Welcome to Squirrels’ class

There are currently 29 children in Squirrel's Class which consists of Nursery Children and Reception Year Children.  Though not all children attend full time, so attendance numbers fluctuate throughout the week.  Our classroom is based on the continuous provision model and the children have access to the outdoor area at all times. We encourage children to develop their independence and follow their interests to increase their involvement and engagement in learning. There are many different activities, resources and learning opportunities at any given time in the classroom. We teach using a holistic model, so children can develop many different areas through every task.

Throughout the year we follow the children's interests.

P.E. and Forest School

Squirrels have P.E. on Tuesday and also have daily access to physical activity outdoors where they have time to practice and develop their physical skills.   Forest School is also part of the curriculum in EYFS.  This is attended once a week with a qualified Forest School Leader. 

Reading:

Reception Year children will bring home 2 books. 

Once children have learnt some grapheme (letter)/phoneme (sound) correspondences (GPCs) and are beginning to blend them into words they are given a “Reading book”. The "Reading Book" is a phonics practice book and your child should be able to read this book by "sounding out and blending" the letters into words. This book should be practised, reading to parents. The same book should be read repeatedly so that the child begins to develop some fluency and expression as they read. It is good practice, in phonics, that this book is repeated until  the child can read it with some fluency and has shown good comprehension.

A ‘sharing book’ every day. This book is to be read together to build a love of reading and an understanding of the purpose of reading. The children can change this book as often as they wish. The "Sharing Book" is a book that your child has chosen from our class book box selection. This book is too difficult for the child to read and should be shared. The adult should read the story to the child, looking at the book together. The purpose of this book is to develop a love of books, to help your child realise that reading is fun and useful.  This can be changed more regularly.

I have created a "Reading Together" leaflet (download below) which will give you hints and tips on sharing books and how to help your child become a successful and lifelong reader.

Staff build reading into every school day providing the children with a variety of reading opportunities in a text rich environment. We ask that parents also make time available to read to and with their children and help build a love and understanding of reading.

Homework:

Although we don’t really set homework, in Squirrels class, we do send home parent information sheets for phonics which parents can practice with their children and help them to read and spell tricky words.

Swimming:

We are very lucky as a school to have an on-site swimming pool. Swimming takes place in the summer term, and weather permitting, happens 3 times a week.