A p r i l 201 7
EYFS N E WSLETT ER
We hope you all enjoyed the fantastic weather that we had over the Easter
break. We are really excited about our new topic all about Dinosaurs this halfterm and it has been aptly named ‘The Land Before Time’. The children have
come back eager and excited to learn and we are looking forward to a busy,
fun filled term! It’s hard to believe that it’s our penultimate half term and Year
One looms already. Time flies doesn’t it?
OUR NEW TOPIC‘THE LAND BEFORE TIME’
Week Beg:
Beebies
Nursery
Reception
Books
1
17.04.17
Who were the dinosaurs?
Who were
the dinosaurs?
Who were
the dinosaurs?
I Dreamt I Was A Dinosaur.
Dinosaur Farm by Frann PrestonGannon
Non- fiction dinosaur books
What if a dinosaur series
2
24.04.17
Parts of a dinosaur
Carnivores
Carnivores
That’s not my Dinosaur!
The Dirty Great Dinosaur by Martin
Waddell
Non-fiction dinosaur books
3
1.05.17
How do dinosaurs
move?
Herbivores
Herbivores
BB – Stomp, Dinosaur, Stomp!
N – Dinosaur Roar! By Paul Stickland
N&R – Stomp Stomp by Kaye Umansky
Dinosaurs love underpants
4
8.05.17
What size is that
dinosaur?
High in the
sky
High in the
sky
Stomp, Chomp, Big Roars!
Here Come The Dinosaurs!
Can I bring my pterodactyl to school
Ms Johnson? By Lois Grambling
The Dinosaurs Diary by Julia Donaldson
5
15.05.17
How many dinosaurs?
Under the
sea
Under the
sea
Ten Terrible Dinosaurs
Harry and the bucketful of dinosaurs
series by Ian Wybrow
6
22.05.17
Digging up dinosaurs
Digging up
dinosaurs
Digging up
dinosaurs
Dinosaur Farm
Digging up dinosaurs
Monster stones
Pa g e 2
E Y N ew sl e tt e r
WAY S TO S UPP ORT Q UE STI ONIN G A T HOME:
As teachers, we want to teach your children the skills they need to be critical thinkers. Instead of simply
memorizing facts and ideas, children need to engage in higher levels of thinking to reach their fullest potential.
Practicing Higher Order Thinking (HOT) skills outside of school will give children the tools that they need to
understand, infer, connect, categorize, synthesize, evaluate, and apply the information they know to find
solutions to new and existing problems.
What To Do
We can all play a significant role in encouraging higher order thinking with your children. Asking open-ended
questions that don’t have one “right” answer gives children confidence to respond in creative ways without
being afraid of being “wrong.” After reading a book together, a parent might ask their child a question such as:
“If you were that character, what would you think, feel…..etc.?” rather than something like “What was the main
character’s name in the book?”
Below are more examples of questions to ask your child to spark discussion, make them think critically, and
encourage higher order thinking.
When reading a book:

“What do you think might happen next?”

“Does this remind you of anything from your life?”
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“Can you tell me about what you read today?”

“Why did he/she act that way?”

“ What could have happened differently?”
Nursery will be continuing with
Mystery Reader visits this term.
KEY DATES:
Please do sign up and come and read
to the children, they really do love it!
Grandparents
afternoon with
tea party and
maypole
dancing by KS2
Reception are always looking for
parents to come and read with
children—particularly last thing in the
afternoons. If you can spare any time
please do speak to one of the class
teachers.
We are also always on the look out for
parents with English as an additional
language to come and read a story in
your first language to the class.


