EYFS Newsletter – 04.04.2025

We’ve been all around the world this half term and this week our last stop has been North America. We have been looking at New York City in the U.S.A. and how it’s central island of Manhattan is densely populated with most people living in high-rise apartment blocks with the roads built in a grid formation. We looked on maps how this layout differs from most towns and cities in the U.K. and how most of us live in houses or low-rise blocks of flats in Cookridge and the surrounding areas. We took it upon ourselves to build our own mini Manhattan from cardboard boxes with the children adding windows, doors and even fire-escape ladders to the tall skyscrapers. The following day, we took a look further north in the ski resorts of Canada and the vast wildernesses filled with mountains, pine forests and wildlife. We were lucky enough to have children share with us photos of their families in North American locations and talk about how these places are different and how they are the same (luckily we don’t have the grizzly bears in Cookridge!).

On Wednesday we talked about Mexico, its rich history and it’s fascinating traditions. We learned about Día de los Muertos and how in November the people of Mexico will remember and honour their dead relatives and friends with a special festival. Lots of children were interested to have a go at using bright colours to make their own skull picture, reminiscent of the colourful make up designs worn by people in parades on Día de los Muertos. Our creative table was also busy with children trying their hand at copying the bold pop-art style of American artist Andy Warhol to produce self-portraits in his distinct style. 

Our Maths sessions this week have seen us having a look at numbers above twenty and becoming more familiar with the number system of 2-digit numbers up to 100. This has involved investigating the place value of these numbers using tens frames, numicon tiles and hopscotch games.

In Phonics, we have been revisiting the phonemes th (as in moth) th (as in feather – subtle difference honestly!) and ng (as in ring). We’ve been rehearsing how to use these sounds in words and sentences when practising their reading and writing. The children have also been becoming more familiar with capital letters and using the letter names as well as knowing their letter sounds. 

On Monday we met up with the children from Class 10 for our regular Reading Buddies session in the hall. The children love to get together and share books with the older children and lately they have been really impressing everyone with their brilliant reading skills!

The whole school has been working on shared artistic endeavours during the weekly Green Time sessions and Reception class have worked together to colour in some different flags from around the world. There has been careful felt-tip pens used to colour the correct colours, as well as tissue paper collage to create a bright and clear representation of these world flags. Well done Reception!

Miss Kendrick has been our student teacher in Reception for many months now and this week it was time to bid her farewell and wish her luck at her next placement. The children all contributed a little self-portrait inside her goodbye card to help her remember all the great times she’s had with us at Cookridge. Good luck Miss Kendrick. 

We’d like to say a big thanks to those that were able to attend our ‘Foods of the World’ parent event on Thursday. It was so great to give the children a chance to share their learning journey with you all. There is a separate post on the website should you want to look at photos from this event.

We all would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter and an enjoyable break. 

The Reception Team

KEY DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

Tuesday 22nd April – First day of Summer 1 term.

Thursday 24th April – EYFS Writing Workshop – 5:00pm.

Wednesday 7th/Thursday 8th May – Grasslands Farm Trip (your child’s letter gives the date they will be going – please ask if unsure).

Thursday 22nd May – Last day of Summer 1 term