Welcome to the Early Years

Nursery Teacher: Mrs Sian Perkins

Nursery Teaching Assistant: Mrs Alison Sault

Reception Teacher: Mrs Lizzie Bailey

Reception Teaching Assistant: Mrs Emma Hardware

Autumn Term 1

This half term our topic is 'Ourselves', which includes:  

• Our bodies and how we have grown and changed.
  It would be nice if every child could bring in a photo of themselves when they were a baby. Please put your child’s name on the back.
• Our families and people who are important to us.
• Establishing relationships within our ‘School family’.
• Healthy eating.
• Feelings and ways to express their own feelings appropriately.
• Celebrations in the children’s lives.

In Nursery, the children have been settling into new routines, making friends and exploring the environment. 

Nursery Rhyme of the week

Focus Stories:

We read the 'Funny Bones' story by Allan Ahlberg. We created our own skeletons using natural materials in the forest.  

Art activities:

We have been learning how to keep our body healthy. We used fruit and vegetables to make our own people.

Exploring our senses:

Children have enjoyed reading 'Goldilocks and the three bears.' We used our senses to explore our environments. We enjoyed retelling the story and making our own breakfast concoctions using cereal, corn flour and porridge. We think the bears would've loved our creations!

You can listen to the story of 'Goldilocks and the three bears' by following this link

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/goldilocks-story?collection=storytime-app-stories

Have fun learning the names of your bones with this great 'Dem bones' dance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpvuqj5nv6U&feature=emb_title

Autumn Term 2

Halloween celebrations

We are going to be celebrating Halloween in the Early Years. Pupils will be taking part in spooky activities and carving their own pumpkins. Visit the link below for some online Spooky Fun! https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/curations/halloween

Send us pictures of your Halloween outfits!

Harvest and Growing Food

In Autumn 2, we will be learning about Harvest and how we grow food. The children will be taking on the role of Early Years Gardeners as well as discovering how food is grown around the world.

 Celebrations

 During Autumn 2, we will be looking at celebrations from around the world. Children will take part in fun bonfire and Halloween themed activities, learn about the traditions and customs of the Diwali festival and also learn about how Christmas is celebrated all over the world. 

This year's Christmas play will be recorded and shared with families virtually. We can't wait for you to see the children in their first Nativity!

What is your favourite story and why?

Mrs Bailey’s favourite story is ‘ Squash and Squeeze’ by Julia Donaldson. "I love this story because it makes me giggle when the animals cause chaos in the house."

Mrs Perkins’ favourite story is ‘ Peace at Last’ by Jill Murphy. "I love this story because I used to read it to my little boy every night."

Use your child’s purple mash log in to make up your own story with a family member at home. Using 2 create a story in the tools section of purple mash. https://www.purplemash.com/#tab/pm-home/tools

Muddy Mondays:

Our Muddy sessions focus on developing the children's physical skills. We explore how to move around the forest and also the animals that live in our forest. Children observe the effects the Autumn and Winter seasons have on our forest area.

Homework Story Sacks:

Story Sacks will be sent home every THURSDAY and must be returned every TUESDAY. Each sack includes a task sheet to choose from, key words, a story book and resources to support as well as your child’s individual homework recording books.

Virtual Reception Phonics Workshop

We have put together a virtual phonics workshop for you to access with your child at home. This workshop gives you information about RWI and includes some simple rhyming activties to play together at home. 

Please click on the link to view our Reception Phonics Video. 

https://vimeo.com/467361208 

Early Adopter School

We have started this school year with an exciting change for our 'Early Years Foundation Stage'. The government is preparing to release a new document of 'Curriculum Guidance' for the 'Early Years Foundation Stage' in September 2021. Our school has opted in to be an ‘Early adopter’ of this new guidance and will be piloting the 'New Early Learning Goals'.