British values – Democracy
This morning, year 1 and 2 took part in an election for our new school councillors. The children voted at a polling station with Mr Mills. We really enjoyed listening to everyone’s speeches being read aloud.
Living and Learning
This weeks Living and Learning statement is I can take part in democratic decisions. In our circle time this week, we discussed the word democracy and why it is important to make our own decisions. Linking to the statement, we have set up a voting station in the classroom. Encourage your child to vote for the book they would like at story time.
Fabulous Foundation
Movement Monday!
Monday was our first movement PE session for all Foundation children. We had such a good time travelling around the hall in a range of ways, such as slithering, crawling, walking, running, jumping, skipping, sliding and hopping. The children particularly enjoyed throwing and catching chiffon scarves. This is a simple activity to try at home. Take a look at their fantastic concentration faces.
A little reminder that ALL Foundation children will need their PE kit, with all items named and in school, by Monday 04 November.
Worm Wednesday!
The children collected 14 different worms from around the outdoor area. They compared lengths, counted them, showed fascination and used magnifying glasses to look closely. This led into discussions on environments they like to live in and how we should treat them.
In maths, we have started to use stem sentences to support understanding and reasoning.
Home-Link Challenge
As we come to the end of our first half term, ask your child what their favourite thing has been so far at school. Ask them to draw a picture of this and grown-ups record what they say about their picture in your child’s own words.
Road Safety
Today in Foundation Class, we had a special visitor who came to talk to us about Road Safety.
The children helped to label an image and discussed holding hands with an adult to cross the road, where we should cross the road, how to be safe on public transport and the importance of seat belts and car seats.
We then explored a zebra crossing role play, taking turns to be a lollipop man or lady. Check out our picture video below!
Ask your child what they have learnt today about keeping safe on and around roads.
Whitby trip
This half term, our class novel is Room 13, set in Whitby. We went on a trip to Whitby where we ate ice-cream, visited the abbey and got very very wet!
Science
Year 1 and 2 carried out an experiment this week to find out which sock was the stretchiest. We measured three socks before stretching and at full stretch. The children compared both measurements to find out which sock stretched the most.
Living and Learning: I use the 8 Rs to help me learn
We have had a very exciting time making our own tree houses, inspired by our class novel, The 13 Storey Tree House. For the first part of the design process, we followed design criteria and made annotated sketches to design our tree houses.
Once that was completed we had to cut up pieces of wood to the lengths in our specification. We had to do this carefully so as not to chop our fingers off! Thankfully, Mr Atkins was on hand to help.
This week we will begin making our product. We will need to use all our 8 Rs with this activity: being resilient if we find gluing the tree houses tricky; being responsive; taking safe risks when we used saws to cut the pieces of wood; and being responsible when we were using the tools to make our product.
Have you seen?…
Have you seen our new feelings station?
On Tuesday during circle time with Miss Marsden, Foundation read the story Feelings by Libby Walden and Richard Jones.
It was a great opening to discuss our feelings and think about ways to describe different emotions. The children used a sensory bottle to visualise how it might feel when our feelings get muddled or confusing inside and then watched the glitter float down, to show what it is like when we calm down and feel settled. Our new feelings station gives our children space to reflect on and share their feelings.
Ask your child what they’ve learnt about different feelings this week.
For more pictures of the activity, visit our Learning Journey board in the classroom.
We’ve had a busy week focusing on The Little Red Hen as our traditional tale, learning about repeating patterns, part-whole models in maths, new sounds in phonics and much more. We haven’t let the bad weather spoil our mood either- we’ve had the perfect opportunity to splash about. We explored who could make the biggest splash and what was the best technique. Check out our new puddle suits!
Home-Link Challenge
F2 Children:
- Next week our focus number is 3. Show us three objects you have found at home. Send your pictures to the Early Years email address.
- Get to know your first reading book.
F1 Children:
Go on a ‘sound walk’ tell your grown up all the different sounds you can hear outside- can you hear cars? Children playing? Birds? The wind?
Upcoming Dates
Wednesday 16th October 8.30-9.15am and 6.00-6.45pm- Reading and Phonics Meeting (F2 parents only)
Tuesday 22nd October and Thursday 24th October- F2 Parents Evening Appointments.
Wednesday 23rd October 8.30-9.15am- F1 Parent Learning Journey Drop-in session.
National Poetry Day 2019
To celebrate National Poetry Day 2019, this week Foundation 2 children have been discussing what a poem is;
A collection of words chosen carefully by the poet, to help us use our imagination and make us feel a certain way. The words are also chosen for the way that they sound and the rhythm that they create when read aloud.
We chose to read a rhyming poem called Autumn Days by Brenda Williams.
The children predicted some missing words from the poem by selecting a word that could rhyme- they did a fantastic job at guessing the correct words. Well done especially to Teddy, Leo, Chloe and Lily who were superstars at identifying rhyming words today!
Afterwards, we used our special Talk 4 Writing skills to come up with some actions to help us retell parts of the poem. Take a look at our great first attempt*:
*All videos set to UNLISTED on the video sharing website. They do not appear in searches.
This week in Foundation…
This week, we have been reading ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. The children have enjoyed acting out the story. They were able to use different vocal expressions especially when being the bad, ugly Troll. In the construction area, the children have been architects and designed their own bridges. We watched a video on how bridges are made. They then independently chose the resources to build their bridges. Finally, the children used the goats to test their bridges.
“Trip, trap, trip, trap.”
“Mine must be strong because it didn’t fall down.”
“Mine stayed up!”
“My bridge is made out of bricks.”
“Oh no! My bridge has fallen down and now the troll is awake!”
In maths, our focus number is 2. The children have helped Little Red Riding Hood pair up her socks on the washing line. They have been on a number 2 hunt around the classroom and recorded their findings.
We had a good discussion about number 2.
“What does 2 make you think of?” Miss Marsden asked.
“2 footballs”
“2 spiders”
“2 snakes”
This lead onto talking about pairs.
“a pair of eyes”
“a pair of legs”
“a pair of feet”
It was great to see the children thinking carefully, speaking clearly and listening attentively.
In phonics, F2 children have completed the first set of phase 2 phonemes.
s– Weave hand in an s shape, like a snake, and say ssssss.
a – Wiggle fingers above elbow as if ants crawling on you, saying a, a, a.
t – Turn head from side to side as if watching tennis and say t, t, t, t.
i – Pretend to be a mouse by wriggling fingers at end of noise and squeak i, i, i.
p – Pretend to puff out candles and say p, p, p.
n – Hold arms out at side, as if a plane, and say nnnnnnnnnn.
We have started the second set!
F1 children using the large paint brushes to make marks.
Some of the F1 children were determined to pick up the pom poms!
Challenges have been introduced this week. The children are eager to complete a challenge and get a coloured lollipop stick to make their rainbow.
Home- Link Challenge
The children will be able to share what they found during carpet time.