Early Years 2019/2020

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.

Term 1	Our World	Possible enrichment
	Family Tree- Stick man links Baseline assessments Animation – stick puppets – The Gruffalo, Stick Man- repetitive and familiar texts Getting to know you- initial assessments Picasso – self portraits – maths link to 2D shapes PSED- rules and routines for school	Dress up as your favourite book character
Term 2	Autumn Watch	Possible enrichment
	PSED- making friendships Stanley’s stick- stick play – imagination- stick art We’re Going on A Bear Hunt – video children at Betteshanger – story phrasing ‘we can’t go over it..’ Celebrations/ festivals- Halloween, Bonfire Night, Diwali, solstice, Christmas	Trip - Betteshanger Woodland Parent Christmas crafts morning Songs to parents around the tree
Term 3	Out of this World	Possible enrichment
	Crash landing of a space ship or rocket Visiting alien needs help getting home Bob, man on the moon Create space helmets- record our space journey Astronaut training	Astrodome
Term 4	Once Upon A Time	Possible enrichment
	Traditional Tales – billy goats, three bears, three little pigs, enormous turnip, red riding hood Rhyming Retelling stories- character’s feelings PSED Green zone forest retelling stories Easter- festival celebration
Term 5	Spring Watch	Possible enrichment
	Visit Walmer Castle or Deal Captain’s gardens Mini beast Hunt Plant drawing, identification UW Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, What the Ladybird Heard	Trip – Walmer Castle Creepy claws animal visit
Term 6	The Blue Planet	Possible enrichment
	Making boats – recyclable materials to make a floating boat Read Surprising sharks Rainbow Fish – sharing PSED Barry The Fish with fingers	Trip – The Beach Author visit

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 practise 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 practise 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. Gymnastics and dance will take place every Wednesday and it is really important that your child has shorts, a tee-shirt and plimsolls in their locker. Outdoor field activities will take place on a Thursday (weather permitting). We will also be attending Deal Gymnasium once a term where the children will have a fantastic opportunity to use their facility. We will be sending you more details about this next week.

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).

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

Term 6 PSHE