Week commencing 8th May 2023 - Acorns 59

Welcome to our blog.

We have had a wonderful week at The Acorns 59.

Thank you to the parents who commented on last week’s blog regarding the EYFS and Birth to Five Matters.

I will try to include some content in to our weekly blogs and perhaps write a separate post on the topics.

We made observations this week over two focus areas of learning.

Literacy and Mathematics.

In literacy we observed -

Whether the children showed an interest in books

Can they repeat and use actions with familiar songs

Can they fill in the missing word in stories …. Little red riding ….. ??

How do they handle books? Can they turn individual pages?

Can they recall stories we have read in the past?

Do they enjoy mark making?

Can they recognise/write any letters?

Do they give meaning to the marks they make?

In Maths we observed things like …

Are they aware of number names?

Can they stack items?

Do they fill and empty containers?

Can they make comparisons?

Can they count in order?

Are they spatially aware?

Do they enjoy puzzles?

Can they sort items into sets?

Do they recognise numerals?

Can they follow patterns?

We make sure each week that our continuous provision (the toys, activities and experiences on offer daily) reflect the areas of learning that we are focusing on.

So this week, as well as the children’s own choice of activities to suit their own interests we made sure there were opportunities for mark making, building, sorting, reading etc.

We like to spend lots of time in the garden and as the weather is getting a bit nicer its important that the children are protected from the sun. Please remember to bring in sunhats and sun cream. We ask that you apply sun cream in the morning and we can re-apply later in the day.

The children have loved using the big blocks in the garden again this week – making all sorts of wonderful tracks and courses.

Maths is all around - during this type of play the children are measuring their steps, making estimations on whether they can step between the blocks or if they might need a plank to walk across.

They move the blocks around and use mathematical language - heavy blocks, big blocks, square blocks, long planks, mini planks.

At the end of the activity the children help to pack them away, which is a bit like doing a puzzle. We stack them up in size order.

Our letter of the week was C – The children had fun trying to think of friends who had the letter C at the beginning of their names.

“I do, that’s my letter.”

“My name has that letter but its not at the start”

“C is for Cat and for Couch”

The garden at The Acorns is looking lovely. The children have been amazed at the size of the rhubarb leaves.

They are pretty impressive!

The wisteria has started to bloom too - it looks beautiful.

We hope you have enjoyed reading about our week at The Acorns.

Next week our focus will be Understanding the World and the letter of the week will be D.

We are also hoping to have some special visitors on Wednesday.

Have a wonderful weekend !