Friday 21st September

Useful information and requests:

• If you were unable to attend the 'Welcome to Reception meeting' the power point is available to read on the school website. You can also see the power point for the phonics, reading and writing Early Years presentation.
• We would be extremely grateful if you have any small card board boxes we could have for junk modelling.
• Things to do...
• Read books to your child and talk about any rhyming words you come across. See if your child can continue rhyming strings.
• Encourage your child to practise taking their shoes and socks off and putting them back on ready for PE on Monday. 
• Please can you ensure that your child has a pair of wellies to be kept at school and brings in a coat for outdoor play.
• We have been focusing on following instructions at school. Please can you practise with your child at home by giving them 2 or 3 instructions at a time.

This week the children completed 4 adult directed activities these were:

Expressive Arts and Design: The children were taught to overlap coloured papers as part of a design for their Christmas cards. These are then sent off to a company that make them into cards available for you to buy. Look out for the information coming soon.

Maths: The children have been learning about the oneness of '1', They were introduced to one circle which has one curved side, the numicon tile for '1', a 1p coin and they counted on and back in 1s. They found 1 item and we talked about 1 more and 1 less.

Literacy: We have been focusing on rhyming strings. The children were each given an object and then had to find other children with an object which rhymed for example: rat, cat, mat and hat. The children then came up with other rhyming words in this string and together we thought of sentences for example: The bat sat on the cat. The rat went splat on the mat. 

Other combinations included: 

dog, log, frog

bone, stone, phone,

clock, sock, lock, rock,

rug, slug, jug,

chair, bear, square

Nonsense words that rhyme are also fine.

Understanding the World: Getting to know the school grounds. The children went on a walk around the school and found the kitchen, library, Mrs Pattrick's office, the staff room, the school office, Year 1, Year 2 and the sensory garden. 

We have also focused on phonics each day. This week we have focused on sounds.

These were the activities:

1.The children explored animal sounds. The teacher described an animal and the children had to make the sound and name the animal. 

2. The teacher had a collection of objects that all made different sounds eg bells, keys, squeaky toy, clock etc. The teacher showed the children and they listened to the sounds they made. The teacher then hid the toys and the children identified them by the sound they made.

3. The children used claves to drum on different materials around the classroom/outside. We talked about the different sounds they made. The children then repeated patterns tapped out and explored making loud and quiet sounds with the claves.

4. The children were introduced to a variety of instruments and taught their names. They then guessed the instrument from the sound.

5. The teacher placed some objects with varying sounds in a box and sang 'Mrs.... has a box ee i ee i o and in the box she has a ...' STOP and get the children to listen to the sound. 

In ChIL the children have continued to explore all the areas playing inside and outside. They've enjoyed making things in the creative area,  exploring the maths equipment, playing games and finger strong activities. They've enjoyed using the mud kitchen and the big bricks, musical instruments, bikes and the car track. They have also had construction Chil where they have focused on making something specific.

Have a super weekend, 

The Year R Team

Friday 14th September

Useful information and requests:

• The 'Welcome to Reception meeting' will be repeated next Tuesday 18th September if you were unable to attend this week. Thank you to those of you who have already attended.
• There is a 'Reading, Writing and Maths' workshop on Wednesday 19th September at 7.30pm which gives a great incite into helping your child learn to read, write and learn maths.
• The children will have their individual school photos taken next Thursday 20th.
• The children will have PE next Monday. They will need bare feet so if they find removing tights tricky this may be a good day to wear socks!
• Things to do...
• Read books to your child and talk about any rhyming words you come across.
• Encourage your child to practise taking their shoes and socks off and putting them back on ready for PE on Monday. 

The children have done very well this week, although many of them are very tired! 

The children have been split into groups of 15 for adult directed activities. This week they have rotated around the four areas inside the classroom and learnt how to use the resources available and tidy away. They visited the maths and small world areas, creative area, writing and role play area and fine motor activity area.

Here they are exploring the different areas:

The children have been on a sound walk, learning how to listen and identify sounds in the environment. They have also listened to a range of sounds on a cd identifying what they could hear- this included animal sounds, instruments, thunder, fireworks, skipping, tap dancing amongst other sounds. It is very important that children learn to listen as this will help the children to listen to the phonemes in words and learn to write.

The children have had lots of fun in ChIL (Child initiated Learning).

We have also been singing many number rhymes including: 5 little men in a flying saucer, 10 green bottles, 5 little ducks. Please sing lots of number rhymes with your child at home.

The office will email the lunch menu as requested at this mornings meeting. Please discuss lunch options with your child each morning if possible.

Have a lovely weekend,

The Year R Team

Friday 7th September

Hello and welcome to the Crabtree Infant School Reception Blog.

The children have settled in really well and seem to be enjoying life at school - lets hope that that continues when they realise that they have to come back again on Monday!

The children have spent the week exploring the area - getting to know the adults, getting to know the other children, getting to know the routines and getting to know the resources. 

And they have had fun!

In our adult directed time we have been playing games to help the children get to know each other. We have been reciting nursery rhymes and identifying rhyming words. We have also been saying number rhymes and thinking about whether the numbers are getting bigger or smaller.

Over the next few weeks our phonics lessons will focus on rhyme, alliteration and initial sounds. We will also be talking a lot about listening carefully to sounds all around us. When you take your child out for a walk see what they can hear. Can they identify the plane above, a bus driving past, some traffic lights beeping? In order to learn and apply phonemes the children first need to be able to listen to sounds and distinguish  between them. Please read rhyming books with your child and see if they can identify those words that rhyme. Playing 'I spy' is a great way to start learning about initial sounds.
We will be encouraging your child to write their name on pictures as well as during early morning activities. Their name must have a capital letter at the beginning and the rest of the letters need to be lower case.

The blog is a really good way of finding out and seeing exactly what your child is up to at school as they are likely to be too tired to tell you themselves!  There are no photographs this week as the children have been wearing name labels and we do not allow names along with photographs of the children on the blog.

Please could we ask that your child has a water bottle that they can open and does not spill easily. The children do not need backpacks as I'm afraid we don't have room in the cloakroom- coats and hats can be hung straight on the peg. Please ensure your child's key rings (maximum 2) are not too big as the book bags need to fit into the boxes. 

If your child has an allergy and you have provided us with medication, please can we ask for a named, lidded box big enough to store it all in. Thank you.

All children will stay for lunch next Monday and collection will be at 1.30 for all children on both Monday and Tuesday. Then from Wednesday all children stay all day and collection is 3.15.

Please come along to our 'Welcome to Reception' meeting for parents  on either Friday 14th September or Tuesday 18th September at 9.15.

The Year R Team