This term in Early Years, our overarching theme is ‘Come Outside!’ We began by learning about how to care for our environment and shared the story Somebody Swallowed Stanley to help us think about the impact of litter on wildlife. Throughout the term, we will be exploring the changing seasons through wonderful stories such as Seasons Come, Seasons Go, The Leaf Thief, and A Stroll Through the Seasons.
During our Jack and the Beanstalk week, the children will plant their own beans to take home. We would love to see how they grow—please feel free to send photos into school so we can celebrate your child’s beanstalk progress together! We will also be learning about sequencing and the days of the week through ‘Jasper’s Beanstalk’ and exploring healthy eating with Oliver’s Vegetables. We will end the term with lots of Easter-themed crafts and activities.
In phonics, we are currently consolidating all Phases 2 and 3 sounds before moving on to Phase 4 phonics. Please continue reading with your child at home whenever possible, as this greatly supports their developing reading fluency.
Over the coming weeks, the children will be building on their early maths skills through lots of fun, practical activities. They will:
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Continue practising counting beyond 20, helping them become more confident with larger numbers.
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Take part in games that help them compare groups of objects, noticing things like colour, size, or shape to support them in spotting similarities and differences.
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Explore the idea that a whole can be made up of smaller parts. For example, they might investigate how many ducks are on the pond and see how the total can be made in different ways.
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Keep developing their subitising skills (recognising small quantities without counting). They will begin to recognise the whole number when they see two parts that are the same size, and start to remember some simple doubles facts without needing objects or pictures to help them.
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Join in with sorting activities where they will learn to describe what they notice and, over time, create their own ways of sorting objects during play.
In our wider curriculum, we will be having lots of fun during our skills lessons, including simple Science experiments such as colour mixing and exploring what happens when warm water is poured over Skittles sweets. In Music, we will be using instruments to find the pulse, and in RE we will be looking for signs of Spring and talking about Easter. There will also be lots of exciting learning opportunities in Geography, History, and Art.
At the end of the term, we will share photos so you can see all the wonderful learning your child has enjoyed inside the classroom.