Early Years News

This week:

Reception

Buildings and Transport!

The Reception children were builders and

architects this week as the hook for their

learning was all about buildings and transport.

They enjoyed a walk down to the Thames with

their binoculars and clipboards as they marked

off a checklist each time they spotted a new

building or vehicle and drew what they saw.

During the week they looked at famous land-

marks which inspired them to talk lots about

what buildings they know and their different

features.

Nursery

Space!

This week the children’s hook for their learning

has been all about space.

The children loved learning about planets, stars,

rockets and astronauts.

They learnt this solar system song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ-qLUIj_A0

Each carpet made a space rocket and we had a

space rocket launch on Wednesday.

We also had lots of fun learning about shapes and us-

ing them to make a space rocket picture. It was fun to

decide which shapes that we wanted to use, how

many we used and where to place them on the pic-

ture.

We experimented using chalk and black paper and lots

of the children chose to make space pictures.

Friday 26th March

This week: Our free flow

.

Junk Modelling

Junk modelling benefits children in many ways. For example, they can:

use their imagination while developing their design skills and creativity

develop their self-confidence as they are enabled to explore materials and how

to use them

develop their problem-solving skills and resilience as they build their junk mod-

els and use trial and error to make their model stand upright or fix materials together successfully

get hands-on and learn about the properties of materials, such as the flexibility

or toughness of plastic, fabric, cardboard and wood

become inventors and ‘engineers’, exploring materials and their properties –

for example, deciding whether a material is strong or bendy enough and fit for purpose

develop their gross and fine motor skills, which helps them to manipulate tools

better and supports the development of early writing skills

communicate and work as a team as they ask a friend to hold a yoghurt pot

in position while the glue dries or ask for advice

https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/features/article/

parent-s-guide-early-learning-junk-

modelling#:~:text=Junk%20modelling%20benefits%

20children%20in,and%20how%20to%20use%20them

Using her book bag as in-

spiration to make a junk

modelling version!

Technology roleplay—made

her own laptop which folded

over and had buttons and

numbers on it!

Making an alien friend

after the alien inva-

sion so it wouldn’t be

lonely!

Designing and making

mobile telephones

that can be used in

role play.

Using a large card-

board box to work to-

gether to paint a giant

Using junk modelling to make

our volcano experiment.

NEXT WEEK…

Home Learning

Please continue to upload photographs and vid-eos of your children learning from home. This will help us to plan for their interests and allow us to have meaningful conversations that devel-op your child’s speech and language.

Nursery and Reception

Both Nursery and Reception will be learning about Easter and how people celebrate it. The children will be going on an Easter Egg hunt and counting and sorting the eggs that they find! They will be designing their own Easter eggs and taking part in Easter art activities.

Reception

Maths: To be able to accurately estimate up to 20

and to count and order objects up to 20. The children will be going on a number hunt outside and we will be setting up Estimation Stations for the children around the class-rooms.

Phonics:

Recapping sounds ‘igh’ and ‘ng’

Sight words: all, the, she, we, be

Don’t Forget!

Egg Rolling—Bring in your decorated hard boiled eggs on Monday!

Easter Bonnet Parade– bring in your decorated hats in for a parade around the school on Wednesday

We love going to Forest School—we learn about

nature in nature and it is really good for our physical

and mental wellbeing and development!

One of the things we love to do is play in the mud.

Here is an article about some of the benefits of this;

-Why playing in the dirt might boost children ’s

immune systems.

-The link between bacteria and early childhood

health.

https://famly.co/blog/the-environment/children-

immune-systems-bacteria/

‘Make time to play in the dirt. Playing in nature

doesn’t just strengthen children’s immune systems

— it boosts our mental health, too. Even without the

potential benefits to our immune system, a good

romp in the forest does the mind well.’

There will be no Forest School next week.

Have a lovely weekend,

The Early Years Team

Donations!

Remember we love to receive donations!

We would like;

Old technology items that

we can role play with or take

apart.

Books that you don’t want

anymore. Non-fiction

books, gardening books,

recipe books etc

Picture and photograph frames that

we can use for art.

Mirrors so we can look at how our

faces are feeling, for our art and to

do science experiments with.

We also love tools, recycling, old signage, building

equipment.

THANK YOU for providing us with real life learning!