Welcome to St Michael's Early Years Setting!

Who are we?

The Early Years is made up of a Nursery class and a Reception class, where children are able to join us from the age of 3. We are in two different rooms called Woodpeckers and Robins.  Our teachers are called Mrs Whipp and Ms Pattenden. The learning support assistants in our unit are Mrs Robertson and Mrs Bell.

Timings of our day:

Nursery (Woodpeckers) – 8.40am-11.45am

Reception (Robins) – 8.40am-3.20pm

Our Favourite Activities in Early Years

Helicopter Stories:

Every week we take part in helicopter stories, this is where the children write their own stories. These are scribed by an adult before all the children help to bring their stories to life by acting them out:

“Helicopter stories is tried, tested and proven to have a significant impact on children’s literacy and communication skills, their confidence and social and emotional development.” Trisha Lee

Dough Disco:

Dough disco involves moulding play dough in time to music and performing different actions such as rolling it into a ball, flattening it, putting each individual finger into the dough, rolling it into a sausage and squeezing it.

This activity helps to strengthen children’s fine motor muscles to enable them to develop their pencil grip which in turn will help to develop their writing skills. But most of all it’s fun!

What do you need to do a dough disco?

• Music – any song will do! We have had Abba, Frozen, Musicals and TV themes to name a few of our favourites.
• Dough – You can buy pots of dough or make your own with your child. See the recipe below.
• A set of moves – These can be done in any order and you don’t need to include them all.

What are the dough disco moves?

• squeeze it
• roll it into a ball
• roll it into a sausage
• poke it
• flatten it
• pinch it
• See the image below for more examples!

Here’s a simple recipe for you to make play dough at home:

• 1 cup of plain flour
• Half a cup of salt
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1 cup of water
• Food colouring (if wanted)

Instructions:

Mix all of the ingredients together in a saucepan. Stir the mixture over a low heat until it comes away from the sides of the pan.

Tip the dough out and leave it to cool slightly.

Store the play dough in an air-tight container or plastic bag and let your child use it every day (it should keep for about a week).

Watch the video below which shows how to do dough disco:

Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle:

Squiggle whilst you Wiggle is a kinaesthetic approach to stimulate early writing. It encourages children to focus on making large scale movements to music. The children then mirror these movements using pens on paper. It is the first stage in handwriting practice delivered in a super fun, lively way and it has been shown to increase handwriting confidence and progress.

Phonics (Read Write Inc):

We use Read Write Inc to teach the children how to read in St Michael’s. Here is a link to a parents guide explaining how phonics is taught. https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/ 

The children in Robins are making great progress with learning their letter sounds. This video shows you how to say all the letter sounds that we teach the children at St Michael’s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkXcabDUg7Q&list=PLDe74j1F52zSCiOMSn3zQDSzgu9TrbQ1c 

Mathematics:

We enjoy exploring numbers and numerical patterns through play.  The children enjoy counting activities every day and are learning how to subitise numbers.

What is subitising?

Subitising is the ability to instantaneously recognise the number of objects in a small group without the need to count them.  An example often used to explain this, is to think of a die – we immediately recognise the number of dots without having to count each one individually. 

Talk for Reading and Talk for Writing:

The children arew always encouraged and supported to write about a variety of topics and are encourage to come up with their own adventures each day.

Each half-term a story is selected as a part of our Talk for Writing learning for the children to investigate in depth over a period of weeks. We explore the book in detail and engage the children in a variety of activities such as role play, vocabulary building, making predictions and questioning. 

Important Information:

Nursery (Woodpeckers):

• P.E Day - Our P.E day is Thursday For PE, we wear red shorts or jogging bottoms in cold weather, house colour t-shirt, plimsolls/trainers.  The children are to come to school in their PE kits but please make sure that any jewellery, including earrings, is left at home.
• Outdoor learning – We go out in all weathers so please make sure your child has a pair of wellington boots left in school with their name on and bring a coat every day which is appropriate for the time of year.
• Library – Every Monday we visit our school library and the children will choose a book to bring home to share with you. 

• Uniform – Please put your child’s name in everything you bring to school. This makes it easier to trace mislaid items.

Reception (Robins):

• P.E Day - Our P.E day is Monday For PE, we wear red shorts or jogging bottoms in cold weather, house colour t-shirt, plimsolls/trainers.  The children are to come to school in their PE kits but please make sure that any jewellery, including earrings, is left at home.
• Outdoor learning – We go out in all weathers so please make sure your child has a pair of wellington boots left in school with their name on and bring a coat every day which is appropriate for the time of year.
• Library – Every Tuesday we visit our school library and the children will choose a book to bring home to share with you. 
• Uniform – Please put your child’s name in everything you bring to school. This makes it easier to trace mislaid items.

Robins Class

Spring Term Learning

Personal Social and Emotional Development 

During this term we have been learning about a variety of different feelings and how we manage those different feelings.  We have been learning to identify how other people are feeling.  We have learnt about the importance of a balanced diet and ways we can have a healthy lifestyle.

Communication and Language

As a class we have continued to use our Talk Guidelines and are learning to use the Talk Tactics (Instigator, Builder and Challenge) to help us with our conversations.  We have had lots of discussions on a variety of different topics.  Here are some of the questions and talking points we have had this term:

•  What do you love most about winter?
•  How do you look after your teeth?
• Would you rather be the oldest or the youngest?
• Would you rather eat fruit or vegetables?
• Which Chinese animal would you like to be if you could choose one? Why?
• Would you rather play inside or outside
•  Is it better to have real eggs or chocolate eggs at Easter?

