Welcome to EYFS 2022-23

Meet the EYFS Team

       Mrs Baird                   Miss Galpin                  Mrs Thorogood                 Mrs Higson

Gold Class Teacher     Silver Class Teacher                         Pink Class Teachers

Teaching Assistants:

Miss Gregory and Mrs Lamberton- Gold Class

Mrs Beardmore and Miss Fordbird- SIlver Class

Miss Webster-Haynes, Miss Newton and Mrs Dolan- Pink Class

Contact us

Please contact us on the following email addesses:

Mrs Baird (Gold) - jbaird@woodville-fed.derbyshire.sch.uk

Miss Galpin (Silver) - lgalpin@woodville-fed.derbyshire.sch.uk

Mrs Thorogood (Pink) - jthorogood@woodville-fed.derbyshire.sch.uk

Mrs Higson (Pink)- ehigson@woodville-fed.derbyshire.sch.uk

Summer 2- Super Me

Here is our Spotlight on the Curriculum for Summer 2. This is what your child will be learning in school.

Week 6- Heroes in the wider community

It was another busy week in EYFS this week. "999! Emergency!" could be heard inside and outside, as emergency services dominated our play. The children were curious about these important roles and enjoyed learning about what these jobs entail and the equipment they use. Needless to say, over the week, many fires were put out, criminals arrested and lives saved by our wonderful paramedics! 

We discussed what constitutes an emergency and what we should do when an emergency occurs. We talked about calling 999; as a class we role played different scenarios, where a 999 call would be necessary. The videos we watched are attached below so you can share them again with your child at home and talk to them about what they would do if there was an emergency at home.

We had some visitors who came to talk to us about their jobs in the local community.

Ms Simpson came to talk to children about her role as a midwife. The children were spellbound as she talked to them about how she cares for mummies and their growing babies. They particularly enjoyed hearing about how babies feed and their messy nappies!

Mrs Flaherty came to talk to Gold class about her role, caring for mothers who are about to have or have just had a baby. She explained how she helps look after these mummies by talking to them, which was a very different role to Ms Simpson. 

What a wonderful week! A very big thank you to all our visitors.

Week 5- Finding the hero inside me

On Monday, the winners of our Sports week were announced: Congratulations to Team Griffon!

This week, we spent some time in our Year One classroom with our new class mates and teacher. It was fun getting to know each other and playing team building games. 

As nursery children came for a visit to the unit this week, we also spent time in the main school building, familiarising ourselves with new spaces, including the hall, Infant playground, cloakrooms and toilets. We loved the fact we got to play on the pirate ship! We were pleased to see that lots of things are the same in Year One, including our core values and expectations for behaviour. 

The EYFS staff are very proud of how the children managed their emotions and feelings over the week. They showed courage in abundance and are now very excited about their move to Year One. The children definitely found the heroes inside themselves this week!

Special Visit

Gold class had a special visit on Friday from Mr Keogh. He brought some very interesting objects with him to show us how sounds can be made, including a hosepipe and funnel! We were fascinated to see a hosepipe being used like a trumpet. We loved watching him play his real trumpet and listening to him play different pieces of music, like the Pink Panther, Star Wars and Part of your World, from the Little Mermaid. We especially liked dancing and moving in time to the music.

Thank you very much, Mr Keogh. We had a blast!

Week 4- Sporting Heroes

After lots of preparation, sports week was finally here! We absolutely loved taking part in competitions in our houses in our P.E lessons. With Jake, we did standing long jump, shot put and relay races. In our classes, we played games of Dodgeball. We were a bit nervous about throwing the ball and moving to avoid the ball to begin with but we soon got the hang of it. We can't wait to play Dodgeball again!

Every single child showed our core values of respect, courage, perseverance, creativity and joy! It was so wonderful competing for the first time with our peers and we look forward to doing it again in the future. The overall winning house will be announced in assembly on Monday so watch this space. 

As sports fever gripped our unit this week, we talked about what it takes to be a sporting hero, particularly in relation to having a healthy and fit body. We recapped previous learning on healthy eating and this week focused on exercise that would make our heart rate increase. Obstacle courses were made outside and children set themselves many physical changes to raise their heart rate and get out of breath. We realised the importance of drinking lots of water to rehydrate our bodies.

We also developed our hand and eye co-ordination this week, by sewing, using needles and thread. We learned to do a running stitch, pushing the needle up and down through the fabric. We showed real perseverance in exploring this skill.

In English, we wrote our stories about Supertato and the Evil Pea at the park. Children showed increasing independence in their writing and were so proud of their finished story writing. 

In Maths, we compared numbers to 10 with a small difference and a big difference, comparing by looking and then by 1:1 matching. We used the vocabulary more than, fewer than and less than and recognised when groups had an equal amount. We used lots of different resources to support this, including our rekenreks. 

Week 3- Heroes on the High Street

This week, we focused on our High Street and explored the businesses and the people there who help us. We talked about the Post Office, Tesco, Greggs and Bombay Spice but our imaginations were particularly captured by the Hairdressers. We had great fun setting up our own salon, washing, colouring, cutting and styling hair. We even worked as a team to build a large scale model of the High Street and its key buildings.

In English, we created our own version of the Supertato story set in our local park. We picked three naughty things that the Evil Pea could do and then practised telling our stories using storytelling language. 

In Maths, we were introduced to a new maths resource, a rekenrek, which helps us with our subitising. We learned how to orientate the rekenrek and how to smoothly push a given number of beads along with one finger. We applied our knowledge of number composition really well and were very confident showing numbers by the end of the week. This is a piece of equipment we will use in Year One.

In the outdoor area, our bean plants have flowered and bean pods have begun to grow, We were very excited to split a pod open and look at the beans inside. We have cared for these plants very well. We look forward to more growing and then being able to eat them!

We also went for a visit to the Year One classes this week for a storytime. It was lovely to spend some time with the Year One children and begin to make new friends. We were excited when we spotted lots of things that were similar in the Year One classrooms to the EYFS unit. Next week, the Year One children are visiting EYFS with their teachers. 

On Friday, we were put into our house teams for a practise for our interhouse sports week taking place next week. It was great fun competing with our teams in the different events. We can't wait to see which house will win next week. Watch this space!

Animal Sponsorship Update                                  

We are very pleased to announce that each class has successfully raised the amount needed to sponsor their chosen animal through Twycross Zoo. Children have been very busy at home, completing chores to raise their donation for the cause. A grand total of £160 was raised!

Special congratulations to Aaliyah in Silver class, who raised £30 all on her own. This has meant that Silver class can sponsor two animals, an orangutan and a giraffe.

We as a staff are so proud of the children's hard work. This challenge has really reinforced the message that no matter your size you can effect change! As soon as we receive information about our sponsored animal, we will let you know. Thank you for your support.

Week 2- Heroes in our school

This week we learned about heroes in our school that help us. We quickly identified our teachers as people who look after us and help us to learn but it took some investigating to find other people, who we may not see as much around school but whose work is valuable to the running of the school. We talked about the roles of our cook, Mrs Hopper and our dinner ladies, Ms Clarke and Miss Poynton and the important jobs they do to prepare our dinner and look after us at lunchtime. We met our caretaker, Mr Stretton, and our cleaner, Mrs Mansfield. We were amazed to find out how long Mr Stretton's day was and what very important jobs he has, like opening and closing the school, repairing things and making sure the school is safe and warm. We certainly couldn't do without Mrs Mansfield in our unit- we would never be clean and tidy!

In English, the Evil Pea visited our classrooms and caused havoc; stealing our rugs, taping Bertie owl to the whiteboard and spreading toilet roll all over the floor. We were shocked! This led to lots of writing to the Evil Pea and we even created a new story for Supertato set in our classroom based on what had happened.

