Spring 2, Week 4

This week we have been celebrating British Science Week and have been exploring this year's theme: time. We have investigated the concept of time in different ways from seeing how fast ice can melt or a seed can grow, to comparing pictures of staff from when they were children to now, as well as seeing how many star jumps we can do in 30 seconds. We have used our reasoning skills to have some interesting conversations throughout provision surrounding this.

We have been reading The Hungry Caterpillar in English, which has sparked a conversation about life cycles. This led to us exploring the life cycles of different animals and insects, as well as getting our very own LIVE caterpillars to see what happens to them over time. In Maths we have been exploring the composition of teen numbers using tens frames.

Spring 2, Week 3

As Mothers and Others Day approaches, we have learnt about the special people in our lives who love and care for us, and how we can celebrate them. As part of our learning we created cards to show our appreciation for those who care for us.

Another celebration that we have learnt about this week is Palm Sunday. We read about the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and how crowds of people gathered to praise Jesus. We made our own palm leaves and recreated this celebration on the EYFS playground so that we could envision how the crowds may have felt.

In English we have innovated We're Going on a Bear Hunt, by changing the character of the bear and the words that are used to describe him. In Maths we have learnt about halving and doubling. 

Spring 2, Week 2

Look out - super sentence writers about! In English this week we have been focusing on the 4 key features of a sentence, and have been applying this to our model writes. We have been writing sentences based on our focus text, We're Going on a Bear Hunt. In Maths we have been learning the foundation skills for subtraction, by exploring the vocabulary "less" and "fewer".

This week Miss Woodhouse, who is training to be a teacher, joined Ash Class! She took the whole cohort on an exciting hunt for plant patterns on the KS1 playground as part of our Natural World learning. We have also been keeping a close eye on the cress seeds that we planted last week. 

Whilst we were outside we had a chat about areas where we could put our Minibeast Hotels once we have completed them. In our EAD learning we have explored different joining materials, and which would be the most appropriate for our creations.

Spring 2, Week 1

The weather may not suggest that “Spring has sprung” but that has not stopped us beginning to explore signs of it throughout our new unit, Watch Me Grow! This week we learnt all about what plants need to grow, and in doing this we planted our very own cress. We explored how much soil, water, and sunlight would best help our plants to grow and have really enjoyed monitoring them each day to see how they have grown.

As well as plants growing around us, we have begun to notice that WE are growing each day as we get older, and can do things that we couldn’t do before. In PE, we used the higher tables to show that we can climb higher now that we are older. It was great fun!
 

In English we have been exploring the text: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, and have retold the story in lots of different ways. In Maths, we have been adding one more to numerals and amounts.

Please be reminded that World Book Day is on Thursday 7th March. Please see Dojo for more information regarding the theme for this year.

Spring 1, Week 5

This week we have learnt about the celebration of Chinese New Year. We read Dragons in the City, where we found out the different ways that people all over the world celebrate this event. We even had a go at some of these celebrations during Continuous Provision, by making dragon masks, playdough dragons, and learning how to use chopsticks.

Our Role Play this week has been a Dentist! We have been using our own experiences, and our knowledge from our lessons this week, to re-enact what it is like going to the dentist.

In Maths we have been exploring the difference between heavy and light. We have found lots of opportunities throughout the school day to investigate this further. 

Spring 1, Week 4

We have had two very exciting visitors this week. As part of our People Who Help Us unit, we were visited by two policemen! They taught us all about how the police help the community. We then went outside to see a police car and find out what equipment police officers might need to help others. 👮‍♀️ 🚨

"There's no such thing as a Gruffal.....oh!" - this week we have been learning all about our new text, The Gruffalo. We have explored the text and practiced the repeating refrains together. In Maths we have been exploring length and height, and have enjoyed exploring this further within provision.

Spring 1, Week 3

This week we have been solving a mystery! The Gingerbread Man has been sending us a postcard each day from different locations in Leyland, as he has been on the run. In our classes, we have created a Missing Poster to help find him, as well as creating individual ones during our Group Tasks. On Friday he was finally found safe at home, and sent us a postcard and a little treat (made by the Little Old Lady) for us to eat during snack.

As part of our Understanding the World learning, we have been talking about taking care of our community. On Thursday we went litter picking around school to serve our community and keep it clean. In Maths we have been learning about teen numbers, and how they are composed and represented. We also had our first Library trip this week, where we chose books that we can take home to support a love of reading.

Spring 1, Week 2

What an eventful week we have had! We started off the week exploring the snow and investigating different signs of Winter by using our five senses. Whilst doing this we also made snowmen, snow angels and snowballs, it was lots of fun.

