It has been lovely having all the children back in school after the Easter holidays. We hope you had a lovely break and managed to get out in the sunshine. I hope the children’s sunflowers are growing well at home. I look forward to the children’s weekly updates Tapestry. Our class sunflowers are growing well and the children will be repotting them this week along with our potatoes. 
 

This term we will be continuing to monitor our seeds and will then begin our new topic on Toys. We are looking forward to hearing all about the children’s favourite toys. Below you will find our Topic map for this term containing possible learning experiences for the children. 

We are so excited and ready to welcome everyone back on Monday.
 

The team is delighted to welcome back all our families to school and reconnect with the returning children. We know it’s possibly been difficult but we really appreciate all the wonderful work you have been busy doing with your children at home. All the daily phonics work you have been doing will continue to give the children a fantastic foundation for their reading and writing. Thank you for sharing all the activities you completed from the weekly challenge charts on Tapestry, it has been wonderful to see all the exciting things they have been busy learning at home. You have done a great job 👏, well done. As we move forward, please keep sharing your favourite activities and special events. The children really benefit from sharing their experiences in terms of wellbeing, confidence, and communication skills.

Thank you for supporting us while we strive to strike a balance between ensuring everyone’s safety and creating exciting and challenging experiences which allow the children to thrive in our care.

We will be reverting back to the same drop off and pick up times as before Christmas. The Reception times return to 8.45 am, and afternoon pick up time 3.15pm. Please remember to bring your PE kits as well as your forest school kit with you the first week. Remember you do not need to bring a water bottle or anything extra with you other than your book bag and reading books back. We will be listening to the children read in the first week to ensure they are on the right book band as these were last reviewed just before Christmas.  Reading books will continue to be changed twice a week, after we have assed the children’s reading levels. 

If you have any questions, worries or concerns, do contact us on Tapestry or use the class email to let us know (Reception@leverstockgreen.herts.sch.uk) and one of the team will get back to you as soon as possible. 

We are looking forward to welcoming you all back on Monday morning.

Many thanks 

Miss Conyard and the Reception Team 

It’s World Book Day on Thursday 4th March. This is a great chance to promote reading in your child’s life. We want children to be enthusiastic and engage with books daily and begin to see themselves as readers. Spending 10/15 minutes each day can improve children’s life chances and future success, increase vocabulary, and enable them to access a full curriculum as they grow and develop. Sharing books with an adult increases their well being, adds to their imagination skills and ability to articulate their own ideas, and develops independence and confidence. 
 

* We are setting the challenge to nursery and reception families to see if you can name all the book characters on the quiz. The answers will follow at the end of the week.

* We would also like you all to create a potato book character. Can you decorate a potato to look like your favourite book character? Please photograph and upload to Tapestry so we can print and create a display in our book corners and reading shed.

* To promote bedtime reading as part of your child’s daily routine each and everyday, we would like to invite you to stay in your pyjamas all day on Thursday. Whether you are a remote learner or at school, wear your pyjamas/onesies/comfy clothes and enjoy lots of favourite stories on this day. Dressing in pyjamas will make the day more memorable. Additional stories will be uploaded to Tapestry by staff members for you to share with your child. Read your favourites to your child, and get them to read/share a story with you too. Have fun!

Also on return to school, you will receive a book token to be able to pick up a new book for £1. These will be readily available at large Supermarkets.

28th February 

I hope this is our final chart of activities as we are really looking forward to seeing you all back in school next week. You have all been working so hard at home. 

This week please can I again request you ‘like’ an observation once you have read it. This included this challenge chart and the daily phonics observations. We would expect them to be accessed by lunchtime for the children to do over the day. This will allow us to track who is access the work set each day and will help us to stop any need to chase anyone up to ensure all children are engaging each day.

Here is the eighth grid of activities that the children can do while the schools are closed this week. Here are the links to support you in your learning this week.

Number bonds to 10 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD9tjBUiXs0&feature=emb_logo 

Teeny Weeny Tadpole - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vRZuG11ZqU&feature=emb_logo 

Life cycle of a frog - https://youtu.be/LmP8V5NDhmY 

Here is also a link to some supporting videos and PowerPoint slides to support you with the maths tasks this week. I have chosen tasks from session 1 and 4. Feel free to explore the other sessions and activities if you want. https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/early-years/building-9-10-week-2/ 

The best way for children to practise their numbers is on blank pieces of paper for them to attempt it. However, I have attached a number formation sheet with rhymes which we use in school to support the children in their number shapes. 

Attached is also a cherry model the children used before the lockdown. It has 1 large whole and 2 smaller parts to help the children to see a visual representation of addition and subtraction. Please email or message tapestry if this needs further explanation.

I have attached the book week character quiz and will share the answers on Friday afternoon for you to see how you got on. 

Please continue to use tapestry to update us on the activities the children are doing throughout the week. Even if it not these ones. It is lovely seeing what you are all getting up to at home. If we do not hear from you, over the week, we will be in touch directly to make sure everything is okay and to see if we can support you further.

Daily phonics and reading is really important to help them continue to develop their reading skills.

