Detectives at work!
This week we’ve had a very busy week solving crime. On Tuesday, the children got straight into detective mode! We’ve looked for clues, taken (pretend) photographs, taken finger prints and measured footprints! It’s been a tough week, but we managed to solve the crimes! Check out our amazing detective skills!
On Tuesday, the crime scene was in the garden centre.
On Wednesday, the crime scene was in the home corner – they were shocked at the mess!
On Thursday, the crime scene moved to the construction area. This time there was a big boot!
We even spotted a police officer going to vote. We kindly asked her to come and have a look at our crime scene. The children told her all about the different crime scenes and she was so impressed with our detective skills!
Today, there was an outline of someone’s body on the carpet. The children asked various teachers to lay in the outline to find out who it is. In the end, the culprit was Miss Marsden!
Maths
F2 started to learn about teen numbers. The children know that a teen number is made up on one ten and some ones. For example, 12 is made up of one ten and two ones. We’ve also been consolidating key skills such as part-part-whole, counting on, 1 more and 1 less and taking away.
F1 looked a different 2d shapes. They were fantastic at naming them and counting the sides and corners. They made robots using a selection of 2d shapes.
Literacy
F2 used their plans to write their own stories based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Click on the links to watch some of the children reading their stories.
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Story 4
Story 5
The F1 children re-read the story and painted caterpillars using their fingers.
Next week, we will be continuing the minibeast topic and finding out about different invertebrates.
Phonics
The F2 children have almost finished all of the phase 3 phonemes. We will be learning the final three next week: air, ure and er. Please continue to use their phase 3 sound mat at home on a regular basis.
Caterpillars
Click here to see how much our caterpillars have grown!
Home-Link
Have a lovely weekend!
100 Challenge
Today, Foundation took part in the Captain Tom 100 Challenge.
Foundation were split into 5 groups. Each group had to do 20 star jumps.
We managed to do 100 star jumps between us!
Click here to watch our amazing star jumps!
We love to learn!
Literacy
This week, we have continued to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The F2 children planned their own versions of the story. The children changed the main character and some of the foods. We had The Very Hungry… ladybird, snail, slug and bee! Next week, they will use their plans to write up their stories.
The F1 group times have also focused on The Very Hungry Caterpillar. On Wednesday, they re-read the story and put picture cards in order. The have also been learning the days of the week song. You could ask your child at home,
“What day is it today?”
“What day is it tomorrow?”
“What day was it yesterday?”
The children drew a picture of their favourite part. Check out their amazing mark making!
The children love our new class pets! Every week, we will update you with caterpillar news.
Click here to watch a short clip of our caterpillars – look how much they have grown!
Maths
This week, we have continued to look at the number 10. We have had a big focus on learning the number bonds to 10. We made a bus using 10 chairs – it was called ‘The Number Ten Bus’. We used this to make up simple number stories for 10.
For example,
First there was 6 children on the bus.
Then 4 more children got on the bus.
Now there are 10 children on the bus.
Outside, the children focused on part-whole models. They threw 10 beanbags into the parts and explained how they landed.
For example,
8 is a part.
2 is a part.
10 is the whole.
To help us learn the number bonds, we have also been listening to this song. You could sing-a-long to this song at home!
Next week, we will be moving onto teen numbers. We will be learning about numbers 11 and 12.
The F1 children made caterpillars using cubes. The children chose a Numicon piece and counted that many cubes to make their caterpillar. To help them count the cubes, they put the cubes onto the Numicon pieces.
As always, Foundation seize to amaze us with their amazing imaginations, creations and ideas! On Wednesday, groups of children were pretending to be detectives looking for clues. In early years, we try to plan according to the children’s interests. Therefore, the sand area has turned into a ‘Detectives Office’.
Below are some more highlights of our week.
Peace
This half-term’s Christian value is Peace. We have been learning a song all about peace. Click here to watch it.
Reminders!
