We do hope that your child enjoyed the Chinese New Year celebrations. We had a great time tasting lots of Chinese foods, making lanterns, dragon masks and dragon puppets. The Chinese restaurant we had for the Year One and Two classes was a great success. Even Mr Barker booked his table! The classroom now has its own Chinese restaurant role-play area for the children to transfer their learning into their play.
Unfortunately, we did have a lot of illness last week (which even caught me out!) and some children may have missed some things. However, the dragon dance was a success and all the children at least tasted some Chinese cuisine. Needless to say our new cleaner was fully initiated into life at St Vincent’s.
So what have we got in store for this week?
We begin this week with a visit to David Lloyd for the morning. The children will carry out exciting activities linked to health and fitness. The visit will ‘kick-start’ our whole topic on ‘Healthy Lifestyles’. Please ensure that you have completed a consent form and returned it to school by Monday as we will not be able to take your child with us otherwise. The children will need to wear their school PE t-shirt, jogging bottoms and trainers. They will also need a labelled water bottle.
Communication, Language and Literacy
This week the children will once again be learning about labels and captions. However, the content of this week will revolve around the labelling and the writing of captions.
By the end of the week, the children:
MUST be able to know what a label and a diagram looks like;
SHOULD be able to label a diagram;
COULD be able to write a caption to match a photograph.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/ourselves.shtml - this website supports the children’s understanding of labelling whilst helping them in their reading. The children can label a horse, fish, ant and a human body.
As always the children will be developing their phonic skills.
If your child is still working on their letter recognition then please try out these websites also:
http://www.ictgames.com/phonic_fighter4.html
http://www.ictgames.com/letterlifter.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/words/dgi.shtml - this is a great website for identifying the sounds at the beginning, middle and end of words.
http://www.starfall.com/ - the old favourite.
In addition to this we will also be continuing to concentrate on the children’s spelling of simple three letter words such as big, man, cat, top etc as well as focusing in on the high frequency words more. The children are doing great as this is the end of year target for Foundation Stage and we are already working on it!! The following websites should prove very useful.
http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfslit/CVC%20Maker/cvcmaker.html - this website asks you to see how many words you can make http://www.ictgames.com/cvc_machine.html
http://www.ictgames.com/plankgame.html - this focuses on high frequency words
http://www.ictgames.com/lcwc.html - this concentrates on the spelling of the high frequency words. You can simply type in the high frequency words that your child needs to work on for them to play the game with.
http://www.ictgames.com/machine.html - great for blending sounds together.
For those children who are already able to spell and read simple three letter words then try out these websites as they will focus on the spelling of consonant clusters in words e.g bl, cl, st, sm etc.
http://www.ictgames.com/blending_dragon.html
http://www.ictgames.com/cluster.html
Mathematical Development
This week we will continue to work on developing the children’s number recognition and understanding of the number system. The children will be working on:
Comparing two numbers saying which is greater/smaller;
Number recognition;
Identifying the number that lies between two given numbers up to 10 and then beyond;
Ordering numbers to 10 and extending to 20;
Continuing a number line with missing numbers on it;
It is hoped that by the end of this week, the children:
MUST be able to identify the numbers 1 to 5;
SHOULD be able to identify and order all the numbers to 10;
COULD be able to identify and order all the numbers to 20 and some beyond, and be able to order some random numbers up to 20;
Here are some good websites you may wish to check out:
http://www.ictgames.com/caterpillar_slider.html - this is a great website and you can select the numbers you wish your child to work with.
http://www.ictgames.com/mucky.html - to revise more and less;
http://www.ictgames.com/nutty_v3.html
http://www.ictgames.com/postletter.html
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/online_downloads.htm - click on the ordering numbers game
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
The children will learn all about the different parts of the body and the features of the face. They will apply their learning in Communication, Language and Literacy to this area of learning as they will be labelling the main external parts of the human body and face.
