Category Archives: Foundation Stage Blog

Dear Parents/Carers,

The children have many questions about plants and growing so this term we have begun a theme on growing. Last week the children shared their holiday news. They listened to the Hymn ‘All things Bright and Beautiful’ the children listened to the words and then worked together to use a variety of resources to create model flowers these were displayed at the flower festival at the church.

In maths the children were learning about halving the children used different objects to work out what half of a number was. You could practise at home by finding objects and then finding what half would be.

The children did an experiment to find out what plants need to grow. They planted cress in different trays one had water light and soil, one had soil and water, one had no soil water and light and the other had light but no soil. They watched them grow throughout the week. The children looked at them again on Thursday and the cress in the dark was yellow. The children wondered “If we leave it out will it go green again?” We will watch it over the next week to see what happens!

This week the children listened to the story ‘Jim and the Beanstalk’ the children shared their predictions about the story and then discussed and wrote down what they thought might be on the large piece of paper wrapped in a coin that lands by the beanstalk. The children all began to plant beans and planted a bean in a jar to watch it grow over time.

In maths this week the children have been solving subtraction problems. They have found their own resources to solve the problems and then talked about how they found the answer.

The children have been practising their running for sports day. They are beginning to understand that they need to continue running through the finish line, this week the children have started to learn what they need to do for the relay race at sports day.

Remember to keep learning your sounds and practise using them in your reading. Have a fabulous weekend,

Miss Zimmerman, Mrs Bowden, Mrs Roberts and Mrs Conway.

Dear Parents/Carers,

The children have really been excited by their new theme ‘Space’. During the first week they visited the space dome and had a story told to them about Orion. The children listened to the story of ‘Whatever Next’ and talked about what they would take to the moon, creating their own list.

Last week we shared the story of ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ The children made predictions about what could happen and then created their own story titles. As a class the children learnt about story maps and created a story map for Aliens Love underpants.

This week we have created our own stories. We threw three story telling dice and told stories about aliens using the titles the children had created the previous week. In small groups we created story maps for their stories. The children created their own story maps and then began to write their own stories.

This week the children have been subtracting during Maths. The children have been trying to solve Merlin’s maths problems, our maths dinosaur. The children have been using a variety of resources and strategies, to find the answer. You could help at home by giving your children real life subtraction problems.

Last week the children moved to music composed by Holst and Adams, they then created artwork in response to these classical pieces of music. The children watched a space themed clip this week and then created the music for the short clip. They talked about the different types of instruments they could use and then played them at different times and changed the dynamics creating a fabulous piece of music to enhance the clip. Well Done Class R!

The children are looking forward to doing their Physical sessions on the school field with Mr Aplin when the weather is slightly warmer. Please ensure that your child has their full P.E kit and Plimsolls in school so they have them when they need them.

Thank you and have a great weekend, remember to share your books at home over the weekend we look forward to hearing about what you have been learning.

Many Thanks,

Miss Zimmerman, Mrs Bowden, Mrs Roberts and Mrs Conway.

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Over the last two weeks the children have been learning about Easter. Last week as a class we talked about what Palm Sunday means to Christians and how it is celebrated. This week the children listened to the Easter story and shared their ideas and thoughts about it.

The children have been learning about positional language this week to talk about where objects or people are such as next to, on top of, under, in, in between. The children did various hunts for objects including hunting bears they had to then say where they had found their bear, after practising the children hunted for Easter treats.

During independent learning time the children have been practising using money to buy their snack. All items at the shop are cost at 5 pence or less. The children have been taking money from the class purse and spending the money at the shop. The children are also becoming great at being shop keepers and thinking about the change needed. You could help at home by giving them some small coins to count to find ‘How much’ they have altogether.

The children made Easter nests this week, as a class we wrote instructions of how to make the nests and then followed them. The children took turns at mixing and all made one Easter nest which they took home to enjoy. If you ask your children they might remember how to make them, they could write you some instructions so you could make them at home.

Have a fabulous Easter, remember to keep reading daily, little and often is the best way to enable your children to practise their skills. Play games with flashcards and have a good rest!

