Welcome back!

Welcome back everyone, we hope that you had a very enjoyable holiday. We are now at the start of the Summer term. Where has the year gone?! We can celebrate some fantastic achievements in our learning so far and will be working very hard to achieve our targets.

Last week we were celebrating St George's Day. Thank you all for your party donations. With Miss Bond the children learnt about all things English. This week we will be continuing our learning on life cycles by looking at the life cycles of plants. In maths our focus will be on counting in 5s.

We look forward to seeing you all at 'Stay and Play'.

Coming up this week in Reception 2...

We are continuing our learning on life cycles this week. Our tadpoles are growing quickly! The children are really enjoying watching and talking about them. We have learnt all about the life cycle of a frog and we have been writing 'Frog Diaries'. 

Last week all the children worked with an artist to produce artwork based on the story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle. It looks amazing and is being displayed in the Yellow Room by the coat pegs. This week we will be learning more about the life cycle of a butterfly and we will be making our own zigzag books retelling the Hungry Caterpillar story.

In maths we are learning to double and halve. The children are learning that doubling means adding a number to itself, e.g. double 4 is the same as 4 + 4 = and they are using fingers, objects and pictorial representations of this. They will also learn that halving a number is the same as sharing into two equal groups and they will be doing lots of practical activities to support this.

I'm looking forward to another great week. See you all tomorrow.

Update

Hello, here is an update on what we have been learning over the last couple of weeks. 

The children showed a big interest in our space topic and they learnt lots about planets, astronauts and space stations. 

Last week we began a new topic - Life Cycles. Mrs Lamb brought in some frog spawn from her garden pond and we have loved watching the tadpoles hatch out. I can't wait to see how they have grown over the weekend! The children are very enthusiastic about this topic too and have learnt lots about the life cycle of a frog. each child is writing a 'Frog Diary' which will continue over the next few weeks. So far we have completed the front cover, started the contents page and written a sentence about frog spawn. Amazing!

Next week we will have an artist working with us. The children will be working together to create a piece of art based on the life cycle of a butterfly. We have read 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle in preparation. 

In phonics, most children have completed Letters and Sounds Phase 3. They have now learnt 42 phonemes and can represent each by a grapheme. Some children have made more progress and are learning alternative graphemes for reading, e.g. ay, ou, ie, ea, etc. Some children are just beginning Phase 3 and are learning the vowel digraphs (two or three letters that make one sounds, e.g. ai, ee, igh, oa, oo).

In maths recently we have been learning how to subtract. The children have read subtraction number sentences and created their own. They have calculated the answer using objects - taking some away and counting how many are left - and using number tracks to count back to find the answer. This week we will be learning how to estimate and we will also be revising counting accurately - one number for one object!

Welcome back! We hope you all had a lovely holiday. If you got up to anything exciting during the break, please send us a postcard via Orbit.

Our maths focus since we have been back has been addition. the children have been learning to find one more, then two more than a given number and have moved on to simple addition using objects. All the children are able to find the total by combining two groups of objects and counting them all. We are working towards using the strategies of putting the largest number first and counting on from the first number.

This week is World Book Week and we are focusing on the story of Elmer. On Monday the children had a session in the hall with 'Imagine Action' where they developed their ball skills through the story. They loved this and were very good at it! 

We have also begun a topic on space which I am sure you have heard all about!

Nursery Learning week beginning 10th February.......

Another exciting week ahead in early years...... In Maths this we are counting and ordering numbers to 20 and beyond! The children will be ordering a number track and playing games where numbers are taken away and they have to work out which number is missing. They will also be continuing to match quanities to numbers showing off their accurate counting skills. We will also be 'digit dancing' and concentrating on numbers 1,4,7. If you want to know more about digit dancing check out this youtube clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh7whodf3RA In phonics this week we are continuing with our work around rhythm and ryhme and will be reading 'Room on the Broom'. We will also be learning new letters c and k as well as recapping s-a-t-p-i-n-g-o. To help us learn our new letters we will playing the castanets spanish style - dancing to spanish music and chanting our new sound c-c-c-c-c-c-c-! Don't forget to send us a postcard on Orbit.... See you all tomorrow The Nursery Team

w.c. 10th February

Hello!

This week we are continuing our theme of witches and magic and we will be writing our own potions and spells!

