School Uniform.

Summer Uniform.

With the sunshine starting to warm up please can we remind you that due to the active nature of Reception, summer dresses or culottes are not part of our uniform policy and that as the weather gets warmer your child can wear a white t-shirt, black shorts or jogging bottoms and black trainers to school.

Week beginning 28th April 2025

Welcome back to school! We hope you all enjoyed a lovely, restful break. Please note that Friday 2nd May is an INSET day and school will be closed. Monday 5th May is a bank holiday and again, school will be closed. We will return to school on Tuesday 6th May.

Our learning this week:

Topic: This half term we are learning about transport! This week we will be focusing our learning on space transport. We will find out how astronauts travel to space and the different vehicles that they might use to explore space. We will then encourage the children to design their own space vehicles!

Phonics:

Mrs Tarrant This week we will be reading and writing words with two or more digraphs, such as shimmer, tooth and corner. The tricky words we will be continuing to read are: no, of, to, into, she, he, and we. The children will also be learning to write the tricky words: to, into, she and we.

Miss Aldred: This week in Phonics, we will be focusing on the digraphs (2 letters which make 1 sound) ur, ow and oi e.g. fur, owl, boing and the trigraph (3 letters which make 1 sound) ear e.g. hear. The children will also be using their grapheme knowledge to support them when blending to read words and sentences and segmenting sounds when writing. The tricky words we will be recapping and encouraging the children to read are: into, was, you and they. We will also be learning to write the tricky words: my, by and all.

Miss Rose: This week we will be learning to recognise the graphemes v, w, x and y. The tricky words we will be learning to read are, and, his, has and her. We will also be working hard to segment sounds to spell words such as, sock, sad and hug.

Miss Royce / Mrs Calvert / Mrs Hall / Mrs Garcia: This week we will be reading and writing words with consonant blends in such as string, crisp and script. The tricky words we are learning to read are, were, here, little and says. We will also be writing these tricky words.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be continuing our learning on recognising numerals up to and beyond 20. The children will be using their place value knowledge to support them when sequencing numbers. We will also be counting beyond 20.

Drawing Club: This week, we will be exploring and talking about the story, “How to Catch a Star” by Oliver Jeffers. The children will be learning new vocabulary linked to the story and will be focusing on the main character, setting and events/adventures. We will be encouraging the children to use their imagination to draw their own character, setting and adventure pictures! As well as drawing, the children will be using their Phonics to sound out special passwords and super sentences for their pictures! The vocabulary the children will be learning and encouraged to use will be: adventure, determination, thoughtful, reaching, lonely, elated and resilient.

PSHE:  This week in PSHE we will be learning about different strategies we can use to help us to find a friend at times when we feel lonely. We will discuss the word ‘lonely’ and talk about what it means to feel lonely and will then think of ways we can make a friend and words we might use when we speak to our friends.

RE: This week in RE we will be continuing our learning about special items and will explore how we look after them and how we might feel if we ever lost our special items.

PE: In PE this half term our focus is on gymnastics. This week we will be learning to create shapes with our bodies. The children will be encouraged to create a tuck shape, to squeeze their muscles to help keep their shapes and to straighten their arms and legs when holding straight and star shapes.

Week beginning 21^st April 2025

Thank you all ever so much for your support this term. We would like to wish you all a safe and enjoyable Easter break and look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Tuesday 22^nd April.

Parent volunteers

The whole of Reception would like to thank everyone who was able to volunteer their time to support all of our classes on their recent trips to Nower Wood.
 

Junk Modelling request

If you have any kitchen roll tubes we would love these for our junk modelling areas as we will be busy making models of different methods of transport this week!

Our learning this week:

Topic: This half term we are learning about transport! This week we will be focusing our learning on transport we see around us and how different vehicles have changed from the past to now.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be learning to recognise numerals and count up to 20. The children will also be looking at patterns they notice when counting from 10-20 and 0-20.

Drawing Club: This week, we will be exploring and talking about the animation "Wacky Races". The children will be learning new vocabulary linked to the story and will be focusing on the main character, setting and events/adventures. We will be encouraging the children to use their imagination to draw their own character, setting and adventure pictures! As well as drawing, the children will be using their Phonics to sound out special passwords and super sentences for their pictures! The vocabulary the children will be learning and encouraged to use will be: accelerate, breaking, hazard, steering, chuckle, demolish and overtake.

PSHE:  This week in PSHE we will be learning about different jobs members of our family do. To support the children in talking about their families and the jobs they do we would be very grateful if you are able to upload a family photograph onto Tapestry by Wednesday 22^nd April. If you wear an identifiable uniform such as paramedic, policeman, dentist, vet, builder, pilot etc. We would also really appreciate it if you could upload a picture of yourself wearing your uniform, it would be a lovely talking point for the children to explore different elements of your job. Thank you in advance!

RE: This week in RE we will be exploring what ‘special’ means. It would be much appreciated if you are able to upload a photograph of your child with a special item onto Tapestry. This could be an item a loved one has bought them, an item that they got whilst on holiday, an item they have had since they were a baby etc. We will then share this photograph with the class and your child will be able to talk about this item and why this item is special to them. We would be very grateful if this can be uploaded by Wednesday 22^nd April.

PE: In PE this half term our focus is on gymnastics. This week we will be learning to create shapes with our bodies. The children will be encouraged to create a tuck shape, to squeeze their muscles to help keep their shapes and to straighten their arms and legs when holding straight and star shapes.

Week beginning 31st March 2025

Nower Wood – Robin and Wren

Monday 31^st March the children will be going to Nower Wood for their trip. Please ensure the children come to school with a packed lunch, wearing their school uniform and sensible, warm shoes such as wellington boots or trainers appropriate for the weather.

School Uniform.

Summer Uniform.

With the sunshine starting to warm up please can we remind you that due to the active nature of Reception, summer dresses or culottes are not part of our uniform policy and that as the weather gets warmer your child can wear a white t-shirt, black shorts or jogging bottoms and black trainers to school.

Our learning this week:

Topic: In our topic learning this week, we are learning all about mythical creatures and how these are not real animals. As part of this learning, we will be sorting real and mythical creatures.

Phonics:

Mrs Tarrant / Miss Aldred: This week in Phonics, we will be recapping all of our learning this half term. We will be revising all of the Phase 3 digraphs and trigraphs. The children will be using their grapheme knowledge to support them when blending to read words and sentences and segmenting sounds when writing. The tricky words we will be recapping and encouraging the children to read are: are, sure, pure, into, she, push, he, we, me, be and of.

Miss Rose: This week we will be revising all of the graphemes we have learnt so far this half term. The children will be continuing to develop their oral blending and will be blending sounds to read CVC words such as, hat, big, fin and luck. The children will also revise the tricky words: the, is and I.

Mrs Ibbotson: This week we will be continuing our learning of the digraphs (2 letters which make 1 sound), sh, th, ng and nk. The children will be working hard to blend sounds to read words with these digraphs in and will be segmenting sounds to spell words such as, chip, shed, this and wing. The tricky words we will be learning to read are, she, he and of.

Miss Royce / Mrs Calvert / Mrs Hall / Mrs Garcia: This week we will be revising our learning all about how to read and write longer words. The tricky words we will be continuing to read are: you, they, all, by, my, are sure and pure.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be learning about patterns. The children will be challenged to create and continue 3 and 4 part patterns.

Drawing Club: This week we will be exploring and talking about the animation "Mr Benn, The Zookeeper", the children will be learning new vocabulary linked to the story and will be focusing on the main character, setting and events/adventures. We will be encouraging the children to use their imagination to draw their own character, setting and adventure pictures! As well as drawing, the children will be using their Phonics to sound out special passwords and super sentences for their pictures! The vocabulary the children will be learning and encouraged to use will be: liberate, capture, habitat, tearful, protect, shelter, release and forlorn.

PSHE: This week in PSHE we will be exploring our safe adults. We will discuss things that our safe adults do to look after us and keep us safe such as take us to and from school, making sure we have clean clothes to wear, making us dinner etc. We will also discuss things we should say and do if we are ever approached by someone unknown.

RE: This week in RE we will learn about how important it is to look after the world around us and will think about ways that we can help to look after the world.

DT – Food and Nutrition -Cooking: This week we will be cooking mushroom croustades! The children will be focusing on the skills of mixing and stirring ingredients, cutting out ingredients and will focus on the language of taste, smell, texture and feel.  If you would like to make these at home the recipe is at the top of this page.

Week beginning 24th March 2025

Monday 24th March: Nower Wood – Finch and Owl

On Monday 24^th March the children from Finch Class and Owl Class will be going to Nower Wood for their trip. Please ensure the children come to school with a packed lunch, wearing their school uniform and sensible, warm coasts and shoes appropriate for the weather.

Boxes for Maths

Next week we are learning about 3D shapes. With this in mind, we would love any empty pringles tubes, Toblerone boxes, cube or cuboid boxes for our provision.

Our learning this week:

Topic: In our topic learning this week, we are learning all about endangered animals such as, the Red Panda, Black Rhino and Indian and African elephants. We will also learn about extinct animals such as dinosaurs, Dodos and Woolly Mammoths.

Phonics:

Mrs Tarrant / Miss Aldred: This week in Phonics, we will be focusing on reading longer words using the strategy of chunking to help us when reading these longer words such as, sunset, velvet and pocket. The children will using their grapheme knowledge to support them when blending to read words and sentences and segmenting sounds when writing. The tricky words we will be recapping and encouraging the children to read are: are, sure, pure, into, she, push, he, we, me, be and of.

Miss Rose: This week we will be learning the graphemes, h, b, f and l. The children will be developing their oral blending and will be blending sounds to read CVC words such as, hat, big, fin and luck. The children will also learn the tricky word: the. We will continue to read the tricky words is and I.

Mrs Ibbotson: This week we will be learning the digraphs (2 letters which make 1 sound), sh, th, ng and nk. The children will be working hard to blend sounds to read words with these digraphs in and will be segmenting sounds to spell words such as, shop, moth, thing and pink. The tricky words we will be learning to read are, she, he and of.

Miss Royce / Mrs Calvert / Mrs Hall / Mrs Garcia: This week we will be reading and writing longer words which end in ‘s’, such as chairs, boots and fizzes. We will learn how the ‘s’ at the end of the word can make a ‘z, s or iz’ sound. The tricky words we will be continuing to read are: you, they, all, by, my, are sure and pure.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be learning about 3D shapes. We will be matching 3D shapes and looking for 2D shapes on the faces of the 3D shapes. We will also be sorting 3D shapes based on their properties and will be exploring our classrooms for different 3D shapes we can see!

Drawing Club: In Drawing Club this week we will be reading ‘The Dinosaur Who Pooped a Planet’ by Dougie Poynter and Tom Fletcher. We will be drawing the character and setting, we will then be going on adventures with the story. As well as drawing, the children will be using their phonics to sound out special passwords for their pictures! The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, week, gnaw, marooned, regret, secure, absent, rancid and plump.

PSHE: This week in PSHE we will be learning about the importance of keeping clean and why we must wash our hands before eating or after going to the toilet.

RE: This week in RE we will learn about the feeling of pride and will think of a time when we have worked hard to create something we are proud of. We will also discuss how we should still look after things even if they do not belong to us.

PE: In PE this week we will be learning how to dribble a ball using our feet. We will be teaching the children how to stop a ball using their foot and how important it is to keep the ball close to our feet when moving and dribbling with the ball.

Week beginning 17th March 2025

INSET Day

Please note school will be closed on Wednesday 19^th March for an INSET day.

Friday 21^st March 2025 - Red Nose Day:

On this day the children are invited to wear something red to school. We are kindly asking everyone to bring in £1 or more. Cash donations can either be brought in and given straight to the class teacher or donated via Scopay.

Our learning this week:

Topic: In our topic learning this week we will be learning all about British Wildlife. We will learn the names of animals such as hedgehogs, foxes and deer. We will also use the vocabulary herbivore, carnivore, omnivore and nocturnal.

Phonics:

Mrs Tarrant / Miss Aldred: This week in Phonics, we will be focusing on the digraphs (2 letters which make 1 sound) er e.g. digger and the trigraph air e.g. hair. The children will also be learning to read words with double letters in e.g. ladder, rabbit and digger. The children will using their grapheme knowledge to support them when blending to read words and sentences and segmenting sounds when writing. The tricky words we will be recapping and encouraging the children to read are: my, by, all, no and go. We will also be learning to read and write the new tricky words: are, pure and sure.

Miss Rose: This week we will be learning the graphemes, ck, e, u and r. The children will be developing their oral blending and will be blending sounds to read CVC words such as, pet, duck, red, mud and sock. The children will also learn the tricky word: I.

Mrs Ibbotson: This week we will be learning the digraphs (2 letters which make 1 sound), sh, th, ng and nk. The children will be working hard to blend sounds to read words with these digraphs in and will be segmenting sounds to spell words such as, shop, moth, thing and pink. The tricky words we will be learning to read are, she, he and of.

Miss Royce / Mrs Calvert / Mrs Hall / Mrs Garcia: This week we will be reading and writing longer words which end in 'ing', such as zooming, singing and waiting. We will also be learning about compound words where two separate words come together to make one word e.g. popcorn, carpark and rooftop. The tricky words we will be continuing to read are: he, we, me, be, was, you, they and all.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be learning about doubles of numbers up to 10 and number bonds up to 10.

Drawing Club: In Drawing Club this week we will be reading ‘The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew it Was None of His Business’ by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch. We will be drawing the character and setting, we will then be going on adventures with the story. As well as drawing, the children will be using their phonics to sound out special passwords for their pictures! The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, plops, splish splash, flump plump, rat a tat tat, pliperty plop, kersplosh, plop plat, pling, consistency and onomatopoeia

PSHE: This week in PSHE we will be exploring what happens to our bodies when we go to sleep and the benefits of getting a good night sleep every night.

RE: This week in RE we will recap what we learnt about looking after our planet, we will then explore what other areas on our planet we need to look after and what we think would happen if we did not look after our world. In addition to this, we will be discussing how we look after our school and why we do this.

PE: In PE this week we will be learning how to bounce and catch a ball. We will be encouraging the children to catch a ball with 2 hands and will practice this by catching a ball after it has bounced once. We will also throw the ball upwards to then catch it. If you have a ball at home it would be great if you could practice these skills as well!

Week beginning 10th March 2025.

STEM Week. This week is STEM week (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Our focus in Reception is with our ducklings and observing how they change over time. We are all enjoying having the ducklings in our classes and it has been wonderful to see how enthusiastic the children have when learning how to care for them and how observant they are being as they see how the ducklings are growing!

Role Play Clothing:

If you are having a clear out and have any real life clothing and not dressing up costumes we would love to add them to our role play areas. We are ideally looking for shirts, hats, waistcoats, suits, trousers or jumpers between the ages of 5-8.

Junk Modelling.

We are always very grateful to receive the following items for our junk modelling areas - cereal boxes, egg boxes, kitchen roll tubes and clean, washed out plastic cartons. We do ask that no meats containers or toilet roll tubes are brought into school.

Our learning this week:

Topic: This week we will be continuing our learning all about ducklings, how we can care for them and how they have grown and changed since they have been with us. We will also be learning about farm animals and the names of their young.

Phonics:

Mrs Tarrant / Miss Aldred: This week in Phonics, we will be focusing on the digraphs (2 letters which make 1 sound) ur, ow and oi e.g. fur, owl, boing and the trigraph ear e.g. hear. The children will also be using their grapheme knowledge to support them when blending to read words and sentences and segmenting sounds when writing. The tricky words we will be recapping and encouraging the children to read are: into, was, you and they. We will also be learning to write the tricky words: my, by and all.

Miss Rose: This week we will be learning the graphemes, g, o, c and k. The children will be developing their oral blending and will be blending sounds to read CVC words such as, dig, pot, cat and kid. The children will also learn the tricky word: is.

Mrs Ibbotson: This week we will be learning the graphemes, z, zz, qu and ch. The children will be working hard to blend sounds to read CVC words and will be segmenting sounds to spell words such as, chip, quit, zap and buzz. The tricky words we will be learning to read are, go, no, to and into. 

