Federation of Earlswood Schools
A Place to Learn Together
We offer Nursery Provision to Year 6
Weekly Blog
Week beginning 27.11.23
Please could we ask for as many kitchen roll cardboard tubes you have to be brought into school for our Christmas Making activities next week.
Christmas Making Morning
Wednesday 29th November is Christmas Making Morning! You are welcome to join your child in their class for the exciting festivities from 9.15am – 11.00am.
Reading books
Please may we remind you to ensure your child's reading diary and reading book is returned to school every day.
Our learning this week
Drawing Club: This week we will be exploring the story book ‘The Christmas Pine’ by Julia Donaldson. 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, ancient, iridescent, soaring, remote, warble and absent.
Maths: This week in Maths, we will be finding out about more and less. The children will be using lots of resources such as five and ten frames and counting items to support them when finding one less or one more than a number.
Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be reviewing sounds we have previously learnt and will be focusing on words with 's' at the end of them. The tricky words we will be learning to read and recognise are, we, me and be. We will also continue to revisit the tricky words, she, push, of and he. The children will continue to practice their blending and segmenting skills to support them when reading and writing.
PSHE: This week in PSHE we will be focusing on friendship. We will be discussing what a friend is, how we make friends and how to be a good/kind friend.
Week beginning 20.11.23
Parent evening appointments Tuesday 21st November and Thursday 23th November
Inset day Wednesday 22nd November
Our learning this week:
Drawing Club: This week in Drawing Club we will reading “Percy the Park Keeper After the Storm” by Nick Butterworth. 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 slumber, atrocious, hefty, saw, mangled and handkerchief.
Maths: This week in Maths, we will be looking at the compositions of the number 4 and talking about the properties of the four-sided shapes square and oblong.
Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning to recognise and pronounce the digraphs (2 letters which make 1 sound), sh, th, ng, nk. The tricky words we will be learning to read and recognise are, she, push, he, of. The children will continue to practice their blending and segmenting skills to support them when reading and writing.
PSHE: This week in PSHE, we will continue to focus on celebrating differences. The children will continue to discuss things they are good at and continue to develop their understanding that everybody is different and everybody is good at different things. We will also be discussing different ways people are similar.
RE: This week in RE we will be introducing the celebration of Christmas and talking about the Nativity. We will discuss how Christian’s celebrate Christmas to mark the birth of Jesus.
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Week beginning 13.11.23
Odd Socks Day 13th November /Anti Bullying Week 13th November-17th November
On Monday 13th November we ask that children wear odd socks to mark the start of this year’s Anti-Bullying Week (No donation is required). Odd Socks Day encourages us to express ourselves and celebrate our individuality and what makes us unique. During this year’s Anti-Bullying Week, we are encouraging the children to ‘Make a noise about bullying’. This means we are encouraging the children to reach out for help if they or they know someone who is experiencing bullying. Thank you for your support with these special events.
Date rearranged
Donation day for the Christmas fair no longer Wednesday 15th November - new date to be confirmed
Children in Need - Friday 17th November
On Friday 17th November, we ask that children wear something spotty to celebrate Children in Need. Your donations can help children and young people all over the UK who need it most. If you would like to complete your own fundraising challenges, please follow this link for some ideas -
https://www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/fundraising/ten-on-the-spot-fundraising-challenges/ - we would love to hear about any fundraising challenges you and your family take part in! Thank you for your support.
Woodland Walk
On Wednesday 15th November between 5.30-6.30pm it is our evening woodland walk starting at the Juniors in the playground. Please bring a torch with you or you could use your phone torch if you have one. Please may we remind you that you are responsible for your child during the walk and the walk will not be suitable for buggies. Please also ensure all children have their wellington boots in school for our daytime walk on Thursday 16th November.
Our learning this week:
Drawing Club: This week in Drawing Club we will be exploring the animation ‘Autumn’ a Silly Symphonies animated Disney short film from the 1930s. 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, hibernate, forage, migrate, russet, nippy and Rustle.
Maths: This week in Maths, we will be looking at the compositions of numbers 1, 2 and 3 and introducing the part whole model. We will also be using our subitising skills to notice the different compositions. Furthermore, we will begin to explore 2D shapes such as triangles and circles.
Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning to recognise and pronounce the graphemes and digraphs (2 letters which make 1 sound), z, zz, qu and ch. The tricky words we will be learning to read and recognise are, go, no, to and into. We will also continue to revisit the tricky words, and, has, his and her. The children will continue to practice their blending and segmenting skills to support them when reading and writing.
PSHE: This week in PSHE, we will continue to focus on celebrating differences. The children will continue to discuss things they are good at and continue to develop their understanding that everybody is different and everybody is good at different things. We will also be discussing different ways people are similar.
RE: This week in RE we will continue to focus on birthdays, we will be discussing why we celebrate people’s birthdays and how we celebrate them. We will also be linking this to our Zones of Regulations to discuss how celebrating our birthday makes us feel.
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Week beginning 6.11.23
Noticeboard
This week at school it has been sculpture week and the children have all really enjoyed making their own and whole class sculptures. They really do look amazing! We would like to thank you all for your donations of natural items and shoes boxes.
Our learning this week:
Literacy: This week we will be exploring the story book ‘The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming’. 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, abundant, cascading, searching, puzzled, unclear and wandering.
Maths: This week in Maths we will be looking at numerals to 3 and comparing quantities with 1, 2 and 3 objects. We are also learning that as we count, each number is one more than the number before. We will also be challenging the children to explain how they know that one amount is less than or greater than other amounts of items.
Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning to recognise and pronounce the graphemes, v, w, x and y. The tricky words we will be learning to read and recognise are, and, has, his and her. We will also continue to revisit the tricky words, I, is, the, put, pull, full and as. The children will continue to practice their blending and segmenting skills to support them when reading and writing.
PSHE: This week in PSHE, we will focusing on celebrating differences. The children will continue to discuss things they are good at and continue to develop their understanding that everybody is different and everybody is good at different things.
RE: This week in RE we will be focusing on birthdays, we will be discussing why we celebrate people’s birthdays and how we celebrate them.
Week beginning 30.10.23
We hope that you all have a restful and enjoyable half term break and look forward to welcoming you all back to school on Monday 30th October 2023.
Pumpkins
We would be very grateful of any pumpkin donations when we return to school.
Phonics Home learning
We have sent out home learning sheets for all of the graphemes we have learnt so far in Phonics. Please share these with your child and encourage them to sound talk and orally blend lots of words for example, you might ask your child to find a h-a-t or a p-e-n.
Here is a link to the scheme we are using with all of the correct pronunciations for each sound: Resources for parents
We have also uploaded a set of flashcards onto the website which you could encourage your children to write out and learn them through a variety of different activities such as:
· Playing hide and seek – write and hide grapheme cards 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 scavenger hunt - choose a grapheme card - what can your child find which begins with the sound on the card?
· For a challenge... If you put 3 grapheme cards together, can your child practice their blending skills by sounding out and reading the word you have made? e.g. cat, mat, pin, red.
Here is a link which explains how we encourage the children to read and blend sounds in words: Resources for parents
We have also been working hard to recognise and read the tricky words: I, is and the. Please also encourage your child to continue to read these words. You could ask your child to spot them in a story book or when out and about.
Our learning this week:
Sculpture Week
We are all very excited to start our own individual and class sculptures! For sculpture week we will be learning all about the work of the sculptor, Louise Nevelson.
For the children to make their sculptures, we would appreciate as many shoe boxes and lids you have and would like the children to collect a range of natural items such as:
· Pine cones
· Conkers
· Sticks
· Acorns
· Stones
· Leaves
The children will also be learning all about Autumn and special celebrations. If you celebrate Diwali or go to any firework events, please do add this to your child's Tapestry journal, we would love to share their experiences with the children in their class. If you require any support with this please do speak to your child's class teacher.
Drawing club: This week we will be exploring the story book ‘Christopher Pumpkin' by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet. 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, celebration, hair-raising, cheerful, surprise, distasteful, terrified.
Maths: This week we will be continuing to encourage the children to subitise, where the children will be encouraged to talk about what they see and what they notice when looking at an arrangement of items. We will also be talking about where we see numbers - What numbers can the children see at home or when out and about? We will be exploring the numerals and composition of 1, 2 and 3 and the children will be learning to group amounts of objects into groups of 1, 2's or 3's.
Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning to recognise and pronounce the graphemes, ff, ll, ss and j. The tricky words we will be learning to read and recognise are, put, pull, full and as. We will also continue to revisit the tricky words, I, is and the. The children will also continue to practice their blending and segmenting skills to support them when reading and writing.
RE: This week in RE, we will be learning about the Hindu celebration on Diwali. All of the children will be making their own Diva Lamps using salt dough.
PSHE: This week in PSHE, we will focusing on celebrating differences. The children will be talking about something that they are good at and continue to develop their understanding that everybody is different and everybody is good at different things.
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Week beginning 16th October 2023
This is the last week of our first half term before we have the October Half Term holidays. The last day of school will be Friday 20th October and we will be back to school on Monday 30th October. The children really have done so well coping with the long weeks and the transition from nursery to school. We hope they have a week of fun along with some rest!
Please can we ask for baby photos of the children as we would love to create a baby book for our reading areas. These can be uploaded to tapestry, brought in, or emailed to infoinfants@earlswood.surrey.sch.uk.
If any families are able to donate the following items it would be very appreciated:
- Food dye
- Baby dolls (hard plastic ones that can go in the water)
Our learning this week:
Drawing Club: We will be reading the book 'Funny Bones' with the children. The vocabulary focus for the week will be dark, frighten, cheeky, bumped, cellar.
Maths: We will continue with learning about pattern, creating our own 2 part pattern and 3 part pattern. We also will be learning about subitising. Subitising is when children are able to identify how many items they can see without counting the items.
Phonics: We will be carrying out a Phonics assessments with the children this week. We will be assessing the sounds taught so far and blending CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words.
PSHE: This week in PSHE we will continue to recognise and name our feelings. As well as this, we will be exploring the Zones of Regulation specifically the red zone and how we are feeling when we are in the red zone, some examples of these feelings are, angry, out of control and terrified.
