Welcome to Donaldson Class, Reception
Who's who?
Mrs Bridges Mrs Roberts
EYFS Curriculum Intent
Our EYFS intent is to build on the knowledge and experiences children bring with them as they begin their school journey.
To inspire curiosity through experience based learning.
To act as the launch pad for aspirational learning ambitions through challenges and questioning.
To establish the habits for aquiring the knowledge, skills and values to thrive academically and socially through secure relationships and routines,
and to nurture the self-belief needed to embrace their future lives with confidence as God intended them to, through reflective practice and familiarity with our school values.
General Information
PE day: Monday
Please wear weather appropriate PE kit to school on Mondays.
Decodable reading books: books will be changed on a Monday and Thursday.
Please try to read every night. Please write in the reading record the page number read to. If you have not finished a book, we will send the book home again.
Please ensure books are in school every day as the staff, and reading volunteers, read with the children at any available opportunities.
Library time - Non-decodable reading books: Friday
The children will have an opportunity to pick a book from the book corner to bring home every Friday. This is a non-decodable book, not matched to the children's reading level. This book is to promote reading for pleasure and give the children opportunity to choose their own book. Please read this book with your child and allow them to share and enjoy. It is not intended for the child to read this independently.
Our Days in Donaldson Class
Please find below an example timetable for our week. This should give an idea of the structure of the days and lessons being covered throughout a typical week, however please note that the days on which specific sessions take place change extremely frequently.
During 'Learning Play' the adults are interacting with the children; scaffolding play and learning through modelling and questioning, conducting small group work, individual reads and interventions, and recording observations of learning and development.
Curriculum Information
Please find our curriculum map outlining the areas of learning we are covering in each half term. For further subject information and policies, please visit the curriculum pages.
Knowledge Organisers
Please find below the knowledge organisers that support our learning each half term. Paper copies are also sent home in book bags at the beginning of each half term.
Reading in Donaldson Class
Please find below some of the books we have been enjoying in ~Donaldson Class this half term.
Supporting your Child in Reception
Please see below some strategies for helping your child in Reception. You will also find further information in the curriculum pages.
Here we go into the last month of Reception!
The children have done so much and come so far in just a handful of months, we are all so proud of them!
Our final topic is transport - the knowledge organiser is below - and I expect this will be just as popular!
Hello and welcome back to school for the first half of Summer term! There's so much to look forward to in April and May so let's get stuck in!
We will be learning through the theme of traditional tales. If you have any stories to share from around the world please contact the school if you can pop in to give us a story time or even send us a video to show the children!
See you soon,
Mrs Bridges
Spring 2 - Life all around us!
Welcome to Spring 2, and we are halfway through the school year! This is always an amazing term for seeing children flourish and progress as the world is waking up again after winter. We will be celebrating the resurgence of life as spring takes hold. We have big plans to experience lots of different life cycles, including hatching chicks and raising chickens, observing frogspawn developing into tadploes and then frogs and much, much more!
Below you will find a knowledge organiser to help you support the vast amount of scientific learning we will be doin this half term, including vocabuary to use and books to share. Please keep adding any learning you may do at home to Tapestry so we can celebrate it and share with their peers.
See you soon,
Mrs Bridges
Welcome to Spring 1!
Yes, there's no Winter term in the school calendar, but in Reception we will be exploring the seasonal changes around us and still doing our learning play and investigations outside, so rememebr those warm layers - names in everything please! (yes, in gloves too!)
Below you will find our curriculum intent for the first half of Spring term. The italics are taken from the Reception stage of Development Matters and beneatha re the provisions and actions we are planning for your children.
Communication and language Engage with and develop familiarity with new vocabulary Use talk to help work out problems and organise thinking and activities, and to explain how things work and why they might happen.
Ongoing and embedded culture of talking and listening, conversations and discussions, questioning and wondering, inspiring curiosity and celebrating discoveries | Personal, Social and Emotional Development Express their feelings and consider the feelings of others. Show resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge. Identify and moderate their own feelings socially and emotionally. Think about the perspectives of others
Jigsaw sessions weekly, circle time practicing respectful listening and speaking.
Continuing reference to and supportive conversations with adults about feelings, behaviour modifications and alternative responses. | Physical development Gross and fine motor Develop the foundations of a handwriting style which is fast, accurate and efficient. Daily handwriting practice, focus groups beginning book work 1:6 with adult guidance Continuing dough disco
Confidently and safely use a range of large and small apparatus indoors and outside, alone and in a group. Develop overall body-strength, balance, co-ordination and agility. Apparatus sessions weekly in addition to the Monday PE session | |||
Literacy
Spell words by identifying the sounds and then writing the sound with letter/s. Write short sentences with words with known letter-sound correspondences using a capital letter and full stop. Re-read what they have written to check that it makes sense
Using phonics decoding and segmenting skills to write our own compositions, Learning how to identify and choose appropriate describing words, then using these to write descriptive labels, phrases and short sentences.
Dinosaur fact books, Story sequencing and retelling | Maths
Count objects, actions and sounds Compare numbers. Understand the ‘one more than/one less than’ relationship between consecutive numbers. Explore the composition of numbers to 10
maths games and representational activities designed to embed the number system. Learning skills for number manipulation and application of number system knowledge and critical thinking skills to solve problems, identify number equations in story format and model understanding using apparatus. | Understanding the world
Explore the natural world around them. Describe what they see, hear and feel whilst outside
Investigating dinosaurs and then British wildlife, discovering vocabulary around eating and sleeping habits, looking for key features
Understand that some places are special to members of their community. Recognise that people have different beliefs and celebrate special times in different ways.
Discussing and sharing our own special times and places, learning about our local church and places of worship, places for reflection and where we can feel close to God. | Expressive arts and design Explore, use and refine a variety of artistic effects Return to and build on their previous learning, refining ideas and developing their ability to represent them.
Using paint to create pictures of animals -sketching skills, pencil work, outlines and details -watercolour, paint sticks, ready mix and powder paints
Sing in a group or on their own, increasingly matching the pitch and following the melody
Singing familiar songs, practicing collective worship hymns and songs to share as a whole school | ||
Welcome back to school!
We're beginning autumn 2, and the change in clocks and weather is evidence of the change in season.
We are exploring concepts relating to light and dark starting with the animals that live around us and come out in the dark and celebrating Diwali. We will be learning about the night sky and space before we focus on the festival of Christmas!
Now we are truly into the wet and cold weather, please take a moment to chceck that your childs belongings ALL have their name written clearly visible, where they can see, so that they can find their posessions when they want them - yes, even hats and gloves!
We look forward to seeing you for parents evening on the 18th of November so we can celebrate their learning and progress.
See you soon!
Mrs B & Rama
Welcome to Receptions web page, where we will update you with what's going on throughout the year.
The first week of settling in, although just 4 mornings and a bit, has been wonderful. The children have taken on so much new knowlegde - from where to put their belongings and where to go and not go, to learning the expectations of learning and behaviour, Rama and mysel are very proud of them!
Next week is Autumn 1 Week 3 and we will base all our learning activities around a central theme of "All about me and my family".
A knowledge organiser is a document that summarises the learning objectives, key vocabulary and books being used in a unit of work. They are designed to help you support your child's learning by giving you information to support your activities and conversations at home.
You can use the books listed as bedtime stories, talk about experiences in class and practice using the vocabulary in context - or even reading shorter words (such as mum and dad!).