Yearly Overview 

In Meerkat Class, we like to use a familiar children's book as a basis for our termly topic work. This also then includes focused story times where the children get to know the stories, work on recalling skills and also retelling stories. This is the yearly plan for our topics and the books we will be using. Each term, we will work towards a 'big event' or a 'class project' as well!  

Term Four in Meerkats

Our book focus for this term is We're Going on a Bear Hunt! We will be focussing on recalling the story, the different environments and repetition in the story. We will also be looking at our own environment and the world around us as the season changes from Winter to Spring! We have been looking for signs of spring when walking around the school and especially in the Sensory Garden, loving all the different flowers we can see. 

We have also been focussing on 2D shapes in our maths sessions looking at what shapes look like, what their names are, how many sides they have and how many corners. We will also be using this knowledge for some shape hunts around the school as well as using shapes to make pictures! 

Meerkats will also be enjoying our weekly cooking sessions, using our gross and fine motor skills to develop our independence, as well as eating yummy treats we have made! Along with this, we will be going to forest school every Monday, regardless of the weather, so if your child's water proofs do not come home, it's because they're being washed due to the huge muddy puddles!

It is going to be a super fun term in Meerkats, we hope you all have a wonderful term, and again if you need any support, please feel free to contact me at any time :)

Term Three in Meerkats 

We have had a very busy term! We have been using the book The Gruffalo and have been working really hard on the description of the Gruffalo and the different animals in the story. We have also been focussing on making marks with all kinds of tools this term, such as pencils, crayons, paint, pens and chalk. Our maths focus has been on big and small and sorting objects into these categories. We have also been talking a lot about how the Gruffalo may be scary, but he still wants a friend and how we can be kind to our friends. This term has been shorter than our previous terms, but we have accomplished so much! Meerkat Class have been engaging with stage three attention autism sessions three times a week, a focused activity every single day as well as developing our individual communication skills through use of lots of symbols, songs, Makaton and have even begun to look at Language through Colour to help us deepen our understanding of language. We have also loved exploring all the different kinds of weather we have seen this term, from playing in forest school in the snow, to exploring the frost and ice in the sensory garden and loving the sunshine coming through! What a wonderful term! 

Term Two in Meerkats 

This term has been a very busy, and exciting one! We have established a good daily routine and have made very strong relationships with all of our friends and our familiar adults. We have been listening to the story The Tiger Who Came to Tea and have been able to retell the story with familiar images. We have also consolidated our number and counting skills, working really hard to put numbers in order and recognising the total quantity of a group of objects. We have also been enjoying activities all about celebrations and festivals, such as Halloween, Bonfire Night, Remembrance Day and Christmas! 

This term Meerkats have also worked their way to stage 3 attention autism sessions where we join in an interactive game which helps us with our attention, interaction and turn taking skills in a super fun, exciting way! we have also begun playing turn taking games with a familiar adult this term which is helping our turn taking skills and our social interactions. 

As well as all of these busy activities, we have been doing cooking once per week, visiting the sensory garden, exploring soft play, small world play and new technology such as cause and effect toys, iPads and cooking tools.

We have had such a wonderful term, and we hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and we will see you in the New Year :)  

Term One in Meerkat Class

What a busy term we have had so far! It has been a very exciting time as we have a brand new group, and a new team. Everyone has settled in brilliantly and we are noticing that our daily routines have been established and the children are responding well with very little visual and verbal supports. 

We have enjoyed exploring the school, getting to know each other, having a go at cooking, visiting the sensory garden, visiting forest school and also loving our attention autism sessions three times per week! 

We have been using visual representations of our story 'Owl Babies' so far and the children are beginning to recall the title and are showing a great interest in the book as well. We will be building this up even more over the next few weeks, before our first 'Class Project' where we will be making bird feeders to hang in forest school!