Autumn 1 2023

Welcome to Reception class everyone! We are so thrilled and excited to start our new term with our brilliant new cohort. Our children are so happy, confident and motivated to learn and we are so proud at how they have settled in and accessed their learning areas. 

Our EYFS provision is made up of 2 Reception classes called Mount Olympus and Rushmore. These names follow our whole school theme of mountain names.  Mount Olympus is led by Mrs Fenty and Rushmore is led by Miss Anderson. 

Mrs Fenty teaches in Mount Olympus with support from Mrs Murphy, Miss Ward and  Mrs Goodey. 

Miss Anderson teaches in Rushmore with support from Mrs Matthews. Our PPA sessions are covered by PE Coach Mr Mead and PSHE & RE teacher Ms Hardy.

This half term we are kicking off our learning with the topic of

My Favourite Things / Me and my world

We will be exploring key texts such as:

Owl Babies

Peace At Last

5 Minutes Peace

My Mum and Dad Make Me Laugh

Please click on the title of each story to view an interactive version of the story. 

We will be exploring key themes such as:

• My family
• What is special about me?
• My favourite activities
• My place in the world

Autumn 1 

PSED & C&L

This half term our topic will be 'All about Me.' 

We will be sharing our likes and dislikes and will also spend lots of times learning about our similarities and differences whilst talking about our families. We will develop our speaking and listening skills through play and during circle time, our circle time focus will be: speaking in full sentences. 

We have developed our Code Of Conduct (Our set of class rules)

Phonics 

To start the term we will spend some time focusing on environmental sounds and using sentences to discuss 'I can hear' As we introduce our Song of Sounds scheme we will 

 begin to learn phonemes (letter sounds). By the end of term we hope to have learnt how to read, say and write the letters /s/a/t/p/i/n/m/d/g/o.

We will be also be learning how to spot the phonemes in words and how to use sound buttons to blend the sounds together to form words. 

be learning different strategies to support to read words (blending and segmenting words). 

Song Of Sounds

Reading 

Reading is promoted through application of phonics. We are also promoting reading for pleasure through our reading corner. Each week we have the opportunity to explore a core book to develop the children's vocabulary and imagination.  We send home reading books and reading records so you can enjoy reading together at home. Each child will also to read to an adult at least twice a week in school. This year we have also invested in the Big Cat Collins reading scheme to support further reading at home. Please use this valuable resource - which provides excellent information for parents and serves to consolidate our children's phonic application skills. 

Please write a quick comment in your child's reading record each time your child reads to you. You can also use the #readingrecord to add a not on Tapestry about your child's reading progress.  

Writing

The children will be learning how to form letters as part of their Phonics lessons. They will also practise writing their names each day- it would be helpful if this could be continued at home using the name cards we have provided to each child. 

There will always be free access to pens and paper throughout our setting and children will be encouraged to make marks, draw and write throughout the day. We will also have dedicated fine motor activities to help develop the muscles needed to write such as exploring playdough, pincers and small resources. 

Maths

At Silver End Academy we follow the White Rose scheme of work. This half term we will be learning about the different ways that we can make numbers 1-5. We will also begin to look at which groups (to 5) have more, less or the same. The children will have the opportunity to practise counting using 1 to 1 correspondence, will learn how to subitise and also have the opportunity to recognise patterns in numbers when counting forward and backward.

Understanding of the World 

We will be learning about seasonal changes, especially those that take place between Summer and Autumn.

We will also be thinking about past and present; how have we changed since we were babies? What can we do now that we couldn't do then? 

As we get to know know each other the children will also be encouraged to talk about their family and homes. 

Physical Development 

The children are taught PE by a dedicated Sports Coach. Our PE sessions are held every Friday morning. Please ensure that your child brings in their PE kit into school at the beginning of the first week back. 

We also have a range of fine motor activities in the classroom and the children are encouraged to use gross motor movements whilst playing outside in the garden.