Home » EYFS – Newsletter – 10.11.23

EYFS – Newsletter – 10.11.23

What a start to the new half term! Cookridge has had a full-on and exhausting week, yet Reception class have been as amazing as ever. Thank you to all Reception families for their kind words and encouragement this week and a big thank you for attending parent consultation meetings – it has been our pleasure to share with you how wonderful your children are!

The week began with a special event in school, as we were visited by the author Luke Temple and the children were delighted to hear stories direct from the person that wrote them! There was much laughter and the children were enthused to hear more. Next week, Mr Temple should be back with us to sell and sign some of his books (order forms should have reached you at home!).

We began our new topic of Toytown this week, with children immediately enjoying the new role-play toy shop and toy-themed activities around the classroom. Thank you for those that have been able to share a photos on Tapestry of your children’s favourite toys. It has been lovely to share these with the class and hear the children talk about their toys.

Our phonics this week has seen us introduce the phonemes for ‘c’ (caterpillar) ‘k’ (kite) and ‘o’ (orange). We have engaged in activities to practice recognising these letters and hearing their sounds in words.

In Maths sessions, we have been exploring the 2D shapes of circles and triangles. The children have practised recognising these shapes and talking about their properties (how many sides/corners) as well as recognising how these shapes can appear in so many places all around us as they went on a shape hunt around the school.

This week has also seen us learning a bit about the festival of Diwali (which this year is being celebrated at the weekend on November 12th). We have learned how Hindus celebrate this ‘festival of lights’ with candles and lanterns in the home so made our own lanterns to bring home. Some children also chose to have a go at mehndi hand art patterns (on paper at least!) and by using natural materials such as leaves, petals and seeds to make the rangoli patterns that are traditionally used to decorate and bring good fortune of homes that celebrate Diwali. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most exciting part of our Diwali celebrations was the opportunity to help make and eat traditional Indian sweets that are often shared at this special time of year in the Hindu faith.