Welcome to Early Years Foundation Stage
In Early Years, learning takes places both inside and outside. The children have lots of opportunities to learn through play, exploring and developing learning experiences which help them make sense of the world. They become independent learners who think creatively as they investigate and solve problems.
Nursery
This half-term our topic is 'Let's Grow' we are excited to begin learning all about plants! The children will explore how plants grow, what they need to stay healthy, and the different parts of a plant, such as roots, stems, leaves, and flowers. Through hands-on activities like planting seeds, watering our classroom plants, and observing changes over time, the children will develop their curiosity and understanding of the natural world. We will also read simple stories, sing songs about growing, and spend time outdoors looking at plants in our environment. This topic will help build early science skills while encouraging responsibility and a love for nature.
The children will be continuing with our phonics exploring the phonemes; u,r,h,b,f as well as continuing our work on rhyming words. In Maths we will be exploring comparing amounts introducing key vocabulary such as more than, fewer than and the same.
Trips/Visitors/Parental Engagement:
This term we are looking forward to seeing all parents for open evening as well as our Easter craft morning.
Reception
This half term our topic is called 'Are We Neraly There Yet?' The children will be learning about different modes of transport and the categories they fall into. We begin by looking at transport on the road, followed by transport on/in the tracks, air and water. Each week we will explore the modes of transport through picture books, videos, junk modelling and will be developing our understanding of the world through map work, road safety and comparisons from past and present day. We will also be exploring our local area with a local walk and visit to Eltham Fire Station! It is set to be a busy and exciting half term.
This half-term we begin ‘Phase 3 Phonics’. The children will be learning a range of digraphs (two letters that make one sound) and trigraphs (three letters that make one sound), such as ai, ee, igh, oa, air. We will be using both Phase 2 and 3 sounds to read increasingly long words and sentences. The children will also be writing increasingly complex words. Examples include light, sheep, boat, chair, rain, fork. We will also be reading sentences such as ‘sail in the rain’ and ‘a light at night’.
This half term in maths, we are learning to count to, represent and compare numbers to 10. We will be representing the numbers on a 10’s frame. We will then begin learning some basic ‘addition to 10’, before exploring ‘measure’ (height, length and weight).
Trips/Visitors/Parental Engagement:
Reception will be going on a trip to Eltham Fire Station.
Early years will be hosting a Valentines Day craft morning with parents and carers.
Reception 1 Classroom
Outdoor Area
Reception 2 Classroom
Phonics in EYFS
At Haimo we follow the 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised' programme to teach phonics.
In the Nursery, children start Phase 1, which concentrates on developing speaking and listening skills.
In Reception, phonics becomes a big part of everyday life. The children work on Phase 2, 3 and 4 throughout the year.
In Phase 2, children begin to learn the sounds that letters make (phonemes). Phase 3 introduces the remaining, more difficult and less commonly used phonemes. Phase 4 provides many opportunities to consolidate and refine phonic knowledge, while introducing more spelling patterns, tricky words and increasing children's vocabulary.
Below are some 'helping- at home' websites that Parents and Carers may find useful.
Tapestry
We are using Tapestry as our online learning journal provider in Early Years. Please click here to find out more.