Outdoor Learning Day – Monday 24 May
Outdoor Learning Journey Drop In – 14th-17th June 2.30-3pm
Please fill the slip at the bottom of the letter and return it to school by Monday 17 May.
Home-Link Challenge
It’s good to be back!
This week, Foundation have jumped straight into our new minibeast topic.
The children enjoyed painting symmetrical butterflies at the creative table. They were amazed when they opened the wings.
FC – “Wow! It’s magic.”
AF -“That’s amazing! Can I do another one?”
The children used their fine motor skills to thread beads onto pipe cleaners to make caterpillars. They compared the length of each others caterpillars.
At the playdough table, we made more caterpillars! We used the cubes to measure how long our caterpillars were.
DA – “Mine is 16 cubes long!”
EM – “Mine is 4 cubes long.”
BREAKING NEWS!
On Thursday, Mrs Walshaw delivered a special delivery to Foundation – it was our caterpillars! The children have been so excited all week! Everyday day the children asked, “When are the caterpillars coming?” “Are they here yet?” “Will they come tomorrow?” When they arrived, all the children were in shock – “They are tiny!” Throughout the next few weeks, the children will be observing them on a daily basis and writing in their caterpillar diaries. Our focus story is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The children have loved learning all about the life cycle of a butterfly and talking about unhealthy/healthy foods.
Whenever the sun is out, Foundation are out!
We just love being active in Foundation.
F1
The F1 children loved playing ‘Silly Soup’ in their phonics group time on Monday – this game focused rhyme. Each time the children added a rhyming object, they sang the song.
We’re making lots of silly soup.
We’re making soup that’s silly.
We’re going to put it in the fridge and make it nice and chilly.
In goes a…
One of the silly soups they made had a cat, bat, hat and mat in. This is a really simple game which could be played at home.
On Thursday, the children counted pieces fruit that ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ ate and matched them up with the days of the week.
F2
In phonics this week, we have recapped the digraphs oo(long), oo(short) and ar. We also recapped the tricky word you.
In maths, our focus number is 10. The children now know that 10 is made up of “10 ones”. We watched the Numberblock 10 video and made our own “ten blocks!” The children sang Ten Green Bottles and practised taking one away each time. Some children used double-sided counters to support their learning on number bonds.
Home-Link Challenge
Chick update
I hope you’ve all had a happy and safe half-term. I can’t wait to hear about what you’ve all been up to on Monday.
Sadly, due to the current situation the chick eggs will not be with us this half-term. The farm sends their apologies. They are hoping that we can have them in June – I am keeping my fingers crossed!
On the other hand, Our caterpillars are being delivered sometime next week and we still have our frogspawn – they might even be tadpoles now!
See you all on Monday!
Spring has sprung!
I can’t believe it’s the 1st of April already!
This week, we’ve made the most of the glorious weather.
Below are just a few snapshots of what we’ve been up to this week.
Click here to watch us exploring in our outdoor area. I hope this video makes you smile as much as it did me.
On Monday, we read a book called The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. After reading the book we talked about what a seed needs to help it grow. We each planted our own tiny seed which was sunflower seed. After we planted our seeds, the F2 children did some instruction writing. The children are very good at caring for the seeds and are eager to water them everyday. We really hope they grow into beautiful sunflowers.
Don’t worry! Mrs Rippon has kindly volunteered to look after the seeds over half-term. I wonder what they will look like when we get back to school.
We have some frogspawn! The children were so excited on Monday morning when they saw the tank. We had lots of wonderful discussions and made lots of great observations. We will put the frogspawn back in our school pond over half term and hopefully when we get back to school we will have tadpoles or even froglets!
The excitement continues after half-term…
We are getting chick eggs and caterpillars! Our classroom is going to be very busy. We have been preparing the classroom for the new arrivals.
Summer 1
After half-term, our first focus story will be The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We will be looking at life-cycles and exploring the life of different minibeasts.
The F2 children will continue to learn the phase 3 sounds in phonics and we will be moving onto number 10 in maths.
