Sounds good! Smells fantastic!

Weekly update 13th November 2006

Hi there!

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Firstly, thank you to all those parents who have encouraged their child to come into school in the morning on their own. The morning process is getting quicker now and the children's learning is starting earlier in the day. Please continue to encourage your child to be as independent as possible and, if anyone has not quite taken the plunge yet ...go on, have a go!

GOOD NEWS! The children are doing fantastic at getting dressed more independently. Well done children and thank you to you as parents for your patience and support in this.

Here I Am
The school will be looking at Hinduism and Divali this week but we have already covered this. Therefore, we are continuing our work on Initiation. This week's Here I Am will incorporate our Mantle of the Expert. The children are to get a visit from 'Mrs No-idea'. She has a little boy who is starting our school but she needs to convince him that this is the place to be! She will ask the problem solvers to create an information book containing all the things they know about St Vincent's. By the end of the week the children will have a book to give to her. However, that is not where the story ends. Oh no! She has a little baby girl and she needs information about Baptism. Can we help?

Communication, Language and Literacy
This week is another one of our favourite week (I say that alot!) The children will work on a poem called 'Sounds Good'. It talks about sausages sizzling, crispbreads cracking, popcorn popping etc and yes, you've guessed it! We will be cooking our own sausages for butties and making popcorn to see if the poet chose the correct vocabulary. Hence the title of our blog this week!

They will review their understanding of alliteration and rhyme. The websites from the previous postings will still stand. However, I do have a good rhyming game for you to play. Forget cherades...try a ryming string.
Take a long piece of string or wool. Hold one end and say a word. One member of the family says a word that rhymes with it and then takes hold of part of the string (you keep hold). Another member of the family says a word that rhymes and then takes a part of the string. Eventually you have a web effect. Then you start all over again with another word.

Mathematical Development
This week we will be working on length. I have enclosed an information sheet in your child's diary about how we teach length. In addition to this we will be continuing to develop counting skills and reinforcing the ability to add one more to a given number. These websites may help:
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/num%20machine/add1.html - the children type in a number and then the machine adds one more. Can they work out the answer before the machine?
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/num%20machine/add2.html - this is the same game as above but it extends the child's learning to adding two more.
www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1.english/fruits/level2/12/activity2.html - the children must count the fruits and match to the number.

Knowledge and Understanding of the World
This week we will be moving onto looking at different sources of light and sound. The children will be asked to sort artefacts according to the criteria and then be given the opportunity to explore how things work. You may wish to have a look around the environment with your child for sources of light and sound, identifying which are natural and which are man-made.

In ICT the children will have an opportunity to use the computers and interactive whiteboard to extend their learning in all the areas of learning.

Physical Development
The children will be focusing on their throwing and catching during PE lessons. They will also be given the opportunity to reinforce the skills learned last week when making models. They can choose to make a robot with the remaining junk materials we have. As always the children will work on their cutting skills.

Creative Development
The children will learn about dynamics in music - fast, slow etc. Looks like a very noisy week! In addition to this the children will be learning about the effects of adding white to a colour.

Finally, please make sure your child has their hats, scarves and gloves labelled as we have had a few mix ups. Thanks.

I think that is all for now.

Have a great week

Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team x