In Maths, we focused on ordinality, comparing where numbers to 10 are in relation to each other. Through practical activities and games, we reasoned about numbers, thinking about which is more or less. We used linear number tracks to play games that encouraged us to compare numbers that are far apart, near or next to each other.

This week, we have really started to feel the impact of Summer. The days have been very hot! We have talked about sun safety; making sure we apply lots of suncream, wear hats, drink lots of water and stay out of the sun at the hottest part of the day. Please make sure your child has a hat and suncream in school so we can reapply at lunchtime. 

Sponsoring an Animal Update                                  

Each class has been very busy completing chores at home to raise money for their donation to sponsor an animal through Twycross Zoo. We are well under way to reaching our final target of £40. We have one more week to collect in final donations and then we will reveal our grand totals!

Week 1- What is a hero?

Welcome back everyone! On Monday, children came to school dressed as a hero. It was great to see the variety of people that we believe are heroes. These included superheroes like Spiderman, Supergirl and Captain America but ordinary people too, like a vet, nurse, doctor and FED Ex employee. Thank you for your discussions at home as a family.

The children worked together to create a definition of what they think a hero is. This is what they have come up with so far: 

A hero is a good person, who is caring and helps people or animals. 

This definition will be reviewed each week as we move through our topic and learn about different people who help us.

In Literacy, we read the story Supertato. We loved following the adventure of Supertato in the supermarket, as he rescues the vegetables from the Evil Pea. The children practised retelling the story and wrote speech bubbles for Supertato. A link to the story being read aloud is attached below if you would like to share the story together at home.

We have been practising drawing people in our art work this week. First we drew ourselves in our hero costumes. Then we looked at our body parts, how they are joined together and what shapes could represent those body parts. Then we drew the picture again. There is a big difference between our first attempt and second attempt, following our observations. Look below!

In Maths, we recapped the composition of 6,7,8,9 as 5 and a bit and explored different ways to represent these numbers, using fingers, double dice frame and a 10 frame. We made our own collections of 10 and then explored the different ways 10 can be made from 2 parts. We recognised a larger part presented as 5 and a bit and then subitised the smaller part. We used finger patterns, with fingers up and down, to represent the 2 parts.

Summer 1- Dear Earth

Here is our Spotlight on the Curriculum for Summer 1. This is what your child will be learning in school.

Week 6- Looking after our Earth

This week, we reflected on our learning over the half term. We played games identifying animals from a description and matched animals to their habitats. We each wrote a letter to the Earth to explain what we love about it. 

We continued to discuss how to look after the Earth, particularly the small ways we can make a difference, like walking to school and recycling our rubbish. We shared our plan for raising money for our animal adoption, completing household chores to earn money for our chosen animal. A copy of the letter that was sent home to parents is attached below. Half term is the perfect time to get those chores done. We look forward to seeing how you get on.

On Tuesday, we had a visit from local vet team to help us learn about their roles and how they care for animals. They brought Merlin the dog with them and shared how they treated him when he had swallowed a stone! This started from his greeting in the reception area, to a full vet health check, scan and operation, including recovery time after the operation. We think Merlin was very brave! After the talk, we got to stroke Merlin and use a scanner to find a microchip. These were some of the things the children said:

"I liked stroking Merlin."

"I liked pressing the buttons on the scanner!"

"I want to be a vet when I'm older, to make animals feel better!"

On Wednesday, we visited Twycross Zoo. We had an action-packed, fun-filled day exploring animals from around the world. Our favourite animals included the Meerkats, Penguins, Giraffes and Gorillas. Silver class were lucky enough to spot the Snow leopard and Tiger in their habitats. The children drew upon their learning from over the half term and remembered lots of facts about the animals and how they are suited to where they live. It really brought their learning to life! We were really proud of the children’s behaviour, as they walked around the zoo. Well done, EYFS. 

We hope you have a wonderful holiday. Don't forget to come dressed as a hero for the first day back!

Week 5- Desert Habitat

Hot, hot, hot! That is how we felt this week in the desert. We have had a wonderful time learning about amazing desert animals, including fennec foxes, meerkats, tortoises, scorpions, camels and vultures. We enjoyed exploring a desert habitat; riding on a camel, sliding down sand dunes and hiding from sandstorms in caves. 

We were surprised to learn that not many plants grow in the desert, as it is so hot and dry. We loved studying cacti and succulents; marvelling at how they can survive for long periods of time without water- something we can't do! Again, at the end of the week we wrote a postcard to David Attenborough to explain what we got up to this week in the desert.  

Miss Fordbird brought in her pet tortoises, George and Lola, for us to observe. It was great fun studying them close up. They moved very slowly. Their shells were very hard, which helps to protect them against predators. They are herbivores; we noticed they ate a lot of tomatoes and lettuce. Did you know some tortoises can live between 80-150 years? That is a lot longer than humans!

Following on from last week, we were keen to finalise ideas for how to help the animals losing their homes around the world. We talked about our forthcoming visit to Twycross Zoo and how they help to look after endangered animals, particularly through their work on animal adoption. Each class has decided upon an animal to adopt. Now the hard work begins, as we find ways to pay for the adoption of our chosen animals. A letter will be coming home next week with our plan! If you want to know more abut how animal adoption works, then click on the link below.

In Maths, we worked on counting strategies for larger groups of objects, some of which could not be moved, including counting on from different starting numbers. We consolidated our understanding of the word pattern embedded within most of our number names and heard and practised key differences in number names e.g. between 'teen' and 'ty' numbers.

Week 4- Rainforest Habitat

David Attenborough sent us a postcard from the rainforest this week so off we went to explore. It was hot and humid in the rainforest! We loved exploring the forest floor and canopy; climbing trees, hanging like monkeys and sleeping like sloths in the branches. We walked under waterfalls and spotted colourful parrots. We loved learning about orangutans, jaguars, sloths and the red-eyed tree frog. However, our favourite animal was the chameleon. We were amazed with how it camouflages with its surroundings. Watch a link to see a chameleon changing colour below. At the end of the week, we wrote a postcard back to David Attenborough to tell him what we did during our time in the rainforest. 

After visiting this wonderful place, we were shocked to hear that trees in the rainforest are being cut down for their wood, to make way for cattle and to make oil from the fruits of oil palm trees. Our hearts were saddened to think that these marvellous animals' homes are being destroyed. The children felt very strongly about this issue and want to do something about it so watch this space. They have some ideas and a plan will soon begin to form!

In Maths, we learned about odd and even numbers and then linked even numbers to doubles, noting two equal parts that make the whole.

Coronation of King Charles III

All week, excitement has been building for the coronation of King Charles III.  A special area in the unit has been dedicated to the coronation and we have enjoyed sharing stories to find out what happens at a coronation. We have been busy making Union Jack flags and bunting and even thrones, crowns, orbs and sceptres in our play. 

Friday was a special day in the EYFS unit. We put all our learning together about the coronation to re-enact our own coronation. We all came to school dressed in red, white and blue, like the colours of the Union Jack.

We created our own Westminster Abbey on the playground. Our marching band processed the King to the Abbey, where members of the royal family were waiting. The Archbishop of Canterbury, anointed the King with holy oil and presented him with his crown, orb and sceptre. 

We chanted God Save the King and sang the National Anthem. The day was finished off with an afternoon tea party of tea and scones, with party games, including pin the crown on the king. 

We hope you all enjoy your coronation celebrations over the weekend. 

