Class News

Our first week back

Foundation are back and what a fantastic first week we’ve had! The classroom is back to being a busy learning environment – just how we like it.  I am so proud of all the children. On Monday, they all came straight into school eager to explore the classroom and see their friends. I was so impressed that they all remembered the morning routines and our regular handwashing.

This week, we’ve spent a long time settling in, remembering our school rules and finding out feet again. The children have loved exploring all the areas of the classroom. We’ve seen some amazing learning this week!

In Literacy, we’ve been reading The Worrysaurus by Rachel Bright. The book is about an anxious dinosaur who overthinks and ends up having lots of worries. He uses his happy tin to help his worries fly away.  Talk to your child about the story and see if they can remember what happened in the story. The anxious dinosaur used a happy tin to help his worries disappear. Therefore, after reading the story, we discussed what things we would put in a happy tin.

We will be continuing to look at The Worrysaurus book next week.

Spring is almost here!
On the creative table, the children did some observational paintings of daffodils. Some of the F2 children wrote a sentence about daffodils.
As always in Foundation, we try and plan according to the children’s interests. This week, lots of children have been playing schools – they were even sitting on my chair and shouting, “3, 2, 1 stop!” So, on Thursday, the children were so excited when they saw that they had their very own ‘mini’ St James’ Primary School.
The children love PE Wednesdays! This week, the children practised their throwing and catching skills.

F2 Parents
Your child will have brought home a new reading book. Please make sure you read with your child on a regular basis. Daily reading supports writing skills, creativity and communication skills.
Home-Link Challenge

Finally, I would like to thank all of our Foundation parents for your support through Lockdown and for doing the home learning with your child.

Have a lovely weekend and I will see you all next week.

Period product scheme

Science – all about plants

We are learning all about plants in our science lessons this half term. Below is the key vocabulary that we will be focusing on.

Let’s talk about feelings

There were lots of feelings flying around at school today! The overwhelming feeling communicated and seen today was ‘happy’. The children were happy to be back with their class, happy to play, happy to have some face-to-face learning, happy to talk and just feeling happy.

Other feelings mentioned…

excited…nervous…weird…glad

It’s ok to feel all these things! Encourage your child to talk about how they are feeling and reassure them it is ok.

TTRS Tournament winners (wb 01 March)

Hello again to all of the Times Tables Rock Stars out there,

 Firstly, welcome back to school. We’ve missed rocking out with you.

Hopefully, last week was our final tournament from home.  Everyone has been working so hard and… What’s that?

 BREAKING NEWS:

The results are in. We have our ROCK STARS OF THE WEEK.

Recording an average score of 110, the winning year group is year 5 by a clear mile – WOW! 

Now that we’re back in school, there’ll be opportunities to play in class as well as at home. Give your teacher a nudge as the week goes on if you’ve not yet had a chance to play. If you’d like to play at home and would like a reminder of your login details, let your teacher know.

You could be in next week’s winning team. 

 All the best, TTRS!

Welcome back!

I would like to say a huge WELCOME BACK to all the children. I have missed being with my class and am glad to get back a little bit of normality in my life!

Remember you can email me if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

katieharker@spherefederation.org

Welcome back!

We’re so excited for Monday! We can’t wait to open the classroom door and welcome you all back into Foundation.

We know that most of you will be feeling very happy about returning to school. However, some of you may be feeling a little nervous and this is fine. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be spending lots of time settling in, getting used to our daily routines and getting to know each other again.

Reminders!

• Your child needs to bring a NAMED water bottle. Please ensure the bottle only contains water – no juice please!
• PE is every Wednesday – your child needs to come in their PE.
• At the end of the day (3.00pm), please remember to stand opposite the Foundation classroom.
• Please make sure your child’s school jumper/cardigan is clearly NAMED.
• Please return all reading books on Monday. Your child will be given a new reading book on Friday.
• Don’t forget to encourage independence when your child is getting ready for school!

Click here for a sneak peek of the Foundation classroom. Have a lovely weekend and I look forward to seeing lots of smiling faces on Monday!

World Book Day

I hope you are all having a great World Book Day and doing lots of reading. Here is a great song to celebrate!

Times Tables Rock Stars: tournament time

Calling all Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS),

It’s great to see that so many of you have been rocking those times tables as part of your home learning.

ALL classes are putting on great performances so now we’re raising the stakes.

Each week, you will be competing in a tournament with the other KS2 classes. The scores of you and your classmates will be added together to decide who will achieve the honour of being… ROCKSTARS OF THE WEEK!

In fact, we set up a warm-up tournament last week and the results are in…

Congratulations to Year 6 who achieved a WHOPPING 286 results.

Who will reach top spot in the charts next week?

Rules for the gig are simple:

1. Log on to TTRS.
2. Play on any game mode. We recommend Garage and Soundcheck.
3. Check the class news page on Mondays to see if your class is the weekly winner. If you practise at the weekend, your scores will still be counted.

All the best, TTRS!

F1 Home Learning: Week 8

This week is one of our favourite times in Nursery as we get to read so many of our favourite stories! Don’t worry though, we’ll continue with our World Book Day celebrations in Nursery next week when we all return. There’ll be lots of fun activities to look forward to, all linked to some of the most popular stories in Nursery. There are often lots of live story telling sessions during the week, so have a look at the World Book Day website for more details and ideas.

Look out for a video tour of the Foundation classroom on the Class News Page next week. Next week, I’ll be busy preparing the Foundation classroom for everyone to return and I’ll post the video as soon as I can.  We hope that you enjoy watching the virtual tour to familiarise yourself with the classroom again, before we welcome you back next week.  We can’t wait!

In Nursery, we usually choose lots of stories to read, however for our home learning this week, we’ve probably chosen one of the MOST popular children’s books of all time… The Gruffalo.  If you don’t have a copy of the story at home, click on the link to watch and listen to the story.

Don’t forget to join the World Book Day Zoom session on Wednesday! For this week’s session, you can come dressed up as your favourite character. 

Reading ·        Before you read the book, talk about what the children can remember if they’ve heard the story before. Who does the mouse meet? Where does the story take place? Can you remember what happens when the mouse meets the Gruffalo? ·        If you have a copy of the book, look at the illustrations on each page and talk about what is happening in the story. Some children may be able to re-tell the story in their own words if they are familiar with it. ·        As you read the story together, pause at some parts and see if your child can finish the sentence, especially when there’s a word that rhymes with the previous one. E.g. Where are you meeting him? Here by this lake and his favourite food is scrambled _____?

Phonics Aspect 4 of our Phase One phonics learning is all about ‘Rhythm and Rhyme’. This week, you’ll need a drum or a pan and spoon to join in with Mrs Gosper as she plays some rhythm patterns on her drum. Use your listening ears to listen carefully to Mrs Gosper and then wait for your turn to copy her patterns. Rhythm patterns with drums video When you’ve finished, have a go at tapping some of your own patterns and take turns to copy each other. Remember to LISTEN first, and then LISTEN again, and then have a try to copy it yourself.

Mark-Making ·        What’s your favourite book? Draw a picture and talk about your favourite story. We’d love to hear about it – send us an email of your picture and write down a few of the comments that your child made. ·        Can you remember how Mouse describes the Gruffalo? What does he have on his nose? What about his back? In our group times in Nursery, we always enjoy drawing on an outline of a Gruffalo and then using different colours and lines to add in his features. Have a go at home – you might need to help your child by drawing a rough Gruffalo outline first but without any details. Here’s one to copy or print at home.  Can you add the following things to your Gruffalo outline? orange eyes black tongue terrible tusks terrible teeth What else does the Gruffalo need? poisonous wart purple prickles horns terrible claws ·        For those of you with a printer, here’s a Gruffalo colouring sheet available to download.

Mathematics Playing ‘track games’ is a great way for children to practise lots of different maths skills such as recognising dice patterns and counting with one to one correspondence (as they move spaces). This week, have a go at creating your own game together. Your child will need help with the general outline of the track, but they can then add in their own drawings for the houses and trees etc. 1)  Draw some circle stepping stones across the paper to create a ‘track’ through the woods. 2) Next, draw on the animal homes that the mouse found including an underground house, a log pile and a tree top house. You could add a river and some of your own ideas too. 3) Make or find 2 counters and borrow a dice from another game. 4) Roll the dice and move your counter forward the correct number of spaces. 5) The first mouse to make it through the forest to the end of the path wins!

Extension ideas ·        Make up some of your own rules. Perhaps you could draw some purple prickles in a few spaces and if you land on a prickle, you have to go back one space. You could also draw a nut in some other spaces and if you land on a nut, move forward a space. ·        If you don’t fancy making your own game, find a board game that involves a similar concept, such as snakes and ladders. They’re a really great way for children to practise counting skills whilst having fun.

