Thursday 28th March 2024

 Our topic this term was 'We're Not Scared!' and the Oak children based their learning around the story 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. They acted out the story and retold the story using different characters and obstacles to overcome. The Acorn children started the term with the same story and they joined in with the repeated parts of the story and used getures to help them retell the story. They also enjoyed other stories with a scary theme such as 'Where's My Teddy', 'The Cave' and 'The Gruffalo'. All of the children learnt about different bears and their habitats. The Acorn children finished the term with 'We're Going on an Egg Hunt' an Easter themed retelling of the bear hunt story. The children enjoyed a day of fun activities for World Book Day dressing up as a word with some very imaginative costumes and words. The Acorn children cooked pancakes and made bookmarks.

In their maths group times the Oak children have been recognising and ordering numbers to ten, finding one more or one less than a given number and adding and subtracting numbers. They have also been exploring shapes.  The Acorn children used positional language to discuss routes and locations such as the route taken by the family whilst on their bear hunt.  They sequenced the different stories we have read using words such as 'first' and 'then'. They have explored 3D shapes naming the shapes and talking about their properties. They have compared lengths using gestures and language such as long, longer, longest, short, shorter and shortest. 

The Acorn children have been drawing zig zag patterns in their writing group times. They have made the patterns on whiteboards, on chalkboards, in sand as well as on paper using coloured pencils. Some children have begun to write or copy their names. The Oak children have been writing sentences about bears remembering to start with a capital letter, use finger spaces between words and finish with a full stop. They have labelled the different parts of a bear and written facts about different bears.

In their Jigsaw group times, the children have learnt all about their bodies, naming some parts of their bodies and have started to understand that they need to be active to be healthy. We have talked about some foods being healthier than others. Some children thought that we should never eat the less healthy foods but we explained that it was alright to eat these foods occasionally just not every day. They have sorted the foods into sets of healthy and not so healthy foods. They have learnt about the importance of sleep to keep us healthy and the things our bodies need including food, water, exercise, sleep and air. We finished the topic with a session on how to keep themselves and others safe and how to say 'No' to strangers. We read stories about strangers including Red Riding Hood and talked about what a stranger is and what we should and should not do if we are approached by a stranger. 

The children have explored the world around them and looked at the different habitats of the animals in the stories and compared them with their own homes and lives. They have looked at the change of seasons noticing the flowers growing and the buds on the trees slowly opening and bursting into leaf. They were delighted to see that the bulbs they planted before Christmas finally bloomed. They have enjoyed playing in the new mud kitchen preparing and cooking lots of different 'foods'. 

They have spent a lot of time outside playing basket ball, learning some of the rules about passing the ball and not running with the ball. Some of the children have shown some good ball skills bouncing the ball and throwing it into the hoop. They have also had to learn to share and take turns with the ball. 

The Oak children have continued to work on their phonics in their Read Write Inc daily lessons and are using their phonic knowledge in their writing group times. The Acorn children have been listening to 'Fred Talk' a frog that can only sound out words. They have blended the sounds and said the words of different body parts, food and animals. 

We finished the term by making Easter egg nests. They broke the chocolate into small pieces and placed it in a bowl which was put into the microwave. They watched the chocolate melt before adding handfuls of cornflakes or shredded wheat to the bowl. They mixed the cornflakes or shredded wheat  until they were covered with chocolate and then they put spoonfuls into cake cases and placed a jelly sweet or chocolate egg on top. The nests were placed in the fridge to set and the children each took one home. They enjoyed eating the left over chocolate mixtures. 

Friday 9th February 2024

 The foundation children have enjoyed learning all about the moon and space this term with our topic 'To the Moon and Back'. We started the topic with a picnic on the moon just like the bear in the story 'Whatever Next!'by Jill Murphy. The Oak children learnt all about the first man to walk on the moon Neil Armstrong and the Acorn children watched Apollo 11 land on the moon and Neil Armstrong take his first steps. The children learnt about satellites, lunar modules and mars rovers. They have looked at the different planets and learnt a little about each planet. It has been a busy and exciting term with lots of learning experiences for the children through direct teaching sessions and through their own time to play and explore alongside their peers during child initiated play. The children have shown their creativity when role playing, with the small world activities and when constructing. They have made some super rockets, moon buggies, satellites and aliens and been on adventures throughout the universe. 

