In F2 we are preparing for Christmas with our new ‘Advent and Christmas’ theme. We have a special class advent calendar of hanging stars, each with a little deed for us to do for that day: it could be saying a prayer for our family or sharing our toys. We are reading the stories about the first Christmas from our class Bible and acting them out in a variety of ways. 

We have a travelling crib which is coming home with a child each night. Inside is a stable scene, candle and a book of reflection for you to share as a family within your homes. We hope that you enjoy using them together.

We have had lots of fun in EYFS exploring the current season in our Autumn theme.  Here in F2 we started with an Owl Babies focus.  Baby Owl Bill actually flew into our classroom to answer our questions!  We made junk modelling owls and acted out the story using story spoons. We worked together to use our phonics to write a list of ideas for exciting new foods for Bill to try, as he was so fed up with mice!  We are now reading the story of the Enormous Turnip.  We loved acting out the story and will soon be retelling the story using a story map.  We have also been finding out facts about Autumn and making our own Autumn books.

In maths we have been doing lots of counting using autumn objects such as conkers and pine cones.  We have been using conkers to do some simple addition by combining two groups to see how many we have altogether.  We have also been doing lots of number recognition games, such as ‘I draw a number on your back’.

In our creative area we have loved exploring different Autumn colours, through paints and colour mixing.  We have been looking carefully at the world around us, then making pictures and collages of autumn trees.  We have been cutting leaves and leaf shapes to develop our scissor skills.  In our playdough area we have exploring making different patterns using a variety of autumn artefacts.  We have also used a range of materials to make our own hedgehogs.

Our children went on autumn walks and collected a range of Autumn artefacts for our discovery table.  We have been examining and describing them.  We are now using them to create our own ‘transient’ works of art, just like Andy Goldsworthy!  

We have been busy in our outdoor learning environment too.  We have been making lots of fabulous recipes and Autumn soups in our mud kitchen.  We are currently having lots of fun in our fruit and vegetable stall roleplay area, acting out the different roles and taking turns. A busy, happy class!

The children in F2 have made a great start to the school year.  We have been settling into our classroom rules and routines.  We have started the year with an ‘All About Me’ topic.  We have been talking about ourselves, our families, our likes and dislikes.  We have looked carefully at ourselves in mirrors and talked about similarities and differences.  We have made self portraits and pictures of our friends using paints, oil pastels and collage materials- we are learning to make decisions about what materials to choose and to be more independent. 

In literacy we have been reading the story of Elmer and reflecting on how, just like Elmer, we are all different and special.  We have made special houses for Elmer in our construction area and in the crates outdoors.  We have acted out the story, retold the story using a story map and made our very own characters for the story.  We have been making labels for our characters by listening to the first sounds in words and recording them. 

In maths we have done lots of work on number recognition, ordering numbers and counting groups of objects by lining them up and pointing at each one as we count. 

Over on our discovery table we are thinking all about our five senses.  We have been used torches, colour paddles, kaleidoscopes and viewers to think about sight and we are currently thinking about the sense of touch by describing objects in feely tubs.  We will soon be going on a listening walk around our school… and we are also looking forward to exploring our sense of taste!

Thank you to all those who attended our EYFS Curriculum Workshop, which focused on the objectives covered this year and how you can support your child at home.  Please have a go at using the Tapestry tool to share your home observations with us here at school, this insight is so valuable.

In EYFS we have followed the children’s interests in this last half term and created a topic called ‘All Creatures Great and Small”.  For the first part of the half term we have focused on minibeasts.  Our very own caterpillars arrived in the classroom and we watched them grow into beautiful butterflies. In F2 we read ‘Mad About Minibeasts’.  We had fun moving around like different minibeasts, describing them and writing our own minibeast riddles.  We have made junk modelling minibeasts and minibeast houses. We have had lots of fun searching for minibeasts both at school and at home, thank you for joining in and sharing your minibeasts on Tapestry.  In maths we have been solving minibeast number problems and using creatures to help us to find our number bonds to 10.

