This week we will be focusing on Christmas and will be spending some time practising for our Christmas Nativity play. The children have all been given a part in the play and will all dress up in a costume to take part. We have all of the costumes in school so please do not worry about buying or making anything. All we ask is that you help your child to learn any lines that we send home. The children will perform their nativity on Thursday 12th December at 2.15 and Friday 13th December at 9.15. You should have received all the information on how to get tickets. If you have any questions about tickets then please speak to the office staff.
The children are progressing well in their Phonics groups and staff are continually assessing the children’s knowledge to make sure they are in the correct group. Continue to do the reading activities in your child’s reading diary. Soon we will be sending out log in details for those children on reading books to access additional activities online to support your child’s reading. As the texts become more difficult, your child will bring home a book bag book to read and they will be asked to go online to read the book that they have looked at that week in school as well as a quiz. The extra practice at home will help your child to develop confidence and fluency in their reading.
The children all had a lovely day at Ash End Children’s Farm. They enjoyed seeing lots of different animals and had a great time feeding the goats and sheep. The children were involved in a variety of different activities throughout the day but I’m sure they will all agree the highlight was our visit to see Father Christmas. The children were very well behaved and we had a lot of tired eyes on our Journey home. We hope your child was eager to tell you all about it!
We are continuing on with our topic of ‘Celebration’ this week by looking at ‘Advent’. The children will learn about advent and how it is celebrated and will be able to link this to the advent calendars that they may be opening at home. We will talk about the countdown to Christmas and will link the season of Advent to their Nativity play as we continue to rehearse ready for their production later this term. The children will learn about the significance of the candles in an advent wreath and we will be talking about advent calendars being more than just a chocolate treat. In class we will be making our own ‘Kindness’ Advent calendar that we will open each day throughout December with an act of kindness that the children will be encouraged to carry out. Use this topic as a time to talk to your child about Christmas and what they know and have learned.
The children are all progressing well in their phonic groups and those children practising their sounds and word blending at home are showing increasing confidence. We have started to write simple CVC words in our writing sessions so please continue to work with your child on blending sounds together as this will also help them to then segment words to be able to write them. Please continue to watch the videos below which show how to use the sounds to blend.
The comparison of quantities is something that children begin to do as babies. When comparing, children notice attributes and begin to understand similarities and differences. This week’s activities focus on further developing these innate skills. The children will be encouraged to compare the number of objects in 2 sets by matching them 1:1. Seeing that objects in some sets can be matched without any being left over will draw the children’s attention to instances when the quantities of objects are equal.
Language is a key focus and adults will need to reinforce the language of ‘more than’, ‘fewer than’ and ‘an equal number’ to describe how many objects there are in each set. As the focus this week is on countable things, ‘fewer than’ is used rather than ‘less than’ and ‘more than’ is used rather than ‘greater than’.
The children are very excited for their trip to Ash House Children’s Farm on Thursday. You should have received a letter by now outlining key information such as clothing and lunch. Please make sure you have read the letter and follow the actions suggested. Please do not send your child in with lots of food. They only need the same amount of lunch they would have on any normal day. The lunches will be kept on the coach until lunchtime and any remaining food will be disposed of after lunch so they will not be able to access it throughout the day. The children are set for a lovely day where they will get the opportunity to see and feed some different animals as well as get to hold a baby chick. They will also take part in a Nativity story as well as meet Father Christmas and receive a lovely gift. Please talk to your child about the trip before they come so they know what to expect. It would be really helpful if you also talked to your child about keeping their hands out or their mouths and noses as they will be feeding animals and we do not want children transferring anything into their own bodies. We will be washing hands regularly but we seem to have quite a few children that have their hands in their mouths or regularly up their noses, so we would be very grateful for help with this message
As we now move in winter and the colder weather can we ask that your child comes into school ready for the drop in temperature. Please send your child into school with a warm waterproof coat with a hood, a pair of gloves and a hat. All these items should be clearly named. We do not recommend scarfs as they are often left trailing on the floor and can become dangerous on the equipment. Encourage your child to put their coat on first, then their hat and finally their gloves. When taking their outdoor items off they should remove their gloves first and put them into their coat pockets. They should then remove their coat and put their hat into the sleeve of their coat so that it doesn’t get lost on the floor and is easy to access when then need to get ready to go outside. Please do not ask your child to put their things in their bags as they are difficult to access on the coat pegs when all of the children’s coats and bags are on there. This will help them with getting themselves ready and forging their own independence.
