Firetips (Nursery and Reception)

Welcome to EYFS

Our class is called Firetips and we are taught by Ms S (Monday-Wednesday) and Mrs Ralph (Thursday-Friday).

Firetips are supported by Miss Surridge, Miss Rossiter and Miss Lefort.

Things to remember:

LIBRARY - Your child's library session is on a Wednesday morning. During this session your child will be able to bring a new book home every week, if their previous book has been returned. Please read and share this book with your child to continue to develop a love of reading at home. Books must then be returned on a WEDNESDAY MORNING for your child to re-take a new one.

P.E- Our physical development sessions will be on a TUESDAY and a THURSDAY. Please ensure your child comes already dressed in the appropriate clothing and footwear, for these sessions. Your child will then stay in their P.E kit for the remainder of the day, so please think carefully about the weather. Clothing includes; black shorts, house coloured T-shirt for spring and summer and red trousers and a red jumper for the colder months and for any outdoor sessions. 

Music- Our music session will be taught by Mr Mitchell on a Wednesday morning.
 

Key dates:

Monday 5th June - School closed - Inset Day

Tuesday 6th June - Children return to school 

Tuesday 13th June - School Photos - Class Photos

Tuesday 13th June - EYFS Sharing Assembly

Friday 23rd June - Stay and Play for new Reception children

Monday 26th June - Visit to Christ Church

Friday 30th June - Meet the headteacher and EYFS team for new families

Thursday 6th July- Teddy Bears Picnic for new Reception children

Friday 7th July - Sports Day

Friday 21st July - Last day of school - finish at 1.30

Thursday 13th July - Transition Day

Friday 14th July - Stay and Play for new Nursery children

Summer 2

What a term, what a year, what a ball! We have had the upmost fun developing into the best little learners and becoming the independent people we are. The only sad thing is that we now move on, but for our Reception children moving into Year 1, we are only a window wave away. 

So let's reflect on the past term...

It has seen us explore 'What's out at sea?'

We took part in our first sports day, where we demonstrated resilience and self-belief in our house teams. We showed great respect for others as we supported Year 5 and 6 during their end of year production and curiosity, as we explored a new class and year group, during transition morning.

In Literacy, our writing continued to develop as we created posters when we explored plastic pollution, sent Tiddler on a new journey, added new sections to a story, compared the seaside from the past to the present, wrote letters to our new teachers, created proud clouds and reflected on this year. Keep writing over the summer! Maybe you could create a summer diary for your new teacher to read or draw some of your favourite memories labelled and bring them back in September.

In Maths, we investigated; Odd and Even, Ten and some more, counting beyond 20 and double and halving. Keep practising and consolidating these by singing songs from YouTube, accessing 'Topmarks' and 'ICT games' online, using door numbers and maths in real life to recap all our learning from this year.

In Understanding Of The World, we learnt about and labelled parts of a fish, sorted sea life into their correct habitats within the Ocean and explored floating and sinking in Science. In R.E, we explored special places of worship and where people go to pay respect to their religion. We even managed to visit some of these places too, which was very exciting.

Firetips 2022-2023 have been many things; busy, full of life, full of character but most of all, have been on a journey to becoming the kindest we can be and be a better team. As teachers, we are incredibly proud of each and every single member of Firetips and feel extremely lucky to have taught such a magical bunch. The thirst for life, love for learning, awe for everything we did made our jobs that little bit easier. We would also like to thank all the grown-ups too, for your kind words and utter support throughout the whole of this year.

All that is left to say is have THE best summer. We hope it brings you all the most amazing fun and memories to last a lifetime.

Mrs Ralph, Ms S, Miss Surridge & Miss Rossiter

Summer 1

And another term has come to an end. We are clearly having too much fun as time just seems to be flying and before we know it the children will be moving on to Year 1.

Here is a snippet of what we have been up to this term…

In Phonics the children have been busy consolidating all they have learnt this year. They have been practising using the new sounds they have learnt in both their independent writing and reading. It has been a real pleasure seeing how independent they have become using their phonics skills, whether it’s by reading a new book and spotting all those tricky words or some of our special ‘friends’ (digraphs and trigraphs – two or three letters together making one sound) or writing letters, cards and notes to some of their friends and family. Don’t forget to keep reading 10 minutes a day if you can, to get your next ‘Give me Ten’ milestones next term.

