Our New Role-Play Area
Christmas has definitely arrived in Foundation!
Check out our new role-play area. The children were so excited when they saw it this morning.
Nursery Rhyme Week
We’ve had so much fun this week celebrating Nursery Rhyme Week.
Take a look at all the things we’ve been doing…
Singing Five Little Ducks and Five Little Monkeys with our friends.
We sang twinkle, twinkle when painting Starry Night pictures in the style of Vincent Van Gough’s famous paint.
At the sensory table, we made cups of tea and sang I’m a Little Teapot.
At the playdough table, we sang Pat-a-Cake and pretended we were bakers.
We used ‘cement’ and wooden blocks to build a wall for Humpty Dumpty.
Literacy
Our focus story this week was Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. It is a fantastic book with simple rhyming text. It also has engaging illustrations encouraging children to look at the book carefully to find the next fairy tale and nursery rhyme character. Some of the characters we found in the book were Mother Hubbard, Cinderella and Tom Thumb.
We went on a ‘ I Spy’ hunt looking for illustrations from the book which were dotted around the outdoor area. We had lots of fun remembering the characters names and using the language from the story.
The F2 children also went on a hunt around the classroom for other nursery rhyme characters. They picked a character to draw and wrote a sentence describing where the character was in the classroom. E.g. I spy Incy Wincy Spider on the wall. This writing activity also linked nicely to the prepositional learning we did last week in maths.
Maths
In maths, we continued learning about the number 3. We learnt all about ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd). To help us learn about this, we played racing games and handed out medals to our friends.
We also played the ‘Three Billy Goats’ game. The children made three goats out of cubes. The little Billy Goat was one cube tall, the medium-sized Billy Goat was two cubes tall and the biggest Billy Goat was three cubes tall. They then took turns to roll the dice (1-3). The children were encouraged to subitise* the dots on the dice and work out which Billy Goat needed to cross the bridge.
F1 Group Time
This week, the children drew their own versions of some famous nursery rhyme characters. At the start of every group time, we ask the children to find their name in the middle of the circle – they are getting very quick at recognising their names!
Odd Socks Day
It was lovely to see almost all of Foundation in odd socks on Monday!
Home-Link Challenge
Next week, our focus story is The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We will be talking about size and learning all about measuring. To help your child get a head start, have a go at these challenges at home.
* The ability to instantaneously recognise the number of objects in a small group without the need to count them.
Finally…
Thank you to all the parents who do the home-link challenges with their children at home. It is always lovely to receive so many emails of amazing home learning!
PS – I have seen so many Christmas decorations up already and I’m sure some of your will have already put yours up! Send me pictures – I love CHRISTMAS!!
Nursery Rhyme Day
What a fun day we’ve had! You all looked fantastic dressed up as nursery rhyme characters.
We had a mini talent show. Check out how confident and amazing Foundation are at singing nursery rhymes!
Incy Wincy
Little Bo Beep
Five Little Monkeys
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Another Little Bo Beep
We also had an original song called Flower Garden.
Foundation Parents
Reminders!
- All F2 children need to make sure they bring their reading record and book into school everyday.
- PE is every Wednesday. Your child should be wearing a white t-shirt, navy shorts or tracksuit bottoms and pumps or trainers.
- On Friday, your child can come to school dressed as a nursery rhyme character. Please remember that we enjoy getting messy in Foundation so make sure your child still comes to school in suitable clothing and footwear.
Thank you!
Phonics Home Learning
To support children’s phonics learning, we use a variety of online resources on a weekly basis.
One of the main phonics websites we use is Phonics Play.
The website is really simple to use and has lots of fun games for each of the phonics phases. Before playing the games, you can select which letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes) you want your child to focus on.
If you are unsure on which sounds to select, just look in your child’s book bag or sound book – they bring home new phonemes each week.
The login details are Sphere (user name) and Spher3 (password).
Other useful resources…
We also use the Jolly Phonics Songs when introducing a new phoneme. At home, you could listen and sing-a-long to them when tidying up or making tea.
The BBC Bitesize website has lots of phase 2 videos. These are short clips focussed on the phonemes taught in phase 2. Again, these can be watched at home to help boost your child’s phonics skills.
Phonics Bloom – another website full of simple, fun and exciting phonics games.
F1 Parents
Phase 1 concentrates on developing children’s speaking and listening skills. It supports tuning into different sounds and gets them ready to begin oral blending and segmenting skills. Phonics Play and Phonics Bloom have lots of phase 1 games. Please play these games at home.
