The new, national multiplication tables check
The government is introducing a new, statutory multiplication tables ‘check’ (MTC) for the first time, in June this year. Children in Year 4 will take this check.
The purpose of the check is to determine whether pupils can fluently recall their times tables up to 12, which is essential for future success in mathematics. It will also help your child’s school to identify pupils who may need additional support.
Read more about the check in this leaflet from the Standards and Testing Agency.
Living and Learning: I can show forgiveness
This week, our living and learning statement was “I can show forgiveness.”
During our living and learning session, we completed one of our reflection area challenges. We wrote on our whiteboards something that we were sorry for – something that we needed forgiveness for. Then after we’d said sorry for it, we wiped it away. We wiped away the thing we were sorry for.
Pancake Day!
Foundation had so much fun making pancakes. They carefully cracked the eggs and measured the correct amount of milk and flour. After, they mixed them together to make a smooth mixture. Miss Feldman used the frying pan to fry 10 pancakes! We watched carefully from a distance. The F2 children did some instruction writing after. Of course the best part was… EATING THEM!
One of the challenges this week was to make a playdough pancake. The children have loved pretending to flip and fry them!
Cooking and baking are fantastic real life experiences for children! If you do cooking or baking at home, please send us some pictures. We would love to see these!
Living and Learning: Safer Internet Day
This year, Safer Internet Day had the theme ‘Together for a better internet’ and we discussed what this means in a class discussion. The children had some brilliant and mature suggestions on how we can make others happy online and what makes us happy online.
“I like to make others happy online by face timing them and telling them that they’re amazing and really kind.”
“I like to make others happy online by telling people good things about them and calling to check they’re OK.”
“I like to make others happy online by making them feel like they aren’t the only ones who have experienced cyber bullying.”
“Something that makes me happy online is to play games and explore the internet.”
Spring one fun is done!
Phew… what a busy half term we have had! Thank you to all of the parents that joined us at our Parent’s Evenings this week.
We have welcomed new friends into F1, who have settled into class beautifully.
F2 have completed all of their sounds in Phonics and made their way to focus number 9 in Maths.
The class have enjoyed their gymnastics coached sessions and exploring new equipment and movements in movement play.
We have explored lots of stories, fact finding, role play and more linked to our interest-led topic of The Royal Family and castles.
We have thought lots about our Christian values of love and friendship. We have learnt about mindfulness and keeping safe online.
Generally, we have seen so much progress with all the children in both their learning and confidence and we can’t wait to see it continue for the final half of our school year!
Thank you to all of the parents that joined us at our Parent’s Evenings this week, where we were able to share this fantastic progress with you.
Next half term, the children have expressed an interest in learning about “pirates”, “mermaids” and “unicorns”- we will be developing this Fantasy Land theme throughout the term. There will also be elements of “dinosaurs” to capture another interest. Spring 2 will also see us think about growing in nature with some super exciting feathery friends to look after!
Home-Link Challenge
The home-link challenge is free-style! Pick a Fantasy Land character or topic. You could draw a labelled picture, make a model, find historical facts (pirates) or write a book review for your favourite story linked to Fantasy. We will share the children’s creations during a talk-time session the first week back to school.
Important Dates Coming Up in Foundation
Weds 26th Feb 2020, 6.00-6.45 pm- What is GLD? ;
A discussion about the expectations at the end of Early Years and what practitioners look for to determine a “Good Level of Development” (F2 parents only)
Thurs 5th March 2020, 8.30-9.30 am- World Book Day ;
Stay and Read- We are inviting children to dress up as their favourite book character for the day. Parents are invited to stay and share books with your child and take part in activities for the first hour of the school day. (F1 and F2 parents)
Mon 23rd March 2020, 3.15- 4.15 pm- Writing and Phonics Stay and Play (F2 parents only)
Is your child in Year 4?
The government is introducing a new assessment for Year 4 pupils. In June, each child in Year 4 is set to complete an online multiplication tables check (MTC). Read more about this new assessment.
There will be 25 questions covering the full range of facts children are expected to know, which means questions going up to 12 x 12. However, there’s slightly more weighting towards multiplication facts involving 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 due to these being the most difficult to learn. For example, there will be between 2 and 4 questions involving multiplying by 6.
For each question, children are presented with a multiplication fact and an empty box. This may be written as __ x 6 or as 6 x __ .
If you’d like to practise at home, our own website has lots of spreadsheets you can download.
There are also lots of websites that you can use. This one is very similar to the MTC. It’s possible to alter the settings on this website to focus on particular times tables.
Another exciting way to practise times tables is through the ‘Times Tables Rockstars’ website. Every child has their own individual login details that enables them to access their account at school and at home. Feedback so far is that this is proving an enjoyable way to practise times tables facts at home!
Internet Safety and Mindfulness
The foundation classroom is such a busy place!
Mindfulness can help children to take control of their emotions and feelings.