In Physical Development as well as continuing to work on our fine motor skills through using playdough and clay to make our clay snails, the children have had another fun term with Mr Tate practising their jumping in particular. But the highlight this term was definitely having some of the mums and dads come to join us for one of our PE lessons for our Share and Learn sessions. Thank you to everyone who could make it! Don’t forget to have a go at Mr Milbourn’s PE challenges at home.

We have continued to work on our Communication & Language through our Show & Tell linked to our topic ‘Ticket to Ride’ this term. It has been a joy to watch the children grow in confidence and having self-belief to stand in front of their friends and tell them about their own adventures. It has been great to hear about some of their journeys and adventures and made us all want to pack our bags and head off too.

During our ‘Feel Good Friday’ sessions, we have been working on our Personal, Social and Emotional Development, looking at Relationships. We spoke about who we live with at home, who is in our family and discussed what makes a good friend. The children have all worked really hard on being kind to each other and being great friends!

In Literacy our focus texts have been:

* Journey

* Mr Gumpy’s Motor Car

* The Train Ride

* The Naughty Bus

* Astro Girl

* The Snail and the Whale

The children have tried extra hard this half term to remember to start their sentences in their writing with a  capital letter, leave spaces between words and finish off with a full stop. (Or maybe even an exclamation mark!) They have been practising to make their writing even more fabulous and exciting by adding descriptive language (adjectives) and have really WOWed the grown-ups with how amazing their writing has become. We are definitely ready for Year 1!

In Maths we have continued to practise some key skills like subitising and addition. We have also been working on remembering our number bonds to ten and recognising teen numbers. The highlight was reading the story ‘One is a snail ten is a crab’ to explore number problems and helping to measure out the ingredients to make our own snail biscuits. Maybe you could have a go at some baking at home or playing one of the games suggested on Tapestry to keep practising.

The highlight this term however was our trip to the old Signal Box in St Albans with lots of opportunities to develop the children's Understanding of the World.

As you can see, it has been another busy but exciting half term. We can’t wait for our final term after the holidays with our ‘Pirates’ topic. We will be reading some classics like ‘Pirates love underpants’ and ‘Tiddler’, looking at all the things we can find under the sea. Until then we hope you all have a lovely half term and thank you for all your support!

Mrs Ralph, Ms S, Miss Surridge, Miss Rossiter & Miss Lefort.

Spring 2

And just like that, the Easter break arrived! Either we are having too much fun or these weeks are getting shorter! Wow! 
 

Super proud of Firetips class this term and all they continue to achieve. Paddington has certainly been a highlight and even more so since exploring his relocation from Peru and being something called a refugee. He has brought lots of learning, resilience and curiosity to our class which has been a delight.
 

So what have we been upto?…

In Phonics we have continued to consolidate Phase 3 sounds whilst exploring compound words and syllables in words. You could ask your child to identify the syllables in family members names or if they can see (and maybe write) any compound words from around the house. We really want to ensure all children are becoming more fluent with their reading, therefore ask that you do continue to spend 10 minutes a day sharing their reading book at home. Some children have reached the next Give me Ten milestone of ‘200,’ which is a fantastic effort. I know more will get there very soon, keep going the book vending machine is waiting!
 

In Physical Development we have been developing our team skills by acting out nursery rhymes. The children have had to listen to one another, deli-gate and problem solve within this unit and have LOVED it. You may be lucky enough to see a snippet in our Physical development Share & Learn on the 18th May. 
 

Communication & Language is always at the heart of everything we do, but our newest addition is our ‘question of the day’ at our snack table. The children explore the question and share their thoughts and answers with their friends, over a piece of fruit and a drink.

In Literacy we have explored a variety of texts; ‘Paddington, The Teeny Weeny Tadpole, Farmer Duck, Oliver’s vegetables and What the ladybird heard.’ The children have written their own versions of stories, created two class non-fiction books, which are simply wonderful and managed to link lots of Science to our writing too. We hope you saw the wonderful writing and amazing progress at Parent's evening last week.

Understanding Of The World has taken a huge focus this term and continues to next term too. We have explored the life cycle of a butterfly, as we have watched our caterpillars transform into butterflies. During science week we explored the sustainability goal ‘Life on Land,’ where we discussed why Zoo’s are a good place, what would happen if there were only humans on the planet and why it is important to look after our planet. We have learnt about the Easter story in R.E and some important symbols that represent Easter. 

