EYFS
Literacy
In literacy this week, children in Early Years began reading a book called "The Ugly Duckling" (Danish: Den grimme ælling): a Danish literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). This classic story raises questions about bullying, discrimination, and the importance of being true to yourself. The Ugly Duckling looked very different from his siblings, who made fun of him and treated him horribly because he didn’t look like them. He wished he was beautiful like the swans he saw flying in the sky. By spring, he was fully grown and tried to join a flock of swans. The young swans treated him like one of their own. He was surprised that such beautiful creatures would want to be with him. However, then he saw his reflection and saw that he too was a beautiful swan.
 
The story raises some interesting questions for the children to discuss, including:
Why did the other animals call the Ugly Duckling ugly?   
Why would someone tease/bully/make fun of people who look different from them? 
   3.  Is there any situation in which it is acceptable to judge someone by their appearance? What makes these different from the case of the Ugly Duckling?
  Do you have to look like the people around you to fit in with them?
    5.   Why did the Ugly Duckling have to find birds that looked like him to know and be comfortable with who he was?
    6.   Does the way someone looks on the outside determine who they are?

Contextual Learning
Children’s books like “The Ugly Duckling” expose young readers to a wide range of vocabulary words in a context that is easy to understand. When children see new words within the context of a story, they can infer their meanings through the surrounding text, illustrations, and the overall narrative. This contextual learning helps build a deeper understanding of vocabulary, enabling children to use the words correctly and apply them in their own writing and conversation.
Playing with Jolly Phonics
N, n – This week the children are learning to make the “n” sound and reading words with “n” sound in them. Examples include words like “sand,’ “sun,” “sea,” and “sit.”
 Mathematics Fun
In mathematics this week, the children were introduced to some unusual shapes as well as the usual ones like square, circle, triangle and others. These unusual shapes included “octagon” an eight-sided shape. The children were introduced to this using “monster legs.” Monster legs is toy octopus that is used to show children a range of items and objects that have eight sides.
Expressive Arts
This week EYFS children produced a collage based on the “p” sound in phonics. Pirate phonics is a way of making learning phonics a fun and creative activity. This reinforces the work they do on their “Jolly Phonics’ learning programme.
By Mr. Christopher

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