Space, doctors and hot air balloons
Literacy
Our focus story this week was The Great Balloon Hullabaloo by Peter Bently.
On the carpet, we looked at the solar system and found out lots of new facts. The children have loved learning about space and were eager to find out more information by asking questions. We used Google to help us find out some of the answers.
On Tuesday, we did a space quiz to see if we had remembered all the key facts. The children smashed it and scored 6 out of 6!
The F2 children used their imaginations to draw and write about what they if they went on an adventure to space.
Creative
At the beginning of the week, the creative challenge was to make a hot air balloon. All of the children were fabulous at following instructions and successfully made their very own hot air balloons.
Role-play
This week, we’ve been at the doctors’ surgery. It’s been super busy all week… at one point the waiting room was full!
Sticking to the space theme, the challenge at the playdough table was to make odd and even aliens.
“My alien is even because it has 4 arms.”
“My alien is odd and even.”
“My alien is odd because it has one leg.”
“My alien is odd because it has 3 legs.”
Home-Link Challenge
Reminders!
- Your child can come to school in their PE kit all week.
- Sports day 10.30-11.30 – only 1 parent to attend
- Please make sure your child brings a sun hat and water bottle to school every day!
- 16.07.21 – outdoor transition activity for the F2 children.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
If you’re watching the final, I hope you enjoy the game!
Is it too early to say…it’s coming home?
BREAKING NEWS!
On Thursday morning, we had a hedgehog visit our outdoor area. The children were amazed! We named the hedgehog Harry and watched a video all about hedgehogs. All-day the children kept looking under the bush until they found… A FAMILY OF HEDGEHOGS!
Honesty
This afternoon, we did our honesty challenge in collective workshop. The children were asked to hold a glass pebble and think about a time when they haven’t been honest.
We talked about that it can be hard to be honest, although it’s the right thing to do, it can feel very scary so we don’t get it right.
Road safety
This week, we’ve been learning all about road safety.
Thank you for sending pictures of your local walks. The children loved sharing and talking about the different road signs they found with their peers.
In literacy, we talked about The Green Cross Code and the F2 children created road safety posters. Ask your child if they can remember the green cross code.
Click here to watch us practise crossing the road.
Challenges!
Like every week, there are 6 new challenges for the children to do when learning in the areas of provision. Some of the challenges are planned according to the children’s interests. The two most popular challenges this week were creating puppets in the creative area and writing letters to the Fairy Godmother asking politely for three wishes.
Reminders!
Please remember to apply your child’s suncream before they come to school! Suncream will be reapplied at lunchtime with adult guidance.
Your child needs to bring a named water bottle every day!
Foundation’s sports day – Wednesday 14th July
10.30-11.30
Home-Link Challenge
A busy week!
Outdoor learning day
Of course, the biggest highlight of this week was our outdoor learning day. The children were split into four groups and each group got a go at each of the activities. To end the day, we decided to make a huge puddle and get really wet! The children’s behaviour was amazing and we just had so much fun learning outside. Scroll down to Monday’s post to watch the video.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the F2 children looked at photographs from the day and wrote about what they did/enjoyed.
On Wednesday, the F1 children also wrote about the outdoor learning day in their group.
Maths
This week, our focus number was 19. When watching the Numberblocks 19 video, the children loved that 19 made lots of different crazy shapes. The video focussed on 19 being an odd number. A group of children explored making their own crazy shapes using the cubes.
“giraffes”
“capital letter L”
“wonky bird”
“boat”
We’ve also been investigating which numbers are odd and which numbers are even. We divided different amounts of objects into pairs/groups of two to find out. The children were brilliant at noticing if there was an odd one!
Phonics
We are coming to the end of Phase 4. After next week, we will focus on applying the phonics skills. The children will be encouraged to read and write longer words independently. To support your child, please keep practising the phonemes and tricky words at home.
This week, we talked about not needing to blend every word. I emphasised that they don’t need to segment every word if they know it. This will support their fluency. When reading at home, please encourage this.
PE
Sports day is just around the corner so we thought we’d better start practising. This week, they loved showing off their amazing running, jumping, skipping and balancing skills. It was great to see the children cheering on their peers, saying well done and having a positive attitude.
Some more highlights of the week…
Sharing the biscuits equally at the teddy bears’ picnic.
Our very own mini Euros football tournament.
Sorting real and nonsense words.
Practising our fine motor skills.
Working together to build a bridge for the train.
Making models.
The hula hooping experts!
Home-Link Challenge
Outdoor learning day
Click here to watch some highlights of our outdoor learning day.
We had so much fun!
Active learners
It’s been another busy week in the Foundation classroom.
The fantastic learning just keeps coming!
Literacy
This week, we continued to look at The Hundred Decker Bus by Mike Smith. The children were amazing at retelling and remembering key events. The F2 children designed and wrote sentences about their own decks. We put all of the children’s decks together to make our very own Foundation 2 Decker Bus. Click here to view our bus.
Some children decided to continue their learning and make their own decker bus independently.
Maths
This week, our focus number was 18. Some children explored sharing 18 cubes into different groups.
“2 groups of 9”
“3 groups of 6”
“6 groups of 3”
We’ve also been thinking about halving. To support the children’s understanding, we practised sharing different quantities into 2 equal groups. On the carpet, we tried sharing 7 apples into 2 equal groups. The children noticed that there was 1 apple leftover. They suggested adding one more, taking the apple away, or making another group. After a long discussion, I explained that the number 7 is an odd number. Next week, we will continue to investigate odd and even numbers.
Working at the car wash…
Last week, the children were observed using paintbrushes to clean just about everything in our outdoor area. Therefore, we decided to turn the road into a car wash.
Well, I’ve never seen a car wash so organised. The children loved washing the cars, scooters, and bikes. They were that good, I even thought about getting them to wash mine!
Outdoor Learning Journey Drop-In
Thank you to all the parents who came to the learning journey drop-in sessions. It was lovely to see how proud the children were when they were sharing their learning.
Honesty
This half-term’s Christian value is Honesty. To help us understand what honesty means, we’ve been reading Pinocchio. On Thursday, the children worked in small groups to put the story pictures in order.
Outdoor Learning Day
On Monday, please make sure your child comes to school in a raincoat and their wellies. It could be a wet one!
Home-Link Challenge
Hand to Mouth visit
Last week, we were lucky to welcome Hand to Mouth back into school. Hand to Mouth is a Christian charity that come into schools to work with children to explore Christianity and their own spiritual journey.
Throughout the day, Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 visited a journey where they could explore ‘Christianity as a living faith’. The children visited the journey in pairs and explored different stations throughout.
Throught the day, each class had a visit to learning about different aspects of Christianity as a living world faith.
In foundation, they learnt all about African worship. In the session, they made our very own Kufi Hats and danced around the classroom to some African music.
In year 1,2, they learnt all about different churches and got to make their own church.
In year 3,4, they learnt what worship was and how different this can look around the world.
In year 5,6, they learnt all about justice and what this entailed.
Sunny first week back
What a great start to the final term!
We’ve jumped straight into our new topic which is based on journeys and transport. From booking holidays in the travel agent to being mermaids in the sand, the children have had a fantastic week.
Literacy
Our focus story is The Hundred Decker Bus by Mike Smith. On Monday and Tuesday, the F2 children drew a map of the buses journey. We also looked at different pictures of old buses and compared them with pictures of new buses. The children were fascinated!
“That bus is old because it looks dusty.”
“This bus is older because it is darker than that one.”
“This bus is old because the windows are small.”
The children absolutely love this book! Therefore, we will be continuing this book next week and designing our own decks for our class bus. You could ask your child if they can remember what happens in the story.
Visitor
On Thursday, we had a visitor from Hand to Mouth visit us. We learnt all about African worship. In the session, we made our very own Kufi Hats and dance around the classroom to some African music.
CHEESE!
Maths
This week, our focus number was 17. We’ve also been thinking about doubling. The children know that when we double something it gets twice as big.
Phonics
The F2 children have started Phase 4 of the ‘Letters and Sounds’ phonics programme. In this phase children will use the phonemes learnt in Phase 2 and Phase 3 to read and spell words with four or more phonemes.
CVCC words: tent, damp, chimp, toast
For example, in the word ‘damp’, d = consonant, a = vowel, m = consonant, p = consonant
CCVC words: swim, plum, sport, spoon
For example, in the word ‘plum’, p = consonant, l = consonant, u = vowel, m = consonant
They will also learn more new tricky words. This week, we learnt: said and so.
Here are some more highlights from this week…
We even made our own jacuzzi!
Reminder!
Don’t forget to come along to our outdoor learning journey drop-ins next week. If you can’t remember your session, please ask one of the Foundation team. We look forward to sharing and celebrating all of the children’s wonderful learning.
This weekend is going to be a hot one. Please remember to drink plenty of water, sit in the shade and wear sun cream. Have a lovely weekend and I will see you all on Monday.
Staying safe in the sun
As the weather is getting warmer, we’d like to remind you about keeping your child safe in the sun.
NHS guidance makes it clear that most people do not apply enough sunscreen. If sunscreen is applied too thinly, the amount of protection is reduced. It should be applied to all exposed skin, including the face, neck and ears. The SPF should be at least 30.
It’s really important that children come to school wearing sunscreen and that this is applied just before leaving home.
If you choose an ‘all day sunscreen’, it’s important that it is used according to the manufacturer’s instructions. For sunscreen that needs to be reapplied, children can bring a named bottle into school which they will be able to reapply at lunchtime. Please teach your child how to do this independently. Staff in school will help/guide if needed but as you can imagine a vast amount of teaching and learning time could be lost if staff are applying cream to a full class.
If your child has a sibling(s) in school, they will each need an individual bottle of suncream. Due to the current situation, we cannot be going into other bubbles.
A named hat and water bottle are essential. Please ensure that your child brings both to school every day. We will replenish water bottles throughout the day.