Our Weekly Learning

                         World Book Week!

This week is World Book Week.  We will be reading lots of books by the author Julia Donaldson and all of our activities will be based around her books.  

Reminder:  You can come to school dressed as your favourite book character on Wednesday if you would like to.  

This week our learning will be based around Pancake Day..

• We will be making our own pancakes and talking about what we like to eat with them. 
• Our role play is a farm shop and we will be using the language involved with money.
• We will be developing our language by having a range of resources to discuss on our talking table - this week we have a mystery nest of eggs.
• In our outdoor area we will practise our balancing skills whilst holding equipment.  

Reception children will be practising the letter formation of the sounds they have been taught.   We will be looking at the number 7, thinking about how we can show 7 in a variety of ways and how we can make 7.      

Please encourage your child to practise their RWI sounds at home and to blend sounds to read words. 

Pre-school will be focussing on number songs to develop counting 

This week our learning will be based around the story 'Dear Zoo'.

• We will be experimenting with a range of natural resources and finding out the best ones to use to create spots and stripes for animal prints.   
• Our role play is a farm shop and we will be using the language involved with money.
• We will be developing our language by having a range of resources to discuss on our talking table.
• In our outdoor area we will become safari explorers.  

Reception children will be practising the letter formation of the sounds they have been taught.   We will be looking at the number 6, thinking about how we can show 6 in a variety of ways and how we can make 6.      

Please encourage your child to practise their RWI sounds at home and to blend sounds to read words. 

Pre-school will be focussing comparative language. 

 We will be encouraging the children to;

 - sort and group objects

 - use language such as tall, short, long, big and small. 

This week we will be learning about 'Chinese New Year

• We will be experimenting with paint mixing to create a variety of shades of the same colour and combining our work to  create a large scale dragon. 
• In our home corner we will be chopping and crushing ingredients and talking about what they look like and what they smell like.
• We will be developing our language by exploring a range of chinese new year items and discussing what we think they are used for.
• We will listen to the story of how the chinese years were given their animal names.

Reception children will be practising the letter formation of the sounds they have been taught.   We will be continuing to  learn our number bonds to 5 and thinking about how we can show them in different ways.    

Please encourage your child to practise their RWI sounds at home and to blend sounds to read words. 

Pre-school will be focussing on the number 5. 

 We will be encouraging the children to;

 - To see 5 in a variety of ways

 - Count up to 5 accurately 

We are also focussing on fine motor control using one handed equipment and pencil grip. 

Previous Learning.........

This week we will be continuing to learn about the story 'The Three Little Pigs'   

• We will be experimenting with paint mixing to create a variety of shades of the same colour
• In our home corner we will be making sandwiches to feed the pigs, focussing on cutting and spreading.
• We will be developing our language by exploring a range of keys and discussing size, shape, amount and which pig they belong to.  

Reception children will be practising the letter formation of the sounds they have been taught.   We will be learning our number bonds to 5.    

Please encourage your child to practise their RWI sounds at home and to blend sounds to read words. 

Pre-school will be focussing on the number 4. 

 We will be encouraging the children to;

 - To see 4 in a variety of ways

 - Count up to 4 accurately 

We are also focussing on recognising and writing our names

Previous Learning ...........

This week we will be learning about the story 'The Three Little Pigs'   

• We will be creating our own pigs houses using a variety of resources
• In our construction area we will be pretending to be the Three Little Pigs and building houses that cannot be blown down by the Big Bad Wolf 

Reception children will be practising the letter formation of the sounds they have been taught.   We will be thinking about doubling numbers.  

Please encourage your child to practise their RWI sounds at home and to blend sounds to read words. 

Pre-school will be focussing on the number 3. 

 We will be encouraging the children to;

 - To see 3 in a variety of ways

 - Count up to 3 accurately 

We are also focussing on cutting skills 

Last Term...........

This week we will be continuing our learning about the story 'Penguin Post'   

• We will be designing and creating our own wintery penguin eggs.
• In our art area we will be experimenting with colour mixing - shades of red
• In our construction area we will be building igloos and encosures for our penguins to live in.

Reception children will be practising the letter formation of the sounds they have been taught.   We will be thinking about addition up to 5.

Please encourage your child to practise their RWI sounds at home and to blend sounds to read words. 

Pre-school will be focussing on weighing and measuring.

 We will be encouraging the children to;

 - To use everyday language to describe weight such as heavy and light

 - To use a variety of weighing scales.

 - To understand why we need to weigh items

We are also focussing on colour mixing and using colours for a particular purpose

This week we will be continuing to think about 'The Gruffalo'.  

• We will be going for a listening walk into the deep dark wood, just like the mouse in the story. 
• In our messy play we will be making Gruffalo crumble 
• In our Art area, we will be making sponge print owls and weaving and threading snakes  

Reception children will be practising the letter formation of the sounds they have been taught.   We will be thinking about subitising numbers up to 5 and developing our reasoning skills  .

