Double, Double, Toil and Trouble!

This week Reception have been reading Julia Donaldon's 'Room on the Broom'. We have been enjoying exploring the properties of pumpkins! It has been hard work, though. We have been gutting pumpkins and we have had to be really brave, sticking our hands into the slimey pumpkins to pull all the seeds out!



Callum: "It's so slimey!"
Alex: "It doesn't smell very nice!"
Francesca: "We can make pumpkin pie!"





We have been using our pumpkins for all types of activities, making potions, cakes and thinking about what we would put into our potions...!

Reception Newsletter 29.10.18

Term: Autumn 2             Date: 29.10.18

Dear Parents and Carers,

The last half term has flown by! We can already see how well the children have settled in, made friends and have progressed. Last week the children loved writing letters to Bill the owl along with discussing their animal visitors. Thank you to everyone who turned up to parents evening. We hope you all had a good rest over the half term break and are ready for another busy term leading up to Christmas.

This week we will be reading Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson, one of our favourite authors in Reception. The children will be joining in with repeated refrains and rhymes from the story and having a go at making their own potions.


Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Children will work in small groups to create their own potions, they will need to take turns and share resources. We will predict what will happen and discuss what we see.

Physical Development
The children have been introduced to the woodwork area, learning the safety rules they must follow. They know that there must always be an adult present and they must wear safety glasses to protect their eyes. The children have practiced using a hammer and this week we will move on to use a screwdriver. Woodwork reached many different areas of the curriculum and is also great for developing fine motor control.

Maths
We will be looking at naming 2D shapes this week, describing their properties, going on shape hunts as well as making pictures from 2D shapes.

Literacy
We will be joining in with repeated refrains and rhyming words from the story. We will also be labelling the characters together, trying to record the initial sounds as well as having a go at writing CVC words such as dog and cat.



Dates for your diary:


Phonics Stay & Learn Session: Thursday 8th November - 9-9.45am
Join your child in their classroom for a Phonics Stay & Learn session. There will be activities and games to play together along with an opportunity to see a short carpet session.

EYFS Nativity: Tuesday 11th December 10.30am or 2.00pm

Bedtime Stories: Friday 7th December 5-6pm
Come and join us in the classroom for Christmas bedtime stories, hot chocolate and cookies. Pajamas encouraged!



If you would like to contact a member of the EYFS team via email the address it is: eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.

Kind Regards,

The Reception Team

Reception Certificates!

Congratulations to all of the children who received 4R's certificates last week. 

Resilience - Ralph, Ruta and Lewis 

Resourcefulness - Mahdi and Poppy-Mae 

Reflectiveness - Charleigh 

Reciprocity - Eric

Well done to Darci who received an "I made my teacher happy' certificate. 

Aisha also received the first reading award of the year, a bookmark for reading 10 books. Well done! 

Reception Superstars

Reception children have had a fantastic first half term at school! We are so proud of their achievements and we are proud to acknowledge their hard work incorporating our values and 4 R's into their daily routines.

The 4R's are awarded when our children demonstrate resilience, resourcefulness, reciprocity and reflectiveness in their behaviour and attitude. 

Well done to all of our superstars from this half of term! 

Well done Charleigh, Vanessa, Manreet, Asad, Flynn and Jake!

Well done Reagan and Asher!

Well done Dom!

Well done Abdulkarim!

Well done Olivia and Emma!

Well done Louie-Ray

Well done Louise-Maria!

It's a bug's life!

Last week Reception were excited to welcome some very exciting friends into Broadford. We had the amazing opportunity to see, touch and hold some very exotic animals.




Jake: "It was a bit scary!"
Macie: "I think the owl was so sweet and so soft like a teddy bear."
JJ: "I holded the turtle and it was tickling me and it nearly touched my leg!"

Maxi: "The lizard feels all bumpy!"
George: "It was a big lizard and I stroked it!"
Darci: "The owl feels very soft and it's very cute."

We loved the tegu!

We loved the snake!

We loved the meerkat!

We loved the owl!

We were all really brave and took turns to pet the animals!

Reading at Home in Year 1

Watch this video to see one of our teachers model how to use the reading books at home. Each week you will have a Read, Write Inc book and a Phonics story book which your child will need to read with your help.
You will also have a picture story book which you can read to your child for them to enjoy.

Remember the aim is for children to read with fluency and comprehension. The first time the children will read their book they will be focusing on accuracy (sounding out words correctly using their phonics), the second time for fluency (speed - they won't need to sound out every word), the third time they will be able to focus on expression and comprehension.

Make sure you practice reading with your child regularly and bring your book in on your reading day!