Physical Development 

We have learnt more moves in our Squiggle sessions – lazy 8, straight line steps, robot.  We are using our Squiggle moves to help us form our letters correctly. During our hall time we have been learning to explore and manage our bodies. The children have learnt to stretch, reach and extend in a variety of ways and positions.  In the second half of the Spring term in our hall sessions we have learnt how to work with a partner and share ideas. We learnt how to collect, distinguish and differentiate colours and create shapes as a team.

Literacy 

We have read lots of books this term and enjoy our visits to the library. In Talk 4 Reading we have read these books:

• The Tale of Jack Frost
• The Emperor’s Egg
• Cake-O-Saurus
•  One Springy Day
•  Where Am I?

In our Talk 4 Writing sessions we have learnt to retell and invent our own stories based on the stories The Sleepy Bumble Bee and Baby Mouse.

Mathematics 

We have been learning how to represent numbers to 10 in different ways. The children have been building on their number skills by recognising the patterns within numbers.  They have been exploring number bonds to 10 using real objects in different contexts. We have learnt about a variety of different 3D shapes such as spheres, cylinders, cubes, cuboids, cones and pyramids.

Understanding the World 

At Abberton Reservoir we went on a walk to look for signs of Spring.  We learnt about how animals use camouflage in our local environment and went on a minibeast hunt. In our wild wood sessions this term we listened to Not A Stick and explored different ways we could use sticks. 

During the Spring Term we learnt about the following celebrations:

• Chinese New Year
• Valentine’s Day
• Holi
• Shrove Tuesday
•  Mothering Sunday     
• Eid al-Fitr
•  Easter

Expressive Arts and Design

In our music sessions the children came up with simple actions to well-known songs, learnt how to move to a beat and express feelings and emotions through movement to music. During the second half of the Spring term we listened to traditional childrens' tales and songs. The children learnt how to move to music with instruction, changing movements to match the tempo, pitch or dynamic of the piece; understanding that music and instruments can be used to convey moods or represent characters.  We have looked at the work of James Brunt and Andy Goldsworthy and learnt how to use loose parts to create models and pictures.

Autumn Term Learning 

Personal Social and Emotional Development

During this term we have been building positive and respectful relationships and learning how to express our feelings.  We have been learning how to look after ourselves to support our health and well being.  We have also been learning how to keep our bodies healthy and how to keep our teeth clean.

Communication and Language

As a class we have created and have been learning how to use our Talk Guidelines:

·      We look and listen.

·       We take turns when speaking.

·       We speak with a just right volume.

During the second half of the Autumn term we have been learning how to use talk tokens to help us take turns to talk and ensure that everyone is heard.

Physical Development

We have learnt lots of moves in our Squiggle sessions – straight lines, wiggles, circles and arches.  During our hall time we have been learning to move the gymnastics equipment safely and use it to move in different ways and jump safely.

In the second half of the Autum term we learnt how to use colour and feelings in dance and respond using our emotions and actions. We explored animal movements through dance using different levels and directions.

Literacy

We have read lots of books this term and enjoy our visits to the library. In Talk 4 Reading we have read these books:

• Goodnight Moon
•  On the Way Home
• The Kiss that Missed
•  Christopher Pumpkin
• The Best Diwali Ever
• Owl Babies
• The Gruffalo
• T’was the Night Before Christmas

In our Talk 4 Writing sessions we have learnt to retell these traditional stories:

• The Magic Porridge Pot
• The Elves and the Shoemaker
• Chicken Licken
•  The Three Little Pigs
• Little Red Riding Hood
• The Gingerbread Man

Mathematics

We have been learning to match and sort objects in different ways.  We have been copying patterns, repeating patterns and creating our own patterns. We have been learning to subitise numbers to 5 and exploring how to find one more/less using objects.  We have learnt about a variety of different 2D shapes such as circles, triangles, squares and rectangles.

Understanding the World

We have talked about our families and who lives in our homes. During our Wild Wood sessions we have been exploring our outdoor classroom area and found out what trees we have in the area.  The children have learnt how to use leaf IDs and magnifying glasses to look closely at the leaves.  We went on an Autumn walk in the local area to look at the features of this season and go on a litter pick to help clean our local community.

During the Autumn Term we learnt about the following celebrations:

• Harvest
• Bonfire Night
• Remembrance Day
• Diwali
• Hanukkah
• Christmas

Expressive Arts and Design

In our music sessions we have been exploring how they can use their voice and bodies to make sounds, experiment with tempo and dynamic when playing instruments, identify sounds in the environment and differentiate between them.  During the second half of the Autumn term we have been learning about music from different cultures and to respond to music through movement, their voices and instruments.  We have been learning to use different media to create pictures such as pencils, crayons, chalk and paint. We have learnt about a variety of different techniques to use such as painting with our bodies and paintbrushes and how to print using paint.

                                                       Woodpeckers Class

                                                     Autumn Term Learning

Communication and Language 

We have been trying to use our good listening ears, good looking eyes and good stinting skills as per our Talk Guidelines. We are earning to take turns when speaking to someone else.

Personal, Social and Emtional development

The first half term is all about separating from our main career with support, and learning the rules and routine of the setting.

Physical Development

We are developing our    gross and fine motor skills through drawing, painting and other activities.We are learning to run and moving safely around the rooom.

Literacy

We share books and stories everyday.  In Talk for Writing we have learnt and mapped the following rhymes, Little Miss Muffet, Humpty Dumpter and I had a little nut tree.   

Numeracy

We have practised subitising to 3, exploring the sequence of numbers through songs. 

Understanding the World

We talked about our families and people that are important to us. We explore the outdoor world in our Forest Fun Friday sessions.

Expressive Art and Design

We have used a variety of media to create pictures of us and our families. We have used instruments whilst singing our favourite nursery rhymes.