Reception - Ash and Oak

Welcome to Ash  and Oak Class!

Friday 14th July 2017

We have had a very exciting week in Early Years this week. On Monday afternoon we found a very tired and thirsty bumble bee. Mrs Smith showed the children it up very close and we made a special drink of sugary water for the bee to drink.

On Tuesday morning, we had a special visit from a double decker Whippet bus. We met the driver Matthew, the company owner Roger and Henry the Dog. We all went up to the top deck and went for a few laps around the school roundabout!

This week the children have been thinking about their memories of their time in Early Years. We have talked about all of the things we have enjoyed doing and tried to remember all of the big events which have happened throughout the year. The children have written some lovely memories which will be put into their learning journals.

We finished our week today with our Seaside Fun Day. The children have had an amazing day and enjoyed making their own ice cream sundaes, making flags, building sand castles, bouncing on the bouncy castle and best of all squirting each other (and the adults) with the water pistols. We also had a special visit from the local fire crew, who let us all have a go at squirting the water hose and sitting in the vehicle. All the staff had a fantastic time too and it was a great end to a very special year with your children!

Next week, could we please ask you to send in a named plastic bag by Thursday so that we can send home all of the lovely artwork from the displays. On Thursday your child will bring home all of their belongings and we will be passing their current reading book and diary up to their new Year One class teacher. Therefore, on Friday your child does not need to bring anything to school. Please remember that on Friday we are holding our annual end of year picnic. The school lunch is fish and chips and you are welcome to bring a picnic and join us on the school field. After lunch you are welcome to take your child home.

May we take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support over the year.

Many kind regards

The EYFS Team.

Friday 7th July 2017

The Early Years children have had a very exciting week! On Tuesday and Wednesday morning the children went to meet their new teachers. When they returned back to EYFS they talked about the lovely things they had done during the morning. The children then spent time writing about their new teachers, drawing portraits, and sharing their experiences.

In maths we have consolidated tthe childrens understanding of subtraction and 3d shape. We have also been thinking about how to count in two's when finding amounts of money. In our creative area the children have been making puppets and puppet theatres. They have also been making fans to keep cool. The children have enjoyed spending time outside learning in the shade. In this hot weather we have been stopping for regular water breaks and making sure lots of our activities were calm and water based!

Don't forget to join us at the Summer Fete tomorrow.

The EYFS Team

Friday 16th June 2017

This week in Early Years has seen the introduction of our new topic Journeys and Transport. We began the week by talking with the children about different types of transport. This led on nicely to a writing

activity about how we come to school. We encouraged all children to say what they wanted to write, count how many words in their sentence, stretch the words and listen to the phonemes they needed to write and finally read back the sentences they had written.

To develop the childrens physical development we created a bike washing activity in the outside learning area. Mrs Preston also took both classes outside to develop their ball skills. We linked the curriculum areas of Understanding the Word and Expressive Arts and Design by asking the children to build their own boat and then test it in the water tray to see whether it would float or sink. For maths we thought about how many cups of sand would fill a dumper truck. With the warm weather this week we set up a cooling station in our outside learning area where the children could spend time dipping their feet in nice cool water!

We have also begun our transport display which will be added to daily to document the childrens transport learning. So far they have added transport paintings, observational drawings and captions!

Next weeks learning will be based around the story of the Naughty Bus! I wonder what he will get up to in our EYFS classrooms.

Have a lovely weekend in the sunshine!!!!

The EYFS Team

Friday 19th May 2017

As usual we have had another busy and exciting week in EYFS! This week we have been learning about the lifecycle of a bean. The children enjoyed making their own beanstalks using paper, card, paper clips they then linked this to their previous learning of tallest/shortest. As the week progressed the children took part in a colour mixing activity and then painted their own representations of bean plants. Don't forget to ask them what yellow and blue make!

Our writing took the form of magic writing this week. The grown ups in the setting had a magic clipboards and went to find the children in their play, the children then wrote about what they were doing.

We have also been out on the field practising for sports day, don't forget to look at the list in EYFS to find out which house your child is in and which colour t-shirt they will need to wear. On the day they will compete and win points for their house. The winning house will be presented with our Sports Day Trophy.

