Ready For School

Working towards the National Curriculum

• English - talking and listening
• English - reading
• English - writing
• Mathematics
• Science and Technology
• History and Geography
• Physical Education
• Art and Music
• Information Technology and Audio Visual Media
• Religious Education

Working towards the National Curriculum

The reception class will be working within the Foundation Stage, which prepares children for the start of the National Curriculum and religious education, and the activities suggested here will be supportive.

Whatever they are doing, children are learning; the street or supermarket are good settings for learning. The individual attention and talk you can give at such times are invaluable.

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You can help with

English

Talking and listening

Talking and listening are the keys to reading and writing. Listen to and respond to your child's questions. Give children time to say things in their own words. Let them answer for themselves.

Encourage your child to:

• talk about many different things and experiences -
  their toys, books, animals, outings, the shops

• talk with different, known people -
  relatives, friends, visitors

• ask questions, explain, describe and imagine -
  why, what, how, I wonder, what if, I think

• discover and use new and harder words, longer sentences

• use names of things, colours, describing words -
  pretty, beautiful, attractive, sparkling

• listen more and more carefully in many different situations, take turns when talking with others -
  conversations, stories, tapes, listening games

Reading

Look at books with your child as often as you can. Take your child to the public library. The central library at Bexleyheath has a regular story time for under threes and each library has a regular story time. Read to your child every day. Show your child how a book works - where it starts, how to turn the pages, the difference between pictures and writing.

Encourage your child to:

• look at and enjoy different kinds of books -
  picture books, stories, information books, comics

• look after books carefully -
  put them away safely, not to draw in them

• look out for and try to read words around and about -
  own and others' names, labels, signs everywhere

Writing

Show your child the writing you do, read it aloud, and say what it's for, how it's helpful. Look together at the shopping list, see the address on the envelope.

If you show your child how to make letters, teach lower case (not capitals) first; for example -
party, Lesley, Ann

Encourage your child to:

• make early attempts at writing which may look just like scribble

• put a mark or name on cards and letters

• try out a range of different pencils, crayons, and pens

• make marks on the paper with you, to begin to be a writer

• hold pencils correctly

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You can help with

Mathematics

Opportunities for learning maths are easily found in every day life.

Encourage your child to:

• match and sort
  look for things that are the same and different -
  find all the blue bricks, sort out the big and little shoes, tidying toys, putting things back in the right place

• count
  count all kinds of things, synchronising the counting words to the things -
  look out for and recognise numbers everywhere, on houses, cars, birthday cards, packaging, etc.

• learn about size and shape
  look out for the shapes around and about, round things, straight edges,
  curved edges -
  in the house, in the street, shops, etc.
  
  find out the names of shapes and use them -
  2 dimensional shapes
  square, circle, triangle, oval
  3 dimensional shapes
  cubes, spheres

• order
  put things in order of size
  tallest to shortest, longest to shortest, biggest to smallest
  
  put things in sequence -
  I undress, I have a bath, I go to bed
  
  know the days of the week the months and seasons, and understand that they have an order

• play games
  dominoes, jigsaws, posting boxes, snakes and ladders, card games such as snap.

There are more detailed tips for reading and maths at the end of this guide.

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You can help with

Science and Technology

Try to answer your child's questions or to find things out together.

Encourage your child to:

• look at and talk about the interesting things around -
  unusual stones, insects, leaves, shells, the clouds, rain, shadows, changing seasons

• take an interest in how things work -
  the wheels on a toy car, how toy bricks fit together

• ask questions about things and events -
  why, what is it for, how does it work

• try things out and watch what happens -
  floating things, growing things, building things

• make things and see how they fit together -
  birthday cards, simple puppets, cakes, biscuits and bubbles

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You can help with

History and Geography

When you are out and about, talk with your child about:

• when you were a baby, toddler -
  make an album or scrap book

• old and new things

• differences between old and young people

• what happened yesterday, last week, a long time ago

• where the shops are

• how we travel to go on holiday

• different buildings and places.

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You can help with

Physical Education (PE)

Give your child lots of opportunities for indoor and outdoor play to develop good physical skills. Try not to use the car for short journeys! Try to take your child to different places, like playgrounds, parks, swimming pools - walk there, when you can.

Think about teaching your child to swim, or arranging for swimming lessons through Leisure Link.

Be careful where activities have safety implications. Inappropriate clothing or footwear, jewellery, especially necklaces and earrings, can catch and can cause injury.

Encourage your child to:

• thread beads on a lace, tie laces, button clothes and handle small things

• run, climb, skip, jump into a clear space, gallop, hop, balance

• throw and catch

• use different equipment like large and small balls, bats, a skipping rope

• make up their own games of throwing, catching, running, jumping

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You can help with

Art and Music

Help with your child's early attempts to paint, draw, model and make music.

Encourage your child to:

• use different materials and tools -
  brushes, crayons, fabrics, chalks, plasticine, playdough, paste and glue

• look at and think about pictures other people have made

• sing nursery rhymes and simple songs

• listen and respond to music -
  clapping, tapping, dancing, beating a rhythm

• talk about likes and dislikes in a picture, a piece of music, a song

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You can help with

Information Technology and Audio Visual Media

Many aspects of children's learning can be helped by careful choice of radio, television and video programmes, taped stories and music.

If you have access to a computer, software for the young is available. Computers with educational games are available in almost all Bexley libraries, where children and parents can work together on prereading and early number skills.

Encourage your child to:

• talk with you about what they see and hear

• enjoy word processing if there is a computer; even if you can't read the result, the child can often tell you what it says

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You can help with

Religious Education (RE)

Encourage your child to:

• recognise places of worship when you are out and about

• make the most of family celebrations, such as birthdays, weddings, and understand how important these events are to us