Pre-School 2024 - 2025

Welcome to Pre-School Summer Term 1 2025 

Date for your diary: Thursday 22nd of May is Pre-School's Sports afternoon...please return your attendance slip as soon as possible, thank you :)

We will be starting our first Summer Term topic 'Minibeasts and the natural world' please enjoy looking at the topic web in the file section below.

If you are able to offer half an hour in your afternoon to come and talk about a job or vocation, or to help in the Pre-School garden please speak to a member of the team... we would love to see you!

We have lots to look forward to this half-term including all our walks around the school grounds and our minibeast hunts taking place in the woods and preschool garden.

Routines, Reminders & Messages for Children starting Reception in September

• • Tapestry – If you have not yet sent any family photos or photos of special times for yourchild then we would love to share them in class. Please upload a photo of your child’s family as soon as you can, thanks so much! 
  • Book Bags – Please look out for your child's summer phonics folder which contains a new letter sound each week to practise saying and a new segmenting and a rhyming game that you can have fun with at home. 
  • Reading for Pleasure' books - Your child will choose a 'Reading for Pleasure' every week.  These are lovely books for you to share with your child at home and are wonderful as a bedtime story or snuggling up on the sofa to read together. These books are also changed on your child's specific Book-Bag Day and again we have a limited supply, so would appreciate your support in ensuring they are returned on time to be available to be chosen by another child. 
  • Phase 1 Phonics- We will be learning about how to segment and blend letter sounds to create CVC words such as sun, run, bun and fun. We will start with simple rhyming words that you can practise saying and recognising together at home. We will continue to work on a new letter each week and you will receive a small poster with instructions on how to model the pure sound and practise new words at home together.
  • Lunches - You may change lunch option at any time for your child so if you wish to switch to a school lunch provided by our kitchen, please do not hesitate to let us know, an order form and menu can be obtained online or from the school office.  
  • Passwords - We require a password for every child. If you have not provided a password on your registration form, then please inform myself or Miss Moss at drop-off or pick-up time so that we can update our records. Also, if there are any changes to normal collection routines, please let us know on the day or contact the school office. 

Our Learning Journey

Week Commencing: Monday 19th of May 2025

'This week we will learn all about ladybirds' 

Communication & Language:

This week we will enjoy the story 'What the Ladybird Heard' by Julia Donaldson and as we read through this story we will practise rhyming phrases and discuss who are the 'baddies' in the story and who arethe 'heroes'. What will happen to The fine Prize Cow and who will rescue her? We will parctise using the phrases from the story when we play togther.

   Personal, Social & Emotional Development:

This week we will be practising using rainbow colours breathing to regulate and calm when we care feeling frustrated. We will use the strategy of breathing in the colour of green to paint a rainbow and repeat 'I am calm'. We will talk about how to be a team and how working togther is making us all feel happy, maybe we could play with someone different and then achieve something new. 

Physical Development:

This week we will continue to practise our ball skills, throwing and catching, rolling and batting. We will have lots of fun on the field learning to race and skip and hop around.

We will also be starting new pencil challenges, choosing a dominant hand to practise making letter shapes to correspond to the letter sounds that we have been learning. This week we will trace the letter 't’. We will continue practising our cutting skills, so using our dominant hand, we will try to hold the scissors using the correct finger positioning, thumb at the top and cut along a straight line.

Literacy:

This week we will enjoy the very exciting story of 'What the Ladybird Heard' by Julia Donaldson. We will focus on the characters in the story and what their actions are. We will enjoy the rhyming parts together and make a song together with all teh sounds of the farm animals'.

We will be focussing on moving across the page of a book from left to right and begin to predict how the other minibeasts can save Superworm from the crow and Lizard. We will begin to notice some familiar graphemes in the words in this story, focussing on hearing and saying the letter sounds c, h and d as we spot them. 

Phonics:

This week we will have lots of fun exploring how to make the pure sound 'f'.'The Rabbit teeth sound' instructions: teeth on the bottom lip. Voices off in the throat area. Try placing your hands like a cup shape as if you're catching a ball. Pretend to throw and catch the ball as you make the b sound. Try placing your hand near your mouth as you make the 'b' sound, you should feel the air coming out.

We will continue with Metal Mike robot speaking challenges this week, we will practise segmenting our rhymimg CVC words: jet, vet, net and pet

  Mathematics:

This week we will explore 3D shapes. We will practise saying the names of common 3D shapes. We will  identify cubes, cuboids cylinders and spheres in the environment and begin to talk about some of their properties.

    Understanding the World:

This week we will explore the fields and forest around us to look for different minibeast habitats. We will find dark and damp places and look under stones and logs to find worms and watch what they do and learn about how they move and eat.

   Expressive Arts & Design:

This week we will enjoy learning about symmetry and how to create closed shapes in our painted butterfly pictures. We will role-play with insects and small world minibeast creatures, acting out the various stories story line and books with their puppets. We will create a new Minibeast cafe and serve funny drinks and snacks too!

Our door is always open, please contact us for help at any time.  At busy times, please telephone to leave a message or email and we will respond as soon as we can.