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EYFS

Summer Term 1 - Adventure & Explore!

A warm welcome back to school for an exciting 1st half of our Summer Term for our EYFS children in Acorns and Conkers. We are ready and raring to immerse ourselves in our learning this term. Our new school theme is 'Adventure & Explore!' which is driven through our Understanding the World curriculum.

This theme is driven by our People, Places and Communities aspect of the Understanding the World curriculum. We will be ensuring the children can all recall their address and that they know they live in the UK. They will find where the UK is on a simple map and using a globe. The children will also identify the sea and land on a map. They shall then compare the UK to Africa and Asia. The children will be learning to draw their own maps of their home and their journey to school.

Our class texts we shall be enjoying this half term are Martha Maps it out, Handa’s Surprise and Nimesh the Adventurer.

In our Art & Design lessons we will be developing painting skills to create our own works of art in the style of Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian artist.

As computer whiz kids, we will develop our programming skills. Using the Bee-Bots, a small programmable robot, they will be entering and describing the directions the Bee-Bots need to make using left/ right, forwards/ backwards.

As scientists, we will continue to observe the natural world. Hopefully, our tadpoles will change into frogs in the coming few weeks but we will be observing them closely looking for their back and front legs growing. We will also be growing some more vegetables and flowers in outdoor classroom.

This half-term, our ‘50 Things to do before leaving Thorpe’ is 'Plant it, Grow it, Eat it'. Before the Easter break we planted our potato seeds and hopefully over the next few weeks we will start to see them grow leaves and be ready to harvest towards June.

We have so many wonderful learning experiences planned so please remember to look out for photographs on our ‘EYFS’ page where we will share our learning with you and please read our curriculum newsletter letter below for more information about our exciting learning!

As you can see, we will be incredibly busy in school!

Spring 2- Planet Earth

A warm welcome back to school for a busy 2^nd half of our Spring Term for our Early Years children in Acorns and Conkers. We are excited to immerse ourselves in our learning this term. Our new school theme is ‘Planet Earth' which is driven through our Understanding the World curriculum as we learn about Spring and growing.

As part of our Natural World curriculum we will be talking about what happens in Spring and identifying signs of Spring around the school grounds. We will then be preparing our outdoor area for planting and growing of seeds. We will talk about the different parts of a plant and what plant need to grow. The children will then observe the plants growing and talk about the changes they see happening.

The children will be finding out what happens to animals as they grow. We will look at what some animals look like when they are born and how they change as they grow. We will also talk about the vocabulary for the different baby animals.

Our spotlight author this term is Julia Donaldson. We have lots of books by her in our reading area this half term. The children will enjoy listening to the entertaining stories such as Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Snail and the Whale.

As young artists, we will study the artwork of Lisa Larson. We will explore sculpture. The children will learn how to create artwork using clay to create sculptures. They will use different tools to add detail to their creations.

Remember to look out for photographs on our ‘EYFS Class Page’ where we will share our learning with you and please read our curriculum newsletter letter below for more information about our exciting learning!

This half-term, our ‘50 Things to do before leaving Thorpe’ is to dress up in character. We shall be looking forward to World Book Day on the 7^th March.

Spring 1- Healthy Body, Healthy Mind!

A warm welcome back to school for an exciting new year and Spring Term for our Early Years children in Acorns and Conkers. We are excited to immerse ourselves in our learning this term. Our new school theme is 'Healthy Body! Healthy Mind!' which is driven through our Personal, Social and Emotional curriculum as we learn about how to keep healthy through food and exercise.

As part of our Past and Present learning the children will be talking about how they have changed since being a baby and what they could do when they were a baby compared to now. They will also look at how we change as we grow up. Also, the children will look at how homes have changed over the past starting our learning with Alan Ahlberg’s book ‘Peepo’ as we look in different rooms in the house. We will then focus on what wash day would have been like in the past. The children will experience using a scrubbing board and poser to clean clothes. Then practise wringing them out and hanging them on the line to dry.

The children will be finding out what happens to their body when they exercise and why this is important. We will explore why we need to have a good rest at night time and how to relax before going to sleep. We will also be talking about healthy food and why it is important to brush our teeth and to drink water.

Our spotlight author this term is Alan Ahlberg. We have lots of books by him in our reading area this half term. The children will enjoy listening to the entertaining stories such as Peepo, Funnybones as well as some from the Happy Families series such as Mrs Lather’s Laundry.

