We would like to share with you some of the things we are going to be focusing on this half-term in FS1. In addition to taking account of children’s interests, we will be continually planning for their next steps through some of the activities below:

• Exploring Autumn- encouraging children to use their senses to explore their natural environment & describe any changes they notice for example, leaves changing colour & beginning to fall from trees, feels cooler outside, raining more, getting darker earlier in the evenings
• Learning about harvest- helping children to understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods and the need for a variety of food throughout the day and encouraging children to recall where different fruits and vegetables grow (underground/on a plant or tree)
• Learning about each other’s likes, dislikes and similarities and differences.
• Reading Spine - Key texts- ‘Little Red Hen’ and ‘Owl Babies’. We will be linking this story to different activities in many areas of the provision to support retelling of the story
• Phonics- Phase 1 phonics activities within the provision and supported in adult led activities to support early reading
• Songs and Rhymes - We will be singing lots of familiar nursery rhymes and songs to support children’s development in Communication and Language with a particular focus on ‘5 Autumn Leaves’ and ‘Cauliflowers Fluffy’
• To develop our children’s knowledge of fitness and to support physical development, we will be taking part in a National fitness themed week. This will take place week beginning Monday 21st September. Please see Class Dojo for further information
• In Mathematics, we will be thinking about the value of each number and having a focus number each week. We will update Class Dojo to inform you of which number is the focus and how you can support this at home.

Throughout this half term, we will also be supporting children to establish daily routines for example, getting ready to go into the garden, washing hands in anticipation of snack/lunch/tea, using the toilet and getting ready to go home. We encourage children to tidy up their toys once they have finished playing and use the saying ‘choose it, use it, put it away’ to support this.
We will also be supporting children to understand and follow the 3 simple rules that we follow in the Centre. The rules are ‘Be Kind’, ‘Be Careful’ and ‘Be Helpful’. We use puppets to support children’s understanding of these rules and give examples of what being kind, careful and helpful looks like in FS1. Some examples of these rules include walking through the base, sharing toys with friends and tidying up toys that aren’t being played with.