This learning will be further developed during the children’s ICT sessions. They will be asked to paint a picture of their faces using the paint package Dazzle. There are also some very good websites you can visit to support your child’s understanding in this area of the curriculum.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/our_bodies/eng/Introduction/default.htm - click on the interactive whiteboard activity link
http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfsscience/BodyParts/bodyparthtm.html
SNIFF! SNIFF! SNIFF! Do you smell something fishy going on this week? Well…you may well do as this week the children get first hand experience of a skeleton. NO! We are not cannibals and will not be eating human flesh! Mrs Latham will be showing the children a whole trout. They will be cutting it open to discover the skeleton. Well, they’re not likely to forget this experience are they? It does sound gruesome but believe it or not the children are usually really intrigued and find the whole experience fascinating. Mrs Higgins and myself stand back in admiration of Mrs Latham who performs the delicate operation.
A week with out eating? Don’t be daft!
The best bit comes at the end when the children cook the fish and taste the trout.
You may want to have a look at these websites:
http://www.uhrad.com/kids/animals.htm - this is a great website for checking out some other animal skeletons. Faith, my daughter, found these fascinating!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/games/skeleton_jigsaw/ - try your hand at putting together animal skeletons like a jigsaw – I personally played for ages on this!
http://www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/skeletons/index.htm - get up close to a skull.
http://www.childrensmuseum.org/special_exhibits/bones/kids_mazeGame.htm - the children can look to see if things have bones or do not have bones.
Creative Development
This area of the curriculum sees the children developing their drawing skills. In order to support what is being experienced in Knowledge and Understanding of the World, the children will have the opportunity to complete an observational drawing of the trout, learn how to create skeletons with art straws and develop their observational skills through drawing self portraits containing all the key features of the face.
If you want to support your child in the drawing of faces please do. Here are a few tips.
The nose is the first thing to draw as it is in the centre of a face – make sure you include the nostrils;
Then draw the eyes complete with pupil, iris and eyelashes;
The lips are not a straight line but two lips that create a straight line in the centre;
The top of the ears are always level with the eye line;
Don’t forget the eye brows and hair otherwise you may have an ET look-a-like!
Here I Am
The children will be continuing their work on relating their understanding of remembering to people remembering Jesus at Mass. I am currently organising a visit to church for next week for the children, when we may eventually get to post our letters to Goldilocks!
Finally…there should be a letter in your child’s diary some day this week with the dates and times of the Parents’ evening for the Foundation Stage. Please be aware that we do them at a different time of year to the rest of the school and therefore have more flexibility over time. In saying this, please give as many options for times and dates as you can possibly manage. If you are both full time working parents then I am aware that you will need a later time. However, for those parents who are able to make the earlier slots please opt for those.
Have a great week!
Take care
Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team x
Friday, February 23, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Kung Hey Fat Choy!!
Weekly update 19th February 2007
Welcome back to a new half term and Kung Hey Fat Choy! Yes, this week the children will be learning about the traditions of the Chinese culture and in particular the Chinese New Year. We look forward to this week every year as it provides us with the opportunity to cover all areas of the curriculum in a really integrated and fun way.
However, over the holidays SOMEONE has caught wind of the fact that they are being blamed for the blowing down of the Three Little Pigs house, and they want JUSTICE!!! Just to start the sparks flying on the first day back, the children will encounter footprints and a package which contains the wolf’s version of events in the traditional tale. Will they believe him????? If you have never read the story ‘the true story of the three Little Pigs!’ by Jon Scieszka then it’s worth a visit to Borders.
Communication, Language and Literacy
This week, the children will start to learn all about information books.
By the end of the week, the children:
MUST be able to sort books according to whether they are fiction or non-fiction;
SHOULD be able to understand that information can be retrieved from books and find the contents page;
COULD know that information books have headings, photographs and captions, and be able to use the contents page to find answers to their questions.
They will develop their knowledge and understanding of the different features of an information book. For instance:
That they provide us with information about things that are real;
That photographs and diagrams are usually found in information books rather than illustrations;
That information books have a contents page that can be used to navigate their way around the book;
That an information book does not have to be read from start to finish – you can simply ask yourself a question and then seek to find the answer out in the text by using the contents page;
Pages in information books often have a heading, a photograph and a caption.
By the end of the week it is hoped that the children will have collaborated to create a class information book about the Chinese New Year.
If your child is still working on their letter recognition then please try out these websites also:
http://www.ictgames.com/phonic_fighter4.html
http://www.ictgames.com/letterlifter.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/words/dgi.shtml - this is a great website for identifying the sounds at the beginning, middle and end of words.
www.starfall.com - the old favourite.