Creative ·        Make some puppets or find some props to help you re-tell your favourite story. We’d love to see a video of your show! ·        Can you make a cave/den home for the Gruffalo? He might enjoy having a tea party in his cave… ·        We’ve explored printing with lots of items during lockdown such as cans, boxes and forks. This week, if you have some plastic animal/dinosaur toys, have a go at printing with them and talk about the prints that they make. Once you’ve finished dipping their feet in water, make sure you help to wash it off before the paint dries. ·        If your child loves to role play in their kitchen, play ‘cafes’ and order some special items from the menu including roasted fox, scrambled snake, owl ice-cream and Gruffalo crumble. ·        In Nursery, we sometimes enjoy trying ‘scrambled snake’ egg on toast. Ask your child to help you break the eggs and mix in some milk to make a ‘scrambled snake egg’ snack.  Make sure they help you to spread butter on the toast too. ·        Are you ready for a snack and some quiet time on the sofa? We love this animated version of the Gruffalo on the BBC iPlayer. ·        You’ll be singing this song about the Gruffalo all week once you hear it! Listen at home and join in. ·        Julia Donaldson’s website has lots of Gruffalo themed games to join in, as well activities for her other books too.

Understanding the World ·        Mouse met a few different creatures in the woods. Talk about other animals that you might find in the woods near your home. Where do they live?  If you enjoy spotting things whilst out and about in your local area, have a look at this ‘Twig Spotter’ activity from the Woodland Trust’s website. How many can you find? ·        Can you spot any animal tracks? Look carefully to see if you can see any footprints in the mud. Here’s a few ideas of footprints to look out for on this ‘Animal footprint hunt’ – it might be very tricky to find some of them!

Physical Development Funky Fingers To get your fingers moving this week, you’re going to need a pile of very small items such as 1p/5p coins, buttons, beads, Cheerios… Draw some wavy lines, zig-zags and spiral patterns on pieces of paper and then ask your child to pick up the small objects and place them along the lines. This is a good way to develop their pincer grip and control. Movement We’re going to have a go at balancing, jumping and crawling in this activity. Clear a space on the floor and ask your child to gather some cushions and pillows from around the house. Place them on the floor like stepping stones and ask your child to step from one to the other. This is good way for them to practise balancing, especially as the cushions will be soft and move under their feet a little. Repeat the activity, adapting the challenge by putting the cushions further away or not in a straight line.  If you have space and your floor isn’t too slippy, ask them to have a go at jumping from one to the other. Make sure you supervise your child and hold on to any cushions that may move as they jump! Finally, create a space for your child to crawl under. You could use a blanket/sheet over two chairs, or line some dining chairs up. Ask your child to slither like a snake on their tummies under the blanket or between the chair legs. Crawling is a very important aspect of early years play, helping to provide sensory feedback and developing many different things including the vestibular system (balance).

Independence skills As we begin to prepare to return to Nursery, we’d like you to focus on ‘toileting’ again with your child. – Do they go to the toilet without reminders? Try and encourage them to recognise the signs that they need to go! – When they get to the toilet, are they able to undress themselves? Practise pulling trousers/leggings/tights up and down and remember your child needs to wear clothes that allow children to do this independently. – When they’ve finished, do they attempt to clean themselves and have a go at wiping? – Practise handwashing skills again – this is going to be very important on our return to Nursery. As always, we are there to help children if they need assistance, so please remind them to speak to their teachers if they need help next week.

Key Worker activity and videos This week, we thought you’d like to be detectives! Listen carefully to each of your teacher’s clues about their favourite stories. Can you guess which book they love to read? Have a go at making some clues for one of your favourite stories and send us an email to see if we can guess! Key Worker video – World Book Day We’re so happy that we’re all going to be together again soon. It made us want to sing a song! Key worker song – If you’re happy and you know it

Story time I don’t want to wash my hands! Read by Miss Marsden Click here to watch today’s story. Soap Experiment – watch and see how soap can stop germs! You will need: – a plate – ground pepper – washing up liquid – water Instructions: 1. Pour the water onto the plate. 2. Sprinkle the ground pepper onto the water. 3. Rub some soap onto your hand. 4. Put your hand in the water and see what happens.