Welcome to Reception Green!
Welcome back everyone! I hope you all had an excellent Easter and a well-deserved break. It’s our final term together (it makes me sad to say that) - I can’t believe how quickly time has gone! I hope you’re ready for a term of lots of fun and hard work!
OUR TOPIC
Our topic for this half term is ‘Living Things’! We are going to be learning about lots of different living things, including animals which live in the rainforest, minibeasts, dinosaurs and plants. We are going to be reading lots of information books and using videos and information from the internet to learn lots of fascinating facts about living things. The topic is going to be started off by looking at the rainforest and the animals which live there. We can’t wait for our role-play area to be transformed into a rainforest! We are going to get our backpacks and binoculars on and we are going to go on safari! I wonder what we might see?! In the creative area we will be making a variety of rainforest animals from colourful parrots to slithery snakes. In our sensory tray we are going to be investigating different animal habitats. We will also have our first educational visit to Blackpool Zoo to enhance our topic. It will be a very fun and exciting day! Also, later in the topic we will be making a Bug Hotel outdoors, going on lots of minibeasts hunts and observing webs spun by spiders. We will be able to use magnifying glasses to investigate the minibeasts and sort the minibeasts in different ways. We will be learning about the life-cycles of different minibeasts and we will even have caterpillars and tadpoles in our classrooms so we can watch them grow and change. In PSHE we will be thinking about taking care of living things and how we can look after them, as well as any fears we have about certain living things such as spiders. We will also read the book ‘The Bad Tempered Ladybird’.
MATHEMATICS
In our maths lessons we will be focusing on recognising numerals to 20 and beyond and matching these to their values, counting up to 20 objects and beyond, ordering numbers, writing number lines, continuing to develop using vocabulary involved in addition and subtraction and practically working out addition and subtraction calculations and even using a number line to help us work out these calculations. We will also be looking at symmetrical minibeasts and doubling and halving the spots on ladybirds and collecting data about our favourite living things.
LITERACY
We will be continuing to have our discrete phonics session every day. We will have two guided reading sessions each week, were we read a book in a small group and learn lots of important new reading skills. This half term we are continuing to develop our independent writing skills and trying to write a series of sentences, maintaining our train of thought. We will be focusing on applying our phonics knowledge to help us spell and using full stops, capital letters, finger spaces and WOW words in our sentences. We will be writing our own information books about living things, we will be writing clues about living things for our friends to guess which animal is hiding under the flap and we will even writing our own versions of ‘We’re roaming in the rainforest’. During our handwriting sessions we will be continuing to develop our cursive letter formation.
OUTDOOR PROVISION
We all have daily access to outdoor play. It is essential that you have a coat and waterproof shoes in school at all times. You might want to put some waterproof shoes in a plastic bag with your child’s name on and they can hang them on their peg (please make sure your child’s name is also on the shoes). This means we can enjoy playing outside whatever the weather!
PE DAYS
ReceptionGreen have PE in the hall on Wednesdays. Please ensure your child’s indoor PE kit is always in school. I can’t stress enough how important it is that all your child’s items of clothing, including school uniform and PE kit, have their name in.
OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Homework will be given out on a Friday to be returned the following Wednesday.
Please can you ensure that your child brings their reading book and diary to school each day. Their reading books will be changed (if needed) at least once a week. Your child’s school reading book is important, however, this isn’t the only book that they can read (or have a go at reading). Please encourage your child to read other books at home or in the library. If you wish to do so you can record the other books they are reading into their school reading dairy too.
We have library every THURSDAY. On library day your child we have the opportunity to select a new library book to take home. Please ensure your child has their library book in school on a Thursday so they don’t miss out on changing their book.
If you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to ask me. Please check the classroom window for any important messages.
Also, don’t forget our trip to Blackpool Zoo on Tuesday 28th April. It will be a great day out, I can’t wait!!! I have my fingers crossed for good weatherJ
Thank you for yourcontinued support.
Miss Sutcliffe J