Literacy

Sharing books and stories to promote a love of reading and talking about books. We will look at Woodland Animals and then lead on to the popular story of Owl Babies. We will also find out facts about owls using simple non-fiction texts. We will be able to use our growing writing skills to label an owl, write simple speech bubbles and engage in shared writing. Leading up to Christmas we will be finding out about Space and we are excited to have Owls About Town visiting us.

 Phonics

We will continue to cover Phase 2 and start Phase 3 digraphs using Pearson Bug club. Our aim is for children to be able to hear the sound, recognise the letter and use them to blend and segment words for reading and writing.

Please see the support materials sent home each week and don’t forget to make use of the Bug Club website and allocated phonic books.

Mathematics

One More and One Less

The children will continue to count, subitisie and compare as they explore one more and one less. They will be encouraged to use a five/ten frame to represent numbers and predict how many there will be if they add one more or take one away. The children will be prompted to see the link between counting forwards and the one more pattern and counting back and the one less pattern.

Composition of Numbers

The children will be introduced to the idea that all numbers are made up of smaller numbers. They will explore and notice the different compositions of 2, 3, 4, and 5. The children may also choose to explore the composition of larger numbers in their play.

2D and 3D Shape

The children will learn that squares and rectangles have 4 straight sides and 4 corners. They will also find out that circles have one curved side and triangles have three straight sides. The children will be exposed to shapes of different sizes and orientations.

The children will investigate which shapes they can make by combining squares, rectangles and triangles in different ways.

The children will be given opportunities to build using a variety of shapes and to construct their own 3D shapes in different ways. They will be introduced to the names of the shapes and be given the opportunities to explore similarities and differences between them as they play and to sort them according to what they notice.

Personal, Social and Emotional development

Through our daily classroom life and our interactions we will continue to build relationships and encourage the children to express their feelings and consider the feelings of others. We will also use stories and planned activities to develop these skills.

Too Much Selfie Isn’t Healthy

 This half term we will be exploring the importance of others and how to love them well.

Physical Development

This area will focus on developing gross motor skills through activities designed to strengthen muscles and engage in physical games outside. Fine motor skills and pencil grip will be developed through opportunities to make patterns, trace, thread, use dough and other malleable materials and to use a variety of tools in different contexts.

Communication and Language

Talk forms a major part of the experiences in Early Years. Children will be encouraged to engage in daily story times, learn rhymes poems and songs and engage in no-fiction books. We will introduce new vocabulary through our story choices and help the children to articulate their ideas and thoughts in well-formed sentences.

We have been sent some advice on how to develop communication and language in the home.  Please click here to find out more.

Understanding the World

This half term we will continue to look at seasonal changes around us and developing observation skills, learning new vocabulary and making simple comparisons. Using our school grounds we will continue to explore Autumn, leading into Winter.

Through our themes this half term we will also look at living things and nocturnal animals though our weeks on owls. We will find out about planets and Space, including key famous people who landed on the moon.

Expressive Art and Design

Our aim is to offer our children the opportunity to explore different tools, materials and techniques through our play provision. We will use collage to create owls, a variety of techniques to create planets and much more.

They will also have the chance to visit the music studio and learn some new songs and to add movement to music. We will have a focus on celebration music using the festivals of Diwali, Hannukah and Christmas as inspiration.