Week 3- Polar Habitat

This week, David Attenborough sent us a postcard from polar habitats he has explored. We looked on the globe and located the North Pole and South Pole and noted that they were covered in white. We learned about glaciers and icebergs, noting the absence of trees in these polar habitats. We talked about temperature and how cold polar habitats are; even colder than our Winters! We looked at clothing you would have to wear in these habitats and were surprised by the number of layers you need to wear to keep warm. 

We loved learning about the animals that live in a polar habitat, including narwhals, arctic foxes, reindeer, snowy owls, polar bears, penguins and seals. We quickly noted that lots of these animals are white to help them camouflage in the snow and have layers of fat to keep them warm.

At the end of the week, we all wrote a postcard back to David Attenborough to tell him about the animals we saw during our learning this week. 

In Maths, we continued to explore the composition of numbers to 10, focusing on 'special cases' when two equal parts combine to make a whole (doubles). We used a range of representations, including dice patterns and fingers. By the end of the week we were very quick at recalling doubles to 5+5.

Spirited Arts Week EYFS Entry

We worked really hard to produce this display, as our entry for the Spirited Arts competition. We selected the theme 'All God's Creatures'. We explored the sheer beauty and awesomeness of animals that live in the ocean. How we interact with animals and the natural world impacts on all living things and the planet.

Week 2- Ocean Habitat

On Monday, we arrived back in school to find a letter and a copy of the book 'Dear Earth by Isobel Otter' in our classrooms. The letter was from Sir David Attenborough, the very famous naturalist and broadcaster. In his letter, he invited us to travel around the Earth this half term and explore four amazing habitats and the animals that live there. He explained that it is important for us to learn about the Earth so we know how to take better care of it, as the Earth belongs to us all. 

A link to the book being read aloud can be found below, if you would like to share it at home.

This week we explored the ocean as a habitat. As part of Spirited Arts week, we created an ocean display in the unit and had great fun making sea animals and learning facts about them. Here are some of the amazing facts we learned: An octopus has three hearts. A jellyfish has no bones, brain, heart or eyes. A pufferfish can inflate into a ball shape to avoid a predator. 

We discovered the ocean is so deep it has many layers and the further down away from the sun you go the darker and colder it gets. We were particularly fascinated by the blue whale and were amazed to find out that they can hold their breath under the water for about an hour. We could only hold our breath for about 15 seconds! We also found out that they can grow up to 30 metres long so we explored how long 30 metres actually is by using a metre stick. It was the length of our outdoor area!

Our role play area has changed to a vets for this half term. We loved exploring the different roles that people have in a Vets. We applied our writing skills to make appointments, record symptoms and treatments. Some of us even made our own x-rays! We have shown great care and respect for the animals that we looked after.

In Maths, we consolidated our understanding of the composition of numbers by investigating the numbers within seven. We composed and de-composed number seven, exploring the part-part-whole relationship, particularly thinking about the missing part e.g. 7 is made from 4 and __.

Week 1- Fruit Kebabs

This week we rounded off our learning from last half term by joining all our subject knowledge around fruits and vegetables, healthy eating and repeating patterns, and our skills in using a knife, to design and make our own fruit kebabs.

We started the week tasting different fruits, including some from our core text The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We focused on describing them using adjectives. We showed courage in using our senses to try blueberries, plums, pineapple, strawberries, melon and grapes. Our adjective list included words like juicy, crunchy, hard, soft and squishy. 

We selected two or three of our favourite fruits and then planned a fruit kebab design with a repeating pattern e.g. ABAB, ABC, AAB, ABB. Finally, we sliced and chopped our chosen fruits using sharp knives and arranged them into our selected pattern. They tasted yummy! We are keen to show our families how to make them now at home! 

Our bean plants have grown a lot over the half term holidays and were ready this week to be repotted. It was amazing taking them out of their pots and observing how the roots had taken the shape of the pot. Soon we will plant them in our school allotment area. 

Minibeasts continued to fascinate us, as more appear in our outdoor area. This week, ladybirds, worms, ants and centipedes were the main attraction. We enjoyed learning about these small creatures and the places that they can be found. 

In English, we continued to work on the text The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We planned and then wrote sentences to describe the caterpillar and butterfly from the story. We were very proud of our finished writing. 

In Maths, we compared numbers in sequence, considering where numbers are in relation to each other, using the words more than, less than and equal to. 

Spring 2- Me and my garden

Here is our Spotlight on the Curriculum for Spring 2. This is what your child will be learning in school.

Week 5- The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This week, our bean plants have grown taller. We could see straight stems and lots of leaves. The roots were even longer and thicker, coming out of the bottom of the pots. Outside, we continued to enjoy looking for signs of Spring, in particular the presence of minibeasts in our garden area. This led us on to a week learning all about minibeasts and their microhabitats. We were amazed to learn that minibeasts are invertebrates, which means they don't have a backbone like us! Watch the video below to find out more about Minibeasts. Why not go on a minibeast hunt in your garden or in the park? Use the guide to help you identify minibeasts. 

In English, we read the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We loved watching the caterpillar eat all the different foods and then change into a butterfly. We focused on retelling the story and then describing the main character, at the beginning and end of the story, using adjectives. 

In Maths, we have learned more about repeating patterns, building upon our knowledge of AB patterns and the unit of repeat. This week, we explored AAB, ABB and ABC patterns. We shared the story Pattern Bug and made patterns using different objects, sounds and actions in our learning environment. Click on the link below to listen to Pattern Bug. Can you spot the repeated pattern each time?

Easter egg-citement then took over the building for the rest of the week! We enjoyed listening to the Easter story and finding out about the significance of symbols associated with Easter, like the egg and cross. We showed creativity making our own Easter cards for our families and were very inspired by chicks, rabbits and eggs.

The week was rounded off with a visit from the Easter Bunny. The children couldn't believe their eyes. Many were heard to say: "I've never seen the Easter Bunny before!"

The Easter Bunny kindly brought us eggs so even though it was raining we still went on an Easter egg hunt underneath our canopy area. Needless to say, the eggs did not last long!

Happy Easter to all our Woodville families. We hope you have a relaxing Easter break.

Letter Formation

Letter formation is the ability to form letters correctly. 

It is an essential skill for children to be taught and practised regularly in order to become more confident. There are different styles of letter formation, including print, pre-cursive and cursive letters. 

In EYFS, we print letters so the letters are separate. All letters are formed starting from the top.

When teaching letter formation, certain letters are grouped together because of their similarities. When practising handwriting, children are taught the letters in these groups rather than in alphabetical order. Ladder Letters is usually the first group taught because the letters only require simple, straight hand movements.

• Ladder Letters: l, i, t, u, j, y
• Curly Caterpillar Letters: c, a, o, d, g, q, e, s, f
• One-Armed Robot Letters: r, b, n, h, m, k, p
• Zigzag Monster Letters: v, w, x, z

We have attached cards to show the letter families and how each letter is formed. There is also a bank of activity ideas for how you can support letter formation at home.

Week 4- Healthy Eating 

Our beans have begun to grow! We were surprised to see roots coming out of the bottom of the pots and stems appearing out of the soil. We recorded our first observation in our bean diaries. We can't wait to see how they change again next week. 

In our topic work, we talked about fruit and vegetables and how you can recognise them. We learned that fruits have seeds inside them and vegetables are often the stem, leaves and roots of plants. We linked this with healthy and unhealthy food and talked about eating at least five pieces of fruit and vegetables a day. 

We have loved looking at Tapestry this week to see how many children have made cress sandwiches at home with their families, using the cress we grew in school. We decided to write some instructions for how to make cress sandwiches so everyone would know how to make them. We sequenced pictures of us making cress sandwiches, orally rehearsed each step out loud and then wrote the instructions, including finger spaces, full stops and capital letters. Look at examples of our writing below. We are very proud of our writing, as this is this first time we have written in books!

