🌿 Willow Class Weekly Blog  🍂

What a wonderful week we have had in Willow Class! The children continue to settle beautifully into Reception, growing in confidence, developing their independence and showing such enthusiasm for their learning. We are incredibly proud of how hard they are trying and how well they are adapting to their new routines.

🧸 My Special Things

This week, we have been thinking about our special toys and pets as part of our All About Me books. The children enjoyed talking about their favourite things and sharing what makes them special. We explored how we can use pictures, marks, letters and words to communicate our ideas.

The children had opportunities to draw their special toy or pet, adding details to their pictures and beginning to write names or initial sounds. 

We continued our journey towards becoming little authors by thinking about our favourite foods. The children talked about, drew and began to write about foods they enjoy, listening carefully for the sounds in simple words. We are encouraging everyone to have a go, celebrate what they already know and feel proud of their own progress.

🐻 We're Going on a Bear Hunt!

We have also enjoyed reading the wonderful story We're Going on a Bear Hunt. The children loved joining in with the repeated phrases as we travelled through the long, wavy grass, the deep, cold river and the big, dark forest!

We linked this story to our maths learning by exploring prepositional language. The children practised describing where objects were and how they moved, using words such as over, under, through, behind and in front of. The story provided a fun and familiar way to develop our mathematical vocabulary and describe positions and movements.

🔤 Phonics: Our Reading Journey Continues!

We are delighted that the children have now begun learning their Level 2 phonics sounds. This week, we have been focusing on:

g, o, c, k

The children are beginning to build their knowledge of these sounds and use them to help them blend sounds together to read simple words. We are encouraging them to listen carefully, say each sound and then blend the sounds together to read the whole word.

Books will be allocated through Rhino Readers, giving the children opportunities to begin practising their blending and reading simple words. Please look out for your child's allocated books and support them with regular practice at home. Little and often is a wonderful way to build confidence and develop early reading skills.

We are so pleased with the children's enthusiasm as they take these exciting first steps towards becoming confident readers!

🪼 Wonderful Jellyfish Creations

Our creative learning has been full of colour and imagination this week! As part of our RE learning, the children made some wonderful jellyfish using paper doilies, tissue paper and wool.

Each child was encouraged to create their own jellyfish, making independent choices about the materials, colours and details they wanted to include. The finished creations were wonderfully individual, and we were delighted to see the children's imagination shine through.

This activity also gave the children valuable opportunities to develop and strengthen their fine motor skills, particularly their cutting skills. They worked hard to handle the materials carefully, use scissors with increasing control and bring their creative ideas to life.

🙏 RE: Thinking About God and Creation

In RE, we began exploring the question, Why is the word God so important to Christians? We discussed the Christian belief that God loves and cares for everyone, even though we cannot see God. We also explored the idea that Christians believe God created the world and everything in it, including people, animals, plants and the natural world around us.

Through stories, discussion and creative activities, the children had opportunities to think about the wonderful world we live in and the importance of caring for it.

🎵 Music and Movement

We continued to enjoy our music learning through Charanga's Me unit. The children explored music together, developing their listening skills and confidence as they participated in musical activities. It has been lovely to see them growing more comfortable expressing themselves and joining in as part of a group.

🛝 A Special Playtime on the Big Playground!

We have been so pleased with how well the children have settled into Willow Class that this week they enjoyed a special playtime on the big playground!

This was an exciting milestone as we begin to move towards the transition of using the big playground. The children had the opportunity to explore the larger space, enjoy playing together and continue developing their confidence and independence.

We are incredibly proud of how well they are managing their new routines and look forward to supporting them as they become increasingly familiar with this next step in their school journey.

✂️ Learning Through Play

Throughout the week, our continuous provision has offered lots of opportunities for the children to explore, create and learn independently. From drawing and mark-making to imaginative play, building and experimenting with different materials, the children have been encouraged to follow their interests, make choices and develop their ideas.

We have continued to focus on building fine motor strength, developing pencil control, recognising sounds and communicating our thoughts. Most importantly, we are encouraging the children to persevere when something feels tricky and to feel proud of what they can achieve.

💚 Well Done, Willow Class!

We have had another lovely week filled with creativity, stories, new discoveries and growing independence. The children continue to amaze us with their enthusiasm, curiosity and willingness to try their best.

Thank you for your continued support at home, particularly as we begin our exciting phonics and early reading journey.

We are so proud of our Willow children and all that they have achieved so far. We look forward to another wonderful week of learning together!

Have a lovely weekend! 🍂🌟