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Jolly PostmanJolly PostmanJolly PostmanJolly Postman Autumn Term TwoAutumn Term TwoAutumn Term TwoAutumn Term Two

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Dear Parents/Carers Our current unit of work has to encompass the one thing on all children’s minds at this time of year – Christmas. As I’m sure you can appreciate much of the topic is taken up with rehearsals for our Christmas Nativity. Unfortunately this does mean that we may lose some of our PE time, as the hall is out of use with the arrival of the stage, but please keep PE kits in school as we are eager to do as much physical activity as possible! A few of you have returned your form to say you are aware of costume implications, please send your reply slip in – or a note if you have lost it, thank you. We do have a small stock of Nativity costumes within school but we find generally shepherds can be accommodated with a tea-towel tied on to heads with a cord or old pairs of twisted tights. Years of experience have taught us that one! Websites for you to try: www.topmarks.co.uk Click on the right hand side, Interactive Whiteboard Resources www.crickweb.co.uk Click on the Early Years section www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/eyfs/ Wide range of activities to choose from. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/menu.shtml - Wide range of activities, but one of them is linked to rhyme. http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/ict/default.htm Mouse control resources linked to using the computer. Personal, Personal, Personal, Personal, Social and Emotional DevelopmentSocial and Emotional DevelopmentSocial and Emotional DevelopmentSocial and Emotional Development Our SEAL theme for this term is ‘Getting on and Falling Out’ which will involve social games and discussions around feelings. A lot of the children will start to become tired at the end of this term so please talk at home about having early nights and how to be kind to friends.

Communication, Communication, Communication, Communication, Language and LiteracyLanguage and LiteracyLanguage and LiteracyLanguage and Literacy Lots of opportunities to write at Christmas time for a purpose! There will be label writing for presents, labelling and drawing reindeer potions, toy alphabet (with the Argos catalogue to support) and good boy and girl letters and lists to Santa. We have a post office to support their role play and develop imaginative language as well as language for negotiation and discussion. We will have covered Jolly Phonics, including s, a, t, p, i, n, c, k, ck, e, d, m, g, o, r ,u. The children should be able to recognise all of these letters and to use them to build simple three or four letter words like sat, men, gran. Please try and consolidate this on a daily basis. It gives the children great confidence when they realise they can put the sounds together to make words and read.

Problem Solving, Reasoning and NumeracyProblem Solving, Reasoning and NumeracyProblem Solving, Reasoning and NumeracyProblem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy To support with the theme of a postman carrying lots of heavy sacks at Christmas time and planning journeys we are going to be covering positional vocabulary such as forwards, backwards, below, above, in front of and we will use our beebots, the programmable toys to support with this. Also there will be lots of practical activities linked to weight and the language associated with measures. As we nearer Christmas we move to looking at 2d and introducing 3d shapes. Whilst in the post office we cover simple money based activities and through our work on door numbers that the postman visits and the post office role play, we will be practising how to write our numbers. Of course, there will also be counting down the days to Christmas with our advent calendars or candles.

KKKKnowledge and Understanding of the World and Religious Educationnowledge and Understanding of the World and Religious Educationnowledge and Understanding of the World and Religious Educationnowledge and Understanding of the World and Religious Education Our last story unit of ‘I’m Special’ supported children’s learning with discovering about the Festival of Diwali. They will be able to make simple comparisons to how Christians celebrate Christmas and for some children find out that Santa is not the real reason why Christmas is celebrated! For investigations we will be looking at a variety of wheeled

transport and what happens when we push cars on slopes and on different surfaces. Also the children will be making maps and journeys in the sand trays and try to record their ideas on paper.

Physical DevelopmentPhysical DevelopmentPhysical DevelopmentPhysical Development We continue to work outside with the children on their child initiated activities so they maintain support to develop their gross and fine motor movements even though most of our PE times are now taken up with rehearsals for the nativity. It is important that the children are kept active. Most children take part in our twice daily activate sessions. We will be continuing to use our interactive handwriting program called penpals. We are finding that some children have an incorrect pencil grip and start their letters in the wrong place. We will continue to work on this and support with play dough play to strengthen the muscles in their hands and lots of scissor activities. It is easy to forget how valuable these activities are and will support letter formation with greater fine motor control. Creative DevelopmentCreative DevelopmentCreative DevelopmentCreative Development A Christmas theme obviously runs through this area of learning. We have, in each room a role play area that supports imaginative and everyday language. Without these learning experiences and practising their speaking skills, children can go on to struggle with imaginative story telling. Although the children will say they have been playing, they are really working on developing talk for imagination, negotiation and explanation. The children will be creative on a large and small scale. They are currently working on developing a large scale Santa’s grotto and sleigh and changing some of the displays with their own ideas. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to talk to a member of the Foundation Stage team.