Early Years 2021/2022
Firstly, welcome to the Early Years web page. We have provided an insight into what is happening in school for your child and a general overview of the key information you need to know.
Early Years will be having PE on a Tuesday and a Thursday. Please can children come into school wearing their PE kits on these days.
? |
Autumn 1 |
Autumn 2 |
Spring 1 |
Spring 2 |
Summer 1 |
Summer 2 |
General Themes themes may be adapted to allow for children’s interests to flow
|
All About me! Starting school My new class New Beginnings Superheroes People who help us Careers Staying healthy Food Human body. How have I changed? My family What am I good at? How do I make others feel? Being kind staying safe |
Terrific Tales! Traditional Tales Little Red Hen - Harvest Old favourites Familiar tales Library visit Gingerbread Man Cinderella The Nativity At the Panto Christmas Lists Letters to Father Christmas |
Amazing Animals! Life cycles Safari: Animals around the world Climates Hibernation Down on the Farm Mini Beasts Animal Arts and crafts Night and day animals Animal patterns David Attenborough Happy Habitats |
Come Outside! Plants & Flowers Spring Watch Weather Seasons Does the moon shine? The great outdoors Forest School Planting seeds Make a sculpture: Andy Goldsworthy Reduce, Reuse & Recycle Fun Science Materials '10 ways to look after my world'? |
Ticket to ride! Around the Town How do I get there? Where in the world have you been? Where do we live in the UK and world? Fly me to the moon! Vehicles past and Present Design your own transport! Who was Neil Armstrong |
Fun at the Seaside! Under the sea Off on holiday Where in the world shall we go? Send me a postcard! Marine life Fossils – Mary Anning Seasides in the past Compare: Now and then! Seaside art
|
Possible Texts and ‘old favourites’ |
Owl Babies Elmer Stick Man The Smartest Giant The Colour Monster The Rainbow Fish Funny Bones The Big Book of Families Pete the Cat |
The Jolly Postman Goldilocks Farmer Duck Hansel & Gretal The Ugly Duckling Christmas Story / Nativity Rama and Sita
|
The Emperors Egg The Very Hungry Caterpillar Aghh Spider! Tiger who came to tea Diary of a wombat Elephant and the Bad Baby Pig in the Pond |
The Tiny Seed Oliver’s Vegetables Jack and the Beanstalk One Plastic Bag Jasper’s Beanstalk Stanley's Stick A stroll through the seasons Stickman |
The Snail and the Whale The Way back Home The Naughty Bus Mr. Gumpy’s Outing The Train Ride Bob, The Man on the Moon Non-fiction Space Oi! Get off my train! |
Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch Under the Sea Non – Fiction P is for Passport The Journey Surprising Sharks Passport to Paris World Atlases Tiddler |
‘Wow’ moments / Enrichment Weeks |
Autumn Trail Remembrance Day Nurse / Firefighter visit Harvest Time Birthdays Favourite Songs Talent show Roald Dahl Day Halloween What do I want to be when I grow up? Video for parents. |
Guy Fawkes / Bonfire Night Christmas Time / Nativity Diwali ? Hannukah Black History Month Remembrance day Road Safety Stories by the Fireside World Space Week Children in Need Anti- Bullying Week |
Zoo Lab visit Chinese New Year LENT Story Telling Week Random Acts of Kindness Week Valentine’s Day Internet Safety Day Animal Art week Let’s go on Safari - An animal a day! |
Walk to the park / Picnic Planting seeds Easter time Weather experiments Weather Forecast videos Nature Scavenger Hunt Vincent Van Gogh Study Mother’s Day Queen’s Birthday Science Week Eater Egg Hunt |
Post a letter Food tasting – different culture Map work - Find the Treasure Start of Ramadan Eid D-Day Let’s fly – aeroplanes, travel agent |
Visit to the beach Under the Sea – singing songs and sea shanties Fossil hunting Father’s Day Heathy Eating Week World Environment Day Anniversary of the NHS Pirate Day Ice – Cream at the park
|
How to prepare your child for starting school
Reading / Phonics
As part of the children’s journey into reading, all children will be given core phonic texts. In class we will be learning to recognise, sound and write initial sounds e.g. s,a,t,p,i,n,m,g,o,c,k and then they will begin to blend into words. It is important that you spend ten minutes a day reading with your child. This may at first be difficult for them but as you keep scaffolding their learning you will see big improvements over a short period of time. We expect you to read the book a few times until your child can read most of the words in the text by sight or is able to blend each sound into a word e.g. C-A-T = CAT. If your book has no words then encourage your child to make up their own story based on the pictures they are looking at. Please remember it is also important to read stories and books that they are interested in to develop a life-long love of reading.
We will change books when we feel children are becoming more confident. Please write comments in their reading record to tell us if they have read with you and please inform us of any improvements or difficulties. To consolidate their learning please also regularly look at the high frequency words in your reading record. These are key to their progression in reading and you will find that many are words that can only be read by sight e.g. the, I, you, go – these are words you cannot sound and blend. Please choose a few words a week to learn and then tick or highlight once they have been learnt. We will send home, next week, the ELG word list (45 words) that your child is expected to know by the end of the year. These will be regularly assessed in school
Each day we will teach a phonics lesson and the children will learn new Letters and Sounds. We will post on Tapestry the Letters & Sounds that we learn each week. At home, please have a go at writing the letters and words, remembering to practice each phonetic sound that is learnt. It is important the children become confident with holding a pencil and forming their letters correctly but we are all aware that children do develop at different times and different rates. We will be holding a Reading Seminar at the end of Term 1. This will provide you with ideas on supporting your child with their reading and also teach you how to recite the phonetic alphabet and learn how to sound and blend words. Details will follow shortly so please keep a look out in your book bag.
Maths
The main focus this term is ‘number recognition and counting’. The children will learn how to recognise, order and sequence numbers to 10 and then onto 20. Keep a look out for numbers all around you and encourage your child to count and sort using numbers and objects. At home try to use mathematical language to help sort and count different objects. Cooking and shopping are two excellent ways to introduce practical maths. We will also be introducing 2d shapes such as squares, circles, triangles, rectangles.
PE / Outdoor Learning
Each week your child will be taking part in indoor and outdoor activities. These will be on a Tuesday and a Thursday. Children will need to come to school on these days wearing their PE kits.
The children will be spending lots of time in our Green Zone and will be participating in lots of fun forest school activities. The children can arrive into school wearing their warm, messy clothes and their wellies (they can keep these in school).
Year R at Green Zone
Find out more about what we have got up to at Green Zone by looking at the Green Keeper blogs
General
It is really important the children stay hydrated through the day so please ensure they have a water bottle, which is correctly labelled, in class (We do have a water fountain outside if they forget). The bottle will be kept in school throughout the week and sent home on a Friday. Please make sure all the clothes and footwear are correctly labelled with your child’s name as they do have a habit of going here, there and everywhere! Fruit is provided for morning break but your child can bring in a piece of fruit of their own, if they wish.
One last thing, Friday is ‘Golden Time’ so the children are allowed to bring in their own toy from home, to play with (make sure it is not too big, expensive or precious!)
Hopefully this has given you an insight into what’s happening this term. We are really excited to welcome your child to our Early Years setting and we cannot wait to start our learning adventure. We hope the children will have a fantastic time and that they really enjoy their time in early years. We will provide a caring and happy environment, which will enable your child to explore, create and become inquisitive and independent learners.
Thank You
Mr Cooke / Mrs Palmer