Next term we move onto our next topic ‘Ticket To Ride.’ I know lots of children are extremely excited to get on our bus in the role play area, so I’m hoping they enjoy the topic. Some texts we will be exploring (incase you wish to share them at home) are; ‘Journey,’ ‘Mr Gumpy’s motorcar,’ ‘The Train Ride,’ ‘The naughty bus’ and ‘The snail and the whale.’ We head out on another trip, this time to St Albans Signal box which the children are incredibly lucky to have such amazing history on their doorstep. 
 

Whatever your plans are over the break have a wonderful time and don’t forget to share any highlights on Tapestry. 
 

Mrs Ralph, Ms S, Miss Rossiter, Miss Surridge and Miss Lefort.

Spring 1

And there you have it, another half term flown by! These children will be trotting off to Year 1 and Reception before we know it  A fantastic half term. After the Christmas holidays the children always seem to come back with a new spark and thirst for learning and we have certainly seen this in Firetips class. They have loved exploring 'Once Upon A Time' and the many stories and activities that came with it;

In Literacy our focus fiction texts have been:

* Goldilocks and The Three Bears

* Little Red Riding Hood

* The Three Little Pigs

* Jack and The Beanstalk

We also had a focus week on non-fiction as we explored 'Chinese new year.'

You will see all the amazing writing your child has produced this term, in Receptions Literacy books and Nursery folders at Parent's evening. Our Literacy sessions have included speech, narrative, sequencing, drama, descriptive writing, comparisons, fact book making and story writing.

In Maths we have explored the following:

* 2D and 3D shapes

* Addition

* Subtraction

* Number bonds to 5

* Number bonds to 10

Some tricky concepts taught this term in maths but do use suggested websites, games and songs, that we have put on Tapestry. These will help consolidate any learning at home.

Our Physical development session have seen the children control their bodies in Gymnastics. Mastering jumps and rolls, are a few of the skills I have seen during these sessions. A huge thank you to Mr Tate who delivers our P.E, the children thoroughly enjoy these sessions.

Our WOW moments this term:

* Trip to St Alban's Library

* Making porridge

* Baking Flapjack

* Surprise storyteller (Thank you Nellie's Mum)

* Isabelle's Dad in for a fun maths session

* PERFORM drama workshop

Parental involvement

As always, it wouldn't be a successful term if we hadn't had you guys in. Thank you for attending our 'Share a story morning,' we hope you had as much fun as your little ones and us. It is always magic bringing a book to life and seeing the children really engage in it, remembering the story features as they go. Our next share and learn will be all things Music and Art, not to be missed!

But aside of all this amazing learning and fun, we have worked hard on being kind. Kind to one another with our words, our approach and our help. Us adults are starting to really notice it everyday now which is really special to see, so keep it up Firetips!

As always, thank you for all you do at home, we do see it in class and appreciate every minute. For now, enjoy having no school run and waking up whilst it's still dark. We can't wait for brighter mornings and to see what magic Spring 2 brings 'Down At The Farm.'

Mrs Ralph, Ms S, Miss Surridge, Miss Rossiter & Miss Lefort.

Autumn 2

The festive holidays arriving so soon, time has flown by. The children are getting bigger, their writing is becoming clearer and their reading is becoming more confident. 

This half of term saw lots of new challenges and experiences for Firetips class and it has being a delight to share these moments with them; We started our Nativity and will have performed it to the whole school and our grown-ups before the week is out. We took a local bus to town to complete our first trip out of school at 'St Albans Cathedral.' We had the pleasure of watching the pantomime which visited our school, which was so much fun! We participated in a whole school music concert where we sang alone and with the whole school, all after eating Christmas/Festive lunch with our friends.
 

As well as all of this we have continued to develop our skills as good learners and friends by being kind and showing respect for one another and completed lots of learning in class too:

We followed instructions to create our own soup as we read ‘Pumpkin Soup’ and we wrote our own potions and sequenced a story as we read ‘Room On The Broom.’ We then focussed on the past as we explored ‘Remembrance Day’ and received an old rocking horse in class from a boy called Max to explore toys from the past. We then followed some of our children’s interests and planned a week on ‘Frozen.’ During this week we wrote coronation invites and linked Science as we worked out which season wass best for Olaf, using because in our writing. We then moved on to a favourite story of Mrs Ralph as we read, ‘The Jolly Christmas Postman.’ This was an exciting week as we wrote and posted our letters to Santa and created our own story maps of the story. Last week we finished our focus stories off with ‘The Snowman.’ The children loved the animation and made the most amazing zig-zag books, inspired from the book and animation.
 

