We’ve had a fantastic start to the term in EYFS, and it’s been lovely to welcome all our new children and families to the setting. Over the past few weeks, the children have been settling in beautifully. They’re beginning to form strong bonds with staff and are becoming more familiar with the routines and environment each day. It’s been wonderful to see their confidence grow as they explore, play, and start building friendships. We’ve focused on creating a calm, nurturing atmosphere to help each child feel safe and secure, and we’re really proud of how well they’ve adapted.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring the topic “All About Me” in EYFS. The children have been learning about who is in their family and who lives in their house. We've also been talking about ourselves—what we enjoy doing, the activities we like to take part in, and the food we like (and even the things we’re not so keen on!). It’s been a lovely way for the children to share a bit about themselves with their new classmates, helping them build friendships and develop confidence in expressing their likes and dislikes. We’ve really enjoyed getting to know each other better.
Our new LMTW topic this term is ‘If You Go Down to the Woods’, and the children have loved exploring all things woodland! We’ve been learning about the natural changes that happen during Autumn, including how the leaves on trees change colour and begin to fall. The children have discovered the difference between deciduous trees, which lose their leaves, and evergreen trees, which keep theirs all year round. Alongside our nature work, we’ve enjoyed learning about bears and picnics, linking beautifully to woodland animals and outdoor adventures. It’s been a fun and engaging start to our topic, with lots more exciting learning to com
In Phonics, the children have made a fantastic start to learning their letter sounds. So far, we have covered the sounds: s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck, e, u, r, h, and b. The children have been practising recognising these sounds, saying them clearly, and spotting them in words. We’ve also been learning to blend simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, such as sat, dog, and pin—putting the sounds together to read the word. At the same time, we’ve been segmenting words too—breaking them down into individual sounds (e.g. “hat” becomes h-a-t). It’s been wonderful to see the children’s confidence grow as they begin to read and sound out words independently!
In Maths, the children have been busy developing their early mathematical skills through lots of hands-on, practical activities. We’ve been learning to compare different things using a range of new vocabulary. So far, we’ve explored:
- Comparing size using words like big, little, large, and small
- Comparing amounts using more and fewer
- Comparing height with terms such as taller than, shorter than, tallest and smallest
- Comparing length using longer than, shorter than, longest and shortest
- Comparing both shape and size in everyday objects
We’ve also had lots of fun making repeated patterns using two objects, different colours and shapes, and even with objects of varying sizes—long and short, large and small, and narrow and wide.In addition, the children have been exploring numbers 1, 2, and 3. They’ve been finding different ways to represent each number and sorting objects to show quantities of 1, 2, or 3. It’s been a great start to building number sense and mathematical language.
In Literacy, we’ve started our new class book ‘Ruby’s Worry’—a lovely story that helps us explore and talk about our feelings. The children have really enjoyed getting to know Ruby and discussing how she feels throughout the story, as well as thinking about times they may have felt the same.
We’ve also been practising our early writing skills by listening carefully to the sounds we can hear in words and beginning to write them down—for example, hearing and writing the ‘s’ in ‘sad’.
As we read, we’ve been spotting different action words and noticing words from the story, helping us to build our vocabulary and understanding of how words can describe what’s happening and how characters feel. It’s been a great start to our Literacy learning this term.
The children have had a fantastic start to their learning journey in Reception. They’ve settled in beautifully, embraced new routines, and shown great enthusiasm for all the topics we’ve explored so far. We’re so proud of how much they’ve already achieved and are excited to see them continue to grow, learn, and enjoy the exciting new topics and experiences ahead.
A huge thank you to FOTS for donating money to enable us to enhance our reading area and reflection area. Take a look at the photos below for how it's looking.