Miss Royce / Mrs Calvert / Mrs Hall and Mrs Garcia: This week we will be reading and writing words with two or more digraphs, such as shimmer, tooth and corner. The tricky words we will be continuing to read are: no, of, to, into, she, he, and we. The children will also be learning to write the tricky words: to, into, she and we.

Drawing Club: This week we will be exploring the story ‘Chicken Licken by Mara Alperin’. The children will be learning new vocabulary linked to the story and will be focusing on the main character, setting and events/adventures. We will be encouraging the children to use their imagination to draw their own character, setting and adventure pictures! As well as drawing, the children will be using their Phonics to sound out special passwords and super sentences for their pictures! The vocabulary the children will be learning and encouraged to use will be: devoured, crafty, royal, parading, smirking, gullible and hysterical.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be learning to find one more and one less than a number up to 10. We will also be learning to combine two groups to find a total amount and will be identifying number bonds for numbers up to 10.

PSHE: This week in PSHE we will be focusing on healthy and less healthy foods. We will sort some different foods as to whether they are healthy or less healthy. We will then discuss whether we should never eat less healthy food; furthermore, we will be discussing what healthy and less healthy food does to our bodies.

RE: This week in RE we will continue to look at the world, we will be focusing on how we look after the world and what happens when we don’t look after it.

PE: In PE this week we will be learning to develop our accuracy when throwing a ball to a target. We will encourage the children to keep their eye of the target and to let go of the ball when they are throwing it ensuring that their fingertips are pointing towards the target aiming for where they want the ball to land.

Week beginning 3^rd March 2025. 

World Book Day: Thursday 6th March.

We are all looking forward to World Book Day on Thursday 6th March. During the day we will busy reading with Year 3, learning about World Book Day with an assembly and the children will take part in a costume parade.

The children are also invited to dress up as a book character. It can be a fictional character or someone/something featuring in a non-fiction text. We do not want families spending money on expensive costumes; be creative with resources you may already have. There are many ideas online if you search for world book day homemade costumes.

We are also hosting a Book Swap Event. We are inviting each child to bring a book they no longer want and like to swap for another book. We will have the opportunity to visit the Book Swap Station during World Book Day. Please ensure the book is in good condition and age appropriate. Please bring your book to swap on Monday 3rd March.

Egg boxes and bubble wrap:

If you have any empty egg boxes or bubble wrap we would be very grateful for them in Reception!

Role Play Clothing:

If you are having a clear out and have any real life clothing and not dressing up costumes we would love to add them to our role play areas. We are ideally looking for shirts, hats, waistcoats, suits, trousers or jumpers between the ages of 5-8.

Our learning this week:

Topic: This week we are continuing our learning all about minibeasts and will be learning about the different habitats where we might find minibeasts. We are also very excited to be welcoming the ducklings into our classes. We will be busy learning about the life cycle of a duckling and how to care for them as they grow.

Phonics:

Mrs Tarrant / Miss Aldred: This week in Phonics, we will be focusing on the digraphs (2 letters which make 1 sound) long oo, short oo, ar and or e.g. moon, book, dark and horn. The children will also be using their grapheme knowledge to support them when blending to read words and sentences and segmenting sounds when writing. The tricky words we will be recapping and encouraging the children to read are: and, push, was, you and they. We will also be learning to write the tricky words: was, you and they.

Miss Royce / Mrs Calvert / Mrs Hall and Mrs Garcia: This week we will reviewing the graphemes, "er" and "air". We will also be reading and writing words with double letters such as, "better" and "pattern". The children will also be learning to 'chunk' words where we break up the word to support us when reading longer words  e.g. "fantastic" would be chunked as "fan / tas / tic". The tricky words we will be continuing to read are: full, push, and, go, no and of.

Miss Rose: This week we will be learning the graphemes, I, n, m and d. The children will be developing their oral blending and will be blending sounds to read CVC words such as,  tip, nap and man.

Mrs Ibbotson: This week we will be learning the graphemes, v, w, x and y. The children will be working hard to blend sounds to read CVC words and will be segmenting sounds to spell words such as, sock, sad and hug. The tricky words we will be learning to read are, and, has, his and her.  

Drawing Club: In Drawing Club this week we will be exploring a clip from the animation ‘A Bugs Life’ A BUG'S LIFE Clip - "Princess Atta" (1998) - YouTube. We will be drawing the character and setting, we will then be going on adventures with the animation. As well as drawing, the children will be using their phonics to sound out special passwords for their pictures! The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, exhausting, inventor, anxious, panicking, terrified, determined, collecting and talkative.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be learning to identify and represent numbers 9 and 10. We will sorting quantities into 9, 10, more than or less than 9 or 10 and will also be encouraging the children to subitise higher numbers by looking for smaller groups within these higher numbers i.e. 9 can be seen as 3, 3 and 3 or 5 and 4.

RE: This week in RE we will be going on a ‘WOW walk’ around the school, we will be looking out for things that make us say wow.  We will then be discussing things that are beautiful and wonderful in this world as well as things we are thankful for and why we are thankful. Furthermore we will be exploring things that are natural and things that are man-made around the world.

PSHE: This week in PSHE we will be playing the ‘Bean game’, we will then discuss how are bodies are feeling after exercising. We will recap some of the sports we discussed last week and have a go acting these out in small groups in front of the whole class. We will also do a cool down stretch and name different body parts.

PE: In PE this week, we will be learning the skill of stopping a moving ball using our hands and feet. We will be encouraging the children to ensure their eyes are watching the ball and that they move their feet towards the ball when it is moving.

Phonics support: Phase 3 Sounds:

Here is a link to the scheme we are using with all of the correct pronunciations for each Phase 3 sound: https://youtu.be/DvOuc7cWXxc

Please click on Phase 3 sounds taught in Reception Spring 1.

You can support your child to learn these graphemes by:

• Playing hide and seek - write grapheme cards and hide them around your home, can your child tell you the grapheme they have found?
• Play teachers and encourage your child to be the teacher and teach you or their siblings each grapheme.
• Flashcard each grapheme - how quickly can you say all of the sounds you see?
• Make a matching set of cards - your child could write each new flashcard and play snap or pairs with your two sets.
• Go on a Phonics scavinger hunt - choose a grapheme card - what can your child find which has the sound on the card? e.g. oi - Can your children find something with the oi digraph in such as a c-oi-n.
• Look back through the Phonics home learning sheets above and continue to learn tricky words and read words with the digraphs we have learnt this term.

Here is a link which explains how we encourage the children to read and blend sounds in words: https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/ 

Please click on - How we teach - How we teach blending.

We would like to wish you all a happy and relaxed half term break. We are looking forward to welcoming the children back to school on Monday 24th February.

Week beginning 24.02.25

Our learning this week:

Topic: This half term we are learning all about amazing animals! This week we are learning about minibeasts and we will be naming and finding out about the features of different minibeasts.

Phonics: In Phonics this week we are learning to read words with all of the digraphs we have learnt. The tricky words we will be recapping are: the, I, put, pull and full. We will also be working hard to segment and spell words with digraphs in such as, food, sort and join.

Drawing Club: In Drawing Club this week we will be reading the story ‘Superworm by Julia Donaldson’. We will be drawing the character and setting. We will then be going on adventures with the story. As well as drawing, the children will be using their phonics to sound out special passwords for their pictures! The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, zooming, superhuman, timid, heroic, calamity, wriggling and indestructible.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be exploring the numbers 9 and 10 and representing them in different ways. The children will complete a series of short games in pairs and groups to compare different quantities and order numerals from 0 to 10. 

PSHE: This week in PSHE we will be exploring different sports and exercises the children engage in. Furthermore we will be discussing why we enjoy these sports and how we learnt to do them with lots of practice. We will also be discussing what happens to our bodies when we exercise. We would appreciate it if you are able to upload some photographs onto tapestry of your children engaging in their favourite sport/ exercise/ physical activity outside of school. Photographs of certificates or medals that the children have received for these activities would also be super so that we can share these during our PSHE lesson on Thursday. Thank you in advance for your support.