Please encourage your child to practise their RWI sounds at home and to blend sounds to read words. 

As the chilly weather is setting in please encourage children to be able to put on their own scarves and gloves.  

Pre-school will be focussing on scissors skills, snipping and cutting a range of resources and materials.

 We will be encouraging the children to;

 - Hold scissors safely with the correct grip.

 - Turn the paper as they snip

 - Move safely from one area to another whilst holding scissors 

We are also focussing on 'Careful counting' by touching or moving objects as we count them.

Please encourage your child to count objects at home

This week we will be thinking about Bonfire Night and Fireworks.  

• We will be having stories around a pretend fire and eating some traditional bonfire night foods.  
• We will be exploring colour and shape to create our own firework pictures
• In our Art area, we will be making a range of sparklers, including edible sparklers.  

Reception children will be practising the letter formations of the sounds they have been taught.   We will be thinking about shapes in our environment and finding out the properties of shapes.   

Please encourage your child to practise their RWI sounds at home   

Pre-school will be focussing on talking about their own experiences surrounding this time of year, reliving and retelling things they have done with their families. For example, watching a fireworks display, holding a sparkler and fire safety.

 We will be encouraging the children to;

 - retell an event in the correct order.

 - use a variety of tenses in their speech.

 - use words like and or because to extend their sentences.

Please encourage your child to join in with any family customs or traditions that you may have.

Prior Learning......

This week we will be looking at the story 'Room on the Broom' by Julia Donaldson.

Through this story, we will be exploring routines and traditions surrounding Halloween and the seasonal changes in Autumn.

• Our role play will be a Puppet theatre where children can explore storytelling using the characters from Room on the Broom and other familiar stories.
• We will be exploring pumpkins further by painting, hammering, and scooping out the seeds using a variety of tools.
• We will be making potions using ingredients like bat wings and slimy snails (fruit juices!), and imagining what special spells our potions might create.
• In our Art area, we will be focussing on developing skills using glue to join different materials. We will be making witches hats and pumpkins.

Reception children will be learning the sounds y, th, z, ch and qu in Read Write Inc.  We will be working on numbers 1 - 5 and noticing how these are represented in different ways in the world around us. 

Please encourage your child to practise their RWI sounds at home   

Pre-school will be focussing on talking about their own experiences surrounding this time of year, reliving and retelling things they have done with their families. For example, carving pumpkins, trick or treating, or visiting a pumpkin patch.

 We will be encouraging the children to;

 - retell an event in the correct order.

 - use a variety of tenses in their speech.

 - use words like and or because to extend their sentences.

Please encourage your child to join in with any family customs or traditions that you may have.

This week we will be continuing the story 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'.  

Our role play will be a cave where children can explore light and dark with our torches, and can retell the story of the Bear Hunt.  

We will be retelling the story using sensory trays to recreate the scenes.  

We will be focussing collage and layering pictures in our art area.  

The children will be able to explore hunting for bears in a variety of materials in our messy play.    

Reception children will be learning the sounds y, th, z, ch and qu in Read Write Inc.  We will be working on numbers 1 - 5 and noticing how these are represented in different ways in the world around us. 

Please encourage your child to practise their RWI sounds at home   

Pre-school will be continuing to work on scissor skills and naming colours and shapes.  We will be encouraging the children to;

 - to use their words to ask for help

 - share resources fairly 

Please encourage your child to spot shapes and colour in the envorinment e.g. talking about the colours you see on a woodland walk. 

This week we will be continuing the story 'The Gingerbread Man'.  

Our role play will be a bakery where children can pretend to buy cakes and pastries.  They will also be able to make the bakery items in the home corner using play dough.  

We will be making and decorating biscuits with our own design.  

We will be focussing on fine motor control and mark making in our art area.  

The children will be able to explore using their senses in our sensory messy play.    

Reception children will be learning the sounds sh, r, j, v, y in Read Write Inc.  We will be working on numbers 1 - 5 and noticing how these are represented in different ways in the world around us. 

Please encourage your child to be independent when putting on and zipping up their coat.   

Pre-school will be continuing to work on their independence in the classroom and in their self care.  We will be encouraging the children to;

 - Put on their own coat

 - Wash and dry their hands

This week we are focussing on cutting skills and naming colours and shapes.  

Please encourage your child to be independent at home by dressing themselves and putting on their own shoes. 

Talk to your children about our new dojo points caterpillar!

Dojo points are given when the children follow our Golden Rules, such as being kind and looking after our things at school. As the children collect Dojo points, they will move their name up the caterpillar segments. When they reach the caterpillars head, they will receive their Dojo prize. A slip will be sent home to make parents aware if their child has won their prize.

If you'd like to have a go at making some ginger biscuits at home, please find the recipe we used at school below!