As young artists, we will study the artwork of Henri Matisse. We will explore printing. The children will learn how to create artwork using printing blocks. They will also experience weaving using wool and paper.

As you can see, we will be incredibly busy and are looking forward to inviting you in to share our phonic lesson!

Spring 2- Celebrating World Book Day

Spring 1 Past and Present- Wash Day in the past

Curriculum Newsletters- Cycle B 2023-2024

Autumn Term 2 - Boom, Bang & Bash!

A warm welcome back to school for an exciting 2nd half of our Autumn Term for our Early Years children in Acorns and Conkers. We are ready and raring to immerse ourselves in our learning this term. Our new school theme is 'Boom, Bang & Bash!' which is driven through our Understanding the World area of the curriculum as we learn about different celebrations.

As part of our Past and Present learning the children will be talking about how they celebrated Bonfire Night at home. This will lead us into finding out why we have Bonfire Night every year and all about Guy Fawkes. The children will be enjoying the book ‘Remember, Remember the 5^th of November’ by Deborah Webb as well as listening and learning rhymes about fire.

The children will then learn about the festival of Diwali- the Hindu festival of light. The children will enjoy the text Dipal’s Diwali as they discover how people celebrate this festival, and about their special place to worship. The children will also find out about the story of Rama and Sita.

The last celebration we learn about in school this term is advent and Christmas. The children will talk about what they are doing at home in preparation for Christmas and how they celebrate the festival at home. We will make some comparisons with Diwali. The children will then learn about the Christmas story and prepare to show their parents their Christmas production.

Our '50 Things to do before leaving Thorpe' for this half term is to meet members of the Emergency Service. Watch this space to see who comes to visit us at school!

Our spotlight author this term is Jez Alborough. We have lots of books by him in our reading area this half term. The children will enjoy listening to the entertaining stories told through rhyme as they follow the adventures of Duck as well as Eddy with his teddy.

As young artists, we will study the artwork of Andy Goldsworthy. We will explore sculpture and collage. The children will learn how to create artwork using natural materials outside using the text Leaf Man by Lois Ehlart as inspiration.

As you can see, we will be incredibly busy and look forward to performing our Christmas production!

Autumn 2- Andy Goldsworthy inspired art

Autumn 2- Diwali Rangoli Patterns

Autumn 2- Fire Engine Visit

Autumn 1- Divide and Conquer!

A warm welcome to everyone who is starting school with us this year. We have loved welcoming all the new children and families into reception after the summer break. The children look eager to start school and their learning.

The whole school theme for this half term is ‘Divide & Conquer!’ In Early Years we will be enjoying traditional tales and seeing if good always conquers. We can not wait to enjoy listening to the different stories and in particular the Gingerbread man, Goldilocks and Three Bears and Cinderella. We will also be learning to tell the stories ourselves through puppets, role playa and pictures.

Our spotlight author this term is Jill Murphy. We have lots of books by her in our reading area this half term. The children will enjoy listening to the adventures of the Large family as well as Mr and Mrs Bear.

Our Rocket Phonics lesson will begin as soon as the children start school. They will be learning the first set of sounds from the scheme as well as the first six common exception words. The children will enjoy the stories of Nip and Nap as they discover new places and introduce each new sound to the children.

As young artists, we will study the artwork of Piet Mondrian. We will explore colour and how to use the painting area in the classroom. The children will learn the three primary colours as well as how to use their paintbrush to create thick and thin lines as well as shapes. The children will create their own artwork in the style of Mondrian.

As part of our learning in Understanding the World, we will introduce ourselves to our new friends and share who is in our family. We will talk about belonging to our school community and we will find out about the different adults in school and the jobs they do to help. We will also talk about belonging to our local community as we talk about our village and what there is in the village

We have lots of fun activities and experiences to look forward to - remember to look out for photographs on our ‘EYFS Class Page’ where we will share our learning with you and please read our curriculum newsletter letter below for more information about our exciting learning!

Our '50 Things to do before leaving Thorpe' for this half term is to meet members of the Emergency Service. Watch this space to see who comes to visit us at school!

We cannot wait to immerse ourselves this half term and learn lots of new and exciting things! So…let’s ‘Divide & Conquer!’