Reception Ash

WELCOME TO RECEPTION! 

In Ash Class, you will find Mrs Patel-Martin, Miss Bartle, and Mrs Ross-Smith (on Fridays) - any questions, please email on: 

fs@strathmore.herts.sch.uk

Our topic this half term is ‘Special times, let's celebrate!’

In Ash class, our P.E lessons are on a Wednesday morning and a Friday afternoon.  P.E kits need to be in a named bag hanging on their peg, we will send them home every half term to be washed. Please ensure all items are clearly labelled.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Week beginning 14.12.20

Last week was another busy week with lots of Christmas themed activities. We especially enjoyed having Christmas lunch together in our Reindeer hats and listening to Christmas music. This week, the Christmas theme continues with a range of other activities. We will be watching the Pantomime in our Reception bubble, this year the pantomime is Dick Whittington, a Virtual Christmas show. 

On Thursday afternoon Reception will be having their Christmas party where we will have a couple of snacks, play some party games and have a dance with all of our friends. The children are allowed to bring in a bag, labelled with their name on, of Christmas party clothes. We will get the children dressed in their party clothes in the afternoon, they must come to school dressed in their School uniform. 

During the week we will be finding out why Christmas is celebrated by discussing the traditional Nativity story, as well as exploring a range of books around the theme of Christmas. We will be giving children the chance to act out the Nativity story using different props and masks. 

English 

The focus for this week is to continue using the Post Office and writing a range of letters or postcards in there. Remembering to use the correct letter formation, especially the curly caterpillar letters that we have been practising.  We will also look at writing a list of things that you might need to build a snowman. Encouraging all children to use their phonics skills to help them segment each word. 

Maths 

We will review our number from last week and consolidate all of the numbers that we have looked at this term. We will be practising drawing objects to the value of a chosen digit and forming all the numbers up to 10. For our maths challenge, we will roll 2 dice and count out the total amount of dots. We will then need to find the correct number on the snowman’s hat. Place it on top of the snowman and give him that many buttons/stones. 

Phonics 

This week in phonics we will be revisiting sounds that we have previously learnt. As well as continuing to focus on the correct formation of all letters, we will continue to practise sounding out and blending to read CVC words and deciding if the word is real or nonsense and have a go at sounding out to write CVC words such as ‘pin’ ‘sat’ ‘dog’ etc. The children will also be working hard on remembering their tricky words and have a go at writing some of them down. We sometimes listen to ‘The tricky word song’, the link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMyssfAUx0. 

Week beginning 7.12.20

The children had great fun last week making a range of different Christmas crafts and decorations and completing their final performance of ‘Whoops-A-Daisy Angel.’ They all did such a good job and should be very proud of themselves. The children will watch the play in school this week and it will be posted onto their Google classroom page on Friday 11th December in the afternoon and it will then be deleted on Friday 1st January at 6 pm for safeguarding reasons. 

If you still have not got access to your child’s Google classroom then please speak to a member of staff or email fs@strathmore.herts.sch.uk. 

We will be having Christmas lunch in our own bubbles on Wednesday 9th December. The children can wear a festive jumper in aid of ‘Save the Children’ charity, with a suggested donation of £1.  

During the week we will look at Christmas by discussing the traditional Nativity story, as well as exploring a range of different books. We will be particularly exploring ‘The Jolly Christmas Postman.’ The video of the story is posted above. This story is linked to our new role play area in the classroom, The Post Office. The children will be encouraged to write notes, letters, cards or postcards to send to each other in the post box.  

English 

The focus for this week is to write a range of different letters or postcards and use the role play area Post Office for inspiration. We will ask the children to mark make, write captions or simple sentences. Remembering to use the correct letter formation, especially the curly caterpillar letters that we have been practising.  

Maths 

We will review our number from last week and consolidate all of the numbers that we have looked at this term. We will be practising drawing objects to the value of a chosen digit and forming all the numbers up to 10. For our maths challenge, we will roll 2 dice and count out the total amount of dots. We will then count out the correct amount of snowflakes to place on the correct numbered mitten. 

Phonics 

This week in phonics we will be revisiting sounds that we have previously learnt. As well as continuing to focus on the correct formation of all letters, we will continue to practise sounding out and blending to read CVC words and deciding if the word is real or nonsense and have a go at sounding out to write CVC words such as ‘pin’ ‘sat’ ‘dog’ etc. The children will also be working hard on remembering their tricky words and have a go at writing some of them down. We sometimes listen to ‘The tricky word song’, the link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMyssfAUx0. 

Week beginning 30.11.20

Another busy week, the children have been very busy making rockets, writing a list of items to take to space and with rehearsing our virtual Christmas play. They had a very successful dress rehearsal, unfortunately, we didn’t manage to record it fully. Thankfully Mr Hall will be recording the play for us on Monday and we aim to share it with you on Google classroom soon. 

This week is decorations week and the children will be making a variety of decorations to decorate the school and the community. The school is taking part in ‘The Hitchin Christmas Tree Festive Trail 2020’ organised by the Holy Saviour Church. We will be decorating a tree in the ‘Bathstore’ located on Hermitage road. A poster has been added above for you to see.

This week we will be continuing the range of activities around ‘Whatever Next’ by Jill Murphy and we will be finding out about the phases of the moon through the story  ‘Moon’ by Britta Teckentrup. The video of the story is posted above.

English 

The focus for this week is curly caterpillar letters: a, c, g, o, d, q, s, f and e. Ask your child to write them for you at home, each letter starts as if they are writing a c!

