Week Ending 21/07/23
Date: 18th Jul 2023 @ 8:47pm
Happy last day! Well we’ve finally made it and what a year we’ve had. We can’t quite believe where this year has gone but have had such a wonderful time watching the children blossom and grow. Over the last two weeks they have shown how ready they are for Year 1 and we will greatly miss them as they move onto their next school chapter. I really enjoy taking time at the end of the year to reflect on how much progress the children have made since they started. Their learning journeys are a big part of their time in Reception and I like to look back at all the memories we have created together and I hope you enjoy looking through them too.
We want to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting your child’s learning through their first year here at Tarporley. It was magical to see so many of you at our End of Year Show as we celebrated the fantastic year the children have had.
Tapestry
This week we sent out an email regarding Tapestry and how to download photos/videos to your device. We have made lots of memories which we’re sure the children will take with them through their time here at school. The deadline for downloading any files from Tapestry is 31st August 2023 as we will have to start setting up new accounts for our next cohort from September. Please make sure you download your child's Tapestry learning journey as soon as you can as we will be archiving them on September 1st.
Summer Scrapbook Challenge (OPTIONAL)
This summer we would like to set your child a 'Summer Scrapbook' challenge.
This can be in any format you like, but must contain a hand written sentence / paragraph / caption / note or account. The reason for this is so children have the opportunity, over the 6 week break, to write frequently, with no pressure or expectation for it to be perfect. This will enable them to maintain their stamina for writing that they have worked so hard to build this year as well as the opportunity to express themselves in a written form.
All entries will receive a golden book entry and each class will receive a prize for the best scrapbook.
In Phonics, we have finally come to the end of Phase 4 which has focused on different word structures (CVCC, CCVC, CCVCC, CCCVC, CCCVCC) and suffixes -er, -est and -ed. We urge you to continue to read regularly throughout the Summer in preparation for September as the pace will start to quicken with learning alternative sounds to the ones we have learnt this year. All reading for pleasure books and physical copies have been removed from your child's book bag this week. Please do remember your local library has an array of Reading for Pleasure books for you to peruse at your own leisure (and it's free!). We have sent home a booklet containing a range of activities we have done over the year such as reading tasks, Pathways to Write activities and the half termly phonics assessments. This is a great way of seeing your child's progress throughout the year and to see how far they have come since the very beginning.
In Maths, we have had the opportunity to put our number work into problem-solving challenges and begun to interpret and record our ideas just like we would do in Year 1. Pictures of objects are a great way of solving addition and subtraction problems. For example, a picture of two cats and three kittens would make the number sentence 2 + 3 = 5 altogether. The children worked together to work out the two parts that would make their whole and put them into a part-whole model. Remember the rule: your parts can never be bigger than your whole! We went on to solve lots of other questions and the children loved working out how to solve them. What great team work!
On Monday, we performed our End of Year Show to our loved ones! I’m sure you will agree that the children were incredible and certainly all of their hard work had paid off. Please may we ask that any photos taken with group shots are not to be shared on social media. Thank you.
On Tuesday, we spent some more time in our new Year 1 class with Miss Jones and Mrs Harrison. It was a fun-filled morning! In the afternoon, we made Thank You cards to give to our buddies.
On Wednesday, Miss Nicholas and Miss Selwyn spent some time reflecting on the year with the children and what they have enjoyed throughout their time in Reception. We then wrote a letter to our Year 1 teacher telling them about ourselves and what we would like to learn next year.
On Thursday, we got to spend the afternoon with our buddies outside on the adventure playground. They have been such an important part of our journey this year and so we swapped cards as a keepsake of our year together.
On Friday, we went to St Helens for our final Celebration Assembly and said a final farewell to our buddies. We will miss them so much but wish them the best of luck as they move onto secondary school.
Congratulations to our Stars of the Year, Jack and Imogen!
Have a wonderful and restful Summer break! Thank you for your continued support throughout the year. We look forward to seeing the children as Year 1s in September.
Miss Selwyn and Miss Nicholas