In addition to this we will also be concentrating on the children’s spelling of simple three letter words such as big, man, cat, top etc as well as focusing in on the high frequency words more. The children are doing great as this is the end of year target for Foundation Stage and we are already working on it!! The following websites should prove very useful.
http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfslit/CVC%20Maker/cvcmaker.html - this website asks you to see how many words you can make
http://www.ictgames.com/cvc_machine.html
http://www.ictgames.com/plankgameR.html - this focuses on high frequency words
http://www.ictgames.com/lcwc.html - this concentrates on the spelling of the high frequency words. You can simply type in the high frequency words that your child needs to work on for them to play the game with.
http://www.ictgames.com/machine.html - great for blending sounds together.
For those children who are already able to spell and read simple three letter words then try out these websites as they will focus on the spelling of consonant clusters in words e.g bl, cl, st, sm etc.
http://www.ictgames.com/blending_dragon.html
http://www.ictgames.com/cluster.html
Mathematical Development
This week we will be working on developing the children’s number recognition and understanding of the number system. The children will be working on:
Comparing two numbers saying which is greater/smaller;
Number recognition;
Identifying the number that lies between two given numbers up to 10 and then beyond;
Ordering numbers to 10 and extending to 20;
Continuing a number line with missing numbers on it;
It is hoped that by the end of this week, the children:
MUST be able to identify the numbers 1 to 5;
SHOULD be able to identify and order all the numbers to 10;
COULD be able to identify and order all the numbers to 20 and some beyond, and be able to order some random numbers up to 20;
Here are some good websites you may wish to check out:
http://www.ictgames.com/caterpillar_slider.html - this is a great website and you can select the numbers you wish your child to work with.
http://www.ictgames.com/mucky.html - to revise more and less;
http://www.ictgames.com/nutty_v3.html
http://www.ictgames.com/postletter.html
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/online_downloads.htm - click on the ordering numbers game
In an attempt to ensure that all the children are able to write the numerals correctly I have sent out a sheet with the numeral formation we encourage. This does take time so please do not worry if your child struggles with this as they are still working on their letter formation too. Do not be surprised if they start to reverse letters they once could write e.g c as it goes in a different direction to the numbers 2 and 3.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
As I have already stated the children will be learning about Chinese culture. They will experience Chinese cuisine, even prepare and cook some for the rest of the class to share. On Friday, we hope to invite the year 1 and 2 children into our classroom, which will have been set up like a restaurant, and serve them with some Chinese food. They will be able to consolidate their learning as the week progresses as the class café is to be transformed into a Chinese restaurant.
The children will learn a poem by Meg Jones that goes to the tune of ‘Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross’.
Chinese New Year
The house must be clean,
The food all made ready
For a happy New Year.
With bangs and firecrackers
And lions that dance,
With dragons all fiery
To China we dance.
The children will use the poem as a stimulus to finding out about the Chinese dragon dances, the firecrackers and the tradition of cleaning houses and giving money. They will learn about how the years were named after the different animals.
Creative and Physical Development
The children will have the opportunity to listen to and respond to Chinese music. In dance they will learn how to keep to a beat alongside a drum in preparation for our very own dragon dance on the playground during Golden Time. They will be creating Chinese lanterns, dragon masks and many other creative artefacts linked to the Chinese New Year.
Here I Am
Although we are looking at a different culture this week, we will still be continuing with our Here I Am topic ‘Memories’. Before the holidays the children learned that they have a memory. They had a great time trying to guess which piece of clothing Mrs Forgetful took off each time. This week we move into our first week of RELATE when the children learn about people remembering Jesus at Mass.
I know this may be hard to believe but I have actually finished now!
Have a great week and watch out for the parents’ evening letter.
Kind regards
Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxx
Welcome back to a new half term and Kung Hey Fat Choy! Yes, this week the children will be learning about the traditions of the Chinese culture and in particular the Chinese New Year. We look forward to this week every year as it provides us with the opportunity to cover all areas of the curriculum in a really integrated and fun way.
However, over the holidays SOMEONE has caught wind of the fact that they are being blamed for the blowing down of the Three Little Pigs house, and they want JUSTICE!!! Just to start the sparks flying on the first day back, the children will encounter footprints and a package which contains the wolf’s version of events in the traditional tale. Will they believe him????? If you have never read the story ‘the true story of the three Little Pigs!’ by Jon Scieszka then it’s worth a visit to Borders.