We finished the term by celebrating the Chinese New Year and the year of the dragon. The children learnt all about the traditions and ways the Chinese celebrate the start of the new year and compared them to our own new year celebrations. They enjoyed listening to the story about the animals racing to decide the order of the Chinese zodiac. The children made lanterns just like the ones the Chinese people have for their lantern festival. They also watched videos of Chinese dragon and lion dancing.

During the very cold weather the children were surprised to see ice forming on the water trays outside and they enjoyed playing with the ice and watching it melt in their hands. The Acorn children poured water into moulds and left them outside over night. In the morning they discovered that the containers with a little water in them had frozen solid but the full containers were only frozen on the top.

The Oak children have been focusing on dance in their PE sessions, they have explored different movements using different parts of their body. They have danced to music and learnt how to respond to words and music using their bodies and props. The Acorn children continued to develop and refine their movement and balancing skills. They have balanced on different parts of their bodies having one, two or three points of contact with the ground. They have moved across the balancing benches walking, jumping, walking backwards, stepping over objects, balancing a cone on their head, crawling and sliding. They have learnt how to jump off the bench using a star jump or a pencil jump. Over the last two sessions some of the benches were turned upside down and the children were challenged to walk along the narrow beam.

In their maths group times the Oak children have been learning more about 'zero' as well as finding amounts using their accurate counting skills. They hae continued to learn to subitise and represent numbers. They have explores 'one more' and 'one less' than an amount. The Acorn children have recited numbers past five and counted forwards and backwards when launching a rocket into space. They have compared quantities using the language 'more than', 'fewer than' and the 'same'. They have used positional language to describe where an object has been placed. 

The Acorn children have developed their phonological awareness so that they can spot and suggest rhymes and increased their awareness of words that rhyme in their pre-phonics group times. They have listened to rhyming stories and joined in with nursery rhymes identifying the words which rhyme.  The Oak children have continued their daily Read Write Inc lessons, learning new letter sounds and diagraphs and trigraphs, such as 'ee' and 'air'. They have used 'Fred Talk' and 'Fred in your Head' strategies to blend sounds together to read words. They have begun to read simple phrases to practise their reading skills. 

In their writing group times the Acorn children have been forming 'Jellies' patterns, they have practised the patterns in trays of sand, flour, on chalkboards, through 'rainbow' writing, writing them on whiteboards and paper. Several children are now beginning to write or copy their names. The Oak children have been working on forming the letters correctly. They have worked on their word and sentences writing, writing about pictures from stories and writing lists of the animals in the Chinese New Year story.

This term's Jigsaw topic was 'Dreams and Goals', the children developed an understanding of what a challenge means and to keep trying even when it is difficult. they set a goal and worked towards it encouraging their peers to complete their own goals. They have felt proud when they achieved their goal and have started to think about the jobs they might like to do when they are older.  

The Acorn children talked about the differences and changes they notice through exploring light, dark and shadow in the dark den. They used torches, changing the colour of the light by holding colour paddles over the lens. They also made shadows by placing objects including their hand in front of the light and watching the shadow on the wall. They talked about day and night and the different  things they do and see during the day and night. The foundation children have learnt new songs about space,  and through 'Music Express' have played instruments with increasing control to express their feelings and ideas. 

At the end of term we said a sad goodbye to Mrs Bridgeman who has taught in the foundation unit for many years her new school is very lucky to have her. We wish her all the best in her new job. We hope you all have a great half term holiday and look forward to seeing you all next term. 

