Mrs Halligan - Class Teacher

email: nicola.halligan@st-pauls.stockport.sch.uk

Mrs Wood- Teaching Assistant 

Ms Blair  - Management Cover Teacher

Mrs Cooper - PPA Cover Teacher

Mrs Babcock - Speech and Language Support

Mr Stevenson - PE Coach 

Welcome back!

This is our last term in Reception...how time flies!   We are looking forward to a fun last topic, 'Under the Sea'. We have a super 'Seaside Cafe' for our role-play, the children will be finding out about lots of sea creatures, reading and learning the story 'Rainbow Fish', creating their own under the sea worlds in a shoe box and working hard to develop further their reading, writing and number skills.  You can find out about all the learning taking place on the Knowledge Organiser which has been sent home but can also be found below.

Thank you parents and carers for all your support this year.  We know that it has not been an easy time, but your children have grown up and learnt so much, and shown fantastic resilience despite the challenges of Covid. Mrs Wood and I are extremely proud of them!

Well that's it for another half-term!  The children have had such a lovely time. They have worked very hard to improve their reading, writing and number skills and learnt lots about the world around them. 

We really enjoyed reading 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle and were saddened to hear that this fabulous author passed away this week.  I remember reading his stories when I was young too!

Please take time to look at some of the fabulous work the children have completed this term in our slideshow below. 

Thank you for your continuing support...it makes all the difference!  Many of you attended our virtual Parents' Evening  and the time you are giving to help with reading and letters and sounds as work at home is much appreciated. 

From Mrs Halligan and Mrs Wood

Welcome back to our Summer Term!    The children have settled in well and are working hard. We are really pleased with the progress they are making.   The Knowledge Organiser is attached below, outlining the learning children will be taking part in this term and the ways in which you can support at home.

Thank you all so much for the support you gave to your children during the Lockdown, we appreciate the challenges of home-school learning and thank you for the time you put in in these difficult times. 

Please do continue to work with your children at home, particularly with respect to hearing them read and practising their letters and sounds in the little purple books. Reading is the key to all future learning and progress. The more children read, the more fluent they will become.  Just a couple of pages each night will do, especially if your child is tired.  Focus on getting  your child to point to the letter sounds and crash them together. Look out for two letters making one sounds, e.g. th, sh, ng, ai, ee etc and for tricky words, these are not easily sounded out and best if children just learn by sight, e.g. no, to, go, the, he, she etc.

I am looking forward to talking with you all on Parents' Evening. Do make an appointment if you can.  I can talk to you virtually or by telephone if you prefer.

Mrs Halligan

World Book Day 4th March 2021

We have provided some links for you to enjoy a story about Mog the cat with your children.  There are also videos on how to make a Mog hand puppets and some lovely songs too.

Enjoy!

Mog and Bunny

https://vimeo.com/389457400/224426b48d 

Home Learning 

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all well and happy.  It really won't be long now till we are together again and Mrs Wood, Ms Blair and I are all so excited to see you.  The children who have been coming into school are excited too. We have been talking about how much we have missed you and thinking about the fun we will have when we are together again. 

In the meantime don't forget to keep up with learning at home.  There are some packs in school to collect, focusing on maths and phonics, and you still have your reading books to look at, which can be changed if you return them.  

Please scroll down the webpage and revise the maths games, phonics etc we have previously set.  This will help you to be ready for learning on return to school.

I have also attached a story for your grown ups to read to you to help you prepare for school after lockdown.

Take care and see you soon

From Mrs Halligan

Home Learning Week Beginning 08.02.21

Hello Children, 

We hope that you have enjoyed learning all about British Woodland Animals this half term and to finish our topic off we are going to focus on 'The Gruffalo'. There are some activities below that you can have a go at as well as some Maths and Phonics games. 

Reading Books

It is very important for the children to read regularly.  Please listen to your child read their book every day during home learning. We will exchange your reading books after half term!

Maths

Keep going with games shown on our class page and follow the lessons given from the White Rose Scheme for this week. There are also other activities in your home learning pack.

Internet Safety Day 2021 Poster Competition! 

Please take part in our Internet Safety Day competition! We have attached some links that you can look at to help you design and create your own poster. Please email me your poster and the winner will published on the class webpage at the end of next week! Good luck!  

• I work with young people | Safer Internet Centre
• vfcon096113.pdf (vodafone.co.uk).
• Child Focus 'E-safety' - YouTube

Thank you for all your hard work this half term and we understand how difficult it has been for everyone. The children have produced some brilliant work. We hope that you have a lovely and safe half term break and we look forward to seeing you all soon, we have missed you! As always, were are here to answer any questions you may have, please drop me an email. 

Love 

Mrs Halligan and Mrs Wood x 

Home Learning Week Beginning 1.02.21

Hello children and all your grown ups!

