EYFS Newsletter – 16.05.2025

Another lovely warm and sunny week in Reception and we’ve had a ball. The sun has helped all our sunflower plants keep growing, aided by the care and attention of the children who made sure their plant was kept watered. And joining us this week as part of our Let It Grow topic we have had 5 little caterpillars arrive for us to look after. In the space of a few days the caterpillars have grown a lot and we are watching closely for when they start to build their cocoons. We spent a lot of time discussing different animals life cycles and what similarities and differences there are between mammals, insects, birds, reptiles and amphibians. 

Inspired by our caterpillar friends we read the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The children enjoyed retelling the story and feeding the caterpillar, using stick puppets and also stamping the correct number of fruits for the caterpillar to use. Butterfly art was also very popular this week, with lots of children painting one side of a butterfly’s wings and then folding it over to print the same pattern on the opposite side. 

The children were also encouraged to sort the foods eaten by the Very Hungry Caterpillar in the story by which were healthy or unhealthy; to place the stages of a butterfly’s life cycle in order and to compose and read some silly sentences inspired by the amount of things the caterpillar ate in the book. 

Phonics this week has been lots of fun. The children have enjoyed applying their reading and writing skills in different ways. We have had children finishing sentences and drawing pictures of sentences they had read. As the weeks go by we are just bowled over by the work being done and the improvements we’ve seen in the children’s reading and writing!

In Maths this week, we have been learning to use positional language. The children have enjoyed following instructions to place shapes to make pictures; playing shape bingo; and playing a barrier game to create cube constructions by following blind instructions. 

On Friday afternoon the whole school was treated to a special performance of The Wizard of Oz by a visiting theatre troupe. This was mainly as a celebration to make the end of the yearly SATs tests but Reception class were happy to join in as part of the audience!

Have a lovely weekend!

The Reception Team

KEY DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

Thursday 22nd May – Last day of Summer 1 term

Monday 2nd June – First day of Summer 2 term

Thursday 19th June – Sports day (EYFS/KS1 – 1:30pm-3pm)

Friday 18th July – Last day of Summer 2 term