We hope you have a lovely week and will take lots of photos on our farm visit to share with you all.
This week we are continuing with our work on celebrations. We will begin the week looking at Remembrance day. We will be talking about the significance of the day and why it is celebrated and the way that it is celebrated. The children will join in with a minutes silence to remember those that fought in the war. We will also talk about the war and when it happened in relation to our history. This would be a good opportunity to talk to your children about the poppy and why they are worn. We will also be talking about celebrating in other ways. We will have a focus on celebrating our differences and how we are all unique.
The children started in their new phonic groups last week. They will have brought home their reading diary and there will be some reading activities inside. Please sign the reading diary each time you do these activities with your child. Continue to go over the letters that have been sent home and make simple CVC words to practice word blending. Below are some blending videos to help with this.
This week, the children will build on their subitising skills. They will be encouraged to look closely at small quantities and observe whether the quantity has changed or only the arrangement. When investigating the shapes made by Numberblock Four and making similar arrangements, children may also begin to develop their skills of ‘conceptual’ subitising. They will begin to notice the sub-groups that can be perceived within a larger set, and recognise the whole at the same time. For example, they will see that Numberblock Four can be arranged with 2 blocks on top of another 2 blocks or as a line of 3 with 1 on top, and connect both to 4. This will further develop their understanding of part–whole relations and the composition of number from previous learning. The children will also be encouraged to represent quantities in different ways by using a number of fingers on one hand. Some children will be able to show an amount ‘all at once’ while others will need a lot more practice to be able to do this. Build confidence by allowing the children to ‘grow their fingers’ – putting up one finger at a time – before showing them, and gradually introduce the idea of making an amount ‘all at once’ when they become more familiar with finger patterns. We will also look at squares and rectangles having four sides and four corners
We are looking forward to our upcoming trip to Ash End Children’s farm. You should have received an email with the details for payment. Unfortunately if we do not get enough money to cover the cost of the trip we will have to cancel it. We will provide more information closer to the day on what your child will need to wear on the day. It is a lovely trip for the children and I’m sure they will have lots of fun which will begin to get them in the mood for Christmas.
Thank you to those parents who have been contributing to our weekly 50p fund. This money allows us to buy additional resources to enhance the children’s learning such as the pumpkins that the children had great fun bashing with golf pegs and dissecting them to see what was inside as well as the Indian food that we tasted when celebrating Diwali. It is very much appreciated and all of the money contributed will go on enhancing your child’s learning in Reception.
This week we will continue with our topic of celebrations by looking at Bonfire night. We will be learning about Guy Fawkes and the reason for bonfire night. We will do a variety of crafts and activities linked to bonfire night and will be discussing bonfire night in relation to the other celebrations we know about. We will also focus on firework safety and how the children can stay safe when watching fireworks. Ask your child what they have learned about bonfire night and see if they can tell you some of the safety rules. Coundon Primary are hosting their own firework display on Monday the 4th of December so please contact the school office if you would like tom attend and join in with out celebrations.
The children have now been introduced to all of the set 1 single letter sounds. Please continue to practise these so that your child is confident with them. We are now focusing on blending to read. Put three of the cards together to make simple CVC words such as s-a-t and p-i-n. Can your child say each sound and then read the word? keep going through these activities to help your child become confident at blending words to read, On Friday your child will bring home a reading diary. Please look to see what activities have been set by your child’s Read Write Inc. teacher. Please get into the habit of doing the activities every night and signing the diary to record what your child has done. Below are some blending videos for you to watch with your child to help develop their blending skills.
