Welcome to Reception!

Every week this page will be updated with information about what we have been doing for that week. There will be recaps of the learning, activities recommended to try at home, phonics videos to watch with your child and photographs of the children learning at school. We recommend that you check the website weekly and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask your child's class teacher.

Week 6

Week beginning 25.3.24

What a term it has been! It has been very busy, jam packed with all sorts of interesting learning including so much about food, farming and spring time as part of our topic! This week we rounded off the term with an amazing egg hunt in our newly landscaped garden! We also made some delicious chocolate nests and made some beautiful Easter cards. 

Phonics 

Here are some phonics videos for you to watch at home this weekend.

Please note these videos will expire after 3 weeks.

Maths

This week in maths we continued to learn about the features of 3D shapes. We searched the classroom to find real life examples and explored how some shapes roll and some shapes stack. We also revisited patterns. We created our own complex patterns using our bodies such as clapping, stomping and jumping as well as with counters and beads. 

Wider Curriculum 

In Topic we looked at how farmers use sheep dogs to help them herd sheep. We learned about how key phrases are used by the farmer to tell the dog what to do. We then used beebots to help us catch sheep just like a sheep dog. 

In English we discussed what we liked the most about the story and talked in detail about the ending of the story. 

In Jigsaw this week, we thought about our safe adults and what they do to keep us safe. We talked about what to do or say if we were ever approached by a stranger and learned to go straight to our safe grown ups if we were ever unsure. 

Makaton 

Our new Makaton sign this week was ‘mine’ and ‘school’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

Have a wonderful Easter holiday. All of us at Sires Hill Primary Academy are looking forward to seeing you all again in the new term to find out all about your holiday and begin a brand new topic! 

Week 5

Week beginning 18.3.24

We have had a great week in Reception! We have been continuing to walk, cycle or scoot to school and have been doing really well in the competition! Well done everyone!

Phonics 

Here are some phonics videos for you to watch at home this weekend.

Please note these videos will expire after 3 weeks.

Maths

This week in maths we have revisited doubles and we were able to use different equipment to show the doubles of numbers 1-5. We also came back to odd and even numbers and used multi link cubes to reveal if numbers had ‘odd’ tops or ‘even tops’. We also begun to explore 3D shape and are beginning to learn the names of key shapes. We have looked carefully at the properties of 3D shape and discovered which ones have flat faces, which ones have curved faces and which ones have both. 

Wider Curriculum 

In Topic we created art in the style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo and used fruit and vegetables to represent the features of faces. We also looked at farm animals and learned the names of the farm animals young including foal, calf, duckling and kid. We drew our favourite animals and labelled them with their correct names. 

In English we wrote cards to Errol to help him feel better about his indoor garden. Then we drew our own dream gardens and annotated them using our phonics.  

In PE we learned how exercise affects our body. We did lots of exercise and then felt our heart beats, listened to our breathing and felt our muscles and skin change. We discussed how exercise helps keep our bodies healthy and safe.

Makaton 

Our new Makaton sign this week was ‘happy’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

Next week is our last week of term. We will be finishing for the Easter holidays at 12.00 on Thursday 28th March. 

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Week 4

Week beginning 11.3.24

We have had a great week in Reception! Lots of you have been journeying to school in different ways either by walking, cycling or even ‘park and striding’! Thank you to everyone who has got involved. We will be doing this again next week in a final push. 

Phonics 

Here are some phonics videos for you to watch at home this weekend.

Please note these videos will expire after 3 weeks.

Maths

This week in maths we have been continuing to build on our knowledge of the numbers 9 and 10. We have learned how to recognise them as an amount using patterns and also represented them using different kinds of equipment. We also started to look more closely at the parts of 10.We investigated what bonds 10 has using all kinds of equipment including counters, bead strings and multilink blocks.

Wider Curriculum 

In Topic we learned how to take care of our teeth and explored how sugar can effect them. We explored foods that are healthy and unhealthy for our teeth and discovered how to brush our teeth carefully. We also looked at healthy foods and tried to ‘Taste the rainbow’. 

In English we returned to our story ‘Errol’s garden’. We explored how he looks and what we know about the character so far. We then wrote sentences to describe him.  

In PE we learned about canon and unison. We explored movements in the theme of a fairground and learned how to perform in canon (by taking turns) and in unison (altogether at the same time). 

Makaton 

Our new Makaton sign this week was ‘sad’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Week 3

Week beginning 4.3.24

Thank you to all the parents who came to watch our assembly about Mother’s Day. We had lots of fun preparing everything and we hope you enjoyed it! 

We had a fun week celebrating reading this week. We enjoyed dressing up either as our favourite book character or as a reader, which of course is all of us! We had a visit from the library and they shared some interesting stories with us. We also created our own porridge that was ‘Just right’ inspired by Goldilocks and the three bears. In Reception we love to read stories and always read at least one book a day at school. It is important that children listen to stories at home too. Listening to stories and talking about those stories is essential for language development in children. 