We hope you are enjoying learning about woodland animals.  This week's pack has the last one to research...Hedgehogs!

See if you can do some of your own research by looking at the internet for information.  You will also be finding out about the Season of Winter. There are lots of fun activities on the sheet provided in the learning pack and a special Scavenger Hunt sheet to use to tick off the items you find on your Winter Walk. If you can't pick the pack up yet, here are a few things to look out for on your hunt.  

Winter scavenger hunt

Trees may be bare and animals tucked up in hibernation, but there’s still plenty to spot on a trip to the woods in winter.

• glossy evergreen leaves
• a lacy leaf skeleton
• bumpy bark
• fallen tree cones
• a y-shaped stick
• animal tracks on the ground

Phonics

Please keep going with phonics games on 'Phonics Play'  shown below and this week we have included a power point of all the letter sounds and tricky words your children should know.  Please practise these everyday.

We have included some videos this week which demonstrate how to say each phoneme (letter sound) correctly and how to blend sounds for reading.  We hope they prove useful.

Here are a few extra ideas for phonics you can try at home;

Tricky Word Hunt

Make tricky word cards:  I  no  to  go  the   into  he  she  we  be  me  you  was  are  all  they  my her

Place them in different places around the living room.  Tell them a tricky word, e.g. be, then ask them to find it.

You can do this with phonemes (letter sounds) too, but make sure you say the sound correctly.

Phoneme spotter

Write down a selection of letter sounds randomly on a piece of paper, but write several of the same ones.  Ask your children to circle all the ch sounds in red, th in blue, sh in yellow ng in green and so on.

Reading Books

It is very important for the children to read regularly.  Please listen to your child read their book every day during home learning.  Bring the books back when you collect your pack and the office will phone over to us so we can exchange for new books.

Maths

Keep going with games shown on our class page and follow the lessons given from the White Rose Scheme for this week.  The Maths activity plan for this week is shown below.  This will also be in your learning pack.

As always, were are here to answer any questions you may have. Drop us an email or phone after 3:00pm.  Well done Grown-ups for all the work you are doing.  We know it can be challenging but you are all doing a great job!

Hope to see you all soon

From Mrs Halligan and Mrs Wood

Home Learning Week Beginning 25.01.21

Well done and thank you  to all those who have been completing the learning packs.  A new pack will be available for collection from school on Monday 25th January, just phone the office to say you are on your way to collect.

Next week is our final week looking at the story 'Owl Babies'.  If you haven't drawn a Story Map yet, do please have a go, drawing is a brilliant way to develop fine motor skills and of course children's drawings are so lovely!  Your children can have a go at writing sentences to retell the story next week, or to sequence pictures showing events in order. 

Next week children will be finding out all about Squirrels - the pack includes a great craft activity - making a squirrel out of a yoghurt pot!

For phonics this week alongside the sheets, please have a look at the Phonics Play website.  Have a go at the Buried Treasure and Picnic on Pluto games - children have to read the words and decide if they are 'real' or 'nonsense'.  You can look at phonemes up to ch, sh, th and ng in the Phase 3 section.  If your children are confident reading these phonemes, try the next set, ai, ee, oa, oo.  Also, look at Phase 3 Pick a Picture, read the words and match to the correct picture.  All links are shown below.

For Maths this week  go to week 3 'Alive in Five' on the White Rose Maths website.  This week focuses on Measure and Capacity.  There is a lesson for every day.   Also, have a go at some online games.  Topmarks is a great website. We have put the suggested activity links on here for you to work on.   

Do you have any playdough?  Why not make some at home with your children. We have given you a link below to a really good recipe.  Then, have a go at 'Dough Disco'. This is an activity we do each week in school. Great fun and a brilliant way to strengthen our finger muscles for writing!  Check out the You tube  Dough Disco with Shonna below.  

Home Learning 18.01.21

Please remember to call into school for this week's learning pack and return last week's for marking.  Don't forget that you can exchange your child's reading books too.

As well as the work in the learning packs please also have a go at this week's Alive in Five White Rose maths, link below:

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/early-years/alive-in-5-week-2/

Please also join in with the Tricky Words songs on the following link:

Have a go at the Phonics Play Buried Treasure Games. Phase 2 and Phase 3. Focus on letter sounds up to ch, sh, ng, th:

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/2/buried-treasure

Update on Learning Packs  11.01.21

Reception Learning Packs are now available to collect from school. Please phone the school to arrange to pick up a pack. A new pack will be provided each week on a Monday.  Please return the completed work for marking when you collect a new pack.  You can also exchange reading books if you return those already sent.

Thank you

Hello everyone. I do hope you all had a lovely Christmas.   I have missed everyone and am so sad and  sorry that  we are in the position where school has to be closed again, but please be reassured that we will do everything we can to support you and your children with education at home. 