Loose Parts Fun!

The children have been busy exploring and building in the loose parts area. The practitioners have modelled some basic den building skills and the children are now beginning to build there own dens using the hooks, tarpaulins, sticks, crates and bricks. There really has been some fabulous designs! The children have needed to communicate, share their ideas and to collaborate whilst building. There has also been a need to adapt designs as they work, finding a solution that is effective. I think we have some budding architects and builders of the future in Reception!

“We need another stick, it’s falling!” Dominic J. 

“I’ve built a police station, that’s where the prison is.” Peter 

Reception Newsletter 15.10.18

Term: Autumn 1          Date: 15.10.18

Dear Parents and Carers,

Last week we opened our woodwork area for the first time. The children have been learning how to use a hammer along with the rules of the woodwork area. This is a great activity for developing fine motor strength and always popular. On Friday we had a visit from Kayleigh at The Animal Experience. She brought with her a variety of animals including a lizard, tortoise, meerkat, snake and owl.

This week we will be reading 'Owl Babies', so this was a fantastic experience to meet and stroke a real owl. We will be talking about our Animal Experience, writing letters to Bill the owl and learning about real owls.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
We will continue working on sharing resources and taking turns. We will also be talking about how we can cheer people up when they are sad.

Physical Development
This term there will be a big focus on fine motor activities to strengthen our hand and finger muscles for writing. These are all of the ‘fiddly’ activities you will see around the classrooms, such as threading, using tweezers, cutting etc.

Maths
We are continuing with counting accurately, along with matching number and quantity correctly. We will also be counting things that can not be moved along with irregular arrangements.

Literacy
We will be focusing in hearing and writing the initial sounds in words when we label to animals from our visitor. We will also be writing letters to Bill the owl and practising writing our names as we finish our letters.

Dates for your diary

Phonics Stay & Learn Session: Thursday 8th November - 9-9.45am Join your child in their classroom for a Phonics Stay & Learn session. There will be activities and games to play together along with an opportunity to see a short phonics session.

EYFS Nativity: Tuesday 11th December 10.30am or 2.00pm

If you would like to contact a member of the EYFS team via email the address

is: eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.

Kind Regards,
The Reception Team

Nursery Newsletter 15.10.18

Term: Autumn 1                      Date: 14.10.18 Dear Parents, The children enjoyed creating Pumpkin Geoboards last week. They had to stretch loom bands over the nails in the pumpkins to create their own patterns and shapes. This supported the children to develop Maths skills, Communication and Language skills and they had to use fine motor control to stretch the small bands over the pins.We are continuing to explore pumpkins this week and our story of the week is an Indian traditional tale called "NO DINNER! The story of the old woman and the pumpkin." The core Nursery Rhymes we are focusing on this week are: 'Incy Wincy Spider.' and 'One, two, three, four, five, once a caught a fish alive'.

Please bring in a change of clothes in a small, clearly named bag that can stay in school. Thank you to the parents/carers who have already brought these in. The children can also bring in a family photo to add to our home corner display, this can be printed or emailed to: eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.Understanding of the World  The children will be able to scoop the insides from pumpkins and collect the seeds. They will help to create delicious pumpkin soup to taste and make their own bread roll! The children will be having Autumn walks and looking at the trees just outside the school to spot the signs of Autumn and collect leaves for us to sort. MathsThe children will have pompoms available that we will encourage them to sort and count to ensure they use number names in order and develop one to one correspondence (which means counting each object accurately.)
Communication and Language  The children will be encouraged to join in with re-telling our story of the week and use actions to help them to remember the core Nursery rhymes. Whilst cooking our pumpkin soup and bread the children will be encouraged to talk about what they are doing and what they notice happening. Mark making/Expressive arts and Design  The children will have the rolling paints available to mark make, create their own designs and develop wrist control.Key Dates 18th October - Individual photos - Photos with siblings can also be taken in the morning.   Half Term - 22nd October to the 27th October - The school will be closed this week. 2nd November - Learning Federation Fireworks Evening 27th November - Healthy Eating Stay and Learn session. This will be an opportunity to stay with your child, learn about how we develop healthy eating in school. We also have a nutritionist and Chef visiting so parents can take part in some fun cooking activities with their children. If you would like to contact a member of the EYFS team via email the address is  eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.      Kind Regards,

The Nursery Team

Reading in Reception

A reminder for parents of Reception children, this is how the children are taught to read:

• Children learn the sounds of the letters rather than the letter names first
• A new sound is introduced every day
• Fred talk means speaking in sounds - c-a-t for the children to blend a word back together (Watch the video below to see this in action)
• To read the green words sent home this week the children need to recognise the sounds quickly to blend the word together
• It is important the children say the sounds clearly - look at the Read, Write, Inc video below to see how you say each sound

Have a look at the video to see our teaching in action! Make sure you practice the words sent home with your child and don't forget to continue reading lots and lots of stories to them to develop their language and comprehension skills.

