Menu

Federation of Earlswood Schools

A Place to Learn Together

We offer Nursery Provision to Year 6

Weekly Blog

Spring 1 Phonics Teaching Overview

Spring Term Reading Information

Week beginning 10th 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 3rd 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 27th 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 20th 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 13th 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 6th 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) aiee, 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 18th December to bring their wonderful Christmas decorations home that they made during Christmas Making morning.

 

Christmas sing a longs

 

Wednesday 18th 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 9th 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 18th 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 29th November 2024 9.15-11.00am

 

Next Friday 29th 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) shth, 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 15th November.

 

Inset day

Please note that school is closed on Wednesday 20th 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) zqu 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) vwx and y. We will be learning to read the tricky words: andhashis 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 4th 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 6th 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 7th 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 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 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'.

 

MathsIn 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, hbf 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 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

 

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, eu 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, oc 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'.

 

 

Top