Welcome to Reception!

What will be covered? Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum How my child will be assessed Phonics Website & Purple Mash [For an informal presentation, invite audience participation throughout. Statements in square brackets are for the trainer.] The purpose of this presentation is to support practitioners implementing the revised EYFS, which states: Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others. Practitioners must consider the individual needs, interests, and stage of development of each child in their care, and must use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all of the areas of learning and development.

Seven areas of learning and development There are 3 prime areas of learning and 4 specific areas of learning. All of these areas and development are important and inter-connected. It goes on to say: There are seven areas of learning and development that must shape educational programmes in early years settings. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected. Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. These three… prime areas, are: • communication and language; • physical development; and • personal, social and emotional development. Providers must also support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied…: • literacy; • mathematics; • understanding the world; and • expressive arts and design.

Prime Areas Communication and Language Physical Development Personal, Social and Emotional Development These areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity to learn, form relationships and thrive.

Specific Areas Literacy Mathematics Understanding the World Expressive Arts and Design Through these areas the three prime areas are strengthened and applied.

Communication and Language Listening and attention: Children listen attentively in a range of situations. They listen to stories, accurately anticipating key events and respond to what they hear with relevant comments, questions or actions. They give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity. Understanding: Children follow instructions involving several ideas or actions. They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about their experiences and in response to stories or events. Speaking: Children express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners’ needs. They use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future. They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.

Physical Development Moving and handling: Children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements. They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space. They handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing. Health and self-care: Children know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe. They manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development Self-confidence and self-awareness:  Children are confident to try new activities, and say why they like some activities more than others.  They are confident to speak in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities.  They say when they do or don’t need help. Managing feelings and behaviour:   Children talk about how they and others show feelings, talk about their own and others’ behaviour, and its consequences, and know that some behaviour is unacceptable.  They work as part of a group or class, and understand and follow the rules.  They adjust their behaviour to different situations, and take changes of routine in their stride. Making relationships:  Children play co-operatively, taking turns with others.  They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity. They show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.

Literacy Reading: Children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read. Writing: Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.

Mathematics Numbers: Children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing. Shape, space and measures: Children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems. They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.

Expressive Art and Design Exploring and using media and materials: Children sing songs, make music and dance, and experiment with ways of changing them. They safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function. Being imaginative: Children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes. They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and stories.

Understanding of the World People and communities: Children talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members. They know that other children don’t always enjoy the same things, and are sensitive to this. They know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities and traditions. The world: Children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another. They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes. Technology: Children recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools. They select and use technology for particular purposes. 

How will my child be assessed? Continuous informal assessment through photographs / observations / group activities. This is collated in your child's Learning Journal. Informal assessments – independent writing / group tasks / individual tasks At the end of the school year children will be assessed against the 7 areas of learning. They will be given judgements of: Emerging / Expected / Exceeding in relation to the areas of learning. A Good Level of Development is based on your child achieving the expected level in the 3 prime areas (PSE, Physical, Communication & Language PLUS in Literacy and Maths)

How will my child be assessed? You will also receive a written commentary on your child’s achievement based on the ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’ Playing and exploring – engagement Finding out and exploring Playing with what they know Being willing to ‘have a go’ Active learning – motivation Being involved and concentrating Keeping trying Enjoying achieving what they set out to do Creating and thinking critically – thinking Having their own ideas Making links Choosing ways to do things

What is phonics? Children are taught to read by breaking down words into separate sounds or ‘phonemes’. They are then taught how to blend these sounds together to read the whole word. Children have a 20mins phonics lesson each day and they are encouraged to use these strategies to read and write in other lessons. 6 Key Phases in Phonics

Phase 1 This phase starts in nursery and continues throughout all phases 2-6. The activities are designed to get children to listen and to discriminate between sounds. The activities are arranged under seven aspects. 1. General sound discrimination – environmental sounds. 2. General sound discrimination – instrumental sounds. 3. General sound discrimination – body percussion. 4. Rhythm and rhyme. 5. Alliteration. 6. Voice sounds. 7. Oral blending and segmenting.

