Welcome
to
Reception!
Welcome to our Reception Class Page
Here at King Street, we are an Early Years Foundation Stage Unit which means that Pre-School children and Reception both have their own focused large indoor learning classroom space and all EYFS children share the 'Learning Landscape' outdoor space, in all weathers.
Children are grouped into small 'Family Groups' led by a Key Person.
Reception are split into two Family Groups - Miss Simpson's Purple Group and Miss Starkie's Green Group. (You may hear your children talking about Purple Group and Green Group!)
We start and end each session with shared and focused time where we learn together as a group or class. During this time, we teach Phonics. The rest of the time we access our learning landscape where all of our staff use their skills and knowledge of individual children to move learning on through play.
In the afternoon session, we have a Maths input and children then practise the new skills they have learned during continuous provision time.
We encourage Reception children to complete carefully chosen activities within different areas of the setting such as writing using their phonic knowledge and practicing their number skills. Through play, they are often learning, developing and embedding new skills without realising!
We encourage a love of reading at King Street. We hold regular whole-setting reading sessions led by staff in the setting or sometimes visitors. Please see below for more information about Phonics and Reading.
We do ask that you check your Tapestry account regularly as we add information here, tasks to support learning at home as well as updates on your child's progress.
Thank you
Miss Simpson
Phonics and Reading
Children are taught to read using phonics, which is all about teaching the sounds that make up words. Children are taught letter sounds in Reception. This involves thinking about what sound a word starts with, saying the sound out loud and then recognising how that sound is represented by a letter.
The aim is for children to be able to see a letter and then say the sound it represents out loud.
Children then need to go from saying the individual sounds of each letter, to being able to blend the sounds and say the whole word.
Children are taught sounds such as ‘s’ ‘a’ ‘t’ ‘p’ 'i' and ‘n’ in the beginning and start to be able to blend these sounds together to make words such as ‘sat’.
We use the Bug Club programme to teach phonics. The children learn at least 3 new sounds each week giving time to consolidate their learning and use their new sounds to blend.
In Reception, children are given a school reading book, which is linked to their phonic ability, to read at home as well as a book from our class library, to share with you at home to develop reading for pleasure.
Every child also has a reading record/diary. This helps us to find out how your child is getting on with their reading book at home. Please remember to complete this. Even the date and a signature is useful as we then know that your child has read at home.
Books are changed once a week to help develop fluency and we listen to your child read every day. This enables us to spend quality time sharing reading and tracking reading progress in school. If your child reads other books at home you are able to record this in their reading record too.
Some simple steps to help your child learn to read through Phonics
- Please read with your child every day. Little and often is key.
- Please bring your child’s Book Bag and Reading Record to school every day. The Reading Record is a great way for teachers and parents to communicate about what children have read. It can tell you whether your child has enjoyed a particular book and shows problems or successes he or she has had, either at home or at school.
- Encourage your child to ‘sound out’ unfamiliar words and then blend the sounds together from left to right rather than looking at the pictures to guess.
- Word games like ‘I-spy’ can also be an enjoyable way of teaching children about sounds and letters.
