying one numer for each object and stopping when we reach the end.
We have started our plans for Remembrance Day on Monday, making our own Popy Wreath as a sign of respect for all of those who have lost their lives. We will be observing a 2 minute silence in school.
Oxford Owl online library
At Jupiter, we pay for the Oxford Owl online library. You can access this at home using the link and passwords.
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/login?active-tab=students
Username: jpshedgehogs - Password: passwordh
Username: jpsrabbits - Password: passwordr
When you are logged in, click on the free Read Write Inc ebooks resources and at this stage, the Sound Blending books are great and then you can even try out the Ditty books.
If you are going to any Firework displays, please wrap up warm and keep safe. We look forward to seeing you all next week.
Best wishes
The Early Years Team
23rd October 2024
We have had a wonderful first half term and start to the school year here at Jupiter. It has been wonderful to see how the children have settled and already adapted to Reception.
Below are the links to five sounds we have taught this week, now we have learnt all of the Set 1 single sounds. When we come back after half term, children will be in specific phonics groups and will be revisiting some sounds and beginning to read sound books.
v - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/8got6U0P/2UfPwTKl
w - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/HKPZDMHa/QfYV8orJ
y –https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/s25APELh/OvvovNJa
z - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/7V0lyJgd/geRWEi8o
x - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/ekEjU15D/525z0Qam
The children enjoyed their first Forest School session and got to meet Lupus, the leader of our wolf pack. We went on a walk around our school grounds and got to explore our Forest School area before making some leaf dens and homes for hedgehogs.
In maths, we have been using the words ‘more than’ or ‘fewer than’ to compare amounts. Sometimes we can instantly see who has more or fewer than the other person, but sometimes we have to count! You can have a go at home using the sentences ‘I have more than you’ , ‘I have fewer than you’, ‘You have more than me’ and ‘You have fewer than me’. Perhaps talk about this when you are eating dinner, who has more peas?
We look forward to seeing all of the amazing outfits on Friday for Times Table Rockstars Day!
Have a wonderful half term.
We will see you back in School on Monday 4th November. Please do check Mrs Armstrong’s newsletter and the calendar for dates as we have a very busy next half term, including lots of non-uniform days.
Best wishes,
The Reception Team
18th October 2024
It was so nice to see lots of you are parent's evening this week, you should all be really proud of your children and how well they have taken to life at Jupiter.
Both classes went on a nature walk. We were making observations about the trees and the changes that we can see due to the season. The children were thinking of questions that we will answer next week such as "Why do some leaves stay green?" , "How old are the trees?" and "What is the name of the tree?". The children have been drawing and painting pictures of pumpkins and squash and closely looking at what they can see on the inside. We also made a potion tuff tray and the children were scooping, pouring and using pipettes.
In Maths, we have been subitising to 4! We are looking at pictures of items up to 4 and also images of dots in different representations. The children have to quickly show us on their fingers how many they can see and also say the number. We have been exploring different representations of 4.
This week we have taught five more sounds and are now blending with the sounds we know. We use letters and boards to make words and read them! We have sent home flashcards, you can cut these up and use them in the same way at home. We have attached links to the individual sounds and blending videos so you can see what we do in school.
e - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/hGNIXZeu/84Fjqqvz
l - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/jLgAzgym/JTotjG7d
h - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/F7oigxnH/DHFfeYXA
r - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/P0ihmQpW/5YHcX0lO
j - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/Aac4nuD4/g0px1ney
Learning to blend at home
1 - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/c3hWwkuU/BNT8cW6p
2 - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/ix9Tr6Wj/pHeQX466
3 - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/8EL0NLtp/iSrR292s
Below is a link to a Set 1 homework booklet, if you require a printed copy, please just let us know.
Set-1-Homework-Booklet.pdf-version-1.pdfSet-1-Homework-Booklet.pdf-version-1.pdf
Remember:
Friday 25th October is Rockstar day - dress up as a rockstar.
Friday 25th October Buddy assembly 9:00
Friday 25th October end of Autumn 1
Best wishes,
The Reception Team
11th October 2024
This week we have learnt another 5 new sounds. The ‘c’ and ‘k’ make the same phoneme but we spoke about how they are used for different spellings. The children have tried hard with some challenging letter formations this week.
c - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/8fbRQznQ/KXsc45cx
k - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/ZPSucdBo/7htREBM1
u - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/9tz2HAMP/P0eFwriC
b - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/PNXg1CCZ/5LDPoSxW
f - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/MRqi9lnH/GmCKUwxY
Our Talk for Writing text this week has been ‘The Enormous Turnip’. We have enjoyed listening to the story and created the 5 sentence story map.
In Maths this week, we have been learning the composition of numbers; what they are made from. We talked about how 3 is 1 and another 1 and another 1. We also found different ways to make an amount using our fingers or counting objects. Some children used the Numicon resources and cubes in the Tough Trays outside.
During the afternoons, we have been drawing pictures of who lives in our home and talking about special people in our families. We have also been playing team games such as passing pompoms on spoons or building cork towers.
