Welcome to Class F – Summer 2024
We hope you enjoyed a lovely Easter Break and that your children have had a visit from the Easter Bunny and potentially received some eggs! At the end of last term, we shared with them the significance of Easter eggs as the symbolism of ‘new life’ and in celebration of an important religious holiday as part of their curriculum of ‘Knowledge and Understanding of the World’.
We continue to have a big focus on learning through play and small group focus sessions. All our leaning is practical based allowing children to use concrete objects to explore and expand their knowledge. In school we encourage all our children to develop their skills to build relationships and become responsible, independent, resilient, collaborative and reflective in all they do. Our children are encouraged to accept mistakes as part of their learning journey and thrive when challenged.
Our learning
This term we have the Class theme of ‘Growing’ in Summer 1 and ‘The Sea’ in Summer 2, whereby we will be exploring of our ‘wider world’. These topics shape the curriculum we provide for the children’s learning and development and are introduced at the beginning of the Term for children to contribute any questions they may want to learn about linked to this.
Class F will be exploring this theme through ‘Growing‘ (What can be grown locally/ in Africa, and plant growth) and ‘The Sea’ (What species of sharks live in our wider world, and our changing’ seaside’s). They will use rich Fiction texts to create a whole class Non-Fiction book, use their imaginations to write stories of their own and adapt known stories. As well as learning about St, George’s Day and as part of our learning of different cultures and religions, we will celebrate the Muslim celebration Eid al–Fitr.
OUR NEW EYFS STATUTORY FRAMEWORK 2021
From September 2021, all early years providers in England must follow the new early years foundation stage (EYFS) framework 2021 , Development Matters Non-Statutory Guidance 2021 and Non-Statutory Birthto5matters
The key aims of the reforms are to:
-
improve child outcomes at age 5, particularly in early language and literacy, especially for disadvantaged children; and
-
reduce workload, such as unnecessary paperwork, so that practitioners can spend more time interacting with the children in their care.
Literacy
As a school we will continue to use the Bug Club Phonics Teaching and Learning programme to support progress in reading and writing skills. All children will be encouraged to hold their pencil using the correct grip when mark making, and children will be shown how to form their letters correctly where appropriate. We will also support their development of reading by focusing on their skills for developing inference (predicting, clarifying, questioning, summarising), such as ‘how a character might be feeling or why a character may have carried out a particular action’. We provide a variety of reading opportunities every day in school and would appreciate your continued support reading with your child as often as possible. This can be through hearing your child read the books we send home, using and sharing books from the library or simply reading stories to them.
Nursery: This term we will continue to focus on Phase 1 phonics by encouraging children to hear the different sounds within words through segmenting and blending aurally. We have begun to introduce ‘initial sounds’ to children and have been looking at what these graphemes look like e.g. ‘s’ for the initial sound in ‘sun’.
Reception: We will begin to focus on phase 4 phonics in the next few weeks which consolidates the learning of all the Phase 2 and Phase 3 sounds we have learnt so far. We will be encouraging children to continue to spot for ‘digraphs’ (2 letters – 1 sound) and ‘trigraphs’ (3 letters – 1 sound. For example, ‘oa’ as in boat, ‘ee’ as in tree and ‘igh’ as in high) within words to encourage this process to come naturally for fluent reading. It is important that these are not pronounced as 2 or 3 separate sounds when practicing. We will also be beginning to look at adjacent consonants such as ‘spring, fling’, some more ‘irregular words’ like ‘some, come’, and you will notice the length and difficulty of the words we will be looking at will increase during sessions and within reading books.
Mathematics:
Our aim is to provide your child with a deep conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts and to build a sense of enjoyment, awe and wonder for the subject.
Nursery: This term we will begin to look at Shape and Space (positional language) with our primary focus being on the properties of shapes, and noticing/describing shapes we see in our environment such as ‘bumpy’, ‘round’, ‘flat’, and using technical language such as the names of shapes ‘circle’, ‘face’, ‘veritice/edge’ where possible. We will also be exploring ‘Measure’, and ordering measures, through discussing of ‘our day’, investigating length and height, comparing weights, and considering what ‘capacity’ means.
NCTEM: We use the NCTEM to support the planning of our maths lessons and the Progression documents for Shape and Space (https://www.ncetm.org.uk/media/4uljtty3/typical-progression-shape-and-space.pdf) and for Measures (https://www.ncetm.org.uk/media/v51dhp3r/typical-progression-measures.pdf) can be found here.
NRICH: In Class we also use the activities provided by NRICH to support the children’s understanding and encourage every day use of language related to Mathematical concepts. These games and resources for Shape and Space (https://nrich.maths.org/13373) and Measures (https://nrich.maths.org/13374 ) can be found here.
Reception: This term we will continue to support children to explore patterns, focusing on number and the recognition of patterns of numbers without having to count, such as a pictorial representation of 5 on a dice or on a 5’s frame. Furthermore, we will develop our understanding of numbers that bond together to make 5 and 10 and begin to attempt recognise this visually without having to count to check, such as on a 5s or 10s frame.
We will also be looking at numbers from 10-20 and their composition (one ten and 2), odd and even numbers and doubling/halving facts. Properties of 2-D/ 3-D shapes and exploring measurement, such as time and length, will also continue to be a feature of our activities.
Numberblocks (https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberblocks)
In class we use Numberblocks to support a deep understanding of number. Related activities and games that will support your child with their understanding of number concepts can be found here.
Enrichment
This term we will continue to have Leap into Life at multiple points throughout the week - P.E. kits will be needed in school during Summer 1.
We continue to have a trolley for drinks in the classroom and will encourage your children to drink water often. Drink bottles can be refilled from water resources that we have in school.
Learning Journal
We aim to capture some ‘WOW’ moments of the children’s learning through photographs which we will share with you (parents/carers) via Tapestry, as they not only provide a record of their learning, but they are a fantastic memory of how your child spends their time in school. Along with other evidence from school and home, this provides us with a picture of your ‘unique child’ and how we can best facilitate their learning styles and interests.
Please post observations to Tapestry for any ‘WOW’ moments in your child’s learning at home too, as we also love to share these together in Class F!
Home Learning
Research has shown that Homework teaches children vital skills such as the developing independence, resilience and self-discipline. It also encourages children to take initiative and responsibility for completing a task. In Class F, in addition to reading together, there will sometimes be activities to support your child’s learning development at home. This will allow you as parents/carers to have an active role in your children’s education and help you to evaluate their progress in partnership with the school.
Cultural Capital
‘Cultural Capital’ in Class F starts from a position of celebrating your children as ‘unique’ individuals. We aim to help and support the members of Class F to build the confidence and communication skills that are needed so that they can speak up for themselves and grasp the opportunities that await them. In addition, we appreciate and celebrate the cultural environment of our school in a rural setting in the South West of England but also plan for other experiences by celebrating festivals from other religions to teach about tolerance and diversity, preparing your children to be future citizens of England. This Term, for example we will be looking at the Eid.
The happiness of the children in Class F is of upmost importance to us and we want every child in our class to feel safe, happy and secure. If you ever have any worries, questions or concerns, please do no hesitate to make an appointment to see us or call the office to speak to us. We will always work with you to ensure the happiness and well-being of your child.
Many thanks ,
Mrs Jenny Symons (Class Teacher), Mrs Mitchell (Class Teacher),