Welcome to the Summer term in Reception!

Reception Class Teacher - Mrs Brotherton and Miss Mullins  Learning Support Officer - Mrs Sally Harris

Reception Class Teacher - Mrs Parker and Learning Support Officer - Mr Levy

Our whole school overarching theme is Making Connections and our year group unit title this term is Toys Through Time.  Reception's unit of work will introduce the topic of toys, and their purpose, enabling pupils to explore the history of toys in an age-appropriate way. Pupils will develop basic chronological awareness, and foster a curiosity about materials and how toys are made.  Pupils will be encouraged to follow instructions, promoting positive interaction and play. 

• May - Co-operation and being a good citizen within society

• June - Showing Gratitude, Care and Generosity

• July - Taking and managing risks

This term, we will continue to follow our new Literacy curriculum, which is a book-based approach utilising high-quality texts to foster a love of stories. The stories we will be focusing on are 'The Magic Paintbrush' and 'Where the Wild Things Are'. 

The children will begin by imagining what they would create if they had a wondrous paintbrush of their own. Then, through the traditional tale of Shen and her enchanted brush, they’ll explore themes of kindness and bravery as Shen uses her gift for good, even standing up to a greedy Emperor and his fearsome dragon. Building on the story, the children will design their very own dragon-like monsters—using our “Mix and Match Monsters” play activity—and label their creations with descriptive drawings. Finally, they’ll write and illustrate an original narrative by choosing new magical items for their hero to paint and inventing a personal monster for their character to overcome. This story helps to develop early writing and drawing skills but also nurtures creativity, vocabulary, and an understanding of story structure.

Our second book aims to intrigue the children as they will find mysterious footprints and a tuft of fur—who (or what!) could have been in our classroom? Their curiosity will lead them to discover Sam’s Sack, filled with objects that all begin with the letter ‘S’. The beloved story Where the Wild Things Are, aims to inspire a range of imaginative activities. Through songs, role-play, and a fun "Monster Meet and Greet," the children will create their very own Wild Thing characters and even began crafting their own versions of the story. 

This term, the children will continue to take part in focused phonics sessions designed to build their phonological awareness. By tuning in to the sounds in words—identifying initial, medial, and final sounds—they will strengthen the foundational skills that support both reading fluency and accurate spelling. 

This term the children will be covering a range of mathematical concepts, some of which will be building on their experiences from previous terms. 

Children will be counting to 50, and matching amounts to numerals. Children will explore different ways to make the same number, e.g. 4 + 4 = 8, 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8. We will provide the children with various objects to explore making different sets. We will continue to use tens frames and use our eyes to subitise.  Subitising is the ability to recognise the number of objects or images without counting them 

Children will be using their addition and subtraction skills to add and take away from a given number. They will be able to identify which numbers are larger and which are smaller, using the vocabulary of fewer, smaller, larger, greater, etc.

Children will be exploring weight and capacity, using relevant vocabulary and be able to order 3 objects by weight. 

We will begin counting in 2s and 10s and provide practical situations to practise these skills.

Reception's PE day is Wednesday and Enrichment Sessions will be on a Friday. Children should attend school in the agreed P.E. kit on these days. 

Children will take part in Thrive group activities in class to help support them with their emotional and social development.  We will continue to make use of our garden area to develop our outdoor experiences . The children will continue to incorporate the school token reward system into their daily routines. 

School values over the term are co-operation and showing gratitude, care and generosity. All of these values will be covered throughout lessons, with a whole school focus during school assemblies. 

Our new concept of learning, Toys Through Time, invites children to explore how toys have changed over the years, sparking curiosity about history, materials, and the joy of play across generations.

This term, the children will be introduced to the fascinating world of toys and their purpose. They will explore the history of toys in an age-appropriate way, helping them begin to understand the difference between "old toys" and "new toys" and develop basic chronological awareness. We will revisit timelines to see what they show us about how different toys were received over time. 

Through hands-on activities, the children will be encouraged to ask questions about the materials toys are made from and how they are constructed. We will discuss different types of materials, like wood, plastic, or metal, and talking about how they feel and why they might be used.

The children will also have the opportunity to follow instructions to create their own simple toys, promoting creativity and fine motor skills. Most importantly, this concept will support positive interaction and play, helping to build social skills and cooperation.

Each child will have a designated reading day. Please ensure reading books are bought in on these days. 

Please ensure children come to school with a clearly labelled water bottle. 

Please remember weather-appropriate clothing; we aim to go outside each day; therefore coats are essential if forecasted wet weather. 

Please ensure all clothing is clearly labelled, including sun hats. Now the weather is getting warmer, please ensure your child has suncream applied before arriving to school. Children may also bring in clearly labelled suncream in their bags if they wish to re-apply later in the day. 

We do have some children in school with a nut allergy, we aim to be a nut free school so please do not send in sandwiches or snacks that contain peanut products. 

Don't forget to download our School App via the Play or App stores - The School App will provide you with up to date information about activities and events at Oldcastle Primary School.  

Please look out for our weekly newsletter issued via The School App and available on our website on a Friday afternoon.  The newsletter contains all forthcoming diary dates for the school.