02.05.22 - This coming week in Early Years

Hello everyone!

As you may have seen in this week's newsletter Pearl Class have all been superstars and as such were all awarded "Pupil of the Week". Unfortunately, due to a number of circumstances, I have been absent from class for the majority of the week, however the children have been amazing and both Mrs Holmes and Mrs O'Connor mentioned how well they had coped with such a topsy turvy week. Mr Law was also full of praise of Pearlies on Friday, when he commented on their excellent listening during PE, so I am a very proud teacher.

Hopefully this coming week will be calmer! We will be:

• Sharing and discussing the story "The Very Busy Spider", which is another story by Eric Carle.
• Reading and ordering instructions to make our own spiders.
• Searching for webs and spiders in our garden and learning how and why spiders make webs.
• Creating some spider fridge magnets and then using them to carry out a science experiment.
• Naming and describing 2D shapes in our Mathematics sessions.
• Finishing off our ladybird labelling work from last week.

Last week saw the first of our weekly drop in sessions and it was lovely to welcome some of our families into class after school. This week the drop in session will be on WEDNESDAY. Please remember there is no expectation for you to attend each week.

I hope you all have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend

Miss Wakefield

25.04.22 - This coming week in Early Years

Hello everyone!

Apologies for the delay in publishing the blog this week, I was busy enjoying the movie night yesterday. It was so lovely to see many of the Pearl children enjoying this fabulous PTA event. 

We have had a very busy first week back and the children are enjoying our new project "Minibeasts". We have spent this week learning about caterpillars and butterflies. The children all made their very own caterpillar and sequenced the story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". A huge thank you to all of you who have helped your children complete their minibeast ideas sheet, I have been loving looking through these and seeing all of the minibeast hunts, photos and pictures that the children have been doing.

On to our learning for the coming week, we will be:

• Sharing another book by Eric Carle, this time it is all about a bad-tempered ladybird.
• Retelling the story "The Bad-Tempered Ladybird and thinking about how the ladybird behaved and whether this was the right thing to do, sharing our ideas during Circle Time.
• Watching a film showing the life cycle of a ladybird.
• Labelling the different parts of a ladybird.
• Learning about time, making different o'clock times, just like those in the story.
• Making ladybird pebbles to put into our garden.

As mentioned before the Easter holiday, I will be starting the drop in sessions from this week. These are a chance to pop into Pearl Class, for you and your child to have a look at any work we have been doing etc. Each week they will be on a different day, there is NO expectation for you to attend each week, but it would be lovely to see you all as we progress through this half term. The first of these drop in sessions will take place on THURSDAY. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Wakefield

18.04.22 - This coming week in Early Years

Happy Easter everyone,

I hope you have all had a lovely break. I am looking forward to seeing all the children again to start the new term. If you have had a chance to ask your child the questions for our Minibeasts project, then I would be very grateful if they could bring their sheets in with them tomorrow. The sheet for the children can also be found here.

On to our new learning for this week:

• Sharing the story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.
• Watching a film version of the story and comparing it to the book.
• Sequencing the events in the story.
• Learning a song to help us remember the days of the week.
• Creating our own repeating pattern caterpillars, printing using corks.
• Playing a new game in Circle Time, trying to pass bells around the circle without them making a sound!

See you tomorrow!

Miss Wakefield

Happy Easter!

Hello everyone!

It was lovely to see all of the children taking part in our Blue and Yellow day today, as we raised funds to support people in Ukraine. In class we talked about why we were wearing blue and yellow and raising money. We focused on how children in Ukraine are not having their Rights met, including the right to be safe from harm (Article 19), the right to a home (Article 27) and the right to an education (Article 28).

The children have brought home their latest art folders, models and of course their Easter eggs and cards today. They also have information about our next project, which will be Minibeasts. There is a sheet for the children to complete (with your help) and I would be grateful if this could be returned during the first week we come back. The information about our next project can also be found here.

Easter Activities in Essex

Please see below a message from Nicola Sparks, our Healthy Schools Engagement officer:

ActivAte Holiday Clubs

Essex are pleased to be working in partnership with Active Essex to deliver over 100 Essex

ActivAte holiday clubs across Essex – supporting the physical and mental wellbeing of school

aged youngsters! We have once again extended the offer to provide spaces for those from low

income working families, alongside those who are eligible for benefits based free school meals.

To find clubs near you and book here.

Library Activities

There are lots of events and activities taking place in libraries during the Easter holidays. 

Children’s Author Events - 8 children’s author events with 3 children’s authors are taking
place across the county. Full details and booking information is on our
website: https://libraries.essex.gov.uk/news/easter-holiday-author-events-for-children/

Big Easter Book Hunt - find golden tickets hidden in library books between 2 and 23 April
to be entered into a prize draw to win a Lenovo Tab M7: Full details on our
website: https://libraries.essex.gov.uk/news/big-easter-book-hunt/

Circus at the Library – several libraries are running circus themed events across the
Easter holidays.  Additionally Chelmsford Library will be running a circus skills workshop
(booking required and for which there is a charge):
Full details on our website: https://libraries.essex.gov.uk/news/circus-at-the-library/

Essex Libraries Photo project – we are looking for families to send us photos of them
reading in their favourite places in order to create colourful customer galleries in local
libraries. Full details of how to submit photos can be found on our
website: https://libraries.essex.gov.uk/news/essex-library-service-photo-project/

Story of the Month – to celebrate the Essex Year of Reading we are launching a virtual
story of the month. The video we share will be accompanied by activity ideas. The March
story is up on our website now: https://libraries.essex.gov.uk/news/story-of-the-month-march/

Bringing Stories to Life – we are hosting some storysack workshops in conjunction with
ACL: Full details and booking information is on our events
listing: https://libraries.essex.gov.uk/events/?&EventName=bringing&page=1

Other events and activities – there will also be other family events and activities
taking place at numerous libraries and full details can be found on our events listing

which is searchable by library and by audience: https://libraries.essex.gov.uk/events/

Finally, I hope you all have a lovely Easter and I will see you all on Tuesday 19th April.

Miss Wakefield