Autumn Term Highlights from Reception

Autumn 1

The start of the Autumn term was full of fresh new beginnings for Reception class. A new classroom, new friends and a new daily routine at school. Our first topic was “All about me” as we got to know each other. We established what we all knew at the start of the year and have been busy ever since increasing this knowledge. We made self-portraits, discussed our families and how we grow up from a baby to an adult. PHSE lessons then fitted beautifully with this as we discussed everything about ourselves and our world.

In RE we also spoke about what makes us special, our talents and what makes us unique. This linked beautifully to our Literacy where we started speaking about our emotions and then moved onto our families and bodies. We also looked at what we would be when we grow up and our traditional tale of the term was “Little Red Riding Hood”. In our Literacy sessions, as well as reading texts, looking at alternative versions and acting out the story, we made class story maps that we could use to independently retell the story and were able to add initial sounds and sequence story images.

In Phonics we started our school Phonics scheme “Little Wandle letters and sounds”. The children quickly started to pick up the sounds that we were learning, were saying initial sounds of classroom objects and starting to make marks representing our sounds.

In Maths, we sorted and compared objects, and we were able to sort objects into groups (which really helped during tidy up time!). We looked at repeating patterns and guessing what comes next as well as starting even more complex patterns.

PE had a focus of Rugby where we learnt how to hold the ball, pass to each other and what a try was. We also focused on whole class games to work on personal space and following instructions.

The change in season also led to lots of Autumnal seasonal play; including an Autumn train tuff tray, pumpkin fine motor and using natural resources for counting, sorting and pattern making. We then ended our term by welcoming parents to our first Stay and Play session which had an Autumn theme, and the children really enjoyed sharing their classroom environment and learning.

Autumn 2

Autumn 2 we introduced Rainbow challenges to Reception. These activities link to all our areas of learning in EYFS. Each Monday morning, we therefore have a Monday modelling session where we introduce the weekly challenges and then we try and complete our rainbows by the end of the week. Our activities are also linked to our weekly text and termly topic.

Autumn 2 our new topic was “Through my eyes” looking at celebrations, festivals and traditions. This topic has been perfect for this time of year and being able to discuss Remembrance Day, Diwali, Christmas and many other festivals that we have celebrated this term. We have made many crafts this term; including fork fireworks, Diva lamps and Christmas cards. This has been the perfect time to discuss what celebrations each child has personally experienced and discover more about celebrations that they are less familiar with.

Linked to celebrations, in RE we had a focus on the Christian celebration of Christmas. The class have learnt the Christmas story and discussed all of the characters at the Nativity. They have even acted out the story in class in their own mini performance. PHSE has also had the focus of celebrating differences in Autumn 2, and we have discussed what makes each person special, whether this is religion or abilities.

In Phonics we finished learning our Phase 2 sounds and have been working on reading and writing simple CVC words. The children have been able to write simple shopping lists, what you would need at a wedding and simple words linked to festivals. We have also introduced at home reading books, as well as daily writing sessions alongside our reading sessions this term.

We have used our Phonic knowledge to start to write more words and vocabulary linked to our class texts. In Literacy during Autumn 2 we have looked at books that look at birthdays, weddings, festive foods and the book “Little Glow” has linked a range of celebrations throughout the year.

In Maths we have moved onto composition of numbers up to 5 now; including 1 more, 1 less and parts and wholes. We have learnt all about 4 basic shapes (circle, triangle, squares and rectangles) and not only can they now name and describe shapes but we have started to look for them in the environment.

In PE our focus this term has been football and learning to control the ball with different parts of our feet. We have incorporated more team games into our PE sessions with cones and domes being a particular class favourite.

To finish up the term, Reception class have learnt simple Christmas songs to perform to parents in our final Stay and Play session of the term.