Reception
Spring Term
Friday 21st March 2025
Dear Parents and Carers,
We are almost two thirds of the way through the year now and the children continue to astound us as they make more and more progress. It really is such a joy to work with them all. Reception is a fantastic year as children make enormous progress and love seeing their new capabilities blossoming. We still have a third of the year left and we have lots of very exciting things planned both for you and the children. It will hopefully be an excellent last term when we get there.
ILT
We have been working outside a lot in ILT this week and we have explored resources, working hard to find the Goldilocks Zone in a variety of ways. Physical resources are fabulous for illustrating appropriate challenge as it is very clear when something is too easy or too hard. Once the children have found their challenge it has been wonderful to see such great attitudes, working hard to reach brilliant blue and enjoying being challenged. We have used obstacle course resources, balls and hoops mostly this week. Children have worked on hula hooping on their arms and throwing and catching games.
Inside we have had a lot of interesting writing. It is so lovely to see the children using their writing for a purpose. The children have been particularly interested in writing to the goblins. Many children have been having their best ILT sessions ever and seeing the way they can talk about their learning and reflect on their next steps is amazing.
Outside Day
The children are loving their outside sessions. It is great to see them enjoying our amazing spaces, taking part in growing, team challenges, as well as lots of physical challenges too. Now spring has sprung it should get even more exciting outside. We have loved seeing the buds appearing on the trees as the world warms up and we had frogspawn in our top pond! J
Writing
Try to write simple sentences regularly at home. The children need to be able to write sentences which make sense with capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. These sentences need to be readable by others. The more they practise, the easier this gets. Also, letter formation needs to be accurate. The only way to help with this aspect is to watch closely and correct if necessary.
We posted some teaching videos on Tapestry on Monday so please have a look at the finger spaces video with some fun ideas for remembering to use spaces and also one to show you the phonics actions.
Reading
If your child is not wanting to read at home, please tell us as we can help with ideas and also talk to your child.
Please practise the phase 2 and 3 tricky words and the phase 2 and 3 sounds on Phonics Play. The only sounds we have not taught yet are ear, air and ure.
Username: Forest01
Password: Newlaithes01
Maths
This week we have looked at number 18. The children are getting better at talking about two digit numbers and knowing what they represent. We have also continued to practise counting forwards to 20 and backwards from 20. Very few children can confidently count backwards from 20 and this is a skill which needs practising. Find ways to build this into your routines at home – teeth brushing, putting coats on etc.
Next Monday is Maths Day and your child can come dressed with numbers, shapes or patterns on them to celebrate this.
Tapestry Summaries
Please read these and share them with your child. This is important for you and them.
DT Resources and Outdoor Resources
We are continuing to collect for the DT area but we would also love some outdoor open ended resources too. Do you have any piping, crates, safe pallets, tyres, plant pots, compost, seeds or bulbs that you do not need/want? If so, please let us know.
Thanks so much for your continued support.
Kind Regards,
The Reception Team