Saturday, April 18, 2009

New term...New site!!

Hi there!

How time has flown. It doesn’t seem like two minutes since I was waving goodbye to everyone to start my maternity leave. Well, the beginning of this term sees the beginning of a new site for all your information regarding your child’s learning.


We have decided to trial a ‘one-stop shop’ for all weekly information and curriculum support for both Foundation Stage and Year 1. This means that the only site that you need to check each week from now on, will be the new school website.

How do I access the new site?
Go to http://www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk/ and click on Year Foundation Stage. This is on a menu bar on the left hand side of the screen. If you scroll down on the homepage, you will find an outline of what we will be covering this week in class.

What about links to websites?
You will be able to access recommended websites, by click on the weblinks link on the Foundation Stage homepage. I have included a navigation guide on the homepage for where to find the websites to support learning linked to what we are doing this week.All of the links will be added to as time goes on and new topics are covered.

There are many other parts of the site to explore, but the only way to see everything that is available so far, is to go and look!

I have other children in other year groups – what about them?
The other year groups will also be rolling this out over the course of the Summer term. Until then, their blogs will continue as normal.

It has taken a great deal of time and effort to set up this site and new resources are being added all the time, but if there is anything you would like to see added, please do let us know and we will endeavour to accommodate any requests.

May we take this opportunity to thank you for all your support during this transition period and always.

Take care and have a good week!

The EYFS team. x

Monday, April 06, 2009

Easter Extravaganza!!

Hi there!

Where did that maternity leave go?

Well, it is the final week before Easter and the week will be spent assessing and reviewing th children’s learning. This will be Ms Sammon’s last week and I’d like to thank her and the amazing Foundation Stage team for their hard work this last term.

Easter celebrations
As we are in school for most of Holy Week, we shall be devoting our time to the important Easter celebrations. The children are VERY excited about the prospect of the Easter Bunny arriving, so they can eat copious amounts of chocolate, but we will be reminding them about the true meaning of Easter. They will be sequencing the Easter Story, using illustrations as prompts for
their writing.


Some children do get a little upset when we talk about the death of Jesus, but I assure you, we do handle it very sensitively and the children do appreciate us not shying away from these issues.

There are a number of websites below to support you at home to help explain the story to your child, along with some lovely activities to try.

On the night before his death Jesus had a final meal with his friends. This meal was one of the festival meals for Passover. Before the meal Jesus did something which surprised his friends. He washed the feet of every person, a task which was normally done by a servant. By doing this he wanted to show his followers that they should love one another in humble ways.

We shall be re-enacting this with the children which is a lovely way of bringing some elements of the story to life for them.
http://www.topmarks.co.uk/christianity/easter/easter.htm - this is an illustrated version of the story, which will help the children when they come to write their own versions this week
http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Easter/Easter.aspx - find out more about the traditions surrounding Easter. If you do some of the activities, then we would love to see them!
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/re/b-dag/ngfl-container/re-unit2-en.html - some lovely activities on here. The think and discuss section is a great way of working on the children’s comprehension of the story, particularly developing their inference and deduction skills.
http://www.teachingandlearningresources.co.uk/resourcesjigsaws.shtml -online jigsaws for the children to do.
http://www.teachingandlearningresources.co.uk/colourbookeaster.shtml - printable Easter colouring activities.
http://demo.iboard.co.uk/screens/thread_home.htm?thread_id=21 - a lovely website with lots of fantastic things to do.

Other Easter activities may be found on the Here I Am page on the school website. Click on Curriculum, then Here I Am and finally weblinks. There are also some Easter writing activities which can be accessed through the downloads section.

Easter Bonnets
On Thursday afternoon, we will be having our annual Easter bonnet parade. The prizes are awarded for originality AND evidence of the children’s own work. Please remember to label your child’s bonnet and we promise to take some lovely photos of the children, just to bring out on their 21st birthday!


Egg Rolling
This will take place on Wednesday afternoon. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember that the eggs need to be hard – boiled, and, as they will break during the rolling of them, the children will not be able to bring them home.


Easter Service
The Easter Service will take place at 9am on Thursday in the hall. Space is very limited in the hall, but you are welcome to join us.


