Springtime Adventures in Early Years

PRE-RECEPTION

This week we have been practising for the Easter service. We have continued to look for signs of spring. The bluebells are starting to flower and we have seen rabbits on our walk to forest school. We had lots of fun making chocolate Easter nests. There was a lot of chocolate on the children and not so much in the bowl.  

PHONICS

In Phonics, we have learnt how to pronounce the sound ‘l’. We have taught the children the rhyme ‘Open your mouth a little; put your tongue up to the top of your mouth, behind your teeth, and press lllll’.  This is a particularly challenging sound for young children to make and they find following this instruction equally difficult (by putting their tongue in front of and not behind their teeth).  We have used mirrors to show the children where to place their tongues. 

 Please watch the Little Wandle video at 52 seconds for the pure sound.  

Little Wandle

MATHS

In Maths, we have explored capacity through the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  We have learnt the mathematical vocabulary:  full/empty, half-full/empty, nearly-full/empty. Please use this vocabulary with your children when cooking, pouring drinks, playing with bath toys, etc.  

PSHE

In our Jigsaw PSHE lesson we learnt about the importance of washing hands properly with soap and water both before eating and after going to the toilet.   

We will have a consolidation week for both Phonics and Maths next week. We will also learn about some Easter traditions, make some Easter crafts and take part in our Easter Service. 

RECEPTION

Spring has truly arrived in Reception this week, and the children have enjoyed a wonderful time taking part in spring themed activities.   

Understanding the World 

This week, we have been exploring the season of spring. The children learned about changes in weather, daylight hours, and the natural environment. In addition, they compared spring with the other seasons, discussing both similarities and differences. We also enjoyed sharing books together, including Hello Spring by Jo Lindley. 

Literacy 

In Literacy, we focused on spring and the changes we see at this time of year. During these sessions, the children were encouraged to think of their own sentences and record them using capital letters and full stops. Furthermore, we challenged them to use the new vocabulary we explored throughout the week. 

Phonics 

Our Phonics focus this week has been on longer words. Specifically, words with s making the “z” sound in the middle, and words ending in –s and –es that also make the “z” sound. Examples include visit, poison, foxes, and torches. 

Meanwhile, the children continued reading and writing longer sentences containing these words. Looking ahead to next week, we will be carrying out our phonic assessments for the Spring 2 term. These will cover all phase 2 and phase 3 phonemes and tricky words. We will also revisit the assessments from Spring 1. 

Maths 

In Maths, the children revisited simple AB patterns from the Autumn term and progressed to more complex sequences such as ABC and ABCD patterns. Building on this, we then explored AABB, AAB, and ABB repeating patterns. As as result, the children enjoyed identifying patterns in their environment and creating their own. 

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