Ireland Wood Primary School
Immerse, Inspire, Include
Pupils » Reception » Autumn
Useful Documents
We hope you had a wonderful summer and are feeling refreshed and ready for the new school year.
If you have any questions or would like more information about your child's transition into school, please don’t hesitate to contact the Reception Team at: info@irelandwood.leeds.sch.uk.
In the coming weeks, your child will spend time settling in and getting to know their class teacher. During this period, they will also complete the Reception Baseline Assessment — a short, practical, and engaging activity that helps us understand each child’s starting point and track their progress through to Year 6. If you have any questions about the assessment, please speak to your child’s class teacher.
This half term’s topic is:
Marvellous Me!
We’re excited to explore what makes each of us unique and special!
Communication & Language
Communication & Language
We will be offering a wealth of opportunities where the children will need to speak, pay attention, listen and understand. They will listen during carpet inputs, listen to stories, interact with adults and other children and follow simple instructions.
Physical Development
We will be developing our co-ordination and movement by playing different games during our PE lessons and in the outside area. We will also improve our fine motor skills with the use of small equipment and play dough. We will ensure all children can wash and dry their hands thoroughly and we will be encouraging children to attend to their own toileting needs.
Personal, Emotional and Social Development
PSED is continually taught throughout each school day. We will support your child to make friends and learn to get on with others, understand and talk about their feelings, learn about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, develop independence and ultimately feel good about themselves.
Literacy
We will be starting our reading and writing journey! The children will be beginning to learn their phonics with our programme called Read Write Inc. They will be introduced to a new sound each day. Daily sheets will be sent home for your child to practice forming the sound learnt.
We will be teaching your child how to correctly form letters and how to write their name. A love for books will be fostered and Story time will be a feature every day!
Maths
In Maths, we will be practising our counting and number recognition. We will ensure that we have an understanding of number to 5 including the composition of each number. We will also explore patterns with numbers to 5. We will be playing with and investigating shapes and encouraging the children to talk about them. We will be teaching them the names of 2D shapes.
Understanding the World
We will begin our learning for ‘Understanding the World’ by exploring the similarities and differences between all children in the class. We will discuss different cultures and share our own experiences.
As we move into Autumn we will be looking at our how our world around us changes.
Expressive Arts & Design
We will be exploring a variety of materials, tools and techniques and experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function. The children will be drawing self-portraits and pictures of their family. We will celebrate these by displaying them in our classrooms
At Ireland Wood Primary School, we follow the Read Write Inc literacy programme, to ensure every child is a successful reader. Phonics lessons are taught on a daily basis and are both fun and multi-sensory, to appeal to the different learning styles of our children. Please follow our progress in Reception, as we begin our learning journey.
These are the Set 1 Speed Sounds written with one letter:
m a s d t i n p g o c k u b f e l h r j v y w z x.
These are the sounds written with two letters (your child will call these 'Special Friends') :
sh th ch qu ng nk ck.
You can help your child practise the Speed Sounds they have learnt by using the practice sheets in their Family Fun books.
Please watch the following video to support your child when learning Set 1 Sounds
Sounds Pronunciation Guide
Developing your child’s Fine and Gross Motor Skills
Developing your child’s gross motor skills and large muscle development plays a vital part in your child learning to write. A child needs strength in their arms, shoulders and wrists before they can begin to be able to hold a pencil and make marks. Mark making is one of the first stages of a child learning to write and is the main focus for us when your child first starts Reception. We encourage the children to make small and large marks with different types of media such as with pens, paintbrushes, giant chalks, paint , playdough and mud.
Dough Disco is a high tempo, high energy session with play dough. Designed to encourage maximum participation the sessions are created for all levels of ability. Children develop fine motor muscles by manipulating the dough in a variety of ways, which in turn helps to improve their mark making and writing. If you wanted to have a go at home, there are some videos on you tube you can try, or simply put on your favourite music and dough dance away!
Here are some of the Dough Disco moves;
- Squeeze (small portions for smaller hands);
- Pat;
- Poke – using all your fingers one at a time;
- Squash into a pancake;
- Tear;
- Twist;
- Roll into a ball;
- Roll into a sausage;
- Pinch;
- Use tools to make patterns – these can include household tools such as plastic forks, potato mashers, cookie cutters etc.
This is the way Song