This week in Maths we will be looking at both circles and triangles and their properties with a focus on number of sides/ edges to link with the number work already done. We will identify shapes in the environment and we will also be looking at position and direction with a focus on the mathematical language. Have a look at home for circles and triangles. Can your child identify any in their environment? What can they tell you about circles and triangles?
As we lead into the winter and the weather gets colder, ensure your child comes to school each day in a warm waterproof coat with a hood. We would also ask that your child brings in a hat and a pair of gloves. Please take the time to help your child learn how to put these on by themselves so they are not relying on an adult to do it for them. We also ask that when your child takes off their gloves and hat they put their gloves in their coat pocket and their hat in the sleeve of their coat before hanging it up. This allows them to access them easily when they need them as their bags are too difficult to get to on the coat pegs when they are all on there. Please can you make sure that ALL ITEMS are clearly named so we can return lost items to the right child.
Have a lovely week. We hope to see you on the 4th at our firework display.
This week we will begin our work on festivals. This is a topic that runs across the year looking at different festivals that are celebrated across our school community. This week we will be talking about the festival of Diwali, how it is celebrated and by whom. The children will be involved in a series of different activities ranging from making Rangoli and mehndi patters, making their own diva’s and tasting some Indian food. We will learn about the story of Rama and Sita and the children will have the opportunity to act this story out. This will form the basis of the children’s understanding of how festivals are celebrated and will be further enhanced as we celebrate other festivals over the coming months. The children love to share their new knowledge so ask them about what they have learned and what they can tell you about the festival of Diwali and how it is celebrated. If you and your family are celebrating Diwali over the half term break, we wish you a very happy celebration and would love for you to send in photos of your child celebrating Diwali so that we can add them to our class books. Please send in any photos or notes of how you have celebrated to rmt@coundon.coventry.sch.uk or rcg@coundon.coventry.sch.uk
Last week the children were assed in their phonics session and we are now sorting them into their new groups for after the half term break. Some children will move on to learn the next set of sounds where others will need to recap the sounds already taught before we move on to teach more new sounds. Please do not worry and begin comparing your child to others. We will teach your child what they need. We will now be having a focus on blending the sounds taught to read simple words such as s-a-t, t-o-p etc. Please do this as part of your reading work with your child. After the half term break your child will come home with a reading diary with a reading activity to do. Please do these activities every night and sign the diary to say what you have done and how your child got on. All reading diaries should then be returned on a Wednesday ready for staff to add new reading activities to go home on Friday. When your child is ready they will get login details for an online account where reading activities will be set for them. We will let you know more about this when your child is ready. below are the videos for the last few sounds learned
In Maths this week, the children will explore how numbers can be composed of 1s and, from this, begin to investigate the composition of 3 and 4. Composing and de-composing numbers involves children investigating part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2. The children will learn from practical experience that a ‘whole’ is made up of smaller parts and is, therefore, bigger than its parts. The children will have experience of subitising small quantities and will use their skills to identify the numbers within 3 and 4.They will begin to recognise that 3 and 4 can be made by combining sets in different ways. When children are able to compose and flexibly de-compose numbers mentally, they will become more fluent in their knowledge of number bonds, and be able to use these efficiently when calculating in KS1 and KS2. Can your child tell you how many there are up to 4 without the need to count? Can they tell you/ show you different ways to make an amount up to 4?
Over the last few weeks the children have been working hard at their independence. They have been set the challenge of putting on their own shoes and coats and most children can now do up their own coat. Please continue this at home and allow the children the time to foster their own independence by allowing them to dress themselves and getting their own shoes and coats on when they are going out. Try to continue going over the sounds that have been sent home so that they do not loose any of their learning over the break. Once the children have had a week at home they may get upset again about coming back in to school. This is completely normal after a break (think how you feel going back to work after a holiday) so don’t worry that there is something wrong.