Fundraising afternoon
This Tuesday, sees the Year 5/6 children doing their annual fundraising event for the Nugent Care Society. The children will be allowed to purchase bric-a-brac items, as well as taking part in games and events. It would be helpful if the children could bring in their loose change in a sealed, named envelope or purse. Many thanks for this.


Website
I hope that you have found the school website useful and easy to navigate to the websites needed to support your child’s learning. We are hoping to use the school website as a 'one-stop-shop' for the information you receive on the blogs every week so if you have any suggestions please let us know what would be useful to you.


Good Luck
I am sure you will join us in wishing Mrs Morgan the best of luck as she begins her maternity leave on Thursday. More baby news will follow shortly.

All that is left to say, is to thank all of you for your support this term and to wish you all a very happy and holy Easter.

I will see you in person on the first day back!!!

Best wishes

Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxx

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Egg-cellent

Hi there
Well only a week and a bit until I have to get ready for my return and I can’t wait to see how much the children have come on. This week therefore will be used to consolidate the learning objectives from last weeks blog and assess the children’s learning ready for my return to ensure continuity and progression in their learning for the start of the Summer term.

Please refer back to the previous blogs from this half term and the last half term to see what the children will be assessed on.


Please also visit our school website www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk and use the foundation stage tab on the left-hand tool bar to access weblinks linked to the children’s learning.

FOSV
Many thanks for your response to the Go 4 Gold scheme. The closing date has now been extended to 7th April to allow you to ask friends and grandparents if they have any 'old gold.'

The Friends have now organised the Bag 2 School scheme. You will have received a blue plastic bag on Friday, which we would like you to fill with clothing, bedding, curtains, soft toys, shoes, belts, handbags etc. Please could we ask that the bag DOES NOT contain any BRIC-A-BRAC. The bags then need to be returned to school ON WEDNESDAY 29TH APRIL. As we have no storage space for these in school, please could we ask that they are not returned before this day. Many thanks for this.

STRIPES and SPOTS day
This Friday, we will be having a stripes and spots day, arranged by Mrs Walker. We are asking all the children to dress in STRIPES or SPOTS and for this, to donate £1. Mrs Walker is currently 'in training' for The Great North Run in September and she is raising money for the Arthritis Research Campaign and hopes that we can all support her in this cause. Ooh, the children might even support her running training this week in our PE lessons!


Some advance notice...

You will have received a letter a few weeks ago, informing you of our Easter celebrations. Just as a reminder –

EASTER BONNETS – the children will be having their annual Easter bonnet parade in the last week, so start getting creative now! Prizes will go the bonnets which display both creativity and evidence of the children’s own work.

EGG ROLLING – this too will take place in the last week, but please try to do this just one day in advance – 120 children – one hall – 120 hard-boiled eggs...mmm...need I say more!!

Yellow Woods AppealThe school is still collecting front covers of your old yellow pages. The closing date will be Thursday 9th April.Sainsbury's Vouchers/Tesco VouchersThe school is collecting both Sainsbury's and Tesco vouchers to try and extend it's range of resources. The collection boxes are in the Key Stage 1 area.

That's it for this week. See you all very soon

Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxx

Sunday, March 22, 2009

How is it growing?

Hi there!

As the end of the half term is approaching they have lots to do this week! So here goes...

Communication, Language and Literacy
By the end of the week, the children:

MUST – to consolidate all letters and sounds learnt so far and use the in writing CVC words
SHOULD - learn oi, ur and ear and incorporate these in their writing
COULD – learn oi, ur and ear and incorporate these when writing simple sentences.


How are you doing with the high frequency words? Remember not long until we finish for Easter and the children need to really have them under their belts if they are to achieve the Early learning Goals for Reading. Keeping going! I bought Faith some foam letters from the supermarket to practise spelling them in the bath. She’s more interested in them now and you get to save time.

The children will have the opportunity to apply their writing skills through the castle booklets and Giant’s menus in the writing area. They could also write an invitation to Sleeping Beauty.

