EYFS

Monday is Healthy Living Day. The children will be taking part in yoga sessions, cooking and meeting a professional athlete. Please can children come in to school in PE kits. If PE kits are in school, the children can change when they arrive.

The rest of the week we will be continuing our winter around the world theme. We will be learning about Polar animals and how they stay warm. We will also be starting to make our own One Snowy Night story maps to re-tell to the rest of the class.

In Phonics we shall be learning the sh, th and ng digraphs.

In Maths we shall be looking at the number 13 and doing some work on estimation.

This week in Phonics we will be moving on to digraphs ( two letters that make one sound). We will look at , zz, qu, ch and sh. In maths we will be moving on to number 12. The children have done really well taking on the concept of tens and ones and we will be continuing this looking at 12 being ten and 2 ones or ten and 2 more.

As part of our winter topic we will be learning about Arctic animals. We will be taking a trip to the school library to find information about our favourite Arctic animals and making posters to display what we have found out. We will also be comparing their homes and diets to animals that live closer to home.

We shall also be building our story map for One Snowy Night. The children are enjoying using the actions that go with the story.

Can I remind everyone to keep reading books/diaries in book bags. We read with the children on different days each week and it is a shame when we can't read with their chosen book because it isn't in their bag.

Thank you.

This week we will be looking at the sounds w,x,y and z in Phonics. We shall be starting to think about the actions that will help us re-tell our Talk for Writing story - One Snowy Night. As the week goes on, we shall also be making our story maps. 

As part of our Winter topic we shall be finding out what winter is like in the Arctic. We will be looking at the animals that live there and how people live in that part of the world. We shall also be making our own classroom igloo so if anyone has any large cardboard boxes at home we would certainly make use of them.

In Maths we will be moving on to the number 11. We will be using ten frames to help us understand tens and ones and thinking about how we can count larger quantities accurately.

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone has had a relaxing and fun break.

Here is the Curriculum Map for the next term.

This week we will be recapping all the sounds we have learnt so far and also introducing the sounds j, v, w and x.

In Maths we will be looking at the number 10 and begin to look at tens and ones.

We will also be introducing our new 'Winter' topic.

PE will be Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons so can I ask that PE kits including trainers can be in as soon as possible please.

Can I also remind you that as of Monday the 6th children are to be dropped off at the door.

This week in Phonics we will be learning the l sound and will also be looking at the tricky words 'the' and 'I'. In maths we shall be moving on to the number 10 and reviewing what we have learnt in maths so far. 

We will be watching the KS1 Nativity dress rehearsal on Monday aftrenoon and will be practicing for our own Christmas play which we will be performing on Thursday afternoon. I had thought we would start at 1.30 but realistically we probably need a little more time to get changed so we will be aiming to start at 2pm.

Thank you for your support in providing items for the children's costumes.

This week will be rehearsing our Christmas performance and practicing our songs. In Phonics we will be looking at the sounds h, b, f and ff. In maths we will be moving on to the Number 9 and talking to the children about what they have learned so far in maths.

I hope the children have shared the Little Red Hen story maps with you. They have all done so well using story language and expression to re-tell the story. From this week we will be talking about and learning about the Christmas Story and will be slowly starting to get into the Christmas spirit!!

Apologies for not adding much to Tapestry in the past week. We had a few technical issues!

This week we will be learning the sounds ck, e, u and r. As we have now learnt a number of sounds we are starting to blend  sounds to read simple words. This week during our Phonics sessions we will be using lots of different strategies to help us blend sounds to read both as a whole class and in small groups.

The children are doing brilliantly re-telling The Little Red Hen during out Talk For Writing sessions and this week they will be bringing home their story maps so they can share the story with you at home.

In Maths we will be looking at shape this week . Talking about the properties of both 2D and 3D shapes.

This week will be learning the sounds g,o,c and k. In Maths we are on to the number 7 and we will be looking at more than and fewer than.  Looking at two different amounts and using our knowledge of number order to work out which has more or fewer.

It is Judaism week at school this week and the whole school will be taking part in activities to learn more about the Jewish faith. In Reception we shall be learning a very simple story behind Hannukah and looking at artefacts to give us a better understanding of Judaism.

We will be doing PE on Thursday this week and if the weather is kind we will try and do it outside so please remember PE hoodies and tracksuit bottoms if they are not already in school.

This week we will be starting to draw our story maps for The Little Red Hen. We will also be learning the sounds i,n,m and d. In Maths we will be looking at the number 6 and finding the numbers which make up the number 6. On Wednesday we shall be visiting the bakery and on Thursday we will be setting up our own bakery in the classroom. 

Monday morning is our Armistice Day Liturgy, we have the school disco on Thursday and Parents Evening is Monday and Wednesday evening. Don't forget Children In Need on Friday when the children can wear their own clothes/fancy dress in exchange for £1 donation.

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing half term break and the children are excited to get back into the school routine.

