Welcome to Term 5 in Year R

We hope you have had an enjoyable and relaxing break!

 

This term we will be…

This term’s topic is ‘Traditional Tales’ – a wonderful opportunity for the children to explore stories, characters and settings that have been shared across generations. As part of our learning, we will also be thinking about castles and older buildings. We hope to inspire retelling, role‑play, and creative writing. In the classroom, your child will be supported by Miss Harding, our full-time teacher, and Mrs Walls, our dedicated Teaching Assistant. On Tuesday mornings, we welcome Mr Cross from PH ActiveEd, who will lead the children in engaging PE sessions. A second PE session will take place on Wednesdays, taught by Miss Harding.

 

Home Learning in Year R

Home learning will be set on Tapestry each week. Children will receive a reading book to enjoy for the week, along with a ‘word of the week’ to investigate and either a phonic or number activity. Home learning will be set on Thursdays and should be handed in the following Wednesday. There is no need to return paper copies as photographs of your child’s home learning can be uploaded directly to Tapestry. If you are unable to access Tapestry, please let us know so that we can provide your child with a paper copy.

 

Phonics – early reading and writing

This term, we begin Phase 4 Phonics. In this phase, the focus is on blending words that contain adjacent consonants (for example, the fr in frog) as well as longer, polysyllabic words (e.g. lunchbox). We will continue to use Unlocking Letters and Sounds to guide our phonics teaching, with a new adjacent consonant being introduced or revisited on most days. Reading books will be changed every Monday, but we ask that children bring their book to school each day so we can enjoy hearing them read throughout the week. Please remember to sign the reading record whenever you read together at home. With regards to writing, children continue to build fine motor skills through fun activities like threading, drawing and cutting. We are working towards writing simple sentences that can be read by others, remembering to use finger spaces, full stops, and capital letters. Our handwriting sessions support the correct formation of letters. We will also continue with our morning activity, where children write a caption for a picture displayed on the board.

 

Maths

This term, we will continue exploring our numbers to ten, building a deep understanding of how each number is made and the different ways it can be represented. We will place particular focus on number bonds to 10, helping children learn which pairs of numbers make ten with increasing confidence and fluency. The children will continue using part–part–whole models and tens frames to see how numbers can be broken apart and put back together, supporting early addition and subtraction in a practical, meaningful way. We will also introduce the children to odd and even numbers, using concrete resources to identify pair-wise patterns. Families can support at home by counting everything, everywhere! Spot numbers on walks, in books, during play, and on household objects. Try to talk about numbers during everyday routines – how many eggs are left, how many socks make a pair, or how many buttons are on a coat. You may even spot number bonds whilst out and about!

 

Snack / Lunch / Water Bottles

Please ensure your child brings a named bottle to school every day, filled with water. The children are allowed to fill their water bottles up during the day if they run out. Please ensure water bottles are taken home regularly and washed. Every day at 10am, children are offered a fruit or vegetable for snack time. Since we don’t always know in advance what will be delivered, some children choose to bring their own fruit or vegetable to school with them. At lunch time, the children eat in the school hall. Please ensure your child is either registered for school meals or provided with a well-balanced and healthy lunch box.

 

Timetable of things to remember!

Day	I need to remember...
Monday	Wear school uniform
Tuesday	Wear PE uniform
Wednesday	Wear PE uniform Home Learning handed in
Thursday	Wear school uniform Home Learning given out
Friday	Wear school uniform

 

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the school office to arrange to speak with Miss Harding.

Kind regards, 

The Year R Team