Reception – St Joseph
Spring 2
Dear Parents/Carers,
A warm welcome back to you all. We hope you had a lovely half-term break.
Our topic for this half term is ‘Traditional tales’ which will include a range of stories such as The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, Little Red, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Enormous Turnip to name but a few!
Religious Education
Sorrow and Joy – children will learn about the significance of Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Easter, that Jesus learnt to forgive and to reflect on ways that we can forgive, be kind and generous and help others.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Children will be supported to continue to initiate conversations and listen to others. They will have lots of opportunities to explain their knowledge and understanding and ask appropriate questions to further their learning. Children will be encouraged to become independent learners, expressing preferences and ideas through their own choices as well as learning the important skill of compromising when necessary.
Communication and Language
Children will explore different traditional tales and become acquainted with its story language and repeated phrases. A big emphasis will be to verbally retell stories through re-enacting prior to writing them down on paper. Children will be encouraged to introduce storylines and narratives into their own play. Children will take part in ‘helicopter’ stories to promote confidence and speaking skills as they express and share their ideas.
Literacy
Children will begin to recognise and join in with predictable phrases in stories such as ‘I will huff and I will puff’ and think about other words and phrases that characters might be saying. They will sequence stories in order to retell and act them out, exploring the different characters and settings through ‘hot-seating’ opportunities. In phonics, we will continue learning Phase 3 sounds and recap Phase 2 sounds daily. Children will continue to read words and simple sentences and build up a vocabulary influenced by stories.
Physical Development
Children will continue to develop their fine motor skills becoming more confident at using a pencil effectively and showing an interest in writing. They will also continue to develop their gross motor skills moving in different ways by running, jumping, skipping, hopping etc. This half term we will explore keeping healthy and foods that can help us stay fit and well. Children will have opportunities to have fun cooking recipes from traditional tales.
Mathematics
Children will continue to recognise numerals to 20 and gain a deeper understanding of what makes 10, eg. number bonds to 10. Children will explore money, counting out the Giant’s coins from Jack and the Beanstalk and continue to recognise the value of different coins. We will explore size, comparing the difference in size of the three bears in Goldilocks as well as the Giant. Children will develop their knowledge of 3D shapes, understanding them as a solid and exploring their different properties.
Understanding the World
Children will explore different settings in stories as well as discussing and imagining new environments. We will talk about different animals and their habitats and explore materials, for example through the story of the Three Little Pigs and the different homes they built.
Expressive Arts and Design
Children will be encouraged to act out traditional stories and their own stories, thinking about their body language and gestures in relation to different characters. They will use objects as musical instruments to help them think about characters actions through sound.
Things to remember
Please continue to hear your child read every day.
Junk modelling is always wanted.
PE kits are to be worn on Thursdays. Please refer to the uniform policy https://www.swcps.lewisham.sch.uk/parents/uniform/
WOW cards- Please continue to complete so we can share all their great achievements. This is a great way for children to share their accomplishments and place their card on the WOW wall.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Ms Murphy, Mr Cunningham and the Early Years Team
Ms Murphy jmurphy@swcps.lewisham.sch.uk
Mr Cunningham acunnungham@swcps.lewisham.sch.uk