27.04.26 - This week in Early Years

Hello everyone!

The children had a special "shout-out" in assembly today, as we are SO proud of them coming round to our gate by themselves. 

We have had a lovely week learning about ladybirds and the children made some beautiful ladybirds of their own.

This week has been lovely and sunny, but as the weather is warmer, please do send your child in with a sun hat and sun cream. Could we please ask that sun cream has been applied before the children come to school though, as it can take a very long time to help all the children apply it.

The children have brought home the next set of Rainbow words. We would be really grateful if you could reinforce these words at home as the children need to know them by sight, rather than trying to sound them out.

We are looking forward to next week, when we will be very busy again, 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.
• Using non-fiction books to find out more about spiders and then writing some spider facts of our own.
• Building numbers to 20, thinking about how many ones there are along with the ten.
• 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.

This week's drop in will be on FRIDAY.

Just a little reminder, the children will have their coloured book changed at the beginning of the week and their Anima Phonics book changed at the end of the week. Please ensure they have them in their bag. Many thanks!

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Wakefield, Mrs Fincham and Miss Goddard

20.04.26 - This coming week in Early Years

Hello everyone!

We have had a very busy first week back! The children were fabulous during their first swimming session and Mr Attfield was very impressed. Next week, as the children will be back in their uniform, they do not need to wear their tie on Wednesday, as this will help with the dressing after their session. 

The children have been enjoying learning about caterpillars and butterflies this week. The children all made their very own caterpillar and sequenced the story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". We have also started to create a new display for the hall, based on this story. A huge thank you to all of you who have helped your children complete their minibeast ideas sheet, we have loved looking through these and will continue to do so next week. 

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 our very own ladybirds using pebbles.
• Enjoying our Forest School session on Thursday. 
• Wearing red and white to school on Thursday to mark St George's Day.

As we are now in the Summer Term, we will be starting to get the children ready for their move into Key Stage 1. With this is mind, it is time for them to start walking round to Early Years by themselves and saying goodbye to you at the gate. We have already got a number of children who do this and we are very proud of their independence. We would ask that from Monday you start to let your child walk to Early Years by themselves. 

We realise, that depending on which gate you use, some children have further to walk than others. If you come in via the Brooklyn Drive or Torquay Close gates then please do start by walking part of the way with your child, allowing them to do the final bit by themselves. For those of you coming in via Downhall Park Way, it is easier as you can see them from this gate.

It is often the parents that find this the most difficult, your children are used to navigating their way from one end of school to the other on a daily basis and will be fine. We also appreciate that there are times when you might need to talk to us about something, please remember that we do check our Class Dojo on a daily basis so messages can always be sent there, shared to the adult on the main school gates or saved for home time. We also know that sometimes, for whatever reason, you will still need to come to our gate, please know that this is fine, we are just wanting to start to prepare the children. 

Thank you in advance for your support with this. 

This week our Drop in sessions will be on  THURSDAY. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Wakefield, Mrs Fincham and Miss Goddard

13.04.26 - This coming week in Early Years

Hello everyone!

We hope you have all had a lovely Easter break. We are looking forward to seeing the children again to start the Summer term and hearing all about their Easter holidays. We would be really grateful if the children could bring in their sheets about our Minibeasts project this coming week. If you are unable to find them, then they can also be found here.

On to our new learning for this coming 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 and using a story sack to retell the story in our own words.
• Creating our own repeating pattern caterpillars, printing using corks.
• Starting our new units in JIGSAW and Charanga.
• Playing a new Circle Time game, trying to pass bells around our circle without them making a sound!
• Starting our swimming lessons on Wednesday morning.
• Enjoying art activities as part of ART DAY on Wednesday afternoon.

Our first drop in session for the Summer term will be on WEDNESDAY.

See you all in the morning!

Miss Wakefield, Mrs Fincham and Miss Goddard