Welcome to our Reception Class at St James’
Welcome to Reception Class, my name is Miss Guthrie and I am the Class Teacher along with Ms Capot (Class Teacher) who works in Reception one day per week. Mrs Watson is our Nursery Nurse and we are supported by Teaching Assistants Mrs Gibbons and Mrs Mazari at different times during the week.
Reception Noticeboard
- All children have a home school reading book which is kept in their book bags. We ask that book bags are brought to school every day. We will hear your child read once a week. Reading books are changed weekly.
- PE in Reception is on Wednesdays. Make sure you have your full St James PE kit.
- We use Tapestry as a means of sharing our learning, celebrations and activities.
- Please bring fresh water daily.
Reception Class have got Special Friends! Our youngest and our oldest children spend time together each Friday. Look at all of our happy faces!
Autumn in Reception Class
We have had a lovely first term in Reception Class and the children have settled well into our St James family. We have learnt lots about the Autumn season and have noticed the changes in weather as this season comes to an end and winter begins.
During this term we explore the topic, Stars in the Sky. We read texts such as ‘Owl Babies’ by Martin Waddell, ‘How to Catch a Star’ by Oliver Jeffers and ‘Whatever Next’ by Jill Murphy. These texts allow our children to explore and compare night and day. We also look at Nocturnal animals, explore space, make paper aeroplane rockets and create our own version of Vincent Vann Gogh’s Starry Night.
In Reception we like to focus on significant days and celebrations such as Remembrance Day and of course Christmas!
In RE our topic is Birthdays, through this topic we focus on the concept of waiting and counting down through Advent. Children create their own Advent wreath, and we look in detail at the story of Jesus birth.
We continue with our daily phonics sessions following the Sounds Write Programme. The learning objective for the term in phonics continues to be to segment, blend and manipulate sounds in words with structure: VC & CVC through the initial code. Every child now has a reading book to take home each week and we are very happy to see the progress children are making with their reading. If parents and carers would like some further information on how to support reading at home they can access free training at: https://sounds-write.co.uk/support-for-parents-and-carers/
In Mathematics we follow the White Rose Maths Scheme. In this half of the autumn term we focus on numbers to five, finding one more and one less, measures such as length, weight and capacity, daily routines which links with day and night, circles, triangles and shapes with four sides.
To boost learning in all areas of the curriculum Reception have access to weekly forest school sessions, which are very popular with the children and staff! The children immerse themselves in nature as they explore a range of hands on experiences in a woodland environment and develop their resilience, self-confidence, collaborative skills and problem-solving skills. This truly is an amazing experience for all.
Spring in Reception Class
The Reception Class are settling into the new term. They are excited to be learning about Snow and Ice, including animals in the Arctic and Antarctic, winter clothing and experimenting with blubber.
Phonics is going very well, and we can see progress in the children’s reading skills. We continue to listen to the children read at least once a week and encourage parents to listen to children read at least three times per week. In Literacy, the children continue to learn about the structure of writing, building sentences and practicing the correct formation of letters.
Chinese New Year lent itself to some nice crafting opportunities.
In Maths we continue to improve number sense by working on numbers to 5, consolidating what these numbers mean.
In RE, we have looked at Celebrations, both at home and as a church family.
Every week, the class enjoy time in forest school as well as a variety of lovely activities in the classroom areas.
Reception Class have been having a lovely time in school during the second part of the Spring Term. They have enjoyed listening to a range of traditional tales and exploring them through a range of creative and writing activities and re-enacting them through role-play.
They have been impressing us with their super writing skills as they try hard to write simple sentences that can be read by themselves and others and are continuing to display a good understanding of their phonics in our daily phonics sessions and through their reading.
In Maths we have been exploring the composition of numbers to 10 and have been developing our understanding of number bonds through simple addition and subtraction. We have also been developing our understanding of measurement through activities involving length, weight, time and capacity.
In science we explored the life cycle of a bean plant and planted our own bean to take home and care for.
In RE we have thought about times in which we gather – to worship, learn, celebrate and play. We have thought about how our Mothers are special to us and we showed how much we love and appreciate them by making colourful Mother’s Day cards.
In preparation for Easter, we have made special Lenten promises which we are trying very hard to keep and the class are trying their very best to be extra kind and thoughtful towards one another during this special time of year. The children are enjoying taking part in a range of Easter art and craft activities and are looking forward to our Easter cooking session!