5th May —
26th May -break
up for may half
term
PE Kits
ALL children in Nursery
and Reception will need
their P.E kits with their
correct coloured T Shirt
this term.
If Nursery parents are
unsure which colour your
child needs, please ask
Nursery staff as they have
a list of the children in
their houses.
Remember to replace
plimsolls when your child’s
feet grow!
PLEASE NAME
EVERYTHING!
E Y FS N ew sl e tt e r
Pa g e 3
RECEPTION : OPPORTUNIT IES FOR CHALLE NGE
Berryfields Learning
Powers
At Berryfields our Growth
Mindset philosophy
means we’re always
looking for ways to
stretch our learning and
our ideas. Please talk
with your children about
our school learning
powers.
You can find out more
about them on the
website.
Remember if something
feels hard that means
we’re in the learning pit
and
that’s good for us as
H OT A N D S U N N Y W E A T H E R … .
we are learning new
SUNCREAM
skills or knowledge to
Reception:
help us develop as
We are hoping that this glorious weather continues throughout this term.
learners.
With this in mind, please remember to put sun cream on your children
before coming to school in the morning and provide a named sun hat in
their book bag. If your child has highly sensitive skin and you feel they need
a reapplication, they may bring a named bottle into school; this must be left
with the class teacher and you child may ask to reapply it to themselves
before lunch playtime. Please show your child how to do this themselves as
we are unable to apply sun cream to any child.
Nursery: As most sunscreens provide at least 4 hour sun protection it will
not be necessary for Nursery children to have a bottle of sunscreen to reapply at school. An application of sunscreen before coming to Nursery will
be sufficient to last for the whole session.
The children will have continuous access to water and will be encouraged to
drink plenty throughout their day at school.
We are now entering our final term of the year. Our aim in Reception is to
make sure each and everyone of your children has the best possible
foundation to their learning in their first year at Berryfields. This means
that we will be starting to shift the balance between adult directed
activities (those which are more led or directed by an adult ) and child
initiated activities (those which are chosen by the child) We will be rotating
the children around 15 activities over the week. The children will be
moving between classrooms over the week and will be taught by staff
across all three classrooms. You may hear your child talking about being
in a spoon group, with a berry name, and having group leaders for these
sessions in the day. We are confident that this will be a fantastic learning
experience for them. They will still get some child initiated learning time
every day.
Please do not hesitate to come and speak to the reception staff about this
if you have any questions.
SOME REMINDERS!
Healthy Lunchbox
At Berryfields we operate a Healthy
Eating Policy and encourage all
children to have healthy school
lunches. Please support us with
this by NOT sending in fizzy drinks,
sweets or chocolate bars.
WE ARE A NUT FREE SCHOOL
‘Wow, that’s awesome!’
Reception parents, please
don’t forget to add any
achievements your child
has made to their online
learning journal. If you
have forgotten how to do this please ask Mrs
Heale for a reminder.
Pa g e 4
E Y N ew sl e tt e r
FUN FACTS ABOUT...

WEBLINKS
Dino addition colouring
http://
www.enchantedlearnin
g.com/subjects/
dinosaurs/activities/
mathcolor/
Dinosaur skeleton
challenge
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
sn/prehistoric_life/
games/
skeleton_jigsaw/
skeletal_jigsaws/
index.shtml
How big were
dinosaurs?
http://
www.enchantedlearnin
g.com/subjects/
dinosaurs/activities/
math/size.shtml
Dino quiz
http://
www.zoomdinosaurs.co
m/subjects/dinosaurs/
activities/findit/
gr2a.shtml
Unscramble the words
http://
www.enchantedlearnin
g.com/subjects/
dinosaurs/activities/
unscramble/
Dino listening/
colouring activity
http://
www.enchantedlearnin
g.com/subjects/
dinosaurs/activities/
checklist/
Trextriactivity.shtml

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The word dinosaur comes from the Greek language
and means ‘terrible lizard’. The word was coined by
English palaeontologist Richard Owen in 1842 and
was meant to refer to Dinosaurs impressive size rather than their scary appearance.
Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for over 160 million years, from the Triassic period around
230 million years ago through the Jurassic period and until the end of the Cretaceous
period around 65 million years ago.
It is believed that dinosaurs lived on Earth until around 65 million years ago when a
mass extinction occurred.
The first dinosaur to be formally named was the Megalosaurus, back in 1824.
A person who studies dinosaurs is known as a palaeontologist.
Rather than being carnivores (meat eaters), the largest dinosaurs such as the
Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus were actually herbivores (plant eaters).
To help fight meat eaters such as the Allosaurus or Spinosaurus, many plant eaters had
natural weapons at their disposal. Examples of this include the spikes on the tail of the
Stegosaurus and the three horns attached to the front of the Triceratops’s head shield.
 Pterodactyls are not dinosaurs, they were flying reptiles that
lived during the age of dinosaurs but by definition they do not fall
into the same category.
HELP
YOUR CHILD LEARN THE NAMES OF THESE
DI N O SAU R S A N D I D E NT I FY T HE M: