Reception Class

Week Commencing 8^th  December

RE:
We will continue our unit on Advent. The children will recall that Advent lasts for four weeks and is a time of preparation for celebrating the birth of Jesus. As the weeks progress, we will reflect on the different ways we prepare for Christmas and why these preparations are important. Together, we will create class prayers to share during our prayer time.

Maths:
Our focus will remain on Day and Night. We will explore the activities we do at different times of the day and discuss when and why we do them.

Phonics:
As the phonemes become more challenging, we will learn two sounds each week. Next week, we’ll cover the next two Phase 3 sounds: ai and ee, discovering how two letters can work together to make one sound.

English:
This week, our writing will link to RE. We will share the first part of the Nativity story - Mary’s visit from Angel Gabriel and Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem. The children will retell the story through drawings and attempt to write a matching sentence.

Special Reminders:
Reception children will all take part as stars in the Christmas Nativity play. We have some white T-shirts and leggings in school, but not enough for everyone. If you have a white T-shirt and/or white leggings or joggers (tights with the feet cut out will also work), please send them in next week. Thank you for your support!

Week commencing 1st December

RE: We will be moving onto our next unit, Advent, as we begin our preparations to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We will be looking at the Advent wreath and learning that the four candles are markers for the four Sundays leading to Christmas. We will be talking about what we do at home and school to prepare for Christmas. We'll then be painting and collaging our own Advent wreaths.

Maths: Next week, we will be starting our new unit, 'shapes with four sides'. We'll be identifying and naming these shapes, combining shapes and going on a shape hunt around school. At the end of the week, we will also be starting to talk about 'day and night', distinguishing between the key events in our daily routine.

Phonics: Our next Phase 3 sounds will be 'sh', 'th' unvoiced (path, thin), 'th' voiced (that, this), 'ng'.

English: We will be continuing to enjoy a range of the 'That's not my....' stories. We will be thinking of other characters and using language to describe these characters, e.g., 'That's not my elephant, its trunk is too rough', 'That's not my robot, its buttons are too shiny.' The children will be creating their own story, using the language from the text. They will also be using their developing phonic knowledge to listen for the dominant phonemes and to try to write the corresponding graphemes.

Week Commencing 24^th November

RE:
We will continue our unit on People Who Care for Us. This week, we’ll learn about Jesus’ family and discover that Mary and Joseph were his parents. We’ll reflect on the fact that Jesus was once a child like us and explore how life in his time differed from life for children today.

Maths:
Our focus remains on numbers up to 5. We’ll work on understanding “one more” and “one less,” as well as the composition of numbers to 5. Practical activities and concrete objects will help us show different ways to make these numbers.

Phonics:
We’ll learn the next four sounds in Phase 3: y, z, qu, and ch.

English:
We’ll be exploring the That’s Not My… stories. As we share these books, we’ll think about the textures on each page and choose adjectives to describe them. Using our phonics knowledge, we’ll attempt to spell the adjectives we select.

Special Reminders:

• Friday: Join us for our Christmas decoration-making session! Come and help your child create decorations to brighten our classroom.
• Please remember to vote for our egg box Christmas tree at the St Nicholas Tree Festival.