WELCOME TO ACORNS

 

Class teachers - Mrs R Corcoran (Monday - Wednesday) and Miss L Daniels (Thursday and Friday)

Mr Parrish teaches PE on Tuesday and Thursday mornings

Learning Support Assistants - Mrs G Oakes, Mrs J Metcalf and Mrs Turner

 

 

As Acorns class begin their learning journey at Whitegate, the children learn daily class routines and as they grow they become more involved in daily school life such as whole school worship and joining Key Stage 1 on the playground. The children learn to be independent through making positive relationships whilst having the wisdom to make good choices, as well as learning in different ways. Through challenges, playful opportunities and embarking on wider experiences, every child has the opportunity to shine through their own God-given uniqueness.

 

Currently we are exploring the question ‘I wonder where it lives?’ through which we will explore minibeasts and their habitats and life-cycles.  

 

We recognise the importance of following children’s interests in early years, therefore throughout the year, the children’s changing interests will be explored and developed further.

 

The curriculum in the Foundation Stage is taught through the Early Learning Goals. Our EYFS area is a carefully planned and well-resourced environment that caters for the various needs of a young child. We offer a broad range of experiences for the early years, both indoors and outdoors. Our Early Years team plan a range of purposeful activities which inspire and engage children as well as match the different levels of need.

 

There are seven areas of learning that shape our educational programmes.

 

 The 3 prime areas are:

 

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, social and emotional development

 

Children are also supported within the 4 specific areas of:

​

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

 

Reading is at the heart of successful learning and a priority across the whole curriculum. Introducing Acorns to the joy of reading is essential in encouraging an early engagement with books, as well as confidence in both reading and writing.  Throughout the year we will immerse ourselves in high quality texts which will help to drive our learning.  Indeed, sharing books, stories and rhymes is a daily part of life in Acorns. We love getting lost in our story books and learning more about the world around us through non-fiction books. 

Each half term we have a spotlight author who has been chosen for their high-quality texts. We will have the opportunity to listen to, read and learn more about these fantastic authors.

Currently our spotlight author is Eric Carle.

Please ensure your child reads at home at least 4 times per week. In Acorns we expect the children to be reading aloud to someone at home and for this to be recorded in their Home – School contact books.  

 

Phonics:   

Phonics is taught daily using our accredited Ready Steady Phonics scheme. We will learn to recognise the letters and know the sound they make, we will listen for these sounds in words and we will practise forming them correctly.

Please use the following link to see how to pronounce the pure sounds:

Phase 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxLHjtNUxro

Phase 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuDgZwQoZVA

 

Literacy:

We will continue to develop a love of stories and listen attentively to story time. We will talk about the main events in the story and predict what might happen next. We will also have a go at retelling a story using role play or small world resources, using some story language. We will embed writing sentences using the taught graphemes and using common exception words.

 

Maths:

We will begin exploring odd and even numbers and begin to recognise some of the number bonds to 10. We will count beyond 20, noticing the pattern in tens and explore symmetry and reflection and link this to doubling numbers.

 

Personal, Social & Emotional Development:

We will explore the Christian Value of wisdom and explore spirituality. We will learn about different factors that support our overall health and wellbeing.

 

Understanding the World:

We will be learning about mini-beasts and the habitats in which they live. We will explore the life-cycle of a butterfly. We will also develop a sense of chronology, looking back at our time in Acorns.  

 

Physical development: 

We will continue to develop body strength, coordination, balance and agility through a range of games and activities including maypole dancing.

 

Expressive arts and design:

We will explore observational drawing of plants. 

 

RE

We will start the children on their journey towards understanding what prayer is and the different ways people of faith talk to God.

 

Routines and Reminders

 

PE

PE is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please ensure that your child has their PE kit in school. A polite reminder that earrings will need to be removed or not worn on PE days to ensure the safety of the children. Please can PE kits also comply with uniform policy. Thank you.

 

Coats

Reception are given the opportunity to learn outdoors every day, whatever the weather, so please ensure that your child has a waterproof coat, preferably with a hood in school every day. 

 

Fruit and Water/Milk

Please do not send water bottles into school. Reception children have fruit, milk and water provided. The children will have access to water throughout the day.

 

Social Media

We tweet throughout the week so do follow us, on Twitter, to get an insight into all the fantastic things we get up to and lots of up-to-date information. Follow @AcornsWhitegate.

 

 

Our door is always open, please come and see us with any concerns, no matter how small you feel they may be.

 

Mrs Corcoran and Miss Daniels