It was lovely to meet so many of you last week at parents evening. Thank you for taking the time to come and chat about your child. We hope you have a lovely half term break and that the children get recharged for the term ahead.
This week we will be continuing with our work on Autumn. We will be focusing on the fiction text ‘Don’t hog the hedge’. The children will recap all all they know about Autumn so far and will look at how some animals get ready to hibernate during the Autumn in time for winter. The story is a lovely text that not only helps the children learn a little more about the season of Autumn and how animals prepare but it also has a message about sharing and being kind towards others. This is especially important at the moment as the children now feel a little more settled and some are struggling to share the resources and play kindly with each other. We will be doing a bit of work on kindness towards each other and how we need to share the resources so that everyone has a chance.
This week we will be assessing the children on the sounds that we have covered since the beginning of the term. We will be looking to see if the children can say the sounds correctly, if they can hear the sounds to blend simple words and if they can put some of the sounds together to read simple words. We will then group the children according to their knowledge and weather they are ready to move on and learn more sounds or need to recap over the sounds already taught. Please continue to go over the sounds every night and add the new sounds sent home on Friday to your pack.
This week, the children will engage with activities that draw attention to the purpose of counting – to find out ‘how many’ objects there are. They have used subitising to identify the number in a set; they will now develop their counting skills to enable them to identify how many there are in a set that cannot be subitised. This connects subitising and counting to cardinality whereby the last number in the count tells us ‘how many’ things there are altogether. Using a ‘circling’ gesture to indicate all of the objects in a set will support children to develop an understanding of cardinality. They will also practise developing 1:1 correspondence, by counting numbers at the same time as moving or tagging the objects. The children will also explore how all sorts of things can be counted, including sounds. Singing counting rhymes will give them opportunities to hear, join in with and develop their knowledge of the counting sequence.
Can we remind parents that P.E is on a Monday. Your child should come into school dressed in their P.E kit of a red Coundon Primary T-Shirt, a red Coundon Primary hoodie and black bottoms. They should wear suitable shoes for P.E such as trainers. It would really help if your child can do up their trainers by themselves. Please steer clear of laces if your child is unable to tie them up by themselves.
This week we will be focusing on the book ‘The Dinosaur’ by Anne Milbourne and Mandy Field. We will be linking it back to the work done last week and further developing our knowledge of dinosaurs and the past. The children will focus on a couple of dinosaurs from the text and will be talking about their similarities and differences. We will also do a range of activities linked to dinosaurs across the seven areas of learning both inside and out including actions, songs, models, pictures and crafts. Talk to your child about what they are doing in school, encouraging them to tell you all the things they have found out about. This will be an excellent time to visit the library and maybe find some stories or non-fiction texts about dinosaurs to support their learning in school.
The children are continuing on with their phonic sessions and have been introduced to the next 4 sounds ‘t, i, n and p’. These sounds will be sent home on Friday with your child. Please cut them out and add them to the sounds your child brought home last week. Continue to go through these every night so that your child becomes confident with them and can read them speedily. Once confident start putting the sounds together to make simple words for them to read such as t-i-n and m-a-t. Below are videos of the sounds covered this week for you to watch with your child and encourage them to join in with.
This week in Maths we will be looking at patterns. The children will be completing patterns already started as well as making some of their own patterns. We will be looking at simple ABAB patterns and will then move on to more complicated ABCABC or ABBABBA patterns. We will use lots of natural resources to make their patterns as well as action patterns. See what you can use at home to make patterns. Your child could use toys/ cutlery or fruit. Can your child carry on a pattern? Can they then make their own pattern. Make it more challenging by making a pattern and see if they can identify the mistake.
