Early Years Foundation Stage
In foundation stage it is imperative that we lay secure foundations for learning giving children the very best start, and here at Kirton lane, we ensure this is an exciting adventure.
Play is at the heart of our curriculum and through play children will have the opportunities to embed and build on current learning, develop language and communication skills and improve their thinking skills. Children will learn to explore and ask questions, concentrate and challenge themselves and will develop ways to problem solve. It is these characteristics of effective learning that will ensure children become successful lifelong-learners.
We have an exciting indoor and outdoor learning environment that the children love to explore. Our children love to build creatively, investigate capacity in the laboratory, explore the natural world around them in our wooded area, recreate experiences in the role play and apply mathematical knowledge whilst playing games outside. Take a look at the photographs to see our children in action!
Assessment
During the first 6 weeks of Reception, we carry out the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA). At the end of Reception, we complete an assessment which is known as the EYFS Profile. We continuously assess through observation and use these observations to create a learning journey that shows the progress children make during their time with us in the Foundation Stage. We encourage parents and carers to become part of this learning journey by sharing experiences and aspects of learning from home through the app Evidence Me.
Below is the Knowledge and Skills Organisers for each half term so far.
RECEPTION CLASS:
Second half term - Autumn 2
We started this half term off with a bang and learned about Bonfire Night and Diwali. It was fascinating to learn about a celebration we are less familiar with, but, we quickly realised there are many similarities between different special events. In school we celebrated Diwali by learning about Rama and Sita, making Rangoli patterns and we even enjoyed a whole school Banquet – it was delicious!
As soon as the weather began to change as we approached Winter, we started learning about bedtime routines and read ’10 Minutes to bed Little Monster’. We carried out an experiment involving eggs and different drinks to help us discover the effects of these liquids on our teeth. Following this, and as part of our life skills home learning, we carried out a tooth brushing challenge. We talked about those things we do before going to sleep and realised our love for a bedtime story. In celebration of this we had a pyjama day and had stories from different members of staff and drank yummy hot chocolate! We even used this concept in maths to help us find one less. We sang ‘There were 5 in the bed and the little one said….’ Each time finding one less than the number before.
We have also been learning about what happens at night whilst we sleep. Did you know some people work at night? We learned about why it is important that some people do their job at night and realised how these people help us every day. We also learned about animals that are awake at night and learned about features that make them good at being nocturnal. We loved reading ‘Owl Babies’ as part of this learning and learned to retell this through a Talk for Writing story map. It was lovely then to perform this for our families at home.
First Half Term - Autumn 1
Reception Class - Our topic was....Let’s Explore!!
We have had a great first half term in Reception and have certainly enjoyed exploring our new environment. The laboratory has been a huge hit with all children – we have had magical potions, smelly soup and a bottle of something that turned people green!
With the main focus this half term being around PSED, we have learned to build positive relationships with others, be kind, take turns during play and understand our own feelings. This has helped us form great friendships with our peers.
We have also been learning to talk about our families and people who are special to us and have explored our local area. We used Google earth to find our houses and other places we recognised locally. Following this we created a huge map and enjoyed using it to build shops and houses. We even joined the blocks to make terraced houses.
As a celebration of our learning around this we love and to close a great start to school, we enjoyed a Teddy Bear breakfast. We ate delicious cereal and warm crispy waffles and even better, we got to cuddle our bear whilst eating every last crumb! In Nursery we have been getting to know each other and enjoying exploring our new nursery environment - both inside and outside. The children are really enjoying the new places of play and activities all whilst learning through play! We have been learning the rules and routines of the nursery and making lots of new friends!
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NURSERY CLASS
First Half Term - Autumn 1
In Nursery we have been getting to know each other and enjoying exploring our new nursery environment - both inside and outside. The children are really enjoying their new classroom and the activities, all whilst learning through play! We have been learning the rules and routines of the nursery and making lots of new friends!
Below is the knowledge organiser for EYFS for the second half of the Autumn term.
Nursery long term plan and progression of skills and knowledge.
Below is the long term overview for Reception Classes. These outline what each class shall be learning throughout the year.
A copy of our Early Years Foundation Stage Policy can be found here
Copies of our Reception class newsletters can be found here:
Reception long term plan and progression of skills and knowledge