On Friday I will send an observation out for you to respond to with the books the children have read over the week. These could be stories you have at home or books they have read on Bug Club which you have access to. If you are struggling to access Bug Club please do let me know and I will do my best to support you. Some children are reading the books but are not completing the ‘Bug’ activities in the book and so it is not registering as complete. Once it is complete it will no longer be visible on the home screen.

Please remember we are still here for you if you need any help or advice. You can contact us through tapestry or you can email us directly to Reception@leverstockgreen.herts.sch.uk

I will continue to access Tapestry and the email daily to be able to respond as soon as possible.

I hope you are all having lots of fun with your learning and we cant wait to see you next week. 

Miss Conyard and the Reception team

Good morning.

Tapestry seems to be having some trouble this morning and it has crashed a few times. They are working hard to update the servers and hopefully will have it up and running soon. In the meantime you will see the Challenge Chart for this week below. 
 

Fingers crossed it’ll be up and running again soon.

Kind regards

Miss Conyard 

10.30 am 11/1/21

Well done everyone for completing your first week on home schooling and juggling everything else you are doing at home too. I just wanted to put a message out to say thank you for all the lovely photos and messages we have had sharing the children’s learning at home. If you have some that you would like to share feel free to send them over the weekend or when you get a chance. I know how busy home lives can be right now. It is so wonderful to see all of the learning opportunities, not just those we have set, going on at home. Children great job on your learning and parents thank you for your support. 
 

Continue to stay safe and well.

Miss Conyard and the Reception team 

8th January 

Well what a start to 2021.

Firstly please can I thank you all for the kind and thoughtful gifts that myself and the other staff received at Christmas. We appreciated each and everyone and were overwhelmed with the hampers we were gifted. I know there are thank you letters for the children await our return. 

As you are aware we are currently closed and doing our best to organise things for the children this week. We will be open for key worker children and you are able to book this on the school gateway if you require a space. 
 

We will soon be sending out challenge charts via Tapestry, and here, so we can continue our learning at home for the moment. Each grid will have a selection of different activities to do over the week. We do however expect that you will also read daily using your bug club accounts. If you feel you need any further support with bug club please send us a message either via tapestry or you can send an email to our class account which is now activate and will be check once a day by staff. 
 

Our class email address is; reception@leverstockgreen.herts.sch.uk

We will continually update the website and tapestry with information so please keep an eye out.

Most importantly though, I hope you are all keep safe and are well. We hope to see you all soon.

Miss Conyard and the Reception team. 

What a wonderful start to the term we have had. The children are coming into class well and making all of our staff very proud by how well they have settled into the new routines and expectations on them. The children are working hard and enjoying our work on bubbles at the moment. They are loving the new climbing frame outside and use it at every opportunity. 

Due to staggered start and end of the school day different years groups are starting at different time. Reception times are 8.45 am-3.15 pm. If you think you maybe late picking up your child please phone the office so they can get a message to us.

Please can I remind all parents that the children do require a PE kit with trainers or plymsols in as we do do PE outdoors every Wednesday morning. if you are aware that your child does not have kit in school please can you ensure it is sent in named in a named bag we can hang on their pegs. 

The children have had their first forest school session this week when we went up and familiarised ourselves with our woodland area. The children were very excited. Please can I ask you to ensure your child has a set of waterproofs in school as we will go on out even if it is raining. These must be named and in a named bag. They will also require their own set of wellie boots. Again please name these as we already have a few

duplicates and we want to ensure your child has their own boots. 

The children are also loving using the mud kitchen and water areas, despite wearing aprons some children are still able to get themselves wet and messy so we would ask for all of them to have a minimum of 1 full set of changes of clothes. 

The children now have reading books and reading records to allow them to read daily with you and for your to record they have in their records. This can be as simple as the book title and you signature or feel free to comment on sounds they knew or struggled with, parts of the story they enjoyed or even how they related it to their own lives. 

The children have their first home learning this week which has been shared on tapestry. If you have still not activated your account please ask a member of the team or the office for some help to get this resolved. It is a wonderful thing to share pictures of their learning both at school and at home. 

Miss Conyard

Mrs Roberts

Mrs Kenny

We look forward to welcoming children back into school. Some children may be excited, and some may feel daunted, I’m sure many of you parents feel a little apprehensive and we all have a mixture of feelings.
 

Below is a pdf that can be shared with children to support new routines that we will have in Nursery and Reception now. It has been made by another nursery in Surrey and we have been allowed to share it with you. The pictures are lovely and words are reassuring describing how school is going to be different, but more importantly, that school will be a fun and positive place to be. 
 

If you could look at the book together at a quiet time, it will help the children understand these changes and feel more settled about coming back. We are likely to also share and discuss it in school too.

Thank you,
Georgina Wilson 

A message for any families who are due to be starting our Reception Class in September.

I have attached a pdf story of a child starting school for you to share with your child. This will enable you to introduce the idea of staying all day at school, and will help all children that will be full time in September. Read the story and talk about it with your child. Doing this several times every now and again will help your child understand some of the experiences that will be ahead for them and help them cope emotionally for what could possibly be a challenge. We are very much looking forward to meeting you and your child and begin the process of getting to know you all.
 

Georgina Wilson, Early Years Leader