What have we been learning this week?

Week Commencing Monday 2nd February 2026 

This week the children were excited to see that The Hungry Caterpillar was in our clue container. Many of them had remembered the story from home and their pre-school experiences and we extended their learning by looking at the lifecycle of a butterfly, learning the word 'metamorphosis'. 

We are very impressed with the children's developing writing skills. They have been using their phonic knowledge to write labels for different parts of the lifecycle and many children have retold The Hungry Caterpillar using some pictures and a booklet.

In Maths we have been paying for healthy snacks for the hungry caterpillar using 1p and 2p coins and have been drawing pictures to solve sharing, addition and subtraction problems.

We have started a new unit in My Happy Mind which is all about relating to other people. We talked about what makes a good friend and how to be kind, which links perfectly to the children trying to earn blue stars for their tree.

How you can help:

Please remember to revise the focus set of key words in the front of your child's diary as well as regularly revisiting previously learnt words. You will receive an updated sight word assessment at the end of the week so please take a look at this over the half term week. At this point in the year we would expect the children to be able to read 30 key words by sight in order to be on track to meet the Early Learning Goal at the end of the year. Please check your child's score against this.

Just a reminder that Monday is our Chinese New Year day - please can the children wear something red for good luck. We also look forward to welcoming you for a ten minute consultation to discuss your child's progress and next steps as appropriate.

Thank you for your support

Number Formation Guide 

Practise numerals at home with this printable number formation guide.  All numbers are formed by starting at the top.

Curriculum Presentations

Letter formation and handwriting

Please find images of how to support your child in achieving the correct letter formation.

• lower-case letters start at the top
• dots and horizontal cross lines are added after the main part of the letter has been formed
• capital letters start at the top and go down first, the pencil is then taken off the paper to add the horizontal lines

It is extremely important that your child uses a comfortable and efficient pencil grip, even though this may not be the same as your own. This should be the pincer grip.

Climbing the tree to a better me

Our special tree focuses on the Social, Moral, Spiritual and Social aspect of our learning. In Year R we are practising using our manners, being a good friend and being respectful and responsible.

We can earn three stars for each rung of the ladder and at the end of the year we can earn a special sticker at the top of the tree for our effort in trying to show these things.

When we have collected three stars of the same colour we can show our certificate in assembly and our name is moved up the ladder in class to show our progress.