Welcome back Woods Class!
In Woods Class we work closely with parents/carers to set the foundations of our children’s first steps in their learning.
During this half term, we recognise that children come to our setting from various starting points and having had various experiences. We will use this term to observe, interact and build strong relationships with the children and families. When considering the curriculum in the early years, it is important to think about the knowledge that children may already have.
The topic for the autumn term is ‘Magical me’. Exploring and learning all about ourselves and families, our local community and developing strong relationships with Key people at school.
Each week one child will take the ‘family box’ home where they can put photos and special objects in to share and talk to their class about themselves, the people important to them, their culture and community and then put up on display.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
We will be learning about:
- What makes me special/ who are my special key people
- Who can help me?
- Exploring feelings
- Self-care and self-regulation techniques
- Developing relationships
- Communication and Language
The children will be talking about what makes them unique and special. This will include sharing information about their own family and have the opportunity to explore different families and backgrounds. They will also be making a class book about starting nursery, their new environment and key adults.
Physical Development
We will be learning to develop skills in:
- Confidence and movement skills using apparatus and space outdoors.
- Fine motor skills and hand eye coordination.
- Independence in self-help skills (feeding, toileting, washing hands)
Literacy
Communication and language will be an ongoing focus throughout the term. The children will have opportunities to listen to and join in with stories, songs, and rhymes, understanding what is happening with the help of the pictures.
The books we use in our learning include:
- When a Dragon Goes to School by Caryl hart
- Elmer by David McKee
- Stick Man by Julia Donaldson
- I love me by Marvyn Harrison
- Sister Lucy’s Great Big Family
- The Colours Of Us
Maths
We will be learning about:
Number rhymes and songs, counting and sorting objects, and beginning to recognise, name, and order numbers from 0 to 5.
Understanding the World
The children will talk about the features of their immediate environment with visual representations e.g., walk around school, nature area and notice common signs and logos. They will use IPods to take pictures, print them out to start their class local community and environment book.
Expressive Art and Design
The children will explore and use a variety of media for pleasure and purposely:
- Sing in a group or on their own.
- Create collaboratively, sharing ideas, resources and skills.
- Develop storylines in their pretend play
They will be exploring self-portraits in different forms using paint, markers, crayons, collage, and chalk.
During this term, we will be inviting you to spend some time with your children in the class, and we are looking forward to working with you. If you have any questions or we can help in any way, please do not hesitate to ask one of us, and we will do our best to help.