In maths we are adding two groups together. we will be using lots of language related to addition, e.g. add, and, plus, more, how many, altogether, combine, total. When doing adding activities at home with your children, please encourage them to put the largest number first and count on the smaller number. Also all the children want to be chainers (not stringers)! This is where, for example when adding a group of 5 objects & a group of 3 objects, they recognise that they can count on from the first group without having to count all of the objects. I hope that makes sense! If it doesn't, please ask!

In phonics some children are continuing to revise all the phase 3 digraphs, some children will learn two more vowel digraphs, oa and oo, and some children will be revising the consonant digraphs th, ch, sh, ng. All children will continue to read and write captions and some will be writing sentences with capital letters and full stops. When you do any writing activities at home with your children, please would you encourage the correct letter formation we worked so hard on at the start of the year. Many thanks for your hard work and support.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Reception w.c. 3rd February 2014

In this week's phonics learning some children will be consolidating reading and writing words using letters from set 1. Some children will begin learning vowel digraphs from Letters and Sounds Phase 3 and some children will be consolidating all the Phase 3 vowel digraphs. The children are getting really good at writing the Phase 2 captions that we do in the mornings. They are making amazing progress. We are now doing focused writing activities in our colour groups to support this. Some children are writing Phase 2 captions, some children are beginning to write sentences and some children are making up their own sentences to tell a story.

In maths we are making 10. We are using 10 frames and Numicon to explore finding pairs of numbers that make 10, e.g. 2 and 8, 3 and 7, etc. We are also singing lots of songs to support this. The aim is for the children to have rapid recall of these number bonds, but at the moment we are using practical, physical resources so that they understand what these pairs of numbers mean. We are also beginning to record what we find through pictures and number sentences.

In music, we are exploring rhythmic patterns using percussion instruments and body sounds. In topic we are finding out all about Chinese New Year and how it is celebrated and in philosophy we are exploring friendship and sharing, discussing whether we should share everything with our friends.

It's going to be another busy week!

Nursery Learning this week...

What's on this week in Nursery.................... Letters and Sounds: The children will continue to practice their rhyming skills and will be reading and variety of rhyming stories. We will be asking the children to spot the rhyming words and see if they can think of anymore..... We will be recapping the sounds s-a-t-p-i-n and learning two new sounds 'g' and 'o'. Number: This week we will be counting and ordering numbers to 20 and matching quantities all the way to 20, making sure we are counting accuratly. We will be finding different ways to split a number of objects in to two groups, for example - 5 objects (4+1) (3+2) etc... We will also be making sure we can recite numbers 1-10 in order and say which number comes next... In number this week we will be introducing a new number song 'The Biscuit Tin'...........The words are as follows.... 10 big biscuits in the biscuit tin...one little hand went driving in.....gobble gobble munch munch....gobble gobble CRUNCH.....now there's 9 big biscuits in the buscuit tin. The song continue until there are no biscuits left.... 'no big biscuits in the biscuit tin.....then my mum came walking in.....gobble gobble munch munch....gobble gobble CRUNCH.....now we're banned from biscuits in the biscuit tin!! Ask your child to sing you the tune - or come and ask us!! Thank you The Nursery Team

Witches, Wizards and Potions.....

Follwing the success of Science week and exploring our senses, the children have really enjoying making potions and mixing different ingredients together. This has led us on to our new theme of 'Witches, Wizards and Potions'! During last week the children began role playing being witches and wizards so we though we would enhance this further by creating a whole theme around this topic. The children this week will continue mixing and making potions and they will begin to write their own spells which we will collect and put in a class book of spells. We will be reading stories about witches and wizards and enjoying all things magical. If your child has any stories about Witches and spells etc, they are very welcome to bring them in and we can share them with the group. They can also bring in any witches/wizards hats/cloaks that will help enhance our role play. Looking forward to another great week! See you all tomorrow The Foundation Team

Nursery Learning this week.....

Our teaching sessions will focus on the following this week: Letter and Sounds: We will be sharing the story Each Peach Pear Plum and focusing on rhyming words. We will also be recapping the letters s-a-t-p and learning two new sounds 'i' and 'n'. Some children will be practicing spelling simple words that we can sound out and working really hard to form the letters correctly. Number: We will be introducing the word 'estimate' as we make really good guesses as to how many objects there are and then checking by accurately counting. We will also be matching quantities to numbers and thinking about who has more and who has less. We are also continuing with our Squiggle Whilst you Wiggle program and dancing at the 'Dough Disco'! You could have a Dough Disco at home......grab some playdough and turn up the music and let your fingers have a dance - have a look at this video for some inspiration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-IfzeG1aC4 See you all tomorrow :0)

Whats on this week.....

