Reception 2019 - 2020

Mrs Wheatcroft

Home Learning

The children typically have three whole class teaching sessions each day. Phonics every morning plus, usually, a literacy and maths session. Also songs or rhymes before lunch and story time at the end of every day. The rest of the day is spent with children selecting their own activities during 'busy time' and sometimes working in a small group for an adult led activity and also in a small group for an adult planned daily carousel activity. The 'busy time' activities include construction, sand, water, drawing, colouring, cutting, sticking, role play, painting, playdough, puzzles, mud kitchen, small world play (dinosaurs, animals, people, fire engine, cars and garage, knights and castle etc) and block play. We do not expect you to recreate a Reception classroom at home but many of these are activities which your children can engage in while playing at home; with the emphasis on play!

The following is just a suggested timetable. Some families may want to use this structure, others may want to dip in and out of the suggested activities as and when suits you. We suggest you also take time to read together each day. Remember – little and often and keeping it fun is key. The literacy and maths activities should not take more than about 20 minutes at a time and some can be done in stages across the day/week.

Phonics Play is a website we use most days during our daily 20 minute phonics sessions. Phase 1 focuses on listening to sounds, rhyme and alliteration. Phases 2 and 3 have games to practice the phonemes (sounds) we have learned. Some are individual sounds, others are digraphs and trigraphs (2 or 3 letters joined together to make one sound). The website is offering free membership during this period of home learning. Mrs Wheatcroft's phonics group are currently working in Phase 4 and can focus on using the Phase 3 sounds for the caption writing activities. Mrs Ross's group are in Phase 3 and should focus on using the Phase 2 sounds when writing their captions.

You may want to log on to the Cosmic Yoga website. There are lots of sessions to choose from and each one tells a story. Get the whole family involved!

In Literacy we have been looking at the story 'Gigantosaurus' by Jonny Duddle. It is also on TV on the Disney Junior channel/website and some episodes are on You Tube. We were about to talk about dinosaurs hatching from eggs (there is an episode on that). You may want to talk about/research other animals that hatch from eggs. (Chicks linked to Easter and spring was coming up next).

Playdough is a very popular activity in our classroom. It's easy to make and your child would be a great help. There are lots of recipes available. I use:

3 x mugs plain flour
1 x mug salt
2 x teaspoons cream of tartar
3 x tablespoons vegetable oil
3 x mugs hot water (I also add food colouring to the water)

Week 1	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri
Phonics	Have a look at the website Phonics Play. Your child can select a game to play each day from any of the Phases (up to Phase 3 or 4).	Have a look at the website Phonics Play. Your child can select a game to play each day from any of the Phases (up to Phase 3 or 4).	Have a look at the website Phonics Play. Your child can select a game to play each day from any of the Phases (up to Phase 3 or 4).	Have a look at the website Phonics Play. Your child can select a game to play each day from any of the Phases (up to Phase 3 or 4).	Have a look at the website Phonics Play. Your child can select a game to play each day from any of the Phases (up to Phase 3 or 4).
Literacy	Build a Lego model of something from a story and label it with post it notes/small pieces of paper.	Look at the contents page/index of a non-fiction book. Talk about how to find information. Encourage your child to find some fun facts about a subject s/he is interested in. You could make a poster to share with the family.	Use any of the ideas below to draw the picture and write the caption.	Select vocabulary from a story or non-fiction book that is new or interesting. Talk about what the word means and /or how it is used in the book. Use your new word in a sentence. Tell your family your new word.	Write letters around the edge of a paper plate/ circular piece of paper and cut between them. Go round the house or garden and fold down a letter when something beginning with that sound is spotted.
Maths	Collect 4/5 objects from around the house and/or garden and put them in order of length.	Play Bingo or a board game.	Collect 4/5 objects from around the house and/or garden and put them in order of height.	Watch an episode of Numberblocks. Talk about that number, have a go at writing it, find that number of objects, use that number to do addition or subtraction calculations.	Play a matching number game. Write some addition calculations on small pieces of paper and the answers on smaller pieces. Muddle them up, put them face down then turn 2 over and see if you can make a match.

Week 2	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri
Phonics	Have a look at the website Phonics Play. Your child can select a game to play each day from any of the Phases (up to Phase 3 or 4).	Have a look at the website Phonics Play. Your child can select a game to play each day from any of the Phases (up to Phase 3 or 4).	Have a look at the website Phonics Play. Your child can select a game to play each day from any of the Phases (up to Phase 3 or 4).	Have a look at the website Phonics Play. Your child can select a game to play each day from any of the Phases (up to Phase 3 or 4).	Have a look at the website Phonics Play. Your child can select a game to play each day from any of the Phases (up to Phase 3 or 4).
Literacy	Use any of the ideas below to draw the picture and write the caption.	Draw a simple ‘story map’ of the main events of a story and then retell the story from the ‘story map.’ Familiar/traditional stories are good for this, eg Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Gingerbread Man etc.	Draw an outline of one of the characters from a story you enjoy. Around the outside of the shape, write words describing what the character looks like. On the inside of the shape, write words describing how the character is feeling.	Draw a picture from the story and write a label/caption/simple sentence to go with it.	Use any of the ideas below to draw the picture and write the caption.
Maths	Watch an episode of Numberblocks. Talk about that number, have a go at writing it, find that number of objects.	Collect 4/5 objects from around the house and/or garden and put them in order of weight.	Play Bingo or a board game.	Watch an episode of Numberblocks. Talk about that number, have a go at writing it, find that number of objects.	Play a matching number game. Write some subtraction calculations on small pieces of paper and the answers on smaller pieces. Muddle them up, put them face down then turn 2 over and see if you can make a match.

The phonemes learned in Phase 2 are all the letters of the alphabet except for j,v,w,x,y,z and including ck.

Caption ideas for reading, writing and drawing in Phase 2 (Mrs Ross's group). Encourage your child to say each phoneme out loud and blend them together to say the word:

pat a cat, dad and nan, a rat in a hat, a nap in a bed, a sad dog, a man in a cap, a pin on a map, a tin can, mugs and cups, run in the sun, a hug and a kiss, a cat in a cot, a pot and a mop, a red rug, cats on a sack, get to the top, a kid in the mud, socks in a bag, run to the den, a hat on a peg, on top of the hill, to the top of the rock, get off the bus.

This is the set of phonemes and digraphs (and trigraphs, that is, three letters which join together to make one new sound – e.g. igh as in light, ear as in dear, air as in fair) in Phase 3: j v w x y z zz qu ch sh th ng ai ee igh oa oo ar or ur ow oi ear air ure er

You can use these words to make up captions/simple sentences for reading, drawing and writing in Phase 3 (Mrs Wheatcroft's group). Encourage your child to say each phoneme/digraph or trigraph out loud and blend them together to say the word:

jam Jill jet jog Jack, van vet, mix fix box six, will win wag web, yap yes yell yet, zip zigzag, quit quick quack, buzz jazz, chop chin, ship shop shed shell fish wish, them then that with, ring rang king sing hang, check shock, rain chain main, sheep deer meet, light might night fight, coat boat goat.