As explorers, the children have been busy learning through play in lots of exciting ways! In our small world, they enjoyed using the farm set and animals, creating their own stories and exploring animal sounds and movements. Over in construction, the children have been designing and building with Lego — showing fantastic creativity and teamwork. In the water tray, there has been lots of imaginative play as the children poured cups of tea using teapots and teacups, linking beautifully to our rhyme of the week, I’m a Little Teapot.

As artists, the children have been inspired by the story Leaf Man to create their own autumn collages using colourful leaves. They also practised their drawing skills by sketching pumpkins and used their fine motor skills to carefully hammer golf tees into real pumpkins — great fun and brilliant for developing hand–eye coordination!

As explorers of language, the children listened to Songs from Nick Cope's Popcast and have enjoyed singing along! The children also learnt a poem called 'Cup of Tea' and some of the children demonstrated confidence and took turns to stand up and recite the poem to their group. It is amazing to hear the wide range of vocabulary they are beginning to use. 

As readers, the children have continued to learn new sounds in phonics — e, l, and h — and have been reviewing the sounds we already know through lots of engaging games and activities. All Reception children have phonics homework, please encourage your child to read the words at home using their 'Fred Talk' and blending skills. 

As mathematicians, we have been using our maths skills during morning self-registration to notice who is here and who is not. Some of the children can now identify when their five frame is full or spot how many spaces are still empty — fantastic early number awareness!

Our pre-school children have been enjoying number rhymes and listening to number stories to help them develop a sense of counting and quantity. Meanwhile, the Reception children have been practising counting forwards and backwards to ten, subitising amounts to five, showing numbers on their fingers, and thinking about which groups have more or fewer.

During Circle Times, we have been revisiting our Golden Rules — We listen, we don’t interrupt and We are gentle, we don’t hurt others. We have been helping the children understand that pushing, hitting, kicking, or biting can hurt others, and that we all have a responsibility to look after one another so everyone can feel happy and safe at school. We are also helping the children understand the importance of listening carefully to adults and following instructions, as this helps to keep everyone safe and cared for in school.

Some children still need a pair of wellies to wear for outdoor play in our garden and our forest school sessions. Please make sure they are named. 

We have a HUGE pile of lost property! This will be placed on the playground at the end of the school day today and next week. Please do look through and claim any items belonging to you. Any unclaimed items will be recycled at the end of the term.

 Next Week (w/b 20th October)

Next week we will be learning about Special People in RE — thinking about what makes someone special to us and how we can show kindness and care to others.

As explorers, we’ll also be learning about Diwali, the Festival of Light, discovering how people celebrate with light, colour, and special traditions. The children will have the chance to create colourful Rangoli patterns, explore light through play, and listen to the story of Rama and Sita. We will be noticing signs of Autumn and going on a leaf hunt! 

It will be a wonderful way to finish our first half-term together — please remember that the term ends on Wednesday.

Coming up: 

The Barrier Reef Christmas Nativity Show, 10th December 10-11 am at St Mary and St John Church, Cowley Road-  families and friends are all invited to watch the performance. 

Coral Reef Reception Children, Pegasus Theatre Visit Thursday 18th December 9.45 am

We wish all our families a happy and restful weekend.