Welcome to the Swifts Class!
Staff
Teacher: Lisa Collins, Carol Whitehead (Friday)
TAs: Alison Mottershead, Zoe Gill and Janina Bateson
Newsletter
On The Move
What a brilliant start to the school year for the children in the Swifts Class! All the children have settled in lovely and are already building positive relationships with both adults and peers. We have been visiting some different learning areas around school such as the studio, shared play, the sensory gym, soft play, the library and the outdoor classroom.
The children all come into class in the morning and have ‘choosing time’ to help prepare them for learning. This involves a series of activities that they can access on their own or with their friends e.g colouring or the wooden train set. Morning readers are completed during this time.
Morning register consists of three songs focusing on saying good morning, days of the week and the weather. Each day our ‘helper of the day’ counts with an adult how many children are in the class, selects the appropriate weather symbol and shows their friends what day it is. We then look at our visual timetable to see what is happening up to lunchtime.
All the children are already familiar with the routines in class – the adults are very proud!
In Early English we have really enjoyed our story ‘The Little Orange Car’ listening to our sensory story before experiencing the props reinforcing turn taking skills. These take the form of smells, textures, objects and switches. We have linked the story to some of our creative sessions and the children are anticipating the next parts of the story in addition to filling in any gaps.
In Early Maths, the children have focused on sort, build, manipulate and play alongside some targeted number work. The swifts have especially enjoyed number songs focusing on counting forwards to 5 and back to zero.
Our Understanding of the World sessions have included making collages, Elmer crafts, water play and iPad sessions.
In Creative Development the children have loved their music sessions exploring instruments and linking to repetitive songs and building their turn taking skills. They have discussed people, places and things that are important to them.
Our focus for Physical Development has been a variety of ball games practising rolling, aiming for targets and kicking skills.
The children have had a great time during the final week listening to the story ‘Room on a Broom’, carving pumpkins and creating their own Halloween crafts.
Have a lovely break and a spook-tacular half term!
Lisa, Alison, Zoe and Sahar.
Signalong
At Halcyon Way we use Signalong as a part of a Total Communication Approach, we are constantly using core vocabulary with the children to support their language development and then through each of our topics we introduce new signs and language, which extends their vocabulary further. We also have two “Signs of the Week” which helps maintain and extend key knowledge and skills of everyday vocabulary.
Each half term we will be creating a short video showcasing and demonstrating signs relavent for the current term so that you can learn the signs and further this learning at home.
Click play to watch this half terms Signalong video!
Lunchtime
If your child has a school dinner, the school menus can be accessed by clicking here. For children who bring a packed lunch, please remember to provide healthy and balanced options. We are a Healthy School and will be focusing on healthy eating and how children can make healthy lifestyle choices.
How You Can Help at Home
The following activities are suggested as support activities which you can enjoy with your child and reinforce the learning we are focusing on this half term –
- Our main story this half term will be ‘Final Winter Snow’. A sensory story that explores the winter season and the sounds and sight that we may see e.g ice cracking and the warmth of inside after playing in the snow.
- We will be exploring winter through our craft work but also touching and searching for objects in different materials such as artificial snow and water.
- We will be reading with each child twice per week and children will be accessing some phonics phase 2 through both reading sessions and a short session following candle time.
- Discuss the theme ‘Winter Wonderland’. A lovely topic which can link to many different things including cold places we have visited, animals at the zoo/ on TV and traditional food or celebrations.
- We will be looking at Diwali and Christmas festivals making CD mobiles, rangoli patterns and studying the Nativity Story.
- In food discovery sessions the children will be concentrating on cutting a range of fruits, vegetables and herbs before following simple recipes. Invite your child to chop or tear food at home when you are preparing meals where appropriate.
- Practise balancing around the home, garden or when out. Some children in class access ‘Cosmic Kids Yoga’ and enjoy some of the trickier moves!
- If any families can send in any old CD’s that are no longer needed and natural objects such as pinecones and conkers that you may find when out walking; the Swifts class will be very grateful!