On Friday your child brought home a Library book for you to read to them. This is a book that your child has chosen. Try to take time each day to read their book to them. Young children love to hear the same story over and over again. Try and use different voices for different characters and encourage your child to join in with repeated refrains. Reading stories to your child regularly and encouraging your child to have a love of books and stories is the best start you can give your child on their reading journey. Please return the library book each Friday so your child can change their book to get a new one. If books are not returned then unfortunately your child will not be able to chose another book.
As the weather changes for the new season can we please remind you to send your child into school with a warm waterproof coat. Work with your child to encourage them to put their coat on by themselves. It is taking the children a long time to get ready for lunch and home time as many of them struggle to put on their coats and are unable to turn the sleeves the right way. Work on this with them so they can be as independent as possible and don’t get frustrated at not being able to do it. If sending gloves and hats in to school (scarfs are not needed in school as they just trail on the floor and can be dangerous on the equipment) please make sure they are clearly named and your child is encouraged to put their gloves in their coat pocket and their hat in their coat sleeve. We ask that they do not go in bags please as the cloakrooms are tight for space and the children struggle to access their backs when they are all hanging up.
If you need to contact your child’s class teacher, please email on
This week we will be focusing on the topic of dinosaurs. The children really enjoyed the monster stories last week and many of the children have an interest in playing with dinosaurs so we have planned in some activities to support these interests. We will be talking about fiction and non-fiction texts looking at examples of both. The children will learn the difference and will carry out a range of tasks linked to both types of texts such as role play, craft activities and helping to write a class fact file. We will be introducing vocabulary such as carnivore, omnivore and herbivore. Use this as an opportunity to ask your child what they have found out about dinosaurs and see if they can share any of the new words they have learned.
Last week the children were introduced to the first four letter sounds m, a, s and d. They should have brought home these letter cards on Friday. Please ask your child to practise these sounds each night to prepare them for when they get a reading book once they know and can blend the first set of set one sounds. We will continue to teach the children more set 1 sounds this week and again will send these sounds home to be practised alongside the other sounds. If your child is confident with their sounds then begin to put the sounds together to make simple words e.g. s-a-d, a-m, m-a-d. This will help your child to begin to read. Below is a link to the parent page for Read Write Inc if you want more information on the program. Below are some videos of the sounds learned this week.
This week in Maths we will be looking at comparisons. We will be comparing height, length, size and capacity. We will be focusing on the language of comparison; bigger/smaller, taller/shorter, more/fewer etc. Can your child use the correct language at home to identify differences. For instance which shoes are longer? Who is the tallest/ shortest in the family?
The children have all settled now into school very well and look very smart in their school uniform. Please check your child’s items so that a name is clearly visible as we would like any lost items to get back to its rightful owner. If your child does not need a big backpack then please do not send one. The children find them quite difficult to carry and they take up a lot of room in the cloakroom. The only bag required for school is a book bag so that any letters, pieces of work or home reading activities can be put in for taking home. Please get into the habit of checking your child’s bag each night and removing anything not needed. Can we remind you that P.E is on a Monday and children should come into school on this day wearing their P.E kit of black bottoms, a red Coundon t-shirt and hoodie and suitable footwear such as trainers. If your child’s trainers could do up with Velcro that would be a great help to the staff.
Hello and welcome to Receptions blog. We will try to update this block each week to let you know what the children will be focusing on in the coming week and activities that they will be doing and ways in which you can support their learning at home. We will also pass on messages and let you know what is happening in the week ahead. Please try and check in each week so that you can gain an understanding of what your child is doing in school and the expectations.
This week we will be focusing on the story ‘A Monster Surprise’ with a focus on feelings and emotions. We will be talking about how the characters felt during the story and will be relating it to how they may sometimes feel when they are in school. We will be talking about our school value of kindness and how we should always be kind to each other. This is an important message that you could discuss with your child at home to encourage them to always be kind to others and if someone isn’t being kind to them to not hit out but to come and tell an adult and we will be able to help them. We will be doing lots of activities during the week linked to the story such as making our own monsters in different ways, retelling and sequencing the story, acting out the story and lots of crafts linked to monsters. We are looking forward to seeing lots of different monsters through the week.