Maths 

Our number of the week this week is number 10 and the children will look at the Numberblocks song. The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcBQgHLXIYk

We will also be practising forming the number 10 and drawing objects to the value of 10. For our maths challenge, we will continue writing number lines to 10 or to 20, using our memory to think very hard about the order of numbers.

Phonics 

This week in phonics we will be revisiting sounds that we have previously learnt. As well as continuing to focus on the correct formation of all letters, we will continue to practise sounding out and blending to read CVC words and deciding if the word is real or nonsense and have a go at sounding out to write CVC words such as ‘pin’ ‘sat’ ‘dog’ etc. The children will also be working hard on remembering their tricky words and have a go at writing some of them down. We sometimes listen to ‘The tricky word song’, the link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMyssfAUx0. 

Week beginning 23.11.20

What a busy week it was last week! The children thoroughly enjoyed learning to skip through our ‘Skip 2 B fit’ workshop and have shown that they are super resilient in having a go. They also showed how imaginative they could be with their ideas on how they would catch a star! 

This week we will be continuing our space theme and introducing a new story ‘Whatever Next’ by Jill Murphy, the video of the story is posted above. We will be doing a range of activities linked to the story. 

English 

We will be thinking about what we would take to space and why and have a go at writing a list. We will be continuing to focus on letter formation and independently using our phonics to support our writing. 

Maths 

Our number of the week this week is number 9 and the children will look at the Numberblocks song. The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p6OaYRltsY

We will also be practising forming the digit 9 and drawing objects to the value of 9. For our maths challenge, we will be having a go at writing number lines to 10 or to 20, thinking very hard about the order of numbers.

Phonics 

This week in phonics we will be revisiting sounds that we have previously learnt. As well as continuing to focus on the correct formation of all letters, we will be sounding out and blending to read CVC words and deciding if the word is real or nonsense! The children will also be working hard on remembering their tricky words and have a go at writing some of them down. We sometimes listen to ‘The tricky word song’, the link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMyssfAUx0. 

Week beginning 16.11.20

The children thoroughly enjoyed being creative last week. We made some beautiful poppy artwork and thought lots about different Diwali patterns, as well as making clay diva’s to celebrate the festival of light. During the school Diwali workshop we all enjoyed learning some traditional dance moves and acting out different characters from the traditional story. 

Thank you for your continued support and donations for ‘Wear it Red’ day for The Royal British Legion and for ‘Children In Need’ last week.  

This week we will be introducing a new story ‘How to Catch a Star’ by Oliver Jeffers and the video of the story is posted above. We will be doing a range of activities linked to the story. 

English 

We will be thinking about how we would catch a star and then have a go at writing it or drawing a picture. We will be continuing to focus on letter formation and independently using our phonics to support our writing. 

Maths 

Our number of the week this week is number 8 and the children will look at the Numberblocks song. The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qs2WDxs98o 

For our maths challenge, we will count out the correct amount of moon rocks, rockets, planets or stars and place them under the right numbered block to make a number line.

We will also think about 2D shapes and what small 2D shapes we can combine together to make a rocket. 

Phonics 

Week beginning 9.11.20

This week we will be looking at celebrations. We will be learning about Remembrance Day and Diwali, the festival of light, which is a Hindu festival. We will be doing lots of different crafts as well as lots of discussion about these different celebrations. 

English 

We will be having a go at making our own little books. We will have a go at re-telling the Diwali story by using different story props to remind us. We will illustrate our book and use our phonics to have a go at writing some simple sentences or captions. A video of this story can be found above this post.

Maths 

Our number of the week this week is number 7 and the children will look at the Numberblocks song. The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWf5imSBruY 

For our maths challenge, we will be building a tower with cubes and then making a tower with one more and a tower with one less. We will then think about our number formation and have a go at writing it below the tower of cubes. 

Phonics 

This week in phonics we will be revisiting sounds that we have previously learnt. We will be focusing on the correct formation and thinking of different words that have that sound in and have a go at writing them down. The children will also be working hard on remembering their tricky words and have a go at writing some of them down. We sometimes listen to ‘The tricky word song’, the link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMyssfAUx0. 

Week beginning 02.11.20

We hope that you have all had a lovely rest over half term and are ready to start another busy term. 

This week we will be learning about Bonfire Night, we will be getting creative and have a go at spray painting and making some edible sparklers. 

On Friday 6th November, children are allowed to wear something red, a hair bow, a top/jumper, a scarf, etc. Please bring in a donation of 50p to give to the British Legion. We will be thinking about Remembrance Day next week.

We will also be continuing to look at Autumn and introducing a new book ‘Leaf Man’ by Lois Ehlert. A link to the video of the story is above this post.  

English 

We will be thinking about the sounds that fireworks make and having a go at writing some onomatopoeias. We will also be thinking about how to stay safe at a Bonfire and writing some Safety Posters. 

Maths 

Our number of the week this week is number 6 and the children will look at the Numberblocks song. The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgDUdsciGyc 

For our maths challenge, we will be exploring numbers up to 10 and representing them in a range of ways. We will be matching the correct piece of numicon, writing the number and counting out the correct amount of objects to match the number cup. 

Phonics 

This week in phonics we will be teaching them three new sounds ‘f/ff’ ‘l/ll’ and ‘ss’ and then revisit the other sounds we have learnt. The children have been working really hard to remember each Jolly Phonics action that they have learnt so far. The children will continue to focus on the correct formation of each letter they learn.