We continued to practise using knives to spread and cut; this week, slicing bananas and then making our own jam sandwiches for snack. We also washed our pots after using them so they were ready for the next person to use! 

This week, we studied the artwork of Henri Matisse and learned how he created his collage art, through a technique he called 'painting with scissors'. We loved cutting, snipping, tearing and ripping paper and then experimenting layering it on to a background. We are very pleased with our finished results. 

In Maths, we counted beyond twenty. We enjoyed hearing the repeated pattern in the numbers and are developing confidence in using the familiar sequence within 10 to count to bigger numbers. We consolidated our understanding of the ordinality of numbers and that each number has a value of 1 more than the previous number. We used images of the Numberblocks and our fingers to represent '5 and a bit' quantities. 

Week 3- Parts of a plant

This week was Science Week in school and as part of this we looked more closely at plants.

We arrived into school on Monday, to discover that our cress heads were full of cress hair and were ready for a hair cut! We excitedly gave them a cut and washed the cress ready to eat. We made cress sandwiches, using real knives to spread the butter and cut the bread. We realised we were eating the stem and leaves of the cress. Our core value of courage was demonstrated, as we tried something new, which actually tasted delicious. It was a lovely feeling to have grown and then eaten our own food.

Next, we planted broad beans, like those in the story Jasper's Beanstalk. We are going to have to be patient while they grow, unlike Jasper!

We learned the names of parts of a plant- petal, leaves, stem and roots; singing a song, to the tune of Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, to help us remember the parts. Ask your child to sing it to you at home.

We also used our sense of smell to identify foods that come from plants e.g. orange, coffee and chocolate.

Jasper's Beanstalk continued to inspire us in our literacy work. This week we wrote sentences to explain what Jasper did on certain days of the week. Our confidence in using full stops and finger spaces is growing! This week we explored using a capital letter to start a sentence.

In Maths, we learned about 3d shapes; solid shapes that you can pick up. We named 3d shapes, cone, cube, cuboid, sphere and cylinder, and looked for real objects with 3d shapes around our unit. We explored which 3d shapes could be rolled and/or stacked, and the 2d shapes we could see on the faces of the 3d shapes. 

On Friday, we toured classes across the Federation to see what they had been up to over Science week. Some Year 6 pupils came across to our unit to share their work on fingerprints with us. We had great fun making fingerprints with them and studying the loops and whorls in our prints. Thank you, Year 6!

Week 2- Planting Cress

Our unit looked very different, when we returned to school this week- a huge plant had grown in our workshop area! It reminded us of the beanstalk from Jack and the Beanstalk. This led us on to share the story of Jasper's Beanstalk. We loved listening to what Jasper did every day to take care of his bean. We decided that he needed to be more patient when growing his bean! We acted out the story and sequenced the events from the story, using the days of the week to help us. 

We observed and then planted some cress seeds. We took selfies with the Ipad and stuck our photographs on to our pots to make our very own cress head. Each day we observed the changes to the seeds, recording our observations in a diary. We were very excited when 'cress hair' began to appear over the top of our cress head pot!

This week, we also practised using knives to slice and chop. We had to be very careful, making sure our fingers were tucked out of the way. Next week, we are going to use the cress we have grown to make sandwiches, using knives to spread butter and cut bread. Watch this space!

We also spent time this week studying daffodils and captured their beauty using watercolours. We have some budding artists in the unit! We were very proud of our finished paintings.

In Maths, we compared the number of objects in groups, without being distracted by size, colour or shape. We used the vocabulary more than, fewer than and equal to and thought about how we can manipulate the number of objects in two sets to make them equal.

Although we are learning about the season of Spring currently, we made the most of the unusual snow this week; working together to build a stable snowman, exploring footprints in the snow, exploring melting and freezing and bringing snow into our indoor water tray play.

Week 1- World Book Day- Peter Pan

Welcome back to another exciting half term in the EYFS! 

Monday was an action-packed day beginning with our celebration of Pancake day and ending with a parent worskhop all about supporting early maths. It was great to see so many family members working with their children, using language to help children develop early number sense. We can't wait to see how you get on at home!

World Book day fell on Thursday 2nd March this year but we decided to celebrate it all week, with our Federation text, Peter Pan. We had a wonderful week exploring the world of Neverland and thinking about what our perfect Neverland would include. The unit was filled with pirates, mermaids, and magical creatures. We loved making maps of Neverland; our imaginations went wild! We ended the week watching the Cbeebies show, Peter Pan, which has definitely inspired some budding actors within the unit. 

In Maths, we continued to explore composition of numbers, using double dice frames to explore 6 and 7 as numbers that are made from 5 and a bit. The Numberblock videos for 6 and 7 are attached below, if you would like to watch them with your child. 

This week, we talked about our personal hygiene, in relation to how to keep our hands clean when cooking. We looked at how germs are spread, using glitter to illustrate, and the importance of washing our hands carefully, singing the song Happy Birthday to help.

We also listened to the story of Pantosaurus and talked about how pants cover a private part of our body. 

Phase 3 Tricky Words

In Phonics, we are now well into Phase 3 and have begun to learn some more tricky words. These are shown below. Click on the stars below and they will take you to some ideas for how you can help support your child to read and spell these words at home.

Spring 1- Are we nearly there yet?

Here is our Spotlight on the Curriculum for Spring 1. This is what your child will be learning in school.

Number Formation

We have been practising forming numbers accurately in class. So far we have covered numbers 0 to 5. Each number has a rhyme to help the children remember where to start formation and how to form it correctly. Below is the number formation rhymes we use so you can help support your child at home.

Catie's Amazing Machines

We have loved learning about transport in our topic this half term. We watched a few episodes of Catie's Amazing Machines to support our learning about boats, cars and planes. If you would like to find out more about amazing transport, then follow the link below to Catie's Amazing Machines on BBC iplayer.

Week 6- Travel by Sea- Boats

Our final transport in this topic was boats. We started the week investigating objects that float and sink. We observed very closely, discussing the size, shape and material of objects. This led us on to making our own boats out of foil. It was fun testing them in our water tray. We investigated the size of the base of the boat which came into contact with the water and how high the sides of the boat needed to be to ensure water did not get into the boat. We counted out cubes into the boat to see how many it could hold before it sank. One boat held 25 cubes!

We compared an old boat to a new boat, noticing that how a boat moves has changed from the use of sails and wind power to engines, using propellers. 

In English, we pulled all our learning together about transport by creating our own class non-fiction book. We each selected a photograph of our favourite transport and wrote a sentence about it. Once we had all created a page, we sorted our pages into travel by road, air, sea and rail. We then numbered our pages and created a contents page to help organise the information. We are very proud to be real, published authors. Our class books are going in our reading area to share with others. This has certainly inspired us to create more books!

In Maths, we consolidated our understanding of the composition of five, investigating part and whole relationships, through the nursery rhyme Five Little Speckled Frogs. We visualised the numbers within 5 to work out how many were hidden when we knew the whole number in the set.

This week, we also celebrated Valentines Day. We thought about gifts we give to people we love and so made cards in the workshop, chocolates in the malleabe area, perfume in the water area and jewellery in the funky fingers area. We used our phonic knowledge to write labels for our creations.

What an action packed half term of learning! We wish you all a very relaxing half term holiday. Get out and about and see what transport you can spot!

Week 5- Travel by Rail- Trains

Choo-Choo! This week trains were our focus transport in EYFS. 

