Reception Autumn 2 Festivals and Celebrations

 This term we will be learning all about different festivals and celebrations. Some that happen during the Autumn season and others that happen throughout the year.  We will learn about festivals such as Bonfire night, Hanukkah, Eid and Diwali. We will find out how these important festivals are celebrated and how light is often an important feature.  We will also learn why Christians celebrate Christmas and talk about celebrations we have with our families such as birthdays, weddings and births.

Religious Education  As part of our topic we will look at how Christians celebrate Christmas and why December is an important time of year in the Christian calendar.  We will read the Christmas Story and learn about the baby Jesus.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development  During the term we will focus on forming good relationships with our peers and adults.  We will continue to develop our circle time skills and learn how to work as part of a group or class by taking turns and sharing fairly.  We will refer to our class charter and look for these values in ourselves and each other.  We will also learn that people have different needs, views, cultures and beliefs, that need to be treated with respect. Communication & Language Physical Development  As part of our topic we will learn to respond to music from different festivals. Can we move like a firework? Can we use our hands and feet to dance to music from India?  We will continue our Gymnastics and outdoor PE sessions to help develop our agility, balance and co-ordination.  We will continue to develop our fine motor skills by making collages, using scissors and completing finger gym activities.  As our topic book is all about birthdays we will emphasis the importance of healthy eating and exercise.  This term we will be reading the Christmas story and Marcellus’ Birthday cake.  We will be discussing the key events and sharing ideas with our talk partners.  We will gain a greater understanding of the importance of listening to others as well as contributing our own ideas.  Can your child retell the stories to you at home?  We will also look at non-fiction books and learn all about Diwali, Eid and Hanukkah.

Our Class Charter

Understanding the World  During the term we will find out how festivals are celebrated through books and stories.  We will recollect how we celebrate our birthdays at home and what festivals the children celebrate with their families.  We will cook special food for different festivals such as honey biscuits, kheer (Indian rice pudding) and coconut barfi sweets.  We will use ICT to produce cards for special occasions. Expressive Arts & Design Reminders  Gymnastics is on Monday afternoon and outdoors PE is on Friday afternoon. Please help your child be ready for these sessions by making sure their earrings are covered or removed and that they wear clothing they can easily change in and out of.  For indoor sessions the children need plimsolls and for outdoors they need trainers. Thank you.  This term we will look at the season of Autumn in our creative area. We will use leaves that we have collected to do leaf rubbings and printing.  We will make Diwali puppets and make a mobile with moons and stars for Eid.  We will make hats for special occasions such as birthday hats and wedding tiaras.  We will print patterns on paper to make our own wrapping paper.  We will sing celebrations songs such as ‘Happy Birthday’ and the street party song. Visit the following site to sing-a-long.  -celebrate/songs/lets-celebrate- streetpartysong -celebrate/songs/lets-celebrate- streetpartysong

Literacy  During the term we will focus on our writing skills.  We will write shopping lists for a birthday party as well as invitations and labels for presents.  We will use our phonic skills to help build words and our Fred Fingers to write our words down.  Can your child write a shopping list at home? Why not share them with us?  We will look at firework poems and write our own.  We will write a wish list for Father Christmas and make our own Christmas Cards.  We will also make a zig-zag book to re-tell the story of Diwali. Visit the following site to listen to the story.  celebrate/stories/lets-celebrate- diwaliperformance/ celebrate/stories/lets-celebrate- diwaliperformance/  Finally we will look at recipes and learn how to read and follow them. Do you cook at home with your child? Mathematics  This term we will continue working with numbers to 20 to help develop our number knowledge.  We will undertake a range of activities to help us count, recognise and order numbers to 20.  We will estimate small objects without counting and then check my counting carefully.  Which will continue our working on finding more or less.  We will say a number which lays between two numbers.  We will begin to use the vocabulary of addition and subtraction.  We will also look at collecting information in a survey about our favourite characters from the Diwali story. How could we display this information?  Finally, we will begin to experience using coins by counting amounts into a purse. Visit the following site for a fun money counting game.  ftp/client_ftp/ks1/maths/counting_with_mon ey/ ftp/client_ftp/ks1/maths/counting_with_mon ey/

Computing We have confidence The children will be taking photos of each other and will think about what makes a successful image. They will then apply those skills to making successful videos of each other. We can take turns The children will take turns to use simple on-screen activities, creating pictures or patterns by touching the screen or using the mouse. They will understand that generally only one person can change things at one time, and to complete their task they have to wait their turn. We are successful They will have the opportunity to take photographs of things they have achieved and then combine these with text or sounds to create a presentation that they can share with others. Skills Recording and listening Taking pictures Using computers

Helping your child to write  This term we will be concentrating on our writing skills and letter formation.  Please look at the following slide, the phrases will help your child form their letters correctly.  Remember that the letters do not have to be small and neat at the moment; formation is the most important so this may mean that they do them really big!

Letter Formation m: Maisie mountain, mountain a: around the apple, down the leaf s: slither down the snake d: round his bottom, up his tall neck and down to his feet t: down the tower, across the tower i: down the body, dot for the head n: down Nobby, over his net p: down the plait, around the pirates face g: round her face, down her hair and give her a curl o: all around the orange c: curl around the caterpillar k: down the kangaroo’s body, tail and leg u: down and under, up to the top and draw the puddle b: down the laces to the heel, round the toe f: down the stem and draw the leaves e: lift off the top and scoop out the egg l: down the long leg h: down the head to the hooves and over his back r: down his back and then curl over his arm j: down his body, curl and dot v: down a wing, up a wing y: down a horn, up a horn and under his head w: down, up, down, up z: zig-zag-zig q: round her head, up past her earrings and down her hair x: down the arm and leg and repeat the other side

Newsflash!  This term Reception Class will be performing their very first Nativity!  The performances are as follows:  December 8 th - Morning performance at am. Afternoon performance at 2.00 pm.  Please watch out for song words and scripts in your child’s book bag. Please take the time to practise with them as this often makes all the difference.  With thanks, Miss Loveridge and the Reception team.