Sparrows 2024 - 2025

Miss Watkins

Welcome to Sparrows Class!

Red Class is the Early Years Foundation Stage (reception) class here at Weston. We aim to teach the EYFS curriculum with a vairety of engaging adult-led and child-initiated activities. We strive to create a happy and safe learning environment where the children are at the heart of all we do. We believe that children's first experiences of school are of great importance and help to shape a lifelong love of learning.

This is what we will be learning about in the Autumn term:

Communication and Language:

The children will learn to listen to familiar and non-familiar stories and will be encouraged to join in with rhymes and repetitions. They will take turns in ‘talk partners’ and ‘elbow partners’ where they will be given the opportunity to listen and respond to one another and communicate to their classmates. We will aim to build their confidence with talking in front of small and then larger groups.

Physical Development:

The children will be encouraged to be independent with their own self-care. This includes: toileting, washing hands, and putting on their own coat. There will be a focus on improving the children’s fine motor skills which includes holding equipment and pencils for writing. The children will enhance their gross motor skills in our outdoor environment and through structured PE lessons which will focus on a variety of fundamental skills (e.g. kicking, throwing and catching).

Personal, Social and Emotional Development:

In the first term, lots of the activities planned will assist the settling in period for the children; encouraging them to separate from their carers and to make friends with their new classmates. The children will be supported in speaking and playing alongside new and familiar faces and will gain independence in giving their ideas in front of small groups.

Literacy:

The children will listen to familiar stories and begin to think about their structure. The first stories we look at are traditional tales; stories that are familiar to the children. We will practice retelling these stories as well as creating our own to share with the class.

The children will explore mark-making in a variety of ways. They will learn to hold a pencil correctly and develop their pencil grip. The class will be expected to write their names and begin to form sounds, letters and simple words.

Read Write Inc.:

Throughout the term, your child will take part in RWI. phonics sessions. These take place each day for 30 minutes and will focus on specific sets of sounds each week (please see the weekly recap for updates on the sounds learnt). There will be a large focus on blending sounds together to make a simple word (e.g. c-a-t = cat).

Mathematics:

The children will mainly focus on numbers 1-5 within the first term, but will delve into the representation of these numbers and gain a deeper understanding.

We will cover the following: recognising numbers of personal significance; recognising numerals 1 to 5; counting up to three or four objects by saying one name for each item; counting objects and items that cannot be moved; selecting the correct numeral for 1 to 5 objects and counting irregular arrangements of 5 objects.

Understanding the World:

The children will compare what they are like now with when they were a baby; discussing and exploring the human life cycle. They will also begin to learn about our 5 senses and what they are used for. The class will look at changes that take place in Autumn, as well as the importance of Harvest time, Bonfire Night and Diwali.

Expressive Arts and Design:

The children will use a variety of materials and media to create traditional tale puppets, magic bean crafts, and their own self-portraits. They will sing songs, join in with dancing games and be imaginative in the role-play areas.

PE:

The children will have two P.E. sessions. Outdoor PE will be taught on a Tuesday. Indoor PE (Soccer Lions) will be taught on a Friday. In the Autumn term, children will be working to improve their movement, catching and throwing, and dance skills.

On these days, the children will need to come to school dressed in their P.E. uniform: navy shorts and light blue t-shirt; navy tracksuit and light blue t-shirt. No logos or football kits. Trainers should be plain black or plain white. All long hair should be tied back and earrings should be removed.

Homework:

Weekly recaps will be sent out every Friday on class dojo. These weekly recaps will focus on ‘WOW’ words that we have looked at in class, weekly phonics sounds, high frequency words and 2 cheeky challenges based around literacy and maths objectives. In addition, we will send home school books to share with your child.

Useful Information: