EYFS – Newsletter – 17.01.25

As the snow has thawed and things have returned to normal in Reception, the children have enjoyed a busy week of learning and fun! We continued our Amazing Animals topic with a focus on grassland/savannah animals and looked more closely at habitats in south-east Africa. We used the story of ‘Handa’s Surprise’ by Eileen Browne as a basis for some role-play as children relished the opportunity to retell the story with props and masks, and many chose to refine their scissor skills by cutting out fruit to make a basket of their own.  

We revisited last weeks Maths learning around measure by using balance scales to compare some (very convincing – but fake!) animal dung from some of the animals we have been exploring this term. Others had a go at comparing the length of caterpillars and placing them in order or crafting a lion head from a paper plate. 

During the three different visits to Tropical World, the children back at school used this opportunity to practise their attention skills and drawing skills by following along with some animal art tutorials. The children had a go at drawing meerkats, crocodiles, giraffes and zebras and it is amazing for us to see the progress in care and attention to detail in the drawings produced. Take a look for yourself below!

On Monday, the children enjoyed getting back to our regular ‘Reading Buddies’ session with the Year 6 children from Class 10. After a few weeks off, it was really nice to see everyone getting together to enjoy stories, with the Reception children getting a chance to show off to the older children just how much their reading skills have come along.

In Phonics sessions this week, we have introduced the ‘x’ ‘y’ and ‘z/zz’ phonemes and practised hearing, reading and writing them in words and sentences. Most really enjoyed the activity of tasting different foods and deciding whether they were a ‘yum’ or a ‘yuck’ The children filled in a table with these words as they tasted and wrote our their personal favourite at the end. Another exciting development this week was the introduction of our new writing books. The children have loved being given the responsibility of their own book to put down their best writing.

Maths sessions this week have concentrated on exploring the numbers 6, 7 and 8. The children have investigated how to construct and deconstruct these numbers and show how these numbers can be represented in a wide variety of ways. By using part-whole models and tens frames the children have gained a deeper understanding of these numbers and their place in the number system. 

We also have gained a new piece of equipment this week in Reception (well, we had it last week but the snow meant we couldn’t make use of it!) in a set of construction poles for den building. The kids loved creating a house from the kit and worked as a team to add all kinds of imaginative detail.

Have a lovely weekend!

The Reception Team

 

Dates for the Diary

Friday 14th February – School closes for half term break

Contact Us

Tinshill Drive
Cookridge
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS16 7DH

0113 386 2500

info@cookridge.leeds.sch.uk