Welcome to the Caterpillars!

Hello and welcome!

*Meet the Caterpillar grown-ups*

The grown-ups in the Caterpillars class are Mrs Elwell, Mrs Leatherland, Miss Goldacre and Mrs Soulsby. We love teaching the Caterpillars and we are so proud of their achievements!

If you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Thank you! 

*Our Christian Value for the term*

Our Christian value in the final term is 'Justice'.

Justice means giving all people - particularly the poor and oppressed - what it is right and fair for them to have: life, health, freedom and dignity.

It is about acting out of a concern for what is right and seeing right prevail. It is about social justice, especially for those who suffer most and are least able to protect themselves.

Justice is all about being fair and kind and ensuring that whatever we do we know it is morally right for everyone. 

Psalm 11:7

'For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.’

*Our Learning for this term*

Summer Term 2

Our topic for this term is 'On the move' and we will be looking at the children being able to name and describe different forms of transport. Our Talk for Writing text is the well known story of the journey of 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'. Our shared Reading texts are 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and 'The Train Ride'. We will also be singing the songs 'Down at the Station', 'Zoom, zoom, zoom', 'Chop, chop, choppity, chop' and Tommy Thumb. In Maths we will be learning about weight and how to compare different weights. We will ensure that the children are presented with large but light objects and small but heavy objects to prevent the generalisation that big means heavy and small means light. We will also be learning about positional language using words alone with no pointing. The children will be learning about how we grow and change from being a baby to an old person. We will look at the season of Summer and discuss what has changed. The children will be learning how to keep safe when crossing the road. We will also re-visit how to keep safe on the internet and talk about Pantosaurus and how to keep our bodies safe.

Summer Term 1

Our topic for this half term is called 'Water It!' We have been very excited to return to school and explore our new classroom environment. We love it! Our talk for writing text is called 'Squeaky Story'. In Maths we are learning about capacity and developing our knowledge and understanding of numbers. In Phonics we will be learning the pronunciation of phonemes as we start our learning journey with Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised 'Foundations for Phonics' guidance. The focus is on daily oral blending and language development through high quality stories and rhymes. Our phonics teaching starts in Nursery and follows a very specific sequence that allows our children to build on their previous phonic knowledge. We will be planting Sunflower seeds in our garden and learning about what a plant needs to grow. We will also be looking at the signs of Spring and the life-cycle of a tadpole. We will be learning about creating patterns in our mark making to help support our fine motor control for handwriting. We will be talking about our experiences during our Easter holiday with our families. We are learning about keeping our bodies healthy and how we keep our relationships healthy too by being kind to our friends and family. We are also learning to become more independent at looking after our belongings in school and getting ready for home time by collecting our bags, coats and lunchboxes from our pegs. We are learning about our value of trust for this half term and who do we trust. Learning about who we can trust if we need to seek help to solve a problem for ourselves or others.

Spring Term 2

Our topic for this half term is 'Once Upon a Time' and we are enjoying listening to traditional stories. Our talk for Writing story is 'Stuck in the Mud'. In Phonics we are enjoying rhyming words and making different sounds with our voices. We are learning about how to look after our environment and living things including our pet tortoise Herman. In Maths we are learning about events in our daily routine and about length and height. in PSHE we are learning how to take turns and how to resolve problems when learning through play with others. We are developing in our friendships in the Caterpillars and enjoying gardening activities outside so remember to bring your wellies.

Spring Term 1

Our topic for this half term is 'Rhyme Time' and we will be focusing on a different nursery rhyme each week to develop our communication and language skills. Our Talk for Writing story this half term is the story of 'The Little Red Hen'. Our shared reading is 'Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan Ahlberg.  In Maths we are focusing on exploring and understanding number. In Phonics we are working at Phase 1 Aspect 3 General Sound Discrimination - Body Percussion, Syllable awareness and onset and rime. Our Christian Value for this half term is Compassion so we will be learning about the Bible story 'The Good Samaritan' and how we can show compassion to others. We will be celebrating Chinese New Year. We will be looking at the difference between day and night and what happens at night. We will be learning about different occupations and who can help us. We will be learning about making healthy choices with food and drink and the importance of dental hygiene. We will also be learning about healthy choices for physical activities.

Autumn Term 2

This half term our topic is 'Let's Celebrate'.

We will be starting this week with our new Talk for Writing text 'Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle'. We will be learning about the different celebrations this half term starting with Bonfire Night safety.

Our shared reading texts are 'Come on Daisy' and 'Where's Spot?'

We will be learning about size, counting principles and comparing amounts in Maths.

We are especially looking forward to the children talking about special times or events with their friends and family.

We will be talking about relationships and how we care for others and living things. Anti-Bullying week starts on Monday 15th November and the theme this year is 'One Kind Word'. We will be celebrating Odd Sock's Day on the Monday and talking about what makes us all unique. We will talk about their own and others behaviour and it's consequences through the use of the story 'Topsy and Tim Help a Friend'.

We will be exploring what has changed? by looking at the season of Autumn.

The children in the Caterpillars love listening to stories and we will be teaching the children a repertoire of different songs and rhymes including Five Cheeky Monkeys.

At our creation station the children will be creating firework  pictures after Bonfire Night and printing activities.

In December we will be learning about how some families celebrate Christmas. 

Autumn Term 1

We are learning each day as we step through the door.
What an amazing achievement for all the children who have been at home with their family for the past eighteen months. Well done Caterpillars.
We are busy recognising our names on the snack table and our pegs. We are busy getting to know each other and learning the names of our friends. We are becoming familiar with our daily routines. We are learning about our school rules of being Ready, Respectful and Safe and what those words mean. Sitting still and being ready to listen, respecting other people and objects by learning to share and take turns with toys. Learning how to be safe by keeping our hands and feet to ourselves, holding on when climbing outside and doing as we are asked by the adults who are teaching us.

We are going to be talking about our family and who takes care of us.
Our talk for Writing story is ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?’

In phonics we will be developing our listening skills starting with sounds in the environment. What sounds can you here when you are out and about or at home?

We will be learning numbers through singing counting rhymes and counting on our fingers.

We will be learning about ourselves and all the amazing things that we already know and the skills we have learnt already at home, celebrating our achievements and taking our next steps in our learning journey. Come along and join the fun. 

*Our Weekly Newsletters*

Keep updated with our learning and our news!