This week in Year R

Dear Year R Families,

What a super-duper exciting week it has been in Year R — packed full of adventure, imagination and some truly wonderful learning!

Our week kicked off in the most magical way with a Bear Hunt through our Nature Nook. We didn’t just read the story… we lived it! The children travelled through the long, wavy grass (swishy swashy, swishy swashy), the thick, oozy mud, the cold, damp river (splish splash, splish splash), the swirling, whirling snowstorm, the deep, dark forest, and finally into the gloomy cave… until we eventually found ourselves a bear!

The children absolutely loved this experience and have since challenged themselves brilliantly in their learning. We’ve seen them creating story maps to describe the family’s journey, producing bear collages, designing storybooks, and retelling the story in so many creative ways through our continuous provision.

In Drawing Club, we have drawn our favourite parts of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. The children have used their phonics, topic word mats, and WriteStrong word mats to help them write some amazing sentences. We are incredibly proud of their handwriting — it really shows how building strength and confidence from the very start supports children to become strong, capable writers as they move forward.

In Phonics, we have been learning some new sounds:
/or/, /ar/, /ur/, and /oo/,
The children have been using these sounds confidently in their writing and reading, and it’s been wonderful to see them applying their learning so independently.

In Maths, we have been exploring the composition of five. We’ve been learning that:

five is made of four and one (four and one make five)
five is made of three and two (three and two make five)

The children have also revisited the concept of one more and one less, using number tracks to support their understanding.

We were also incredibly proud to take part in our virtual marathon for Sophie’s Legacy this week. Every child completed one mile to raise money for such an incredible cause. The children ran, danced, walked, hopped and skipped — finishing the day with a Bear Hunt yoga session to calm our bodies and minds. They showed such determination, resilience and teamwork, and truly embodied our Resilience Dragon and Challenge Dragon this week.

We couldn’t be more proud of them all.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. We cannot wait for even more fun, immersive learning next week!

Lots of love,
Mrs Davey and the EYFS Team xx