This week, Foundation have started to take part in mindfulness sessions. The children watched a video called Rainbow Breaths which allowed them to practise how to control their breathing. This is a great technique for children to use when feeling upset or frustrated. We used battery operated tealights to help transform our classroom into a calm environment.
Take a look at how focused the children are…
We have made a Friendship Stop area in the classroom. This area allows the children to write kind notes to their peers. At the end of the week we will be handing out the notes. Below are some of the notes already written this week.
Next Tuesday is Internet Safety Day. Foundation have already started to think about how to stay safe when online.
This week, we have been focusing on the story Once Upon A Time Online by David Bedford and Rosie Reeve. The story follows some of our children’s most well recognised and well loved fairy tale characters such as Cinderella, The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood on a journey that started when a laptop arrives. The book delivers an important message about making sure that when you do go online, you always ask a grown up, and use the internet sensibly.
We also read a story about Smartie the Penguin. Ask your child if they remember Smartie’s special song.
“Before you click click click…
you need to think think think …
and tell someone!”
Living and Learning: I make safe choices.
This week, we’ve been thinking about making safe choices in different situations. Here are some suggestions made in a class discussion:
“If somebody tells you or asks you to do something inappropriate online then report, block and tell a trusted adult.” Sofia
“If your friends are peer pressuring you to try a cigarette or an e cigarette then tell them you don’t want to and walk away.” Mya
” If you’re crossing a road, always try and find a zebra or pelican crossing to cross rather than anywhere random.” Rodi
Techno-links, friendship and more….
This week in Foundation, the F2 children explored one way in which we use technology with purpose; to find information on our topic. The children came up with their own questions about the royal family and with the support of an adult, used a search engine to find their answers. As one of their writing focuses, they recorded their answers. Be sure to check out your child’s writing progression book, on the parent shelves, to see what they asked.
A big well done to our Star Writer this week, Christian, who asked:
“How often does the queen wear her crown?”
The answer he found also introduced us to a new ‘wow’ topic word: Coronation.
Later in the week, we mixed writing with technology again! After some AMAZING descriptive sentence writing about fairy tale characters, the children used the ‘doodle’ app to draw an illustration that matched their words.
Our technology work leads us into our learning next week, when we will be thinking about online safety.
In maths, we have been using our play ‘shop’ to work on our counting and addition skills. We have also been practising verbalising number sentences and have been introduced to doubling.
We have enjoyed exploring our new ribbons and large elastic in the movement play area to stretch our muscles and make large movements.
Well done to the children who completed their home-link challenge this week and stood at the front of the class to talk about their favourite castle-based story. We loved hearing your ideas in talk time.
Home-Link Challenge
Last week, we had a circle time where we spoke about how it feels inside our bodies when people are kind to us and how it feels when they are not. We then chose five kind things to say about each friend. The ‘friendship hands’ will soon be on display in the classroom.
Foundation is a crucial time for developing communication and socialisation skills. All of the children are learning through their first experiences with friends, how to manage and how to respond to both positive and negative interactions. The Early Years Team focus on personal and social development (as one of the prime areas) in everything we do. We focus on addressing issues positively through lots of emotion exploration and activities that help us to see the good in each other. We know that for parents, it can be distressing to see our children upset or having concerns about their friendships. We are thankful that our parent partners work so well with us to support their children, by letting us know about any concerns they may have. We see beautiful, kind moments from all of the children every day in our class. We are proud to see the steps the children are making towards building emotional resilience and confidence in their relationships.
With this in mind, we would like to join the rest of the school this week by focusing on mindfulness as our home-link challenge.
It is super-tricky to get our youngest children to sit still for thinking and breathing time but we have found a lovely short video with ‘Mindful Ozzy’ that perfectly explains mindfulness and why it helps us:
To watch the video with your child, click here
Please use the video as a way to open a discussion with your child on their feelings about themselves, school and their friends.
Parents Evening Appointments
Next week, our appointment times will become available to sign up for at the school office. To make places available for all of the children, we have appointments:
Until 5pm on Tuesday 11 February.
Two slots only on Wednesday 12 February (3.30pm and 3.40pm)
Between 5pm and 6.40pm on Thursday 13 February.
If possible, we would like for F1 pupil appointments to be made either on the Tuesday or Wednesday so that Miss Feldman can be present at the meetings. For this reason, we would like for F2 parents (if possible) to opt initially for appointments on the Thursday. We appreciate that our recommendation may not be suitable for all parents and you may of course sign up for any available slot you would like. These are allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Thank you.
Living and Learning: I know how to seek help
During this week’s living and learning session, you learnt some mindfulness techniques. These are great techniques to help yourself.
Mindfulness gives your brain a moment of pause to assess any situation without responding irrationally and full of emotions. Here are some of the mindfulness activities that we learnt:
Here are some pictures of us practising these techniques.
