Reception topic letter September 2016

Dear Parents

Now the children have settled in well, next week we are starting this half terms topic, which is colour. The topic is split into a focus each week and these are:

  • Black and white
  • Red
  • Yellow
  • Blue
  • Mixing colours
  • Rainbows
  • My favourite colour

The 7 areas of learning in the Foundation Stage, including Literacy and Maths, are taught through the topic of the half term. In this first half term we will be focusing on aspects such as counting to 10 and beyond, recognising numerals, identifying colours and writing the children’s names. It would be helpful if you could also help with these areas, for example helping your child to write their name independently or practising ordering numerals.

We are also starting daily phonic sessions. The children will learn a sound (phoneme) per day. The first 6 sounds are s a t i p n and it would be beneficial to your child if you could help them recognise these letters by sight and also by playing games finding objects with these 6 sounds. It would also be helpful to refer to these letters by the sounds that they make rather than their letter name. IE “sssssssssss for sausages” rather than “the letter S”.

We will talk more about phonics at the ‘Learn this term’ meeting.

As the children have continuous access to the outdoor area it is important that they have the correct clothing. It is vital therefore that your child brings a coat to school and in addition it would be helpful if you could provide a pair of wellies (named) to keep in school, allowing your child to change into them as appropriate.

In the Foundation Stage, classes 1 and 2, we are striving to provide the children with an enriching learning experience based on practical, fun activities. These include using play dough, baking, food tasting and other sensory experiences such as using custard, shaving foam and essences. We would like to ask for your help to fund such activities by contributing £2.50 per half term. This would allow us to purchase the appropriate resources to make the learning more fun and therefore meaningful.

PE kits- We will be starting PE sessions later on in the year and with the PE kits changing, we thought we would give it a bit of time before ordering. We will let you know in plenty of time when you need to start getting them ready. If you have already got your child’s PE kit, don’t worry, well done for being so organised!

Outdoor Area

We are currently in the process of improving our outdoor area in the Early Years playground. This aspect is a key project for the next couple of months and we are particularly focussing on the grassed area, where we hope to enhance the space to develop children’s learning further.

We are seeking resources and adult helpers to help us transform the space so please look out for the letter as you may just be able to help us!

Bits and bobs!!

  • As the children start full time next week it may be a good time for them to come down the path andin school on their own, as we are starting to build your child’s independence and confidence in their own abilities.
  • School dinners-: If you would like your child to have school dinners please let us know.You can choose to have a dinner everyday or just the odd 1, it’s your choice and school is very flexible. A menu is sent home each Wednesday on the newsletter, so you can see which choices are available for the following week.
  • Please could you make sure that all clothing is named, especially cardigans and jumpers. We have jumpers without names and finding an owner can be difficult with 60 children.
  • Please could you return the nominated adults form to collect your child. We haven’t had very many and it’s important to know who can collect your children.
  • Water bottles have been provided so your child can get a drink through the day when they choose. As they all look the same please could you name and decorate them so your little one can find it in the box. Bottles are handed out each home time for you to fill and return the next day.
  • Milk is available for the children to have during snack time. The cost is £18.50 for the term. Please send in the money in an envelope with your child’s name on.
  • The ‘learn this term meeting’ is Monday 19th September at 6pm in the Reception classrooms. We will talk about the ways we teach phonics and maths as well as how the Early Years Curriculum works in school. (This may be a date change from the original letter that you received)

Thanks for all your help and support over the last few weeks and its great to see the children settling in.

Please come and find us if you need to ask or talk about anything.

Many thanks

Miss McLaren and Miss Mileham