Tuesday 19th December 2023

What a busy end to the term we have had as we prepared for Christmas. The children worked hard to learn lots of new Christmas songs as well as the traditional carol 'Away in a Manger' for their Christmas sing-a long. It was lovely to see all of the parents and grandparents supporting their children and joining in with the singing. On Tuesday the Foundation Unit held their Christmas party.  The party started with a party lunch of wraps, crisps, cheese and onion rolls, sausages on sticks, sausage rolls, pizza, cheese and pineapple, cakes, biscuits, and ice cream. They had strawberry or chocolate milkshake and juice to drink. After the party lunch they were treated to a magician performance which judging by the screams of laughter they all enjoyed. Some of the children were lucky enough to be given the job of magician’s assistant and they helped him with some of his magic tricks. After the magic show they played party games including pass the parcel and whilst they were playing games, they took turns to go in groups into the quiet room where a surprise visitor was waiting for them. Poor Father Christmas was poorly so he sent one of his elves to the unit to deliver a present for each of the children. Some of the children thought the elf looked like Mrs Weir but the lady elf assured us her name was Mrs Elf! The children told the elf all about the presents they would like to receive and all of them said that they had been good. They promised to leave some carrots for the reindeer and something to eat and drink for Father Christmas. The children have also been making Christmas cards for someone special in their lives. 

Our topic this term has been 'Heroes.' The children have learnt about the important work that real life heroes do such as that of the police, fire service and people working in the medical professions. They also enjoyed stories about fictional heroes like 'Supertato'. The children have had lots of opportunities to role play the different people they have been learning about. Some children were surprised to learn about all the different work the police do to help keep us all safe. We have set up a fire station and police station in our outside area and they have played with our small world hospital, fire station and police station inside. We held an aspiration day when the children came to school dressed up in the clothes of an occupation they would like to do when they are older. 

In their maths group times this term the Oak children have been learning to subitise (recognise how many there are without counting.) They have also explored the composition of numbers to 10, such as 5 is comprised of 3 and 2, 4 and 1, 5 and 0. They have counted aloud, counted objects and recognised numerals. They have also explored 2D shapes, selecting, rotating and manipulating the shapes.  The Acorn children have also been counting objects and actions knowing that the last number tells us how many there are in total. They have shown 'finger numbers' to represent the total. They have talked about and explored 2D and 3D shapes using informal and mathematical language to talk about the properties of the shapes. They have also created or completed a simple repeated pattern. 

Our 'Jigsaw' topic has been 'Celebrating Differences' where children have talked about how it feels to be proud of something they are good at and one way they are special and unique. They have learnt that all families are different and live in different houses and homes. They have talked about making friends and how to use words to stand up for themselves. We have continued to develop positive attitudes about the differences between people by talking about cultural and religious events such as Diwali. 

The Oak children have been working on becoming champion gymnasts in their PE sessions. They have moved and made shapes with different parts of their body. They have started to develop their core muscle strength and achieve good posture. They were introduced to the apparatus and taught how to safely and confidently use it.  The Acorn children have also taken part in some gymnastic activities learning how to balance on different parts of their bodies and how to roll in different ways. They have also had the weekly opportunity to use the wheeled toys in the main playground to further develop their gross motor skills. 

The Acorn children have been drawing straight lines in their writing group times.  They have drawn vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines. They then used these lines to draw crosses. Some children have begun to write the initial letter of their name and others are beginning to write several letters from their name. The Oak children have been learning how to form lower case letters correctly and have begun to write the initial sounds of words and simple words. There have been lots of opportunities for the children to engage in writing inside and outside using different mark making tools. 

During World Nursery Rhyme Week, the children learnt new rhymes and looked at rhyming words. They have visited the library and we have continued to foster the children's love of books by giving them lots of opportunities to engage with books which fire their imagination and interest. We have cosy reading areas within the classrooms and in our outside area. 

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Friday 20th October 2023

 We have welcomed lots of new children into the Foundation unit this term and they are all settling in and forming friendships with their peers. Our learning this term has been based upon oiur topic 'Marvellous Me!'  We have talked about our families and the similarities and differences with other families. The Acorn children shared photos of their families with their peers and talked about their families and what they were called. They painted self portraits, carefully looking at the colour of their skin, eyes and hair, then choosing or mixing the colour to paint their picture. We have also talked about our emotions.  We read the story 'The Colour Monster' by  Anna Llenas in which each emotion was given a different colour.  The children learnt about their bodies and their senses, the Acorn children used their sense of smell to identify different smells including toothpaste, coffee, cocoa, lemon, onion, orange and blackcurrant juice. They also felt different textures and sorted them into groups of hard, soft, rough or smooth objects. Through the story of 'The Three Pigs' we talked about our homes and the materials from which they were constructed. The children became builders in our role play builders yard using tools and building with a variety of different bricks. We used google maps to walk around the area and find the places where the children lived. We finished the term by talking about toys, we looked at toys from the past and compared them with the toys that the children play with today. 

