EYFS – Newsletter – 08.11.24

Well, our first week back after the half-term break has flown by! We have been so pleased to see the children dive back into school with energy and enthusiasm, with lots to talk about from their time off. 

This term, our new topic ‘Toytown’ will see us looking at toys in all sorts of ways – from talking about why we love our favourite toys and how we use them, to how toys have changed over time as materials and technology have developed. We also have a very special toy-related mission over the coming weeks – but more on that later! This week the children have enjoyed sharing photos and making drawings of toys they love; created teddy bear pictures purely from cut-out circles; discussed the differences between toys powered by batteries and those not; and explored the new role-play toy shop in class. Our student teacher Miss Walsh also introduced the children to how toys have traditions in other countries and on Friday the children learned all about Russian dolls and began making dolls of their own from paper.

Thank you so much for all the families that have shared photos with us on Tapestry – the children love to show their pictures with their friends and we will be working our way through them in the coming week. 

Phonics sessions this week, have introduced the new phonemes ‘o’ (orange) ‘c’ (caterpillar) and ‘k’ (kite). The children have learned to recognise these sounds and taught an accompanying action aid in remembering it and have practised forming the letters themselves with good control and proper technique. As we build up the total number of phonemes we are familiar with, we are rehearsing how to blend them to read simple words and how to hear these sounds in words and spot words that share the same initial sound.

We’ve been going round in circles all week in Maths – triangles too! The children have been familiarising themselves with these 2D shapes by exploring their properties (number of sides and corners) and then identifying them, making them and hunting them down in the wild (or around Cookridge Primary School at least).

On Monday, the children were pleased to reunited with their Class 10 reading buddies as we got together in the hall for another session of sharing books and listening to stories. 

Music with Mrs Durrant this week was very fun too – with the children exploring different ways to represent a variety of fireworks by using various the sounds made from a variety of musical instruments. 

Have a great week!

The Reception Team 

Dates for the Diary:

Wednesday 13th November – Early Reading and Phonics Workshop (5pm)

Tuesday 26th November & Wednesday 27th November – Parent consultations

Thursday 5th December – School Christmas fair (3:30pm)

Tuesday 10th December – Flu Immunisations (information in recent notification – if the consent form is not completed your child will not receive the vaccine)

Thursday 19th December – Reception CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION – Parents invited to join us from 2:30pm for a performance of Christmas songs.

Friday 20th December – School closes for the Christmas break.