It has been a great week in Antarctica class! The children are really getting to grips with the school routine now and are beginning to be a lot more independent with things such as collecting and clearing away their lunch, putting away their belongings and going to the toilet. Here are some things you could ask your child based on what we have done this week:

• Can you think of a word that rhymes with cat / dog / sock etc…?
• The children went to Antarctica on their magic carpet during snack time this week – what can they tell you about the continent?
• Can you show me how to write numbers 1, 2 and 3? Do you remember the rhymes to help you?
• What is a family portrait?

Next week:

• Next Thursday 29th September, the whole school will be taking part in Continent Day. Every class will take a break from ‘normal’ lessons and spend the whole day creatively learning about their class continent. As ours in ANTARCTICA, we would LOVE the children to come to school dressed as penguins! Please can they wear their trainers so they can still take part in PE! Thank you.

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Reception Team

This week:

– We have been sounding out words like a robot this week (c-oa-t, h-a-t, b-oo-t-s). Perhaps you could have a go at sounding out words at home together. You could see if your child can work out what they’re having for dinner when you speak in a robot voice!

– What can you tell me about the number 1? Can you spot the number 1 anywhere in the environment?

– What are the Forest School rules? (1. When the trees stop we stop. 2. No picking, no licking. 3. Sticks down to the ground. 4. Walking is fine, we have loads of time!)

Next week:

We will see you all on Tuesday next week. Forest School will be on Wednesday and PE on Thursday as normal.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

The Reception team

Well that’s week one complete and what a success it has been! The children have been absolutely fantastic – it has been so lovely getting to know them all properly.

Here are a few things you could ask your child to reflect on their first week at school:

• Which group/house are you in? (Rowling (Blue), Donaldson (Yellow), Dahl (Red) or Jeffers (Green)?
• Can you show me the Makaton signing for ‘good morning’ and ‘good afternoon’?
• Can you remember where Pete the Cat went whilst rocking in his school shoes?
• What prayer do you say at the end of the day? (We fold our hands and softly say, thank you for our lovely day)
• We have spoken about initial sounds a little bit this week, why not give your child a word and see if they can identify what sound it starts with?

Next week:

• We will be doing Forest School every Wednesday afternoon starting next week (as long as there are no more thunder storms!). Please bring your child into school in suitable clothing (not uniform) that you don’t mind getting dirty and provide them with a named bag of spare clothes and wellies if you have not already done so. Waterproofs too please! We do have some spares in school so just let us know if your child needs to use these.
• PE will be every Thursday afternoon and you can bring your child in to school in their PE kit.

I hope you have a lovely, relaxed weekend and I’ll see you next week.

Miss Ockenden

2022_Information_for_parents_reception_baseline_assessment

Please find attached the ‘Information for parents: Reception Baseline Assessment’ provided by the Department for Education. We aim to carry out the assessment during the weeks commencing 19.9.2022 and 26.9.2022 on a 1:1 basis. If you have any queries regarding the assessment then please do not hesitate to ask a member of the Reception team.

Miss Ockenden

Dear parents/carers,

You will notice that we have started to post observations of the children’s learning and adventures on to Tapestry. This is just a polite reminder to please not share any of these photos on social media as they may have other children in them. If you have any questions regarding Tapestry, please do not hesitate to ask.

On a side note, we have been hugely impressed with how the children have settled in to school life so far! It is a big transition and they are doing so well.

Warm wishes,

Miss Ockenden

Dear parents/carers,

We are really looking forward to officially welcoming your child into Pontesbury Primary tomorrow!

Just to let you know, you may see that other year groups have or will be sharing a termly overview outlining the learning they will be covering for each area of the curriculum.

In EYFS, we follow the children’s interests so our planning reflects this and is more flexible. Instead, we will post a ‘Things to ask me’ document each Friday on to the Room 4 section of our website. Here you will find suggestions of things to ask your child to prompt conversation about what they have learned that week.

See you all tomorrow!

Miss Ockenden and Mrs Davies x

Well, I cannot believe I am writing the last ‘Things to ask me’ of the year! The time seems to have whizzed by.  We have all thoroughly  enjoyed teaching your amazing children in Room 4. We hope you have a fantastic summer and return to school ready to begin the fun and learning again in Year 1.

Some important things before we start.

• PE is as normal on Monday.
• The last Forest school session will be on Tuesday not Wednesday next week. This means we can sent home waterproof clothes and wellies on Tuesday afternoon.
• Your child may come home with their books from this year tonight.  If they don’t, please don’t worry, we have to keep a set of books in school for 1 year as evidence of learning.  They will get them back at the end of Year 1.

Things to ask your child about their learning this week.

• we have been practising counting in 2,5,10 and we are getting pretty confident with the pattern. Please can you practise counting in 2s to 20, 5s to 50 and 10s to 100.
• We have been focusing on capital letters.  Have a little look around the house, or while you are out and about for where capital letters are used. Can you draw them with your finger? Can you match lower case and capital letters?
• We have been talking about our hopes and worries for next year.  Perhaps you could talk about this at home, if you haven’t already.  Look out for a little booklet coming your way next week all about Room 5.
• This week we have written letters to Ms Vincent and Mrs Manna. We have told them all about ourselves.
• We have been practising reading and writing the Phase 3 tricky words, they are: I, are, they, into, to, go, no, the, was, my, all, her, she, he, me, be.  we have also practised have.   It would be really useful if the children could continue to review reading and writing these words over the holidays to keep them fresh in their minds.
• We have been looking at landscapes this week.  We painted our own landscape picture of Pontesford Hill using water colour paints.

Next week we have plenty of fun planned.  As it’s going to be so warm, please can all children bring their water bottles, sun hats and suntan lotion to school.  It is fine to wear shorts and tee shirts on Tuesday but please can the children have long sleeved tops and trousers for Forest School.

I hope you have a wonderful summer,

Mrs Pope x