In their maths group times the Oak children started the term by reciting and counting numbers to ten and beyond. They have matched and sorted objects and compared amounts using the comparative vocabulary such as 'more', 'less', 'more than', 'less than', and  fewer than'. They have been introduced to visual maths using five and ten frames and objects such as balls of playdough and Dienes(tens and ones). They have explored, continued and created simple patterns.  The Acorn children have been reciting numbers to 5 and then 10.  They have counted objects into and out of containers making sure they say one number name for each object. They have also worked on 'subitising' quickly recognising up to three objects without counting them individually. They have compared objects according to their size and used the language big, bigger, biggest, small, smaller, smallest when comparing the objects. They have also learnt other language when describing size including tiny, small, huge and enormous. They finished the term by looking at patterns and they finished and created ABAB patterns using natural objects such as shell, conker, shell, conker. 

The Acorn children have been tuning into sounds in their pre-phonics group times.  They have worked on listening to sounds in the environment including transport and animal sounds and then identified the sound. They have also discriminated between different instrumental sounds. The Oak children have started their daily Read Write Inc lessons and have begun to read individual letters by saying the sounds for them. They have learnt a new sound every day and have begun to blend sounds into words so that they can read short words. 

Both the Oak and Acorn children have used the Letter-join scheme of work to help them with their writing. They have been learning how to hold a pencil effectively when writing. The Oak children have begun to form lower case letters correctly, including their name writing and writing the initial letter of words. The Acorn children have been learning how to draw circles and spirals. They have drawn the patterns in trays of sand, on chalk boards, on whiteboards as well as on paper. They have traced over the patterns on the interactive board and been encouraged to make the patterns during child initiated play. 

In their PE group times the Oak children have been following the 'Complete PE' syllabus and started with 'Locomotion-Walking'. They have explored how we walk using our head, arms and feet, applying an effective walking technique. They have developed walking at different levels and speeds. The Acorn children were lucky enough to have a two sessions with an Argyle coach when they worked on their ball skills. They learnt how to dribble a ball keeping it close to their feet and how to stop the ball by placing their foot on top. They learnt how to keep their eye on the ball as they dribbled and kicked the ball around the hall. They learnt how to control the ball as they moved it in and out and around cones. They have played tag games and learnt to run in different directions to avoid being tagged when they are being chased. All of the children have also been working on their self help skills when taking off and putting on their socks and shoes before and after PE. More and more children are now able to do this unaided. 

We have followed the 'Jigsaw' programme in our personal, social and emotional development (PSED) group times. This linked in with our topic 'Marvellous Me!'and the children have developed an understanding about how it feels to belong and that we are all similar and different. They have learnt about feelings, how they can be expressed and to consider other people's feelings. They have begun to understand that it is good to be kind to people. They have leant about children's rights and what being responsible means. Children have also learnt the school 'Golden Rules' and an understanding of why we have rules. 

The children have learnt about the world around them talking about the changing seasons, days of the week and observing the changes in the garden with the ripening of the tomatoes and runner beans and then watching them set seed and die, The sunflowers have also flowered and along with the runner beans the seeds have been saved to be planted in the Spring. They have noticed the leaves on the trees in the outside area changing colour and losing their leaves. 

We wish you all a good half term holiday.

