Reception

Welcome to Reception

Home of the Foxes and the Owls!

What can I expect in Reception at SMITH? 

Check out our Reception Passport!

 

Spring 2

Come and have a cracking good time as we explore all things eggs! 

True Colours

Our main text focus is ‘Hattie Peck: The Journey Home’. Over the three weeks we will:

  • Go on an egg hunt around our outdoor area!  
  • Write an adaptation of ‘Hattie Peck: The Journey Home’. 
  • Explore non fiction texts : We will be learning about different animals that hatch from eggs
  • Follow a set of instructions on how to make a bird feeder. 
  • Make a set of binoculars to observe livings things in our outdoor environment. 
  • Design their own egg… What will hatch out of it? 
  • Investigate eggs – What will happen when it is boiled for 1 minute, 3 ? What if we add heat ? What if we stir it? Will it go back to its original state? 
  • Discuss questions like; Was it right for Hattie to take the eggs? Would you rather be was chaotic or calm? Would you rather live on land or in the sea?  

Here is our Topic Web for Spring 2.

 Click here  for the Topic Web – Spring 2 PDF

Here are some photographs of us learning and exploring through play!

Come rain or shine, we play! 🙂 

 

Communication and Language Physical Development  Personal, Social and Emotional Development
     
     

 

Literacy Maths Understanding the World Expressive Arts and Design
   
   Number sentences           Painting daffodils          (St David’s Day celebrations)  

Spring 1

Happy 2024 everyone!

Grab your ticket and jump onboard for an exciting half term!

Ticket to Ride

Our main text focus is ‘Emma Jane’s Aeroplane’. Over the three weeks we will:

  • Receive a special ticket to go on a journey in our school minibus!
  • Explore non fiction texts to learn about ‘How things go’. 
  • Write a recount of a journey. 
  • Explore and compare different places around the world.  
  • Find out about people who help us and the transport they use.
  • Work as a team to make the future generations mode of transport!
  • Discuss questions like; Would you rather fly through the sky or glide through the sea? Would you rather have wings, wheels or a parachute?

Here is our Topic Web for Spring 1.

Stay tuned for our fabulous Airport and new airlines coming soon!

In the meantime, take a look at us in action so far… 

Mind mapping all the different modes of transport that we know. (CandL) Having fun with playdough – rolling snakes (PD)        First we estimated how long we think our snakes are. Then we measured how long our snakes actually are by using cubes. 
 

 

Communication and Language Physical Development  Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Sharing a book with a friend. Basketball – learning lots of new skills including dribbling, passing and shooting.  Working as a team. 
Role playing in the home corner!

 

Literacy Maths Understanding the World Expressive Arts and Design
Making our own signs to keep the bad guys out of the airport!  Representing a number in different ways  Science – We have been exploring if objects will roll or tumble off the ramp (Jack and Jill nursery rhyme inspiration) Role playing – we have been learning about people who help us. These children are the police! 

Autumn 2

‘Somewhere Only We Know!’

Our main text focus is ‘I’m going to eat this ANT!’ Over the three weeks we will:

  • Join in with alliteration.
  • Explore non fiction texts to learn about insects and bugs. 
  • Make shopping lists and menus. 
  • Explore animals and their habitats.
  • Learn and perform ‘When the ants go marching in’.
  • Discuss questions like ‘Should we ever squish an ant?’

Here is our  Autumn 2 2023 Topic Web.

When phonics meets snack! 🙂
PSED – Talking about our parents’ job roles Celebrating Blakc History Month – Painting Nandi Bushell – musician 
   

 

Communication and Language Physical Development  Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Having fun together, listening and taking turns.  Using playdough and cutlery to write our names. This involves using our muscles to roll, squash, cut, bend.  Making models with our Foxes friends and talking about what we are doing. Learning how to listen to others and share ideas.

 

Literacy Maths Understanding the World Expressive Arts and Design
 
Looking at the main character in a book. Making repeating patterns. Candy cane inspiration!  Making diya clay pots to celebrate Diwali.   Making music

Autumn 1 

Dont Stop Me Now!

Our main text focus will be ‘The Gingerbread Man!

  • Here we will join in with rhyme and repetition.
  • We will make gingerbread people and talk about our uniqueness and individuality and families.
  • We will create obstacle courses to explore different ways of moving.
  • We will create a healthy meal for the gingerbread person.
  • We will also be focusing on building relationships and learning all about our feelings.

Here is our Autumn 1 ‘Dont Stop Me Now!’ topic web.

Autumn 1 Topic Web

Take a look at the photographs of our fabulous little ones in action… 

Take  a look at our human bar chart to show what was the most popular sweet treat in our class! There were 4 different ones from around Europe to taste test. Celebrating each other’s art work! 🙂

 

Communication and Language Physical Development  Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Listening to each other and taking turns Developing our gross motor skills outdoors  Playing with friends; working together and sharing

Literacy Maths Understanding the World Expressive Arts and Design
Practicing our letter formations Adding 1 more Cookery – baking gingerbread men Printing

STAY TUNED! Photo Spam to come …

Phonics in Reception 

In Reception we teach daily phonics. Phonics is all about how the alphabetic system works and exploring how to apply it in reading and spelling. Here at S.M.I.T.H. we follow Monster Phonics: a systematic approach, meaning that we teach in a logical progression, starting with single letter sounds to enable children to read and spell simple words, leading to consonant digraphs and vowel diagraphs and longer words.

How Monster Phonics Works | Monster Phonics

For more information on our phonic scheme please follow the links below!

Monster Phonics Flyer

Reception Phonics Powerpoint

If you have any questions regarding phonics please see your child’s class teacher.

Early Reading

Here at S.M.I.T.H we want to develop a life long love of reading.

We want our pupils passion and engagement with books to start from an early age. Keep your eyes peeled for our reading challenges – this is where we capture our pupils and their families love of books and reading. It is a lot of fun!

Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)

This is a short, interactive and practical assessment of your child’s early literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills when they begin school. It is statutory for all schools from September 2021. Your child will be participating in the reception baseline within the first 6 weeks of starting reception. 

PLEASE DON’T WORRY: You do not need to do anything to prepare your child for the assessment. Your child is unlikely to even know that they are doing an assessment when they are completing the tasks.

For more information the link below takes you to the government information for parents pdf. If you have any further questions please speak with your child’s class teacher. 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1004560/2021_Information_for_parents_reception_baseline_assessment.pdf

Keeping You Informed

Class Dojo

This is where you will find messages from your child’s class teacher. This updates most frequently and will let parents know about things happening in class such as; day trips, enrichment activities, special events and visitors. This is the most effective and responsive communication tool with your reception teacher.

Please also keep an eye on the school story, on here you will find messages, competitions and school events.

Other ways of Communication

Please register with Parentmail, as we will keep you up to date via texts and emails.

We also have a school twitter account @St_michael_ham where class teachers post pupils work, videos and positive messages for our community.

If you need to contact school the email address: ao@smhsch.co.uk these message will be answered promptly or forwarded to the relevant staff.

Other Activities to Help your child at Home

Helping your EYFS child at home with Maths

Helping your EYFS child at home with Maths

‘Teach Your Monsters To Read’ FREE online reading activities

‘Teach Your Monsters To Read’