This week commenced with a visit from or Herts Early Years Advisor. She carried out a learning walk of the Nursery and Reception classrooms. She was delighted at the level of pupil engagement in all learning areas and praised the staff for their work on developing high quality interactions with the children and encouraging the pupils to describe their learning.
The children are learning to, “Explore the natural world around them,” (Development Matters 2021). We have continued to develop areas linked to the topic of Space. The reading area has been turned into ‘Deep Dark Space,” and the children have been using a light box and 2D shapes to make their own solar systems. As part of this week’s learning in maths, the children are making repeating patterns so they have had a go at this whilst in ‘Deep, dark space.”
During Explore time, we have discussed the change in the weather and seasons moving from Autumn to Winter. We have been using a variety of tools to chip and scrape away at ice to dislodge treasure hidden inside. The children were excellent at describing how their hands were feeling after touching the ice and they recognised the change in state from a solid block of ice to water that was splashing back at them as they worked at the ice.
The children are learning to, “Retell the story, once they have developed a deep familiarity with the text, some as exact repetition and some in their own words, ” (Development Matters 2021). We have been practising our ambition to become confident storytellers by inventing space stories on large sheets of paper on the floor. The children were very proud when their stories were shared at the end of the day during story time.
Phonics
The phonemes we have learned this week are:
ai – wait for the train
oa – float on the moat
ee – bee on my knee
igh – light up the night
Literacy
We are learning, “Spell words by identifying the sounds and then writing the sound with letter /s, ” (Development Matters 2021). Here we are practising our writing in the writing area. We are writing road names as part of learning about ourselves. Many of us could name the road we live on and find it on the signs.
How you can help at home:
We are learning The Christmas Story in preparation for our show in the coming weeks. You can share the version of The Christmas Story that we are learning here:
Please learn this week’s nursery rhyme:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-wheels-on-the-bus/zdq8gwx
We have been dancing to this in our PE lessons in the style of Rock and Roll. Please do ask your child to show you their dancing moves.