EYFS

  Welcome to the EYFS Class Page

The Reception Unit has two classes, Oak and Elm,
with the children accessing learning across the whole unit. 

This page will provide information on this terms topic,
links to websites, useful resources and important information and dates. 

       Oak Class                                Elm Class 

     Mrs Johnson and Mrs Smith                   Miss Mathieson

Mrs Patel SSA Support

Miss Mazhar SSA Support

Miss Asad SSA Support

Our topic for Summer 1 is; 

'God's Gardener'

This half term we will be focusing a lot of our learning around our new class story, 'Jack and the Beanstalk,' which is always a story our children love. We will be exploring all about growing and how to plant seeds and the children will have their own opportunity to plant their own beanstalk this half term and watch it grow. We will explore all the things a seed needs to be able to grow and explore different types of flowers we find.

We will continue to explore seasonal change and look out for signs as we have entered Spring-we will look for early signs of Spring and continue to look out as the months go by. The children will explore spring animals and think about the world around them and how it will be changing. We will explore be exploring vegetables this half term. We will look at names of popular vegetables and how they are grown and where. We will also explore minibeasts and the children will have lots of fun exploring and hunting for minibeasts outdoors! 

This half term we will continue teaching our sounds through the scheme 'Read, Write, Inc.' The children will continue embedding their set 1 sounds and special friends and reading words with those sounds in. Children should be confident with all of their set 1 and special friends by now. Lots of our children will be moving on to set 2 sounds if they have not already- please keep reading every day!

Children will learn a new sound every day, so it is very important children are in school every day and on time! Children will bring phonic work home every weekend to practise their sounds and they will also have reading books with their sounds to practise in. Children should be able to blend CVC words by Christmas-so please keep practising daily!  

Following our White Rose maths programme, we will be exploring 3D shapes, and the moving on to number bonds to 10 and working with numbers up to 20. The children will be using ten frames, part-part whole models, number lines and lots of counting objects to help them-please use resources at home to support too! Last half term we explored doubling numbers, so we will revisit this and practise again. 

Our RE topic for this half term will be 'Celebrations.' We will explore all the different types of special occasions and celebrations across multiple faiths and religions and talk about some of our very special times. 

Through our Art and Design exploration we will be creating our own beanstalks using lots of different creative materials. We will create our own flowers and gardens, and explore printing using vegetables. Children will explore painting using real life flowers as objects for reference and create their own seasonal pictures linked to spring. Once children have explored minibeasts, they will design and create their own using different art resources.  

Throughout our day we will have play at the centre of all we do, both indoors and outdoors. Please continue to send your child to school with a coat until the weather is much warmer. Thank you!

Outdoor Play!

It is essential that young children get frequent and regular opportunities to explore and learn in the outdoor environment. At St Stephen's, children have opportunities throughout the day to explore and learn outdoors. During Continuous provision, the doors are open to the outside area all day so children can freely flow from indoors and outdoors as they choose. 

Outdoor play is a vital part of children education and is a statutory requirement in the EYFS. Benefits include improved fine and gross motor skills, developed problem solving skills, improved creativity, boosts confidence and social and communication skills! 

We will continue this half term to enjoy Forest school and the outdoors. We will hopefully be able to spend more time in the mud kitchen and completing our mile a day too!

There are lots of things parents can do at home to promote outdoor play and learning such as going to your local park, going on a nature walk around the local area, build a den outside, play with water outdoors and plant vegetables and flowers to name a few! The national Trust Website list 50 things to do outdoors before 11 years old, this offers a range of ideas and suggestions on how to get outdoors more and many ideas can be done from outside your home.

Link to the National Trust website 

Uniform:

Please ensure that the uniform policy is followed at all times. Please make sure that no boots are worn especially during the winter months and that the children are wearing sensible black school shoes. Please also ensure that earrings are plain gold studs. 

Home Reading!

While at school, we will send home a home reader with your child for you to help with their reading, it is very important and a vital part of your child's education to practise reading at home. This will help to improve your child's identification of their sounds, blending and segmenting words and improve their fluency of reading. 

Please read every day with your child, share stories too from home and from libraries. Our library day will be Wednesdays-so please ensure your child always has their reading book with them. 

Should you need any help at all please do not hesitate in speaking to a member of staff who will be more than happy to help.

PE 

This half term we will have PE every Monday afternoon.  Please ensure PE kits are in school and clearly named.  Children should have a white t-shirt, black or red shorts or joggers and black pumps.

For further information and support to help your child pronounce their phonetic letter sounds please visit the below website:

Read Write Inc Phonics support

Home learning fun!

Please use the websites below for some home learning fun. Encourage your child to continue to read, write and count as they enjoy their weekend adventures.