RE: Our RE focus this half-term is ‘what makes our world beautiful’.  This week we will begin to learn about some of the creation stories from different religions. We will then be comparing similarities and differences between the creation stories.

PE: We will be working hard to roll a ball to a target. We will encourage the children to ensure their hand holding the ball is pointing at the target when they release the ball and to bend down low and step forwards when they roll the ball.

Week beginning 10^th February 2025

Phonics support

Please do see the above links to documents for additional support for both the sounds and tricky words that we are teaching the children this half term 

Junk modelling:

Junk modelling: If you have any cardboard tubes we would love them for our creative activities next week! We do ask that toilet roll tubes are not brought into school.

Internet Safety Day:

On Wednesday 11th February it is Safer Internet Day. The children will be listening to a story all about keeping safe on the internet. We will also be learning about different technology the children use. If you have any photos of your children using different technology please do upload them to your child's Tapestry learning journal and we will share these with the class as we discover different technology!

Our learning this week:

Topic: We are continuing our learning about planting and growing and this week we will be learning all about the parts of a plant, the language we will be using is: stem, leaf, petal, roots and flowers. We are also excited to start planting our own seeds to look after at school!

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be reviewing all of the digraphs and trigraphs we have learnt this half term. The children will be continuing to read and write the tricky words: was, you, they, all, my, by, are, sure and pure. We will also be reading sentences using the graphemes we have learnt this half term.

Drawing Club: In Drawing Club this week we will be reading the story ‘Jaspers Beanstalk’ by Nick Butterworth. We will be drawing the character and setting. We will then be going on adventures with the story. As well as drawing, the children will be using their phonics to sound out special passwords for their pictures! The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, discovered, observed, frustrated, hurled, trickle and delighted.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be learning all about length and height using the vocabulary of short, long, tall, tallest, shortest and longest. The children will be comparing the length and height of items and will be ordering them from the shortest to the tallest or the longest to the shortest.

PSHE: We will be discussing how all of our current learning can help us when we are older and will talk about the skills needed for jobs we might like to do when we grow up. For example, a chef needs to be able to read recipes to cook different meals and builders need to be able to recognise numbers when measuring using a tape measure.

RE: We will continue to learn about books that are special in different religions. This week we will be learning about the Torah and how it is respected by members of the Jewish faith.

PE: This week we will be exploring different ways to travel over equipment. The children will be encouraged to bend their knees when jumping and landing, march with high knees, crawl using their hands and feet and slide on their tummies or backs.

Week beginning 3^rd February 2025

Noticeboard:

Phonics support

Please do see the above links to documents for additional support for both the sounds and tricky words that we are teaching the children this half term 

Junk modelling:

If you have any junk modelling such as kitchen roll tubes, bottle lids, corks, cereal boxes or washed out tubs which you no longer require please send them into school for our junk modelling areas, the children love to be creative and make amazing models! Please can we ask that boxes or containers which have contained nuts or meat are not sent into school.

Hedgehog words:

Please remember to return your hedgehog tricky word sheets to school in order to get your new hedgehog words!

Children’s Mental Health Week:

This week is children's mental health week and this year the theme is ‘Know yourself, Grow yourself’. The children will be taking part in activities that encourage them to learn about themselves so that they can learn strategies to help them to stay calm even in tricky situations. As part of this week, the children are invited to wear their own clothes on Wednesday 5th February.

Our learning this week:

Topic: For our topic learning this week we will be learning all about the different seasons and what plants we might see growing in each season. We will also be exploring what seeds need to grow. In addition to this we will be busy becoming scientists and will be developing our skills of being able to make observations and describing what we notice!

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be reviewing all of the sounds we have learnt this half term. The children will be learning to read longer words such as, ‘carpet’, ‘chicken’ and ‘magnet’ by using the method of ‘chunking’ for example, when reading the word ‘rocket’ we will break the word into two parts and will read ‘rock’ then ‘et’, we will then bring the two words together to read the word ‘rocket’. We will also learn about compound words such as ‘carpark’ and ‘farmyard’. The tricky words we are continuing to read are: are, sure, pure, into, she, push, he, we, me, be and of.

Drawing Club: In Drawing Club this week we will be reading the story ‘The Tiny Seed’ by Eric Carle. We will be drawing the character and setting. We will then be going on adventures with the story. As well as drawing, the children will be using their phonics to sound out special passwords for their pictures! The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be: glide, descend, grow, journey and enormous. We will also encourage the children to talk about the different seasons we see in the story.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be finding one more and one less than a number up to 10. We will also be exploring pairs and will also introduce the terms odd and even to the children. In addition to this, we will begin to learn about doubling and will be sorting images on whether they are showing us a double or not and will be doubling numbers up to 10.

PSHE: For our PSHE learning this week and to link back to children’s mental health week, the children will be encouraged to think about something they like, something they are good at and what makes them special.

RE: We will continue to learn about books that are special in different religions. We will also be learning that some stories within these books are about special people.

PE: In PE this week, we will be focusing on the skill of hopping. We will be learning the skills of needing to bend our knees when we are landing and to keep our chests up to help keep our balance.

Week beginning 27^th January 2025.

Phonics support

Please do see the above links to documents for additional support for both the sounds and tricky words that we are teaching the children this half term 

Noticeboard:

If you have any junk modelling such as kitchen roll tubes, bottle lids, corks, cereal boxes or washed out tubs which you no longer require please send them into school for our junk modelling areas, the children love to be creative and make amazing models! Please can we ask that boxes or containers which have contained nuts or meat are not sent into school.

Our learning this week:

Topic: This week for our topic learning we will be focusing on Art and painting. We will be teaching the children the skills and process of painting e.g. ensuring we have enough paint on our brush when painting, mixing two primary colours to create a secondary colour and how to change the shade and tint of a colour by adding the colours black and white.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be focusing on the digraph (2 letters which make 1 sound) er e.g. digger and the trigraph air e.g. hair. The children will also be learning to read words with double letters in e.g. ladder, rabbit and digger. The children will using their grapheme knowledge to support them when blending to read words and sentences and segmenting sounds when writing. The tricky words we will be recapping and encouraging the children to read are: my, by, all, no and go. We will also be learning to read and write the new tricky words: are, pure and sure.

Drawing club: This week we will be exploring the traditional tale ‘Jack and the beanstalk’. We will be drawing the character and setting. We will then be going on adventures with the story. As well as drawing, the children will be using their Phonics to sound out special passwords for their pictures! The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, ‘clambering’, ‘booming’, ‘descending’, ‘glittering’, ‘ginormous’ and ‘shocking’.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be learning all about the composition of the numbers 6, 7 and 8. The children will be encouraged to represent these amounts using tens frames and will be shopping to find 6, 7 or 8 items in the classroom!

RE: We will continue to learn about books that are special in different religions. This week we will be learning about the Qur'an. We will be discussing how we know this book is special and how people from the Islam faith look after this book.

PSHE: We will continue to focus on how we overcome challenges and become more resilient. We will be thinking about how positive words can help us achieve our goals and how negative words may have the opposite effect. We will be linking this to our Zones of regulation to discuss how both positive and negative words can make someone feel.

Week beginning 20^th January 2025.

Noticeboard:

If you have any junk modelling which you no longer require please send them into school for our junk modelling areas, the children love to be creative and make amazing models! Please can we ask that boxes or containers which have contained nuts or meat are not sent into school. Here are some examples of what we would love for our making areas!

ribbon or wool

kitchen roll tubes

bottle lids

corks

cereal boxes

washed out plastic tubs or bottles

Our learning this week:

Topic: This week we are learning all about traditional tales. The children will learn how traditional tales are stories which have been passed down for many generations and can be very well-known. We will also talk about how sometimes the same story can have a different ending and this is because authors, families and communities have changed the story slightly as it has been retold. In addition to this, we will encourage the children to use the vocabulary of beginning, setting, characters and ending.

