Teacher: Miss James

Hello, my name is Miss James and I am the class teacher in Reception. Mrs Wilkinson works with me in Reception every day and she is fantastic! Our initial aim is to welcome the children into school by creating a fun, safe and stimulating environment which initially involves lots of creative play based learning both indoors and outside. We spend a lot of time getting to know the children and endeavour to build good relationships with each and every one of them.

A little bit about how we learn in Reception:

 Throughout the Reception school year we like to have lots of fun and really enjoy our learning, therefore your child will enjoy an active and rich curriculum. Topics this year include Nursery rhymes and Traditional tales, Travel and Transport, Dinosaurs, Living things, Space and Sea creatures.

In Reception we aim to build the foundations and prepare children for the rest of their time at Scissett CE Academy and beyond. Our main focuses for this school year is to develop high quality phonics and being able to read is the most important skill children will learn. In achieving this we will send home key words and a reading book along with a reading record diary for you to comment in about your child's progress enabling us to continue the learning journey together.

Within the ‘Foundation Curriculum’ there are seven areas of learning these are;

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development (the child’s ability to self -regulate and work, play and co-operate with others)
• Communication and Language (listening, speaking, early reading and early writing skills),
• Literacy (early reading and early writing skills)
• Mathematical Development (the understanding of number, numerical patterns, calculating, shape, space, measures and mathematical language)
• Understanding the World (past and present, people, cultures and communities, the natural world)
• Physical Development (gross and fine motor skills)
• Expressive Arts and Design (creating with materials, being imaginative and expressive).

On-going assessment in these areas through observation and set activities, ensure we are meeting and extending the learning opportunities for your child.

Learning links:

 Here are some website links to help with your child’s phonics and maths skills.

 Jolly Phonics Songs

We use this to help the children learn songs that act as memory aids to help them recall letter sounds for reading and writing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCjJYB07aSU

 Phoneme Pop!

A brilliant and motivating way to embed the letter sounds that we are learning.

http://www.ictgames.com/phonemePopLS_v2.html

Phonics Play-interactive games

This site is split in to the different phases that we teach the children as they learn to read. You will know where your child is up to from the words they are sent home with.

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/index.htm

Ceebeebies Alphablocks

We are using the alphablocks to help the children learn letter sounds and to understand how to read and spell words using letter sounds.

http://play.bbc.co.uk/play/pen/gt64l93rr9

Phonics Play - Pick a picture

Use the phase 2 sets 1-5 option to allow the children to practice reading tricky words.

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/PictureMatch.html

100 Splat Square

The children love counting on this number square.

http://resources.oswego.org/games/SplatSquares/splatsq100.html

Top marks maths games

Interactive games to help children count and recognise numbers

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/3-5-years/counting