Acorns 2023 - 2024

WELCOME TO ACORNS

Class teachers - Mrs R Corcoran and Miss L Daniels

Learning Support Assistants - Mrs R Turner and Mrs J Metcalf

Follow us on Twitter  @AcornsWhitegate

As Acorns class begin their learning journey at Whitegate, the children learn daily class routines and as they grow they become more involved in daily school life such as whole school worship and joining Key Stage 1 on the playground. The children learn to be independent through making positive relationships whilst having the wisdom to make good choices, as well as learning in different ways. Through challenges, playful opportunities and embarking on wider experiences, every child has the opportunity to shine through their own God-given uniqueness.

Currently we are exploring the question ‘I wonder how it grows?’ through which we will explore farming and things that grow.  

We recognise the importance of following children’s interests in early years, therefore throughout the year, the children’s changing interests will be explored and developed further.

The curriculum in the Foundation Stage is taught through the Early Learning Goals. Our EYFS area is a carefully planned and well-resourced environment that caters for the various needs of a young child. We offer a broad range of experiences for the early years, both indoors and outdoors. Our Early Years team plan a range of purposeful activities which inspire and engage children as well as match the different levels of need.

There are seven areas of learning that shape our educational programmes.

 The 3 prime areas are:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, social and emotional development

Children are also supported within the 4 specific areas of:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Reading is at the heart of successful learning and a priority across the whole curriculum. Introducing Acorns to the joy of reading is essential in encouraging an early engagement with books, as well as confidence in both reading and writing. Throughout the year we will immerse ourselves in high quality texts which will help to drive our learning. Indeed, sharing books, stories and rhymes is a daily part of life in Acorns. We love getting lost in our story books and learning more about the world around us through non-fiction books. 

Each half term we have a spotlight author who has been chosen for their high-quality texts. We will have the opportunity to listen to, read and learn more about these fantastic authors.

Currently our spotlight author is Mini Grey.

Please ensure your child reads at home at least 4 times per week.  In Acorns, we expect the children to be reading aloud to someone at home and for this to be recorded in their Home – School contact books.  

Phonics:   

Phonics is taught daily using our accredited Ready Steady Phonics scheme. We will learn to recognise the letters and know the sound they make, we will listen for these sounds in words and we will practise forming them correctly.

Literacy:

We will continue to develop a love of stories and listen attentively to story time. We will talk about the main events in the story and predict what might happen next. We will also have a go at retelling a story using role play or small world resources, using some story language. We will continue to embed writing sentences using the taught graphemes and using common exception words.

Maths:

We will begin exploring more complex patterns and will move on to look at numerical patterns. We will continue to count beyond 10, noticing pattern in ones and begin to look at a systematic approach to splitting and recombining 10.

Personal, Social & Emotional Development:

We will continue to develop our understanding of the rules and routines we have in Acorns and the relationships we have made with both adults and our peers. We will learn about different factors that support our overall health and wellbeing. 

Understanding the World:

We will learning about farming and how it has changed over time. We will also learn that there are different types of farming. We will also learn about plants and what they need to be able to grow.  

Physical development: 

We will continue to develop body strength, coordination, balance and agility through a range of games and activities including maypole dancing and we will also continue to develop fine motor skills to support writing using the tri-pod grip. 

Expressive arts and design:

We will explore observational drawing of plants. 

RE

We will learn about special times and think about how we celebrate special times as well as people from different faiths.

Routines and Reminders

PE

PE is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please ensure that your child comes to school in their PE kit on our PE days. A polite reminder that earrings will need to be removed or not worn on PE days to ensure the safety of the children. Please can PE kits also comply with uniform policy. Thank you.

Coats

Reception are given the opportunity to learn outdoors every day, whatever the weather, so please ensure that your child has a waterproof coat, preferably with a hood in school every day. 

Fruit and Water/Milk

Please?do not?send water bottles into school. Reception children have fruit, milk and water provided. The children will have access to water throughout the day.

Social Media

We tweet throughout the week so do follow us, on Twitter, to get an insight into all the fantastic things we get up to and lots of up-to-date information. Follow @AcornsWhitegate.

Our door is always open, please come and see us with any concerns, no matter how small you feel they may be.

Mrs Corcoran and Miss Daniels