The children have had a little introduction to our Read Write inc phonics programme last week. They have learned the silent signals which help the sessions work successfully and have looked through the picture sound cards in preparation for learning the sounds this week. The children will be introduced to the first few sounds this week. On Friday they will bring home the sounds that they have learned for you to practise with them. Please go through these with your child so that they are confident with the first few sounds ready to move on next week. Over the next few weeks the children will be introduced to the first set of sounds. They will then be assessed to see if they know the sounds and can hear the sounds in words e.g. when the adult says m-a-t they can respond with ‘mat’. Once confident with this we will be looking for the children to begin reading the sounds to make simple words. Once your child is able to blend the sounds they know, they will then start on a reading book. We ask that you try and get into the habit of doing reading work every night so that your child gets into the routine of it for when they get their reading book. We also ask that you sign your child’s reading diary every night when they have done reading work with a little message sharing how they got on.
In Maths this week we will be focusing on sorting and matching, play a range of different games to identify pairs. You could support this learning at home by playing games like snap or pairs with playing cards or you could get your child to help sort out all the socks from the washing into ones that match or some of the coins from your purse. They could even sort their toys into different groups. Any activity that encourages your child to sort will reinforce the learning in school.
We are required by the government to carry out a baseline assessment on your child when they start primary school. Mrs Towner and Mrs Gerrard will continue to carry out these assessments this week. They are nothing to worry about and just a few simple activities for your child to complete. Unfortunately we will not be able to pass on any scores to you as we do not get these, the results are collated centrally by the Government. Below is a link for you to find out more about the Baseline:
Can we please remind parents to name all clothes. We have a lot of items already going missing as children are leaving them anywhere, including the canteen and they have no names on them so difficult to return to the right person. We ask the child to put their jumpers or cardigans in their drawers so that other children do not pick them up. Work with your child to recognise their own name so that they put their items in the correct drawer and take the right items. Please name everything including coats and shoes so we can return items to the right person.
We are looking forward to another busy week. If you have any issues or concerns please speak to us on the door or email to RMT@coundon.coventry.sch.uk or RCG@coundon.coventry.sch.uk
This week we will have a focus on transition. The children will be thinking about moving on from Reception and into Year 1. We will be listening to stories and songs and playing a range of games to get ready. We will have a pirate focus to the week concentrating on the story ‘Jakes First Day’ about a pirate. Lots of our activities this week will have a pirate theme. This is a great time to be talking to your child about the move to Reception. Discuss all the things they are going to look forward to and remind them that they have grown so much in Reception and are now ready to learn even more. All the children should now know who their teacher is for Year 1 and they have had the opportunity to meet them. The Year 1 staff will also be talking to the children as much as they can over the next two weeks.
This week in Phonics we will be carrying out our final assessment of the year to set the phonics group for the next academic year. Please go over all of the sounds that your child has learned and see if your child is reading the speedy green words at the back of the on line book speedily without the need to Fred talk. We will collect all books in on Wednesday so that we can get all the books sorted for next year. Please have a look at home for any books not previously returned. We will also collect in the children’s library books on Friday, again please have a look and return any school library books that you may have at home.
Our focus in Maths this week will be games. The children will play a range of different games practising some of the key skills they have learned throughout the year. The children really enjoy playing games. This is something that is lovely to do as a family. Simple games like snakes and ladders, snap, pairs, dominoes or any other simple game. Orchard Farm games have a fantastic range of games designed for young children that the children always love when we play them in school.
This week will be our last full week as we finish on Thursday the 18th July. We hope to see you at sports day on the 16th July. Children should come into school in their P.E kit with a named water bottle.