This week in Early Years we will be continuing with our science theme. The children really enjoyed exploring their senses last week and will continue to do so throughout this week. We are setting up a Potion Lab outside, where the children will be mixing together all sorts of different smells. We would still really appreciate any donations of herbs and spices and anything smelly!! White shirts would also be great, so the children can really get into the scientist role. The children will also continue to experience the 'Dark Den' both inside and out. We have introduced stories for them to share using torch lights. We are trying to encourage the children to use a wider vocabulary when decribing textures, smells and sounds. You can help at home by introducing your children to interesting describing words such as, spiky, bumpy, stretchy, bendy, stinky, jingle etc. This week would like to children to either bring something in that is smelly or an interesting object that we can touch and feel. Please help us make the blog the really good, by sharing your comments below... Many Thanks The Foundation Team

Number rhymes

These are the number rhymes that we have been using in school Correct number formation is as important as letter formation, so you can use these at home to help your child..

Comments please.....

Please leave a comment if you have read the blog....your feedback is important to us, so let us know what you would like to see on the blog.

Thank you
The Foundation Team :0)

Science Week

This week across school is Science week. In early years we are going to use Nina and the Neurons as our stimulus. The children will be learning about all the five senses and exploring and investigating these through a range of exciting activities. We will become expert scientists and experiment with mixing potions, making smelly perfumes, experience the dark, investigate temperature, tantalise our taste buds and make beautiful music with our own instruments! These are to name but a few of the exciting activities we have planned!

If your child would like to bring something in that is connected to the senses, we would love to share these during key worker time.

We would also welcome any donations of the following;

• Old white shirts that we can us as lab coats
• Old dark material that we can use to make dark dens
• Eye masks that we can use as blindfolds
• Herbs from your garden that we can use to make smell pots and perfume
• Any textured objects that we can use feel and describe

Thank you in advance for your help. :0)

See you all on Monday.

The Foundation Team

Spare Clothes

We would really appreciate any donations of spare clothes.......tracksuit bottoms, knickers, undies and loads of socks. If you have any of the above that you are getting rid of - we would really love to give them a happy home!! If your child has been sent home wearing any of our spare clothes, it would be great if you could return them school as soon as possible... Many Thanks The Foundation Team

Welcome to all the New Nursery children....

A very warm welcome to all our new Nursery Starters. They have settled in really well and are beginning to enjoy their new Nursery routine. Thank you very very much to all our exsisting children and parents for your pateince and support during the last couple of weeks. We have been having lots of fun this week in our Foundation Stage Unit....we have been learning about explorers and what it would be like to travel to the Artic. The children have enjoyed 'camping' out, making boats and building igloos with our 'ice' blocks! Watch this space to find out what is coming next week..... Please keep checking the Blog - this is a brilliant way for us to keep in touch with you. Please feel free to leave us a comment!! Thank You The Foundation Team

Reception w.c 13.1.14

Hello everyone! Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. 

Phonics

Some children are working on reading and writing words with 3 or 4 phonemes. Some children are beginning to read and write captions and simple sentences. Some children will be learning some of the vowel diagraphs, e.g. ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi & ear from phase 3 Letters and Sounds.

Maths

In maths this week we will be learning to subitize. This is the abilitiy to 'see' a small amount of objects and know how many there are without counting. We will look at standard patterns, e.g. dots on dice or dominoes, and we will also be looking at irregular patterns too. I have attached a few useful links that will explain subitizing in more depth for you to have a look at. I hope you find them useful.

http://teachmath.openschoolnetwork.ca/grade-1/number-sense/subitizing/

http://gse.buffalo.edu/fas/clements/files/Subitizing.pdf

http://www.kensmath.com/kens-math-program/subitizing/


In music we will be learning winter songs. We will be practising keeping a steady pulse and we will be changing sounds by making them louder and quieter. 
our 'topic' at the moment is Winter and we will be developing this by roleplaying being Arctic explorers. We will be learning about the Arctic, thinking about what we would need to take with us and what we might see. 
Finally in philosophy we will be discussing whether it is ok to waste water.

We have a busy week planned! See you tomorrow.