Drawing club: This week we will be exploring the traditional tale ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. We will be drawing the character and setting. We will then be going on adventures with the story. The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be: caring, mischievous, snooping, greedy, thoughtful and crafty.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be learning all about mass and capacity. The children will be encouraged to compare quantities using the vocabulary associated with weight such as heavy and light and capacity such as empty and full.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be focusing on the digraphs (2 letters which make 1 sound) ur, ow and oi e.g. fur, owl, boing and the trigraph ear e.g. hear. The children will also be using their grapheme knowledge to support them when blending to read words and sentences and segmenting sounds when writing. The tricky words we will be recapping and encouraging the children to read are: into, was, you and they. We will also be learning to write the tricky words: my, by and all.

PSHE: We will continue to focus on how we overcome challenges and become more resilient. Furthermore we will be setting goals for things we would like to improve on and working towards these goals over the next few weeks.

RE: We will continue to learn about books that are special in different religions. We will be learning how some stories within these books are about people who are special to different faiths. This week, we will be reading a story from the Bible and talking about how Christian’s see Jesus as a special figure in their religion.

Week beginning 13^th January 2025

Welcome back! We hope you all enjoyed a restful Christmas break and we would like to wish you all a Happy New Year! The children have settled back into school brilliantly and have been busy learning all about the season of Winter.

Donations-

• If families are able to donate any leftover Christmas ribbon or wool that would be much appreciated.
• We are also in need of rice or pasta, empty Pringle cans, boxes or kitchen roll for our creative activities this week.
• If you able to collect some sticks during the weekend that would also be greatly appreciated.

Our learning this week:

Topic: This week we will be learning all about the weather. The children will be finding out about and naming different types of weather we see throughout the year.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be focusing on the digraphs (2 letters which make 1 sound) long oo, short oo, ar and or e.g. moon, book, dark and horn. The children will also be using their grapheme knowledge to support them when blending to read words and sentences and segmenting sounds when writing. The tricky words we will be recapping and encouraging the children to read are: and, push, was, you and they. We will also be learning to write the tricky words: was, you and they.

Drawing club: This week we will be exploring the story book ‘One Snowy Night’ by Nick Butterworth. We will be drawing the character and setting. We will then be going on adventures with the story. The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, gloomy, nuzzled, spooked, chortle, thump and pair.

Maths: This week in Maths we will be focussing on numbers 0-5 and finding one more and one less. We will also be subitising and exploring the composition of the number 5.

RE: We will be learning about books that are special in different religions. The first book we will be learning about is the Qur’an.

PSHE: We will continue to focus on how we overcome challenges and become more resilient.

Wow! What a busy first term we have had at school and what a wonderful way to finish school with our wonderful Christmas sing a longs! The children were all incredible and worked ever so hard to learn all of the songs and actions! We hope you all enjoyed the performances as much as we did!

We would also like to thank you all so much for your generosity and kind gifts and cards. We  would like to wish you all a wonderful and restful holiday and look forward to seeing you all back at school on Monday 6^th January 2025!

RE: If your child has a special story please do pop a photo of your child and their favourite story onto Tapestry by Wednesday 8th January 2025 and we will look forward to sharing these with the children.

Week beginning 6.1.25

Our learning this week:

Topic: This week in our topic lesson we will be introducing the season of winter. We will find out about what we notice with the weather during the winter, what clothes we need to wear to keep warm, the flowers we might see and what animals do during the winter.

Drawing club: This week in Drawing Club we will be listening to the story ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’ We will be drawing the character and the setting. We will then be going on adventures with the story. The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, ‘courageous’, ‘wandering’, ‘encounter’, ‘gusty’, ‘snuggle’ and ‘slumber’’

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be learning to match numerals and quantities up to 5. We will also be learning about the importance of the number 0.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning the digraphs (2 letters that make 1 sound) ai, ee, oa and the trigraph (three letters which make one sound) igh. The tricky words we will read are are, the, I put, pull and full. We will also learn to write these tricky words. We will continue to recognise these tricky words: go, no, to, into, he, she, push and of. The children will also be learning to read short phrases and will be using their segmenting skills to help them when writing short words such as rain, feet, night and boat.

PSHE: This week in PSHE we will be starting our new topic based on our dreams and goals. The children will be learning about the importance of not giving up and persevering even when we find something to be a little tricky.

RE: This week we will begin our learning about special stories from different faiths. This week we will find out about our own special stories and think about why they are special to us. If your child has a special story please do pop a photo of your child and their favourite story onto Tapestry and we will look forward to sharing these with the children.

Week beginning 16.12.24

Upcoming Dates:

Reading books

Please ensure all reading books are returned to school on Wednesday 18th December. Due to needing to audit our reading scheme books we will not send a reading book home after this date.

Please can all children bring a named plastic bag into school on Wednesday 18^th December to bring their wonderful Christmas decorations home that they made during Christmas Making morning.

Christmas sing a longs

Wednesday 18^th December -  Robin and Wren Christmas sing-a-long 9.55- 9.45 am

                                                     Finch and Owl Christmas sing-a-long 2.30-3.00pm

 The children have been working so hard to prepare for their sing-a-longs and they look and sound great, we can't wait for you to see it!

Our learning this week:

Topic: This week in our topic lesson we will be focusing on internet safety, we will talk about ways we can help Smartie the penguin to make good decisions whilst using the internet. We will be encouraging the children to ask for help from an adult when they are on the internet.

Drawing club: This week in Drawing Club we will be exploring the animation ‘The night before Christmas’ a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film from 1933. We will be drawing the character and the setting. We will then be going on adventures with the story. The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, ‘blizzard’, ‘ornament’, ‘chimney’, ‘merry’, ‘soot’, and ‘illuminate’.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be recapping our learning all about matching quantities and numerals and finding one more and one less. The children will be using practical resources and five frames to support them when solving different number problems.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be reviewing all of the sounds and tricky words we have learnt this half term and we will be recapping previously learnt digraphs (two letters which make one sound). The children will be using their grapheme knowledge to support them when blending to read and segmenting sounds when writing.

PSHE: This week in PSHE we will be talking about kind and unkind behaviour. We will be talking about the words we can use if we are unhappy or see unkind behaviour.

RE: This week we will learn all about the importance of saying thank you. We will consider how it is often a good time to say thank you during a celebration. The children will be encouraged to think about a time when they have said thank you during the week.

Week beginning 9^th December 2024

Noticeboard:

Christmas Making morning thank you!

We would like to thank you all so much for joining us at our Christmas Making morning last Friday. We loved starting the Christmas festivities with you all and hope you all enjoyed the Christmas craft activities as well! 

Playdough ingredients

We are often making playdough for the children to use in our provision and we would be ever so grateful if you are able to donate any of the following playdough ingredients such as:

Flour

Salt

Food colouring

Cream of Tartar

Upcoming Dates:

Wednesday 18^th December - Robin and Wren Christmas sing-a-long 9.15- 9.45 am

                                                     Finch and Owl Christmas sing-a-long 2.30-3.00pm

The children have been working so hard to prepare for their sing-a-longs and they look and sound great, we can't wait for you to see it!

Our learning this week:

Topic / RE: This week we will continue to focus on the celebration of Christmas. We will be finding out about the story of the Nativity and thinking how we each celebrate Christmas, we will also talk about how some people do not celebrate Christmas.

Drawing Club: This week in Drawing Club we will be sharing the story of “The Gingerbread Man”. We will be drawing the character and the setting and will then be going on an adventure with the story. The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, ‘accelerate’, ‘soggy’, ‘disappointed’, ‘cunning’, ‘mocking’ and ‘leap’.

Maths: This week in Maths, we will be learning all about shapes with 4 sides. We will explore the properties of squares and oblongs and will use the language of sides and vertices. We will also be sorting shapes based on whether they have 4 sides or not.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be reviewing the digraphs (2 letters which make one sound), sh, th, ng and nk. We will also be recapping all of the tricky words we have learnt this half term. The children will be using their grapheme knowledge to support them when blending to read and segmenting sounds when writing.

PSHE: This week in PSHE we will be continuing our learning about kindness and how we can all be kind to our friends. The children will be encouraged to choose an ‘act of kindness’ towards a friend during the day.

Week beginning 2nd December 2024

Noticeboard:

Playdough ingredients

We are often making playdough for the children to use in our provision and we would be ever so grateful if you are able to donate any of the following playdough ingredients such as:

Flour

Salt

Food colouring

Cream of Tartar

Our learning next week:

Topic/RE: This week we will be learning about Christmas. The children will be finding out about how Christmas can be celebrated and what the children might see in the run up to Christmas.

Literacy: This week in Drawing Club we will be listening to the story, “The Pine Tree” by Julia Donaldson. The children will be drawing the characters in the story, talking about and the setting of the story and then going on an adventure! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘ancient’, ‘iridescent’, ‘warble’, ‘soaring’ ‘remote’ and absent’.

Maths: In Maths this week we will be learning about the composition of the number 5. We will be counting up to 5 and backwards from 5, we will also be comparing quantities using the language of more and less.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be reviewing strategies to read plurals where there is an ‘s’ at the end of the word. We will introduce the tricky words – we, me and be. In addition to this we will recap all of our previously learnt graphemes and tricky words. The children will also be learning to read short phrases and the children will be using their segmenting skills to help them when writing short words such as cups, dogs and fish.

PSHE: In PSHE this week, we will be learning about how we make friends with others. We will encourage the children to talk about how they can be a kind friend.

Week beginning 25th November 2024

Noticeboard:

Christmas Making Day Friday 29^th November 2024 9.15-11.00am

Next Friday 29^th November it is Christmas Making Day! Please drop your child off and return to their class door at 9.15am to sign in. The children will be put into one of two groups and will stay with that group throughout the morning. Please encourage your child to complete as much of the activity as possible independently and do not worry if they are not completed as we will finish these during the rest of our day. We do ask you to be mindful to let the children work at the table first and to stand behind to support and if there are any children whose parents or carers are not able to make the morning that you offer your support to these children as well. If you finish your activity and have time to spare there will be stories available to share with your child but do stay near your group. Please remain with your group until asked to move onto the next activity, we would be very grateful if you can encourage your child to be responsible and to tidy up when they have finished.

Please do not take photographs of the children for safeguarding reasons and if your child needs the toilet, they will need to ask the adult running the activity, please do not accompany your child to the toilet during the morning.

We cannot wait to welcome you all in and are looking forward to starting our Christmas festivities with you!

Playdough ingredients

We are often making playdough for the children to use in our provision and we would be ever so grateful if you are able to donate any of the following playdough ingredients such as:

Flour

Salt

Food colouring

Cream of Tartar

Our learning:

Topic: This week we will be learning about celebrations. The children will be finding out about different celebrations that are celebrated in our community and how they are celebrated.

Literacy: This week in Drawing Club we will be listening to the story, “After the Storm” by Nick Butterworth. The children will be drawing the characters in the story, talking about and the setting of the story and then going on an adventure! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘atrocious’, ‘mangled’, ‘handkerchief’, ‘hefty’ ‘slumber’ and ‘saw’.

Maths: In Maths this week we will be learning to use positional language when describing the position of items in relation to others such as, under, next to, below, beside, on top of, behind and in front of. We will also be exploring the composition of the number 4 and will be encouraging the children to subitise up to 4 objects.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning the digraphs (2 letters that make 1 sound) sh, th, ng and nk. The tricky words we will learn are, she, he and of. We will continue to recognise these tricky words: go, no, to, into, he, she, push and of. The children will also be learning to read short phrases and will be using their segmenting skills to help them when writing short words such as mess, fix and jam.

PSHE: In PSHE this week, we will be learning about homes. We will share our thoughts on why we feel our homes are special to us.

RE: In RE this week we will be learning about the Nativity and how Christmas is an important celebration for the Christian faith.

Week beginning 18th November 2024.

Noticeboard

Parents evenings

We are looking forward to meeting you all for parents evening next week. If you have not made your appointment yet please book online by Friday 15^th November.

Inset day

Please note that school is closed on Wednesday 20^th November for an INSET day.

Playdough ingredients

We are often making playdough for the children to use in our provision and we would be ever so grateful if you are able to donate any of the following playdough ingredients such as:

Flour

Salt

Food colouring

Cream of Tartar

 Our learning:

Topic: Night and Day

This week we will be learning about night time and day time. We will learn about nocturnal animals and what we can see at night time compared to the day time and will talk about our routines during the day and night.

Literacy: This week in Drawing Club we will be watching an animation all about Autumn. The children will be drawing the characters in the animation, talking about and the setting of the animation and then going on an adventure! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘hibernate’, ‘migrate, ‘nippy’, ‘forage’ ‘rustle’ and ‘russet’.

Maths: In Maths this week we will be learning about the composition of the numbers 2 and 3 and we will also be learning about the shapes – circles and triangles and their properties.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning the grapheme and digraphs (2 letters that make 1 sound) z, qu and ch. We will also learn how to read words with ‘s’ at the end. The tricky words we will learn are, go, no, to, into and we will continue to recognise these tricky words: and, has, his and her. The children will also be learning to read short phrases and will be using their segmenting skills to help them when writing short words such as back and sun.

PSHE: In PSHE this week, we will be learning about families. We will share our ideas on what we think is different and similar between our families.

Week beginning 11.11.24

Noticeboard:

School Readiness and Early Toileting webinars:

If you would like to join please click this link. 

https://calendly.com/csh-schoolready

Woodland walk

We hope you all enjoyed the woodland walk on Wednesday evening! Thank you so much for your support in attending this wonderful event! We would also like to thank all of our parent helpers who gave up their time to help us to walk to the woodlands on Thursday morning. The children represented Earlswood impeccably well and loved doing the walk again in the daylight; we explored our surroundings using our senses and loved finding different amounts of items and matching colours of natural items to our colour catchers!

PE

Please can we remind you that our PE lessons will now be on a Monday. Please ensure all jewellery is removed for PE.

Playdough ingredients

We are often making playdough for the children to use in our provision and we would be ever so grateful if you are able to donate any of the following playdough ingredients such as:

Flour

Salt

Food colouring

Cream of Tartar

 Our learning next week:

Topic: Autumn

This week is a busy week for us at school! We will be learning about Remembrance Day and the significance of Poppies. We will also be continuing our learning about Autumn and changes we notice during Autumn. In addition to this, we will be busy with lots of learning about Anti-Bullying week with odd socks day on Wednesday and Children in Need on Friday!

Literacy: This week in Drawing Club we will be listening to the story, “The Leaf Thief” The children will be drawing the characters in the story, talking about and the setting of the story and then going on an adventure! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘abundant, ‘searching, ‘unclear’, ‘cascading’ ‘puzzled’ and ‘wandering’.

Maths: In Maths this week we will be learning about more and less. The children will be learning that as we count, each number is one more than the number before and when we count back, each number is one less than the previous number. We will also be comparing quantities and amounts using the language of ‘more’ and ‘less’.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning the digraphs (2 letters that make 1 sound) v, w, x and y. We will be learning to read the tricky words: and, has, his and her. We will continue to revise the tricky words, the, put, pull and full. The children will also be learning to read short phrases and will be using their segmenting skills to help them when writing short words such as hug and rock.

RE: In RE this week, we will be learning about birthdays and how each person has a birthday where our birthday marks the day we were born on and that this is a day that can be celebrated.

PSHE: In PSHE this week, we will be discussing Anti-Bullying Week and what makes a good friend.

Week beginning 4.11.24

Noticeboard:

Half term

We have had the most wonderful first half term and would like to wish you all a lovely half term break. Thank you for all of your support. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Monday 4^th November.

PE

Next half term our PE lessons will be on a Monday. Please ensure all jewellery is removed for PE.

Woodland Walk

Night time woodland walk – Wednesday 6^th November. Please start your walk at the Junior school playground where you will be asked to sign in, when you complete the walk please leave via the Junior playground gate where you will be asked to sign out. Please remember to bring a torch (this can be on your phone) and to wear appropriate footwear. Unfortunately the walk is not suitable for buggies.

Day time woodland walk in classes – Thursday 7^th November. Please ensure your child brings a coat and has wellington boots at school that we can change into for our walk.

Playdough ingredients

We are often making playdough for the children to use in our provision and we would be ever so grateful if you are able to donate any of the following playdough ingredients such as:

Flour

Salt

Food colouring

Cream of Tartar

Sculpture Week after half term

We are still in need of shoe boxes and natural items for our sculpture week after half term.

Our learning next week:

Topic: Autumn / Sculpture week

When we return to school we will be learning all about the season of Autumn and changes we see in the world around us. We will also be learning about the sculptor Louise Nevelson and will be creating our own natural shoebox sculptures!

Literacy: This week in Drawing Club we will be listening to the story, “Christopher Pumpkin” The children will be drawing the characters in the story, talking about and the setting of the story and then going on an adventure! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘celebration’, ‘hair raising’, ‘cheerful', ‘surprise’ ‘distasteful’ and ‘terrified’.

Maths: In Maths this week we will be learning about at the composition of numbers 1,2 and 3 and will be exploring different representations of these numbers. We will also continue to develop our subitising skills where we do not count items but instead look at what we see and how we see it:

“I can see some gems. I can see 4 and 1, I know that 4 and 1 makes 5” or “I can see 3 and 2, that makes 5 as well!”

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning the digraphs (2 letters that make 1 sound) ff, ll, ss and the grapheme j. We will be learning to read the tricky words: put, pull, full and as. We will continue to revise the tricky words, is, the and I. The children will also be learning to read short phrases and will be using their segmenting skills to help them when writing short words such as ten and sock.

RE: In RE this week, we will be learning about birthdays and how each person has a birthday where our birthday marks the the day we were born on and that this is a day that can be celebrated.

PSHE: In PSHE this week, we will be discussing activities that we are good at and thinking about how everyone is good at different activities. The vocabulary we will be teaching the children during this lesson includes ‘proud’, ‘happy’ and ‘special’.

Week beginning 21.10.24

Noticeboard:

Playdough ingredients

We are often making playdough for the children to use in our provision and we would be ever so grateful if you are able to donate any of the following playdough ingredients such as:

Flour

Salt

Food colouring

Cream of Tartar

Sculpture Week after half term

We are still in need of shoe boxes and natural items for our sculpture week after half term.

Our learning next week:

Topic: People Who Help Us

Next week we are continuing our learning theme all about people who help us. We will be finding out about the jobs people do in the community which help such as fire fighters, police officers, postal workers, paramedics, doctors, nurses, teachers, refuse workers and vets. We are very excited to be having a visit from a local dentist to talk to us all about the importance of keeping our teeth clean and healthy!

 Literacy: This week in Drawing Club we will be watching a short animation of "Fireman Sam”. The children will be drawing the characters of the firefighters, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the animation and then going on an adventure with the animation! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘disaster’, ‘team’, 'mishap', fire brigade and ‘emergency’.

Maths: In Maths this week we will be learning about finding amounts which are one more or one less than a given amount. The children will also be using their skills of sibitising where they will be encouraged to look at amounts of items up to 5 and to say what they see and how they see it.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be revising the graphemes, which we have been learning throughout this term. The tricky words we will be continuing to read and recognise are, is, the and I. The children will continue to practice their blending skills to support them when sounding out words and reading.

RE: In RE this week, we will be learning about how different people belong to different communities (e.g. church, synagogue or mosque) and how some people may not belong to faith or religion. We will talk about how everyone is different and that is what makes us all special and unique.

PSHE: In PSHE this week, we will be learning about the word ‘responsibility’ and what it means to have responsibilities.

Week beginning 14.10.24

This week has been a very busy week full of great learning! During Music, we learnt about Harvest and even sang an exciting harvest song! The children were also been busy becoming Scientists when learning about their senses. They used this great knowledge to help them describe different fruits when tasting them and to decide what fruits they wanted to include on their healthy snack.

Noticeboard:

Playdough ingredients

We are often making playdough for the children to use in our provision and we would be ever so grateful if you are able to donate any of the following playdough ingredients such as:

Flour

Salt

Food colouring

Cream of Tartar

Yogurt pots

We are still collecting yogurt pots for an exciting PSHE activity! If you have any empty yogurt pots please do send them into school.

Sculpture Week

This year our whole school sculpture week starts on 4th November 2024. For our sculpture week in Reception, we will be learning all about the work of the sculptor, Louise Nevelson. The children will all make their own sculpture and this year we are using natural items to use for our sculptures.

To make our sculptures, please can every child bring a named shoebox into school. We would also be very grateful for spare shoeboxes!

We would also like the children to collect and bring in a range of natural items such as:

Pine cones

Conkers

Sticks

Acorns

Stones

Our learning next week:

 Literacy: This week in Drawing Club we will be reading the story "Funnybones". The children will be drawing the characters of the skeletons, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the story and then going on an adventure with the story! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘dark’, ‘cheeky', 'cellar', 'frighten' and 'bumped'.

Maths: In Maths this week we will be learning all about patterns. The children will be making and continuing their own patterns such as stamping feet, clap, clap. They will also be learning to identify and talk about repeating patterns such as red, blue, red, blue, and will be encouraged to make their own patterns using resources in the classroom.

 Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be revising many of the sounds we have learnt to date, the particular sounds we will be recapping are: e, g, d, n, and b. The tricky words we will continue to be learning to read are the, is and I. The children will learn how to form each of the above graphemes and will continue to practice their blending skills to support them when sounding out words to read and when spelling words to write.

Topic: In our topic lesson we will be learning about people who help us at home and the children will be challenged to think of what our families do to help us.

PSHE: In PSHE this week we will be learning about the reasons why we have rules at school and how these rules help us all to stay safe and learn.

RE: In RE we will be learning about belonging. We will talk about the ways in which we belong to different groups and how we know this e.g. we belong to Earlswood School and wear a uniform to show this.

PE: We will be continuing to learn how to travel safely and in a variety of ways when exploring different climbing equipment during our climbing zone times. Please may we remind you to remove any jewellery that your child wears to school on a Thursday for our PE days.

Week beginning 7.10.24

Noticeboard:

Teddy Bears Story Time

As part of feel good week at school next week we would like all children to bring in a teddy next Friday 11th October to enjoy a story time and healthy snack which the children will be making on Friday afternoon. As part of this activity, the children will become scientists and will be learning about their senses when tasting and smelling different fruits that they might want to put on their own snacks when they make them.

Thank you for your kind donations of junk modelling, yogurt pots shoe boxes and natural items. We would still like lots more of these to be brought into school please. Here is a reminder of the items we would love:

Yogurt pots

We are still collecting yogurt pots for an exciting PSHE activity! If you have any empty yogurt pots please do send them into school.

Sculpture Week

This year our whole school sculpture week starts on 4^th November 2024. For our sculpture week in Reception, we will be learning all about the work of the sculptor, Louise Nevelson. The children will all make their own sculpture and this year we are using natural items to use for our sculptures.

To make our sculptures, please can every child bring a named shoebox into school. We would also be very grateful for spare shoeboxes!

We would also like the children to collect and bring in a range of natural items such as:

Pine cones

Conkers

Sticks

Acorns

Stones

Our learning next week:

Literacy: This week we will be reading the story "Owl Babies". The children will be drawing the characters of the owls, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the story and then going on an adventure with the story as we have to think about ways the owls keep themselves busy while waiting for Mummy Owl to return. The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘brave, ‘lost', 'wish', 'silent' and 'worried'.

Maths: In Maths this week, we will be continuing our learning using our comparison skills to talk about differences we notice between items. We will be introducing the children to scales and focusing on comparing the mass and capacity of items.  The language we will be using to compare items will be heavy, light, full and empty.

Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning how to pronounce the phonemes and recognise the graphemes, h, b, f and l. The tricky word we will be learning to read is the and the children will continue to revise the tricky words is and I. The children will learn how to form each of the above graphemes and will continue to practice their blending skills to support them when sounding out words and reading.

Week beginning 30.9.24

Noticeboard

A day in the life of Reception power point

We would like to thank you all for your time in attending the new to Reception workshop and thank you so much for your feedback. We appreciate we shared a lot of information in a short space of time, with this in mind, if you have any further questions please do ask your child’s class teacher.

Reading books.

We will start to send home reading books with your children next week. Please can we ask that these are returned to school every day as we will read with your children three times a week. It would be wonderful for you to share these books with your children every day and record this in your child’s reading record book. Do look in the front cover of the book for ways in which you can share these with your child. Please may we also ask that the children's water bottles are not put in their book bags with their reading diaries and books just in case any bottles leak over the children's books. If any books are damaged you will be asked to pay for a new book at a cost of £4.50.

Yogurt pots

We are collecting yogurt pots for an exciting PSHE activity! If you have any empty yogurt pots please do send them into school.

Sculpture Week

This year our whole school sculpture week starts on 4^th November 2024. For our sculpture week in Reception, we will be learning all about the work of the sculptor, Louise Nevelson. The children will all make their own sculpture and this year we are using natural items to use for our sculptures.

To make our sculptures, please can every child bring a named shoebox into school. We would also be very grateful for spare shoeboxes!

We would also like the children to collect and bring in a range of natural items such as:

Pine cones

Conkers

Sticks

Acorns

Stones

Learning detectives

The children are all enjoying being chosen to be a learning detective on each day. Two children get this opportunity every day in each class and when your child is a learning detective they are tasked with the challenge of looking for great learners throughout the day. Their focus will be based on our learning behaviours – resilient learners, independent learners, collaborative learners, reflective learners and motivated learners.

Our learning this week:

Literacy: This week we will be learning the nursery rhyme "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". The children will be drawing the character of the star, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the nursery rhyme and then going on an adventure with the nursery rhyme as the star goes on adventure into space and we have to imagine what we think the star might see on its journey! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘twinkle’, ‘wondering’, 'overhead', 'night' and 'star'.

Maths: In Maths this week, we will be learning all about comparing items based on quantities or size. The children will be encouraged to use their sorting knowledge to support them when grouping items and will be asked to compare the size of different items using the language of larger and smaller.

Phonics: In Phonics this week, the children will be learning the sounds ck, e, u and r. They will be learning the phonemes - how to pronounce each sound and will be identifying items with each sound at the start. The children will also be learning how to form each grapheme using a phrase to support them when writing. In addition to this, the children will be learning to segment sounds in words and blend them together to hear and read the whole word. The tricky word we will be learning to read will be, I.

Week beginning 23rd September 2024.

Wonde log ins

At the back of your child's reading diary is a Wonde log in and an emoji password. With this you will be able to access Google Classrooms and great additional learning apps! If you are unable to scan the barcode, please visit: Earlswood Schools - Wonde Login. Here you will be able to access Numbots which is a super online app encouraging the children to develop their Number knowledge and Purple Mash where your child can explore the different learning activities on offer.

• Wonde log in link via browser If you are experiencing difficulties logging into Wonde please type in http://login.earlswood.school/ to your browser or click the above link. Numbots 

Family photos

We would love one family photo of every child with members of their family which we will print and make into a family book for each class. If you are able to, please either upload your photo to Tapestry or send the photo to our school office: infoinfants@earlswood.surrey.sch.uk with your child's class name in the subject of the email.

Baby Photos

As part of our RE learning next week we would also be very grateful if you could send in a photo of when your child was a baby which we will share as a class and use to support our learning about how we are all different.

Our learning this week:

Literacy: This week we will be learning the nursery rhyme "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". The children will be drawing the character rowing their boat, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the nursery rhyme and then going on an adventure with the nursery rhyme as the sailor sees someone else rowing towards them on the stream! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, 'merry', 'dream', 'gently', 'row' and 'oar'.

Maths: This week in Maths, the children will be classifying, sorting and matching objects based on their size, colour or pattern.

Phonics: In Phonics this week, the children will be learning the sounds g, o, c and k. They will be learning the phoneme - how to pronounce each sound and will be identifying items with each sound at the start. The children will also be learning how to form each grapheme using a phrase to support them when writing. In addition to this, the children will be learning to segment sounds in words and blend them together to hear and say the whole word. The tricky word we will be learning to read will be, is.

Week beginning 16th September 2024

The children have been superstars at starting school and we have all enjoyed our first full week in Reception! All of the children have settled so incredibly well and are already wonderful at remembering the daily routines such as where their water bottles, reading diaries, bags and coats go. This week, we will be continuing to settle the children into their new classes and will be encouraging them to build and make new friendships with others in their classes and partner classes.

Family photos

We would love one family photo of every child with members of their family which we will print and make into a family book for each class. If you are able to, please either upload your photo to Tapestry or send the photo to our school office: infoinfants@earlswood.surrey.sch.uk with your child's class name in the subject of the email.

Baby Photos

As part of our RE learning next week we would also be very grateful if you could send in a photo of when your child was a baby which we will share as a class and use to support our learning about how we are all different.

Reading Diaries

This week, we have sent your child's reading diary home.  Please do comment on any text your child shares or reads with you at home such as non-fiction books, story books or comics.

Sharing story books

In order to promote a true love of reading we will be encouraging the children to select a picture book to share at home with you. These will be available every day for the children and they will be able to choose a new book once they have returned their current one.

Our learning this week:

Drawing Club: The children will be focusing on the nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock. We will be drawing the character of the mouse, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the nursery rhyme and then going on an adventure with the nursery rhyme as the mouse hears a new animal trying to climb up the clock! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, 'clock', 'struck', 'panic', 'tick tock' and 'run'.

Maths: This week in Maths, the children will be counting actions such as 3 claps, 4 jumps and 5 hops. The children will also be singing lots of counting songs up to 5, such as 5 Currant Buns in a Baker's Shop and Five Speckled Frogs. We will also introduce the concept of sorting items into groups.

Phonics: In Phonics this week, the children will be learning the sounds i, n, m and d. We will be learning the phoneme - how to pronounce each sound and will be identifying items with each sound at the start. The children will also be learning how to form each grapheme using a phrase to support them when writing. In addition to this, the children will be learning to segment sounds in words and blend them together to hear and say the whole word.

Topic: In our topic lesson we will be learning about our feelings and emotions. We will be linking this learning to our zones of regulation and will talk about the feelings of happiness, anger, sadness and how we feel at times when we might be scared.

PSHE: In PSHE this week we will be encouraging the children to develop their confidence when sharing ideas in front of their class. We will be focusing on how we all have similarities and differences and how these qualities make us all unique.

RE: We will be thinking and learning about what makes us all special and will be encouraging the children to share their differences and learning how being different makes us all special.

PE: We will be learning how to travel safely and in a variety of ways when exploring different climbing equipment during our climbing zone times.

Welcome to Reception!

Welcome to all our new children starting Reception at Earlswood! It has been lovely meeting the children and yourselves during the school visits and we hope that you enjoyed them too. 

We are looking forward to welcoming the children on Friday 6th and Monday 9th September for their half day sessions. Children are to be wearing their school uniform and will not be having lunch at school on these days. The morning sessions are 9am-11:30am and the afternoon sessions are 12:30-3pm. These sessions have already been assigned. If you are unsure of your session time please contact the school.

Tuesday 10th September will be the children's first full day of school. They will be having lunch at school, please let us know of any dietary requirements if you have not done so already. 

Please see the uniform policy here: Uniform

Every day the children need to bring a named:

- Water bottle 

- Sun hat

- Water proof coat

- Spare clothes (these can be kept on their peg)

Sun cream needs to be applied before the children come to school and not brought into school.

Week beginning 9th September 2024

We will be starting the Reception Baseline this week. Please click here for the leaflet on our noticeboard.

Phonics: In Phonics children will be learning to read and write. The children will be learning to recognise and write the graphemes s, a, t and p. We will also be practicing our oral blending skills where we sound talk words and phrases to the children such as, "t-a-p your head"

Maths: The children will be singing lots of number songs and counting forwards and backwards to 5.

Drawing Club: The children will be focusing on the nursery rhyme Incy Wincy Spider. We will be drawing the character, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the nursery rhyme and then going on an adventure by designing an umbrella for Incy Wincy Spider! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, 'soggy', 'downpour', 'flooded', 'waterproof' and 'climb'.