Reception
Spring Term
Friday 25th April 2025
Dear Parents and Carers,
We have been taking full advantage of the sunshine and warmer temperatures by spending more time outdoors this week. It has been wonderful to see the children engage more with nature, explore the outdoor environment and participate in various outdoor projects!
On this note, with the weather warming up and as the sun shines brighter, we kindly ask that your child be provided with a named sun hat, a named water bottle and have sun cream applied before they come to school. Please note we are not able to apply your child’s sun cream for them.
Outside Day
Outside Day consisted of a PE lesson, planting our sunflowers and observing the seasonal changes. This week, we had a wonderful time exploring the forest as we looked for signs of seasonal change. The children were very observant, spotting budding leaves, blooming flowers and listening to the sounds of spring all around us. One of the highlights of our day was visiting the pond for some pond dipping! The children were fascinated to discover the tiny creatures living in the water and were especially excited to learn more about the life cycle of a frog. To support this learning, we also read the lovely story Tad by Benji Davies, which sparked some fantastic discussions about growth, change, and resilience.
In PE, the children practised the fundamental skill of jumping as they had to cross the river from the Billy Goats Gruff. They also had to solve a number of problems and explore different ways to cross the river. We also did some tag rugby activities. The children were split into two teams: Team Goblins and Team Fairytale. The aim of the activity was to get the ball across the space and place it into the hoop without the goblins grabbing their tag. The children developed the key skills of spacial awareness, agility and ball skills.
Community and the Goblins!
This week, much of our learning has been inspired by our community focus, which has sparked some fantastic conversations and creativity. We’ve been exploring an environmental dilemma faced by the goblins, who live in the Dark Forest – a place where nothing grows except cabbages. The air is full of smog and pollution and it’s always dark. The children have been truly engaged with this story and have shown wonderful empathy and imagination in thinking about what the goblins should do next. As part of our democracy curriculum driver, we held a class debate to decide whether the goblins should come and live at Newlaithes or whether we should find a new, more suitable home for them. After lots of thoughtful discussion and respectful listening to each other’s ideas, the children voted to find a lovely new environment for the goblins to live in.
This story will continue to inspire our learning over the coming weeks as we explore themes around our environment, how we can look after it, and what makes a place healthy and happy to live in. It will also link in beautifully with our upcoming school visit to Skelton Grange Environment Centre, where we will be able to bring much of this learning to life.
Maths
This week in Maths, the children have been developing their number sense and exploring how numbers can be broken down and represented in different ways. Here’s what we’ve been focusing on:
- Subitising with Numbers 5–9
The children practised subitising – recognising small quantities without counting – especially numbers 5 to 9. We used rekenreks (counting frames) to help visualise these numbers quickly and confidently. - Understanding ‘Whole’ and ‘Part’
We reinforced the language of whole and part as a way of talking about how numbers can be made up of smaller groups. For example, we looked at how 5 can be split into 3 and 2 or 4 and 1. - Seeing Parts Within a Whole
Using cubes, counters and stories, the children explored different ways to see the same number. They enjoyed finding all the combinations that make up a number and representing them with pictures, hands and number frames.
How You Can Help at Home:
- Ask your child to show numbers using fingers or small objects without counting one by one.
- Talk about splitting snacks or toys into groups (e.g. “You have 6 grapes – can you make two groups?”)
- Play “How many do you see?” using dice or dominoes to practise subitising.
Phonics
This week in phonics, we have been learning two new trigraphs: ‘air’ and ‘ure’.
‘air’ – as in chair, fair, and hair.
‘ure’ – as in sure, pure, and cure.
We have been spotting these trigraphs in words, practising sounding them out and using them in our reading and writing. The children have been working really hard and are becoming confident at recognising and using these new sounds. You can support your child at home by looking out for words with ‘air’ and ‘ure’ in storybooks, signs or during everyday activities. Maybe challenge them to find as many as they can.
Baby Photos
As part of our topic on “Ourselves” and learning about changes over time, we will be talking about how we grow and change as we get older. To support this, we would love for each child to bring in a baby photo of themselves. Please send a baby picture (clearly labelled with your child’s name on the back) into school by 9th May. These will be used in class discussions and displayed on our topic board to help the children talk about the past and how they have changed. Photos will be returned safely at the end of the topic. Thanks in advance.
Reception Parent Event – Save the Date!
We are excited to let you know that our Reception parent event — Our Community Festival — will take place on Friday 13th June from 1:30pm onwards! You are invited to join us in celebrating the children’s wonderful achievements and success from this year. We will be sharing more details with you soon, so please keep an eye out for further information.
Kind regards,
The Reception Team
Elizabeth, Ella, Justine, Natalie, Sophie and Halima