EYFS – Newsletter – 22.09.2023

It’s the end of another fun week in Reception and the children continue to impress us with their maturity and confidence. They have settled into Cookridge life so well and it feels like they’ve been with us much longer than eight full days!

We have been exploring our topic of All About Me by finding out more about each other. The adults in class have shared pictures and stories of their special times and encouraged the children to share in turn. Thank you so much for all the fabulous photos sent into us via Tapestry and email. Having these pictures really helps us to talk all about special times and special people, as well as sharing our knowledge and understanding of different places and cultures. We have not yet had chance to share all the photos with the class, but are working through them and will gladly welcome any more you have! It is so encouraging to have such a positive and enthusiastic response from parents on Tapestry. Please feel free to add pictures and/or notes about special times or experiences that your children may want to share with us in school. A lot of children also enjoyed getting creative, producing paper plate self-portraits from observing their faces in a mirror – with some fantastic results!

We began small group Phonics and Maths sessions this week, with children becoming used to short teacher-led sessions exploring concepts that shall be built upon throughout the year. In Phonics, we’ve concentrated on activities intended to help develop careful listening, which is a key skill needed as we engage in hearing and using new sounds in reading and writing. This week the activities have included listening and discerning sounds in online game; playing and distinguishing different noises from musical instruments and other noise-makers; and listening carefully to follow and discuss story books in our reading area.

In Maths sessions this week, we have been exploring similarities and differences in a number of ways. This helps with the visual language of maths and helps develop the skills needed to see and recognise patterns. We have done this by playing spot the difference and odd-one-out games; by pairing up socks; and by sorting like things from an assortment.

On Tuesday this week, the children also enjoyed time with our Art, DT and Music specialist teachers, where they have been introduced to new skills. The teachers have enjoyed getting to know the children and assessing their skills to enable them to join in these fun and interactive sessions throughout the year. 

Wednesday saw our first ‘Reading Buddies’ sessions, in which the class mixes with a year 3/4 class to share and talk about books. The children loved having a visit from the older children and will gain much from having this peer support in their enjoyment of reading through the year. 

If you have not yet done so, please can we ask that you complete the ‘Reception Milk 2023/24’ form as found in the Forms to Complete section of the EYFS page on the school website.

Have a great weekend!

NEXT WEEK:

From Monday 25th September the Book Fair will be in school. Reception children will visit the fair and come home with a ‘wish’ list should you wish to make a purchase.

Thursday 28^th September – Forest Schools – Please send your child to school in weather-appropriate clothing and footwear to be outdoors in for extended periods.