We have now moved on to learning all about dinosaurs.  A mysterious egg arrived in our classroom and we have been guessing what may be inside.  Our text is ‘Dinosaurs in my School’ – we will be thinking about the different kinds of mischief that dinosaurs might get up to if they visited our school!  We have been making dinosaur caves in the crates outside and painting fantastic dinosaur pictures.  In our role play area we have our very own explorers’ jeep for dinosaur hunting!  We are keeping our eyes open for strange happenings…

We followed the children’s interests and have focused on the story of the Three Little Pigs for the second half of our Traditional Tales topic.  We have had fun learning and acting out the story in a variety of ways.  We made a story map together of the story, then changed parts to make our own tale: The Three Little Jellyfish.  Luckily they managed to escape from the Big Bad Shark!  This topic has generated some  fantastic writing, both in school and at home.  Other highlights have been our outdoor construction site, where our builders have been hard at work making houses for the pigs, as well as some fantastic houses made in our junk modelling area.  Our children have also made some very creative puppets of the characters, deciding themselves what type of puppet that they would make and how they would do it.  In maths we have focused on heavier and lighter and have been weighing different materials using our scales, making predictions first.  We are also counting in 2s, 5s and 10s and beginning to use this skill to solve simple number problems, like counting groups of sticks.  We have also been measuring the pigs’ sticks using cubes and rulers.

In our discovery area we have followed on our work about plants and growing by thinking about healthy food.  We have looked carefully at a variety of fruits and vegetables and discussed healthy choices.  We are currently designing healthy meals and shopping lists for the three little pigs.

We are thinking all about Spring and growing here in EYFS.  We have been looking carefully at different plants as well as seeds, bulbs and roots.  We are doing lots of planting, both indoors and out.  We followed a set of instructions to grow cress seeds and we have filled our garden area with beautiful flowers.  In literacy we are continuing our growing theme by reading Jack and the Beanstalk.  We have been retelling the story in a variety of different ways.  We have even had a special visit from Jack himself in our classroom!  We are going to be retelling the story using a story map and then writing our own version of the story with a twist.  In maths we are continuing to practise our addition: we have been adding together the prices of flowers in our flower shop role play area.  We have also been halving objects by sharing them equally in two groups.  We have divided up different sets of magic beans between two people.  We have also used our halving skill to help us to halve up the snap cards to play the game.  We have loved building castles for the giant in the construction are, the junk modelling area and in the crates area.  

The children in EYFS are really enjoying our Under the Sea topic.  In F2 we have been reading Commotion in the Ocean.  We have been looking at the different describing words, moving like the sea creatures and making the sea creature noises with our musical instruments.  We have been writing our own riddles for under the sea creatures: using our phonics and tricky words to write a set of clues so that our friends can guess the sea creature.  We have also been making our own Under the Sea books in the writing area.  In maths we have been adding and subtracting in many different ways: using bead strings, objects and by drawing pictures to help us.  We are also halving groups of objects: we are dividing up groups of shells between two mermaids.

We have mermaids and mermen in our role play area too.  We have used our own artwork to create an underwater world and made ourselves tails from shimmering fabric.  We have engaged in underwater small world play both indoors and out, and enjoyed making submarines with the crates.  In the discovery area we are looking closely at shells, describing them and making observational drawings.  There has been some amazing creativity coming from our creative area as the children have imagined what creatures could be living down in the deep, dark sea.

In EYFS we have been learning about how Lent is a very special time when we prepare for Easter.  In our RE lessons we have been reading Bible stories about how kind Jesus was to everybody.  Jesus loves everyone and we are trying to be more like him.  We have thought about what we can do to be more like Jesus during Lent.  We all thought of a kind deed and hung it from our Lent tree.  What kind deed could you do at home today?

Here at St Mary’s we promote Tameside’s Talking Together initiative, which is designed to encourage speaking and listening skills amongst young people.  Talking effectively is so important for children to be successful readers, writers and in other areas of learning.  In school we create lots of opportunity for talk within our lessons and our daily routines.  Please visit Talking Together Tameside and Glossop for more information.

This month’s theme is the brilliance of books.  Reading helps to develop children’s listening and attention skills, their understanding and their spoken language.  This month’s challenge is to share a variety of books with your child at home: you can share home favourites, share our school library books and even take a trip to Denton Library.  Please share what you have read with us at school using Tapestry or your school reading record.  In school, we will be sharing and re-enacting lots of ‘Under the Sea’ books to match our theme.  Can you find any under the sea books to share?