First few weeks in Class R

Class: Reception Year: 2023 - 2024

We have had a great first few weeks in Reception and it has been a pleasure to see the children make new friends and settle in.

In literacy this week, we read the story Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. We looked at the different leaf animals in the story and modelled the sentence “I can see a leaf man”. We spoke about listening to the initial, medial and end sounds when sounding out the words. We spoke about needing a capital letter at the start of a sentence and a full stop at the end. On Friday, the children practised writing a very simple sentence on their whiteboards using a capital letter, finger spaces and a full stop. The children all had a go and I was very impressed! Each week, we are practising writing shapes with large movements and drawing in various forms. these shapes are the beginning of making the shapes need to form letters. In addition to this, we have been practising the letter a, o and c, using the Little Wandle rhymes and images to help us. 

In Phonics, we have learnt the sounds (phonemes) ck, e, u and r. We have looked at what sound they make, listening to those sounds in words (orally blending) and trying to read them within words d-u-ck duck, etc. The children are coming on really well with this and starting to spot these around the classroom too. The children are doing really well at remembering the phonemes and we are working hard to learn how to blend them together. Please see you phonics weekly worksheet for ideas on how to help at home. 

We thought it might be useful to provide you with some more information about the books and homework that you will now receive in your child's reading folder each week. Each week, on Thursdays, you will find that you child brings home a book for them to read/ share with you. At this moment in time, the books that have been sent home are 'wordless' books. As you know, we have started our phonics lessons and we will be assessing all the children before half term. After the assessments, your child will receive books weekly that correspond to their specific reading level. 

In addition to the banded reading level books, you will notice that your child has another book with the letter 'R' on it. These books are for you to read to your child and to enjoy together. Your child will choose these books themselves in the classroom.  The books come home to you on a Thursday, and we ask that you send them back in on the following Tuesday, ready for us to change. The phonics home-learning sheet will also be in your child's reading folder on a Thursday. This gives you information on the phonemes that we have learnt that week and the letter formation guide too. We would really appreciate it if you took some time to reinforce the learning and practise these at home.

In our maths lessons, we have been looking at 1, 2, and 3.  We are becoming subitising superstars, using our fast eyes and we're able to explain how we know a number is made. We have played a game called 3 and not 3. The children really enjoyed this and we did it using normal everyday objects, such as blackberries on a bush, leaves, wheels on a bus, chairs in a room, etc. See if your child can spot 3 of something around the house. Feel free to send us pictures of what you child can find to share with the class. 

We've been practising our wave patterns this week with some beach music and pretended to make the shapes using our lightwands. The children loved this and created some excellent wave patterns - all good practice for their letter formation.

I hope you have a lovley weekend and see you next week!