Problem-Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
The children will be making their own snakes and ladders game and playing a fishing game to support their learning. This was planned for last week but time just flew away with us! By the end of the week, the children:


MUST - be able to combine two sets of objects and find out how many by counting
SHOULD – be able to take a smaller number away from a larger number and say how many are left
COULD – be able to take a smaller number away from a larger number and say how many are left up to 30


TOPIC
The children will consolidate the topic with the planting bulbs and seeds. They will observe daffodils and use junk materials to make a daffodil. They will continue to create the most beautiful Easter card you have ever received and decorate pots for their beans. Plus much much more…


INFORMATION FOR PARENTS –
Could we ask that if anyone has any ACTIMEL bottles at home, please send them in for an exciting project!


Also, the children are investigating the theme of Growing as part of their Here I Am lessons. We would be grateful if you would be willing to send in any baby clothes that you may have at home, or any baby photographs. The children should be able to build up a visual picture of just how much they have grown since their babygrow days!

I think that is all for now, except to say check out the school website
www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk. Click on the Foundation Stage Link and enjoy lots of activities to support your child’s learning.

Have a great week!The Foundation Stage Team xxx

Sunday, March 15, 2009


Hi there!

Well it is only a few more weeks until Easter and this week the children will start their new Here I Am topic of GROWING. This, as you know, has been a theme of their learning for the last few weeks. However, in Here I Am, the children will learn to:
RECOGNISE that people grow
REFLECT on the ways they have grown, and
RESPECT and appreciate how they have changed

You may wish to get out some old photographs and help the children see how they have changed and grown. Even better would be to get some photographs of yourself and the changes in your appearance as you have grown older. Better still get the children’s grandparents involved,


Spring Walk
To support this theme we will also be taking the children on a Spring Walk to look for signs of growth. There will be a label in your child’s diaries on Monday to give permission for the children to go on a walk around the local area. We would like to take the children out on Tuesday, so please sign it on Monday evening, as children cannot be taken out of school without permission. Could children please bring raincoats and wellies for our walk around the area – just in case!


Communication, Language and Literacy
The children continue with their phonics as we now move into pushing the children in their writing. By the end of the week, the children:


MUST be able to recognise the letters and sounds learnt so far and to incorporate these into writing CVC words
SHOULD begin to recognise or, oa and ea, and begin to use them to create words
COULD know ar, oa, or and ow and to incorporate these into their writing

Click on
www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk and then FOUNDATION, and then WEBLINKS and finally COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY on the navigation bar on the left. Scroll down and you will find lots of PHONICS websites. Simply click on the links and you will be taken to the website of your choice.

You will also notice that we have websites to support the learning of the high frequency words. Please make use of these websites as they are an interesting way to develop the acquisition of these very important words.


High Frequency Words
Talking of high frequency words, when the children have been assessed on their reading over the last few weeks, the staff have noticed that it is their ability to recognise the high frequency words on sight, that is the final hurdle to helping them move on. Just 5 minutes each day will really help to give your child a boost and could make all the difference! Many thanks in anticipation of your support in this. If you have misplaced the copies of the high frequency words given to you in December please call in and collect a fresh copy from a member of the team. Thanks.


Problem-Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
The children will be continuing with their understanding of calculations. By the end of the week, the children:


MUST be able to understand the concept of one more and one less
SHOULD be able to combine 2 sets of objects to solve an addition equation
COULD begin to compare two sets of objects to solve subtraction problems

Click on
www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk and then FOUNDATION, and then WEBLINKS and finally PROBLEM-SOLVING, REASONING AND NUMERACY on the navigation bar on the left. Scroll down and you will find lots of ADDITION and SUBTRACTION websites. Simply click on the links and you will be taken to the website of your choice.

Role-Play
We are currently developing our role-play area into a flower shop. If you have any unwanted silk flowers you could donate to us that would be fantastic. Also, on my return I hope to develop a gardening area outside of our classroom. If you have any seeds, bulbs and planters you could donate to us that would be really appreciated.