Communication, Language and Literacy
This week, the children will start to learn all about information books.
By the end of the week, the children:
MUST be able to sort books according to whether they are fiction or non-fiction;
SHOULD be able to understand that information can be retrieved from books and find the contents page;
COULD know that information books have headings, photographs and captions, and be able to use the contents page to find answers to their questions.
They will develop their knowledge and understanding of the different features of an information book. For instance:
That they provide us with information about things that are real;
That photographs and diagrams are usually found in information books rather than illustrations;
That information books have a contents page that can be used to navigate their way around the book;
That an information book does not have to be read from start to finish – you can simply ask yourself a question and then seek to find the answer out in the text by using the contents page;
Pages in information books often have a heading, a photograph and a caption.
By the end of the week it is hoped that the children will have collaborated to create a class information book about the Chinese New Year.
If your child is still working on their letter recognition then please try out these websites also:
http://www.ictgames.com/phonic_fighter4.html
http://www.ictgames.com/letterlifter.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/words/dgi.shtml - this is a great website for identifying the sounds at the beginning, middle and end of words.
www.starfall.com - the old favourite.
In addition to this we will also be concentrating on the children’s spelling of simple three letter words such as big, man, cat, top etc as well as focusing in on the high frequency words more. The children are doing great as this is the end of year target for Foundation Stage and we are already working on it!! The following websites should prove very useful.
http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfslit/CVC%20Maker/cvcmaker.html - this website asks you to see how many words you can make
http://www.ictgames.com/cvc_machine.html
http://www.ictgames.com/plankgameR.html - this focuses on high frequency words
http://www.ictgames.com/lcwc.html - this concentrates on the spelling of the high frequency words. You can simply type in the high frequency words that your child needs to work on for them to play the game with.
http://www.ictgames.com/machine.html - great for blending sounds together.
For those children who are already able to spell and read simple three letter words then try out these websites as they will focus on the spelling of consonant clusters in words e.g bl, cl, st, sm etc.
http://www.ictgames.com/blending_dragon.html
http://www.ictgames.com/cluster.html
Mathematical Development
This week we will be working on developing the children’s number recognition and understanding of the number system. The children will be working on:
Comparing two numbers saying which is greater/smaller;
Number recognition;
Identifying the number that lies between two given numbers up to 10 and then beyond;
Ordering numbers to 10 and extending to 20;
Continuing a number line with missing numbers on it;
It is hoped that by the end of this week, the children:
MUST be able to identify the numbers 1 to 5;
SHOULD be able to identify and order all the numbers to 10;
COULD be able to identify and order all the numbers to 20 and some beyond, and be able to order some random numbers up to 20;
Here are some good websites you may wish to check out:
http://www.ictgames.com/caterpillar_slider.html - this is a great website and you can select the numbers you wish your child to work with.
http://www.ictgames.com/mucky.html - to revise more and less;
http://www.ictgames.com/nutty_v3.html
http://www.ictgames.com/postletter.html
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/online_downloads.htm - click on the ordering numbers game
In an attempt to ensure that all the children are able to write the numerals correctly I have sent out a sheet with the numeral formation we encourage. This does take time so please do not worry if your child struggles with this as they are still working on their letter formation too. Do not be surprised if they start to reverse letters they once could write e.g c as it goes in a different direction to the numbers 2 and 3.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
As I have already stated the children will be learning about Chinese culture. They will experience Chinese cuisine, even prepare and cook some for the rest of the class to share. On Friday, we hope to invite the year 1 and 2 children into our classroom, which will have been set up like a restaurant, and serve them with some Chinese food. They will be able to consolidate their learning as the week progresses as the class café is to be transformed into a Chinese restaurant.
The children will learn a poem by Meg Jones that goes to the tune of ‘Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross’.
Chinese New Year
The house must be clean,
The food all made ready
For a happy New Year.
With bangs and firecrackers
And lions that dance,
With dragons all fiery
To China we dance.
The children will use the poem as a stimulus to finding out about the Chinese dragon dances, the firecrackers and the tradition of cleaning houses and giving money. They will learn about how the years were named after the different animals.
