• Nature Explorers

Welcome to Reception's class page!

READY, RESPECTFUL, SAFE

Love Learning, Love Life

Always Aiming High

Staff

Mrs McCarroll  Miss Price 

To contact Mrs McCarroll email cmccarroll@elton.cheshire.sch.uk

Hello and welcome to our Reception Stage website.

We hope that you have had a lovely Christmas and New year and you are excited to be back with us. It is fantastic to see just how much our little learners have grown in confidence and how inquisitive they are to learn and explore. This term our first topic is “Around the world” where we will be using a range of texts to explore the world including “Naughty Bus” where we will learn about England and focus on London followed by “Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain” where we will visit Africa focusing on Kenya then we go to China where we will celebrate Chinese new year using “The Magic Paintbrush” and finally we will look at what our favourite celebrations are.

After half term we will Spring into Spring where we will use texts such as The Journey Home, The Tiny Seed and The Extraordinary Garden to explore how the world around us is growing and changing.

These stories provide starting points for a wealth of exciting learning opportunities and we aim to make these activities as practical as possible- making maps, making masks, role playing, planting seeds and investigating how to make them grow and constructing a bus out of boxes etc.

If you ever have any questions about what we do here at school please feel free to ask, as we believe that when home and school work closely together great things can be achieved.   

Reception

Our Reception Class of four and five year olds – The class teacher is Mrs McCarroll who is supported by a fantastic team who help to ensure that your children become confident and independent learners.

Everything we do to help the children to learn and develop is based on The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and is broken down into 3 Prime areas and 4 Specific.

Prime areas of learning and development-

Communication and language

Physical

Personal, social and emotional

Specific areas of learning and development-

Literacy

Maths

Understanding the world

Expressive arts and design

We plan activities and topics based on the children's interests, as we believe that children learn best when they are motivated and fully engaged. We feel that it is imperative to empower the children by asking them what they would like to learn and how they would like to do it. We work hard to ensure the children are confident and independent learners that take an active role in their own education.

We also value the partnership between school and home and throughout the year parents/carers will be invited to stay and play sessions, key worker catch- ups, parent's evenings and parent panels.

Please remember this important message- If you are ever unsure or concerned about something (however small or big you think it is) please come and chat to us about it. If you think your child may be unhappy or worried about something, please let us know. Your child's happiness, safety, learning and development is our priority. Let's work together to make sure they have the very best start in life...

Some information:

Uniform: We expect all children to wear school uniform. Please ensure all items of uniform are labelled including coats, shoes and PE Pumps, book bags etc.

PE: - Drawstring pump bag/labelled, pull on/Velcro black pumps, navy, white or black shorts, white T-shirt. PE will be on Monday and Wednesday. P.E. kit can be taken home to be washed half termly. Please bring in a water bottle that your child can identify which can be filled with fresh water every day.

Children in Reception participate in weekly Nature Explorers sessions. The sessions takes place on a Thursday afternoon in the nature area within the school grounds. Children will change into their Nature Explorer outfits after lunch and come home in these outfits. As we will be spending the whole afternoon outside in all weathers, please can you ensure your child has the following items on this day with their name on:

• A waterproof coat
• Trousers
• Long-sleeve top
• Wellies or shoes you are happy to get muddy
• Hat

During the sessions, clothing may get dirty and wet. Even in the summer months, please can your child wear trousers to protect them from scratches and insect bites.

Homework will be sent home on Fridays and is due in by Wednesday. Please read with your child as often as possible, children should be reading at home daily when possible – but a minimum of 3x a week. Reading diaries will  be checked twice a week. Please write a comment in the yellow diary eg. Did they enjoy it? How well are they blending? Could they retell the story? Could they discuss the character’s behaviour? The more practice your child gets, the quicker your child will become fluent. We will change your child’s reading book once a week and we will read with them at least once a week. Please keep the reading book and yellow reading diary in their book bag and send it in every day.

Late arrivals: Children who arrive after 8.45am are considered late for school. All late arrivals should use the main entrance and will be requested to sign the late book. Parents of children who are frequently late will be requested to meet with the Headteacher to discuss the problem. The number of late arrivals will be monitored and entered on the child’s school report at the end of the academic year.

Absence: Parents are asked to phone the school office if their child is absent and the reason for the absence. If parents do not let the school know the reason for the absence on the first day, then the secretary will phone to ensure there are no problems.

Medicines: Requests for medicine to be administered in school must be made to the school office. This relates ONLY to prescribed medicines. They should be handed in to the school office with clear written instructions on their administration to the child. Antibiotics will be stored in the fridge until the end of the day. The fact that the medicine has been administered will be recorded in the medicine log book. Asthma Inhalers are kept in the classroom where the children can obtain them easily.

Ways to help at home-

Read as much as you can- from stories, to magazines, to menus in restaurants! Encourage the children to read to you at night and get them to use the pictures as prompts. Ask ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions to extend their thinking. Ask them what letters they recognise and encourage them to ‘Fred talk’. Don’t forget to sign and write a short comment in their reading diary so that we know they have read.

Talk as much as you can! Question why things happen and how things work. Have discussions about all things big and small- from ‘what do you fancy for tea?’ to ‘why do you think fish can’t live on land?’ Share feelings, thoughts and opinions.

Provide lots of opportunities to work on number. Count often and in informal contexts i.e. count as you walk up the stairs or counting fruit in the bowl etc. Pose practical problems i.e. how many plates will we need out for dinner? Can you please share those sweets out equally between you and your brother? Etc.

Encourage independence when possible. I have two young children and often find myself doing things I know they are capable of! I know our time is sometimes limited but please encourage your children to be as independent as possible i.e. getting dressed in the morning, putting their shoes on, helping to do jobs around the house or helping to make dinner.

Please don’t forget to send a water bottle in with your child. These can be topped up throughout the week, as we place a great deal of importance on children having continual access to drinking water.

If you ever have any questions about what we do here at school please feel free to ask, as we believe that when home and school work closely great things can be achieved.

And finally what to Expect When...

An amazing booklet that parents can use to help understand what children should be able to do depending on their age. It also has tips to support learning. 

Download it here:  http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2015/03/4Children_ParentsGuide_2015_WEB.pdf

The Early Years Foundation team x