Year: Reception

Week beginning: 

18.5.2026 

Literacy 

This half term our focus text is What the ladybird heard by Julia Donaldson. We will be listening to the story and building our understanding of key vocabulary linked to it, including: farm, farmer thief, field, path, whisper, planned, creeped, trap, rescue. 

Reception children take part in daily handwriting lessons. Every week the children write a short sentence that is dictated using their phonics knowledge. In preparation for Year One we are completing a dictation activity a few times a week. For example, he has a goat. 

We will be learning the nursery rhymes: Miss Molly had a Dolly, Mary, Mary quite contrary and Hey Diddle Diddle. 

Phonics

We will be continuing to learn to read and write words including root words ending in:

–ing, –ed /t/, –ed /id/ /ed/ –est

For example, stamped, bumped, blinked, freshest

We will be introducing some new tricky words: out, today.

We will also be consolidating the tricky words taught to date: the, I, go, no, of, you. are, pure, sure, was, do This is a key area we are focussing on to help the children become more confident at reading the tricky words in their reading books. 

We have shared information on Tapestry about the phonics taught this term including information about how to support learning the tricky words. We hope you find it helpful. 

Please see the Little Wandle website for further help on supporting your child in phonics: https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Maths

This week, we will be learning about the composition of numbers within 5 and beyond. We will use our fingers, songs and practical resources to explore different ways numbers can be made. 

We will practise recognising the parts of 5, including identifying how many fingers are “up” and how many are “folded down”, linked to fun rhymes and activities. We will also build our understanding of numbers 6 to 9 as “5 and a bit” using a range of representations such as fingers, double dice frames and 10-frames. Through these activities, the children will develop confidence in recognising, comparing and talking about numbers. 

Understanding the World

This week as part of our farm topic we will be learning about farms, including how crops are grown and how food is produced.

We are continuing to read a wide range of texts about animals to develop our knowledge of animals and their young e.g. cow and calf.

In Geography we will be continuing to think about how our local area is different to a farm. We will be building models and making maps of our local area and also designing our own farms!

In Music we will be listening and responding to different styles of music using our voices and singing songs together.

In R.E. We will be looking at significant stories from different religious traditions. We will also be exploring the idea of a ‘moral’.

PSHE : This term our topic is Relationships. We will be thinking of skills that we can use to help us build friendships. We will be reinforcing our understanding of being a rights respecting school and the importance of rights. 

Home Learning

We will be sending home activities related to the graphemes that we have been looking at in phonics this week.

Reminders

Now the weather is warmer, please take the time to check your child’s jumper/cardigan is clearly labelled. We appreciate your support with this.

We would welcome donations of small cardboard boxes and containers that can be used for modelling. Please note we cannot accept anything that has contained nuts, due to allergies. Thank you for your support. 

Please check Tapestry for updates on your child’s learning. We love to see what you are up to at home so please feel free to send photographs on this platform.

Library Books We will continue to send home a ‘Love of Reading’ book that your child has selected from the library every Friday.

Please enjoy reading this book to your child and talking around the content and the illustrations.

Your child is not expected to read this book to you. We will be sending home reading books that have been carefully matched to their stage in phonics later in the term.  

Please return your child’s yellow reading diary on a Monday each week. Many thanks for your comments and updates.

PE Days

Tuesday - outdoor and Thursday - indoor

Please send your child into school in PE kit and trainers on both days. 

Dates for your diary

Sports Day : Friday 6th June

Your child will need a colour t-shirt to match the house colour they are in. More information will be shared nearer the date regarding the timings for the day.

This term Reception will have the opportunity to go to Forest school every other week. Please see the parent email that was  emailed at the end of the Spring term with further information.

Mystery Reader will continue next half term. If you have not yet had the opportunity to sign up and would like to take part, please speak to your child’s class teacher. We hope to open this up to returning Mystery Readers in due course. Thank you for your continued support.