In English, we were introduced to a non-fiction text- My First Book of Transport. We looked at the differences between a fiction and non-fiction text, including the use of a contents page, photographs and captions. We used this book to find out about trains and how they work. We also used the book to find out about trains in the past, compared to trains now. 

We explored our toy train set in more detail, looking at how magnets make the train move. We were surprised to see that one end of the train attracted to the magnet but the other end pushed away from the magnet (repelled) so we could move the train without touching it!  

We continued to explore and be inspired by the work of the artist, Jackson Pollock. We had great fun creating our own 'action' paintings outside. We started by splatting paint but then independently explored dripping, flicking, rubbing and printing. Look at some of the examples of our work below. Needless to say, we were glad we wore all-in-one suits and wellingtons, as we got very messy!

In Maths, we looked at the ordinal aspect of numbers 1 to 5 and the staircase pattern that is formed with consecutive numbers. We quickly realised that each number was one more than the number before. We also used the ordinal numbers first, second, third, fourth and fifth alongisde these number activities and in classroom routines.

Week 4- Travel by road- Trucks, buses, lorries 

On Monday, Dave our Caretaker, wanted to get rid of our boxes in our role play area as he thought they were junk! These are very important to us, as we use them to represent many different things in our play, especially vehicles! We read the story Not a box by Antoinette Portis and then wrote three word phrases to explain to Dave what a box could be. We pulled all the ideas together to create our own list poem to share with Dave. He has now agreed not to get rid of our boxes! Our poem is proudly displayed in the unit for all to see.

We spent time looking at different types of maps this week and explored the concept of looking at objects from an aerial view. We made our own maps in diffferent ways, both indoors and outdoors. Road safety dominated our play outdoors this week, as we practised crossing the road safely. At the end of the week, we conducted a road traffic survey on the High Street. We were amazed to see so many cars pass by our school in such a short space of time. The next common vehicles were lorries and vans but we only saw one bus. Not one motorbike or bicycle passed our school! 

This week we discovered the work of the American Painter, Jackson Pollock. He was famous for his 'action paintings'; dripping, splashing or pouring paint on to his canvasses. We loved looking at his paintings and responding to them. We had some super discussions about how the artwork made us feel. Some of us felt it was 'messy' and 'scribbly', while others loved the colours and shapes that emerged in the pictures. Next week we are going to have a go at creating our own Jackson Pollock inspired artwork outside, using paints. We can't wait! Watch this space!

In Maths, we learned about the 2d shapes, squares and rectangles. We explored our environment to locate squares and rectangles and made squares and rectangles in lots of different ways. We played barrier games to describe a shape picture to a friend so they could build it too.

Week 3- Travel by road- Cars

It was noisy in EYFS this week! The sound "vroom, vroom" echoed throughout the building, as we learned all about cars. This week we had a close look inside and outside a real car to study the different parts. We found the engine under the bonnet and where the petrol is put into the car. We learned lots of new vocabulary, like wing mirror, exhaust and windscreen. Later on in the week, we studied a car from the past and compared it to a modern car. We were surprised to see it had no roof and only two seats. The wheels were very big and white! We all agreed that we prefer cars today.

We explored rolling cars through paint and down ramps. This led us to explore different heights and surfaces. It was fun to observe how the cars movement changed. We noted if the surface was bumpy the car moved slower!

On Wednesday, we had a visit from Andy from the Derbyshire Road Safety team, who helped us to understand how to keep ourselves safe near roads, particularly how, when and where to cross the road safely. We learned the key words: Stop, Look, Listen, Think to help us remember what to do to cross the road safely.

In Maths, we worked on our recognition of numerals to 5, matching numerals to correct quantities in various games. We also linked dot arrangements to patterns on a die and had great fun playing dice games and games involving a number track. 

In English, we continued our learning with the story Whatever Next. This week we thought about Bear's next adventure and what other type of transport the box could be. We came up with lots of ideas including, car, plane, submarine, motorbike and a boat. We then thought about where that type of transport would take us to. We had so many lovely discussions about what Bear's next adventure would involve. 

This week we also celebrated Chinese New Year. This year it is the year of the Rabbit. It was very interesting to find out why and how this is celebrated. We enjoyed lots of different activities to experience Chinese culture. Our favourites were acting out the story of Chinese New Year, making money envelopes and lanterns, moving to music as a dragon, using chopsticks and tasting Chinese food. 

Week 2- Travel by air- Planes

This week we found out where our mystery box came from. The bear and the box are from the story 'Whatever Next!' by Jill Murphy. The little bear flies to the moon and back, all before his bath time. We loved listening to the story and predicting what could happen next. We practised using our background knowledge to make links with the text and support our predictions. Afterwards, we used our phonic knowledge to create and label pictures of the bear and what he took with him in his box to the moon. Find a link to the story below.

The focus transport this week was planes. We learned about parts of a plane and how a plane moves. We explored throwing paper planes through the air. It was very tricky when the wind blew, as it moved the plane backwards! We experimented with balloons, balls, ribbons, feathers and other objects that move through the air. We particularly enjoyed investigating bubbles and the bubbles that were made by different shaped wands. They were always round regardless of the shape of the wand!

We also seized the weather this week to explore our school surroundings for signs of Winter. Before we even went outside, we noted changes in the temperature, as we wrapped up in scarves, gloves, hats and wellington boots! We observed snow, ice, icicles, brown or rotten leaves on the ground, bare trees and bright berries. We noted 'dragon's breath' coming out of our mouths, as our hot breath met the cold air. We even talked about how in the morning it has taken longer to get to school as our cars are all frosty and need de-icing!

In Maths, we revisited the concept of 1:1 correspondence by making sure that we matched collections of objects to their representations and began to link this to the corresponding number. We also explored the conservation of a number by investigating what happens to quantities of objects when they are rearranged.

This week we had a visit from the Active School Partnership Balanceability team. We had great fun learning to ride a balance bike. We learned that taking big strides helps to move the bike quicker. We manoeuvred the bikes around cones, gradually lifting our feet off the floor as our confidence grew. We even played a game where we had to stop on command. The importance of wearing a helmet for safety was reinforced. The session really helped to develop our balance, core strength, leg strength and co-ordination. 

Week 1- Travel by air- Rockets

This week something strange appeared in our outdoor area. We had no idea where it came from or what it was. We used our detective skills and background knowledge to look for clues and make links to form an idea. We came up with some very creative and imaginative ideas, particularly linked to space! Someone suggested that it may link to a story so we hunted high and low in the unit for a book with a bear, an owl, a picnic and a rocket! We shared many stories but have not found one yet that contains all the clues. We will keep looking next week! This exciting event though led us into a week of learning about rockets and space travel.

We used Google Earth to zoom out into space and discover what we could see. We studied planet Earth very carefully and discovered why it looks blue and green. We linked this to a world map and globe and had a go at colouring our own map of the world. 

We used the indoor and outdoor equipment to make rockets in many different forms and had great fun launching them and ourselves into space! We loved sharing books about rockets and space and using these to help us find out facts. 

In the workshop area, children got busy junk modelling, including making different types of transport. We used a plan, do, review approach to help us make our models. We were very proud of the end results and learned a lot through sharing problems we encountered and how we solved them. 

In Maths, we explored part-part-whole relations through practical experiences, with numbers to 5, to reinforce our understanding that wholes can be made up from smaller parts. We particularly focused on spatial arrangements that can be made with different combinations of the same number of objects. 

In English, we shared what Santa had brought us for Christmas, labelling pictures of our gifts. We were certainly very lucky this year!

Our first P.E lesson in P.E kit was a resounding success. We loved pretending to be stars in the sky, using our bodies to make star shapes in different ways. We moved around the space safely, creating our very first class dance about twinkling stars. We can't wait for next week!

