What Early Years got up to in the Prep School this week

Pre-Reception

As usual, Pre-Reception has been very busy this week. We have finished our book, ‘The Giganotosaurus’ and the children have astounded us with their acting skills. They honestly do make very ‘fierce and wild’ dinosaurs.  They are beginning to remember that dinosaurs that only eat plants are ‘herbivores’ and those that eat meat are ‘carnivores’.

The children have become extremely interested in dinosaur eggs and decided they wanted to make their own. After making some with playdough, they were disappointed that they could not keep them. We decided to get out our air-dry clay and they made some that they could keep forever (if they don’t drop them!). They shaped them with their hands and found the clay much more challenging to manipulate than playdough; they demonstrated their resilience and persevered until they had made the shapes they required. They then used single-handed tools to decorate their eggs. Working with malleable materials and tools is excellent to develop their fine motor skills and hand muscles for their pre-writing skills. Next week, once they have dried, the children can paint their eggs.

On our weekly visit to the EYFS allotment, the children were excited to see how much taller the broad beans and potatoes plants have got. As we walked down the plot, we noticed that some of the radishes were ready which further increased their excitement. We pulled a couple up and took them back to wash and eat. On tasting, the children were divided on opinion but enjoyed trying a food that they had grown themselves.

We have loved having so many of the children complete their design homework task. They have clearly worked very hard on both their designs and their models. Children who have returned their homework have received 2 Dojos and were enormously proud of their efforts.

Next week we will focus on sharing non-fiction books with the children as they become palaeontologists and take part in a dinosaur dig in our dinosaur museum.

In Maths, the children have compared the amounts in groups using the key vocabulary ‘greater/more than’ and ‘fewer/less than’.  Most of the children understand ‘more’ but are finding ‘less than’ a little more challenging. Please see a homework idea below to help your child with this mathematical vocabulary.

‘In Phonics, we have learnt the phoneme (sound) ‘y’.