Creative and Physical Development
The children will have the opportunity to listen to and respond to Chinese music. In dance they will learn how to keep to a beat alongside a drum in preparation for our very own dragon dance on the playground during Golden Time. They will be creating Chinese lanterns, dragon masks and many other creative artefacts linked to the Chinese New Year.
Here I Am
Although we are looking at a different culture this week, we will still be continuing with our Here I Am topic ‘Memories’. Before the holidays the children learned that they have a memory. They had a great time trying to guess which piece of clothing Mrs Forgetful took off each time. This week we move into our first week of RELATE when the children learn about people remembering Jesus at Mass.
I know this may be hard to believe but I have actually finished now!
Have a great week and watch out for the parents’ evening letter.
Kind regards
Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxx
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Assessment and Review Week
Weekly update 5th February 2007
"I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down!" said the Big Bad Wolf.
Well... he tried and did he succeed? NO!!! Well not for some teams. The children had a great time at the 'Huff Puff' when they found out if their team challenge of building a house the Big Bad Wolf counldn't blow down was strong enought. We dressed the programmable robot (Roamer) up as the wolf (as the hair dryers wouldn't have shifted any of them they were that solid!). We had two winning teams which built a house that would not budge! Each child in the team chose a book from the book fair as a prize. this will be awarded in our assembly on Monday. I hope to email the photographs etc to Mrs worrall over the week so remember to check out the school website after the holidays.
Communication, Language and Literacy
This week we will be assessing the children on various literacy skills that they have been taught this half term. I have already assessed the children on their letter sound and name recognition and you should receive an update of these next week for your information. Looking back at last year’s assessments at this time of year, I can’t wait to see where we get up to with these children. We seem to be moving VERY fast!
The following websites should support you in reviewing the children’s knowledge:
http://www.letsdiscover.org.uk/letters.html - this is a great website which demonstrates how we form our letters of the alphabet in the cursive style. The children’s handwriting is coming on well but more practice will enable their physical skills to match their writing skills to improve even more.
http://demo.iboard.co.uk/screens/thread_home.htm?thread_id=12 - this is a good activity for developing the children’s reading skills. The children must drag the initial letter and the word ending onto the remote control and then press the button. This will create an image to match the word. Can they sound the word out before they press the button and use the picture to check if they are right?
http://www.prongo.com/drag/game.html - another good game to support the reading of three letter words. The children read the words in the boxes by sounding them out and blending the sounds together. They then match the illustration from the bank at the top.
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/toftwood/machine.html - yet another great game.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/cvc/index.shtml - Jimmy’s crankphone asks the children to identify the middle sounds in words whilst the Whirlyword Machine helps them to generate new words for themselves.
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/fairytale2/fairytale.htm - if your child wants to continue with our fairy tale theme why not try this great website? You can write letters to the characters and many other fantastic activities.
Mathematical Development
This half term has been particularly successful in that the children have picked up their understanding of addition remarkably well. Many of the children even managed to start working on counting on from the larger number as a strategy for adding two numbers quicker. In addition to the information about letter sound and name recognition, you will also be informed of any numbers we will be working on with your child after the half term.
Here are some great websites to review this half term’s learning:
http://www.ictgames.com/postletter.html - an old chestnut which is good for developing the children’s recognition of numbers beyond 10.
http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/WashLine/washindex.html - helps the children to order numbers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/numbers/ch1.shtml - this is a lovely website for developing those skills of addition. Remember the phrase: COUNT, COUNT, TOGETHER, COUNT.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/count_on_me/eng/Introduction/default.htm - although this is aimed at Year1/2 I still think some of the children will be able to access it. Why not give it a try?
http://www.ictgames.com/10pipe.html
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/toftwood/beaver.html
http://www.rainforestmaths.com/ - by far my most favourite website for developing mathematical development. Check out the shape activities, the weight and capacity ones as well as the addition games.
"I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down!" said the Big Bad Wolf.
Well... he tried and did he succeed? NO!!! Well not for some teams. The children had a great time at the 'Huff Puff' when they found out if their team challenge of building a house the Big Bad Wolf counldn't blow down was strong enought. We dressed the programmable robot (Roamer) up as the wolf (as the hair dryers wouldn't have shifted any of them they were that solid!). We had two winning teams which built a house that would not budge! Each child in the team chose a book from the book fair as a prize. this will be awarded in our assembly on Monday. I hope to email the photographs etc to Mrs worrall over the week so remember to check out the school website after the holidays.