Autumn 2- Traditions and Me

Here is our Spotlight on the Curriculum for Autumn 2. This is what your child will be learning in school.

Week 8- Christmas is here!

We have finally made it to the end of term! What an action packed four days we have had! This week, we have begun our preparations for Christmas. We made Christmas cards and calendars for our families. We hope you like them! 

On Wednesday, we had our Christmas party, we loved dancing to music, playing party games and eating party food. It was hard when we were out in the games but we tried hard to congratulate the winner and continue to participate in the games. We managed our emotions and feelings and the teachers were very proud of us.

Today, Santa came for a visit and told us we are all on his good list! 

Tonight, children are coming home with a bag filled with goodies from the EYFS team! This includes their cards and calendars but also reindeer food made by the children to help Santa's reindeer find their way to your homes, a special book and a homemade chocolate snowman. So, on Christmas Eve, sprinkle the reindeer food in the garden or in front of your house, eat your Chocolate snowman and snuggle up to share the story book. What a special Christmas Eve that will be! 

We wish you all a happy and peaceful Christmas. We look forward to more adventures in 2023!

Week 7- Winter

As temperatures plummeted and Winter really took hold this week, we spent time looking closely at the changes around us. We observed all the surfaces that had been touched by the frost. We saw glistening spider webs, icicles and frozen water in spots we hadn't even expected, like inside our tyres and tough trays. Some of the equipment that had been left out over the weekend had frozen together. We had great fun trying to pull things apart, break the ice and watch it melt. 

Some of our toy animals had got trapped in the ice and we explored ways of getting them out of the ice. We suggested things like smashing, hammering, scraping or cutting them out but this took a long time and was hard work! We then came up with lots of ideas for making the ice warm, like holding it in our hands, putting it in the microwave or a bowl of hot water. We enjoyed melting the ice and re-freezing it again in our freezer. We kept this cycle going all week! Melt- freeze- melt- freeze!

Outdoors, we had to keep moving as it was very cold. We used tricycles, scooters and wheeled toys, as we practised pedalling and pushing, developing our gross motor skills. 

We even built a Polar Express to take us to see Santa in the North Pole. Our imaginations have been really stretched this week and there has been lots of negotiating storylines and roles, sharing and taking turns. 

This week we wrote letters to Santa to ask for our Christmas gifts. We used our phonic knowledge to stretch words, segment words into sounds and record the sounds we could hear. Santa is going to be very impressed with our writing! 

In Maths, we began to explore composition by focusing on the preliminary skills, the concepts of 'parts' and 'wholes'. We investigated our own bodies and familiar toys to help us understand that whole things are made up of smaller parts and therefore a whole is bigger than its parts. This fed into our wider provision where we constructed and deconstructed things with parts, made craft activities with parts that are put together to make a whole, even looking at moving parts on our bikes and scooters.

At the end of the week, we performed our Nativity for our families. We did an amazing job singing our songs, reciting our lines and acting on the stage. The EYFS staff and Mrs Haywood are very proud of each and every child; you all showed our core values of respect, courage, creativity, perseverance and joy this week.  A huge congratulations to you all!

Week 6- Christmas Celebrations

This week we discussed how we celebrate Christmas in our homes and saw we had very similar traditions, like decorating Christmas trees, writing letters to Santa, sending cards, visiting Santa, giving and receiving presents, eating Christmas dinner and spending time with our family. Thank you for sending in photographs through Tapestry.

Santa's workshop opened in EYFS! We got busy helping Santa to design, make, wrap and post presents. We are always watching and changing who is on the naughty and nice list!

This week, we also talked about the sweet foods and drinks that are consumed during celebrations and the impact this has on our teeth. We made teeth out of playdough, talked about healthy and unhealthy food for our teeth and practised cleaning teeth to get rid of plaque! We conducted a science investigation to look at the impact of sugary drinks on our teeth. We put egg shells (similar to tooth enamel) into water, milk, orange squash and Coke. We predicted that Coke and Squash would be bad for our teeth and that they would change the egg shell to make it brown. We were shocked to see what happened to the egg shell after a few days in the squash and Coke. It made us want to brush our teeth more regularly and carefully! Look at the photographs below.

This week we also had Christmas jumper and Christmas dinner day. It was great fun pulling crackers in the hall with our friends. 

In English, we read the story of Stickman by Julia Donaldson. We practised the skill of prediction, pausing at different parts in the story to guess what could happen next. Sometimes our predictions were correct, along the way we changed our predictions as we got more information. We loved making our own Stickmen and taking them on adventures outside.

In Maths, we explored repeating AB patterns. We made repeating patterns with actions, sounds and objects e.g. clap/click, meow/woof, red/yellow, circle/square. scissor/pencil. We even used our knowledge of repeating patterns to make wrapping paper for Santa's workshop. 

At the end of the week, the winners of the Christmas tree competition were announced. Congratulations to Blue Class who won. Photographs of all the trees from the Infant school can be found on Twitter. EYFS were very proud of their three very unique trees. 

Week 5- The First Christmas- Nativity

This week the celebration of Christmas has really begun to take over the EYFS unit. We shared the Christian story of the first Christmas- the Nativity. The children practised retelling it and sequencing the story. We looked at the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh given to Baby Jesus and how they were very different to those gifts that we would give to a baby. 

We introduced the idea of performing the nativity for our families; the children were very keen to do this. We looked at the characters in the story and allocated roles. Children have come home with words to practise as narrators for the natvity so please practise these with them at home. Songs for the nativity performance have also been added to Tapestry so your child can practise them at home.

This week, we have begun to open our class advent calendars. Instead of chocolate, our calendars contain activity books based on the books of one of our favourite authors, Julia Donaldson. We love counting down the days until Christmas arrives!

In Maths, we compared objects in two groups by matching them 1:1. We used the words more than, fewer than and equal to, to compare the numbers in each group.

Find a link below to the Nativity story.

Week 4- Weddings

This week, love was in the air, as the children learned about the celebration of marriage. We talked about why people decide to get married. The children explored what a wedding ceremony involves and studied artefacts from a wedding. Children shared their experiences of weddings of family members and friends. 

The children explored the different roles at a wedding, including bride, groom, best man, bridesmaids, vicar and photographer. 

We noticed that weddings have similar features to other celebrations, including invitations, cards, gifts, flowers, decorations and food. We had great fun making these different items. Building three-tiered wedding cakes out of playdough was a challenge! 

At the end of the week, each class recreated a wedding; the children allocated themselves different roles and enjoyed the wedding ceremony, reception and evening disco!

In Maths, children deepened their understanding of the number five as a quantity by linking it to their five fingers on one hand. We explored different ways of representing five. The Numberblock 5 video link is attached below to rewatch at home.

It was wonderful to welcome so many parents into school on Tuesday for our reading for pleasure afternoon. We had a blast sharing some of our favourite books with you.

Tricky Words

We have started to learn to recognise some tricky words that our phonic skills will not be able to help us decode. These are common words that you find in books and that need to be recognised on sight. We have looked carefully at these words and the tricky parts or sounds they contain. Children have been sent home with these words on card to practise.

How can I practise the tricky words with my child?

• Try a little practise every day: 5/10 minutes at a time should be enough. You might want to focus on one word at a time.

• Play bingo or a matching up pairs game.

• Make a treasure hunt: hide a few tricky words around the house and ask your child to find them from a list, ticking them off as they search.

• Display the tricky words at home, such as on the wall or on the fridge. 

• Look for these tricky words in everyday reading – in signs, food packaging or notices in the supermarket. During bedtime reading, ask your child to pick out a specific tricky word that you’ve been practising in a story book or their library book.