Thursday 20th July 2023

 It has been another busy term in the Foundation unit as we learnt all about different modes of transport with our topic 'Are We There Yet?'. We also took part in the whole school 'Healthy Living Week', where the children learnt all about the importance of keeping our bodies healthy through exercise, sleep and eating and drinking more healthy foods. The Acorn children learnt about keeping their teeth healthy and they brushed their teeth after lunch everyday throughout the week. Both Oaks and Acorns thought about and designed healthy lunchboxes, ran a mile around the playground and spent a lovely afternoon running, climbing and playing in Titchy Park. The Oak children made fruit kebabs for the 'Ready Steady Cook' competition and the Acorn children made some delicious cheese and chive scones and made some strawberry milkshake. The Acorn children learnt where milk comes from and what the milk can be used to make such as cheese, butter, cream, ice cream and yoghurt. They learnt that milk contains calcium which is good for our teeth and bones. 

The highlight of the term was our visit to Calstock. We walked to the station at Keyham where we boarded the train. There was lots to see on our journey as we travelled under the Royal Albert Bridge and the Tamar Bridge. The children enjoyed looking out of the windows and seeing the boats on the river, the animals in the fields and all the trees and flowers. They looked down the 120 feet from the Calstock viaduct to the river and village below. When we arrived at Calstock we walked down to the village and the children spent some time exploring the play park pirate ship before we ate our lunch at the picnic tables beside the river. We then spent some time playing ball games and rolling down the grassy bank of the playing field before walking back to the station for the return journey. The children did lots of walking throughout the day covering about four miles in total. 

We were very lucky to have chosen the driest day of the week for our Sport's Day this year. The children competed in different colour teams to win as many points as they could. There was welly throwing, an obstacle course, jumping in a sack, walking between two cones whilst balancing an egg on a spoon, rolling a ball in and out of cones and walking between two cones whilst balancing a bean bag on their head. The event was well supported by parents, carers and family members who cheered their child’s team and supported them brilliantly. The children worked well in their teams with the blue team in first place, the red team were second and the yellow team third.  Finally, we held a series of flat races, in the younger nursery children’s race Marcelo was first, Charlotte second and Finley third. In the older nursery children’s race James was first, Oscar second and Zachary third. In the Oak girls race Aurora was first, Mianna second and Rahima was third. With a lot of Oak boys, we had to hold two heats and then a race off between the first three in each heat, Richard was first, Jude second and Alan was third. 

In their Maths group times the Oak children have continued to explore and represent patterns within numbers up to ten, including odd and evens, double facts and how quantities can be distributed equally. They have compared quantities up to ten in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other quantity. They have also consolidated their learning of number bonds and subitising.  The Acorn children have been working on their counting and 1:1 correspondence, saying one number for each item as they count a group of objects. They have made comparisons between objects relating to capacity. They have discussed routes and locations using positional language and described a familiar route such as their journey from home to school. They explored 2D and 3D shapes and used the shapes to make trains and aeroplanes. 

The Acorn children have continued to use the 'Letter-join' scheme to develop their writing through drawing patterns. This term they have looked at 'Waves', they traced over the patterns on the interactive board, drew the patterns in sand, on whiteboards, made rainbow patterns and used felt tip pens, crayons, chalks and coloured pencils to make the patterns on paper. Some children have written or copied their names or the initial letter of their name. They have used the Read Write Inc rhymes to help them form the letters correctly. The Oak children have also worked on forming the letters correctly in their writing group times, they learnt to spell words and practised writing simple phrases and sentences. They have written lists of items they would pack for a journey and about transport in the past. 

The Oak children have continued their Read Write Inc daily group times where they have read individual sounds, digraphs(such as ch, sh, ai) split digraphs(such as a-e as in make) and trigraphs(such as ear, air.) They have read words by sound blending, i.e.'Fred Talk'. The older Acorn children also continued their Read Write Inc lessons where they have learnt some more of the Set 1 sounds and how to blend them into words using 'Fred Talk'.

This terms 'Jigsaw' theme has been 'Changing Me.' The children showed an understanding that everyone is unique and special. They named parts of their body and how to show respect for themselves. They understood that we all start as babies and grow into children and then adults. They explored their emotions and understood how others might be feeling. They talked about their feelings as they moved towards the transition into reception or Year 1 classes. They know who to ask for help if they are worried about change. The Acorn children talked about all the fun things they do in nursery. 

