Welcome to the Swifts Class!
Staff
Teacher: Lisa Collins, Carol Whitehead (Friday)
TAs: Alison Mottershead, Zoe Gill and Janina Bateson
Newsletter
Food Glorious Food
This half term has flown by but we have managed to fit in a lot of fun and learning in the Swifts Class!
During our Early English sessions, we have been listening to the story ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ which has provided lovely links to our Early Maths and food exploration sessions. The class have been practising building short sentences and have produced some lovely crafts linking to the story. Story sequencing has been a focus using the number of each food and the days of the week to order the food that the caterpillar ate. We also completed some big and small work using the ‘big’ caterpillar on our display as a reference.
In Early Maths lessons we have been enjoying using food as part of our learning including pasta sculptures, organising fruit, vegetables puzzles, manipulation such as Mr Potato Head and making our own sandwiches in addition to working towards our maths targets!
In I Wonder, we have been learning about the Easter Story, practising marbling with paints and decorating the palm cross before exploring and tasting hot cross buns.
In Physical Development we have completed lots of yoga and have tried different kinds of rolls before egg and spoon races.
In massage, we have completed ‘butterfly body awareness’ which focuses on actions and slight pressure on different parts of the body such as the shoulders or the tummy.
In Understanding of the World, the children have explored our outdoor area looking for what grows outside, we have planted seeds such as sunflower seeds and the children have created their own cress ‘gardens to grow in school. Finally, we enjoyed learning about the different parts of plants.
The children have extended their dough skills in Creative Development from rolling, cutting and flattening dough to using clay to create small tea lights.
For World Book Day this year we looked at the story ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. The children explored porridge to find ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ and chose toppings to add to their own bowl of porridge. We used our knowledge of big and small to find Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear’s belongings such as their bed and their bowl and enjoyed the repetition within the story.
All the children have worked hard to improve their cutting skills and practise cutting playdough then fruits in half before making our fruit kebabs.
Well done for another fabulous half term and thank you to all the families at home for your continued support!
Lisa, Carol, Zoe and Dawn.
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 ‘Whatever Next’. This story shows a bear who creates his own space rocket using items from around the home including a colander for a space helmet! It is a fun story with lots of opportunities for creative development and we will make and enjoy our own picnic outside towards the end of half term! The children will work hard to structure and sequence ‘what next’ and will label the different items they make in addition to their own targets. They will also complete crafts linking to the story and look at the life cycle of a caterpillar as it prepares to become a butterfly.
- At home you could support the children by helping them to create their own transport or rocket from junk modelling.
- Plan and pack a picnic together – what foods would the children choose? Would they like a teddy bear’s picnic?
- Watch videos of rockets flying into space. Use simple describing words to describe how it is travelling such as fast, high and up.
- Practise using a knife to spread butter and jam to create a sandwich.
- We will be learning about people who help us for some of our Understanding of the World sessions. Visiting local fire stations on open days or discussing how professionals help us before and appointment may increase knowledge in these areas. E.g can the children select the image of a nurse when shown the nurse and the police officer before going to see them?
- When the weather permits or indoors if you have the space, provide your child with opportunities to roll, jump and balance. Simple items from around the home such as a scarf or socks could be used to step or jump over.
- During ‘I wonder’ sessions we will be learning about the ‘Creation Story’. Explore textures around you and temperatures encouraging the children to use their sense of touch. Where do we find water and what is it used for? This could be simple activities like making drinks for others or washing up mealtime dishes. Visit a local reservoir.