Phonics 

Here are some phonics videos for you to watch at home this weekend.

Maths

This week in maths we have been focusing on numbers 9 and 10. We have looked at different ways we can represent these numbers and how we can make these numbers by finding one more, one less and by adding two numbers together.

Wider Curriculum 

In Topic we found out what an allotment is and what they are used for. We also enjoyed making shakers using different seeds. We listened to how different seeds make different sounds. 

In English we read Elmer and talked about the story in lots of detail. We learnt about what an author and illustrator is and made some patchwork bunting. We also designed our own book cover and practising being an author and an illustrator. 

In PE we talked about the different types of beans that there are. We played the bean game, pretending to be runner beans, broad beans, French beans and many more!

Makaton 

Our new Makaton sign this week was ‘good’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

Next week we are going to be talking about oral hygiene and the importance of brushing our teeth. It is important to brush our teeth twice a day and that an adult is still brushing children’s teeth, to ensure this is done effectively. Please talk to your children about this over the weekend ready for next week.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy Mother’s Day on Sunday! We hope you have a lovely day and get spoilt by all your loved ones! 

Week 2

Week beginning 26.2.24

We have had another great week, filled with lots of learning in Reception.This week we have been practising for our class assembly and getting very excited to share it with you all next week on Friday 8th March! 

We have also been collecting house points. Every time a grown up spotted children ‘Being Kind’ and ‘Being Brilliant’, house points were added to our class chart. Each week we will total them up and by the end of the term, the winning house will be rewarded with a ‘Kind and Brilliant’ prize! Keep up the good work Dragonflies. 

Phonics 

Here are some phonics videos for you to watch at home this weekend.

Please note these videos will expire after 3 weeks.

Maths

This week in maths we have been exploring time. We learned about seconds and minutes and completed a variety of tasks within 30 seconds and 1 minute intervals. We also learned about larger units of time including days, months and seasons. We learned a song all about the days of the week and the months of the year. 

Wider Curriculum 

In Topic we explored seeds. We explored different kinds of seeds and identified similarities and differences between them. We also began a short investigation to discover how beans grow in different conditions. 

In English we continued our learning about ‘Errol’s garden’. We discussed the different attributes of a gardener and also annotated drawings of our favourite plants from the story using our phonics to help us. 

In PE we explored how movements can illustrate different animals including mice, giraffes, monkeys, bears and snakes.

Makaton 

Our new Makaton sign this week was ‘milk’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

Don’t forget that next week on Thursday 7th March we will be celebrating ‘World Book Day’. Do join in with the fun and create your own book themed outfit. This could be dressing up as your favourite book character or even dressing as a reader! 

Have a lovely weekend!

Week 1

Week beginning 19.2.24

Welcome back everyone! It has been a very busy and wet first week back in Reception. As the weather has been a lot more unsettled, please ensure your child has a spare change of clothes in the event of getting wet in any puddles. 

In phonics this week, we have begun a new stage and we are now reading books with short sentences. This week, and for the rest of this term, children will be bringing home a practice book that matches the ones we use at school so that they can gain more practice and achieve fluency (very little Fred talk) when reading it. This book should be returned to school each week like the other books they take home so that they can be swapped out for the new books that we cover in class. These books support children in the sound recognition, reading of sentences as well as their comprehension of what they have read themselves. If you have any questions or would like further guidance please see Mrs Bennett.

In addition to this, children went home with a slip of paper which has some lines for them to learn in preparation for our class assembly in the next couple of weeks. Please practise saying these words at home and support your child to learn them off by heart as well as learn to use a voice that can be heard by the audience. Thank you for your help. 

Phonics 

Here are some phonics videos for you to watch at home this weekend.

Please note these videos will expire after 3 weeks.

Maths

This week in maths we have been exploring and describing the height and length of different objects. We have compared length and sorted objects into long and short. We ordered different objects by height and length and also ordered the children in our class in height order. We also built towers that were taller or shorter than a given height. 

Wider Curriculum 

In Topic we have been talking about our new topic ‘Ready Steady Grow’. We spoke about farms and what the purpose of a farm is. We shared our thoughts about what animals and machinery we might find on a farm. We also talked about our mini topic ‘Signs of Spring’. We have been learning about signs of spring used our observations to draw our favourite signs of spring. 

In English we have started our new story ‘Errol’s Garden’, we have been talking about what we think the book might be about and using clues from the illustrations to inform our predictions. 

In PE we explored how movements can illustrate emotions. We discussed how we could use only our body movements to show sadness, happiness and anger. 

In music we explored timbre. We thought about how the timbre of different instruments could be used to show different animals such as a mouse, centipede or monkey.

Makaton 

Our new Makaton sign this week was ‘love’. See if you can use it at home this weekend.

Have a lovely weekend!