Well done Class R for all your great learning this term.

Happy Easter,

Miss Zimmerman, Mrs Bowden and Mrs Roberts.

Dear Parents/ Carers,

This week we have continued to answer the children’s questions. The children listened to the story of a little girl and used their imagination to think about what she saw in a clearing in a wood. The children all drew their ideas and talked about them as a class. The story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ was told to the children using props. The children talked about how all the different characters might be feeling and the children hot seated Baby Bear and Goldilocks. It was decided that Goldilocks should write a letter to say sorry, which class R helped with.

In Maths the children have been learning about money. The children have been finding the correct value of coins to pay a given amount. At home the children could be encouraged to empty piggy banks and count money or look at how much money is in different people’s wallets and purses. The children have all had five pence during Independent Learning Time to buy their snack from the snack shop.

In family time the children talked about what they found difficult this week and how we can help each other to overcome our challenges.

Thank you to all parents/carers who attended the writing meeting on Wednesday day, it was great to see you. If anyone was unable to attend and would like to discuss how to support your child towards independent writing please come and talk to us.

Have a great weekend,

Miss Zimmerman, Mrs Bowden and Mrs Roberts.

Dear Parents/Carers,

Last week for ‘World Book Day’ the children dressed up as their favourite characters. Children brought their books into school and we shared their stories, the children talked about why they like their particular character.

This week we have been answering the children’s question “How are houses made”. We acted out the story of the three little pigs and talked about the different materials used to make houses. The children discuss what houses are made from around the world and watched a clip on the Interactive Whiteboard to show them more about different houses. The children then used their imagination to create their own idea of what a house could be made from and then drew and labelled their houses.

In Maths the children have been learning about subtraction. The children have used various objects in the classroom to find a given number and then have ‘taken away’ a given amount by counting them as they take them away. The children then have been answering ‘how many are left’ by counting the remaining objects. We then talked about using numerals instead to objects to represent the numbers. The children could practise this at home using objects and physically taking them away or try playing this game http://www.ictgames.com/targettakeaway.html

In phonics we are continuing to play games to help us with learning our letters and sounds and keywords including keyword bingo. Please remember to practise using your letters and sounds at home by reading books, signs, labels.

Have a great weekend,

Miss Zimmerman, Mrs Bowden and Mrs Roberts.

Dear Parents /Carers,

This week we have been learning about Chinese New Year. We read the Chinese New Year story and learnt about the animals that raced to have the Zodiac New Year named after them. The children found out that they were all born in the year of the Rabbit or the Dragon. The children watched a clip of Chinese New Year celebrations and used piece of material to represent dragons and danced around children twirling ribbons in the hall. They had to work as a team to move the material. We have a Chinese restaurant in our class and on Wednesday we had a Chinese food tasting for snack. The children tried prawn crackers, Chinese rice and noodles. They were all very popular, especially the prawn crackers!

In Maths the children have been learning about pattern. We recapped that a repeating pattern is the same pattern over and over again. The children have been challenging themselves to describe patterns of shape, as well as number and have been creating their own patterns. At home you could create your own repeating patterns and talk about the pattern with people at home or visitors you may get over half term.

In Phonics the children have learnt the grapheme ‘ow’, ‘oi’, ‘ear’, ‘air’ and the tricky word ‘you’. The children have been using these graphemes to read and write words. The children all had these graphemes on flashcards to practise at home. It is important that over half term you continue to read regularly so that the children can practise using their knowledge of letters and sounds. You can also practice forming letters correctly.

The children made bird feeders this week, we hung them up and the children have been watching for different types of birds.

Have a lovely have term,

Miss Zimmerman, Mrs Bowden and Mrs Roberts.

Dear Parents/Carers,

Last week we looked at a picture of a water well. The children talked about what they thought it could be, some ideas were very creative “the chimney of an underground house”. We read a description of the frog from ‘The Princess and the Frog’ and the children had to predict what character it was a description of. We shared the story of ‘The Princess and the Frog’. The children thought about spells they could cast if they were the witch and used their imagination to create characters that might be at the bottom of the well. The children then described their characters and had a go at using their knowledge of letters and sounds to write the words.

