Our theme for this half-term is ‘Be a Light to the World’.  As autumn draws to a close, we will explore some of the festivals and celebrations that bring light to the dark winter days leading up until Christmas. 

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

We begin the half-term with our celebrations for Firework Night and Diwali, the Hindu festival of light.  We will compare the symbolism of light in various cultural celebrations at this time of year and how this brings communities together.  In RE, our topic is ‘Welcome’.  The children learn that, through Baptism, they were given a special name and welcomed into God’s family; that when we are baptised, the light of Jesus shines in everybody.  We will sing the contemporary hymns, ‘Shine’ and ‘My Lighthouse’ to remember that Jesus is always there for us, guiding us with light and love.  As the half-term progresses, our thoughts will turn to ‘birthdays’ as we light candles on the Advent wreath to begin our preparations for celebrating Jesus’ birthday on Christmas Day.

Communication & Language

We will celebrate World Nursery Rhyme Week during 13^th to 17^th November.  We will learn a new nursery rhyme by heart every day and develop crucial phonic skills in listening for language patterns, rhythm and rhyme. The rhymes for this year are: Jack and Jill; Hickory, Dickory Dock; Row, Row, Row Your Boat, The Wheels on the Bus and Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Research has found that “when a child knows eight or more nursery rhymes by heart, at the age of 4, that they are usually one of the best at reading and spelling in their class by the age of 8”.

Literacy

We will continue following our phonic programme, Read Write Inc. As you know, the children are now grouped to ensure daily phonics teaching matches their current level of attainment.  We learn a new phoneme (sound) and corresponding grapheme (letter) to read and write every day.  The children have daily practice in remembering their ‘speed sounds’ and use ‘Fred Talk’ as a vehicle to practise blending these sounds in words to read.

Outside of our phonic lessons, we will write messages in greetings cards when we celebrate Baptism, Birthdays and Christmas, as well as writing letters/Christmas lists to Santa and reading messages from the elusive ‘Emmaus elf’ when he returns to visit us in early December!

Mathematics

The children will be given lots of practical experiences of recognising, naming and finding different ways to show the numbers `1 to 5.  We are making sure that the children have a solid foundation of every number to 5, before moving on to larger numbers.  We will use numicon, dominoes, dice, groups of objects, songs and stories to support the children in recognising different representations of each number.  We are teaching the children that all numbers are made up of smaller numbers by exploring and noticing the different compositions of 2, 3, 4 and 5. 

Understanding the World

The children will experience the changing of the seasons as Autumn turns to Winter and understand how fire brings light and warmth to the dark, cold days of winter when we celebrate Bonfire Night, Baptism, Advent, Christmas and Diwali.  We will begin to understand the symbolism of light and dark in all of these traditions and discover places that are special to particular communities: Church for Baptism, Temple for Diwali.  We will reflect on British cultural traditions and respect the role of our armed forces when we participate in ‘Remembrance Day’ activities. 

Expressive Arts and Design

We will read the story ‘Star in a Jar’ and appreciate the many works of art and songs dedicated to stars, in particular ‘The Starry Night’ painting by Vincent Van Gogh and ‘Starry Starry Night’ sung by Don McLean.  Our Christmas preparations will be the main focus of our creative work this half-term as we learn festive seasonal songs and Christmas carols as well as practising our moves for our Nativity.  We will make, create, decorate and design our own Christmas cards, calendars and gifts.

Physical Development

The children continue to explore our outdoor classroom every day and are making great progress organising their own belongings as they dress in their wetsuits and wellies.  As ever, we continue to celebrate all the children’s efforts to be independent when dressing themselves: coats, hats, scarves, gloves, shoes etc. Please check that your child’s school uniform/coat/shoes are still labelled and their name is clearly visible to support them with this. 

We begin our Get Set for PE Dance unit, exploring travelling movements, shapes and balances. We will introduce counting to keep in time with the music and will have a chance to perform to others and begin to provide simple feedback. Our dance teacher Mrs Neil has also choreographed some exciting group dances for us to learn when we celebrate Diwali and Christmas.

Home/School Links

Upcoming dates for your diary:

Tuesday 14th or Thursday 16th November Parents Evening

Wednesday 15^th November School Photographer

Tuesday19th December 9.30am Reception Christmas Nativity

Thursday 21 December Christmas Party & Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Save the Children

We are ever grateful for your amazing support, joining in with all of our family challenges and homework activities.  We look forward to what promises to be another busy, exciting half-term in Reception!  Please let us know if you have any queries about any of the details in this letter.

Reception Teaching Team