Pumpkin Geoboards

Pumpkin Geoboards were very popular in Nursery last week. The children carefully stretched loom bands over nails inserted into the pumpkins to create their own patterns and shapes. There were many learning opportunities; the children used fine motor skills to attach the bands, they began counting the bands and naming the shapes they had created and the children had some great conversations about the different pumpkins and squashes they were exploring. Next week they will be able to create their own geoboards using golf tees and hammers!

"This one is heavy, look it goes down!" Rosie
"It's my rainbow one.. that's a triangle too." Elliot

Nursery Reminder: Family Photos

Please could you bring in a family photo, we are talking about people special to us and creating a family display board in our home corner. You can bring them in with your child or email the photo to: eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk. Thank you!

Reception Newsletter 08.10.18

Term: Autumn 1                  Date: 08.10.18

Dear Parents and Carers,

Last week the children enjoyed reading our text of the week Giraffes Can’t Dance and talking about what they are good at. The children also started PE with Mr Portway and Miss Evans, which was enjoyed by all.

On Friday this week Reception have an animal workshop with Mitch from the Animal Experience. This will be an exciting opportunity to see a range of animals including an owl, meerkat and snake. We are all looking forward to this visit.

The reading meeting is on Tuesday at 2.15pm in the hall, afterwards you will be able to join your child in their classroom for storytime before heading home. Parents Evening is coming up on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th October, you should have received your appointment times today. Parents evening will be held in your child’s classroom.

This week we will be reading the text ‘Izzy Gismo’ and carrying out related tasks. The book is great example of why we should never give up and links well to one of our 4R’s, resilience. The children will also be creating their own junk model robots.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
We will continue working on sharing resources and taking turns. We will also be talking about resilience and how we must keep on trying.

Physical Development
This term there will be a big focus on fine motor activities to strengthen our hand and finger muscles for writing. These are all of the ‘fiddly’ activities you will see around the classrooms, such as threading, using tweezers, cutting etc. Of course we will still be working on our gross motor skills in the outdoor areas as well as starting PE lessons this week.

Maths
We will start with practical maths activities this week, focusing on counting accurately with 1:1 correspondence and matching quantity and numeral correctly.

Literacy
Labeling our junk models and designing robots.

Expressive Arts and Design
Creating robots from junk, thinking and planning our designs and ideas.

Dates for your diary
Tuesday 9th October - 2.15pm
Reading Meeting explaining our new reading scheme and how you can support your children with reading at home. Afterwards join your children in their classrooms for storytime before heading home at the end of the day.

Parents Evening - Monday 15th & Tuesday 16th October
Thursday 8th November - 9-9.45am
Join your child in their classroom for a Phonics Stay & Learn session. There will be activities and games to play together along with an opportunity to see a short phonics session.



Thank you to the parents who have sent in a named set of spare clothes and wellies. If you haven’t yet we would appreciate these as soon as possible. We will be opening the mud kitchen this week!

If you would like to contact a member of the EYFS team via email the address

is: eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.

Kind Regards,
The Reception Team

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

The Nursery children have enjoyed story time sessions. They have been developing listening skills and have enjoyed re-telling the story by joining in with the repeated refrains
Last week we focused on the story 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' as well as listening to the story the children practiced naming colours and animals. They then had a special job to complete for our own bear, the children checked the colours of different items and helped to sort and organise them.

"Yellow duck, yellow duck...Oh he see's this one!"Elkah
"This is pink, dark pink!" Shayan

Nursery Newsletter 8.10.18

Term: Autumn 1                      Date: 1.10.18

Dear Parents,

The children had a very successful first full week! They have learnt routines quickly, are making friends with each other and are gaining confidence in their environment. The children had the opportunity to make their own toast last week. With adult guidance they were encourage to carefully butter their own toast, cut the toast and washed their plates after. Helping children become independent is a major focus of the Early Years Curriculum and this is an example of one of the many opportunities children will have to develop this skill. They enjoyed the responsibility and really enjoyed eating the end product after the hard work!

The core Nursery Rhymes we are focusing on this week are: 'Here we go round the Mulberry Bush.' and 'Wind the Bobin Up'. Our focus story is 'We are going on the bear hunt'. The children will have the opportunity to have their own sensory bear hunt experience, look out for photos on the blog this week.

