Pioneers children are Reception aged (four or five years old). Children enjoy a range of creative and engaging play based activities, as well as formal inputs, to support their development and growth. Children in Pioneers are taught by Mrs Hann and Mr Grason. The children are supported by Mrs McGill.
Children’s progress and activities are recorded in their own Learning Journeys. These act as a summary of the journey children embark upon during their time in Reception and demonstrate the progress and success that has been achieved, as well as the next steps that may need to be taken.
Tapestry Learning Journal
A key aspect of the learning journey in Early Years is sharing information and progress with families. We use an online learning journal called Tapestry to profile the children's learning. Each family has their own account to see children's progress. Please speak to a member of staff about this for more information.
Here are some suggestions for your Happy Learning:
Let’s begin with some phonics and reading.
I suggest that you revise all of the sounds on the sound mat to start off.
Then revise the digraphs ee,ai and oa. You could take a fresh look at Geraldine if you need to. You could pause the video and write the words together.
In the photographs you can see a collection of sentences with these digraphs. Read the sentences with a grown-up. Your Pioneer could try to write some of the words or the sentences. Keep the sound mat close to you and the Phase 2 High Frequency Words too.
Here are the digraphs to look at again ai,ao and ee. Each word has some letters missing. Can you figure out which digraph goes in each word? It is tricky. Go slowly and try them out. You can use these to write your own sentences too.
Take a look at the poster for words containing the -igh sound.
And now for some maths,
Here is a link to the website I would like you to use:
https://apps.mathlearningcenter.org/number-frames/
I would like you to use this to try out some subtraction for the song 5 Currant Buns. i hope that you all know how it goes…
If you do not want to use this maths app,you could draw out the song like a story map or play it out with your toys.
In our book,What We’ll Build there is a beautiful illustration of a selection of useful tools. I have found a similar collection in my kitchen. Take a look at my picture and Oliver Jeffers picture. perhaps you could take a picture of a collection of tools in your house. Please share the picture with me.Ask some questions:
How does it work?
What is this for?
How does it work?
Tell me all about your interesting tools.
I look forward to seeing what’s in your kitchen drawer or tool box!
We began our preparations for Christmas by discussing the meaning of Advent. We went on to look closely at the foliage and got going snipping,cutting,trimming and creating our own wreaths for our Prayer Space in the classroom. The Pioneers went foraging for some scented additions to finalise our creation.
There was some left over eucalyptus and holly so that has gone in a vase and the house is now topped with branches of fir and trailing ivy.
Fresh vegetables were added to the Cat’s Kitchen. A question was asked,”Is it real?” and so a different investigation took place.
We sorted fruit and vegetables,real and plastic and wooden. We sorted again depending on how it grew-above or below ground,on plants or trees. Then we had a poke around inside to look for seeds.
Some painted on paper. Some preferred to paint straight onto the pumpkin. Either way the Pioneers adapted their strategies to suit the tools and the canvas. Focus and energy. Patience and thought.
Sometimes the best learning happens on the spur of the moment. The brushes were intended for painting but the puddle was too inviting to miss. The Pioneers discovered that they could make wonderful arcs of water spray when the waved the brushes around. They ran in big circles trailing the brushes behind them and of course they made the biggest waves possible in a small body of water.
The addition of powder paint was amazing and the effect was spectacular. The Pioneers were slightly concerned about the mess but they were reassured that everything would be fine when it rained.
We had been using the chimebars in the classroom to experiment with rhythm. The beaters were repurposed and appeared in the Little Red Hen’s Kitchen in the form of Kebabs. This was a great new use for the sticks. The Pioneers were all interested in making kebabs and discussed that some may be having these at home in the holidays with marshmallow and chocolate.
We took the idea one step further and made some leaf kebabs in the forest. These allowed us to collect and compare leaves at various spots in the forest.The Pioneers spotted the difference in the shapes and the talked about the seeds that we found too.
When we brought the pumpkin in,it was clear that it needed a wash,so we washed it and scrubbed it and massaged it with bubbles and green froth.
A visit to the forest was required to locate our missing Leafpeople. Many were close to the edge of the forest. Some were stuck in bushes and trees. Poor Mrs McGill had great difficulty in finding her one and needed help. The Pioneers were very quick to offer kindness and support and after a long hard search the lost leafman was located.
We collected and pressed our autumnal treasures. When they were ready we were able to take inspiration from our beautiful Leafman book and make our own.We all experimented and everyone had their own individual style and composition. We discovered and disussed a new word for everyone “orchard”
The Pioneers have enjoyed lots of opportunities to measure. They took great care pouring and filling. They have estimated quantities when making bread. They took the scales to the forest to compare their forest finds. They are constantly building,inside and out,horizontally and vertically.
Lots of chat and working together and full focus and concentration.
