Wheatfield Primary School

About Reception:

In Reception our teachers are Mrs Midlane (Class RM) and Mrs Bendall (Class RB). Our teaching assistants are Mrs Goldstone and Mrs Binding.

Term 4 Learning

PSED

At Wheatfield Primary we follow a scheme called Jigsaw. We use the focus for each unit as an overarching ‘theme’ for each term, linking this to our other learning, as we really value the importance of PSED in your child’s development.

The theme for Term 4 is ‘Healthy Me!”
We will be focusing on…

• Keeping fit and healthy through the importance of exercise
• What are healthy foods
• Trying new foods
• Having a balanced diet
• Importance of sleep
• Personal hygiene – washing hands, brushing teeth etc.
• Staying safe and looking after ourselves

Each day, when children demonstrate going 'above and beyond' by representing our school values, they can be 'In the Spotlight' on our class display. If they reach this, they will be given a special sticker. When they come home with this sticker, make sure to ask them why. 

We are also encouraging children to talk about what they have been learning during their 'Adventure' time. If you see them with a sticker about sharing their learning, ask them what they learnt today.

Writing

During Term 4 we will be developing our handwriting and will practise every day. Our books this term will support our writing focus. We will also be exploring ‘Drawing Club’. This is where we use our imagination to create pictures linked to a book we are sharing in class. We are also beginning to use Write Stuff where we are gathering word banks to increase our range of vocabulary. We will also be covering these skills:

• Learning to hold a pencil effectively
• Forming letters correctly in our cursive handwriting style
• Writing CVC words, labels and captions
• Learn to write short simple sentences

Reading and Phonics

We will be looking at books linked to our PSED overarching 'big questions'. We will also be enjoying our 'Fab 5' books. Each term we have five books that we read the same day each week. On Monday we will read Lunchtime, Tuesday is Pass the Jam, Jim! Wednesday is Grumpy Frog, Thursday is You Choose and Friday is The Three Billy Goats Gruff. 

Through whole class book talk sessions, we focus on listening to stories, asking and answering questions and orally rehearsing to develop our vocabulary.

We will continue to have daily phonic sessions. We have now finished learning all our Phase 3 phonemes so we will now be recapping what we have previously learned and consolidating this through our writing. We will continue to update you through Tapestry about which phonemes we are learning and ways you can support at home. 

Please write in your child's reading record book and ensure it is in your child's book bag each day, so we can see the reading you and your child have done at home. Every day they read at home, it counts towards a read in our whole school 'Reading Bug' challenge. When they reach a multiple of 50 reads, they will go to see Mrs Carver and choose their own book that they can keep at home. We will begin to send phonetically decodable books home for your child to read as and when they are ready.

Children will choose a book from the school library during our PPA sessions on a Thursday. When they return their book the following week, they can swap it for a new one. This is a book for you to share with your child together, not one you should except them to be able to read on their own.

You can also practise their word list and put this in the yellow box in the morning for us to check in school. We will then send home a new word list.

Supporting reading at home... 

• Share their school library book which will be changed on Thursday's 
• Read their word list
• When they have received their reading book, it should be read at least 5 times before we change for a new one.
• Work towards achieving 'reads' on our whole school ‘Catch the Reading Bug’ challenge. For every 50 reads your child will get to choose a brand new book to keep from Mrs Carver!

Maths

In Term 4 our maths learning, we will be covering the objectives of:

• Recognising and developing a concrete understanding of numbers to 10 – counting, comparing, ordering, subitise and combining groups
• Recapping Number bonds to 5 (ways to make 5 through addition)
• Mass - height and weight
• Finding 1 more and 1 less practically and mentally
• Simple addition - finding ways to make numbers 1-10.
• Recognising and naming 3D shapes
• Understand and create more complex patterns

Your child will receive the ‘Math Planet Silver Rings 1’ booklet, which will have guidance on ways to support further at home. After the February half term break, they will receive their ‘Maths Planet Silver Rings 2’ booklet. We were amazed with how many children achieved their Bronze Rings 1 and 2 certificates and badges for the Autumn term! To achieve certificates and gain badges children must start from Bronze Rings 1-please see a member of staff if you need new booklets. There is still plenty of time to catch up.

Bronze 1 (Term 1 booklet) found here = Certificate will be awarded at the end of term 

Bronze 2 (Term 2 booklet) found here = Bronze Badge will be awarded at the end of the term

Silver 1 (Term 3 booklet) found here = Certificate will be awarded at the end of term

Silver 2 (Term 4 booklet) found here = Silver Badge will be awarded at the end of term

Gold 1 (Term 5 booklet) found here = Certificate will be awarded at the end of term

Gold 2 (Term 6 booklet) found here = Certificate and badge will be awarded at the end of term  

Term 4 Wider Curriculum

 Throughout our entire curriculum for EYFS, we always centre the needs of the children as well as their interests as the focus of our learning for our wider curriculum.

At Wheatfield Primary School we are very fortunate to have such fantastic outdoor spaces including our amazing onsite forest ‘The Wild Wood’. We will be spending a Friday morning in our Wild Wood for our outdoor learning session. During this time, we think about and explore our four seasons and use our school grounds in all weathers, so it is essential your child has a waterproof coat and wellies in school every day. 

We will also be exploring…

• Seasonal changes and the weather
• Nature Weaving
• Making animal shelters
• Bird feeders
• Bird watching

Across Term 4 we will also be exploring...

• Our 5 senses
• Looking after our bodies, including self-care
• Seasonal changes and the weather
• Floating and sinking
• Fruit Tasting

During Term 4, the children will be developing their confidence in self selecting the classroom resources for their own learning. This may include junk modelling and using craft materials - using their imaginations to create and design their own creations. The children will be exploring the work of Alma Thomas during their art sessions. 

We also learn many rhymes and songs from Poetry Basket Spring Booklet, as well as enjoying the many songs on the BBC Teach website. (Nursery Rhymes and Songs - A to Z - BBC Teach)

During Term 4 we will be thinking about how things have changed. We will talk about how we have changed since we were babies. We will share family and baby photographs. We will think about where we live and how is has changed in Bradley Stoke. We will think about how toys have changed too and compare our own teddy bears to the very first teddy bear ever created!

In PE we will be focusing on improving our movement and how we can move in different ways with increasing control. We will be beginning to put this to music and thinking about how the movement changes to different pieces of music. 

In music this term we will be starting our new music curriculum Kapow! We will be exploring different how we can use actions to help us learn songs and learning new Makaton signs. 

As always, we have overarching themes of the term but we also adapt our learning based on the children's current interests to keep the children engaged and learning purposeful to them.