Personal, Social & Emotional Development 

We read Rainbow Fish and talked about how to be a good friend. We decorated our own Rainbow Fish and gave our picture to someone we love. 

We read the story 'It's okay to be different'. We played a game noticing the differences between us. "Swap places if you have.... brown eyes". We had great fun spotting the spaces in the circle and getting there as quickly as possible. 

We made Rangoli patterns using our fine motor skills. 

To link in with Anti-Bullying Week, we talked read 'Monty the Manatee' and talked about what it means to be a kind friend. The Caterpillars came up with some fabulous ideas and everyone knew how to be kind. We know we should use kind words, share, keep our hands and feet to ourselves, smile at each other and make people laugh. 

We focused on kind words and passed an apple around the circle. We said kind words to the apple. We had another apple which we passed around, this apple we said unkind things to. We peeled the apples and saw the apple we had been unkind too, we bruised and battered underneath the skin. We decided this was like us, we can't see if someone has said unkind words, but it affects us on the inside. 

We watched the John Lewis advert of 'The Man on the Moon'. We looked at his facial expressions and talked about how he was feeling. We came up with lovely ideas of how to help our friends not feel lonely. 

Physical Development 

We enjoyed our first P.E lesson and did a great job listening to instructions and keeping ourselves safe. We practised balancing beanbags on our heads, balancing across a tightrope and across a bench.

We practised our gross motor skills drawing chalk fireworks on the playground. 

In PE we have been practising finding a space, moving around and changing direction, based on the theme 'our senses'. We played some games based on their senses, which required children to listen, feel, touch, pretend to taste and smell. 

We used our gross motor skills to try bark rubbing. 

In PE the children have been learning how to hop and land with control. They have practiced hopping around the space and jumping in and out of hoops. They have been working hard to listen to and follow instructions and have played some simple listening games based on their favourite things. 

We worked on our fine motor skills decorating the tree for Christmas. 

We decorated the Christmas lights to build up our fine motor strength. 

Literacy- Phonics

We have used our phonic knowledge to write initial sounds and CVC words (3 letter) words. Look at our amazing writing! 

We read 'Percy the Park-keeper- After the storm'. We have explored all things woodland and enjoyed programming the Bee-Bot to travel around the woodland. 

We followed a treasure hunt which lead us to the trees. Once we arrived, we found a present. Inside was 'After the Storm' by Mick Inkpen. We read the story and used the resources we had collected on our way to build a den to keep us sheltered from the storm. 

We loved writing letters and posting them at the post office. 

Our Nativity this year was based on 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' revamped to 'We're Going on a Baby Hunt'! The children learnt the story and can retell it very well. Don't we look fabulous in our costumes! 

Maths 

We filled the 5 frame and spotted when the 5 frame was full, it was like a number 5 on a dice. We made the link between a 5 frame and having 5 fingers on one hand.

We sang '5 little peas in a pea pod press'. We collected 5 items and filled the fingers to show 5. We know there are 5 fingers on one hand. 

We have learnt about more, fewer and equal amounts. We looked at a picnic for the 3 bears of Goldilocks. We shared out the items packed in the picnic basket. We made sure we had equal amounts. If we didn't, we realised we had fewer! 

We have started our journey to understanding part-part-whole. We have done this by looking at parts of our body and how it makes up the whole of me. 

We used the stem sentence "my legs are a part of me and the whole of me is Mrs Selwood". We had a go at doing this sentence ourselves. 

We used the Numberblocks to help us make 'Stampolines'. This was looking at a number and seeing how many shapes we could make using the right amount of blocks. 

We talked about shapes and their properties. We loved finding out that a circle doesn't have any sides, just one continuous line. 

We have been learning about repeating patterns and making them with resources in the classroom. 

We had a visit from Father Christmas. He brought us 2 presents, a Numberblock Jigsaw and Numberblock Stampolines. We love them. Thank you Father Christmas! 

We used our positional language to decorate a Christmas tree by listening to the instructions.  We also completed an obstacle course following positional language instructions. 

Understanding the World 

We read the story “Little Glow”. It was about festivals of light. We talked about Diwali and Bonfire Night. We got our own Little Glow and found places around the classroom to make it shine it’s brightest. 

With the link of Divali and Bonfire Night, we have watched an episode of Fireman Sam and talked about how to stay safe around fireworks. We loved getting the fire engines out and playing great imaginative games putting out the fires in our classroom. The Caterpillars know to ring 999 if there is an emergency. 

We talked about the importance of Remembrance Day and how poppies were grown in the battle fields as an act of remembrance. We looked at a poppy and made our own choosing colours for a purpose. We stamped a red petal shape and used our finger for the black seeds in the middle. We loved wearing them. 

We loved talking about the rainbow and how it has appeared in the sky. 

Pudsey Bear Day! 

We loved celebrating Pudsey Bear Day combined with our Class Wide Reward party! We made Gingerbread Pudsey Bears! They were delicious! 

In the forest, we made habitats for woodland animals. 

We made bird feeders using leaves, lard and bird seed. We hung them in the trees for the birds to enjoy. 

We went bird watching! 

We have learnt the Christmas Story in our R.E lessons. We were acting like the shepherds and sheep listening to the angels about the birth of Jesus. 

We explored with ice by leaving water our over night in the cold weather to see if it changed! We loved finding the ice the next morning and playing with it whilst it melted.

We talked about the season of Winter and what you might wear. We discovered we needed to wear more clothes that covered more of our bodies when it is colder. We played a game with winter clothes and a dice. We took it in turns to role the dice. If it landed on a 6, it was your turn to get dressed. How many winter clothes could you put on before the next 6 was rolled...It was like the chocolate game.... but without the chocolate! We had such fun playing this together. 

We have been busy typing the insides of our Christmas cards. It has been great to find the letters on the keyboard and watch them appear on the screen. 

We explored how to melt chocolate for our Class Wide Reward Party! We loved making rice crispy cakes. They were delicious! 

We had a great time celebrating Christmas with our Christmas Party and Christmas Dinner! 

Expressive Art and Design

We have been watching lots of firework displays and looking at the fabulous colours and patterns they make in the sky. We used glitter, paint and cotton buds to design our own firework displays. 

We made Diya Lamps buy moulding clay. We used tools to make marks and patterns in the lamps. When they have dried, we are going to decorate them with sparkly paints. 

We looked at how Martin Ridley uses shading to create his life-like paintings. We had a go with a sketching pencil and practised different amounts of pressure and what that does to the shade. 

We did a step-by-step drawing of a rabbit. The Caterpillars did very well following each instruction.