Welcome to Acorn Class

 Early Years Foundation Stage 

Class Teacher: Mrs Donnelly

LSA: Mrs Kaminska 

We are a playful, explorative and happy class. We pride ourselves on always trying our best and our motto is:  

"When you try, try, try...you can, can, can!"

Our Class Charter (Rules)

*We use our listening ears

* We look after our toys and equipment 

* We use kind, friendly voices 

* We keep our hands and feet to ourselves 

* Sharing is caring 

Daily checklist: 

• Correct uniform
• Book bag with reading book and reading record
• Weather appropriate coat 
• Water bottle 
• Wellington boots if rainy or snowy (so that children can access all of the garden)
• Check Tapestry for updates :-) 

If you would like to discuss how your child is doing at school or to ask a classroom specific question (eg a lost jumper etc...) please feel free to email Mrs Donnelly using the class email address: acorn@connectedlearningmat.co.uk

Don't forget you can also use Tapestry as a way to communicate with the EYFS team. 

If your query relates to something other than classroom matters, for example: dinners, payments, events, please continue to contact the office via telephone or the admin email address, thank you.

Summer Term 1

How have we reached the penultimate term already?!?  It has gone so quickly. The children have all made fantastic progress and continue to make us proud everyday. 

This half term we will continue to build upon all of the skills the children have developed so far. In Phonics we will be recapping the sounds learnt so far, consolidating letter names and learning how to read and write all of the stage 1 tricky words. Maths will continue to delve deeper into the children's understanding of numbers within 10, including subtraction, patterns and doubles. In English we will be entering the wonderful world of Fairy Tales, of which there are many so this topic will remain the same for the whole of the Summer Term. This half term's focus will be on Jack and the Beanstalk and The Gingerbread Man. Of course we will also continue to develop our coding skills in ICT and our Art and Design skills with Mrs Stewart. 

Please see the medium term plan below for more details of what to expect in all areas of the curriculum this term. 

Spring Term 2 

This half term we will be learning about how things grow. We will be planting bulbs and seeds to watch them grow and will be thinking about how we have grown since we were babies. Our main text for English will be, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and we will be looking at the lifecycles of butterflies, frogs and hens. For Maths we will be continuing to consolidate our understanding of numbers to 10, including addition, and will also be learning how to measure things. 

See the Medium Term Plan below for more information:

Spring Term 1

This half term we will be learning about different countries, their climates and the animals that live there. 

Autumn 2

We will be learning about superheroes this half term, both the make believe and real life kinds! Lots of festivals also take place during this term so we will also be learning about and celebrating them. Let's not forget the excitement of the Nativity performance in December. There is so much to look forward to :-)

See the topic map below for more information about what we will be doing in all areas of the curriculum this term.

We can't wait to get started.  

Autumn 1 

PSED & C&L

This half term our topic will be 'All about Me.' 

We will be sharing our likes and dislikes and will also spend lots of times learning about our similarities and differences whilst talking about our families. We will develop our speaking and listening skills through play and during circle time, our circle time focus will be: speaking in full sentences. 

Phonics 

To start the term we will spend some time focusing on environmental sounds and learning how to understand and use Fred the frog's robot talking (blending and segmenting words). 

We will then begin to learn phonemes (letter sounds). By the end of term we hope to have learnt how to read, say and write the letters /s/a/t/p/i/n/m/d/g/o.

We will be also be learning how to spot the phonemes in words and how to use sound buttons to blend the sounds together to form words. 

Reading 

Reading is a very high priority for us. The children will enjoy stories being read to them at last twice each day and they will have free access to our relaxing and inviting book corner. We send home reading books and reading records so you can enjoy reading together at home. Each child will also to read to an adult at least twice a week in school. 

Please write a quick comment in your child's reading record each time your child reads to you. Remember to make sure that books and reading records are returned each day.  

Writing

The children will be learning how to form letters as part of their Phonics lessons. They will also practise writing their names each day- it would be helpful if this could be continued at home. 

There will always be free access to pens and paper throughout our setting and children will be encouraged to make marks, draw and write throughout the day. We will also have dedicated fine motor activities to help develop the muscles needed to write. 

Maths

We follow the Power Maths scheme at Cherry Tree. This half term we will be learning about the different ways that we can make numbers 1-5. We will also begin to look at which groups (to 5) have more, less or the same.  

Understanding of the World 

We will be learning about seasonal changes, especially those that take place between Summer and Autumn.

We will also be thinking about past and present; how have we changed since we were babies? What can we do now that we couldn't do then? 

As we get to know know each other the children will also be encouraged to talk about their family and homes. 

Physical Development 

The children are taught PE by a dedicated Sports Coach. Please ensure that your child brings in their PE kit into school every Monday, it will be sent home each Friday to be washed. 

We also have a range of fine motor activities in the classroom and the children are encouraged to use gross motor movements whilst playing outside in the garden. 

Tapestry 

Tapestry we will be up and running from 13th September- I can't wait to share all of the wonderful things the children do at school with you!! 

If you would like to play some interactive phonics games at home, why not give these a try: 

Spellings

This year the children will need to learn to read and spell these words: 

There are lots of great ways to practice reading and writing them, why not try…?

• Have a word hunt around the house
• Play word pairs or snap
• Practice writing them in sand, glitter, shaving foam
• Look for them in the environment
• Letters on milk bottle lids and putting them in order to spell
• Writing them with chalk on the pavement
• Making them with playdough

Oxford Owl ebook log in.
I have created a class login for the Oxford Owl website. Here you will be able to find books to suit your child’s reading age... there are lots of books available so the children can get through as many as they want 👍🏻😊
To make it even better each book has 2 games to play too 😊

To access this amazing resource please visit:

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/ 

Press the lines in the top right corner and select log in, then student log in.

Class name: acorn cherry tree

Password: Acornclass

If you have any problems, please do let me know!

Happy reading 📖

If your child has to isolate due to the Covid 19 pandemic dally activities will be set for them on Tapestry. This will include a Phonics, Literacy and Mathematics activity as well as a fourth activity related to one of the other areas of the curriculum.