Our unit of work this term is ‘How things move?’

Reception have made a fantastic start to the Spring Term and the children have settled in very well. 

Reception Class Teacher - Miss Walters and Learning Support Officer - Mrs Strachan

Reception Class Teacher - Miss Hughes and Learning Support Officer - Mrs Steptoe

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  'I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato' and 'The Extraordinary Gardener'. 

This term will have a larger focus on reading and writing skills. Children will be expected to read and write simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) and tricky words that can not be sounded out. Children have also begun to read their individual reading books or practice their sounds and words with an adult weekly at home; the beginning of an exciting reading journey! The children will begin to focus on forming letters that are consistently sized and correctly orientated. Children are also learning to write initial sounds, CVC words and then use their phonic and word knowledge to write extended phrases.   

Children will continue using incidental Welsh through our daily activities and Helpwr Heddiw sessions.  Children will be encouraged to respond and ask questions through stories, songs and rhymes.  Children will also celebrate Saint David's Day by participating in 'Welsh Week' and take  part in Welsh based activities and celebrate the Eisteddfod and St. David's Day.

During mathematics, children will continue to deepen their understanding of number concepts. They will begin to read, write, compare and order numbers to 20.  We will begin to use ten frames in our counting and encouraging the children to visualise what they can see and what is missing. We will also be using dice, counters and number blocks. We will continue to explore different mathematical concepts through stories, songs and rhymes. They will explore numbers and concepts through day to day activities and play. This term we will continue to think about addition and subtraction, thinking about adding and subtracting 1 from numbers to 10 using a variety of equipment. We will use 'Numicon', loose parts, pegs and ten frames.

Children will listen to and continue to use and respond to mathematical language and key vocabulary. We will continue to use sentence stems and a variety of mathematical language e.g. '.... is bigger than', '.... is smaller than', '..... is fewer than', '.....larger than'.  We will explore non standard measures including size, height, length, distance. 

Children will continue to explore 'Numicon' shapes and investigate these in their play and structured activities. They will recognise and name 2D and 3D shapes in their environment and play with shapes by making models and pictures.

This term, our unit of work is ‘How things move?’

This unit of work will enable pupils to explore the movement of living and non-living things. Building on the work within nursery, pupils will explore the characteristics of living and non-living things and understand that movement is a vital part of this. Pupils will understand how their body moves and the impact of movement on their physical and mental health. Teaching will focus on the Physical Literacy strand in the Health and Wellbeing Framework. Alongside discovering how living things move, pupils can explore non-living things and how forces work to create push, pull, floating and sinking. By the end of the term, we will design and build an object that moves using the knowledge we have learned throughout this unit.

Oldcastle Primary School are fortunate to have adopted ‘Thrive’ a therapeutic approach to help support children with their emotional and social development. Children will take part in group activities and children may begin to take part in Thrive and well-being sessions with Mrs Diehl. 

The school values over the term are Community and Service, Cooperation and being a good citizen, and Learning and Effort. We will explore these values through our daily thoughts as well as school assemblies. 

• Please ensure children’s water bottles have water in them and not squash.  Bottles need to be clearly labelled with their names. 

• PE will continue to be on a Thursday afternoon and children will need to wear their PE kit to school on their PE day. 

• Please ensure all clothing is clearly labelled, including gloves, hats and scarves as children continue to bring these in during the colder weather. 

• We have a fruit snack in the afternoon, so if you wish your child to have a fruit snack, please send in a small tub, with fruit cut up and prepared. Please do not send in whole grapes.

• 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.  

• Please ensure that you keep us informed of any updated allergies and medical information. 

• Any questions please feel free to speak to staff in the mornings or afternoons, alternatively,  email the school ask account - ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk

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.