Class Teachers: Mrs Towriess
Teaching Assistants: Mrs Wilkinson and Miss Whiteside
Welcome to Ash Class, also known as the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which is part of Key Stage 1.
Please check this page regularly to see updates of what we are learning.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is how the Government and early years’ professionals describe the time in your child’s life between birth and age 5. Your child’s attendance in the Reception class at St James’ Church of England Primary School forms the final phase of this initial stage of your child’s learning journey.
At St James’ we aim to provide learning experiences that are happy, active, exciting and fun – supporting children in their crucial early development and learning needs.
The Early Years curriculum is called the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. It contains seven areas of learning and development.
Prime areas of learning:
1. Communication and language
2. Physical development
3. Personal, social and emotional development
Specific areas of learning:
1. Literacy
2. Mathematics
3. Understanding the world
4. Expressive arts and design
These seven areas are used to plan your child’s learning activities.
At the end of the EYFS – in the summer term of the Reception year in school – teachers complete an assessment which is known as the EYFS Profile.
It states whether your child has reached expected levels in the seven areas of learning at the end of the Reception year. These expectations are called the Early Learning Goals (ELGs). It also describes your child’s attainment in the three essential characteristics of learning:
· playing and exploring;
· active learning;
· creating and thinking critically.
We strongly believe that all children should experience high quality books that enhance literacy skills and inspire them to read. We aim for children to develop a love of reading and this will help motivate them to write.
To help with this we are sharing a fabulous and highly recommended list of ‘100 Books to Read…’
Reading Spine takes place daily in every classroom where the children are read to. Each of the books help to develop the imagination of our children and equips them with language. We want our school to be a place where children are read to, enjoy, discuss and work with high quality books. We use the Pie Corbett Reading Spine so that children have access to high quality texts and develop a love for reading!
Supporting Reading at Home
Please see below for documents which will help when you are reading to your child at home.
You will have received a letter informing you of the name of your child’s Key Person. This adult is a named practitioner who is there to help your child develop confidence and feel safe and secure in school. Please feel free to speak to your child’s Key Person, or any member of the EYFS team, if there is anything you would like to discuss or share with school. If your child develops new interests at home, please do let us know so that we can use that information to promote learning.
In Ash Class we will be doing PE on Monday mornings. Please continue to encourage independence by explaining to your child that they will need to change for PE and why they need to look after their clothes. With lots of children changing for PE, items of clothing can easily get mixed up. Please make sure that all clothing is clearly marked with your child’s name.
In EYFS, we enjoy taking part in Cosmic Yoga. These mindfulness and relaxation exercises are particularly designed for children.
This yoga is fun and great for balance, strength and confidence.
Autumn 2
Phonics Bloom – CVC matching game
This is a visual and fun way of practising reading and blending phase 2 graphemes.
Click on the website below to try the ‘Match Cards’ game.
https://www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/match-cards?phase=2
The children also really enjoy playing ‘Odd and Bob’. ‘Bob’ the alien loves real words, while his best friend ‘Odd’ loves fake words. Sound each word out and try to give them their favourite treats!
https://www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/odd-and-bob?phase=2
Autumn 1
Thank you to all of the parents and carers who attended the EYFS phonics information sessions. We hope that you found the sessions useful. A copy of the information delivered during the sessions has been sent home in your child’s homework folder but if you have any questions about phonics, please do not hesitate to come and talk to a member of the EYFS team.
Please click on the links below to enjoy practising phonics with your children.
https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/
https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/forestPhonics/index.html
Spring 1
Instructions – How to make hot chocolate.
As part of our literacy, we wrote instructions to help us make hot chocolate using words like first, then, next, after and finally. We had fun thinking about what to include in our instructions but the best part was definitely making the hot chocolate and drinking it!
After we had followed our own instructions to make the hot chocolate, we went outside to find a cosy spot to enjoy our drink.
Autumn 2
In our literacy this term, we are reading traditional tales and we have been learning to retell the story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears using Talk for Writing actions.
We have used role play to re-enact the story and have also created our very own wooden beds in different sizes using the construction area in the classroom.
We enjoyed making biscuits and decorated them to represent characters from the story.
Autumn 1
In Literacy, we will be reading a range of fairy stories. As we read different stories, we will think about the
setting, the plot of the story as well as naming and describing the characters.
The children will use Talk4Writing to retell stories.
Autumn 2
Numbers. We will learn how to order numbers and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, we will learn how to add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. In our practical activities and discussions, we will use the vocabulary involved in addition and subtraction.
Shape, space and measure. We will continue to investigate measurement and order items by length and height. We will also begin to look at coins and money and use these to develop our understanding of addition and subtraction.
Autumn 1
In Mathematics, we will begin by investigating number and place value. We will count forwards and backwards, counting different arrangements of objects by touching each object as we count.
We will also be learning how to sort objects into sets based on attributes such as colour, size or shape. This will enable children to understand that the same collection of objects can be sorted in different ways according to the different criteria.
During this term, the children will be thinking about growth and changes. They will begin by thinking about what they looked like as babies and how they have changed since then. They will also consider the things they could do when they were younger and compare these with things they are able to do now.
To develop their use and understanding of the role of technology, the children will investigate using Ipads and class cameras to take photos so that they can compare photographs of themselves as babies and how they look now.
Autumn 2
In RE this term, we will begin by thinking about our own birthdays and why these are special days for us. We will learn that Jesus was a very special baby and that Christmas is the celebration of His birthday.
We will learn about the events of the nativity and use drama, music and song to re-tell the story.
Autumn 1
Our learning in RE this term will be linked to our topic ‘Who Am I?’. We will begin by thinking about who we are and how each one of us is special and unique, to each other, our families and to God. We will then think about Harvest, what this means and how we can give thanks to God at Harvest time.
To celebrate National Storytelling Week, our Gardeners and Seeds spent the afternoon reading stories to each other. How lovely!
We would like to thank everyone who helped us re-design our mud kitchen which is now more accessible for the children and now has a working sink.
Here we are working together to mix different materials together to create some wonderful potions!
We also enjoy using the mud kitchen for role play activities when acting out stories.
The mud kitchen is also an excellent environment to develop our communication, language, personal and social skills as we work together sharing conversations and helping each other to share and resources.
All of the children in EYFS have now completed their ‘Tots on Tyres’ training and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Special thanks must go to the Instructor who made the learning such fun and engaging!
Take a look below at the photographs of the classes in action, and the children receiving their certificates from Mrs Dugdale. There is also a link to the Pupil Voice forms that children completed with their parents/carers with their thoughts about the experience.
We all enjoyed a wonderful afternoon when Parents and Grandparents were invited to ‘Stay and Play’ in our EYFS department.
The weather was fantastic and as well as showing what we do in our indoor learning classroom, we were able to make the most of our outdoor learning environment too. The children enjoyed showing their parents and grandparents our willow tunnel, trim trail, gazebo, mark-making area and the sand house.
“Wonderful experience – really enjoyable. Nice to see the kids in their own environment.”
“A wonderful class, fantastic staff and happy children. Couldn’t ask for better for Ella.”
“Really enjoyed ‘Stay and Play’. Loved the phonics song at the end of the class.”