Finally a little message from Miss Marsden…
You have all had a wonderful half-term. I am so proud of how well you have all settled back into school life. It has been lovely to have you all back together and I can’t wait to see where the summer term takes us. I hope you all have a fantastic half-term and a lovely Easter.
Happy Easter Foundation!
Easter Service
Thank you to all of the parents and carers who joined to support our Easter service today. It was lovely to see so many of you on zoom.
For those who were unable to join, here is a recording of our service.
Well done to all those children who took part and for all the wonderful singing that was heard around school.
The learning continues in Foundation…
This week F2 have been learning all about the number 9. We watched the Numberblock 9 video and noticed that Numberblock 9 is a square – it has “3 rows of 3.” We made our own versions of Numberblock 9 using cubes. We then made different shapes using our 9 cubes.
To also help with our number 9 learning. Some children counted 9 movements. They used chalk to mark how far they travelled and compared the distances they travelled doing the different movements. We tried 9 giant steps, 9 tiny steps, 9 jumps and 9 hops.
R – “I went the furthest!”
E – “I only got to here doing the tiny steps.”
G – “I went further!”
I – “The tiny steps made us go the shortest.”
Next, week we will finalise our learning on number 9. After half-term, we will move onto learning all about number 10.
F1 Group Time
This week, the children practised oral blending by playing Toy Talk. The children listened carefully to the puppet segmenting the sounds in simple cvc (consonant, vowel, consonant) words and they had to try blend the word together. Oral blending is a key skill which will help them get ready for phase 2 phonics in F2. We will continue to practise oral blending in group times.
On Thursday, the children practised their counting skills. They were given different Numicon pieces and had to count that many Easter eggs. We observed some wonderful counting – well done F1!
PE
When I walked into the hall on Wednesday, I thought I saw lots of dinosaurs! The children used their imaginations and went back in time. The school hall had a prehistoric atmosphere. They talked about different dinosaurs – we had some dinosaur experts! After, the children experimented with different movements and how they might have moved.
Click here to watch our dinosaur movements.
Home-Link Challenges
Forgiveness
This half-term our Christian value is forgiveness. Last Friday, the children did an activity called ‘Fizzy Forgiveness’. The children dropped their tablet in the water and watched it fizz. When doing this, the children thought about a time where they might have had to forgive someone or somebody might have needed to forgive them.
A sunny week in Foundation
What a glorious week we’ve had in Foundation. The sunny weather has allowed us to be outside every day and the children have loved it! We’ve been using our imaginations to make up role-play situations in the pirate tuff tray. A group of children helped Miss Marsden plant some bulbs and vegetable seeds. On Tuesday, the children loved getting wet. They used different containers, tubes and pipes to make the water travel down the pipes and into other containers. They were pouring squeezing, filling and splashing all morning. The children were that engaged, we nearly ended being late for lunch – oops!
In PE, the children continued to develop their throwing and catching skills. However, this time they used balloons! Look how excited and eager they were to catch the balloons. Next term, we will continue to learn key skills and start playing small team games.
At the end of the week, it’s our maths focus days. This week, we consolidated our learning on numbers 6, 7 and 8. The children chose a number and drew a picture to represent that number using two groups.
For example, “There are 4 red flowers and 3 yellow flowers. There are 7 flowers altogether.”
The children outside made a number track using hoops and chalk. They rolled two dice, counted the total number of spots, and jumped that many spaces on the number track. It was great to see the children praising their peers when they won.
F1 Group Times
On Monday and Tuesday, the F1 children focused on alliteration in phase one phonics sessions. The children listened carefully to Mrs Rippon saying initial sounds. For example, “Can you find something that begins with sssss?” On Wednesday, the F1 children discussed the different seasons and what changes we might see. After the discussion, they sorted some picture cards into each of the seasons.
Here are some more highlights from this week…
In the construction area, the children explored how to make the remote control cars work and drew roads for them to drive on.
Phonics Learning
Home-Link Challenges
I hope the sun keeps shining and you all have a lovely weekend!
See you on Monday for another fun-filled week.