Once we had warmed up from exploring outside we had an unexpected visitor. The Gingerbread Man had been caught on CCTV running out of the staff room oven. This had led to us making posters, maps and signs during provision, as well as using magnifying glasses to see if we can spot him! It’s been a huge talking point throughout the school.

In Maths we have explored using a Part - Part Whole with different amounts up to 5. In UTW we have continued learning about People Who Help Us, this week was all about Firefighters! However, we revisited our prior learning by opening up a Hospital Role Play. We also learnt about Pantasaurus during PSED, more information on this has been shared via Dojo.
 

Spring 1, Week 1

It has been so lovely to have everybody together again after a restful half term. This week we have begun to read the story of the Gingerbread Man. The children have enjoyed joining in with the repeated refrains from the story and taking opportunities to act out the characters. In maths we have been learning about 'more and fewer' and have used different manipulatives and situations to explore our new vocabulary. Our afternoon learning has taken on the focus of 'People Who Help Us' as well as beginning to explore our skills in PSED and touch on the parables that Jesus heard as a child in RE. 

Autumn 2, Week 5

Brrrr! We are really feeling the cold with the sudden drop of temperature, but we have most certainly made the most of it. This week we wrapped up warm and went on a walk around the school grounds to look at signs of Winter. We explored our surroundings by using our senses, and touching the ice or picking up frosty leaves was definitely the favourite thing to do! 

We have been learning about Advent and were very excited to open our Julia Donaldson Miniature Book Advent Calendars on the 1st. We also made Christingles and spoke about the representation of each part of it. 

In English we have created a story map to retell The Billy Goats Gruff, alongside our Talk For Writing actions. In Maths we have been exploring the composition of number 9.

Autumn 2, Week 4

Who's that trip trapping over my bridge?! I wonder if you can guess our new focus text that we have begun this week. That's right - it's The Billy Goats Gruff! This week we have been exploring the text by making predictions, studying the characters, and identifying the main events. 

This week we have been reading Bear's Bad Day during key worker time. This is a story about managing big feelings, and how we can work as a team and help each other through tricky times. The children have really enjoyed reading this story, and have often referenced it during their day.

Our Nativity practice is well under way, with just two weeks to go! We are so pleased with the progress that the children have made during rehearsals. Please ensure that your are continuing to practice their lines at home!

Autumn 2, Week 3

This week we have been busy focusing on different features of Autumn. We have learnt all about hibernation, and the changes from Autumn to Winter. The children particularly enjoyed reading Don't Hog The Hedge! and investigating the types of animals that hibernate. We have also been looking at Autumnal plants, and had a look around our setting to see if we could spot any. 

In Maths we have been learning about the composition of number 7, and how this is different to the numbers that we have looked at previously. In English we have been focusing on a non-fiction unit, where we have created a set of instructions about how to ice a biscuit, just like we did in continuous provision in week one!

Autumn 2, Week 2

We have had another busy week learning about different Celebrations. We have learnt about the Hindu festival of Diwali, where we read the story of Rama and Sita, and looked at how people celebrate this festival. We even made our own Diwa Lamps out of clay. Later in the week we reflected and spoke about Remembrance Day, as well as attending a Remembrance Day worship with the rest of the Infant School. We spoke about the bravery of those who fought in the war, and created paintings of Flanders Field.

In English we have continued our learning on The Little Red Hen, and have created actions to help us retell the story using our story map. In Maths we have explored the number 6, looking at how we can represent this in different ways. 

Autumn 2, Week 1

What a busy start to Autumn 2 we have had! This week we have begun our Let's Celebrate unit, where we have focused on how people celebrate Halloween and Bonfire Night. We learnt about how people celebrate Halloween across the world, and, as we are Methodists, we decided to celebrate the "treat" side of Halloween so we decorated cakes to give to others and spread kindness. We also explored the history around Bonfire Night, and discussed the traditions that have carried on through generations for us to celebrate this. 

In English we have begun our new text: The Little Red Hen, and have spent the week becoming familiar with the text, making predictions and retelling with lots of expression. In Maths we have reviewed numbers 1-5 and explored their composition.

Autumn 1, Week 7

This week we have continued to explore signs of Autumn. The children have enjoyed exploring the natural world in lots of different ways; we have set up an investigation station, Autumnal small world for story telling, fine motor activities and ‘Autumn soup’ in the water tray. On Monday, we went on an Autumn walk around the school grounds to observe and collect signs of Autumn.

In English, we have read the story of Little Red and the Hungry Lion as we celebrate Black History Month, where we have compared life in Leyland vs life in Africa, as well as comparing the text to Gunny Wolf that we read last week. The children enjoyed comparing their lives to that of Little Red so much that we ended up exploring this further by reading Handa's Surprise.

