Bond (Reception)

Bond class will receive a daily phonics lesson of 20 minutes. Reception and Year one will be taught at different times.

Reception children will start the term recapping phase 1 phonics, followed shortly after by being introduced to the letter sounds and tricky words in phase 2.

To access some fun games click on the following link: https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

Reception children will continue to develop their fine and gross motor skills using a variety of resources. This will help develop their pencil grip to help them form their letters. 

Reception children will developing their number sense of numbers 1-5. 

We want to create confident fluent readers at St John's, therefore we have placed an emphasis on fluency, in line with the new reading framework. children have 3 guided reading sessions a week.

Session 1 - decoding: This is where we work through the book segmenting and blending words.

Session 2 - prosody: this is using expression and adding flavour through different intonation.   

Session 3 - comprehension: This is where we discuss the text and the children answer questions to develop their understanding.

Your child will then bring home the book they have been reading in school. This will allow them to become confident and fluent with the text. The books that they bring home have been matched very carefully using a specially designed assessment. You may feel the book is too easy regarding the phonics, however if they are confident and fluent they will enjoy books more, allowing them to read for pleasure and gain a love of reading.

The children will also bring home a 'sharing book' from the 'choosing chest'. This is for you to read/share with your child. It is not a book that they should be reading. Give your child the pleasure of listening to you read, so they can immerse themselves in the story and develop their imagination. 

Mark making is vital in a child’s development and learning. It teaches them how to hold writing implements and develops their handwriting skills. Through making marks, children are strengthening their pencil grip and controlling the marks using their muscles. In Bond Class, we provide lots of opportunities to allow the children to mark make with a variety of mark making tools. Once they have mastered holding a pencil and making controlled movements they then start to form recognisable letters. This is when they begin to learn letter formation and where to start and finish letters. It is important that children have a good sitting posture, a strong pencil grip and think about the speed at which they write – slow and careful! Year one children will continue to develop their handwriting through daily handwriting practise.

During the afternoons the reception children and the year one children join together in a whole class carpet session covering Geography, History, Science, Art, DT or computing. The reception children then break away and continue their learning through play. There are lots of resources to stimulate them to be creative, curious and solve problems. The adults use questioning to build on the children’s knowledge and provide the next steps in their learning.

Afternoons in Bond class is when all of our topic work takes place.