Next week we will be cooking ! Please make sure your cooking and snack money payments are up to date.

Finally please can we urge you to read with your children as much as possible and record this in their reading diaries. Their fluency and confidence will improve the more they practise. Please refer back to your Parent Consultation forms and look at the Early Learning Goal for reading, this is where we need to get the children to!

We need to do this together.

We hope you have a lovely weekend and as always our door is always open if you have any questions or queries.

Kind regards

The EYFS Team

Friday 5th May 2017

We hope you all enjoyed the extra day off on Monday. We have had another busy week down in Early Years trying to squeeze all of our busy learning into four days!!

We started the week by listening to the story of Jasper's Beanstalk by Mick Inkpen. The children had to listen really carefully to follow the story as Mrs Howitt and Mrs Preston 'told' the story without any pictures to look at. The children then helped to create some actions to help them join in with retelling the story.

The children then had to follow a set of instructions to plant their own bean seed. Just like Jasper in the story, we now have to wait and see if we can grow a beanstalk.

Also this week we have been continuing with our addition of two numbers, by using a number line to 'count on' from one set of objects, rather than counting all objects. We have also been using the language of taller and shorter to describe the height of towers and beanstalks.

In PE we have been continuing to develop our skills in throwing and catching. To develop our fine motor skills we have been making patterns with seeds in play dough.

In the creative area the children have been choosing their own materials to make a representation of a flower. They have been talking about their choices of materials and joining methods.

Have a lovely weekend,

EYFS team.

Friday 21st April 2017

This week in Early Years began with a lovely walk down to St. Mary's Church. On the way we looked out for signs of Spring and discussed road safety. At the church we enjoyed a picnic style lunch before being treated to a lovely retelling of the Easter story from Mr Robb. This week we have also started to decorate our classroom using our creative skills to turn it into a Springtime garden. The children have also been matching rhyming words, continuing number sequences and writing about their Easter holidays. Next week we will be planting seeds and developing our own growing area. Please ensure all children have returned their PE kits to school as this will begin again on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Have a lovely weekend

The EYFS team.

Friday 17th March 2017

What an exciting week in Early Years we have had!

We started off on Monday by taking two groups of children out in the minibus down to Pets at Home and Aldi. We started by being welcomed by the manager Sid and his staff at Pets at Home and then set off on a tour of the store. We looked at the range of things in the store which we might need to buy for various pets. We compared the different sizes of bags of food, beds, food and water bowls and toys. As we have been thinking about money we looked at the different price labels and had a go at reading some of the signs and notices. We then had a great surprise as Sid allowed us to meet one of the rabbits who is currently looking for a new forever home, Harry. He was very cute and fluffy, and sat snuggled in Sid's arms whilst we all gave the rabbit a stroke.

We also spotted a shelf which had lots of boxes of crickets and mealworms!!

After that we walked over to Aldi and looked at all of the different things which we could buy for our snack. The first group chose some juicy strawberries and blueberries, flaky croissants and apple juice, and the second group chose strawberries, scones and apple juice. We then enjoyed them as a group when we returned to school. We will be taking the remaining children out on Monday and Wednesday next week, so if you still haven't sent your permission slip in please do this by Monday morning.

On Tuesday we started our writing task for the week which was writing clues to describe a pet. We began by playing a guess who game, to verbalise our clues, and we then wrote them down. In Maths we have been counting out totals of 1p coins in purses.

On Wednesday we were treated to a lovely performance by the school choir. After that we decided that it was such a lovely day we decided to go out for a walk to look for signs of Spring. We found daffodils and crocuses, buds on trees and bushes and birds nests! Once out on the field, the children noticed that lots of branches and sticks had fallen out of the tall trees in the windy weather we've had, and asked if they could collect some to build some dens and animal houses. As you know, a lot of our busy learning arises from the children's own interests so we went with it and had an AMAZING time. Some children worked on their own, some in pairs or small groups and we heard lots of great conversations and giving of instructions. The children were able to explain their ideas and how they might improve their dens. We compared lengths of sticks, described the texture of them, and figured out how we could put them together to build our dens. We found a troll hole too, but couldn't see any trolls so Nelly suggested we wrote letters and put them down the troll hole to see if we got any replies! When we got a big hungry we brought our snack outside to re energise ourselves and then got back to work. But soon enough it was lunchtime and then children all looked a bit disappointed - so we said we could come back out after lunch - big cheers from Early Years! After lunch we enhanced the activity by taking out pens, paper, clipboards, tape, wool and fabric to decorate our dens. Every single child spent the whole day totally engaged and the staff had a great time too!