• Songs are a great way to practise tricky words. Below is the link to a song with have sung in class to help us learn this first set of tricky words.

Reading Update

Pink A Reading Books

Here is a video to show you how to support your child read a Pink A book at home. These are books with words that feature the letter/sound correspondences s, a, t, p, i, n, m and d.

Your child will be given a Pink A book if they can recognise the above graphemes and blend words featuring them. 

Reading Eggs and Fast Phonics

Every child in the Infant school has access to Reading Eggs and Fast Phonics to support reading development at home. This programme is closely aligned to our phonics scheme in school. Watch the introduction video to Fast Phonics below for more information.

Search for Reading Eggs in your browser, log-in and select Fast Phonics. Log-in details for your child can be found on the back of the EYFS November newsletter. 

Week 3- Birthdays

On Monday morning, we received a letter from Miss Peake asking EYFS for their help in organising her a birthday party. We rose to the challenge and spent the rest of the week learning about why we celebrate birthdays and what a party needs to include.

We discovered that birthdays celebrate the day you were born. We found out what month we were born in and identified who was the oldest and youngest in our classes. We looked carefully at baby photographs we brought in from home and discussed what we were able to do when we were babies.

Baby Beatrice came to join EYFS in our domestic role play area. The children showed so much care in looking after her and meeting her needs. We even practised bathing babies outside in our water area.

We made and delivered party invitations, designed birthday cards and decorations and we even wrapped presents! We made lists of things that a party needs and lists of party food to fetch from the shop, including cake, crisps and pop. A birthday party has to have entertainment so we explored different games like musical chairs, musical statues and pass the parcel. 

On Friday afternoon, Miss Peake arrived in the Infant hall for her party. She blew out her candles on her cake as we sang Happy Birthday. She loved her present from the EYFS children. We all had so much fun dancing, playing games and eating party food.

This week we also participated in Anti-Bullying week, starting off with Odd Socks day, and finishing the week with Children in Need. Thank you for all your donations to the charity.

All in all, another fabulous week of learning in EYFS. 

Week 2- Diwali

In EYFS this week, we shared the story Little Glow, a beautiful book all about the importance of light in different celebrations. A link to the book can be found below.

Following this, we focused in on the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali. We listened to the story of Rama and Sita and acted it out as a class. We talked about the themes of light defeating dark and good defeating evil. We then made diva lamps, which were used to help guide Rama and Sita home. These are displayed in homes during Diwali.

We used our creative skills to make mehndi patterns on hand outlines and Rangoli patterns on the floor, by sprinkling powder paint and using chalk. We listened to Diwali music and moved our bodies in time to the music; capturing aspects of Diwali in our movements e.g. fireworks, flowers, diva lamps and sweets.

In Maths, we used the words more than and fewer than to compare groups of objects. 

On Friday we celebrated Remembrance day, making poppies in different ways, and joined in the two minute silence with the Infant school at 11 o'clock. We were very respectful and stood without talking for the whole time!

You can re-watch the story of Rama and Sita by clicking on the link below.

Week 1- Halloween and Bonfire Night

We have certainly started back after half term with a BANG! Quite literally! 

This week we introduced the idea of a celebration and discussed what they involve, focusing on two big celebrations that happen this week, Halloween and Bonfire Night. On our first day back the unit was filled with witches, skeletons, pumpkins, monsters and magical creatures, as we celebrated Halloween. We loved making chocolate apples, watching the chocolate change as it melted and cooled, and exploring pumpkins on the outside and inside.

We read the story Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. See the link below to watch the animated story at home on BBC iplayer. This inspired many retellings and creations this week, including our own broomsticks!

In our outdoor space, a bonfire appeared and, through studing pictures around the bonfire, we realised it needed a guy! So we quickly set to making one. We made fireworks in different ways and explored how to stay safe on Bonfire Night. At the end of the week, we pretended to set fire to our bonfire but we had the fire brigade on hand to help out in case the fire spread! We even had our own firework display, using our bodies and pom-poms to explode into the air like a firework, creating firework sounds and moving to music. 

In our unit, we currently have a fascination with the Numberblocks! We love making them out of blocks and this week in Maths we investigated the shapes that can be made by number 4; noticing smaller groups that can be found in the larger group e.g. 2 blocks on the top of another 2 blocks or as a line of 3 with 1 on top. You can find the link to the video for Numberblock 4 below.

Autumn 1- My Family and I

Here is our Spotlight on the Curriculum for Autumn 1. This is what your child will be learning in school.

Week 7- Traditional Stories- The Ghanaian Goldilocks

In the unit this week, we continued to have lots of fun with our autumn finds. We used them to make faces and other interesting art pieces. Following our previous exploration of rolling pine cones we rolled conkers, investigating how the height of our ramps effected how far the conkers rolled. We also observed our autumn leaves closely, sketching and then painting them with watercolours. We were so proud of our final artwork. 

In English, we shared the story The Ghanaian Goldilocks by Dr Tamara Pizzoli. A link can be found to a read aloud version of the story below. We were brilliant at comparing this story with the original Goldilocks and the Three Bears story. We noted lots of similarities, like Goldilocks was a mischievous character, both stories had bowls of food, three chairs, three main characters but there were lots of differences too- the setting, people not bears, wardrobes instead of beds but most importantly Goldilocks was a boy! We made and tasted porridge and learned about fufu, a Ghanaian dough-like food which is often dipped into soup or stew.

In Maths, we explored how numbers can be made up of 1s and investigated the composition of 3 and 4; we used our knowledge of subitising small quantities to recognise these numbers within 3 and 4 e.g. 1 and 1 and 1 makes 3, 2 and 1 makes 3, 2 an 2 makes 4, 3 and 1 makes 4, 1 and 1 and 1 and 1 makes 4.

As our Phonic knowledge increases, we are becoming more confident to mark make and use these sounds in our writing. We are getting so good at blending to read and spelling simple three letter words on our own.

On Thursday, EYFS attended our first after school Federation event- Film night! We loved the film Luca and sat so well, listening to the story. Our sweet treats definitely helped!

As the final week of our first term draws to an end, the EYFS team would like to say how proud we are of how the childen have settled and what the childen have achieved so far. Have a wonderful and well-deserved break! Don't forget to come dressed up in your Halloween costume on the first day back.

Floppy's Phonics Programme

This week we have linked sounds to the letters t and p. The children will be bringing home two worksheets linked to these sounds to practice at home. You will notice that these sheets look virtually the same as the s and a sheets. However, there is a slight difference. From now on, the children will be encouraged to blend the sounds they have learned to read a few simple words. 

The children have also been given a plastic wallet with some letter tiles inside. These can be cut up and used to practise letter/ sound correspondences and building words to read and spell.

Below is a video of how to complete the worksheet with your child and how to use these letter tiles. Each week, as new letter/sound correspondences are learned, further letter tiles will be added to the wallet.

Remember these worksheets can stay at home for future practise. Please send the plastic wallet to school each day in your child's book bag.

Week 6- Traditional Stories- Gingerbread Man

What a busy week in EYFS it has been! Along with the other year groups across the Federation, we took part on Monday in Hello Yellow day, as part of raising awareness for children's mental health, and we finished on Friday with our Outdoor Learning day. Now every day is outdoor learning day in EYFS but we had some extra special autumn enhancements in our mud kitchen which we thoroughly enjoyed. Conker soup, leaf kebabs, autumn stew were on the menu. We had a blast using the autumn treasures brought in from home in our play. 

These autumn treasures also found their way into the classroom. They stimulated lots of close looking, awe and wonder, and raised lots of questions, leading children into very different lines of enquiry. These included: which sycamore seed spins faster a single or double headed seed, what happens if you plant an acorn, how can we make a pinecone roll further, what happens to a leaf when it falls off a tree. 

