Autumn Term in Reception Class
To begin our learning journey, we will be learning about ourselves and what makes each of us special and unique.
We will share our experiences, talk about our families and interests and spend lots of time playing and learning together. We will read The Colour Monster Starts School to help us understand the different feelings and emotions we might experience as we start school. We will also enjoy Elmer, which will help us celebrate the fact that we are all unique, special and valued.
In RE, the children will begin to recognise the wonderful world around them. We will hear a small part of the Creation story from Genesis and learn that everything God made is “very good.”
We will think about our place in God's wonderful world and understand that we are each loved and special. We will also explore how we can care for our world and look after our friendships with others.
The children will learn about the Christian sign of the cross and begin to understand prayer as a way of offering thanks to God.
Our phonics journey will begin within the first few weeks of term. We follow the Sounds-Write programme, and in Reception we begin with the Initial Code.
By the end of the Autumn Term, we aim to have worked through Units 1–7, developing the children's confidence in reading and writing CVC words using the sounds we have learned.
The children will learn the sounds:
a, i, m, s, t, n, o, p, b, c, g, h, d, e, f, v, k, l, r, u, j, w, z, x, y, ff, ll, ss and zz.
We will also begin learning to read and write our own names.
We look forward to seeing the children's confidence grow as they begin to discover the joy of reading and writing.
We follow the Winning With Numbers and White Rose Maths curriculums to support our teaching of mathematics.
We will begin the term by learning to match, sort and compare. We will then explore shape, measure and pattern before moving on to numbers to 7.
As we develop our understanding of number, the children will learn to subitise, double, add and subtract within this range.
We will make our mathematics practical and fun, using play and everyday experiences to help children develop a strong foundation for their mathematical understanding.
Autumn provides us with so many wonderful opportunities to explore and investigate the world around us.
We will learn about our local environment and seasonal changes, noticing how the world changes as summer comes to an end and Autumn begins.
We will take a trip to our local park, where we will become Autumn explorers, searching for signs of the changing season. We will look at the colours, leaves, plants, trees and wildlife around us.
As the term progresses, we will learn about hibernation and explore some of the different animals that hibernate, with a particular focus on hedgehogs.
We will also find out about farmers and their crops, learning about the important work that farmers do.
The children will discover what harvesting means, why it is important and why crops are harvested at particular times of the year. We will also learn about Harvest Festivals and explore why and how people celebrate harvest time.
This will provide lots of opportunities for the children to develop their understanding of where food comes from and how people work together to care for and provide for others.
We are incredibly excited about everything the Autumn Term has in store. Most importantly, we want our children to feel happy, safe, valued and excited to come to school each day.
We look forward to watching them grow in confidence, develop new friendships, discover their interests and become enthusiastic, independent learners.
Here’s to a fantastic first term in Reception!
Tips on how to support your child's learning at home during the Autumn Term
- Look at family photos together, drawing attention to the people and the places in the photos.
- Talk about things that you have done or are going to do together as a family.
- Develop and reinforce good hygiene practices such as washing hands and brushing teeth.
- Develop good bedtime routines.
- Draw children’s attention to seasonal changes you notice when outside. Talk about the leaves changing colour and falling to the ground, search for autumnal items together.
- Read a story daily with your child, talking lots about the illustrations and characters. Can you predict what might happen next in the story?
- Access the free Sounds Write Training for parents available at - https://sounds-write.co.uk/support-for-parents-and-carers/ to help your child learn to read and write.
- Help your child to complete their phonics homework each week.
- When reading books are issued later this term, read with your child at least 3x per week, to support them with their reading journey.
- Return reading books to school each day so that they are available for your child to read in school with a member of staff.
- Help your child to learn to write their name by practicing this with them.
- Play with playdough to help develop fine motor skills. This will help with their pencil grip when writing.
- Sing number rhymes together.
- Talk about shapes and patterns you notice in the world around you.
- Bake together, reading recipes and measuring out ingredients.