FANTASTIC FOUNDATION
Here are some highlights of another fantastic week in Foundation:
PE
On Wednesday, the children made safe risks when climbing and travelling on the big apparatus – Mrs Small was very impressed! They showed great determination and perseverance especially when climbing the ladder.
Living and Learning
Speaking of perseverance, it’s our Christian value for this half-term. Last Friday, Foundation made some perseverance stars in their Living and Learning session. They drew a picture of something they’d like to get better at. We discussed how we could achieve our perseverance stars.
Literacy
On Monday and Tuesday, F2 were authors and planned their own versions of the Three Little Pigs. The children changed the title, the characters, the materials and the ending. Check out their amazing planning!
Remembrance
On Wednesday, it was Remembrance Day. To celebrate the day, we made a poppy wreath. You might have seen it on our window next to the classroom door. The children also made poppies at the playdough table. Throughout the week, the children have shared their own knowledge and understanding about Remembrance Day.
Some more highlights of this week…
In Foundation, we love to observe children doing child-initiated writing. Here’s some great examples!
“I’m drawing my family. Now I need to draw my daddy.”
“I’m drawing the brick house.”
“I’m drawing the straw house.”
“I’m drawing the stick house.”
This week, the maths challenge involved counting and recognising numerals to 10. The children used 1:1 correspondence when counting their cubes to match each of the numbers. For the star challenge, they had to put(add) two towers together to find the total.
F1 Group Time
On Monday, they designed new houses for the three pigs.
On Tuesday, the children continued with their phase one phonics learning. They were asked to listen to the different percussion instruments and match the sounds with some animal puppets. E.g. Castanet sounds like a horse trotting.
Home-Link Challenge
Next week, is Nursery Rhyme week. Your child will have brought home some nursery rhymes. To help us great ready for next week’s learning, please practise these at home.
Nursery rhymes boost vocabulary and language development. They also support children’s literacy and early numeracy skills.
Children In Need
We’ve had such a fun day celebrating Children In Need.
Odd Socks Day
To kick off Anti-Bullying Week next week, we are taking part in Odd Socks Day. All you need to do is come to school wearing odd socks! This will help us celebrate what makes us all unique!
Children In Need
It’s Children In Need this Friday and we are celebrating it by having a non-uniform day – the first one for Foundation!
Children can come to school in their own clothes.
Please remember that we enjoy getting messy in Foundation so make sure your child still comes to school in suitable clothing and footwear.
Our First Week Back
Foundation have had a great first week back!
Thank you to everyone who sent in photos of their half-term activities and adventures. It was lovely to see what you got up to! Please continue to send in home learning moments – they are really useful.
Literacy
This week, we’ve been reading The Three Little Pigs. The children have enjoyed acting out the story in every area of the classroom! They used different vocal expressions especially when being the big bad wolf. In the construction area, the children built new houses for the pigs. We talked about the different materials the pigs used and why the stick and straw house blew over straight away. 
On Thursday morning, the children found footprints near the writing area. We used magnifying glasses to look closer. Throughout the day, they found other clues.
“Look Miss Marsden! There’s scratches on the ceiling.”
“There’s a hole – the wolf must have done it.”
“There’s another scratch here. Wolves have really sharp claws.”
After spending the morning investigating, we all came to a conclusion and agreed that the footprints belonged to the big bad wolf. The children made wanted posters to stick up around the classroom.
Bonfire Night
We had lots of fun making and creating things to help celebrate Bonfire Night. We made fireworks in the playdough area, rockets at the creative table, moved like fireworks in PE and printed fireworks using bubble wrap.
Lunchtime
The lunch menu has changed and the children are loving the new choices!
Maths
This week, we have finalised our learning on number two. The children know what 2 is and what it looks like in the everyday environment.
On Thursday, we made number two stories.
Here’s an example…
First, there was one frog sat on a log.
Then, another frog joined him on the log.
Now, there are two frogs sat on the log.
We also went on a number one and two hunt. The children compared the pictures and explained why it was one or two.
On Friday, the children played hide and seek with Sammy St James to help them understand prepositional language.
“Sammy is hiding behind the shed.”
“Sammy is hiding under the table.”
“Sammy is next to the Miss Marsden.”
Phonics
F2 have started to write captions in phonics. When we are writing we….
1. Think of a caption or sentence.
2. Say it out loud.
3. Count the words.
4. Segment the words.
5. Write the caption or sentence.
6. CHECK!
F1 Group Time
Every morning the F1 children have their group time. This is what they’ve been up to this week…
On Monday, they had a talk time session all about Bonfire Night. The children loved drawing what they might see and hear.
Careful counting on Thursday.
Home-Link Challenge
Have a lovely weekend!