Recommended reading
As part of our drive to raise standards in reading, particularly fostering a life-long love of reading for boys, we are currently compiling a list of recommended reads for each age phase. We aim to recommend many more titles, for when you are browsing in Borders at the weekend, but for our age group, we recommend this:


We’re off to look for Aliens by Colin McNaughton

A fantastic book! Faith loved this when we shared it so it’s a hit with the girls too. If you do read this with your child, please do let us know what you think by leaving a comment on this blog, or send us an e-mail through the Foundation Stage pages on
http://www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk/
Friends of St. Vincent’s
Once again, the Friends are working hard to raise funds for some great new playground equipment for the benefit of our children, and so they are organising a GO 4 GOLD SCHEME. Any old/unwanted gold can help us to raise funds. On Friday, you should have received an envelope to put the gold in and we would ask that these are returned as soon as possible and no later than THURSDAY 26TH MARCH.

In order to prevent the children from just ‘helping themselves’ to your finest jewellery, we need you to sign the envelope and complete some information on the envelope. Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept the gold without it. If your child’s name and class is on the envelope too, their name will be entered into an Easter draw, to will a HUGE Easter Egg! I think this may have prompted the GOLD search on Friday evening! As an idea of the amount which could be raised, if every child in school brought just one small stud earring, school would raise approximately £1600!


There will also be an Easter raffle held, to win an Easter Egg and a cuddly toy. Tickets cost 50p per strip and are available from the school office. The draw for this, will take place on 9th April.

Mass
We will also be celebrating Mass in the hall this Thursday at 9.15am, on the theme on Reconciliation. You are most welcome to join us. If you would like to leave any pushchairs in the infant area during Mass, please feel free to do so.

Children in Year 5 will be receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time this Wednesday, in an Away Day at St. Joseph’s Church. I am sure you will join us, in remembering them in our thoughts and prayers this week.
That's all for this week!
Take care
The Foundation Stage Team xxx

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Let's Grow!!

Hi there!

Hope you are all well. Time is flying and very soon I will be getting ready for school myself on a Sunday evening. The children have lots to do this week so here goes!

Communication, Language and Literacy
The children continue with their phonics as we now move into pushing the children in their writing. By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to recognise the letters and sounds learnt so far and to incorporate these into writing CVC words
SHOULD begin to recognise ar, oa, or and ow and use them to create words
COULD know ar, oa, or and ow and to incorporate these into their writing

Click on
www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk and then FOUNDATION, and then WEBLINKS and finally COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY on the navigation bar on the left. Scroll down and you will find lots of PHONICS websites. Simply click on the links and you will be taken to the website of your choice.

You will also notice that we have websites to support the learning of the high frequency words. Please make use of these websites as they are an interesting way to develop the acquisition of these very important words.

Problem-Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
The children will be continuing with their understanding of calculations. By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to understand the concept of one more and one less
SHOULD be able to combine 2 sets of objects to solve an addition equation
COULD begin to compare two sets of objects to solve subtraction problems

Click on
www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk and then FOUNDATION, and then WEBLINKS and finally PROBLEM-SOLVING, REASONING AND NUMERACY on the navigation bar on the left. Scroll down and you will find lots of ADDITION and SUBTRACTION websites. Simply click on the links and you will be taken to the website of your choice.

As the children will be creating something special to celebrate Mother’s Day, they will be consolidating what they have learned about patterns. By following the same path on the school website and scrolling down to PATTERN MAKING you can access lots of great websites on patterns.


It may be worth saving this as your favourites and we hope to use the school website as a tool for all making links with all areas of the learning.

Knowledge and Understanding of the World
In this area of learning the children will learn about and identify some features of living things, objects and events they observe. They will focus on observing the plant growth of their beans, completing observational drawings and paintings of flowers, as well as looking at growth in the natural environment. You may wish to support this by growing some seeds of your own at home and letting your child observe them.

Here I am
By the end of the week, the children will understand that worshipping as a group in church can make both us and God happy.

And the rest…
· Sharing your child’s reading books with them is a very special time for you both. Please can you remember to comment on the experience and how your child responded. Thanks for your co-operation.
· Yellow Woods challenge. Thank you for your response so far, but keep sending them in. Please remember that we just need the front page and the rest of it can be recycled in your blue bin at home.
· Science week is coming up and the children will be taking part in a number of competitions and activities. We would to have any parents in school to give a talk to the children, so if your job involves any aspect of science, please do let any member of the team know. The Travelling Science Show will be coming to school on Friday 20th March and we will be investigating the topic of Light and Sound.
· The Methodist Church car park will have limited parking next week, as they will be beginning demolition work.
· The Friends of St Vincent’s Craft Fayre raised £300 last Sunday. Many thanks for your support.
· Easter is fast approaching and the children make Easter bonnets. I’d recommend that you get off to hobby craft as soon as possible before it all goes! Further details will be sent to you via a letter from school.