RE: We will be talking about belonging. How do we show that we belong to the school? Do we belong to any clubs?
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Week beginning 9th October 2023
World Mental Health Day
Tuesday 10th October is World Mental Health Day. We are marking this day with an own clothes day. We are inviting children to come to school wearing something yellow.
Fruit and Vegetable donations
For our learning next week, the children will be learning about lots of different foods which are healthy. We would be very grateful of any donations of root vegetables or fruit for the children to use in their activities throughout next week.
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 13th October to enjoy a story time and snack alongside their classes and teddies!
Our Learning this week:
Drawing club: This week we will be exploring the story book ‘Owl Babies by Martin Waddell’. 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, brave, lost, wish, silent and worried.
Maths: In Maths this week we will be learning all about patterns. The children will be making and continuing their own patterns using their bodies such as stamping their feet and clapping their hands. 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 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.
RE: This week in RE we will be thinking about how we have changed since we were a baby and how people welcome a new baby into the family.
PSHE: This week in PSHE we will continue to recognise and name our feelings. As well as this, we will be exploring the Zones of Regulation specifically the yellow zone and how we are feeling when we are in the yellow zone, some examples of these feelings are, silly, frustrated, excited and worried.
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Week beginning 2nd October 2023
Thank you to the families that have donated playdough ingredients over the past few weeks. If any families are going for a walk over the weekend could you please bring in some natural objects such as conkers, pinecones, sticks and leaves. Please be mindful of our nut free policy when bringing objects into school.
Our learning this week:
Drawing club: This week we will be learning the nursery rhyme “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. We will be drawing the character and setting. We will then be going on adventures with this nursery rhyme. The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, twinkle, wondering, overhead, night, star.
Maths: This week in Maths we will begin to compare objects based on their height, length and capacity. The children will continue to classify, sort and match objects based on their size, colour or pattern. The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, same, different, more, less, sort and compare.
Phonics: In Phonics this week, the children will be learning the sounds ck, e, u and r. 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 rhyme 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, I.
RE: We will be thinking about our families and what makes them special and unique. We will also extend our learning to think about what makes other people special and unique.
PSHE: We will be beginning to recognise and name our feelings. As well as this, we will be exploring the Zones of Regulation specifically the blue zone and how we are feeling when we are in the blue zone, some examples of these feelings are, sad, tired, bored and unwell.
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Week beginning 25th September 2023.
Family Photos
Thank you to everyone who has sent a family photo. We would love a family photo of every child. If you are able to, please send one photo of your family to:
infoinfants@earlswood.surrey.sch.uk
Please could we ask that children are encouraged to be independent when taking their jumpers on and off. We have also been encouraging children to put their shoes and socks on independently after PE. Any additional support with these skills at home would be greatly appreciated.
Our learning this week:
Drawing club: This week we will be learning the nursery rhyme "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". We will be drawing the character and setting. We will then be going on adventures with this nursery rhyme. The vocabulary we will be teaching the children will be, gently, merry, dream, row, 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 rhyme 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.
RE: We will be thinking about our families and what makes them special and unique.
PSHE: We will be beginning to recognise and name our feelings. As well as this, we will be exploring the Zones of Regulation specifically the green zone and how we are feeling when we are in the green zone, some examples of these feelings are, happy, calm and ready to learn.
Well done!
We have really enjoyed welcoming the children to Earlswood this week and are so proud of how well the children have settled into Reception life!
This week we will be making a family book in our classrooms and sharing these photos in our RE lesson. Please can we ask for the children to bring in a photo of their family to share with the class. If you need to email a photo to us please can you do so at info@earlswood.surrey.sch.uk
We have PE on Thursdays. The children do not need to wear different clothing, we do ask that earrings are removed and that long hair is tied back.
In Reception we love making playdough. If any families are able to donate any of the following ingredients for playdough it would be very much appreciated. Thank you!
Playdough ingredients: Plain flour, table salt, vegetable oil, cream of tar tar.
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Week commencing 18.9.23
Learning this week:
Phonics: The children will be learning the phonemes p, i, n, m, d, practising their oral blending skills and blending CVC words such as sat, nap, man, dip.
Maths: The children will be singing lots of number songs, counting forwards and backwards
to 5.
Drawing club: The children will be focusing on the nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock. We will be drawing the character and setting. We then going on adventures with this nursery rhyme.
PSHE: We will be understanding how it feels to belong and that we are similar and different.
RE: We will be thinking about what makes us special and unique and sharing our family photos.
PE: We will be focusing on balance and strength using the climbing equipment. We will also be learning to move in different ways with safety and control.
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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 you enjoyed them too.
We are looking forward to welcoming the children on Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th September for their half day sessions. Children are to be in 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.
Wednesday 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.
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Learning this week:
Phonics: In Phonics children will be learning to read and write. The children will be learning the phonemes s, a, t and practising their oral blending skills.
Maths: The children will be singing lots of number songs, 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, setting and then going on an adventure and design an umbrella for Incy Wincy Spider.