What do they do in reception?

[Blankexpressi0n]

DS who’s 4 started reception this year.
He seems to be settling in ok, starting to feel tired and the novelty has worn off a bit as I had expected to happen.
I don’t want to bombard him with too many questions but I hear little snippets about the day like who he played with, what he had for lunch, if they had a story etc. We haven’t had the usual settling in period where we’d normally be able to stay for some mornings, or go in to read a book with our child etc.
So I really want to know what goes on in the first term or so of reception. Is it just talking about the kids and helping them get to know each other? I haven’t heard about any ‘rules’ or anything yet and I’m not sure they’ve started on any phonics or letter sounds. Parents evening isn’t for another couple of months and I don’t think the teacher will have time to give me any sort of update or is that usually what we can expect as parents?

Shamelessly placemarking Id like to know too :)

Last year, play with cars (tracks sometimes set up as numbers), painting, stuff with sand, water, glitter, Duplo, blocks (brick sized and smaller) make believe, shop, shapes, counting.

Got quite good at uniform forensics ... glitter, paint, playdoh, lunch etc, sand in shoes, wet sleeves all gave a good opening as I only got whatever lunch was and "played with cars" as volunteered information!

Does your school not post photos?

Ours does daily and at the moment it's generally of the reception class.

So far this week it's been a lot of playing with toys/water/sand.

They've been reading lots of fairy tales. Playing Lego/Duplo.

Had their first school dinners and met all the dinner ladies etc.

Lovely to see the updates.

I can tell you what my DC did but it’s a while ago and both were very ready for school albeit they were 4.

I don’t think getting to know all the children was part of it and we didn’t ever go into the classroom. I think a few mums had to go into the cloakrooms where a tiny number of dc had separation issues.

My DC had imaginative play areas but those who could learnt reading (before phonics) via the schemes the school chose. They brought home books from the library in the school and a bear for a week where either they, or a parent, wrote about what the bear did for the week. They measured water, did maths via the schools scheme and did various other play based learning activities. They also started writing.

But, not all dc are ready for this and the school will be screening them to see what they can do and set work/tasks accordingly. Mine also practiced undressing and dressing for PE as a homework as well as getting reading books almost immediately. We had an evening where the YR curriculum was explained I would expect to see it on line. You shouldn’t need to ask your child about the curriculum but I would ask if they would like a child to come home for tea.

No photos apart from some taken on the first day. I was so used to quite regular updates and a bit of a handover at pickup at preschool so it feels strange to not really know what’s going on.
He tells me if he’s pooed that day and if there was any toilet paper, good to know! 👍

They go to school in their PE kit and we haven’t had any books yet but he has come home with a few drawings

My DS has also just started reception and I don't get much info!

Today I know they painted thanks to the blue paint on his top.

My son has just started reception. The school are very good at uploading updates every day. He has done a scavenger hunt this week, forest school, pe, made a crown and learnt about carnivals, reading and playing cars. It looks great fun.

Last year they did some base lining in the first few weeks - so a teacher took DS aside and got him to count as far as he could and possibly did some other maths assessment that DS didn't remember. I'm assuming they did a phonics assessment as he started doing some blending just before half term.

Do you know what phonics reading scheme your school uses? If you know the scheme, you can look up what order they cover the sounds in. I found asking specifically about letters the best way to get some idea of what he'd learned again I think they started a couple of weeks in.

They also read them a story at least once a week, so asking if they've been read a story sometimes gets you somewhere.

Under normal times schools are supposed to put a curriculum statement up on their website for each term. In reception, they have a topic each half term - knowing what that is can give you some ideas for what to ask questions about. DS for example did traditional tales in the first half term - so stories like the gingerbread man with activities related to the story.

DD just started Reception. She is still on half days at the moment. She is quite good at telling us about her day. It apparently consists of play (inside and outside), toilet trips (due to COVID they go en masse!), snack time and a story. She has also had what sounds like a baseline assessment (how high can you count and some sort of reading challenge). She has done occasional activities like draw a picture of your family and write your name.

Once they are settled in I imagine they will do phonics and maths in the morning and lots of playing in the afternoon. There will be a fair amount of what they think is playing but is planned as a specific learning activity e.g. mixing paints to learn about colours.

There is absolutely no reason why a school cannot out its YR curriculum (edited) on its web site nor what its topics are for the term/year. It’s very remiss to leave parents in the dark. Also they should have weekly newsletters from the school with info. Or even from the YR/KS1 coordinator.

Lots of learning through play, learning the class rules (be kind, listening etc). Lots of telling of fairy tales through different mediums. Some number work, simple stuff Including story books that involve counting . There will be assessments but the children won’t realise that’s what they are. They would normally have sensory play but we aren’t allowed sand, play dough or shaving foam. And lots of washing of hands!

From what I could get out of him, painting, playing with blocks etc, reading, learning challenges (little booklets of work including picture matching etc)
Now I'd like to know what they do in year one! I get no info but he seems to hate it lol

Mine did songs, cutting and sticking, letter/number handwriting practice, number bonds to 10, models, balance bikes, learning about the local area, playing with toys, time on the mat where they’re read a story, painting and colouring (including holiday art, like Christmas decorations). I assume they read to someone, but barely heard anything about that. I swear he only read once in sept-March. We read lots at home though.

My DS hardly gives any information about year 1 at all! Oh wait, they did water play the other day! I only know as he fell over and bashed his face as he fell, so I happened to get a phone call. Otherwise, he can’t tell me who he’s seen, what he’s done or if break went well. All I got today was ‘someone drank from my water bottle’ (Um great, covid won’t be spreading here then). Still, more than other days, which tend to be just ‘I don’t like school or talking about school’. He’s articulate, but not when it comes to that! I think they can’t quite put it into the order they need to tell it sometimes, so anything that comes out tends to be at a time when something at home reminds them of something that happened at school.

Agree with all the above. Dd is y1 this year and I'm hearing much much less about her day now shes sat at a table most of the day.

I found asking "what did you do today" got me almost nothing, but asking some specific questions about different areas of school helped her remember. So try:
What did you do on the carpet today?
What did you do sitting at a table?
What did you do outside?
Did you do anything in the hall?
Who did you like playing with?
Did you have a partner? What did you do with them?
Did you have a story/sing songs/do writing/build something etc.
I used to ask a couple of those on the way home and get a bit more of a sense of what she got up to.

We’ve had (online) homework already and DS has been bringing home the sounds he has learned that week, plus some words to read.

He’s our third child to go through reception and he is the only one who has ever been able to tell us about his day. He plays outside a lot and does some counting with the teacher. He does “Ink Read” (which I know is really Read Write Inc ) every day and covers a new sound daily (he already covered phonics with me in lockdown so he’s finding this straightforward). Lots of letter formation for those who are ready.

I am getting a lot of girl drama but very little information about what they’ve actually done. I do know who played with who, who was left out etc. I didn’t think that all started at 4 but there is a lot of it.

I know mine has had a PE lesson (only from pictures) played mummies and daddies a lot and has done something with dinosaurs in the sandpit.