That’s all for this week.

Have a great one!!


Sunday, March 01, 2009

TITCH!!

Hi there!

Welcome to this week’s blog.

PSRN
By the end of the week, the children:
MUST be able to understand the concept of adding one more to a number
SHOULD be able to combine 2 sets of objects to 5 and beyond
COULD be able to combine 2 sets of objects to 10 and beyond

Over the years we have developed a way of supporting the children in their acquisition of the concept of addition by using a little mantra that goes like this:

COUNT, COUNT, TOGETHER, COUNT

The idea is that the children say the mantra to help them develop the sequence of counting out two sets, putting them together and then counting the totals.

Here are some websites you may wish to use to support your child:
http://demo.iboard.co.uk/screens/thread_home.htm?thread_id=8
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/numbers/ch1.shtml - remember to add this to your favourites then it can be used for subtraction also.
http://www.ictgames.com/10pipe.html - this is a good website for finding the magical pairs to 10
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/num%20machine/add1.html - put in a number and then add one more

CLL
MUST begin to use letters and sounds learnt so far to blend and segment simple CVC words
SHOULD begin to blend and segment using the phonemes ai, ee and igh
COULD incorporate words using phonemes learned so far when writing simple sentences

http://www.starfall.com/ - this is a great website. Perhaps make sure that your child focuses on the letters that they are working on for the week.
http://www.ictgames.com/cvc_machine.html - this game is great for helping your child to blend sounds together. You can select the pattern (choose those with the letters we have been working on) and then the children have to read the word and click on the tick if it is a real word.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=cvcmaker - This again is a great website for blending three letter words together.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/learn_y4/main.asp?lesson_path=year_4/word_machine_c-v-c/&lesson_file=lesson.swf&language=eng - This helps the children see how three letter words are made up of a consonant, a vowel and then a consonant.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/cvc/crank/game.shtml - If your child is experiencing difficulties listening to the middle sound then this is a great game for them.
http://www.ictgames.com/machine - a great site for blending again. Look at the picture in the machine and click on the correct word to match it.
http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/load.htm?f - this has some of the different spelling patterns on.

Please remember to also practice those high frequency words and handwriting.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
The children will learn how to handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely with increasing control
· Parachute in PE games – co-ordination and gross motor skills
· Sewing – Easter cards
· Mother’s Day cards – painting

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
The children will develop their ability to work creatively on a large and small scale
· Easter card project will help improve fine motor skills (sewing)


KUW
The children will find out about and identify some features of living things, objects and events they observe.
· Reading ‘Titch’ the story
· Planting seeds and finding out what conditions they need for growth
· Looking at broad beans, spring blossom, hyacinth and crocus bulbs outside

Here I Am
The children will learn about what people do together in church. Perhaps you could visit St Joseph’s this week if you do not regularly attend already.


Additional information
· Tuesday is World Maths Day and the children will be doing lots of fun, practical activities to develop their maths skills.
· Please could you continue to support your child’s learning by helping them to write their full name in lower case? The children have been learning that although their name begins with a capital letter, the rest of their name is spelt in lower case. Thanks for your co-operation.



Mother’s Day Craft Fayre
Thank you for the contributions towards the Mother’s Day craft fayre at St.Joseph’s on Sunday from 11am-2pm. Many thanks for your generous donations from the non-uniform day yesterday.


Request
The children are more than half way through Foundation Stage now and are becoming gradually more independent. Could we ask that children come into school on their own in a morning, as we are getting quite a bit of congestion in the cloakrooms. This is resulting in a number of children being late for the register each morning and being unsettled for the start of the day.

Also, we have noticed a couple of polo shirts being worn. These are for the Summer term only, as are gingham dresses for the girls.

Could we also remind you, that bobbles, clips and hair bands should be black or blue. Visitors to our school always comment on the smartness of our children, so many thanks for your support with this.


I think that is all for this week!

Have a great one!

Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxx