Ruby Class

Teacher: Lisa Fielder
Teaching Assistants: Lauren Cotton and Polly Davies

Welcome to the Ruby Class! We are a mixed pre‑school and reception class catering for children between the ages of 3 and 5. In Ruby Class, we fully implement the EYFS framework, where learning through play is at the heart of our curriculum and Laughter and Learning is our ethos. We follow the Development Matters guidance throughout the curriculum. In phonics, we follow the RWI phonics scheme, and in maths, we follow the White Rose Maths units.

During the week, we have various specialist lessons:

Monday

We have PE and Forest School. Children will come to school wearing their Forest School clothes and will remain in these clothes throughout the day.

Wednesday

Book and Biscuit is held from 9.00–9.20am. We welcome parents or carers to come and read a story with us and support their child in choosing a library book to take home and share. These sessions alternate weekly between reception and pre‑school parents.

Thursday

 We have French, Music and PE. Children are required to come to school wearing their PE kit.

Topic Overviews 

Topic 1: Fairies, Dragons and Knights

See the topic sheet for 

Fairies, Dragons and Knights.

In this topic, we focus on settling into our new class and school year. We learn about class and school rules and develop our PSED skills through circle time and Time to Talk activities.

Children will learn about:

• Knights and the Royal Family: We learn about the role of the Royal Family, such as charity work and the recognition of excellence through knighthood.
• Castles: Why castles were built and the features of a castle, such as towers, drawbridges and moats.
• Fairies and Dragons: We explore fictional characters and think about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters.
• Understanding the World: We will look at the units Humans, where we will learn about the human lifecycle, how to take care of ourselves, recognising people who are familiar to us, and talking about our senses. We will also learn about light, identify its sources, explore how light shines through different materials, and investigate shadows and rainbows.
• Expressive Arts and Design: Our focus will be on loose parts and the inspirational artist Andy Goldsworthy. We will explore the Access Art topics, Exploring creativity through marbling dragon eggs and printing dragon scales and Understanding identity and relationships by using resources that help children explore who they are and how they connect with those around them.

Topic 2: Fun, Fireworks and Food

See the topic sheet for 

Fun, Fireworks and Food

This topic focuses on understanding the world around us. We will explore celebrations and festivals around the world, recognising similarities and differences to our own familiar celebrations

Children will learn about

• Celebrations- my own, others, around the world.
• In Religious Education we will learn why Christmas is special and why it is celebrated.
• We will explore different foods people celebrate with and talk about our own traditions.
• We will talk about local Christmas traditions and compare the similarities and differences to traditions around the world.
• Perform the nativity with KS1
•  Through Understanding of the world, we will study our senses in the Humans unit, linked with Sound and Light through fireworks, Christmas lights, and the festivals of Diwali and Chinese New Year.
•   In Expressive Arts and Design, we will create our own Starry, Starry Night pictures, research the artist Vincent Van Gogh, and explore how the song Starry, Starry Night by Don McLean makes us feel.

Topic 3: Where we live

See the topic sheet for 

where I live 

-    This topic focuses on understanding the world through geography and learning about where we live and the types of houses we see in our local community. We will look at different traditional homes around the world and how other communities may live.

Children will learn:

• About the different traditional homes around the world
• To compare similarities and differences between old and new buildings
• All bout ‘my family’ such as grandparents/ siblings/ extended family
• That Broadway is where our school is.
• Know the name of their home village, e.g. Honeybourne, Willersey and that this is where I live
• In Religious education we will learn why Easter is special to Christians and the traditional ways this is celebrated.
• Through Understanding of the world, we will cover the science units Materials, including changing materials, Electricity and Forces.
• In Expressive art and Design, the Focus will be on Painting and the Inspirational artist, Clementine Hunter. We will build stick, straw and mud houses and look at the ‘Hinges and Catches’ unit for DT.

Topic 4: Land Ahoy

See the topic sheet for 

Land Ahoy

In this unit, we will be focusing on transition and beginning to get ready for the changes the summer term brings. This unit has a focus on Pirates, and we will learn that England is an island. We will talk about holidays/travel/adventures and learn how to be safe when we travel. We will also explore some eco themes through learning about pollution and the environment/ sea/water pollution

Children will learn

• In Religious education and PSED we will learn which places are special and why?  We will explore the topics ‘Healthy me’, focusing on mental health, healthy eating, bullying, looking after ourselves and the world around us
• Through Understanding of the world: we will cover the units Living things, their habitats and Animals excluding Humans to learn what makes a living thing, how to plant seeds and care for growing plants, what a habitat is and the key features of a simple life cycle of a plant and an animal.
• In Expressive arts and design, we will focus on form and the Japanese artist Hokusaito. We will  explore the Access Art topic: Exploring the power of creativity  through ‘Rainbows and waves for grey days’

Reading Books

Reading books are given to reception children in line with their RWI phonics stage. Books will be changed once your child has read them three times and is confident reading the text.

Your child will receive:

• a paper book
• a class reader

We encourage class readers to be shared daily at home to support developing reading skills. Books must be brought into school daily so your child can read with an adult and have their book changed after three recorded reads.

Home Learning

Home learning activities to support your child's learning will be sent home in learning folders for reception children. These activities reinforce phonics, literacy and maths skills taught in class.

Throughout the year, we will hold:

• a Phonics and Reading workshop
• an Early Maths workshop

In these sessions, we will discuss how we teach early skills and how they can be further supported at home.

Seesaw

We will regularly update Seesaw with your child's learning and ‘wow’ moments. We encourage you to comment on and record your own ‘wow’ moments. We love to share and celebrate your child's learning with their friends in the class.