Numeracy
Numeracy is led by hands on experiences to build our counting skills. Cooking is one of the ways that we incorporate this. Finding that we had some ripe bananas left in our fruit basket, we decided to make muffins. Each group mashed three bananas, beat three eggs and made three muffins each. 
We then watched ‘Numberblocks’ and had a go at making a column with three cubes before having a go at representing three by colouring in three squares and writing the numeral.
 

The ‘three-ness’ of three was truly realised!

                                                        Week 4

The fourth week of this term is going well. We have been learning to work together and collaborate and to take turns. The benefits of doing this can be seen in the friendships being formed and in the increasing well-being and confidence. We are also concentrating on supporting each child’s self-regulation, such as tolerating not getting what they want straight away and adapting to new situations.

We have continued our phonics work to tune into sounds by singing words that sound the same and by using a combination of picture cards and objects. Encouraging a ‘Have a go’ attitude and not worrying about making mistakes is certainly producing some amazing outcomes already!

The focus for our number work has been on the twoness of two. We have supported this work by singing rhymes such as ‘Jack and Jill’, and ‘Two Little Dickie Birds’ and by lining up to go out on the bikes to the song ‘The Animals Went in Two by Two’. We consolidated all of this by colouring in two squares.

                                                              Week 3

The inclement weather this week has not dampened the children’s enthusiasm. It has been an opportunity to learn about the changes in the weather and they have been encouraged to look up at the sky and study the condition of the clouds to predict rain. Wednesday's windy conditions took us outside to fly our kites.

This week, the main learning opportunity has been;

Literacy

To support phonemic awareness, we have been focusing on listening and attention by tuning into sounds and playing sound games.

We have also been listening to the book, ‘The Little Red Hen’ and following the sequence of the story.

Maths

We have been working on the number 2 as a concept of one and another one. This has been supported by a range of exploratory activities, songs and rhymes.

Art & DT

We made a model of the Little Red Hen with shuttlecocks. We also painted a still life of chickens, helped by looking at the chicken Mrs Hunt had brought in for the children to observe.

Science

We have been looking at the differences between a hen and a rooster.

PE

We practiced moving around and suddenly stopping.

Music

We continue to listen to The Carnival of The Animals, keeping rhythm to the music.

Above all, the children have been impressing us this week with their following of rules, especially when sitting for our morning prayer; sitting at snack time; listening attentively at story time, and being generally delightful!

                                                         Week 1 & 2

With just two weeks in and already we have started to get know one another and to form friendships. Despite last week’s hot weather, the children managed extremely well to keep going and coped with the transition, partly helped by enjoying the ice-lollies we made to find out the changes from liquids to solids!

The new kitchen area was completed over the summer holidays. This has been a great addition to our environment and has enabled us to fully embrace the curriculum. So far, we have made breadsticks, porridge, popcorn, and a tasty friendship cake for snack time. We used a square tin with four sides, four corners, and four ingredients. We talked about the number 4 in terms of ‘Four is how old I am’ or ‘I am going to be four on my next birthday’.

We enjoyed exploring the differences between a hen and a rooster and painted pictures of them for the school’s display for Saint-Saen’s ‘The Carnival of The Animals’. Assisted by Mrs Carlton, our music teacher, we listened to the music and observed the short notes representing the hens and the long notes representing the roosters. It was also an opportunity to look at the painting The Red Rooster by Mark Chagall.

The books supporting our theme Down on the Farm this term include; ‘The Little Red Hen’, ‘Rosie’s Walk’, ‘Rooster goes off to see the World’ , Chicken Licken and ‘A Squash and a Squeeze’ plus some poems and rhymes.

We have had a great first couple of weeks. Well done to all the children for showing resilience and a good level of self- regulation in this early stage of school life!