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, we will look at our baby photos from ‘The Story of My Life’ half-term challenge and listen to the Bible story of the Annunciation. We will appreciate Jesus’ mother Mary and our own families who love and care for us. As the half-term progresses, we will light candles on the Advent wreath and begin rehearsals for our Reception Nativity (Tuesday 17 December) in celebration of Jesus’ birthday on Christmas Day. Further details to follow about this exciting event!

Communication & Language

We will celebrate World Nursery Rhyme Week during 11th to 15th 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: Twinkle Twinkle, Old MacDonald, Big Ship Sails, Incy Wincy, 5 Currant Buns. 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. 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. When they are secure with blending and sound recognition, they will bring home sound blending reading books to practise every day.

Outside of our phonic lessons, we will write messages in our Christmas cards 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 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, 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 Christmas, 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

We look forward to participating in dance sessions choreographed and led by our dance teacher, Mrs Neil. Beginning with Diwali, we will experience traditional Indian dancing and a dramatic light procession. As Christmas draws near, Mrs Neil will return to lead a seasonal dance session involving reindeer, sleighs and Santa himself! Back in class, the children are making great progress organising their own belongings as they dress in their PE kits, 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.

Home/School Links

Upcoming dates for your diary:

Tuesday 12th or Thursday 14th November Parents Evening

Tuesday 17th December Reception Christmas Nativity at 9.30am

Thursday 19th December Christmas Party & Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Save the Children

Friday 20th December School closes at 1.30pm

We are ever grateful for your support, joining in with our home learning 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