In their PE sessions the Oak children consolidated all the skills they have learnt with the final part of the syllabus, 'Attack v defence' Games for understanding. They understood why they need to follow the rules during a game and that consequences will occur if they are not followed. The Oak and Acorn children spent time practising the activities they would be taking part in on Sports Day. 

The Acorn children planted out the runner beans, sweet peas, tomato plants and sunflowers they had grown from seed last term. During the hot weather they cared for the plants making sure they were watered everyday. The wildflower seeds they planted at the time of the King's Coronation have also started to grow and we are waiting for them to flower. Some children also enjoyed eating the few strawberries we managed to find before the slugs and snails! 

The children have used recycled materials to create boats, trains, cars and aeroplanes. They used and joined different materials to create their desired model. They also used a variety of construction toys to create different modes of transport. The children performed songs, rhymes and poems with others linked to transport and journeys, including 'Row, row, row your boat' and 'I'm a Little Aeroplane'. 

The Oak children have all visited their new teacher and classroom in preparation for September and we have held several visits for the new children starting in Oak and Acorn class. 

Friday 26th May 2023

 The children have really enjoyed this term's topic 'How Does Your Garden Grow?' especially planting and caring for their own seeds. The Oak children planted sunflower seeds and have been watching them grow. The Acorn children also planted sunflower seeds and now have sturdy plants ready to be planted in our outside area. They also planted runner bean seeds, potatoes, sweet peas and wildflowers. All of their plants will be planted outside after half term when they can make sure they are watered regularly. As well as learning about the different parts of flowers and plants they have learnt about their importance to mini beasts like the bees and butterflies. We have created a wildflower area under one of our trees and sowed the seeds given to the school by King Charles III. We have also made sure there are areas where the mini beasts can safely live. The Acorn children have learnt about the life cycles of a sunflower and a bean. they have learnt new vocabulary related to our topic and from the topic related stories we have read. They used pastels to draw their own sunflower pictures after looking at the work of Vincent van Gogh. 

We celebrated the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla with a special lunchtime party for the children and an afternoon tea with their families. They learnt about the royal family, made their own crowns and took part in creative activities linked to the coronation. The children enjoyed dressing as royalty or in red, white and blue. 

We walked to the KGP centre to look at the allotments as part of our topic. We also looked at the wildflowers and trees in the woodland area. The children were challenged to find some of the wildflowers including daisies, buttercups and dandelions. We also saw several mini beasts including bees, wood lice, cabbage white, common blue and red admiral butterflies. At the allotments we found strawberries, broadbeans, carrots, potatoes, beetroot, leeks, onions, rhubarb, mint, chives and parsley growing. We talked about the fruit and vegetables which grew above or under the ground. We also saw fruit trees including apple, pear and cherry as well as blackcurrant bushes. In the woodland area we saw some bluebells, stinging nettles, dock leaves and lots of different trees. There was just enough time to roly poly down the grassy bank and play on the play equipment before walking back to school.

In their PE lessons the Oak children have been developing their ball skills, such as exploring different ways of using their hands to move with a ball such as pushing and rolling the ball. They have learnt the meaning of the word control, understanding why it is important to keep the ball close to them. The Acorn children have been developing their riding skills by using tricycles, scooters and balance bikes. they have learnt to stop and start on a tricycle and explored using a balance bike with alternate feet steering around a simple route. They have also used one-handed tools to dig and prepare the garden ready for sowing seeds. They have also worked on their scissor skills, holding them safely in one hand to snip and cut paper and other materials. 

The Oak children have identified numbers up to 20 and beyond, recognising that the numbers 1-9 repeat after every full ten. They have verbally counted beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the number system. They have added, subtracted and begun to automatically recall number bonds to 5 and some to ten. They have deepened their understanding of numbers to ten, including the composition of each number. They have have explored odd and even numbers. They have also explored doubling and halving understanding that doubling is adding the same number and halving is sharing between two.. The Acorn children have recited numbers past ten and counted a group of objects saying one number for each item in order. They have linked numerals to amounts by selecting a numeral and then counting out that amount of items. They have compared lengths using the language long/longer/longest and short/shorter/shortest. They rolled play dough worms making them longer or shorter than a worm on a play dough mat. They have created or completed a repeated pattern using natural objects.

