Who would leave a trail of shiny pebbles throughout our classroom? Who would need to leave a trail? Yes! Watch your step as you enter the classroom on Monday for we have had visitors. Who could they have been?
This week The Jolly Postman continues his travels posting a letter to the Wicked Witch's Gingerbread House from the traditional tale, Hansel and Gretel. Finally, our interactive whiteboard is in full working order and the children will be able to share the electronic version using the following website:
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/somethingspecial/stories/hanselandgretel.shtml
But what does he deliver I hear you ask? The contents of the correspondence includes an advertisement for goods for the witch to purchase to make her magic potions. YES!!! You've guessed it! WE are going to practise being magicians this week.
Communication, Langauge and Literacy
Through the text 'The Jolly Postman' the children will learn about advertisements and recipes. They will be shown a recipe for a special cake which will make them SMILE!!! The children will learn about the way in which a recipe is set out and its purpose. You may want to don those aprons and reinforce this with a little Delia personating! There are only a few websites that I found to support this:
www.britishcouncil.org/kids-print-spell.pdf - this gives a spell and the children can then make their own up. I'd love to see any they do make up for themselves.
www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-magic-spell.htm - this tells the story of Billy and Tom's magic spell.
The writing task for this week will be to create their own magical spell, complete with gruesome, disgusting and revolting ingredients and the ever-so-important magic words. I know we will have GREAT fun with this! (My mind is already doing overtime at the thought of what to add to my spell when I am modelling the writing)
We can have lots of fun with the content of our writing, but as always, we must continue to work on the basics. This week I will be assessing the children again on their letter sound and name recognition as I feel that we are now ready to move onto the next stage in their phonological development. This year group have been particularly impressive with the speed at which they have acquired the letter sounds and names. Many thanks for your partnership in this. The following websites are great to help your child with their learning.
www.starfall.com - the old ones are the best!
www.atschool.eduweb.co.uk/toftwood/machine.html
By the end of this week the children:
MUST be able to hear and say the initial sounds in words;
SHOULD be able to identify the initial and final sounds in words;
COULD be able to identify the initial, medial and final sounds in a simple three-letter word, spelling it independently.
As always, the children will have a rich experience of literature with the telling of many traditional tales during story time. Please continue to read stories to your child. They fill their minds with imagination which comes out in their play and in eventually in their writing.
Mathematical Development
This week we return to looking at shape. However, we do continue to work on number recognition and capacity. I love doing shape as it gives me a license to plan for lots of creative activities! You should have received a sheet with information regarding the langauge we use in your child's reading diary on Friday.
By the end of this week, the children:
MUST begin to use mathematical names for flat 2-D shapes and mathematical terms to describe the shapes.
SHOULD use language such as circle or bigger to describe the shape and size of flat shapes. Begin to name flat shapes such as circle, triangle, square, rectangle, star.
COULD begin to name solid shapes such as cube, pyramid, cone and sphere and use everyday language to describe familiar 3-D shapes including cube, cuboid, sphere, pyramid, cylinder and cone referring to properties such as shapes of flat faces and the number of shapes or corners.
I found loads of websites on the internet that support this area of learning. Here goes!
http://demo.iboard.co.uk/screens/thread_home.htm?thread_id=2 - this is a fab website and, although it is an evaluation copy, the children can still use it to colour in shape pictures, move shapes to make a picture and make patterns/pictures with 2d shapes.
www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/build_game/eng/Introduction/default.htm - this looks at shape patterns with 3d shapes.
www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/build_it/eng/Introduction/default.htm
www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/maths/maerdy_2d/frames.asp - the children must guess the shapes from their properties. This extends the children beyond the Foundation Stage!
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/funandgames/flash/pictureperfect/pictureperfect.html - the children must match the shapes before the timer runs out.
www.rainforestmaths.com - if you select reception and patterns then the children can make patterns with shapes. The activities under SPACE for 2d and 3d shapes are great too. However, to stretch the children I would aim for the Year 1 activities which ask the children to sort according to their properties and guess both 2d and 3d shapes from their descriptions.
We always continue to work on the children's understanding of number throughout any week regardless of the topic focus. This week we work on recognition of numbers and the ordering random numbers. These websites support this:
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/numbertime/games/find_the.shtml
www.ictgames.com/postletter.html - the children post the letter through the correct letter box working with numbers to 20;
www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/online_downloads.htm - the children are asked to order random numbers;
www.learningplanet.com/act/rats/rats1.htm?rats_numbers - love it!! You can actually put n the numbers your child needs to learn
www.primaryonline.co.uk/sitetour/pol/findra.html - find the missing number activities
Knowledge and Understanding of the World and Creative Development
We continue on the topic of transport, but after asking the children to draw modes of transport that travel on the land, in the air and on the sea, we found that we desparately need to work on the children's drawing skills. Therefore, the activities for Knowledge and Understanding of the World and Creative Development will be closely linked. The children will be taught how to draw simple representations of cars, hot air balloons, lorries etc. Any time you could give to this at home would be greatly appreciated. We will be drawing modes of transport using pencils and also the computer art package called Dazzle. In addition to this the children will be using clay to create a tile with a mode of tranport on it as a gift for Father's Day in June - Yes June!
ICT will feature heavily this week with the continuation of the children's programming skills. This week they will learn how to program the Roamer to go backwards. As part of their learning in Mathematical Development, they will learn how to work our new 'toy' the BEEBOT too.
Here I AmThis week we move on to RELATE where the children will learn about the books that are used on a Sunday in church. They will have the opportunity to look at a child's missal and a Mass book. A visit to church, if you do not already attend, will provide a real context for the work we are doing in class.
Of course, if I was to type in everything we did throughout the week both you and I would have cobwebs dangling from us!
So finally...
The children make their journey to Honiton Square on Thursday to deliver their letters to Goldilocks. What will the outcome be??? Please remember to sign your child's diary to give permission for them to go. I am currently working on organising a visit to either the Science and Industry Museum to look at the old modes of transport there (indulging myself in my passion for history) or to Manchester Airport. If anyone has any contacts to enhance the children's experiences please feel free to let me know.
Oh! Just one more thing...
The Golden Time treat for this week will be...a 3d shape party!!
Take care and have a great week.
Best wishes
Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxx
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