Communication, Language and Literacy
This week we will be assessing the children on various literacy skills that they have been taught this half term. I have already assessed the children on their letter sound and name recognition and you should receive an update of these next week for your information. Looking back at last year’s assessments at this time of year, I can’t wait to see where we get up to with these children. We seem to be moving VERY fast!
The following websites should support you in reviewing the children’s knowledge:
http://www.letsdiscover.org.uk/letters.html - this is a great website which demonstrates how we form our letters of the alphabet in the cursive style. The children’s handwriting is coming on well but more practice will enable their physical skills to match their writing skills to improve even more.
http://demo.iboard.co.uk/screens/thread_home.htm?thread_id=12 - this is a good activity for developing the children’s reading skills. The children must drag the initial letter and the word ending onto the remote control and then press the button. This will create an image to match the word. Can they sound the word out before they press the button and use the picture to check if they are right?
http://www.prongo.com/drag/game.html - another good game to support the reading of three letter words. The children read the words in the boxes by sounding them out and blending the sounds together. They then match the illustration from the bank at the top.
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/toftwood/machine.html - yet another great game.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/cvc/index.shtml - Jimmy’s crankphone asks the children to identify the middle sounds in words whilst the Whirlyword Machine helps them to generate new words for themselves.
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/fairytale2/fairytale.htm - if your child wants to continue with our fairy tale theme why not try this great website? You can write letters to the characters and many other fantastic activities.
Mathematical Development
This half term has been particularly successful in that the children have picked up their understanding of addition remarkably well. Many of the children even managed to start working on counting on from the larger number as a strategy for adding two numbers quicker. In addition to the information about letter sound and name recognition, you will also be informed of any numbers we will be working on with your child after the half term.
Here are some great websites to review this half term’s learning:
http://www.ictgames.com/postletter.html - an old chestnut which is good for developing the children’s recognition of numbers beyond 10.
http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/WashLine/washindex.html - helps the children to order numbers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/numbers/ch1.shtml - this is a lovely website for developing those skills of addition. Remember the phrase: COUNT, COUNT, TOGETHER, COUNT.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/count_on_me/eng/Introduction/default.htm - although this is aimed at Year1/2 I still think some of the children will be able to access it. Why not give it a try?
http://www.ictgames.com/10pipe.html
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/toftwood/beaver.html
http://www.rainforestmaths.com/ - by far my most favourite website for developing mathematical development. Check out the shape activities, the weight and capacity ones as well as the addition games.
Our topic work on Transport will come to a conclusion this week. We would have liked to have visited Manchester Airport, but due to the untimely appearance of chicken pox the numbers were changing on a daily basis. However, can I take the opportunity to thank Freyja's mum and dad for finding details for a visit and I hope to use them next year.
Here I Am
This week we start a new theme for Here I Am - MEMORIES. You may wish to review the children's prior learning by thinking about their favourite books and poems, and what they have learned about books and the special book, The Bible. In the course of this week we hope to help the children to:
RECOGNISE that they have a memory. For this the children will be playing a range of memory games in class. Try this one at home. It's called Kim's game. Place a tray with up to four objects on. Say and point to the objects. Cover them up and then ask your child close their eyes. Remove one of the objects. Which one is missing? As they get the hang of it you can add more objects. Aim to have up to 10 objects on the tray.
REFLECT on what they need to remember. The children will sing songs that require them to remember the order of the events. Examples of these could be:
Old MacDonald
I am the music man (my favourite!)
One finger, one thumb keep moving
RESPECT - appreciate that there is lots to remember and that remembering is important.
This week and over the holidays we have set the children a challenge of learning the 'Hail Mary' by heart. A copy of this should appear in your chil'd diary on Monday.
And finally... just a sneak preview of what we are doing after half term. Our topic is going to be 'Healthy Living'. The children will learn about the importance of exercise, nutrition, hygiene etc. I have secured a visit for the children to David Lloyd on 26th February for the morning when they will be doing little activities with them. Further details will be sent to you. If you know any dentists, doctors or nurses that could come into school and talk to the children then that would be really appreciated.
In saying all this, the first week back we will be learning all about the Chinese New Year. Remember to check this blog for details over the holidays.
Have a great holiday and can I say a big thanks for your continued and valued support.
Take care
Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxx
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