Mrs Kemp and Mrs Burgess

Happy New Year! We are looking forward to welcoming the children into school happy and ready to start the new term ahead.

During the Spring Term, we will be exploring the concept of 'Journeys.' We are reading transport themed books based around the question 'Where will we go and how will we get there?' We are starting with the text, 'The Naughty Bus,' by Jan Oke and then moving on to 'The Hundred Decker Bus.' Over the half term, we will investigate movement, direction, distance, routes and roads and safety and rules. We will look at a range of vehicles, old and new, and think about how we would get to certain places around near and far.

Throughout the term, we will continue our Wellbeing Wednesday activities. These are activities chosen from our Reception Resilience Passport and we will also share with the children our Growth Mindset I CAN lessons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWp6kkz-pnQ

In Amethyst Class, we will build and add to our Emotional Health and
Wellbeing (EHWB) Toolkit using the Zones of Regulation framework to give
ourselves the skills to self-regulate and manage emotions. Our Class technique
is 'Worry Bubbles.' We also have access to 'Calm Creatures' and our class Worry
Monster in our Calm Corner. All these new skills that they will learn along
with 'Letting your light shine,' making new friends, turn taking and learning
strategies to independently resolve conflicts allow the children to grow in
confidence and independence.

English
We are continuing our Read Write Inc sessions and the children will be
practising segmenting, blending and writing words with 3 sounds, such as,
'bell' and 4 sounds, such as, 'frog.' We will share with the children our
special celebrations, such as the alligator chomp, the karate cheer and the
cheese grater. With the children enjoying daily Read Write Inc phonics, they
will begin to apply these skills in other areas. Reception get off to a flying
start with their reading – segmenting and blending new 'green' words that they
come across, recognising tricky 'red' words and beginning to build up fluency.

Mastery Maths
We will be doing lots of subitising and counting using Numberblocks,
numicon, compare bears, straws and cubes. We will play lots of games to help us
to read and write numbers to 10 and beyond. The children will have a 'Talking Partner'
to work with during carpet time and work together using Kagan Cooperative
Learning Strategies to help solve mathematical puzzles and problems. We will
also be learning to name some 2D and 3D shapes, recreate shape patterns and
build models.

Routines in Reception
Our P.E. lessons will take place on Monday and Wednesday. Please come to school
dressed in PE kit on these days. Also, the children need to bring a labelled
water bottle everyday.

Reading at home
We read with the children through individual, guided reading and whole class
reading. We ask that the children read with an adult at home as often as
possible. Ten minutes a day really does make all the difference. Please ensure
reading diaries are in school every day.

Useful links
https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/- some nice games for practising phonics

https://www.topmarks.co.uk – maths
games to play at home

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/games – the games
are great for the children to practise their mouse skills on a computer