In Maths last week the children talked about the capacity of containers, they used language such as bigger capacity, smaller capacity, largest capacity, smallest capacity to compare the different containers.

This week we have been sharing the story ‘Beauty and the Beast’ we talked about the different characters and have been practising describing them. We talked about using what we can see, hear, smell, touch and taste to describe. As a class the children described a castle in a wood the children then played a headband game and had to give descriptive clues to each other so they could guess the name of the characters they wore. One of our learning questions was ‘How are bricks made?” so we watched a clip about how they are made and discussed this as a class.

You now should all have the new home learning menu. Please encourage the children to have a go at some challenges and bring them in to share with us. The children have started learning vowel digraphs in school these are where two letters make one sound these include, ai, ee, oo, oa. The children have been practising reading them within words and are beginning to have a go at forming the letters.

This weekend maybe you could write your weekend news and bring it in on Monday to share with the class.

Have a great weekend,

Miss Zimmerman, Mrs Bowden and Mrs Roberts.

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we began answering the many questions Class R asked at the end of last term. ‘How do ovens cook?’ we tried to answer this week, we read the story of the gingerbread man. We talked about what we already know about ovens. We explored the dry ingredients in Gingerbread and looked at instructions of how to make them as a class. We read ‘How things work’ which gave us more information about how the oven cooks and we described how the dough and biscuit felt and smelt. The children all made a gingerbread man. They had to roll out the dough using a rolling pin and cut it out. The children then talked about what they did and the adult scribed or the children had a go at writing themselves what they did to create their gingerbread men.

In maths we have been using language to compare the weight of objects. We used language such as heavy, light, lighter than, heavier than, heaviest and lightest and weighed various different items with balance scales. You could explore weight further by finding different ways to weigh objects or finding objects of different weights and talking about them. The children could try playing this game at home. http://www.lcfclubs.com/lcf-maths/flash04/z04-games/z04-heavier-and-lighter.asp remind them that “before they click, click, click, they need to think, think, think and tell someone”. This is our moto which helps to keep the children safe while using the computer.

The children should now be secure with all the grapheme/phonemes they have brought home as well as the keywords I, no, go, to, the please ensure you continue to enable the children to read daily so they can apply their skills. Next week I will send home a letter inviting you to a phonics meeting as well as a maths meeting. Please look out for these in book bags, the information will also be in next week’s newsletter.

We are looking to add different material into our book corner, if you have any children’s magazines at home which your children no longer would like to read please bring them into school for other children to share.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Zimmerman, Mrs Bowden and Mrs Roberts.

Dear Parents/Carers,

We hope you all had a relaxing and exciting Christmas holiday and that all the children are refreshed and ready for an exciting term. This term our theme will be ‘Fairy tales’ we will be answering the questions they asked last term through this theme.

This week the children have been thinking about their Christmas holiday, they talked about what they did and asked each other questions about their holidays. The children made, modelled, painted or drew something they got for Christmas and then used their knowledge of letters and sounds to write about their presents.

In Maths the children have been learning about adding and talking about how two parts make a whole. The children have been changing the numbers in the two parts and finding how many in the whole. The children have been choosing their resources to help them.

It is really important that the children are reading at home daily so they get lots of practise to use their letters and sounds. Please make sure someone at home writes in their reading record so we know what they have found challenging or if they have read the book fluently with expression.

It is great to be back, have a great weekend,

Miss Zimmerman, Mrs Bowden and Mrs Roberts.

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Thank you to all of you for attending class R’s ‘Nativity’ on Monday. The children really enjoyed performing for you and I am sure you will all agree they all did a fantastic performance.

This week the children have continued to open the advent presents from under the tree we have had a variety of books to share as a class including Rudy’s windy Christmas, which made us chuckle!

Over the holiday you may be very busy visiting friends and family, it may be a good opportunity to share your books with other people as well as play games with your graphemes and tricky words.

Have a fantastic holiday and a well-deserved rest,

Miss Zimmerman, Mrs Bowden and Mrs Roberts.