This half term our topic is 'Magical Me'. The children will be talking about what makes them special and unique. They will be exploring self portraits in different forms using paint, markers, collage, charcoal and chalk. The children will be talking about their families, who is part of their family and learning about where they live. The children will be bringing home letters to ask for photographs of them at different stages of their lives and photographs of different members of their family. We hope that you will be able to support this project.

The children will be talking about being part of their own family and also the school family, learning about routines, boundaries and developing a shared set of class rules and expectations. They will be encouraged to think about why we have rules and what happens if we don't.

In Maths the Nursery children will be learning songs and number rhymes, counting and sorting and beginning to recognise, name and order numbers. The Reception children will be consolidating their counting skills and their numeral recognition. They will be using a range of practical materials including Numicon to help them with their number skills. They will also be looking at, identifying and naming different 2D shapes as well as using various construction materials to develop their shape knowledge. 

Communication and language will be an ongoing focus throughout the term. The children will have opportunities in whole class, Key worker, small group and one to one situations to listen to and join in with stories, songs and rhymes. Some of the books we will focus on this half term include 'Elmer' by David McKee, 'Dogger' by Shirley Hughes and 'Oliver's Fruit Salad' by Vivian French. The children will explore some of the themes linked to these books.

Across Foundation stage we will have regular phonics sessions. Phase 1 activities will focus on listening skills, environmental sounds and rhymes. Phase 2 sessions will begin to introduce phonemes and the corresponding graphemes as the children begin to identify sounds and put them together to make words. Children will practise their blending skills and begin to develop some of the strategies they will use in reading. In October the Reception children will start to bring home their own reading book. Please look out for further information about this in the coming weeks. 

As part of our 'Understanding of the World' the children will explore their five senses and how they use them each day. They will go on listening walks, play listening games and try different foods and textures. They will be learning about parts of the body and looking at their features.

The children will use a range of technology to support their learning.

In PE the children will be developing their independence, dressing and undressing themselves. Please encourage them to have a go at this at home. They will be developing sequences of movement and learning how to travel in different ways. 

PE will be on Monday and Tuesday however, we do access the outdoor areas every day and will also be consolidating gross and fine motor skills through a range of different activities. 

​​​​​​​Library day is Thursday. the children will bring home a book to share with you at home. Please take time to read the story tougher, ask your child to join in with repeated refrains and comment upon the illustrations as well as the story they have heard. They will be encouraged to talk about stories they have read at home and we will be using our Talk 4 Writing strategies to story map and become very confident retelling some of our favourite stories throughout the year. 

The children in Reception will continue to have French on Thursday Morning with Corinne our French teacher.

Any questions, please speak to a member of the FS Team. Thank you.