This term we shall be starting Phase 2 of our Letters and Sounds Phonics programme. We will start off by learning a new sound every day and this week we will be learning s,a,t,p. We will be doing lots of activities connected to these letters as well as explicitly teaching the sound. This will help the children to really get to to know the sound as they use it in their everyday speech. I will be adding activities to our borrowing box connected to our new sounds so please feel free to help yourself if the children are keen to do a bit of practice at home.

In Maths we shall continue to look at one number a week and this week we will be looking at the number 5. We will also be thinking about estimation  and how to make a good guess.

Last term the children responded so well to our Talk for Writing lessons and I was amazed how quickly they picked up the story and could re-tell it independently. This term we shall be looking at The Little Red Hen, in connection with learning about harvest and bread making. We will be acting out the story, re-telling it in lots of different ways and drawing story maps to help us. We will also hopefully be visiting Hambleton's Bakery in the next few weeks.

** A quick reminder about Reading Books ** 

I understand how keen parents and children are to change books after they have been read a few times. However it is really important the children are given enough time to really get to know the story in lots of different ways. This may mean for the first few days talk through the story with your child, asking questions, predicting what may happen on the next page After that they may be keen to re-tell the story independently to you or a brother or sister or teddy bear! One reading time could be spent asking questions about why a character behaved in a certain way.  Also remember, you don't have to read the school book every day, books from home shared together are just as valuable and will really help to expand their knowledge of stories and story telling. We aim to read with the children at school at least once a week and so suggest changing the books weekly also. As the children begin to learn the new sounds, they will start to bring more word books home. This can completely change story time as so much concentration and energy is spent decoding the words which can sometimes put the children off so remember above all else to enjoy the story and if they are too tired just do a couple of pages . 

Thank you for all your support.

This week we are continuing to look at Autumn and we will be reading 'Leaf Man'. We will be making leaf puppets, conker rolling and making salt dough leaf decorations. In Maths we will be playing skittles and using dominoes and ladybirds to make numbers up to four.

To remind everyone - We now have a phonics games borrowing box in the classroom. You are welcome to borrow any of the games which we will also be playing at school. Just fill in the borrowing book and bring them back after a few days. Any questions - feel free to ask at drop off/pick up.

This week we will begin to think about the changing of the seasons and look at Autumn and the changes it brings. We will be doing lots of autumn related crafts and learning about animals who hibernate. In maths we will be moving on to the number four and what numbers make up four. We will also be learning about the properties of both 2D and 3D shapes.

  The Briars youth team will also be visiting school on 9th October to run workshops with children on Discipleship. Families are welcome to join us for a special liturgy at 2.30pm. Early Years will be listening to stories about the Apostles John and James the Greater  and will be producing a piece of art to take to the Liturgy.

We will be introducing the Chatty Bag this week. It is a small backpack that will go home with the children and that evening they can choose a special item to bring in the following day to share with the rest of the class. This can be a toy, book, photo or anything the children would like to share. Nothing too precious though!

This week we will continue to think about our local environment. On Tuesday we are visiting Oakham library and taking part in a story session there and hopefully, if the weather allows, we will be taking a trip to the park near the school.

In Maths we will be lookng at numbers 3 and 4. We will be ordering numbers and learning how to represent 3 and 4 in different ways.

The children have been learning our Talk for writing story - The Sleepy Bumblebee. They have done so well and can re-tell most of the story themselves using the actions we have learnt.

Finally, a reminder of the Phonics Workshop on the evening of Thursday 3rd at 6.

This week we are looking at the world around us. We shall be learning about living in Oakham, looking at maps of Oakham and thinking about where Oakham is in the world. In Maths we will be moving on to the number 2 and practicing touch counting. Maggie will be coming in to sing with us on Monday morning and hopefully we will be doing some more baking on Thursday. 

We are slowly starting to send reading books home, don't worry if your child hasn't received one yet, they will do soon.

This week we are continuing out All about me topic. We will be painting portraits, making posters of our favourite things on the ipad and measuring our heights. In maths we will be starting our Maths Mastery program and looking at zero and the number one. In Phonics we shall be listening to instrumental sounds and playing our own instruments.

This week we will be sending the Chatty Bag home. The Chatty Bag is a small rucksack which the children will take home. In it they can put something they want to share with the rest of the class and bring it in the following day. This can be anything, it doesn't have to be a toy, a favourite book or a special momento. Just nothing breakable please. We will choose a different child every day.

We will attempt to do PE this week. We may not get completely changed but if you could make sure the children have trainers in school please.

Welcome to Early Years! I hope everyone has had a fun and relaxing summer and the children are all ready to start their school journey. This week we will be concentrating on settling the children in to school. Getting used to the routines and getting to know each other. Remember school starts at 8.45 and for this week only will finish at 1pm.

Here is our curriculum plan for the first  term. Our topic this term is broad and flexible to take on board the ideas of the children as their learning progresses. The curriculum plan will show you the objectives we will be working on in each area for this term.

Further information on how to support your child's learning will follow.

Here is our Knowledge Organiser for RE for this term.