Welcome to Willow & Oak Classes

Willow Class Mrs Helen Szczepanski Mrs Nay Stuart Mrs Elaine White Oak Class Mrs Melissa Wells (M,T,W) Mrs Naomi Bruce (Th, F) Mrs Becky Sewell

Morning Routine When the children arrive each morning please encourage them to: Hang their coat up by themselves Put their book bags away Water bottle in trays Self register Choose a learning activity We have our ‘Going Home’ book by the door for you to write down if your child has permission to go home with someone else. Please be patient with us whilst we get familiar with all of the faces.

Curriculum The children will be working from the EYFS curriculum and activities will be differentiated according to their stage of development Expectations will be different for each child as they are continually assessed and their next steps are identified.

Reading We use a national scheme called ‘Book Bands’ which includes books from a number of reading schemes. The first colours are lilac (including some wordless books) and then pink and so on At this early stage we will be changing their books with them until they feel confident to choose reading books for themselves What you can do at home... Please record ‘reading’ in diaries, even if it’s just your initials Our expectation is for you to share books with your child for 5 mins every day. This regular support at home has a major impact on progress so please support us by spending time learning with your child at home and don’t be afraid to ask if you have any questions.

Phonics Letters and sounds sessions take place daily. They involve singing the alphabet, learning letter sounds and names and reading key words (also known as high frequency words) At the end of the week we will let you know the sounds we have focused on so you can support your child at home. These will be stuck in their reading records. Our expectation is that you will help your child to practice these letters and sounds.

Key Words Your child has been given their first set of key words already, Kipper, Biff, Floppy, etc. These key words are the building blocks for reading and we encourage the children to recognise them by sight just like they recognise their name. Our expectation is for you to share key words at home. There are lots of different ways of learning key words and we move children up through each set as they show confidence in reading them by sight.

Writing Handwriting – please encourage use of lower case letters, except at the beginning of names Please make a space at home for them to access and use mark making materials, crayons, felt tips and pencils

Maths We count and sing number rhymes every day. We also learn all about shape, space and measures and using language to describe them. How you can help at home Count at every opportunity so your child can see the connection between numbers and quantities. Talk about the shape of everyday objects Look for numbers in the environment

P.E. Both classes have PE on Wednesday morning Please remove earrings at home Please ensure all clothes are named! We send PE kits home every half-term to be washed (or sooner if necessary)

Supporting your child at home Reading at home (5-10mins) daily including letters and sounds Writing practice Keywords Games like dominoes, snap, board games using dice, etc

Wow Moments! We’d like to know about your child’s learning at home as well so please tell us. We also like to share in their achievements out of school as well like learning to swim and gaining a cerificate.

And finally…. We love to have parents in to help! After October half term it would be great to have helpers. There are lots of activities that you can help with, so just let me know the day and time that you’d like to come in. Phonics workshop – Monday 21 st 2.30pm in the hall...and the most important thing to remember is to have fun learning with your child.