In Reception we will continue our learning with our planned topic British Woodland Animals and each week we will provide a home learning pack with resources for you to use and clear guidance on related activities to complete. We will include a sound mat and tricky word sheet to aid the weekly writing tasks.  The pack will also include a phonics, maths and handwriting sheet every week.  If you return reading books you will be able to exchange for new ones.  You will be asked to support your child in completing the work each week and when returned to school for marking you will be given a new pack for the following week.   More details to follow regarding when you can collect the packs.

Additionally, we will put links to helpful websites for home learning and supportive educational TV programmes, on the school website, so do check in on this class page weekly. 

If you are happy to send me photographs of your children learning at home  to share on our class webpages please do....it was a lovely way to keep in touch during the last lockdown.  I am available after 3.00 pm each day to speak to about any concerns to answer questions about the tasks or simply for a friendly chat and catch up with the children, just give me a call. 

You can email me and/or send pictures to my email address:

nicola.halligan@st-pauls.stockport.sch.uk

I hope we can all be together again soon.

Take care of each other

Love from Mrs Halligan

This Years Topics:

Autumn One

                                    Ourselves                                     

Talk for Writing Text: Traditional Tale - The Gingerbread Man

Autumn Two

                         People Who Help Us                     

 Talk for Writing Text: Traditional Tale - The Three Little Pigs

Spring One

                   British Woodland Animals              

 Talk for Writing Text: Story - Owl Babies

Spring Two

                                    Fairy Tales                                   

  Talk for Writing Text: Traditional Tale - Jack and the Beanstalk

Summer One

                                     Minibeasts                                    

 Talk for Writing Text: Story - The Hungry Caterpillar

Summer Two

                                     Dinosaurs                                      

Talk for Writing Text: Story - Peter and the Wolf

Autumn Two

Welcome back!   We hope you had a good break.  Thank you for helping your children to settle so well into Reception.  They all had a super first half-term, learning so much and having lots of fun!

Please continue to read with your children at home, it makes a very big difference to their progress.  Keep the WOW notes coming in, carry on practising the letters and sounds and tricky words in their sounds books and look out for special homework activities coming home soon.

We will soon begin our new topic, 'People who help us' and our new traditional tale is 'The Three Little Pigs'.  Christmas is also coming up, unfortunately it won't be quite the same this year as we are unable to put on a performance, but we will still be doing lots of Christmas crafts with the children, reading the 'Nativity' story and learning some Christmas songs. 

A couple of reminders:

Please remember children should have a school PE kit which consists of a blue T-shirt, black/navy shorts or jogging pants.  We are a healthy school and as such children should only bring water in their water bottles, no juice please.  Tuck is £1 per week and any money left over goes towards purchasing baking, arts and crafts and other resources needed in the classroom.  

Tuck

Tuck is payable every Monday to Mrs Halligan or Mrs Wood. Your £1 pays for toast everyday and for occasional extra bits and pieces which enhance children's learning, e.g. art and craft resources, baking ingredients, party food, role-play resources. If we do not receive enough contributions towards tuck, we may have to start providing it to only those who do pay.

PE

PE with Mr Stevenson will take place every Tuesday morning. Please ensure your child comes in their PE Kit, black shorts, plain sky blue t-shirt, black pumps, trainers and jogging pants for outdoors.

Water Bottles

Please provide a water bottle for your child and bring to school everyday. We are a healthy school and only plain water is allowed, thank you.

Reading Books

Reading books need to be in school everyday. Please sign the Planner to indicate if you have read the book with your child at home. Books will be changed weekly.

Sound Books

Sound books will be sent home every Friday. Each week the new letter sounds the class learn during the week will be written in their book. Please practise reading and writing these sounds at home and return the sound book to school on Mondays.

Library

Every Friday your child will be given the opportunity to choose a Library book. This should be returned every week so that they can regularly change it.

Good News Bear

As a reward for lovely behaviour, every child has the chance to take home our Good News Bear at some point over the year. A book will also be sent in which you can help your child to draw and/or write or add photographs about their time with the bear. The Bear will be sent home on Fridays. Hopefully, this will take place within the year. 

What is the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards that all early years providers, catering for children from birth to

five, must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe.  It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children's school 'readiness' and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.

(EYFS Statutory Framework (2018)

There are seven areas of learning and development that shape educational programmes in the early years.  All areas are important and cross over.  The first three areas engage children's curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, they help children to make healthy relationships, build an ability to learn and achieve.   These three areas are called the Prime Areas and are:

• communication and language
• physical development
• personal, social and emotional development 

The Prime Areas are strengthened and applied in the next four areas which are known as the Specific Areas:

• literacy
• mathematics
• understanding the world
• expressive arts and design

More information on the EYFS curriculum can be found in our Reception booklet.