This term's Jigsaw topic was 'Relationships', the children talked about their families and how to make friends if they feel lonely. They have talked about some of the tings they like about their friends. They have learnt what to say or do if someone is mean to them and how to use 'Calm Me' time to manage their feelings. they have explored different ways to resolve conflicts and rivalries. We have referred to the schools 'Golden Rules' when talking about our relationships with others. 

The Acorn children have been tracing and copying different 'Loopies' patterns. They have learnt the vocabulary associated with handwriting and how to do 'air writing' and other activities where they can practise the patterns. they have traced the patterns on the interactive board, drawn them on chalkboards, white boards and paper. They have developed their fine motor skills through a variety of 'Funky Fingers' activities. Some children have begun to copy and write their names. The Oak children have continued to use their phonic knowledge when writing They have also learnt more about spelling words and sentence writing including using a capital letter and full stops. They have written facts about minibeasts, observations on their plant growing and a recount of the flowers they saw at the KGP centre. They have re-read what they have written to check that it makes sense.

The Oak children have continued their daily Read Write Inc phonics lessons in highly differentiated groups, including the reading of common exception words and simple phrases and sentences. They have developed their fluency, confidence and understanding when reading. The older  Acorn children have begun their daily Read Write Inc lessons. They have learnt to read individual letters by saying the sounds for them. They have learnt 'Fred Talk' so they hear sounds and blend them together to make a word. They have looked at print in the environment and begun to recognise letters.

The children have learnt about different fruit and vegetables, how and where they grow. They discovered that some grow under the ground, some above the ground, others on vines, bushes or trees. They looked at the shape, colour and textures of the fruit and vegetable. The Oak children tasted different fruit and made vegetable soup and the Acorn children made a fruit salad. 

Friday 31st March 2023

Our topic this term has been 'Food Glorious Food' which has linked well with our personal, social and emotional development Jigsaw topic which was 'Healthy Me.' We started the topic with Shrove Tuesday pancake making. The children all helped to make the batter, weighing out the ingredients, mixing them together and watching as they browned in the pan. They then helped to spread them with syrup, jam, chocolate sauce or the traditional lemon and sugar. They all tasted a piece of each flavour and talked about their favourite topping. The following week it was also World Book Day and our story was 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea' by Judith Kerr. The staff and children dressed up as tigers and we enjoyed lots of activities based around the story, including painting tigers, making sandwiches, cooking fairy cakes, decorating biscuits and colouring pictures of tigers. Our topic has given us lots of opportunities to cook and have also made milkshakes and Easter Egg nests. We have also talked about where our food comes from and food that grows in this country and food that we import from other countries. We have looked at food from different cultures and talked about the similarities and differences to the food we eat in our homes. 

In their Jigsaw group times, the children have learnt all about their bodies, naming some parts of their bodies and have started to understand that they need to be active to be healthy. We have talked about some foods being healthier than others. Some children thought that we should never eat the less healthy foods but we explained that it was alright to eat these foods occasionally just not every day. They have sorted the foods into sets of healthy and not so healthy foods. They have learnt about the importance of sleep to keep us healthy and the things our bodies need including food, water, exercise, sleep and air. We finished the topic with a session on how to keep themselves and others safe and how to say 'No' to strangers. We read stories about strangers including Red Riding Hood and talked about what a stranger is and what we should and should not do if we are approached by a stranger. 

The Acorn children have been talking about and exploring 2D and 3D shapes in their maths group times. They have sorted the shapes into sets of the same shape, learnt the names of the shapes and talked about their properties learning new vocabulary such as vertices and edges when talking about the 3D shapes. They have learnt that 2D shapes are flat shapes and can be found as the faces on solid 3D shapes. During their cooking activities they have compared the weights of the different ingredients. Through counting songs and rhymes they have counted forwards and backwards from five and ten. They have counted groups of objects and made tally marks to represent the total number of objects they have counted. The Oak children have also looked at 3D shapes and have looked at how the shapes are composed. They have used matchsticks and mini gems to make cubes and made cones out of paper. They have identified the 2D shapes within the 3D shapes and used the mathematical vocabulary to describe the shapes. They have explored subtraction and written number sentences taking one away from a given number. They finished the term by looking at patterns, where they have made repeating patterns using different colours, objects and the sounds of musical instruments. 

