Jump to content
Home
Forum
Articles
About Us
Tapestry
This is the EYFS Staging Site ×

Q For Reception Teachers...


Guest

Recommended Posts

When you do literacy/numeracy tasks are they usually for an hour each day or just 20 minutes short tasks. Im new to reception from upper KS1 and have hardly any guidance from peers and spent along time on my timetable last night but im still unsure as to wheter i should be aiming to do literacy tasks for an hour each day or make them shorter.

 

Hope that makes sense :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do a short literacy and numeracy task each day whole class (10-15mins). Also phonics (20mins). Then do 2/3 small group activities a week on top of that. At this time of year these are often much shorter as they are still adapting to life in class. I think an hour might be a bit ambitious so would lean towards shorter sessions.

 

I guess if you count reading stories and role play etc. it probably adds up to at least an hour more or less.

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gosh, Scooby Doo, I might have an hours allocation or longer to complete a teaching focus and an adult led activity relating to it---depending on how many children in class but I would not at this stage of the school year expect all children to be engaged in literacy related activities for an hour. I have often tried to introduce that sort of structure within the Summer term but that very much depends on the children as I personally think it is more valuable to teach a skill than a routine which a literacy/ numeracy hour can so often be in Reception. You will also need to guided by your school and their expectation and how transition works into yr1.

I also like all children, or as many as possible to complete and activity on the same day after the input or it doesnt seem to me be a fair evaluation of progress or attainment. I might therefore start with my LA group rather than HA, especially as The HA children might actually take longer to complete the task.

Consequently I would not often be attempting to complete a numeracy and a literacy task every day although I would endeavor to provide some sort of teaching focus for both and Phonics everyday.

Hope that helps a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would say an hour a day is way too much! I do phonics everyday for 10-15mins. Then Literacy activities time twice a week, in which I put out anything related to Literacy and they choose from it. Before these 'literacy choosing times' I do a 10 min input and then during the time my TA observes and I take groups to do the task.

I also do 'News' and 'Show and Tell' e.g. - speaking and listening.

 

Here is my timetable:-

 

 

( well I am going to tryand upload it)Reception_class_timetable_09.doc

 

(ha i think thats it!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well i feel for you it must be confusing with a year 1 head on, i tend to have a whole morning for lit and then num, i do a ten min input and have lit or num activities set up in all the areas for the children to 'get busy' with. They also have 15min phoincs on top every day. As the year progressess we adapt it and for the final half term our trasistion policy is to run it like a year 1 class (a relaxed one though) x

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry but can I just say that the final term of reception should NOT be preparation for Y1 and should NOT be run like a Y1 class.

All the research and advice that is currently given is that Y1 should be run like reception in the Autumn term to enable transition.

 

“Schools should ensure that learning experiences in Year 1 build upon practical approaches and structured play in Year R”

HMI Report 2221 Transition from the Reception Years to year 1

 

http://www.nfer.ac.uk/research-areas/pims-...key-stage-1.cfm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a reception teacher of far too many years to mention we have been going round and round in circles about what we should and should not be doing in Reception. Now that we have the EYFS I had thought that things were pretty well organised and we could legitimately let the children steer their own learning with us aiding and abetting with PSRN and Letters and sounds AL/AF activitiies. Please don't rush the children into Year 1 let them move gently and most of them will not have completed the profiles anyway so will need to do so in Year 1. They have enough time in school ahead of them for formality- sorry but I needed a rant. Carmad

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not a case of using the last term to turn the children in year 1's, it's more a transition phase. We use it as an opportunity for the Year 1 teacher to come and get to know the children by joining in with our activities. The first half term or so in year 1 is very relaxed in our school and is run very similarly to the recpetion class - especially as for our January starters it's only their third term in school.

 

In the summer term we do not run our reception class exactly like a year 1 class, not all of the children are ready for it and it's not appropriate. But some of the children are ready to be Year 1, it's a case of doing what's right for the children and every class in everyschool will be ready for things at different times. I had a group of very able writers last year who wanted to work as a group without an adult during literacy sessions - as they had seen Year 1 children do. So we let them and they loved it.

 

We had our Ofsted inspection last year and I was asked about our transition from Reception to Year 1, and the inspector was an Early Years Specialist who was more than happy with our transition policy and said it was well differentiated to meet the needs of the children.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Jess,

Would it be possible for you to post a copy of your transition policy on here as I have been asked to write ours and starting from a blank sheet is quite hard. I know, in my mind, how we should be working but putting it all down on paper is harder. We have a new yr1 teacher who has no experience of transition so would be useful to have a look at what you do.

 

Thanks

Nicky Sussex :oxD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not a case of using the last term to turn the children in year 1's, it's more a transition phase. We use it as an opportunity for the Year 1 teacher to come and get to know the children by joining in with our activities. The first half term or so in year 1 is very relaxed in our school and is run very similarly to the recpetion class - especially as for our January starters it's only their third term in school.

 

I'm sure you don't Jess but lots of reception teachers are convinced by KS1/SMT that they should become more formal and Y1 like in the summer term when this is clearly not the case. Changing to prepare children for KS1 is wrong and I feel strongly about the pressure put on some teachers to change their classroom and the way they teach because reception is seen as a rehearsal for Y1.

As you say meeting the needs of individuals who want to spend more time sitting "working" is very different from organising the whole class ready or not to work at tables for long periods.

Our Y1 class works like reception but on a smaller scale (all year) and children cope very happily in KS1.

On a recent cpd day it was suggested that Y1/2 should both have freeflow and continuous access to the outdoor area

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be honest we don't have a written policy - I took over Reception last September after the previous teacher left leaving very little of anything behind. So I've had to prioritise getting things done and last year I was trying to get continuos provision planning, our curriculum overview written, re-writing our FS prospectus and developing assessment. They were the big things missing, and with Ofsted looming they needed doing. This year I'm looking at re-writing our FS policies. I'll have a look at what we've got in school and if it's worth posting I shall indeed. Otherwise I'll get back to you when I've done it!! :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On a recent cpd day it was suggested that Y1/2 should both have freeflow and continuous access to the outdoor area

 

Couldn't agree with you more Marion - in fact our KS1 team are working on doing just that at the moment. We're in the process of re-developing our outdoor area (which annoyingly means we lose it for this term) but it will include outdoor areas for both KS1 classrooms, which is fantastic. OUr school has a very long standing staff, some of whom are very used to the way things have always been. But we now have a KS1/FS team who are ready to embrace the changes, and hopefully things will start to look a little different - particularly in KS1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For Literacy I tend to do three activities on the carpet lasting 30 mins then go to the tables for 15/20 then let them explore (play) for 20/30 mins. So far it seems to be working, but we might change it after visiting other settings.

 

For Numeracy I have 15/20 mins on the carpet, again with three activities so they do not get bored and then go to the tables for 20mins then explore for a further 10 mins.

 

Like I said this might change over time. The school prefers reception to have a structure which I dont totally agree on but i have to do what I am told :D

Edited by Knoksk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. (Privacy Policy)