On Thursday afternoon we had a special visitor - Mrs Bannister's dog Benji. Mrs Bannister explained to the children what a big responsibility it is to look after a pet and showed us some of the equipment she uses to help take good care of him. We then took him out for a walk on the school field.

All in all, a very busy and engaging week.

Don't forget next week is Parent Consultations. Please sign up via the school website.

On Monday we have a VERY special package being delivered - just in time for Easter!

Have a great weekend

The EYFS Team.

Friday 3rd March 2017

Another busy week in Early Years! We have started our topic on Pets this week. The children have been discussing in small groups and as a whole class which pets they have at home or which pets they would like to have. The children have then used their phonic skills to write simple sentences about their pets, trying to remember to use a capital letter at the beginning, finger spaces between their words and a full stop at the end to show that the sentence is finished.

In the craft area the children have been painting pictures, thinking about the shapes and colours needed to make a representation of a pet.

In Maths this week we have continued our work on 2D shapes and have started to introduce 3D shapes to the children, sphere, cube, cuboid and cylinder. The children have been using these shapes to build models with and we have been encouraging them to use the mathematical language to name and describe them.

 Tuesday was Pancake Day, and the children have enjoyed choosing toppings and eating pancakes, as well as the obligatory pancake flipping and races outside. Tuesday will now also be the day the Mr Down spends the afternoon getting to know the children and trying to learn each of their names. He will be teaching the PE session, so this week he taught Ash class PE, next Tuesday he will teach Oak class PE, so it is very important that PE kits are in school for the whole week. 

Well done to all of the children who brought their sight words back to school on Wednesday so that they could be checked and new words given if they were read on sight. It was clear to see that lots of the children had been practising at home and we hope you are finding lots of exciting ways to practise them. Please remember, if they are not in school on the Wednesday they will not be checked until the following week.

Yesterday saw the whole school celebrated World Book Day. It was lovely to see the children dress up as their favourite book characters and talk about their favourite books. The children took part in some lovely 'Very Hungry Caterpillar' activities, such as food tasting and book baking.

 Next week, Miss Turner will be bringing some of her unusual pets in to share with the class.

Don't forget next week is Waste Week. Early Years will be taking part in a workshop provided by a visiting company on Monday. If you have not yet contributed towards the cost of this please do so by Monday via ParentPay. Remember to send in any empty clean bottles, Pringle tubes, sweet tins etc if you have not already done so. Also remember to send all of your bottle tops in on Monday, especially the green ones so that Mrs Rivett's class can make a large mural of our school emblem, which will be displayed in the school hall. Miss Edwards class will be upcycling our piano with the help of Bab's Baxter from the shop Beautiful Swagger, located at the end of town.

Have a lovely weekend

The Early Years Team

Friday 27th January 2017

This week in Early Years we have been learning about Chinese New Year. The children have been busy making lanterns, masks, and fans. They have also developed their fine motor and painting skills by writing using chinese script. The children have been using their phonic skills for writing, as they took part in a card making activity. For number work the children have been developing their counting skills further linked to our learning. On Wednesday, we had a fantastic visit from the St Neots Dragon Boat Team. The children loved looking at the dragon that goes on the front of the boat and banging the drum that keeps the rowers in time. The week ended with our Chinese celebration day. The child wore red for luck whilst tucking into a Chinese banquet!

Have a listen to our little EYFS Star, Isla. She was on Radio 2 talking with Chris Evans on two consecutive mornings! We are all really proud of her.

13th January 2017

Another busy week in Early Years! We began our Winter Adventure on Monday. The children entered our 'Winter Classroom' to discover that a mystery person had left a whole load of wintery items for us to explore. The children explained some of their own knowledge about cold places and we looked at the globe. Some children spent the morning turning our home corner into a wintery house.

