Welcome to Bee Class

We hope you had a good Easter break. Here we begin the busy final term of the school year when sunny days and exciting experiences await us! 

Please ensure jumpers are well named, as in warmer times, the children have a tendency to remove them and put them down in all sorts of strange places! Sticky labels do sometimes come off in the wash, so it is worth a regular check. The children should all have a named school hat that needs to stay in school. If your child does not already have one please send one in as soon as possible.

Our topic this half-term will be 'Stories by Julia Donaldson' and we will be using three of her many stories as the basis for our learning across the curriculum. Below is an outline of the learning the children will complete at school

 

English

We will use three different stories in our literacy sessions this half-term. We will begin by learning and retelling the story of The Smartest Giant in Town. We will then move on to the story of The Gruffalo. Finally, we will explore the story of What the Ladybird Heard.

Phonics

In phonics this term, we will be moving onto phase 4 phonics. In phase 4, the children do not learn any new graphemes but use all that they have learned so far to read longer words with more phonemes in them. They will continue to spell words that they are already familiar with in reading.

 

As the children will be continuing to consolidate their learning of the Phase 2 and 3 sounds this half-term, here is a reminder of the sounds:

Phase 2: s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck, e, u, r, ss,h, b, f, ff, l, ll

Phase 3: j, v, w, x, y, z, zz, qu, ch, sh, th, ng, nk, ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, ur, oo, or, ow, oi, ear, air, sure, er, ow

The mnemonics and rhymes to accompany the sounds are all available on Google Classrooms.

To help children learn the sounds and to blend the sounds with ease, it is essential that whenever the sounds are pronounced that they are pure sounds. These videos from the authors of Essential Letters and Sounds will demonstrate the correct pronunciation. 

PHASE 2

 

PHASE 3

We will continue to practise the phase 3 keywords (outlined below) and support the children to develop their instant recall of these words on sight. These words are linked to the red band reading books as they contain the sounds we are learning this term.

Red Level Keywords

will	see	he	you
that	for	she	they
this	now	we	all
then	down	me	are
them	look	be	my
with	too	was	her

We will also be introducing the children to the phase 4 keywords (outlined below) which link directly to the yellow-banded reading books. Children need to practise these words regularly to develop their instant recall, which will help them when reading longer texts.

 

 Yellow Level Keywords

 

went	said	come	out
it’s	have	were	what
from	like	there
children	so	little
just	do	one
help	some	when

 

Reading

The children will continue to read and discuss books in small groups as part of guided reading as well as participating in sessions which will build their knowledge of keywords outlined above. Reading for enjoyment and sharing stories is a key part of our reading curriculum too. The children need to continue to bring their yellow reading record to school on a daily basis. We will write in the book when your child has read in school and the focus for the reading activities. You will then be able to use this focus for your home reading too. As well as using the Reading Record book to write down any reading your child does at home, we would like you to write down some of the reading that is done for pleasure. This would include the title of the book and what was enjoyed most about the book.

Children will continue to be given reading books that contain phonics sounds with which they are confident with. These are carefully organised into sets that correspond to the progression we follow in phonics. They may work on a 'set' of sounds for more than one week to ensure they embed the knowledge before moving on. New phonics reading books will be handed out on a Thursday, so we ask for these to be in school Every day. The readers will be in a red folder to keep them separate from anything else in the children's bags.

The children will also bring home a 'read with me'. It is clearly labelled on the front. This book may contain sounds or words that they have not yet been taught in phonics lessons, so please be aware that they may need your help throughout. This will be changed on a Tuesday and additional changes of these books can be requested.

Our library day will be on a Friday, so the children will need to bring in their library bag and book each week on Friday.

 

Maths

This term we will look at numbers to 20 and beyond. We will teach the children to look at the patterns in our number system. They will learn to count forwards and backwards, starting with any number and be able to say the number that is one more or less than any number. The children will learn to select, rotate and manipulate shapes in order to develop spatial reasoning skills. Finally, we will look at adding and taking away skills.

Topic

In our topic sessions we will be completing creative activities based on our overarching theme, 'Stories by Julia Donaldson'. In developing our understanding of the world, children will learn about simple maps.  They will learn about different animal habitats and search for minibeasts both within our school grounds. In PSHE, the children will be focusing on family and friends. This will include celebrating festivals and friendships, sharing and understanding what makes a good friend. In ICT, we will use Beebots and 2Go to explore directional language and programming. In Mind Up, children will consider stories from different perspectives and the importance of seeing other people's point of view. They will learn the importance of optimism and appreciating happy experiences.

Religious Education

This half-term in RE we will be completing a unit called 'How can we help others when they need it?'  We will be considering how Christians believe Jesus came to show God’s love. We will explore how Christians try to show love to others and consider how we can show love to others in our everyday life.

PE

Our PE day is on Monday, so the children will need to come to school in their PE kit on this day.  In PE lessons, we will be using Real PE and Jasmine to develop the children's ball skills.

Through the unit 'Juggling' the children will work on sending and receiving balls. Through the unit 'Fairytale' we will work on reaction and response.

Home Learning

Guided parental support of learning is an essential part of a good education. It encourages children to become confident and independent in their learning and ensures continuity between the school and home learning environments. 

Our Home Learning policy (at the bottom of this page) outlines our approach to home learning, which is based on evidence-based research and is particularly relevant for the age of the children that we teach.

These activities are expected to be undertaken:

• Daily reading
• Daily practice of Keywords 
• Termly Science home learning for the school holiday

These activities are optional:

Each week, teachers will also load up an activity to support the in-school learning. This will be linked to one of the 7 areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.

Home Learning will be accessible through our Google Classroom and will be updated weekly on Fridays.

If you have any questions along the way, please do not hesitate to contact us via the office email.

Next Half term

Our final half-term in Reception will focus on the topic of Africa. During our topic 'Out of Africa', children will be comparing continents and developing their understanding of different animals. We will be visiting Cotswold Wildlife Park towards the end of the term. We will also be visiting the church and clearing the graves of weeds as our 'Act of Service'.

 

Useful Links

Home Learning activities: Google classroom on a browser or download the app from your app store

 

 

 Purple Mash https://www.purplemash.com/sch/marlow 

Your child's log in details are listed in the front cover of their yellow reading record.

 

Purple Mash is used in school for IT across the curriculum in all year groups, as well as Computing in Key Stage 1

Free access to webinars and advice for parents ​https://nationalcollege.com/enrol/marlow-c-of-e-infant-school