Butterfly Class

WELCOME TO BUTTERFLY CLASS!

We are a mix of nursery and reception children, taught by Miss Hards (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday) and Mrs Chapman (Thursday) and we are lucky to be supported by Ms Campbell every morning and Miss Boocock every day.

Early years is where each child starts their learning journey through education and we endeavour to make it as fun, practical and engaging as possible. We boast a wide range of resources along with an impressive outdoor area for our children to access freely.

In Butterfly class we aim to;

Provide an environment which is safe, secure, and welcoming, where learning takes place through play;

Provide a positive environment where children can explore and experiment;

Provide an environment where equal opportunities for all takes place regardless of gender, race, culture, or religion;

Promote understanding, kindness, and tolerance of others;

Provide a varied and enjoyable curriculum that focuses on the importance of nurturing your child's motivation to learn;

Be dynamic and flexible, changing in response to children's prevailing concerns and interests.

In Butterfly Class we actively promote characteristics of effective learning and where a child has been observed exploring, concentrating or planning their play we celebrate this with a 'Ellie the Explorer', 'Concentrating Crocodile' or 'Planning Puppy' sticker. If your child comes home with one, why not ask them what they have been doing?   

WHAT WE ARE LEARNING

We are learning all things Space! We are reading the story Look Up! As well as Whatever Next, How to Catch a Star, Peace at Last and Aliens Love Underpants. Our 'Adventure Through Stories' sessions introduce children to story books, new vocabulary and lots of opportunities for book talk. 

Alongside this we will be looking at around Chinese New Year celebrations around the worlds and of course making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday! 

Maths

Reception children will be continuing to learn about numbers to ten. Children will learn to recognise them, count amounts, subitise and how they are made up from other numbers. Alongside this we will also learn about mass and capacity, length and height and begin to explore time.

Nursery children will focus on counting, recognising, subitising and becoming confident to numbers within five. Alongside this we will be learning about positions, repeats, and making and comparing collections. 

English 

Reception will have daily phonics lessons and reading practice sessions 3 times a week. During our writing lessons we will be looking at the books ‘How to Catch a Star’, ‘Look Up!’, Halibut Jackson and many others. During this term children will be supported to become secure at writing CVC words, short captions and begin to form sentences that can be read with others. We will also be practicing our letter formation and building finger strength to support this. During provision time, we model and support children to become independent reading and writing. 

Nursery will start their phonics learning, through rhymes and games. They will learn the skills we need to listen carefully and start noticing the sounds our voice can make.

We will continue learning to learn initial sounds, focusing on a sound each week. We are using careful listening skills to hear words that are segmented and follow simple instructions.

Each week there will be a nursery rhyme focus, where children are learning about alliteration, rhyme and listening skills.

Topic

This half term we will be learning all about Space! How to get to space, what we would take if we went on a visit and what it takes to be an astronaut. We will learn the names of planets, what happens to the moon and making consetllations with loose parts.

Alongside this we will follow children's interests, inside and out. Children will have opportunities to lead their learing, take risks (safely) and discover and explore, whilst being senstitivly supported by adults.

WHAT TO BRING TO SCHOOL

Please could we make sure that all children have a water bottle in school with them on a daily basis. Book Bags should be brought to school every day (we often make exciting creations to bring home). Please ensure that your child brings appropriate outdoor clothing including coats, hats, scarves and gloves in winter or sun hats and sun cream in summer. We ask that children arrive wearing sun cream so we can get exploring outside as quickly as possible. We have a range of wellies and all in one rain suits for children to use during our messy play or bad weather. Please feel free to bring your own if you would prefer. Please ensure that everything is labelled with your child's name as we often have an array of unnamed items left without a home at the end of the day.

Wednesday is our PE day.

Reception will bring home a reading for pleasure book and a decodable reading book that they have practised in school. We ask that you share these books at home and make a note in the reading record when you have children have read.

NUMBOTS

Numbots is aimed at both Nursery and Reception and helps children to learn basic number facts. We practise this a little in class but encourage children to practise at home on tablets/computers too. Their passwords have been sent home, but if you require a new one, please just ask.

CONTACT US

Please always feel free to come and see us before or after school should you need to discuss anything. We are looking forward to working in partnership with you all.

Miss Hards, Mirs Chapman, Ms Campbell and Miss Boocock