WElcome!

Enjoy a cup of tea while you read about some of our learning so far this term! 

PSED - Hand washing 

Spring 2

We have kicked off this term by learning all about the importance of washing our hands! We have been learning and applying vocabulary around washing our hands such as 'germs', 'dirty' and 'clean'. We thought thought of some times it was most important to wash our hands in school and have been showing our teachers throughout the day! We loved doing the pepper experiment to see how important soap is for chasing the germs off our hands and have been practicing rubbing our hands together to wash them properly. 

Autumn 2

We have been learning about how been celebrate different festivals. We have enjoyed looking at fireworks and talking about how they are important for both bonfire night and Diwali! We have been inspired by Rangoli art and practised our fine motor skills drawing and cutting circles and decorating them with dabber tools! 

We have also been learning all about Autumn and have enjoyed exploring in the fallen leaves outside as well as drawing pumpkins! In Numeracy we have been learning about the terms 'long' and 'short' and have enjoyed using our new vocabulary while we make necklaces and practice our fine motor threading skills! 

PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Autumn Term 

We are focusing this half term on how to look after our classroom and environment. We are practising being super star helpers tidying up and remembering to put the lids on pens! 

Children are growing more confident in initiating play with others by building together, making food in the mud kitchen, washing the outdoor furniture and making food and cups of tea in the home corner for their friends and adults. Some of the children really loved calling their friends over the teach them all about the rain! 

Spring 1

This term we have been focusing on friendship and feelings, we will continue to learn language for our emotions and think about how we can support ourselves and our friends with emotions. We will look at how we are the same and different to others and celebrate Chinese New Year at the end of term!

COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE 
 

In the provision, the children have loved been practising their speaking skills by role playing with old telephones and 'calling' each other across the classroom. We have loved singing some nursery rhymes this term to help us with our numbers to 5, such as 5 Little Ducks and 5 Green Bottles. The children have been singing them throughout the day by themselves, you might like to ask them if they can show you at home!

We have listened to many stories so far and have really enjoyed out new Key text Lima's red Hot Chilli. The children were excited and confident sharing their knowledge of spicy food and their ideas of how to help Lima. We practised our literacy and mark-making skills drawing our ideas! 

 Spring 1 

We are learning new vocabulary to match our topic this term, we are learning animal names and noises, including the names for their babies and talking about things we would find and do on the farm.

We will be reading the Three Little Pigs and using our confidence with talking about a familiar story to support us to re-tell it and explain to adults what happens. 

We have music every Thursday, where we enjoy learning new songs with Claire, and growing out confidence in participating and singing out loud.

We will be focusing on using our words to explain what has happened and how it has made us feel. 

Physical Development

Autumn Term

This half term, the children have been developing their gross and fine motor skills by climbing on different equipment in our outdoor area. We have made obstacle courses out of tyres, crates and balance beams and have been practising how to take turns on these to keep everyone safe. The children have been using our obstacle courses to also develop their social skills, and have been encouraging and supporting their friends’ balancing by holding their hands!

We have been using our imaginations to be super heroes on our obstacles courses, and fire fighters reaching up to rescue cats! 

The children have already taken part in lots of fine motor activities which support them to strengthen their finger muscles ready for writing activities later in the year. The children have been manipulating playdough, hammering in pegs, building with brick and Lego and learning to use looped scissors to cut different materials. We have also explored with masking tape and spreading PVA glue to stick. 

Spring 1 

We are developing our gross motor skills by climbing on different equipment in our outdoor area. We enjoy going to the hall to explore with PE equiptment every Thursday, and have been practising throwing, catching and running. We are all now experts in putting on our own coats by flipping them over our heads! 

We are continuing to strengthen our fine motor skills by playing with playdough, duplo, mobilo and blocks. We love using paints, chalks, scissors and glue in our mark making area to create. We have been drawing characters from our story and thinking about our marks to make our drawings look like the three little pigs! 

READINg

The children have enjoyed listening to high quality texts each day and answering questions about the characters and the events in the story. They have also enjoyed choosing books from around the room for an adult to share with them across different topics! 

We send the children home with a new book every Tuesday, which the children get very excited to choose from the book chest each week. Please share these with the children every day as this will promote a love for reading and listening to stories in preparation for when they begin to read the books themselves in Reception. Please remember to sign each time your child’s record each time you read at home and to send their book in every Tuesday!

Our core texts this term are Farmer Duck and The Three Little Pigs. We have enjoyed these lots of times within the classroom, and the children are beginning to join in and re-tell the stories.