We are so impressed with the individual progress each child has made this Half Term, and hope that they have a wonderful, and very well deserved, break. 

Autumn 1, Week 6

This week has begun to feel like Autumn as the weather has gone a lot colder. With this in mind, the children enjoyed discovering aspects of Autumn within provision, with a particular excitement surrounding pumpkins!

In English we have continued to retell the story of Gunny Wolf, which you will be able to watch a video of via Dojo. In Maths we have explored the number 4, and how this can be represented in different ways.

We had our last Multisports session of the Half Term, with South Ribble Sports Coaches. This week was all about football. We learnt to dribble, stop, shoot and tackle - there are certainly some budding Preston North End players in our midst!

Autumn 1, Week 5

During provision this week we have introduced our "coloured strip" system, where children complete coloured learning tasks to be rewarded with the corresponding coloured strip. This has been a big talking point amongst the children, and it has been great to see them working together to earn strips. Within provision have focused on where we live and the familiar places that we know in Leyland, and have spent time making these places using lego, drawing and painting them. The rain hasn't stopped us, and we have explored the different things that we can do with rain in our outdoor area!

This week we began our new text in English with an investigation lesson. A peculiar basket had appeared in our classrooms, with a selection of different items in it. The children used their inference skills to predict that our new text was "Little Red Riding Hood", and although Little Red does feature in our new text, it is actually called "The Gunny Wolf", and we have spent the week diving deeper into the text! In Maths we have been exploring the Number 3, and what makes it different from the numbers that we have looked at previously. The children have enjoyed finding different representations of number 3 across school.

Autumn 1, Week 4

This week we extended our learning on Jack and the Beanstalk by creating a story map as a class, for us to retell text using Talk For Writing. The children have been seen in all areas of provision applying these skills to retell the text to eachother in different ways. In Maths we have explored the number 2, and how it is different to the number 1. We have focused on representing it in different ways, whilst looking at representations that are "not two".

We had lots of discussions about our families this week, and enjoyed sharing with eachother how each of our families are so different. We also brought in pictures of ourselves as babies, and compared these to what we are like now that we are older. The children enjoyed this task so much that we extended it further and they drew pictures of what they would like to be when they get even bigger and become grown ups! 

We also had our individual school photographs this week, which will be available to order within the coming weeks. We will give more information on this shortly.

Autumn 1, Week 3

This week we have begun a new text in English, Jack and the Beanstalk! Much to our surprise, when we entered EYFS on Tuesday a ginormous beanstalk had grown inside Ash Class. This was a big talking point throughout the week and sparked some great discussions about the text. In Maths we have been exploring the number one, and all of the different ways that we can represent it.

South Ribble sports coaches paid us a visit on Thursday to deliver a multisports session, where we learnt all about throwing and catching! This was a great opportunity for us to practice our sharing skills, which linked well to our learning this week as we have been focusing on different feelings and how we can manage them. We have also been learning how to access the learning in our outdoor classroom. 

Autumn 1, Week 2 

This week we have had our first week of full days at school, and it has been a busy one! The children have continued to work hard to explore their learning within their new environment, and have enjoyed getting to know one another further.

In English we have begun looking at familiar texts, beginning with The Three Little Pigs. In our class', we created a story map together to help us retell the story using Talk for Writing, which was then continued in provision as the children retold the story within small world and the outdoor area. In Maths, we continued learning counting songs, with "5 Little Ducks" being a clear favourite amongst the cohort!

This week we also had our first ever PE lesson! South Ribble Sports Coaches began a gymnastics unit with us, where we focused on finding a space and travelling around the hall. In Understanding the World, we have been discussing what makes us special, and what makes us unique from others. We explored the features of a face using playdoh and a range of moulding tools, to begin our "Fantastic Faces" DT unit.  In PSED we created our Class Contract, and over the coming days the children are going to be discussing how they want this to be presented within our classrooms.

Autumn 1, Week 1 

Wow! What a super first week we have had in EYFS. We explored the different areas of both indoor and outdoor provision, played out in the sunshine, and had our first ever school dinner! The children have done a fabulous job of tidying up and it has been lovely to see them all making new friends. We have particularly enjoyed how much effort the children have put into their 'All About Me' books. It has been wonderful to sit with them and talk about photos of their home life and to watch them have the confidence to talk about these photos with their new classmates. 

During our carpet times we have been focusing on building routines and expectations of school life. We have enjoyed singing nursery rhymes, sharing stories, and practicing our happy breathing. We are looking forward to exploring our learning further next week.