A big focus for this week in the role play area has been practising doing up our buttons and zips. Some children are getting really good at this, and they are eager to help others out when preparing to go outside or getting ready for home time. It would be extremely helpful to us if when dressing you can encourage your child to practise this very important skill.

In the creative area this week the children have been mixing powder paint to create snowy pictures. Miss Crawford made some fake snow for us, simply using shaving foam and bicarbonate of soda. Amazingly it felt cold and was also mouldable. The children have also been using their drawing, cutting and collage skills to create snowmen. A group of children have been working as a team to create a giant snowman out of boxes.

In Maths the children have been practising identifying numerals and matching the correct number of objects to the numeral. In Literacy the children have continued their writing about Christmas, and we have shared an 'e-book' on the interactive whiteboard. Oxford Owl is a great website by Oxford Reading Tree, one of the reading schemes we use in school. It has levelled e-books which you can encourage your child to read on your computer or tablet. Have a look and try some of the lilac, pink and red books.

Finally, the thing we had all been hoping for all week happened today and it snowed!! However, it didn't last for very long so fingers crossed for some more at the weekend so we can have a great time playing out! On this very cold day we warmed up with a lovely hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Next week, we will be sharing the story Percy the Park Keeper by Nick Butterworth, thinking about how we can help animals during this cold season. In Literacy we will be writing lists of things to help keep Percy and his friends warm, and in Maths we will be focussing on 'one more and one less'.

Our PE sessions in the big hall will start next week. Ash will take part on Tuesday and Oak on Wednesday. Please ensure that long hair is tied up and earrings are removed, and that a named PE kit is in school.

Have a good weekend,

EYFS team.

18th November 2016

This week has seen another busy and fun week in Early Years.  We moved on with our Celebration topic to learn about birthdays. At the beginning of the week the children took part in a circle time activity, where they looked at objects linked to birthdays, this prompted them to use their communication skills, to share their own birthday experiences! During the week the children have taken part in adult led writing and maths activities linked to birthdays. In writing we focused on writing simple sentences which began with' I am' and leaving spaces between our words. In maths we focused on number identification, collecting the corresponding amount. Alongside this the children made party decoration and put them up in our Bushmead house, ready for a birthday party, read simple sentences and drew a corresponding picture, practiced writing the 'b' grapheme just to name a few things.

On Wednesday we had a magical visit to the life bus. During the visit the children learnt about how to keep themselves healthy and safe.

Today sees us supporting Children in need and we would like to thank you all for your kind and generous donations to such a worthy cause.

Just a quick reminder, please remember to write in your childrens reading diaries when they read at home. If the diary is not written in, we will assume your child hasn't read and does not need to change their book. We are really pleased at  how well the reading is going so far in school and at home. The children are so enthusiastic about becoming readers!

Next week we will carry on our learning about birthdays linking our learning with the story 'Kippers Birthday' By Mick Inkpen.

Have a lovely weekend

EYFS Team

4th November 2016

A busy week back in Early Years after the half term holiday!

The week began with our whole school Everybody Writes Day.  We started the morning by talking with the children about what they were planning to do for Halloween.  This led into sharing the story of Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and talking about spells and potions.  The children then enjoyed a range of activities linked to this.  The focus for this day was writing.  Each child talked about and then wrote which items they would put into their magic potion and what it would do!  The children were encouraged to think about what sounds they could hear at the beginning of the words and then had a go at representing these in their writing.  Once every child had written, 2 children were chosen to represent EYFS on our Everybody Writes noticeboard which is situated in the front entrance of school.  These children were William Bonnyman and Isla Lovelock.  If you get the chance please pop in and have a look at the display.  The rest of the writing has been celebrated in our classroom displays.

Other activities enjoyed by the children this week have been potion making, wool winding, stick painting, broomstick making, cvc word writing and reading, word hunts, shapes games and sensory bat counting, just to name a few!

Next week, we will be focussing on Fireworks and Bonfire Night.  We have some fantastic activities to share with the children.

Don't forget to come along to our Reading Presentation on Monday afternoon at 2.45pm in the big hall.  We look forward to seeing you there.

EYFS team.

The Autumn and Spring birthday children have had an amazing first day at Bushmead.  Have a look at some of the things they have been up to!!