The Gingerbread Man- Super Story-tellers!
This week in Foundation, our focus story has been the traditional tale of The Gingerbread Man.
We’ve enjoyed making messy mixtures, using gingerbread playdough and designing our own gingerbread men.
Gingerbread men have also been used as a counting tool in the maths area and as objects for our fiddly fingers tweezer challenges.
Foundation have looked very closely at the story throughout the week; writing about our favourite parts, creating story boards and using ‘Talk for Writing‘ to map out the story and prepare for re-telling. As a class, we decided on the actions we would use to tell our story and by day 2, the children were able to recite the story independently using their picture prompts!
This method is great for learning how stories are structured and it enables children to develop literacy skills that will help support their own creative story-telling and writing.
Take a look at Foundation’s fantastic story-telling video of The Gingerbread Man!*
*Please note this video is unlisted on YouTube and does not appear in any searches made by the public on the site.
What does it mean to belong?
This term during RE lessons, Year 1 and 2 have been looking at what it means to belong to a church or a mosque. They’ve looked at the similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities and traditions.
To support their learning, Year 1 and 2 had a visit from Nabilah from Leeds Grand Mosque. The children learned what it meant to Nabilah to belong to a mosque and she shared some of the traditions she follows as a Muslim.
Snow and skipping
After a slightly disrupted few weeks, we’re now back on track with learning and thankfully warming up again.
We did manage to enjoy the snow by getting out for a mass snowman building contest and snowball fight.
We’ve also begun practising for our skipping competition, which will be taking place next term. The competition will see us demonstrating skills like the butterfly, the pretzel and the speed bounce. As well as this, we will be performing a high-energy skip dance routine.
Watch this space for updates!
Snow, Sun and World Book Day Fun!
Thank you all for coming to school in your wonderful World Book Day costumes on Monday. We had a great time exploring different popular stories throughout the week and celebrating the importance and enjoyment of reading.
We were a little surprised by the snow on Wednesday! Foundation love exploring the snow, so we took the opportunity to go outside in small groups to do a bit of mark-making with our bodies and sticks.
When the sun came out in the following days, we saw some fabulous child-led learning, as the children collectively decided to work together to make their own stage using the large construction blocks. There were some amazing performers and performances!
The children have enjoyed their first week observing the chick eggs in the classroom. We’ve had lots of discussion and are working together to take care of them. We gently turn them over each day as we count them and are marking off the days until the very egg-citing hatching!
Foundation have all been working on their special cards for Mothering Sunday. F2 have been writing about why their mummies are so fantastic!
If you were able to attend the assembly, we hope you enjoyed seeing our ‘people who care for us’ artwork and hearing about all the lovely things the children wanted to share with you all.
We wish you a very Happy Mother’s Day.
Fractions Fun
This past fortnight, Years 1 and 2 have been learning about fractions. Year 1 have learned about 1/2 (one half) and 1/4 (one quarter). Year 2 have learned about 1/2, 1/4, 1/3 (one third) and 3/4 (three quarters). Ask your child to find half of the pile of socks, a quarter of the veg you’re cutting or half of the pizza, for example.
Year 1s have enjoyed using the Cuisenaire rods. Cuisenaire rods are a mathematical tool for pupils that provide an active, hands-on way to explore mathematics and learn mathematical concepts. The children have enjoyed using these to discover different ways to represent halves and quarters.
Recycle Art
This afternoon, we’ve been getting messy and creative. We have been creating sculptures using recycling materials brought in from home. We’re looking forward to seeing the finished product next week.
Snow Closures and World Book Day Reschedule
Thank you parents and carers for your understanding regarding the school closures this week. It’s always our first priority to keep the children safe and could not ensure that this would be possible with the staff who could make it to school. We hope that the children enjoyed their time in the snow – we don’t see snow that deep very often!
The severe weather resulted in World Book Day being cancelled. The children had been so excited about coming to school dressed up so we have decided to have our own book day on Monday 05 March. Please come into school and share a book with your child. We’re opening to everyone in Foundation from 8.30am so there will be a little extra time to read a story.
Our eggs arrived safely on Tuesday and went into the incubator on Wednesday. The eggs will take 21 days to hatch and we’ll have to take good care of them. Watch this space for updates on their progress or come in and have a look for yourselves.
As the cold weather is set to stay please ensure that your child has named hat and gloves/ mittens at school every day. The children love to be outside exploring the weather and changes to the environment.
Please don’t forget to tell us about your child’s ‘Wow’ moments. Maybe it’s the first time they’ve been on a sledge or made their own snowman. Let us know what you have been up to and we can add it to your child’s learning journal.
A Bug’s Life
This week, we met some rather interesting creatures when we had a visit from the ‘Bug Lady’. The visit formed part of our learning about life forces and we were particularly interested in the life cycles of the bugs.
During our workshop we met; hissing cockroaches, stick insects and snails. We met different species of each one and all at different stages of life and development – from eggs to nymphs and fully grown adults.
We even got a chance to hold some of them, or should we say they crawled, slithered, jumped and even had a snooze on us.
This week in Foundation…
During our first week back after half term, Foundation have been learning about Chinese New Year through stories, film, activities and discussions.
- What can your child tell you about Chinese New Year?
- What stories can they remember from this week?
We’ve also been visited by ‘The Bug Lady’! Lots of the children were very brave, holding the minibeasts in their hands, on their legs and stroking their shells. We found out many interesting facts and were very proud of how well the children listened.
- Can your child tell you which minibeasts they saw?
- Where do the minibeasts come from?
- What were the differences between the girl and boy stick insects?
Next week, we’re looking forward to lots of ‘World Book Day’ inspired learning. Don’t forget your costumes on Thursday and parents/carers, please do join us for our Stay and Play to share a book with your child: 8.30-9.15am.
A visit from some creepy crawlies…
Today, we had some interesting visitors in school. We had a fantastic hands-on experience of holding some wonderful creatures including giant snails, giant cockroaches and stick insects.