We read the story of the Gingerbread man in English. We loved acting out the story and joining in with the repeated refrain, "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread man.". In Phonics, we have now covered the letter/sound corresponences s, a, t , p and i. We are becoming more aware of print around us, spotting graphemes in our environment and beginning to blend to read and segment to spell simple two and three letter words. 

In Maths, each class was introduced to a counting puppet, who made silly mistakes when counting with one to one correspondence. We had great fun giving them strategies to help them count more accurately. 

We were also introduced to our final Core value of Creativity, which was abundant in our play and learning this week. Look at the photos below for some examples of our work.

Introducing Floppy's Phonics Programme

This week we have begun to link sounds to letters- introducing the children to s and a. The children will be bringing home two worksheets linked to these sounds to practise at home. Once completed, these sheets do not need to be returned to school. They can stay at home for future practise.

Below is a video of how to complete the worksheet with your child. 

Supporting your child with Phonics at home

For more information about how to support your child with Phonics at home, including how to pronounce letter/sound correspondences, go to the website below.

Week 5- Traditional Stories- Goldilocks

This week, we shared the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears in class. We enjoyed reading the story and acting out it out, particularly voicing the different characters. "Who's been eating my porridge, sitting in my chair and sleeping in my bed?" could be heard throughout the unit all week. We made Wanted posters for the naughty Goldilocks, using our mark making skills. 

Our Core value this week was Perseverance; this means staying positive when things get tough and trying different ways of doing things until we succeed. We practised using our funky fingers to curl paper around pencils to make Goldilocks hair; this definitely needed perseverance! 

In Maths, we quantified small sets of objects (1, 2 and 3) by subitiising rather than counting. Subitising means saying how many objects there are in a small group by 'just seeing' and knowing straght away, rather than counting. Subitising is an essential feature of developing number sense. We represented the number in a given set using different objects, named quantities with number words, matched sets to numerals and made our own arrangements that could be subitised. We also watched the number block videos 1, 2 and 3. Links to these videos can be found below.

We have started to notice the changes around us, linked to the season autumn. We found sycamore seeds on the playground and loved throwing them in the air and watching them fall to the ground. We played with pinecones, exploring how they rolled down pipes. For homework, we have asked children to go on an autumn hunt and collect some autumn treasures. Children will bring them in to school next week for us to explore in the unit. Watch this space to see what we find!

Week 4- Who is in my wider family?

We continued to talk about our families in EYFS this week. We are becoming more confident using the language to describe families, like mum, dad, step mum, step dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandad and cousin.

This week, we introduced Dough Disco into our morning routine, as part of our Funky fingers activities. This involves exercising our fingers using playdough, by completing a series of actions, like rolling, pinching and squeezing. Dough Disco and Funky finger activities help to develop our upper body skills (gross motor), our hand/ eye co-ordination and build up strength in our fingers and hands (fine motor skills), which are all essential for writing. 

In our workshop area and outdoors, we practised using masking tape and cellotape, using a dispenser. We learned about the properties of these two tapes and explored how to cut them and use them in our work.

In Literacy, we shared the story 'Oi, Frog' by Kes Gray. We had so much fun learning about rhyming words using the text. Our favourite part was the ending when the dog sat on the frog! We explored words that rhymed and made and continued rhyming strings e.g. dog, log, fog, cog, frog, hedgehog. A link to the story being read aloud can be found below.

In Maths, we sorted objects in different ways, including by colour, size and shape. We initially sorted ourselves; we noted hair length, hair colour, eye colour and clothing. We then sorted classroom objects in different ways, looking closely at ways that they matched beyond colour. We then tried to describe how a set of objects had been sorted and even tried to spot the odd one out. 

Our focus Core value this week was Courage. We explored what this means in action, including showing bravery leaving our parents in the morning and taking a risk to try something new.

Week 3- Who lives in my house?

This week we shared photographs of our families and talked about who lives in our houses. We enjoyed learning about each others' familiies; noting similarities and differences in our family make-ups. We learned that families come in many shapes and sizes but are filled with love! We made lollipop stick houses and drew inside them the special people that make up our family. We even made our family out of loose parts, like sticks, shells and stones.

In Literacy, we read the book "We're going on a bear hunt" by Michael Rosen. We had great fun recreating the story in our small world play and then using our den building equipment and musical instruments outside. Our favourite part was running away from the bear, back through the different settings. The sounds we made with instruments certainly enhanced our story telling! You can find a link to the story being read aloud below.

In Maths, we recognised matching objects and pictures. We played lots of games involving finding matching pairs and and discussed what made something the same or different. We even matched objects to their outlines! This was tricky when something was a similar shape.

Joy was our focus school core value this week. We reflected on what makes us and others happy and tried to spread joy across our unit through our actions. We noticed our achievements and celebrated the successes of others. 

Week 2- All about Me

This week, there were a lot more smiles in the unit, as we are getting braver at saying goodbye to our adults in the morning. We spent time getting to know each other, sharing our All about me bags and finding out about what makes us unique. We are learning each others names and through shared interests, friendships are now beginning to form.

We looked closely at our appearance in mirrors and sketched a self portrait, selecting very carefully our skin tone, using skin-coloured pencils. We played games to find out who was the oldest and youngest, tallest and shortest and compared our height and handprints.

We are definitely becoming more confident in our learning environment, as we continued to practise our core value of Respect. We enjoyed making marks in many different ways, including on the whiteboard, chalkboard and on paper; these even included messages about how to stay safe in the unit. Some children filled their very first stamp card with smily faces and earned a treat from Miss Peake's dippy box! 

On Friday, we took home our very first reading books. We were very excited to share these with our family. Please watch the Lilac Reading Book video below, for ideas for how to support your child read these books at home. Happy Reading!

Reading Books

Here is a video all about your child's first reading book. This is on a Lilac book band.

This video will show you how to support your child read this book at home.

Transition Days and Week 1

What an action packed first few days in school our new starters have had! We have loved exploring our unit, inside and out; playing with all the exciting resources. We have quickly picked up routines, practising 'Choose it, use it, put it away!'

We used the text 'The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas' to support discussions around how we are feeling. A link to the text being read aloud can be found below.

We have learned about the schools core value of Respect and explored what that looks like in action, through sharing, taking turns, good listening, using our manners and looking after the resources we have in the unit. We have earned lots of red smily faces in our stamp cards for showing respect!

This week we met some additional adults who will help us with our learning in school, including Mrs Haywood, music, and Jesse, P.E.

Our first few days of eating dinner in the dining room have gone well. We particularly loved sausage and mash this week and fishfingers and chips. Carrying our own trays and sitting on picnic tables has been fun!

At the end of the week, we had our first celebration assembly and each class was awarded a class of the week certificate from Miss Peake. The teachers are very proud of all the children for their bravery and resillience this week. 

EYFS Daily Routine

Please click below to see our daily routine in Reception. This will change as the year progresses.

We try to keep the routine as consistent as possible to provide the children with a level of security that comes from knowing what to expect from the day ahead.

The daily timetable is also displayed in the classroom for children in picture form, which alerts the children to any changes and provides us with an opportunity to discuss them in advance so that they are well prepared.

Woodville Infant School EYFS

Key information about our EYFS unit and how it is organised.

Useful websites 

EYFS 2021-22

Animal Adoption

It is official! We have adopted an orangutan, elephant and polar bear.

This week, our certificates and animal adoption packs arrived in school. We have welcomed our cuddly animals into the unit and they have become a firm part of our classes (and our hearts) already. Thank you once again for all your support.