Literacy

During our second half term, our Gruffalos have been doing lots of learning! We have been focusing on phase 2 phonics, looking at different letters and how they sound and practicing writing our grapheme phoneme correspondences (letters to match the sounds.) This has helped us with practicing writing our names every day, recognising initial sounds in words and beginning to write simple words by segmenting.

We began the half term reading ‘We’re going on a bear hunt,’ sequencing and ordering the story through talk for writing (with added actions). We role played the story and acted it out together. We also looked at information books to find out more about different types of bears.

Our second story focus was ‘The Gruffalo’ which is all about a clever mouse who tricks his predators into not eating him. The children created their own drawings of the Gruffalo, as well as retelling the story using the story language from the text, in our small world area. We had a log pile and underground house along with a treetop tree house for the children to re-enact the story using props.  

Maths

During Maths this half term, Gruffalos have been learning all about comparisons and 1:1 correspondence. We have been using the phrases, more than and less than. We have been learning to order the numbers 1-5 initially and beyond. We have made comparisons in height and length. Our class have been learning how to count using 1:1 correspondence with different objects such as toys, blocks and cubes and matching quantities to their value.  

Understanding The World – Geography and History

During Autumn 2, Gruffalos have been learning lots of different things about the world around us. We have been observing our immediate environment and talking about what we can see, hear and smell using our senses. We have looked at maps and books all about tracks, footprints and our journeys to school. We have learned about what life was like for our families when they were younger. We looked at old toys and objects from the past, for example old telephones and kettles. We discussed the similarities and differences between the objects from the past and those we use today, looking at actual photographs and real objects.

Expressive Arts and Design

We have had lots of opportunities this half term to express and make our own creations and keep sakes. We have loved getting artistic in the junk modelling area this term and made some masterpieces. We had to think creatively in how to join different materials together. We’ve loved creating snowmen, Christmas trees and gingerbread men using playdough and natural objects to manipulate the dough using our fine motor skills. Outdoors, we have been using different tools to try and break free animals from ice and explore various textures such as creating marks with frozen paint too. It is wonderful to see the children using their imaginations freely and working together to achieve their own personal goals within their learning. We have also worked hard on our re-enactment of ‘A Christmas Nativity,’ we practiced and learnt all the songs and actions and gave a wonderful performance.

Physical Development

We have been continuing to focus on our gross motor development through lots of fundamental practices, running, jumping, hopping, throwing, catching, and skipping. The children loved the balance bike ability coming in too, teaching them how to ride a bike. The class have enjoyed building their own obstacle courses using different objects that test their abilities and to support them in managing risk. We have focused on our fine motor development in the classroom through practicing our pencil control in the morning and having a dough disco before our phonics session daily. The children have frequent access to scissors focusing on their grip and control. Practicing our fine motor skills is essential in helping us with our letter and number formation as we progress throughout the year.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

It has been wonderful to see all the children grow in confidence this term, particularly for our nativity performance but also within their phonics and number sessions. We are supported in working together to overcome problems and understand how teamwork can help solve difficult situations. We have been learning how to share with one another and take turns. We have been trying to become more independent in doing things for ourselves. For example, going to the toilets ourselves, zipping up our own coats, writing our own names and getting changed into our PE kits.