Please bring in a change of clothes in a small, clearly named bag that can stay in school. Thank you to the parents/carers who have already brought these in. The children can also bring in a family photo to add to our home corner display, this can be printed or emailed to: eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.

Maths and Understanding of the World
  We have a variety of different sized squash and pumpkins as an enchancement to the Maths area this week. The children can create their own geoboards using elastic bands, compare the weight of the squashes and count beads to decorate their pumpkins.

  Communication and Language
  Listening to stories and joining in with repeated refrains is a really important part of Early literacy. The children will be encouraged to join in with the rhythm of the story 'We're going on a Bear Hunt' and will also take their own sensory bear hunt. They will be able to walk across trays with materials to represent the cold river, the oozy mud and many other settings in the story.

  Mark making/Expressive arts and Design
  The children have been enjoying creating their own pictures by adding materials. They are learning to glue items to the page to make sure they don't fall off! We have been exploring glue stick and squeezy glue and modelling how to carefully spread.


If you would like to contact a member of the EYFS team via email the address is  eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.

     Kind Regards,

The Nursery Team

Nursery Toast Station

The children have enjoyed making their own toast this week. They have been developing their independent skills and have been trying to cut their own toast and spread the butter. They have had to concentrate and listen very carefully but have really enjoyed the process - especially tasting the end product!
"This is so yummy, crunchy, crunchy!" Elkah

Giraffes can’t dance, but we can!

This week Reception have enjoyed reading 'Giraffes Can't Dance'. We have been reflecting on our own skills and talents, thinking about what we are really good at doing.

We have lots of very talented and creative children in Reception this year, making all sorts of props to support their play!

Miraz: I can draw dresses!
Alex: I can paint giraffes!


Rosie: I can make play-dough!


We have been working as groups to make resources to support our play. We have been listening attentively so that we can follow the instructions and make yellow giraffe play-dough. We were really good at taking turns to stir, mix and knead our play-dough.

We made our  own dancing giraffes, practicing group work and appreciating teamwork! We worked our fingers really hard, scrunching up all the tissue paper to stick down on our giraffe frames!



This week we have been mastering new challenges, adding more skills to the list of things that we can do.

Charleigh: I can butter my own crackers!
Callum: I can do my perfect pencil grip!
Abdulkarim: I can cut out my animals!
Dominic: I can sharpen my pencils. If you try, try, try, you can, can, can!

Reception Newsletter 01.10.18

Term: Autumn 1              Date: 01.10.18

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a busy and exciting first full week in Reception it has been. There has been lots of new names and faces to learn and the children have had to adapt to a much busier learning environment. The mud kitchen opened this week and was enjoyed by many children. We do have some spare pairs of wellies that the children are welcome to borrow, but there are limited numbers and these are on the smaller side.

Parents Evening is coming up on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th October, please see the school blog and Facebook to book an appointment. If you are having trouble with this please see your class teacher.

Children will bring home a book to share on their reading day this week. Please keep these safe in their wallets and bring them back to school on their reading day. A letter is enclosed with more information and their will be a meeting about reading on Tuesday 9th October at 2.15pm.

This week we will be reading the text ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’ and carrying out related tasks which will talking about what we are good at as well as listening for initial sounds of the different animals.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development 

We will continue working on sharing resources and taking turns. We also will be talking about how everyone is good at different things, focusing on what we are good at.

Physical Development

This term there will be a big focus on fine motor activities to strengthen our hand and finger muscles for writing. These are all of the ‘fiddly’ activities you will see around the classrooms, such as threading, using tweezers, cutting etc. Of course we will still be working on our gross motor skills in the outdoor areas as well as starting PE lessons this week.

Maths

We will be continuing with Ten Town this week. Although some children already recognise many numbers, Ten Town provides handy rhymes to help with formation. We will also begin to look at different representations of each number to help develop a deeper understanding of number.

Literacy

Listening for the initial sounds in different animals.


Dates for your diary

Tuesday 9th October - 2.15pm
Reading Meeting explaining our new reading scheme and how you can support your children with reading at home. Afterwards join your children in their classrooms for storytime before heading home at the end of the day.

Parents Evening - Monday 15th & Tuesday 16th October

Thursday 8th November - 9-9.45am
Join your child in their classroom for a Phonics Stay & Learn session. There will be activities and games to play together along with an opportunity to see a short phonics session.


Thank you to the parents who have sent in a named set of spare clothes and wellies. If you haven’t yet we would appreciate these as soon as possible. We will be opening the mud kitchen this week!


If you would like to contact a member of the EYFS team via email the address

is: eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.


Kind Regards,
The Reception Team