Phase 2 This phase starts in Reception . Duration = 6 weeks (approx) The key idea here is that children understand that blending and segmenting are reversible processes. Using sounding and blending for reading, and segmenting for spelling, children soon read and spell simple VC and CVC words, such as ‘at’, ‘sat’ and ‘pat’. The children read and spell more and more new words as each letter sound is taught.

Phase 3 Duration = 12 weeks (approx) A major difference from Phase 2 is that the children now learn that some sounds in our language are spelt by more than one letter, e.g. the consonant digraph ‘sh’ as in ‘shop’, the vowel digraph ‘oa’ as in ‘boat’. Graphemes: ear (hear) , air (fair), ure (pure), er (hammer), ar (car), or (torn), ur (turn), ow (cow), oi (coin), ai (train), ee (sheep), igh (night), oa (boat), oo (boot/look)

Phase 4 Duration = 4-6 weeks (approx) It is expected that Phase 4 teaching will be completed before the end of Reception. No new phonemes or graphemes are introduced in this phase. Children consolidate their knowledge of graphemes in reading and spelling words containing adjacent consonants (e.g. went: w-e-n-t) and polysyllabic words (words with more than one syllable).

Phase 5 Duration = 1 year (approx) A child making expected progress will be working on this phase during Year 1. Up to this point, the children have generally learnt one grapheme for each of the sounds in spoken English. They will have read some words with more than one syllable, some words with vowel and consonant digraphs, and also words with adjacent consonants. During Phase 5 they will start to learn that some spellings have alternative pronunciations, e.g. ‘cow’, ‘blow’, and some sounds have alternative spellings, e.g. ‘jump’, ‘hedge’.

Phase 6 Duration = 1 year (approx) A child making expected progress will be working on this phase during Year 2. By now most children should be able to recognise a large number of words without sounding and blending them. They should show fluency in reading familiar words. However, they will still need to sound and blend unfamiliar words. During this phase children become fluent readers and increasingly accurate spellers. To become successful readers, children must understand what they read. They need to learn a range of comprehension strategies and should be encouraged to reflect upon what their learning. Example – children will learn about prefixes, e.g. ‘return’ and suffixes, e.g. ‘sitting.

Useful links and websites… Letters & Sounds Document– available online Phonics Play http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ Family Learning http://www.familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html Woodlands Literacy Zone http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html

Glossary of Terms CVC words: Words that consist of a consonant-vowel-consonant as in c-a-t and b-i-g. Digraphs and trigraphs: A digraph is a two letter grapheme that represents one sound as ‘sh’ in ship. A trigraph is a three letter grapheme where they represent one phoneme such as ‘igh’ in night. Consonant digraph: A phoneme that is made up of two graphemes, the first of which is a consonant as in ‘wh’ and ‘ng’ . Adjacent consonants: Two or more consonants next to each other in a word – stop list – CAN PROVE TRICKY Phoneme: The smallest unit of sound in a word. Phonics: Consists of the knowledge of the skills of segmenting and blending, knowledge of the alphabetic code and an understanding of the principles underpinning the way the code is used in reading and spelling. Split digraphs: A split digraph has a letter that splits, i.e. comes between, the two letters in the digraph. For example ‘make’, where ‘k’ splits the digraph ‘ae’ which represents the phoneme /ai/ Vowel digraph: A phoneme that is made up of two graphemes, the first of which is a vowel as in ‘ai’ and ‘oy’.

Reading Books There are a number of coloured boxes containing reading books in the shared classroom. These books are to help support your child’s reading. They can be taken home and swapped when you wish. Children may choose books from Pink basket to start with. They are encouraged to swap their books when they arrive in the morning. (When your child’s reading book colour changes you will be notified).

Forest School

School Website www.naburnschool.com Updated Weekly Informative

Purple Mash www.purplemash.co.uk/naburn Log in – username & password. Will be stuck in the home/school diary.

Communication... We have an open door policy. Please feel free to ask questions! Home/School book/ Phonics book Guided Reading Book Learning Journals Parent’s Meetings Website Coming up…Parents Afternoon/Evenings October

Happy Children! The most important thing is that your child is happy. That they settle into school life and enjoy learning!