Otters & Robins (Reception)

Reception – Autumn 2024 Curriculum Overview

After an initial settling in period for the children, our topics this term will be ‘Families and Friends’ in the first half term and ‘Seasons and Celebrations’ in the second.

In the first half-term, children will be thinking about themselves and how they are similar and different to others around them before exploring their own families, homes, and friendships. As part of this, the children will tour the school, identify important places, and meet the adults at Roman Way. Using books to support their learning, Reception will learn about friendships and how to be a good friend to others.  After half-term, our topic will become ‘Seasons and Celebrations’, where we look at the seasonal changes and celebrations such as Diwali and Christmas. 

Alongside adult-led teaching and small group tasks, the children will take part in two sessions during the day when they can choose the areas they want to explore. They will have access to a variety of provision and resources which will be changed regularly to reflect our learning and the children’s interests. There are multiple areas including arts and craft, writing, a home corner, maths and puzzles, sand and water, sensory play and construction. Adults are present to support the children in their play and learning. 

Subject

Teaching and Learning

Parental Involvement

Physical Development

To practise fine motor skills.

To use simple tools to effect changes to materials, i.e., playdough / junk modelling.

To start to hold a pencil correctly.

To strengthen our bodies using playground equipment .

To experiment with different ways of moving safely in PE lessons.

Build hand and arm strength through playdough, digging, drawing on vertical surfaces, chalking on the pavement etc.

Practise cutting with scissors.

Help children to become more confident in getting dressed including being able to put on their coat and shoes independently.

Communication and Language

To learn how to sit, listen and focus during a short activity.

To make sure they are ready to learn and able to follow instructions.

To listen to their friends and respond to their ideas in conversation.

To learn and use new vocabulary in their play and learning.

To engage in story times and articulate their ideas in well-formed sentences.

Engage in conversations with your children about things you are doing or what you notice, making sure to ask them questions which they can respond to. You could use our emailed ‘weekly update’ as a prompt for your conversations about what they have learnt at school.

Read stories together and talk about the events, the characters and what could happen next, encouraging them to listen and focus.

Encourage children to sit with you on the floor or at a table completing activities together such as crafts, puzzles or games.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

We follow the Kapow PHSE scheme and will be teaching the following units:

My feelings

To explore and understand their feelings.

To identify when they may be feeling something.

To begin learning how to communicate and cope with their feelings and emotions.

Building Relationships

To explore why families and special people are valuable.

To understand why it is important to share and develop strategies for doing so.

To learn to see themselves as valuable individuals and to explore diversity through thinking about similarities and differences.

When your child is upset, you can use this script to support them: “I can see that something has happened. I am here to help. Tell me and I will listen.”

Show children how to use strategies to help them regulate their emotions i.e., deep breaths, finding a calm space, drawing a picture, bouncing balls, pushing against walls etc.

Celebrate when they have been kind, gentle, inclusive and accepting of others.

Maths

To be able to count 1:1 up to 10 with increased accuracy.

To be able to sort objects based on a common feature (e.g. colour, shape etc).

To make comparisons between objects, such as size, length.

To quickly recognise up to 3 objects without counting them.

To explore number composition to 5.

To link numerals and amounts.

To create simple repeating patterns.

Encourage your child to spot numbers or shapes in the environment.

Count objects around the house such as toys, birds in the garden, buttons on a top etc.

Literacy including phonics

To practise using a tripod grip and use of a dominant hand.

To take part in lots of mark making opportunities.

To learn the correct formation of letters.

To know that phonemes are represented by graphemes.

To identify and write initial sounds.

To write their name with increased accuracy.

To begin to verbalise ideas in well-structured sentences.

To retell stories in reading/ writing area.

To sequence a story .

To segment and write CVC words.

To write Phase 2 tricky words.

Please listen to your child read at least 4 times per week. Children who read regularly at home make the most progress, not just in reading, but right across the curriculum. Please ask if us if you need any support, we are happy to help.

Use the Little Wandle website to access resources and videos to help you pronounce the phonemes (sounds) we are learning:

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Provide your children with pens, chalk, pencils to encourage mark making.

Help children to practice writing letters with the correct formation. Please refer to the letter formation videos on our website.

Understanding the World

To talk about members of their family and community.

To explore the world around them, including their homes, the school and grounds.

To use prepositional language and explore routes.

To recognise that people have different beliefs and celebrate special times in different ways.

To explore the changing seasons, weather changes and longer nights in Autumn.

To ask questions and make observations.

To investigate contrasting environments/animals around the world.

To explore harvest time in the UK and farming at harvest time.

Discuss your family and their names with the children.

Talk about families being different for everyone.

Talk about the route you take to school and notice the places you walk past.

Notice seasonal changes outside i.e., “I can see the leaves are changing colour because it is autumn time.” “We need to wear our jumper now because the weather is getting colder”.

Expressive Arts and Design

To remember and sing entire songs.

To make imaginative and complex ‘small worlds’.

To develop storylines in their pretend play.

To join different materials and explore different textures.

To draw with increasing complexity and detail, such as representing a face with a circle and including details.

To explore junk modelling.

Sing nursery rhymes and songs together.

Provide opportunities for children to draw, paint and make using different materials where possible.

Encourage children to create imaginative worlds and stories in their play using figurines, teddies etc.