Welcome to Caterpillar Class
We are some of the youngest class in the school. We are nursery age children (3-4 years). There are 26 places in our class on a morning and afternoon. Children start at different times of the year once they are three years old. We are in a ‘pod’ with Bumblebee and Butterfly class. We are taught by Mrs Wheatley and she is helped by our higher level teaching assistant Mrs McCabe and our teaching assistant Miss Cox. We have lots of fun working on the early year’s curriculum. We have a fantastic outdoor area where we like to spend lots of time. Some of the parents in school have spent a lot of time helping our teachers make this area brighter and more interesting for us. Find out about our curriculum and long-term plans in the Our Curriculum section of our website.
Praise Notes
We are sure there are lots of achievements which happen at home which your teachers would love to know about too! These do not have to be academic, it can be about confidence, becoming more independent or being kind to family or friends! Send these into school with your child, and we will put them into their books and learning journeys. You can download them from here Praise notes from home pdf or pick up one from school (they are always available in the main entrance or when you collect your child at the end of the day!)
Homework
Homework across the Early Years Foundation Stage consists of sharing a story book at home with a parent/carer, listening to stories and songs or looking at books independently. Your child with receive a new story book each week and complete a simple book review alongside this to share their favourite parts from the book.
See below for academic year 2019-20
Summer 2019-20
School Closure due to COVID-19 pandemic
Oh no! Further to the guidance issued by Central Government all schools across England are closed.
Each week we are being sent a suggested timetable to follow with different activities to complete. We continue to work on our Maths and Phonics skills through the use of workbooks. We also have an Understanding the World workbook which is all about people. We love the creative activities and experiments that we can get involved in!
We have sent tasks to complete during your time off. If you didn’t receive the ‘homework’ grid then please download this copy: Homework 2020
Here are some photographs that have already been sent. Keep up the hard work!
Spring 2
During this half term, we are going to continue to explore the environment through our choosing time. We will be exploring both inside and outside of the classroom. We will continue to go into the forest on Forest Friday in order to see if we can capture some signs of Spring. Remember to bring clothes and wellies that will get muddy!
During our group times we will be focusing on sets in maths and rhythm and rhyme by tuning into sounds in phonics.
Spring 1
This half term we are continued to use our imagination in order to develop our learning. We love to learn through play! We engaged in more sensory and messy play activities because we love getting messy and exploring in Nursery!
We were very lucky this half term. Zoolab came into Nursery and shared all their amazing animals with us. The ranger allowed us to look, hold and stroke the different creatures and told us stories about them. We loved it!
We continued to be good role models for the 2-year-olds who we share space with. We modelled how to play with the toys and with each other.
During group times we focused on shapes in maths and alliteration in phonics.
Autumn 2
We continue to explore our classroom and the outdoor area. We love having the choice of where we would like to play!
This half term has been extremely busy. We’ve been singing, creating, exploring and using our imagination in our play. We continue to go out for Forest Friday and are beginning to be more independent when getting ready.
During group times we focused on patterns in maths an focused on rhythm and rhyme as well as beginning to look at alliteration in phonics.
We have loved all the Christmas activities! We had a Stay & Play where our parents were able to complete activities with us. We had a Christmas party and we got to wear our party clothes! We loved dancing to the music, playing party games and having party food. We even got to meet Santa during an assembly and he gave us all presents.
Autumn 1
Caterpillars have settled well into the new school year. We share our classroom with Bumblebee class. We have enjoyed exploring the new classroom and the different areas that are set up e.g. the role play area, the creative area, the messy area and many more!
We also enjoy going into the forest and exploring the outdoors.
See below for academic year 2018-19
Summer 2
This half term our topic was under the sea. We explored life on and under the sea through creative craft projects, role play and stories. We read stories such as ‘The Rainbow Fish’, ‘Commotion in the Ocean’ and many more.
During group times we focused on spatial awareness in maths and focused on oral blending and segmenting in our phonics sessions.
We loved having the inflatables in school! We had so much fun.
We enjoyed sports day. We completed races such as running, beanbag on head, egg and spoon and throwing. After the races we all got a sticker and a treat!
Summer 1
Our theme this half term was dinosaurs! We looked and explored the different types of dinosaurs. We read stories such as ‘Harry and his bucket full of dinosaurs’, ‘Dinosaur roar’ and many more. We created our own dinosaurs as well as played with figures in the small world area.
We continue to learn through messy play because we love it!
The weather has been so nice so we have been enjoying the sun by playing and learning in our outdoor area.
We were very lucky this half term because we had a baker come to visit us. We made a fruit salad and rice krispies. We ate it all up and it was delicious!
During group times we focused on number operations in maths and focused on oral blending and segmenting in our phonics sessions.
Spring 2
We looked at life cycles over this half term. We read stories such as ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, ‘The Crunching Munching Caterpillar’ and ‘The Teeny Weeny Tadpole’. We also looked at the life cycle of plants and how we have to look after them. We were very luck as some lambs, chicks and ducklings came to visit us in Nursery.
We even went on a Spring hunt during one of our Forest Friday days and tried to take our own pictures!
We celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as our favourite book characters. We had lots of fun!
During group times we focused on sets in maths and we looked at rhythm and rhyme by tuning into sounds in our phonics sessions.
Spring 1
Our theme has been Winter this half term. We looked at the seasons and noticed signs in the weather and in the trees to help show us we are in the Winter season. We also completed some winter craft activities.
We had lots of fun playing in the snow!
We also celebrated Chinese New Year by tasting traditional Chinese food such as prawn crackers, rice and chicken curry. We even decorated a dragon mask to help us with the skill of using glue and a spreader. We talked about how it is the year of the pig and watched a small video clip which showed us why the years are named after animals.
During group times we focused on shapes in maths and we looked at alliteration by tuning into sounds and identifying initial sounds in our phonics sessions.
Autumn 2
Our theme this half term has been Festivals and Celebrations. We looked at a variety of events such as Halloween, Bonfire night, Remembrance Day, Diwali and Christmas! We read stories to help us to develop our knowledge of these celebrations as well as completing creative activities.
During group times we focused on patterns in maths; recognising, copying, completing, extending and describing. In our phonics sessions we looked at rhythm and rhyme as well as alliteration.
We also practised our Nativity play with Bumblebee class in order to perform it to our friends and family!
Autumn 1
Caterpillars have settled well into the new school year. We share our classroom with Bumblebee class. We have enjoyed exploring the new classroom and the different areas that are set up e.g. the role play area, the creative area, the messy area and many more!
Our theme this half term has been Traditional Tales and Nursery Rhymes. We have enjoyed looking at different stories such as The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and The Gingerbread Man.
During group times we have been working on our counting skills and number recognition in maths. In our phonics sessions we have been looking at tuning into sounds.
We have had great fun in our outdoor areas, especially during our Forest Fun Friday sessions where we have been learning about fires!
