Explorers
Welcome to Explorers class page.
Explorers is our Nursery and Reception class.
Staff: Mrs Brayshaw (EYFS class teacher) and Ms Marsden (EYFS TA)
As we enter our first Summer term the children have some new and exciting topics to explore!
Our Summer term overarching topic is "Eco-Warriors” where we will be focusing on “Transport” in Summer 1 and “Under the Sea” in Summer 2.
Summer 1
We hope you all had a lovely Easter break and we are looking forward to starting a new chapter with our learning. Over the next term, the Reception children will be supported with their transition into Year 1, ensuring the children arrive in their new class both happy and confident. To support this next step of their school journey we will be focusing on Transport.
Myself and Ms Marsden have noticed that one of the most frequently used areas in the classroom is our construction area. The children particularly enjoy playing with the vehicles, trains and tracks, and they also like creating different modes of transport with our bricks and Duplo both inside and in the outdoor area. We have decided to extend their learning on their topic of interest, exploring a range of vehicles and their uses. As part of investigation Fridays, we will be focusing on a different mode of transport a week, looking at famous real-life examples and how they are useful to us. We will also be looking carefully at the impact of the transport on the environment linking to our Eco-warrior’s topic. We will answering key questions like:
How do they work?
Do they carry lots of people?
What fuel do they need?
Does the transport affect the environment positively or negatively?
Can we help by choosing a better mode of transport?
These questions will support the children by giving them the knowledge of their impact on the world and how they can help have a positive impact in modern Britain. In our foundation subjects, we will be supporting our topic by making our own boats in D&T, testing out which materials are waterproof and float. This will then will link into our science lessons where the children will be investigating forces and how things move. In History, the children will be exploring transport in the past and present and seeing how they have changed and how they have been adapted over time.
In literacy our focus texts will be "The Night Pirates" and "Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy" for Reception and "We’re going on a Bear Hunt" for Nursery.
To support the children with their role play linking to the topic and literacy text, a Pirate Ship has been set up in the classroom to capture their imaginations and inspire their play.
Rainbow Challenge - In EYFS, a key priority is for us to support children to become independent, confident, and resilient learners. We consciously spend the first weeks building positive relationships and creating a fun and safe space that the children both enjoy and feel comfortable in. Starting in nursery they will be encouraged to display independence and take ownership over their learning through the use of the ‘Rainbow Challenge’. For those pupils and parents who are new to our school the ‘Rainbow Challenge’ is used by the children during their ‘continuous provision time or extended learning’ which occurs after adult input lessons. The classroom is broken up into areas such as construction, roleplay or reading and each represents a different colour of the rainbow. Children are encouraged to explore their whole environment throughout the week and in doing so gain a coloured lollipop stick for each area they have engaged with. If they complete the Rainbow they are rewarded with a sticker and prize at the end of the week.
A few quick reminders
End of the day- Please inform Mrs Brayshaw/Ms Marsden and Mrs Rourke if there are going to be any changes to your normal home time arrangements or when a different person collecting your child. This is for the safeguarding of your children.
Homework – children will have weekly homework set that supports the learning in school for that week. This could be phonics sounds, maths work or understanding the world tasks. These will be given out on Friday to be returned the next week (this will give you extra time just in case you have had a busy weekend). They will be small, manageable tasks to complete at home to support the learning we do in school. We appreciate that our lives can be very busy at times but please do your best to do these with your child as these tasks will have a positive impact on their learning.
Please read to your child every night, share the phonics bug book, encouraging them to sound out the letters and sing nursery rhymes when you can. This is not limited to books at school, any books that they enjoy! They will also have a weekly “Weekend diary” where the children will be asked to draw a picture of what they have done. Please encourage them to draw pictures and label their drawing with initial sounds and/or simple words e.g., mum/dad/dog/cat. Their ability to recognise sounds will increase over the school year, at the beginning it is the drawing and discussion of your weekend that is important.
EYFS