The Oak children have been working on becoming 'Champion Gymnasts' in their PE group times.  They have worked on their posture and how to land when jumping off apparatus. They have experienced high and low movements using the apparatus and gym mats. It has been great to see how their posture has changed over the course of the term and they can now walk along the balancing equipment with straight backs and their hand stretched out to help maintain their balance. When they jump off the equipment they bend their knees then straighten up stretching their arms in the air before bringing them to their sides. The Acorn children have also been using the apparatus to climb and balance. They have built up their confidence when travelling over and under balancing equipment. They have moved in different ways including running, jumping, sideways, backwards and on tip toe. They have played team tag games working together to tag their peers until everyone has been tagged. They finished the term by rolling and catching balls in a group and with a partner. They learnt how to hold their hands cupped ready to catch the ball and how to hug it close once it is in their hands. They also learnt to keep their eye on the ball so that they were ready to catch it.

The Acorn children have developed their awareness of rhyme and alliteration in their pre-phonics group times. They have listened to rhyming stories and started to spot the rhyming words. They have matched objects which rhyme and found the odd one out from four objects, three of which rhymed and one which didn't. They have sorted objects according to their initial sound and learnt that this is called alliteration. They have also started to orally blend sounds and say the word. The adults have used 'Fred Talk' and the children have repeated the sounds blending them to make the word. They had to identify different foods which they then fed to the tiger for his tea. They have pointed to different parts of their bodies which have been sound talked. The Oak children have continued with their Read Write Inc sessions and the children have learnt new sounds and to read words. 

The Oak children have been starting to think about Easter in their RE sessions and what it means to Christians. They have talked about Spring and the beginning of new life. They observed how daffodils changed over the course of a week from the flower opening from buds to full flower and then shrivel and die. They looked at items related to Easter and read and discussed the Easter story. 

The Acorn children have been working on forming zig zag patterns in their 'Letter-join' writing group  times. They have traced over the patterns on the interactive board, air wrote the patterns and formed the patterns in trays of sand, on chalk boards and on paper using different writing tools such as crayons, pencils and felt tip pens. Some children have begun to work on copying the letters in their name or the initial letter of their name. Some children are beginning to write their name. The Oak children have continued to use their phonic knowledge in their writing to write words and sentences. They did a 'Big Write' writing about a picture without any prompts or support from the adults. They had to remember to write a sentence starting with a capital letter, using finger spaces and ending with a full stop. Some wrote simple sentences about what they could see and some remembered to add a 'wow' word when they were describing something in the picture. The adults were really pleased with the end results and proud of how the children used their skills and knowledge to write about the picture. 

In their creative group times the Acorn children have explored a variety of percussion instruments and used them to express their feelings and ideas. They choose instruments to match the sounds in songs such as 'Pop a Little Pancake.' They have learnt new songs from Music Express about making a cake and favourite foods. They used kitchen utensils to accompany the song 'Cake for Tea.' They have explored different materials developing their own ideas and deciding which materials to use to make an Easter bonnet. The Oak children have also been making music using Music Express. They used percussion instruments to accompany a variety of songs linked to food. 

We held a very well attended 'Stay and Play' session with the activities based around the Expressive Arts and Design  area of the Foundation curriculum. It was lovely to see so many of the children's families enjoying time with their children. Our term finished with parents meetings, an open afternoon and a Spring walk. The children enjoyed walking around the local area and seeing the signs of spring including the spring flowers such as primroses, bluebells, daffodils, tulips and wild garlic. They also saw that some trees were beginning to form buds. We were also lucky enough to see two grey squirrels climbing the trees and a bumble bee around the catkins of a willow tree.