We hope you all have a lovely weekend and we will see you next week. Remember, we have Parents Evening on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Best wishes,
The Reception Team
4th October 2024
This week we have learnt five new sounds. We have been working on drawing lines down the paper to help with our letter formation as we often have to start at the top and draw a line down, for example - ‘down the tower’, ‘down the insect’ or ‘down the pirate’. Please watch the videos and support your child to form the letters at home by having a go at writing them.
i - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/4IUj2vgi/QAekgIrN
n - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/t9HAbpjb/dusoi4rq
p - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/Ehlo7eMW/BIyaclvw
g - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/Y1ZNyRzF/AAdHtRAE
o - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/p5QZEOG4/XjUCzCLu
In literacy we told the story ‘The Little Red Hen’ and used our story map to turn it into a five sentence story. The children came up with actions to help them remember the words as they said them.
In maths, we have been helping teach ‘Counting Bear’ the correct way to count as he often makes mistakes. We know we need to say the numbers in the correct order, touch or move each object only once and remember to stop. We have also been clapping and playing the drum to show that we can also count sounds and not just objects.
On Friday, we got to meet our Year 6 Buddies. The children have been paired up with a child in Year 6 to act as their mentor/buddy for their first year at Jupiter. In a few weeks, there will be an assembly where the children will introduce themselves and you are invited.
Best wishes
The Reception Team
27th September 2024
What a wonderful end to our week, it was nice to have so many of you be able to join us for lunch today. We hope you enjoyed it!
This week we have begun teaching phonics, the children learn a sound a day and now we know five sounds, we can begin to blend! I have attached the links to each sound and also a blending video. Please sit with your children and watch these at home so you know how we teach phonics in school and you child can have another go at writing the sounds at home.
m - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/VOQDThU5/VcwKC4G1
a - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/BggVHlvn/kPgmT1W0
s - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/C9UQGAvl/IHPFtYWW
d - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/UfN7Gw1v/eRS7k7j2
t - https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/IruMnBKY/kHbvr2tQ
Blending -
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/tWmVr2rB/mYVFS77h
In maths we are subitising - this is where we instantly spot a pattern of 1, 2 or 3 and say the corresponding number to the amount. We have been calling out different amounts of 1, 2 or 3 and getting the children to show us that many with their fingers or make the amount with counters.
Our topic is 'All about me' and the children have been discussing what makes them special and unique and discussing how we look. The children painted self portraits and these are now on display in the classrooms. Take a look at the photos below to see their fantastic work!
Best wishes
The Reception Team
20th September 2024
This week the adults have completed the baseline assessments with all of the children.
Next week, we will begin teaching our phonics sessions where we teach a sound a day. In the blog post next week, we will include video links so you can watch these at home with your children and have a go at saying and writing the sounds.
Below are some video links to our 'Fred' games. We watch these daily in school and Fred is helping us to learn to read. It is important that children can hear the sounds in a word and blend it back together. You can play Fred games at home, in the car, out shopping or in the park!
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/oTyhYip1/SZlh0HKL
https://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/QV9AJW9N/UG4AmLhG
Our Talk for Writing text this week was Goldilocks, each class learnt the story and retold it with actions following the five sentence story plan. Please see the story map below and see if your child can remember it!
The children have enjoyed spending time outside while we still have the nice weather. We have been setting up different equipment in our Early Years garden such as climbing equipment and have been impressed with how well the children line up and patiently wait their turn. We have all enjoyed using the parachute to play some parachute games with our friends too!
At home, it would be helpful if you could encourage your children to dress and undress themselves. Specifically having a go at taking off jumpers and tops and trying to undo buttons.
Have a lovely weekend.
Best wishes
The Reception Team - Mr Brown and Miss Gillingham
13th September 2024
We have had a busy first full week back at school. The children have been getting to know routines and have spoken about classroom rules. It has been lovely getting to know all of the children and watching them interact with their new friends. The children have had a go at writing their names and we will continue to practise this. Everybody had a fun first P.E session and did a great job getting changed, please remember to name all items of clothing.
Each week this half term, we are learning to tell a story. In Hedgehogs, they have been learning 'The Three Little Pigs' and in Rabbit class they told 'Billy Goats Gruff'. In Reception, we often learn to tell a 'Five sentence story' using the sentence starters - Once upon a time.... Early one morning... Unfortunately..... Luckily.... Finally... . Look at the images of the story maps below and listen to your child retell their class story.
Have a lovely weekend.
Best wishes
The Reception Team - Mr Brown and Miss Gillingham
7th September 2024
Welcome to all of our families! The children have settled very well and it has been lovely spending time with each and every one of them over the last few days. It has been great to see how confident and settled the children are already. Myself and Mr Brown and all of the Reception team and feeling very proud.
Some of the children have been sharing their news from the Summer which has been lovely. The have stood up and spoken about their items or what they got up to.
Please remember that the children need a named water bottle in school which can only have water in. Please also name any items of clothing!
Next Wednesday (11th September) at 3pm, after dismissing the children, we are hosting a 'Meet the Teacher' session where you can pop in and say 'Hello'. We will be sending out a Reception Newsletter with key information, dates and reminders soon.
Thank you for your support and we look forward to communicating with you all throughout the year.
Best wishes
The Reception - Mr Brown and Miss Gillingham