In Maths we have explored addition and subtraction, subsidising and more and less. Please do continue to have a go at the ideas that we shared during our maths workshop, on how to make maths happen at home.

In Understanding Of The World we explored celebrations, as we hunted and explored everything Spiders and minibeasts- linking to Halloween. Created and explored fake snow linking to winter and created season calendars for our grown-ups linking with Expressive Art and Design. 

The end of this week we have our class party to celebrate what a fantastic term this has been and reflect on all the things that we have achieved as individuals, as well as a class. We would like to thank all the grown-ups for their continued hard work alongside jobs and responsibilities to be present where they could be and help with anything that was needed (volunteering on trips, helping with costumes and attending our share and learn sessions and our performances), we are extremely grateful for all of you. Next term we have our trip to St Albans Library and our 'Share a story morning.' Please don't forget to sign up to your favourite story for you and your child to enjoy during the morning.

Autumn 1

Well, what can I say, what an amazing half term to kick start our year. They say time flies when you are having fun and doesn't it just? It has been an absolute delight to watch all the children settle, create new friendships (that will hopefully last a lifetime) and develop as a group too. From staying for their first lunch to this evening, staying at school for a movie night without their grown-ups, just shows how much they have grown as individuals this term.

So, lets address what have we achieved in 7 weeks...

In Literacy we have explored the following texts:

* Funny bones

* The little acorn

* The little red hen

* We're going on a leaf hunt

* The leaf man

From these texts we have sequenced stories, created our own zig-zag books, added speech to images, wrote lists and labelled.

As well as fiction, we have explored a variety of non-fiction as we learnt about 'people who help us and Autumn.' The children have developed knowledge of phonics and have begun Phase 2, which they are doing really well with. So far, we have addressed, 's, a, t, p, i, n m, d, o, g, c, k, ck, e, l, u, r.' You can keep practicing these sounds at home by calling the sound out and writing them in exciting ways. A few examples being chalk outside, in flour, in shaving foam during bath time or even creating sound baskets as you gather things that start with a particular sound. As always, please do keep reading and sharing books at home. Phonics play is a great resource for phonic games. 'Reading egg' and 'Teach your monster to read' are other great sites (charges do apply to these though).

In Maths we have addressed many areas:

* 2D shapes

* Patterns

* Recognising and naming numbers

* Sequencing numbers

* Subisting (which we continue in Autumn 2)

* The story of number

It is really important that your child understands the concept of number and what '4' means for example. We will explore this concept more in our parent/carer maths workshop so please do attend, there will be free refreshments which is always nice. Topmarks and ICT games have a great variety of games that the children can access. However, do trust me when I say a good board game and a dice can provide your child with such rich mathematical learning, a board game a day during half term will assist with subitising and number knowledge hugely.

Our WOW moments that have assisted with Understanding of the world and Communication and Language have been:

* Baking bread

* A trip into forest school

* A visit from the Dentist

* A visit from a Nurse

* A visit from Petal the pony

* Quidditch day

* Autumn walk

Expressive Art and Design has been explored through a variety of art (linked to the week's story or theme) our home corner and amazing farm shop as the children took on roles in their play.

Physical development is occurring each day, in and out of class but also through our P.E sessions. 

But most of all, each of the areas mentioned above and ALL of the amazing things that we have been doing have Personal, Social and Emotional at the centre of it. This is key, not only in EYFS but throughout our whole lives. We take great care in ensuring personal and social skills are addressed daily and that we build resilient individuals that try hard and develop the knowledge on how to manage their emotions.

So, what will next term bring? For me I'm hoping for that Golden dustpan and brush! I jest. I look forward to the fun on our trip to the Cathedral, happy memories made at our share & learn and tears at our Nativity as the children shine in each of their parts.

Thank you for a great first half term and all the hard work that happens at home, we do appreciate all you do. 

Have a wonderful half term, do share some highlights on Tapestry.

Mrs Ralph, Ms S, Miss Rossier and Miss Surridge.