Another week, another ELLI animal! This week in reception, we have been focusing on the Unicorn. Unicorns like to look at things in different ways, to find another angle. They are playful with ideas and like to use their imagination. We introduced the unicorn to the children using the book ‘Sugarlump and the Unicorn’ by Juila Donaldson. We talked to the children about being imaginative and creative to think of new ideas. The children have decorated unicorns with a lot of shine and sparkle (and a lot of tidying up!) and used unicorn masks when role-playing.

In other areas of the curriculum, the children have continued to think about their own and others feelings, and talk about the autumnal changes they are observing. Alongside this, they have started to take home the All About Me box. Every child will get a chance to take the box home, fill it with items that are special to them and bring it into school to share with their peers and teachers during a circle time.

This week the children have learnt the phonemes p, i, and n. The children now know the phonemes s, a, t, p, i and n and are starting to blend them. Please follow this link to see an example of blending these letters to read words  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ovJIxTQpsU . The children have also learnt the Jolly Phonics songs and actions complementing the taught letters. The link to the songs can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4D4L_vKanY.

We have been exploring the numbers 1 to 5 this week. Each day we have investigated a new number in depth and created a poster for the children to reference in their classroom. While you are out and about with your children, please encourage them to spot these numbers and find them within the environment e.g. four wheels on a car, two shoes in a pair, three people in our family, numerals 4 and 5 on our door.