Autumn Term 2:
Dates
Tues 11th Nov - Remembrance 10:30am service
Thursday 27th Nov - Art Gallery in the hall
Sat 29th Nov Xmas fayre 11am-2pm
Tues 16th Dec – Choir singing at 6pm in the NSPCC Concert
Wed 17th Dec - Whole school Panto
Christmas Party afternoons
Mon 15th Dec - EYFS
We have our lovely 'Star of the Week' mascots and our weekend scrapbook which comes home for weekend adventures. This will come home on a Friday and should be returned to school on the Wednesday ready for sharing with the class and sending home with our next star on the Friday.
On our webpage, you will find updates on our learning each term and useful information. Alongside our webpage, please see our class ‘Dojo’ for our regularly updated class stories and any new messages. Through Dojo, we will continually update yourselves on any key dates, events, reminders, or important information, therefore, please check daily. You will also be able to access observations of your child’s learning on Dojo. Just a reminder, the messages you send on Dojo will go to all our EYFS staff. Please place the name of the teacher on the message, if the message is for their attention.
You will also receive weekly newsletters via dojo to keep you up to date with our weekly learning, star of the week recipients and reading raffle winners.
Please also keep visiting the 'Parents' tab regularly, to view Mrs Houseman’s new updates and information.
If you have any questions or any concerns, you are very welcome to message through 'Dojo' or via our school emails: mnorton@dovedale.derbyshire.sch.uk or bkeating@dovedale.derbyshire.sch.uk
Our School Day
The school day starts from 8:40am - 3:20pm.
In the morning, please drop off your child at the main gates so they can independently walk to their classroom. Familiar staff will be at the gate to support this.
On collection, if you wait outside our classroom and your child will be in the line to come out to you. Please give us a wave and try and stand in a similar spot each day to aid with getting the children out quickly and safely - especially in the wetter months.
Water Bottles
We encourage all children to bring their own water bottles into the classrooms everyday with their full name clearly labelled on the side. Children are provided access to their own water bottles throughout the day to ensure hydration. Please could you ensure that only water is put into them and not juice! This will be returned each day to be washed and refilled for the next school day. Please could you also ensure that your child has a sports top bottle and not a twist cap as when they are dropped or knocked it reduces the spillage.
Book bags
The children will be given book bags. Please could these be named clearly and brought into school each day and checked every evening for any new letters. Please could we ask these are the only bags brought into school as we have limited space in the cloakrooms.
PE day
Dalmatian Stone class Tuesday.
Jade Class - Thursday
Please can the children bring in their PE kit in a named small bag and this will stay on the children's pegs through the term. This will be sent home at the end of each half-term to be washed. PE will include alternating both indoors and outdoors. Please could you ensure both indoor and outdoor kit is placed in the children's PE kit bags at the beginning of each term.
Please note the PE kit should be: a plain red t-shirt with or without the school logo, plain black sports jacket/zip-up jacket, plain black or navy joggers/shorts and trainers. Please can you ensure all PE clothing and footwear is labelled with your child’s full name.
Medical
Any children who require any medical support such as inhalers, EPI pens and medication will need a form to be completed, which can be collected from the school office. This will then be signed once administered by staff. Inhalers and EPI pens if needed, should remain in school.
School Money
You will receive a text message /email about joining 'School Money'. This is our system on paying for things in school as we do not handle cash. This will include things like school milk, trips wrap-around club etc. Any questions please Dojo, email or ring the school office.
Milk
While the children are 4 years old, they will receive milk for free. Once your child turns 5 years old, unfortunately they will no longer receive it. If you wish for your child to continue to have milk at school, please visit: www.coolmilk.com. If you do not sign up to school milk your child will NOT be provided with it.
Birthdays
To celebrate this special day, the birthday boy or girl can come dressed in their own clothes for the school day. If their birthday is on the weekend, they are welcome to pick the closest day to come in non-uniform!
Jewellery and Hair
To ensure the safety of your child our school policy regarding jewellery, hair and nails is as follows:-
- No jewellery other than stud earrings and watches.
- We recommend that children who have long hair (below their shoulders) should tie their hair back for school; however, it is essential that it is tied back for PE lessons.
- Appropriate hair bobbles of size and design.
- Nail varnish should be removed for the school week.
Below is a list of picture cards and the mnemonic for how to form the letter. The children are learning the picture cards so that they can reference the letter to this later - e.g m - mountain, a - apple
There is also a link for how to say the sounds correctly.
Welcome back to Autumn 2. This half term our learning focus is Far Far Away. We will be introducing a range of books and animations to enhance our learning through Drawing Club and build up to the magic of Christmas.
We will be focussing on a range of celebrations such as Diwali, Bonfire Night, Remembrance day and Children in Need and how people from different cultures and religions celebrate them.
In Maths we follow White Rose and will look at numbers up to 3. This will include subitising, one more and one less and writing the numeral. We will also continue to watch 1:1 counting. We will also look at different ways that we can make 3 such as 1 and 2, 3 and 0 etc.
For our understanding of the world we will be looking at different materials and sorting them into their properties of rough, smooth, hard and soft and finding objects from around the room. We will also be looking at where objects are on a map and looking at how we can use pictures to show what things are on a map (key). We will also look at past and present (then/a long time ago and now) and sort toys into old and new; when we discuss what we might like for Christmas and what children from the past had. For People and Communities we are also going to be looking at a church, who goes to a church and learning the story of Christmas.
In Autumn term we spend a lot of time getting to know the children. Our learning is all based around 'Me and my SUPER community'. We focus on the children's emotional well-being first and ensuring that they feel safe and settled in school.
We then move on to learning about who is in their family, who lives in their house and making sure that we are fully aware of all of the special adults and people in their lives. We are aware that families come in all shapes and sizes and we read the story 'All kinds of families' by Sophy Henn. We look at belonging and begin to focus on recognising seasons. We also start looking at colour mixing, painting and portraits along with collaging houses.
We then move on to focus around jobs that our parents do and then move on further to look at people who help us in more detail such as firefighters, police officers and health staff.
We will also be doing some assessments around name writing, numbers and their phonics knowledge so far, as well as carrying out the Reception Baseline Assessment. This is a compulsory assessment from the government which will provide statements for your child about what they can do. We will provide you with a copy of this report at parent's evening.
Below are some of the other stories that we focus on during the Autumn term of reception.
